Qiu Henian didn't force him to continue, he just said in a very low voice: "What should you do if I hurt you due to my dementia?"
Qingyan looked up at him, her eyes watery, "I'll bite you hard if it hurts."
On the man's chest, there are still faint traces of teeth that have not completely faded away. On the first night, Qingyan took such a painful bite that he regained his consciousness.
Qiu Henian was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about something, and said in a hoarse voice: "There is a fire burning all day long in the shop, and it is very hot in the house."
"Yeah." Qingyan didn't understand the reason why he mentioned this at this time, but she still responded.
After that, the man's voice became even lower and hoarse, and he said, "Isn't it cool to be clear?"
Qingyan was startled for a moment and looked down at himself. He was wearing a cotton robe and a cotton vest outside. The fire was blazing in the stove. Sitting here, he could feel the heat of the flames. He touched his forehead. Only then did I realize that I was sweating.
He was about to reply, "It's quite hot," but before he could say anything, he suddenly realized something and his eyes widened for a moment.
Seeing that he understood, the man took a step back to make room.
Qingyan bit her lip and stood up, her eyes were misty, and she was about to cry with embarrassment, but she was still willing to raise her hand to touch the buttons on the collar and unbutton them one by one...
Even though it was very hot in the shop, the direct contact of skin and flesh with the air still made Qingyan's body tremble slightly.
He just leaned into the man's strong arms, white and tender, and cried in his ear: "You bully me..."
The coat draped over the man's shoulders fell to the ground.
The "thought giant" of the modern world was completely defeated in front of an ancient man.
During the process, Qingyan seemed to hear someone calling the door outside the shop, more than once, but he just couldn't care anymore. His feet were off the ground, and his hands were tightly grasping the arms around his waist and abdomen. The pain was severe. , I want to bite someone, but I can't reach it even if I try hard to turn around.
Later, Qingyan's consciousness became a little blurry. He only remembered that the fire was very red and hot, and he was very thirsty.
The sun has set and the sky is dark.
The surrounding food shops are packing up their stalls and preparing to close their doors and go home.
The blacksmith shop, which had been closed for a long time, finally opened its doors.
Apprentice Xiaozhuang extinguished the stove with quick hands and feet, took a hook and took out the cinders.
He didn't say anything, but he was muttering in his heart. He went out to deliver goods to the town at noon, and his master clearly told him to come back early and stop playing outside.
But when he hurried back, the shop door was closed, and no one answered no matter how hard he knocked.
He thought his master had left beforehand, but the owner of a nearby steamed bun shop assured him that his master was still in the shop.
He had no choice but to wait outside. When it got cold, he would wait in the steamed bun shop.
Later, a woman named Ma from the village came to pick up the iron pot. She knocked on the door for a while, but no one answered. The man got impatient and said he would come back to pick it up tomorrow and left.
Xiaozhuang waited for more than an hour, and the closed thick door was finally pushed open from the inside.
A burst of hot air rushed out from inside. His master leaned over to look at him and said, "I'm back." Xiaozhuang said in his heart, "I've been back a long time ago." He stamped the dust on the soles of his feet and respectfully called out, "Master." " and entered the shop.
As soon as he entered the door, he was stunned, because the master was not the only one in the shop. There was now a thin man lying on the wooden bed where the master had lived for the past two days with his back to this side, as if he was sleeping.
"This is your Master. He caught a cold on the way here. I asked him to rest here for a while." Master said.
Xiaozhuang said "Oh", fearing to disturb his wife, he lowered his voice and said, "I've been knocking on the door for so long but no one answered. Master, are you and my wife both asleep?"
Xiaozhuang was working and talking, and did not pay attention to the expression on his master's face. After a while, there was no response. When Xiaozhuang felt puzzled and planned to look back, he finally heard his master's belated "hmm".
Qingyan was carried home. Fortunately, it was dark at the time. Fortunately, he was no longer conscious, so he was not so embarrassed and panicked.
When he woke up again, it was already midnight.
Qiu Henian sat on the bedside, held him in his arms, and fed him porridge. Qingyan felt uncomfortable all over, the pain was severe, but he was also extremely sleepy. He couldn't open his eyes at all, and he had no appetite. He groaned and refused to eat, and just wanted to continue sleeping.
Qiu Henian's attitude was tough. He said: "Be good, Qingyan, if you don't eat, we will do it again."
Hearing this, Qingyan's body trembled and he subconsciously opened his mouth. He closed his eyes and did not see the face of the person holding him suddenly sinking.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, Qingyan refused to eat any more. He closed his eyes and cried, "I won't live if I eat any more."
The spoon was no longer brought to his mouth, and he was finally able to sleep again.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Qingyan finally woke up.
He heard the sound of pots and pans in the outer room, smelled the aroma of meat in his nose, and suddenly felt hungry in his stomach.
Staggering out of bed, Qingyan put on a robe and walked out of the inner room.
Qiu Henian was using a spoon to scoop out star anise and other spices in the soup, and didn't pay attention to the movement behind him.
Qingyan slowly moved over, bent down, put her arms around his neck from behind, and lay softly on his back.
Qiu Henian turned his head, took Qingyan's wrist with his free hand, and squeezed it gently, "Are you awake?"
Qingyan rubbed her furry hair against the crook of his neck and said "hmm".
The two were affectionate like this for a while, and Qingyan asked: "Didn't you go out today?" He originally wanted to ask, "Didn't you go to the shop today?" But the word "shop" reminded him of yesterday afternoon, when the two of them His feet had never touched the ground, yet he impulsively finished his "thing" just by standing in that place. Qingyan never thought that one day he would be so "shameless".
"No," Qiu Henian responded, "Xiaozhuang is here. If anything happens, he will come to me."
Qingyan was thinking wildly and his face gradually turned red. He tried hard to find a topic to divert his attention, "I heard the chicken crow, have you fed it?"
Qiu Henian said: "I just fed him in the morning. Maybe he is hungry again now. I will feed him some more later."
Qingyan said "hmm" and said, "Where's Aunt Li's yard? Have you swept it for me?"
"Sweep it," Qiu Henian nodded, "Aunt Li gave me a small jar of honey and asked me to tell you that drinking it before meals in the morning can clear your stomach."
Qingyan asked some more questions, and Qiu Henian answered them all.
Afterwards, both of them heard a gurgling sound coming from Qingyan's stomach.
Qiu Henian smiled and said, "You go and wait, I will serve you soup."
Qingyan turned aside and sat on the bedside, happily drinking the overcooked and oily chicken soup.
This chicken is a black-bone chicken. Qiu Henian asked Wang Sanyao to go to the town to buy it early this morning. After buying it, he killed it, removed the hair and internal organs, and immediately stewed it. It took a whole morning to stew the chicken bones. .
After finishing the soup, Qiu Henian packed up the dishes and lay down. Qing Yan leaned softly in his arms and heard him say: "Aunt Li said, are you going to set up a stall in town on the fifteenth?"
Qingyan said: "Well, the balm made by my aunt should be very popular. I also want to try selling some gadgets."
Qiu Henian said: "When the time comes, I will go with you."
"good."
Qingyan stayed in bed for three full days this time. After getting out of bed on the fourth day, her body was not very comfortable, but as long as she didn't do heavy work like fetching water, it wouldn't be a big problem.
This morning, Qingyan left the inner room and smelled a vaguely familiar smell as soon as he entered the outer room. It took him a while to remember what the smell was, and he couldn't help but ask: "Why does it smell like herbs?"
Qiu Henian was sitting on a low stool burning the stove. Hearing this, he looked back and said, "I put some herbs to nourish the body when stewing the chicken."
Qingyan shrugged her nose again, "But it's been two days since I drank the chicken soup. Why does it still smell like medicine?"
Qiu Henian didn't say anything anymore, and Qing Yan took it seriously, so he just asked casually.
After breakfast, Qiu Henian went to the shop.
Qingyan began to prepare for his stall on the 15th Lantern Festival.
That day Sister Lan and Brother Lan came to the house. Sister Lan took a fancy to the top he made, which inspired him.
Qingyan's carpentry work can't be said to be very good, but he has studied some small wooden pieces. He drew a sketch of the gadget he wanted to make, and wrote down the required raw materials on a list.
Aunt Li next door also came over and discussed with him for a long time. Qingyan followed the agreement and wrote down everything she needed.
After lunch, Qingyan and Aunt Li called Qiuniang and said hello to Liu Fa from the tofu shop. The three of them got on his tofu cart and wandered to the town.
After buying the raw materials according to the order in the town, Liu Fa's cattle cart happened to be empty, and the three of them got on it and wandered back to the village.