Before closing her eyes to sleep, An Jing was still hugging Xiao Changyi, humming softly, "The most romantic thing I can think of is growing old with you..."
Hearing this, infinite tenderness filled Xiao Changyi’s eyes.
The following morning, An Jing and Xiao Changyi were picking out bad seeds in the yard. These seeds, which they had bought from the town, were for late-season rice and contained quite a few bad ones, which An Jing and Xiao Changyi were currently removing.
They needed to start sowing these seeds in the next couple of days; otherwise, once the early rice was harvested, they wouldn’t have any seedlings for the late rice to plant.
However, while they were busy selecting seeds, Wang Youbao arrived.
As usual, Wang Youbao came by carriage. Wang Youbao was simply too heavy to get down from the carriage without help and still had to be assisted by the carriage driver, which again brought to An Jingxin the thought of advising Wang Youbao to lose weight.
Wang Youbao also brought two taels of plums. As soon as he entered the yard, he handed the plums to Xiao Changyi.
An Jing laughed and said, "For a rich young master like you, why did you only bring two taels of plums? Aren’t you embarrassed?"
Knowing An Jing was joking, Wang Youbao laughed as well, "Isn’t it because I feared you wouldn’t accept anything too expensive?" In reality, his consideration was the reason why he brought just two taels of plums.
"Well, thank you." An Jing took the plums from Xiao Changyi’s hands and went to wash them in the kitchen.
By the time An Jing returned with the washed plums, she saw Wang Youbao and Xiao Changyi: one sitting and picking seeds, the other standing and watching. Neither of them speaking to the other, but An Jing could tell Wang Youbao really wanted to talk to Xiao Changyi but was afraid that Xiao Changyi would ignore him, so he could only stand there and watch.
An Jing found the scene between them amusing but didn’t tease them. Instead, she cheerfully called out, "Come on, have some plums."
She passed the plate of plums to Wang Youbao, who didn’t hold back and took one to eat right away.
Meanwhile, An Jing had already taken one and started eating it.
Wang Youbao, seeing that An Jing did not offer any plums to Xiao Changyi, and Changyi continued sorting seeds, hesitated and then asked, "An Jing, why don’t you give Changyi any?"
"He doesn’t like sour things. Your plums are a bit sour," An Jing answered honestly.
Wang Youbao immediately said, "Then next time I will bring something sweet."
An Jing didn’t want to disappoint Wang Youbao but still said, "He doesn’t like sweet things either."
Feeling a bit sorry for Wang Youbao, An Jing could see that he really wanted to improve his relationship with her husband, her friend. So she added, "Actually, it doesn’t really matter whether you bring anything or not, it’s good enough that you come to visit."
Turning her head, An Jing looked at Xiao Changyi with a smiling face, "Isn’t that right, my dear?"
Xiao Changyi softly replied, "Mhmm."
At that, Wang Youbao smiled again and continued to eat his plum with relish.
"How come you had time to visit today?" An Jing asked Wang Youbao while eating her plum.
Wang Youbao replied, "Business at the restaurant has been slow these past few days, and there’s nothing much for me to do at home, so I thought I’d drop by and see you two."
An Jing: "Then you probably haven’t sold all that thousand catties of fermented tofu."
Wang Youbao: "Sold out."
"Eh?" An Jing was quite surprised.
But Wang Youbao became excited: "Actually, I only used four hundred catties for my restaurant. People in town have indeed gotten a bit tired of it. I kept twenty catties at home for my father to eat; he really enjoys it and still hasn’t gotten sick of it. The rest, I sold to the county’s Nine-Tiered Pavilion."
An Jing’s brows furrowed slightly: "Nine-Tiered Pavilion?"