232 Daily Life
“What Fang Tianliu said made sense.” Zhao Zhan patted Chen Xiaolang’s shoulder. “Then can you be so kind as to drive the carriage back please? It just so happens that Fang Tianliu won’t be using the carriage for the next few days.
“When the shop opens on the tenth day of the New Year, come and pick him up a day in advance.”
Seeing that Chen Xiaolang was about to refuse, Zhao Zhan said in a low voice, “You can’t just leave Doctor Zhou here. If something happens on the way back, do you want to be responsible for it for the rest of your life?”
Chen Xiaolang thought for a while and nodded silently.
He could fall to his death, but nothing must happen to Doctor Zhou.
“If we delay any longer, I’m afraid that it’ll get dark and my mother will be alone at home. Sir Zhao, I’ll be taking my leave with Doctor Zhou first.”
Zhao Zhan was just about to ask him to wait for a moment when he heard Yue Jiaojiao’s voice. He nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll send you and Doctor Zhou out.”
The group waited for Doctor Zhou to enter the carriage before Yue Jiaojiao took out the letter that she had been hiding in her sleeve. “Chen Xiaolang, I’ll have to trouble you to help me deliver this letter to Qian Conreng’s house. Please give it to the woman living there.”
“As for the letter you sent today, let’s pretend it never existed.”
“And these,” Yue Jiaojiao pointed to the basket placed in front of the carriage, “These are some New Year’s goods I’ve prepared for you and your mother. Can you help me bring them back? Just take it as helping Zhao Zhan and I add two more dishes to Doctor Zhou and your mother.”
“Madam Zhao, you’re too kind. I can’t take the things in this basket.”
“My wife gave it to you, so just take it. I’ll get it after going around the back mountain. Zhao Zhan lifted the basket and stuffed it into the car without saying anything. Doctor Zhou, please make sure the basket doesn’t tilt on the way there.”
“Of course.”
“Alright, go back and Madam Qin with the New Year’s Eve dinner.”
Chen Xiaolang nodded gratefully and said goodbye to the two of them before leaving in the carriage.
As he watched the carriage gradually disappear into the distance, Zhao Zhan held Yue Jiaojiao’s hands in his palms to warm them up. “Since it’s been cold at home recently, I’m preparing to make more frozen tofu. When we sell hot vegetables after the New Year, we can add this dish as an additional variety.”
Yue Jiaojiao nodded. “Sure. We’ll do as you say.”
“Although the shop is closed for the time being, we can still sell tofu,” Zhao Zhan said, sharing his thoughts one by one. “We don’t have any fresh vegetables at home in this cold weather. If we can change the taste of the dishes, I think business can still carry on.”
“We can sell them in Huai County as well. The weather is cold, so the soybean products can be stored for an extra day. As for how to deliver the goods to Huai County, we’ll leave it to Manager Zhou to decide. We’ll only take a portion of the profits.”
Zhao Zhan remembered this in his mind and warmed the woman’s ears. “It’s getting cold. Let’s go back and warm up.”
For the next few days, Zhao Zhan, who couldn’t stay idle, brought Fang Tianliu to the warehouse at the back and busied himself. The stone mill had long been moved there. Sun Jiyan was bored and free, so he helped tend to the villagers of Willow Village.
He looked fair and had good medical skills. He also happened to come back after the New Year to visit his relatives and friends. His reputation gradually spread, attracting several nearby villages to look for him as well.
Zhao Zhan was worried that the ruckus in the house would disturb his lover from reading, so he had partitioned out a small area of the warehouse for him to use as a temporary medicine hall.
Doctor Sun had long noticed that Chengfeng was a little tiger, so he took him around the mountain all day to look for medicinal herbs. In any case, ordinary small animals would stay far away from Chengfeng and not dare to provoke them.