However, it was already late, and it was time for dinner. He asked, "Mom, have you added more dishes for dinner tonight? We are happy today. This is our family’s very first shop. Let’s have dinner with Grandfather and the others here."
"I’ve added more dishes. How could I not? Oh dear, I won’t chat with you anymore. There is still warm meat in the pot." Ms. Wang said and then ran into the kitchen, followed by Land Officer’s wife to help out.
Yang Dachuan and Yang Dayong chatted with the two old masters. Seeing this, Yang Chuxia waved to Brother An, and Ye Zi’an quickly followed her out.
"Silly boy, come here. Your sister has a nice gift for you." She slyly pulled Brother An over and took out a long box from her sleeve.
"What’s this?" Ye Zi’an took the small box and looked at it for a moment.
"You’ll find out if you open it."
Ye Zi’an did as he was told, and a white jade pen quietly lay inside the box. As soon as his fingers touched the jade, a chill was felt.
"How about it, not bad, right? I saw it a few times when I went to that shop to buy pens and ink. But the shopkeeper was so annoying! He refused to sell it to me." Yang Chuxia complained slightly.
Ye Zi’an’s eyes became slightly warm, and he closed them for a moment before they cleared, realizing that this pen was something he’d always wanted as well. At the time, the shopkeeper had asked for thirty taels of silver, and he couldn’t afford that. But every time he passed by, he always wanted to go in and take a look. He never thought the pen would one day end up in front of him.
With a hoarse voice, he asked, "How did he agree to sell it to you?"
Yang Chuxia secretly smiled, "I’ll tell you; the shop owner actually turns out to be a fan of our family’s bean paste. I promised to send him a jar when this batch of sauce was ready, and a jar of drunken crab as well. That’s when he agreed to sell it to me. What a cunning merchant he is."
"Xiaxia, thank you. I really like it."
"Hehe, I knew you’d like it." Yang Chuxia thought to herself. She had heard from the shopkeeper that there was a young man with a leg disability who often visited his shop to admire this pen, who also happened to be quite handsome and have a jade-like physique. She guessed that it must be their family’s handsome young man.
Now, wasn’t it him? What a silly boy! The profit he’d made from working with her was far more than thirty taels of silver, yet he couldn’t bear to buy this pen for himself.
"Let’s go in, I think my mom must have finished cooking." Seeing that Ye Zi’an was still staring at the pen case, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
"When did you buy this pen?" Ye Zi’an held her hand tightly and asked curiously. Every time they went to town, they went together, and he had never seen her buy it. And there was that dagger last time; it was clearly made by the blacksmith’s shop in town.
Yang Chuxia giggled, "You don’t need to ask so many questions. Let’s go, let’s go. I can smell the delicious food. Let’s go in and eat."
Of course, she was joking. This was something she had secretly slipped into town to buy, so how could she tell this boy? Otherwise, she would surely be scolded by Yang Dachuan and Ms. Wang.
Little did she know, Ye Zi’an had already begun to suspect her.
In the house, Ms. Wang had already brought the dishes to the table. There were no outsiders present today, and it was all family, so there was no need to sit separately. Seeing the two coming in, she hurriedly called out, "Brother An, Xiaxia, come and eat!"
"Alright, I’ll wash my hands and come over."