On the second day, Chen Huihong went to the inner city for dinner as usual.

Qin Huai finally figured it out. Although Chen Huihong and Hui Niang lived together, they were just roommates. Chen Huihong went to the inner city to eat a good meal every day, and brought back some snacks to eat snacks the rest of the time. If there was any excitement outside, she would go out to watch.

It’s lively. If it’s not lively, I’ll eat melon seeds at home.

Hui Niang was much busier than her.

In the morning, I go out to buy vegetables and food. When I come back, I clean up the melon seed shells that Chen Huihong has eaten and clean the house. If the sun is right outside, I also put up a shelf to put the quilt outside to dry in the sun.

When Chen Huihong went out for a stroll, Huiniang was working outside. When Chen Huihong came back from wandering, Huiniang was usually steaming sweet potatoes in the kitchen.

It was cold outside at night, so Hui Niang and Chen Huihong stayed at home together. There was no brazier at home, so Hui Niang curled up under the quilt and chatted with Chen Huihong, while Chen Huihong continued to sit at the table, eating melon seeds and playing with small toys.

According to the agreement with Shopkeeper Lu, Chen Huihong did not go to Tai Feng Building for dinner on the second day, but went to Yonghe Ju. The waiters at Yonghe Ju warmly entertained her, and Chen Huihong returned home in the evening carrying large and small bags.

Hui Niang is steaming steamed buns in the kitchen.

"Sister, you are back." Hui Niang came out with a smile and announced the good news excitedly, "The cornmeal in the grain store is very cheap today, I bought a whole bag! I also bought a small bag of white flour. Sister, I steamed the steamed buns, do you want it?

Eat one?"

Chen Huihong went into the kitchen and took a look at the poor-looking steamed buns. She didn't choose, nodded, and asked: "Don't the prices of grains change every day now? Why is cornmeal so cheap today?"

"The clerk at the grain store said it was because this batch of cornmeal got damp and became a bit moldy." Huiniang said happily, "It's okay. I have picked out the moldy noodles and thrown them away. There is still more than half a bag left."

Chen Huihong frowned subconsciously: "Next time, don't go to this grain store to buy grain. This kind of grain is sold, which is a loss of conscience."

"Sister, the food in this store is already very good. When I was short of food at home, I went to the landlord to buy mixed food. One pound of cornmeal, three ounces of sand, two ounces of mouse droppings. If you sift out half a pound of cornmeal, it's enough.

Not bad. The cornmeal here has no sand mixed in at all, and it’s sold cheaply!”

"A lot of people are going to buy it. Fortunately, I went early this morning, otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy it."

Chen Huihong stopped talking and handed Huiniang a candied fruit.

Hui Niang happily took it and put it in her mouth, reluctant to swallow it: "Thank you, sister."

Chen Huihong stood in the kitchen waiting for the steamed buns to be steamed.

Hui Niang rarely steamed steamed buns, and didn't know how to control the time and heat. From time to time, she would lift the wooden lid to take a look. Qin Huai watched from the side and felt that Hui Niang's craftsmanship was really worrying.

Not to mention the steamed bun itself, it is made from a large amount of original cornmeal mixed with a small amount of white flour. It is impossible for the coarse grains to be smooth and flat.

Hui Niang's skill at kneading dough is probably not very good, and she does a poor job of exhausting the dough.

The most important thing is that the fire in the stove is low.

I don’t know whether it’s to save firewood or simply add less, but Qin Huai thinks that according to this steaming method, the steamed buns will most likely be cooked.

Sure enough, more than ten minutes later, the firewood in the stove had gone out, but the steamed buns in the pot had not yet been completely steamed.

Hui Niang fiddled with the steamed buns with her hands, not sure, and asked: "Sister, is this steamed bun ready?"

"I don't know." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I can only eat but not cook."

"But there is no firewood at home." Hui Niang said sheepishly, "I wasted time grabbing cornmeal this morning. When I came back, the firewood seller had left. If you want to buy it, you have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Let's just eat it." Chen Huihong said, after thinking for a while, she took out a piece of bark from her pocket, "Or do you want to eat this?"

Hui Niang hesitated for a moment: "My mother said, you can eat the steamed bun even if it's not cooked yet."

The two of them ate the steamed bun with raw ingredients.

Hui Niang steamed 4 steamed buns in total, each one was about the size of a fist. Hui Niang ate three and Chen Huihong ate one.

The kitchen was too cold, so they took the steamed buns back inside to eat.

Chen Huihong walked a few steps from the kitchen to the house. Out of curiosity, she couldn't help but take a bite in advance. It was so unpalatable that her facial features wrinkled together and she complained: "Weird taste."

Then he stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth, and gave Hui Niang the remaining half of the packet of candied fruit. The implication was that this steamed bun was really unpalatable, so you should mix it with candied fruit and eat it.

Hui Niang did not refuse and happily took it. She took a bite of the candied fruit and then took a big mouthful of steamed buns. While chewing, she muttered vaguely: "Sweet."

"You know how to comment like this." Chen Huihong sat on the table and nibbled helplessly at the table. She watched Hui Niang climb onto the bed and wrap herself up in quilt, revealing her head and two small hands.

Hui Niang happily ate candied fruits and steamed buns.

While eating, Hui Niang suddenly said: "Sister, you are so kind to me, much better than my parents are to me."

"That's because your parents don't treat you well. It's been more than half a year and I haven't seen them come to Peiping." Chen Huihong said calmly.

This sentence immediately silenced Hui Niang. After a while, Hui Niang asked in a low voice: "Sister, if I say that I don't know whether my parents will come to Peking, I was afraid that you would kill me."

I just lied to you that I wanted to come to Peking to meet my parents. I don’t want to find them at all, will you be angry?"

Chen Huihong glanced at her: "They call me Miss Crazy. I agree because it saves me a lot of trouble and allows me to eat and drink for free. I'm not really stupid."

"Then do you think I'm unfilial?" Huiniang asked again.

"Filial piety is relative. Kindness is relative to filial piety. If parents are not kind, they have no right to accuse their children of being unfilial." Chen Huihong said, "Your parents are going to sell you to someone else. Isn't it normal that you don't want to go to them?"

Hui Niang immediately became happy again: "Fortunately, Ren Yazi didn't want me because she thought I was ugly, otherwise I wouldn't have met my sister."

"Sister, are your parents good to you?"

Chen Huihong didn't understand why tonight suddenly turned into a heart-to-heart meeting, but she thought about it seriously and replied, "I don't remember."

"It should be okay. We don't really care about it, and we don't need to care about it. Just let nature take its course."

Hui Niang didn't understand.

Chen Huihong took another bite of the bun, frowned, and wanted to look out the window, but the window was made of paper and she couldn't see clearly.

"Tomorrow is the New Year's Eve." Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang, "Your hair is so thick."

"What is a hairpin?" Huiniang asked.

"It's a girl's 15th birthday. When a girl turns 15, the elders in the family will use hairpins to pull up her hair. It seems that they will entertain guests to change clothes or something. I also heard Mr. Shu say that it should be to celebrate the birthday.

." Chen Huihong was not very sure either.

"That's great." Hui Niang's face was full of envy.

Looking at Huiniang's expression, Chen Huihong was a little surprised: "You don't have one?"

Huiniang shook her head: "My sister was sold to Ren Yazi before she turned 15. Girls in our village basically get married when they are 13 or 14. I originally wanted to marry someone when I was 13. But that

It’s already a drought, no one has money to marry a wife, and the money given is too little, so it’s better to sell her to someone else.”

"My mother was already asking a matchmaker to help me find a match, but my father wouldn't let me. He said he would raise a girl for another year so that he could sell it for money, but in the end he didn't sell it."

Huiniang gnawed on the bun, feeling a little melancholy: "My parents had several quarrels over this. My father scolded my mother and said that I chose the wrong name. When I chose the name, I only thought of virtuousness. I didn't expect to be pretty. Only virtuous and virtuous would be good."

What’s the use?”

Chen Huihong said: "Being virtuous is of no use."

"At the end of the day, he is gentle and kind, and he is careful about himself. He is gentle and respectful, cautious and kind. It is a waste to use virtuous words to summarize such a beautiful word."

"But the word Hui is very nice." Huiniang said, "Many girls in our village are envious of my name. They think Hui is much nicer than Ya, Di, Cao and Hua."

"It sounds very good." Chen Huihong affirmed, "If you don't like Xianhui, but like the pronunciation of Hui, the word "intelligent Hui" is also very good."

"Exquisite on the outside and wise on the inside, beautiful on the outside and smart on the inside. You should like this wisdom more."

Hui Niang's eyes lit up: "Sister, you are so educated!"

Chen Huihong said calmly: "It's all what the storytellers said. They are literate."

After the brief night chat, Hui Niang finished her steamed buns and lay down quietly to sleep, while Chen Huihong continued to eat melon seeds in the dark.

Lights are expensive these days, and neither candles nor kerosene lamps can be afforded by Huiniang's salary. Chen Huihong usually eats melon seeds after dinner at the restaurant, never candles.

When it gets dark at night, the house will be pitch dark, so it's better to go to bed early.

But tonight, it is destined not to be peaceful.

Because Hui Niang seemed to have a bad stomach.

Chen Huihong finished eating melon seeds, eating peanuts, chewing dried fruits, and finally drank two sips of water. Just when she was about to get up and go into the house to lie down on the bed, Hui Niang struggled to get up and put on her cotton-padded jacket to go to the toilet outside.

Less than half an hour later, I put on my cotton-padded jacket and went outside to use the toilet.

I ran four or five times in one night before I stopped. I lay in bed and didn't move.

When Huiniang came back from going to the toilet for the last time and lay down, Chen Huihong sat up and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"It seems so." Hui Niang said a little weakly, "Maybe it's because the steamed buns are not cooked."

"It's because you bought cheap moldy cornmeal." Chen Huihong corrected, "Do you want me to call a doctor?"

Hui Niang took Chen Huihong's hand and shook her head: "It's too expensive. I have to save the money to buy meat at the Ershi Shop during the New Year."

"I can go to Tai Feng Lou Shun." Chen Huihong said.

"Then you can't hire one now. The doctor will have to pay extra for visiting the doctor at night. I can just go to the drug store tomorrow morning. It's cheaper for doctors to sit in the drug store." Huiniang insisted.

Chen Huihong sat in silence for a while, then lay down: "Okay, you can make your own decision."

Then Chen Huihong closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Hui Niang was so drowsy that she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Qin Huai was left standing by the bed, staring at Huiniang on the bed with a serious expression.
To be continued...