Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 24 It's a pity he eats so much.
Shen Qingzhou never expected to run into Lu Jia under such circumstances.

What puzzled him even more was why this woman always looked so disheveled and indescribable whenever he met her.

Even though this face belongs to six years ago, even though her hair is now disheveled, her face has slap marks, and is covered in mud, her eyes, always ready to fight, make her instantly recognizable.

When the aroma of food filled her nostrils, Shen Qingzhou finally opened her eyes.

The first thing he saw was a tent made of coarse cotton. The light was dim, with the light source located somewhere to his left.

Shen Qingzhou turned his head, and a magnified image of a boy's face came into view. Upon seeing himself with his eyes open, the boy jumped away with a cry of surprise!
"Sis! Sis! He's awake!"

Shen Qingzhou propped himself up on the bed. In the blink of an eye, the boy had already left. The room was small and simple. Apart from the bed he was lying on, there were only two wooden chests stacked against the wall and a wardrobe. There was a table under the window with an oil lamp lit on it.

"So what if you're awake? What's all the fuss about?"

The girl's voice outside the door grew closer, and then the door opened, and Lu Jia walked in carrying a tray. It was their third meeting, and at least she had washed her face and combed her hair again.

Shen Qingzhou let out a long sigh of relief, swallowed hard, and then got out of bed.

Lu Jia walked over, bent down and supported herself on her knees, and looked him over.

Shen Qingzhou was forced to lean back slightly, her face expressionless: "What are you looking at?"

Lu Jia was completely unfazed by him. After looking him over twice, she grinned and said, "You have quite a bad temper."

Shen Qingzhou remained silent.

"Are you hungry? I made you a meal." Lu Jia gestured for Xie Yi to bring over a small stool. "The doctor said you have both qi and blood deficiency, which means you're hungry. Judging from your clothes, you're not short of money, so why haven't you even had a meal?"

After saying that, she dismissed Xie Yi: "Go boil some water and make some hot tea."

Shen Qingzhou looked down at the silk shirt she was wearing, which she had bought for three taels of silver to keep a low profile, and then looked at the coarse cloth clothes he was wearing. She understood what he meant by "not lacking money".

But he said, "I don't eat spicy food."

"I didn't put chili in it for you." Lu Jia brought the food over. "Do you think I'm stupid? You look quite ill, the doctor must have told you not to eat spicy food."

"Here."

She pushed a bowl of rice porridge with minced meat over to him, and then placed a bowl of steamed egg custard and a dish of steamed salted fish with fermented black beans in front of him.

"This is all we have at home, so make do with this."

Shen Qingzhou wasn't a picky eater, and the food in front of him was already quite appetizing.

He couldn't eat spicy food simply because his father, Shen Bo, was in command of troops in another region. Although he and his mother received preferential treatment in Beijing, they had no freedom of movement. He had never been north of the Yangtze River, and naturally, he had never been exposed to these strong flavors.

But she said he was "quite ill"...

He lifted his eyelids slightly and picked up the bowl: "My illness is only temporary, I will get better soon."

The rumors circulating in the capital city were somewhat true; he had been frail since childhood, but it wasn't until two years later that he learned his illness wasn't congenital.

It's just that someone doesn't want his father to have an easy time at the border. Just last month, he suddenly fell into the water. It's all because he, as the "only son" of Grand Commandant Shen, is a target.

After waking up, he stopped taking the tonic pills he had been taking for over ten years. There were some things he needed to take care of when he got back.

Before he knew it, the bowl of porridge was empty, and he hesitantly put it down.

Lu Jia quickly and tactfully refilled his bowl, then sat down curiously beside him: "You starved yourself like this just because you don't eat spicy food? Where are your family? Don't they care about you?"

When she saw him lie down on her feet without saying a word, she thought he was scared by her appearance!

So Lu Jia ran home to call for help, and just then she ran into Xie Yi, who had just returned home. The two of them struggled to carry him back.

The doctor said it turned out to be caused by weakness and hunger!
This guy! This isn't something that's only been going hungry for a day or two. People with families and households wouldn't go to this extent.

Shen Qingzhou stopped the bowl of porridge she was holding at her mouth.

After a long pause, he slowly took a sip: "I have no family."

He was an orphan!

Lu Jia was surprised and sympathetic.

Looking at his pale face and his handsome but not particularly strong physique, she asked again, "So what do you do for a living?" Shen Qingzhou casually shook the thin porridge in his bowl: "Unemployed. I live one day at a time. Sometimes I help people fight to earn some money to fill my stomach."

Lu Jia remained silent. Then she asked, "Do you earn a lot?"

"good."

Lu Jia: "Oh."

Then, staring at the ground, he began to ponder.

Shen Qingzhou glanced at her, comparing her to the person she remembered.

She must have turned fifteen, and she looked much fuller-figured than she did when she was on the run in her previous life.

The Xie family appeared poor, and the young girl was wearing patched clothes. However, her clothes were not patched, and she had rosy skin, shiny hair, and was full of energy. It seemed that the Xie family truly loved this adopted daughter.

This girl risked her life to escape the Yan family to collect her adoptive mother's remains, which shows she has a good conscience.

After finishing his porridge, he looked up and asked, "Is there any rice? This porridge is too watery and not filling enough."

Lu Jia snapped out of her daze: "Yes!"

She turned around and called out, "There's still leftover rice in the rice steamer, Yi-ge, quickly fill two bowls with rice!"

After receiving a response, she looked at Shen Qingzhou, who was calmly eating salted fish and eggs, and her heart pounded in her chest as if a weight had been misplaced.

After what happened today, she deeply felt how wonderful it would be to have someone who could fight by her side. Unfortunately, he ate too much, and whether she could support him was a real question.

Not to mention that they provided him with food and drink and paid him wages.

Qiu Niang quickly brought over the rice and also brought some tung leaf cakes. She said that Xie Yi was boiling water and that they would soon be able to drink hot tea.

Then he greeted Shen Qingzhou a few more times and went out to prepare his medicine.

Lu Jia served him food, then sat there restlessly for a while before deciding to ask, "How much do you usually charge for beating people like the ones we met today?"

His fighting skills today were indeed impressive. If the price isn't too high, she'll hire him on a per-use basis. He'll have to take care of his own food and drink.

Shen Qingzhou pondered: "Ten taels of silver."

She's asking so many questions; she probably wants to give him a reward.

Given Lu Jia's family background, they naturally couldn't afford ten taels of silver.

She gave a lazy "oh".

Shen Qingzhou added slowly, "You don't need to give me anything. You've already treated me to a meal and hired a doctor for me, so that's enough."

He had come to repay a favor from her past life, and it was just a coincidence that he had helped her out of a predicament. If he hadn't mentioned anything, she probably wouldn't have agreed, and might even have become suspicious. If he were to help her again in the future, she would most likely not accept it.

Shen Qingzhou still has her own path to walk and doesn't want to waste too much energy on the entanglements of her past life.

If she wants to pay, then discuss it in the way that payment is expected.

This girl knows how to repay kindness. A meal can be worth ten taels of silver. She will feel guilty and remember her benefactor.

When he comes to visit again, he will certainly not be rejected, nor will his origins or motives be questioned.

Even knowing that she and the Yan family were not on the same side, she was still Lu Jie's daughter, and based on their respective positions, they shouldn't have had too much interaction.

"A meal can offset the payment?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Jia's eyes lit up.

"Great!"

She clapped her hands excitedly, then stood up imposingly: "Then I'll treat you to another meal, and you'll help me beat someone up, okay?"

Shen Qingzhou, waiting for her to rack her brains and repay her in kind: ...

(End of this chapter)