Spider Cave

Ruyi frowned. “This couple is really strange.”

As the voices of dissatisfaction were getting louder, she thought of going forward to check with them. However, before she could move, she saw the couple return to their seats and waved their hands to order another bowl of noodles.

Ruyi scratched her head, not quite understanding their actions.

“Can we have the bill?”

“Aye, okay!”

Ruyi retracted her gaze and continued working on the abacus.

“Old man, why did you order another serving?”

Mrs. Kong didn’t quite understand. She thought that he was being crazy. They were unable to pay their bill now. How dare he order some more?

“I have no choice. We were standing there in a daze for so long. It would be embarrassing if people found out that we have no money.”

“But you shouldn’t order another serving.”

Mrs. Kong was so angry that she wanted to slap him. He couldn’t even afford two bowls. Now with three bowls on the bill, how are they going to settle it?

“Don’t be anxious.” Mr. Kong calmed Mrs. Kong down. “Eat first. If we don’t go back after a long time, the men who escorted us here will come looking for us.”

“… What if they don’t come?”

“…”

Mr. Kong didn’t know what to say. He looked at the soup noodles that had just been served. He took a deep breath and swallowed. “Let’s eat first.”

He would think about it later. Coincidentally, the bowl of noodles he finished earlier did not quite fill up his belly. So he ordered another item from the menu and went ahead to eat it.

Mrs. Kong lowered her raised hand eventually. What else could she say when she has such a gluttonous and happy-go-lucky man as her husband?

He ate the bowl of noodles very slowly until there were no more diners left in the restaurant.

After the peak period, Ruyi and her staff had time on their hands now. It was supposed to be their lunch hour, but they looked at each other and did not mention anything. There was still a table of diners left.

Other than some staff who had gone home to eat, there were only Ruyi and a few others staying back in the shop. They had cleaned up the place and the ingredients for the night had been prepared. Even though they were starving, they were too embarrassed to bring up the topic of lunch.

With customers still in the shop, it didn’t feel right to eat in their presence. It would seem like they were trying to chase the diners out of the shop. They would rather wait a little longer. No one took the initiative to mention lunch or chase the customers away.

The few of them gathered together and exchanged looks, wondering what to do. But in the end, all they got was one word, wait.

As the lunch crowd eventually dispersed, Zhuang Zhuang was finally able to come out from behind the counter. After getting approval from Qin Anming, the first thing he did was to stretch his limbs. He walked around the restaurant and greeted the old couple warmly when he bumped into them.

After circling around four or five times, Zhuang Zhuang shook his head in confusion. In the end, he gathered among the crowd and asked crisply, “Uncle, why isn’t my mother back yet?”

When Qin Anming heard this, he looked outside the door worriedly. “She must have been delayed while buying something.”

“It’s been more than two hours. Why isn’t she back yet?”

Zhuang Zhuang stretched out his small hands and counted. He had been watching the time since she left. She had been gone for less than four hours.

“Yo, Zhuang Zhuang misses his mother…”

Ruyi came out from behind the counter and squatted down beside him. She waved the sesame stick gently in front of him.

Zhuang Zhuang blushed. Ruyi had guessed his thoughts. He chuckled and took the sesame stick before eating it in enjoyment.

Seeing how cute he looked, Ling Long and Fu’er joined in the teasing. Zhuang Zhuang smiled foolishly and accepted their teasing without retorting. He felt that there was nothing to hide about missing his mother. He simply enjoyed sticking around her.

Seeing how proud he looked, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you talking about?”

Xiaoguo had just stopped the donkey cart when she heard laughter coming from inside.

When they heard the sound, they all turned to look at the door.

“Woah!”

“… What’s wrong?”

Puzzled, Xiaoguo walked towards the confused group and sat down. She glanced at the two unfamiliar people in the corner and thought that they were just the usual diners so she didn’t pay attention to them.

Zhuang Zhuang quietly put down his arms that were about to reach out and hug her. He took a step back as he did so.

“I’m so tired,” Xiaoguo said as she massaged her shoulders. It had been a long time since she had done any manual work. It was indeed exhausting.

“Did you do any hard labor?”

Qin Anming came back to his senses and looked at her in disbelief. Ruyi and the others also surrounded her in shock. They were curious about what she had done. They thought that she had gone out to get the carriage installed. Why did it seem like she was constructing the carriage herself?

“Hard labor?” Xiaoguo seemed to have thought of something. She reached out and wiped her face, wiping away the dust on her hands. She showed it to them casually. “Look at this.”

“Eeks…”

The people around her dispersed. Even Zhuang Zhuang, who claimed to love her the most, took a step back.

Xiaoguo glared at Zhuang Zhuang. She saw what he did. “Is that necessary?”

“Yes”

After Ruyi said yes, everyone nodded in agreement.

Xiaoguo gave them a curious look. They were exaggerating. It was just a little bit of dust.

At this moment, Qin Anming walked to her side and reached out to remove the cobwebs from her head. “You must have entered a spider cave.”

Looking at the handful of cobwebs in his hand, Xiaoguo was stunned for a second. Then, she subconsciously grabbed at her head.

“…” Xiaoguo looked quietly at the handful of cobwebs in her hand. She really didn’t know that she had come back with a head-full of cobwebs. She was wondering why the people on the streets kept looking at her. So that was why…

The commotion on this side of the shop successfully attracted the attention of Mr. and Mrs. Kong. They put down the bowls that were as clean as a mirror and listened attentively.

“I thought you went out to get the carriage installed?”

Ruyi poured a glass of water for her. Xiaoguo took it and finished it in one gulp.

“I went to install the carriage. On the way back, I made a detour to Mr. Kong’s house…”

Hearing their names, Mr. and Mrs. Kong blinked in confusion. Not many people knew that they had returned home. How did that woman know?

Mr. Kong gestured for her to keep quiet and continue listening.

Xiaoguo took another sip of water and continued, “When I got there, I realized that Mr. Kong and the others had already arrived. Coincidentally, they were moving their luggage at the door. At that time, there was only an old couple moving the heavy luggage. Since I had nothing to do, I helped them move the things.”

“Were they Mr. and Mrs. Kong?”

“No, I thought that it was them at first, but when I asked, I found out that they had come back from the capital with Teacher Kong to serve him and his wife. I heard from them that Teacher Kong and his wife got off the carriage when they reached the county gates to walk around the streets.”

“Oh… If you were just moving luggage, why are there cobwebs?”

As Qin Anming asked, he pulled out a cobweb that was trailing behind her.

“Yes, I didn’t come into contact with the cobwebs while moving the luggage. You don’t know the state of the house. The courtyard is quite clean, but who would have thought that there would be dust and cobwebs in the house? It looked like it hadn’t been lived in for decades, so I helped them to clean up.”

Xiaoguo patted the dust off her body and realized that she couldn’t get everything off no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t realize it when she was working. How could she meet Mr. Kong later in this state?

“Sister Xiaoguo, if Mr. Kong doesn’t accept Zhuang Zhuang in the end, you would have done all this for nothing.”

After Ling Long finished speaking, Fu’er nodded in agreement. If Mr. Kong didn’t accept Zhuang Zhuang in the end, wouldn’t it be a complete waste of effort on her part?

“Sigh, that’s not for me to decide. I’m just doing this out of courtesy. I’m grateful that Mr. Kong was willing to grant Zhuang Zhuang an interview. I can’t plan my course of actions based on the outcome.”

That was what Xiaoguo thought. Even though Mr. Kong had granted Zhuang Zhuang an interview because of Jiang Danhe, the reason she did this was to thank him for giving them the opportunity.

On the other side, Teacher Kong pricked up his ears and heard this. He thought for a moment and chuckled. So it was them.