"Jian Ying, Qin Jian is just being tender to his wife... He can’t bear to tire her out..." Tian Niu took the opportunity to chime in.
"That’s true, that’s true..." Jian Ying nodded repeatedly.
Qin Jian frowned deeply, stopped in his tracks, and said to these two guys, "You two should quit this line of work, better switch careers."
"Why?" Tian Niu didn’t catch on immediately, "We’re doing our jobs well, why change careers? And if we change, what are we going to do?"
"Open a matchmaking agency," Qin Jian threw out the suggestion before striding forward.
"That’s it, we’re being snubbed..." Jian Ying clutched his chest with a stifled feeling, "I put in so much effort, trying to bring those two together. Not to mention, we didn’t take any extra money from him, we worked so hard every day and still couldn’t please anyone."
Tian Niu smiled naively, "I purely enjoy teasing Qin Jian, just to see if his icy face all day can show any other expression?"
Having heard this, Jian Ying both angry and amused, rolled up his sleeves and pointed at Tian Niu, "I think you are really asking for it! Your master hasn’t punished you enough!"
After everyone had left, the courtyard quieted down significantly. An Ping’s friends, Erzhuzi and Liu Xiaolian, were also ready to head home for a meal.
Hao felt a little embarrassed for having tired them out all day and wanted to invite them to stay for dinner.
However, Erzhuzi and Liu Xiaolian declined, "Sister An Hao, with your foot being inconvenient, cooking must be a hassle for you, so we won’t eat here."
"How could I let you leave after you’ve worked all day?"
"What’s there to feel bad about? Xiaolian, An Ping, and I are like brothers in the same trousers. An Ping’s sister is our sister," Erzhuzi said earnestly.
"I’m genuinely happy for An Ping to have friends like you," An Hao expressed her heartfelt gratitude.
"We feel the same way," Erzhuzi laughed with a hehe.
"You guys really aren’t modest," An Ping said with a look of disdain.
Since they didn’t want to eat there, An Hao didn’t insist.
"Wait a moment." She turned back into her room, took out six yuan from her cupboard, "The beef noodles in town are really good. If you have time, go have some beef noodles!"
An Ping happily accepted the money; he still remembered the taste of the town’s beef noodles.
Erzhuzi and Liu Xiaolian were shy about accepting the money but couldn’t resist the temptation of the beef noodles, and in the end, somewhat embarrassedly took it, "Thanks, Sister An Hao. If you need anything, just give us a shout; we’ll come and help you."
"Mhm!" An Hao smiled softly.
After seeing off Erzhuzi and Liu Xiaolian, An Hao was ready to cook.
There wasn’t much food at home, and An Ping took the initiative to bring back two bowls of noodles from his house, along with some potatoes and Chinese yams.
This truly hurt Bai Xue to the core, a real miscalculation; she had thought that once An Hao moved out, there wouldn’t be anyone at home to annoy her.
But to her dismay, the girl was a real troublemaker!
It resulted in the townsfolk pointing fingers behind her back, saying the stepmother was no good, that she had emptied the house, and now here she was making a mess with food.
An Shuchao didn’t care; Bai Xue could only stare helplessly.
This defeat, was indeed quite miserable!
An Ping took the items and went back, An Hao asked him to put everything down.
She then took out another five yuan from her bag and gave it to him, "Tomorrow, you go buy some meat. Tonight, we are going to make dumplings with wild vegetable and pork filling."
"Really? Are we going to have meat? That’s great!" An Ping jumped for joy with the money and left.