Ink Burns

Chapter 9: The Crane in Painting

As it was getting dark, Huang Zhizhen came with a lunch box, which contained three dishes and a soup. After the beginning of autumn is the season for eating crabs, and he even added two fat and juicy Yangcheng Lake crabs.

Shanyue and Wang Erniang divided the meat, vegetables and crabs. Huang Zhi waited at the door with her hands down after she arranged the dishes. Wang Erniang invited her to eat together, but Huang Zhi waved her hands repeatedly: "The food is prepared for two people, please don't be polite."

Only then did Wang Erniang put down the bowl and Huang Zhi retreated to the door.

Wang Erniang was born in Sichuan. She stepped on the stool and put a piece of stir-fried mutton with dogwood leaves, peppercorns and spring onions in her mouth. She lowered her head and bumped He Shanyue: "She is secretly teasing you."

He Shanyue was calm and collected. He took out eight crab pieces from the bottom drawer of his lunch box: a hammer for crab claws, a forged crab shell, a crab leg claw, a shovel for crab paste, and a fork for crab body.
After finishing a set, my hands were not dirty, and part of my wrist was stretched in my sleeve, like a jade lotus root in midsummer.

"Let her watch." He Shanyue lowered his head and ate a mouthful of crab paste: "No one wants to hire a female teacher with vulgar manners to lead the girls in the family astray."

"Miss He ate all the crabs and didn't touch the stir-fried mutton with green onions; Miss Qin didn't eat the crabs but ate a lot of mutton; Miss Zhou didn't eat the crabs or mutton but only ate the Chinese cabbage seedlings."

That night, in the Zhimu Hall of the Cheng Mansion.

The spots of light were like moths, fluttering on the wooden surface of the elm chest with copper rings.

Huang Zhi stood timidly. On the Eight Immortals Couch in the main hall of the inner house sat the master and the eldest son, who were rarely seen.

The men running around outside made her feel instinctively afraid.

What's more, the old and the young in their family are as friendly as living Buddhas outside, but when they come back, they have never smiled. They always have a stern face, as if everyone owes them two thousand and five hundred thousand.

Even though Huang Zhi was a house-born child, his neck was now shorter than a turtle's.

Master Cheng was the man who led the Cheng family out of the fishing village. A few generations ago, he was a barefoot doctor who applied medicine by chewing grass to people on the beach of Taobao Town. The disease he best treated was coral reef stings on the feet - he just had to pick out the corals with a needle. He did not have any sophisticated medical skills or advanced pharmacology. He was supposed to make a living by supporting his entire family, but Master Cheng was both skilled and courageous. When a county magistrate went on a sea patrol and was bitten on the instep of his foot by a stranded sea snake on the beach, Master Cheng, who was only fifteen years old at the time, pounced on the magistrate and sucked out the snake venom with his mouth.

It's a sea snake. When you are poisoned by a sea snake, you usually get two venomous ...

How do you say something?

God will not let down any ambitious lackey.

Mr. Cheng followed the county magistrate into the city and opened a pharmacy. He later married the eldest daughter of the county magistrate's uncle. When the county magistrate was promoted to prefect, Mr. Cheng also moved his family to Songjiang Prefecture. He had been content with his small fortune until eight years ago when he was hit by another great opportunity - his family's medicine business had expanded to the capital!

The young master who had always been neither high nor low and worried about marriage actually married the daughter of the Tongpan of Yingtian Prefecture! Although she was a concubine's daughter, she was also the daughter of an upright sixth-rank official!

The men and women at home are busy with work and rarely see each other. It is really unbelievable that they gathered together tonight just to hear what the lady they are inviting to the house had eaten.

Master Cheng picked up the white glazed porcelain teacup and took a sip of tea. The broken tea leaves stuck to his teeth. He spat into his wife Duan's hand and said, "How about the crab one?"

Duan knew immediately that the head of the family would have to ask He Shanyue, who eats crabs. Eating is the best way to understand a person's temperament and upbringing. The one who ate stir-fried mutton with green onions is the worst. After eating green onions, the pungent smell on his body will not go away for several days. After eating mutton, he will also smell of mutton. If he is called to work tomorrow, it will be very indecent to carry the smell on his body. The one who doesn't eat meat is too cautious and timid. Who would like him? Moreover, at this time of year, people who know how to eat crabs must have a calm and good manners, otherwise they would definitely not go to the trouble for a few cents of meat. Duan hurriedly patted off the tea leaves in her hand and presented He Shanyue's flowery paper to Mr. Cheng: "The surname is He. I met him once today. He is a dental mechanic who has always been used. He was born in Suzhou Prefecture and broke off his relationship with his family. He used to help people draw in the antique village. He has seen some of the market and is not bad in painting. More importantly, the color is very good, and his words and deeds are impeccable. Except for being a little older, there is no major fault."

Master Cheng asked, "How old are you?"

"Nineteen this year." Duan said.

Cheng Xinghe, the eldest son of the Cheng family, glanced at his father and said, "It's not too old. As long as a woman has never been married, she will taste better when she is older."

Master Cheng glared at his son and said in Songjiang dialect: "Be careful of your mistress, she will pinch you. You, Taishan, will get a promotion next year. Don't go too far in everything."

Then he asked Duan: "What's her personality like? Is she smart?"

Duan said: "He is smart, but also honest."

Master Cheng pondered for a while and said, "For this vacancy, I would rather have a stupid one than a smart one." He paused and asked the one who didn't eat meat, "What about that one?"

"She is younger. Her father is a teacher, so she learned painting for a few days since she was young. She is not as accomplished as He in painting, and she is even more difficult to catch up with in appearance. But as the master said, Zhou has a narrow vision and is timid. She may be more obedient to us." Duan said hurriedly.

"Not good-looking?" Mr. Cheng frowned.

Duan thought for a moment and said, "Like a rat with a sharp mouth." She added, "There is another comparison. He only has a maid to take care of her life. She has her household registration card and name card with her, so she can make her own decisions. Zhou's mother is still in the family, and her grandfather's and uncle's families are still dragging a lot of people."

Master Cheng shook his head disapprovingly: "This is a trivial matter. A lonely person has his own way of dealing with things, and a family with children has their own way of dealing with things - except for this appearance..."

It was difficult to make a decision for a moment.

Cheng Xinghe smiled disapprovingly and said, "Why not just recruit both? One is also a waste of time to feed, and two are also a waste of time to raise. We can just put them in with the existing stock and slowly select them. Who knows, maybe it won't be these two painting 'cranes' that hit the target in the end!"

Mr. Cheng thought about it and made the final decision: "Just do as Xing Zao said."

It was already noon the next day when He Shanyue received the news. The letter was from Huang Zhi again. He congratulated her and explained the rules of tuition, festival gifts, food, clothing, housing and transportation. After the person left, Miss Wang Er cursed: "Damn drug dealer! He is so damn rich! I worked so hard to steal a painting, but I didn't make as much as others!"

The people of Bashu, even women, do not call themselves "old lady". Instead, they treat everyone equally as "old man".

Just like Wang Erniang's fiery temperament, He Shanyue also likes this point.

As the night deepened, the fence outside the post station was gently opened with a creak. One was tall and slender, the other was short and round. Both figures were wearing dark, wide cloaks and wide-brimmed bamboo hats. They lowered their heads and hurried towards the tavern in the southeast.

(End of this chapter)