Chapter 628
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Chapter 628? (Part 3)
For the next period of time, his companions took the little beggar to the back door of Qin's Pastry Shop to beg for food every day, rain or shine.
During this time, Qin Huai learned the name of his companion, Shi Tou, a veteran beggar who had been begging since he could remember. He was good at picking up new beggars like Gouzi and Xiao Qigai, who had come from relatively well-off families and were relatively honest, to be his underlings.
Qin Huai also basically confirmed that this memory is quite long.
In the mundane days when Stone led the little beggar on his daily begging journeys, time seemed to fly by, except when they entered or left the city. To be precise, as long as the little beggar remained in one place without moving, time was in fast-forward, demonstrating that there was nothing particularly interesting to watch during their begging days.
There really wasn't anything worth watching.
Neither of them had any real skill in begging. Shi Tou was a bit more persuasive, but compared to An Youyou and her gang, he was nothing. The two of them were able to eat their fill every day solely because Qin Wan made a lot of black-faced steamed buns.
The number of beggars at the back door of Qin's Pastry Shop increased day by day, and the amount of black-faced pastries Qin Wan made also increased day by day. At first, Chunhe would carry one bamboo basket out to spread the pastries, but later she started carrying two. At first, she would say a few words before spreading the pastries, but later she became too lazy to say anything and turned into a ruthless machine for spreading black-faced pastries.
As agreed, the little beggar would share half of the steamed buns he received with Stone. Stone reciprocated by taking the little beggar with him to any good begging spots, and during the New Year, he led the little beggar to kowtow all over the city.
Of course, Qin Huai could tell from the little beggar's expression that he didn't really want to kowtow; he was simply following local customs and had no choice but to.
The two beggars survived the winter.
Spring arrives in an instant; not only ducks are the first to know when the river warms, but even the beggars in the city can keenly sense it.
Almost as soon as spring warmed up, Shi Tou couldn't wait to pawn his tattered coat and buy two of the cheapest vegetarian sesame cakes from the cheapest pancake stall in the city, enjoying a hearty meal.
The little beggar clearly didn't understand Shi Tou's hedonistic behavior. He didn't pawn his cotton-padded coat, nor did he have money to buy sesame cakes. He just sat quietly by the roadside watching Shi Tou devour his sesame cakes.
"Aren't you afraid of freezing to death if the temperature suddenly drops in a few days?" the little beggar asked.
"You just don't have experience. It's springtime, how cold can it get? You won't freeze to death." Stone was happily munching on a sesame seed cake.
"Every year before winter, you save up money to redeem the pawned coat you pawned in the spring, and then you pawn it again in the spring. You sell it cheaply, but buy it expensively, just so you can eat two sesame cakes at this time?" The little beggar clearly did not understand Stone's behavior.
“You don’t understand. Now that it’s warm, there’s no use in having a padded coat. You can’t wear it all the time, and if you hold it in your arms, someone might snatch it. If you hide it in a dilapidated temple, someone might steal it. It’s definitely more worthwhile to pawn it and get some money.” As he spoke, Shi Tou glanced at the dirty cotton coat on the little beggar. “You should pawn yours too. It’s definitely worth more than mine.”
The little beggar didn't say anything.
Stone was used to the little beggar's occasional ignoring of him. So what if he had a rebellious follower? No problem, he could tolerate it, since the little beggar would always share half of the steamed buns with him.
Stone continued sharing gossip: "Have you heard? Miss Qin and Young Master Jiang, the former young master of Taifeng Restaurant, are engaged and will get married at the end of this year."
"I heard you."
"Sigh, once Miss Qin gets married, we won't have any more steamed buns to eat. I wonder how long we'll be able to eat them. Do you think Miss Qin will still make steamed buns for us every day after she marries into the Jiang family? Should we go and guard the back gate of the Jiang family's house? I know where the Jiang family's house is."
The little beggar glanced at the stone expressionlessly and asked, "Didn't you say that Miss Qin made steamed buns for us every day to earn a good reputation for herself and make it easier to discuss marriage with Young Master Jiang? Now that the two of them are engaged, Miss Qin no longer needs that good reputation, so why does she still make steamed buns for us? Why do you think she will still make steamed buns for us after she gets married?"
Whether he was choked by the little beggar's words or actually choked by the sesame seed cake, Shi Tou coughed violently several times, his face turning bright red. After a long while, he finally said, "I...can't I even think about it?"
"I think Miss Qin is a really nice person. She's a good person. No one in the city has ever given out steamed buns all winter long like her, and she even gave them to little beggars like us."
"Didn't you notice? When Chunhe was handing out steamed buns, she only gave two to us little beggars, while the big ones only got one. She gave us the big ones and gave them the small ones."
The little beggar looked at the stone and asked, "So now you think, why did Miss Qin give us steamed buns?"
Shi Tou rolled his eyes: "Hey, you've been asking me this question all winter, aren't you tired of it yet! How am I supposed to know why Miss Qin is giving us steamed buns? Maybe her family has a lot of food, or maybe Miss Qin is a Bodhisattva reincarnated who likes to do good deeds."
"We're just two beggars, why are you thinking so much? As long as we have food to eat, that's enough."
The little beggar remained silent.
Stone continued munching on his sesame seed cake with a bad attitude. When he finished the cake and wanted to get some water, the little beggar suddenly stood up and said to him, "Theoretically speaking, if I were begging on the street alone in winter, wearing only two thin layers of clothing, I would definitely freeze to death."
Stone nodded smugly.
"It's good that you know. You're only alive because of me."
“But if you hadn’t been beaten by others, and they hadn’t thought I was with you, they wouldn’t have hit me, and I wouldn’t have hit them back. You wouldn’t have clung to me and insisted on taking me to the ruined temple, and I wouldn’t have become a beggar.”
Stone:……
Stone shouted, "What do you mean I'm going to pester you and take you to the dilapidated temple? If I don't take you to the dilapidated temple, you won't even have a place to stay. What else can you be if not a beggar? Do you expect to walk down the street and be picked up by some rich family and taken home as a young master? Stop daydreaming."
"So, logically speaking, you saved my life." The little beggar looked at the stone.
Stone became smug again: "Good to know. In the future, share half of the good things you want with me and repay me properly."
"If I could grant you one wish right now, any wish would do, as long as you make a wish to me, what would you like to wish for?" the little beggar asked.
Stone looked at the little beggar with a "Are you out of your mind?" look again, and after a while, he chuckled: "Hey, you didn't actually believe the storyteller's tale of the Snail Maiden and some other story about repaying kindness, did you? Making a wish? Who do you think you are, some kind of god?"
"If I could make a wish, I would wish to be an emperor, lying around all day doing nothing while being waited on hand and foot, with plenty of food and drink. Black flour buns—no, white flour buns—I would eat one and throw the rest away, and that pig's head meat and mutton soup, I would eat them until I threw up every day!"
The little beggar looked at the stone with an expression that suggested you weren't even making a proper wish.
Stone was completely oblivious to the little beggar's gaze, and as he spoke, he began to boast to himself: "But all of this is just talk. There are no emperors anymore, so you can't be one even if you wanted to."
"Let me think about it. What if there really is a god who can grant my wish?"
"I want to have parents."
"Father and Mother?" the little beggar repeated, puzzled.
"It's so good to have parents." Stone looked longingly. "When Gouzi had parents, he didn't have to worry about food or clothing. He could go to school. If someone bullied him, he could go home and tell his parents and wouldn't get beaten up."
“His mother would sew clothes for him, take care of him when he was sick, hold him when it thundered, and comfort him when he cried.”
“His father would buy him candy, dough figurines, and take him to temple fairs.”
"If I had parents, I wish they would treat me like this. Unfortunately, I have neither. I've had any memories since I can remember, I don't even know my own name. Even Gouzi had a formal name before, something like Wang Shujin, which was incredibly difficult to pronounce. But I don't have a name. I gave myself the name 'Stone.'" "Same as you."
"Hey, what was your name before?"
“I told you, I don’t have a name,” the little beggar said calmly. “I know, you don’t want parents, you want parents who treat you well like Dog’s parents.”
Stone snorted coldly: "You really think you're a god? If you were a god who could grant any wish, I'd kowtow to you three times right now, no, 30 times would be fine."
The little beggar didn't say anything and followed the stone to find water.
Qin Huai stood to the side, carefully observing the little beggar's expression. His intuition told him that the little beggar's question was probably not casual, after all, the little beggar was not a talkative person, he didn't even talk much.
Throughout the winter, the little beggar barely spoke unless he was very insistent on why Qin Wan made dumplings to give to beggars and why she gave him a separate cotton coat.
Many times he was like a philosopher, pondering who I am, where I come from, and where I am going.
After the start of spring, there were more places to beg for food. Shi Tou dutifully led the little beggar to every place in the city that he had scouted out last year and thought was suitable for begging. Along the way, they fought three times with other beggars for territory and were chased away four times by the shopkeepers and their employees. During this time, he also took the little beggar to see the legendary Taifeng Restaurant.
It's quite impressive. Qin Huai thought that this Taifeng Restaurant outside the pass was comparable to the Taifeng Restaurant in Beijing, and the plaque seemed to be the same one.
Taifeng Restaurant was very popular, with a constant stream of customers, including high-ranking officials and dignitaries. When Shi Tou led the little beggar to Taifeng Restaurant, they only dared to look from afar and did not dare to get close.
"See? If I could have a meal in one of these places in my lifetime, I'd die happy," Stone exclaimed.
"If you could eat one meal at Qin's Pastry Shop in your lifetime, you'd die happy; if you could eat 10 candied hawthorns, you'd die happy; if you could eat pig's head meat, you'd die happy; if you could drink mutton soup, you'd die happy. You'd die many times in your life," the little beggar sneered.
Stone:……
Because they had money to buy sesame cakes after pawning their coat that day, Shi Tou didn't lead the little beggar to beg for food at the back door of Qin's Pastry Shop. Of course, this good day could only last one day; the begging duo went back to begging the next day.
Spring lotus still produces steamed buns.
Qin Wan's successful engagement did not stop her from doing good deeds, but because of the arrival of spring, Chunhe stopped giving each little beggar two steamed buns and started giving them only one. The beggars also had no hot water to drink, so Chunhe would fetch a bucket of well water every noon and place it at the back door, and those who wanted water could come and fetch it themselves.
After drinking the well water, the stone exclaimed from the bottom of its heart:
"Miss Qin is such a good person. Good people are rewarded. She will surely live to be a hundred!"
The little beggar remained silent and offered no comment.
The two beggars continued begging for food for another week after the start of spring.
Then Stone was adopted by a farmer.
The adoption story is quite legendary. When the farmer went to the city to buy things, Shi Tou took the little beggar to the begging spot as usual and kowtowed to beg for food. Originally, the farmer's wife was just trying to give Shi Tou a sweet potato out of kindness, but after seeing Shi Tou's face, she suddenly burst into tears.
It turned out that the farmer's only son had drowned last year, and Shi Tou looked about five-tenths like the farmer's son and was about the same age. The farmer's wife insisted on taking the little beggar home and adopting him, and the farmer agreed. That's how Shi Tou got parents.
Stone was completely dumbfounded.
At first, he thought the farmer was a slave trader trying to kidnap him, so he shouted for help. After the farmer led him to the shop he had been longing for, where he ate a meal of pig's head and drank a bowl of mutton soup, he stopped shouting. In Shi Tou's words, he felt that he had eaten this meal and it was worth dying for. Even if the slave trader wanted to chop him into pieces and kill him, he would accept it.
As for the little beggar, the farmer had no intention of adopting the two children.
Shi Tou made an excuse to say a few words to the brothers who were begging with him. Before returning with the farmers, he ran to the dilapidated temple and stuffed all his savings—the money left over from selling his coat—into the little beggar. Then he kowtowed to the little beggar 30 times.
It's not about making a loud bang; if you bang your head 30 times, the stone's head will break.
After kowtowing, Shi Tou felt a little dizzy and his speech was also a bit slurred. The way he looked at the little beggar had changed, and he asked with great reverence, "Are you a deity?"
“No,” the little beggar said.
"Then you must be a fairy."
“No, not really,” the little beggar said. “You have parents now, so I’m repaying you.”
The stone looked at the little beggar with eyes full of respect.
"So...do you still want food? Do I need to offer you things every year? Is it enough to burn incense for you, or..."
“No need,” the little beggar said. “You told me your wish, and I fulfilled your wish. That’s enough.”
"You saved me, and I saved you."
"The dog is dead, but you won't die."
Stone didn't understand, but he seemed to understand a little bit. He kowtowed three more times to the little beggar and left to go home with his new parents.
Qin Huai was dumbfounded.
At this moment, Qin Huai had only two words in his mind.
Holy crap.
Holy crap! ...
What's going on? What kind of spirit is this little beggar? He's so awesome! A wish-granting spirit?
Luan bird?
Are phoenixes really that awesome?
No wonder my buddy always has that philosopher-like air about life, as if worldly affairs are nothing to him. He's got real confidence.
For some reason, Qin Huai suddenly felt that Shi Tou had lost out.
He did not promise to become emperor.
(End of this chapter)