Chapter 629
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Chapter 629? (Part Four)
The little beggar's extraordinary abilities deeply impressed Qin Huai, who even felt that the little beggar was more suitable to be a fortune teller than Zhou Hu.
He set up a fortune-telling stall, directly asking customers what their wishes were, and would grant them their wishes for a fee, guaranteeing them financial freedom in no time. Then, he was captured by soldiers sent by high-ranking officials and refined into elixirs, becoming the Luan Bird 2.0.
Qin Huai instantly understood why the little beggar, despite having such supermodel abilities, had to mingle with other beggars and beg alongside stones.
Every husband is not guilty, and he is guilty of his crime.
It lacks Bi Fang's high damage but possesses such an overpowered wish-granting ability; it should be more discreet and cautious.
After Stone's wish was fulfilled and he was adopted by new parents, the little beggar had to beg for food all by himself.
Strangely enough, Qin Huai could tell that the little beggar didn't actually want food. He wasn't interested in begging itself; he simply didn't know what to do and wanted to understand the rules of society by interacting with humans in a reasonable way, which is why he kept following the stone to beg.
Now that the little beggar has repaid the stone and heard many things from it, he should logically do what he truly wants to do. After all, during the months he begged from the stone, the little beggar always seemed like a philosopher lost in thought, contemplating the meaning of life.
According to the cause-and-effect model that Qin Huai could understand, the little beggar helped the stone fulfill his wish, and the cause-and-effect relationship between the two had ended. The little beggar no longer needed to make things difficult for himself by continuing to be a beggar.
The little beggar didn't get it.
Stone's departure simply turned the begging duo into a solo act. In terms of fighting strength, the little beggar was far superior to Stone; the physical attributes of spirits were simply better than those of ordinary humans, even the weakest spirits possessed excellent physical abilities. Every day, the little beggar continued to beg at the few prime begging spots Stone had told him about, collecting steamed buns at the back door of Qin's Steamed Bun Shop, and when thirsty, he would take his tattered bowl to the water bucket at the back door of Qin's Steamed Bun Shop to scoop water.
He didn't interact with the other beggars in the dilapidated temple, nor did he offer alms to Scarface. He even got into a fight with Scarface, but Scarface couldn't beat him. The little beggar didn't want to be the leader, so he just went about his business alone, begging like a lone wolf.
The disappearance of the stone did not alarm anyone, except Chunhe.
While throwing a steamed bun, Chunhe casually asked, "Where's the eldest brother who's with you every day, the one you always share half of your buns with?" The little beggar replied that he had found his parents and was no longer a beggar. Chunhe was a little surprised, but she didn't say anything. She just looked at the little beggar with a slightly sympathetic gaze and then quietly threw him an extra steamed bun.
The little beggar obviously didn't understand what Chunhe was sympathizing with, but he still acted as a beggar every day, coming to the back door of Qin's Pastry Shop to collect pastries.
And he's starting to look more and more like a beggar.
His face was no longer clean, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, his thin clothes were dirty and tattered, and he was filthy and smelly. No one would think he was a down-on-his-luck good man anymore. Passersby looked at him with the same disdain and disgust as they looked at any other beggar, sometimes with a hint of pity.
This accelerated memory confused Qin Huai. He realized that he didn't really understand philosophers, so he could only watch it like a movie, following the little beggar around begging for food every day and traveling to every corner of the city with him. Every day passed by in a flash.
Qin Huai felt like he was watching a documentary about the little beggar's growth and emotional journey.
Winter is coming soon.
The little beggar used his savings to redeem the cotton-padded coat he had pawned last year. When the first snow of the winter fell in the area beyond the Great Wall, the little beggar, wearing his dirty cotton-padded coat, went to the back door of Qin's Pastry Shop to collect his pastries and found that there was a beautiful red paper pasted on the back door.
Over the course of the year, the news that Miss Qin of Qin's Pastry Shop regularly had her maid distribute pastries throughout the city had spread far and wide. Every beggar in the city knew about it, and everyone praised Miss Qin's kindness. As a result, the business of Qin's Pastry Shop improved significantly. In the meantime, some idle men pretended to be beggars to collect pastries, but Chunhe discovered this, led a group of people to teach them a lesson, and caused some trouble.
The little beggar wasn't interested in such boring gossip. He wouldn't accept the steamed buns when there was trouble, but would do so normally after things calmed down.
Later, some merchants in the city thought that this way of giving alms to beggars and spending a little money to gain a good reputation was good, so they also began to compete to give out porridge and vegetables. Gradually, fewer beggars came to Qin Ji's pastry shop to collect pastries.
Of course, it's also possible that Qin's Pastry Shop was distributing fewer pastries. Since the summer, the little beggar hadn't received any extra pastries. Chunhe would always go back after distributing them, and then close the door and ignore everything else.
Chunhe recognized the little beggar.
"Little beggar, you're still alive!" Chunhe recognized the little beggar by his cotton-padded coat. Ever since he became filthy, Chunhe hadn't recognized him. Of course, it's also possible that Chunhe was too busy to recognize people.
The little beggar didn't say anything.
“Our young lady is getting married tomorrow. Since you are wearing the cotton coat that our young lady gave you, if you are so kind, come to the street tomorrow to see our young lady off.”
"We'll be scattering wedding candies along the way. When you're eating the candies, remember how kind our young lady is."
The little beggar remained silent, only nodding.
After Chunhe finished speaking, she went inside with her basket. Qin Wan was getting married tomorrow, and as Qin Wan's maid, she had endless chores to do and no time to chat with the little beggar outside.
After finishing his bun, the little beggar didn't return to the dilapidated temple in the suburbs. Instead, he sat quietly against the wall behind the back door of Qin's Bun Shop.
Time did not slow down.
Qin Huai thought he had reached some crucial plot point, so he went through the wall into the backyard to see what was going on, only to find a busy crowd. The yard was covered with red paper, which looked festive, but that was all; it wasn't like the elaborate decorations and red ribbons hanging everywhere in TV dramas.
This is normal. Although Qin's Pastry Shop is famous outside the Great Wall, it's just a moderately well-known pastry shop. To put it bluntly, it's just a snack shop with a little money, but not much. The owner of Taifeng Restaurant was so addicted to opium that he sold the restaurant. When Qin Wan and Jiang Chengde got engaged, some people said that Qin Wan was marrying above her station. This shows that the Qin family was just an ordinary family with a slightly better financial situation, not a wealthy one.
Being able to put up red paper everywhere is already considered quite extravagant.
Qin Huai's movement was very limited. He could only see people busy in the courtyard, but he couldn't enter the house, let alone see Qin Wan. Occasionally, Chunhe would hurry through the courtyard, always carrying something in her hands. Qin Huai could hear Chunhe muttering prayers that it shouldn't snow tonight, otherwise the roads would be difficult to travel tomorrow.
The little beggar sat in the corner of the wall behind Qin's Pastry Shop for the entire night.
As luck would have it, it didn't snow that night.
The little beggar was still waiting at the back door, probably thinking that Qin Wan would leave through the back door, but what kind of bride would leave through the back door? When he heard a commotion outside, with gongs and drums, congratulations from the crowd, and the sound of trumpets, the little beggar realized that the bride had already left and hurriedly ran towards the sound.
A bride's wedding is a joyous occasion, no matter where it takes place. The roadside is crowded with people offering their congratulations, and there are many children running around. Of course, a dirty little beggar like him couldn't squeeze into the crowd and could only watch from afar as the bridal sedan chair passed by and the wedding procession scattered candies into the crowd.
The little beggar couldn't squeeze in, but Qin Huai could. Qin Huai pushed his way through the crowd to the bridal sedan chair. He saw Qin Wan inside, dressed in a wedding gown and covered with a red veil; Chunhe standing beside the sedan chair, her eyes red but smiling; the musician playing the suona with great effort; Master Qin, dressed in formal attire, grinning from ear to ear; and Qin Yanxing, equally cheerful, yawning, clearly having not slept well the night before.
Very lively.
The commotion was so great that Qin Huai didn't even have time to think about what was important about this part of the plot. The little beggar was still lost in thought, like a philosopher, neither speaking nor participating, just a humble bystander.
The bridal sedan chair gradually disappeared into the distance.
The crowd followed, but the little beggar stood still, clutching the two pieces of candy wrapped in red paper that he had just picked up.
Qin Huai looked at the little beggar. His face showed no envy or melancholy, just as calm as before, except for a hint of confusion in his eyes.
If it weren't for the inability to communicate with the protagonist in his memory, Qin Huai would have wanted to imitate Shi Tou's tone and ask the little beggar: "Brother, what exactly are you thinking about and wondering about all day long? Are all philosophers like this? You spend your days either begging or thinking. It's been a year, and you still haven't come to a conclusion?"
No. The wedding banquet was held at Taifenglou Restaurant.
The little beggar couldn't go in, so he could only watch from the sidelines, eating candy as he watched.
Qin Huai couldn't get in either. His range of movement within this memory was very small. The little beggar was too far away, and he couldn't even get through the door of Taifeng Restaurant.
After Qin Wan got married, the little beggar's life trajectory changed slightly.
He still begged for food every day, but he no longer went to Qin's Pastry Shop; instead, he went to the back gate of the Jiang family mansion. Compared to Qin's Pastry Shop, the Jiang family mansion was much larger, with two back gates alone.
The little beggar spent the entire first day squatting by the back door. When Chunhe came out from the back door, she was shocked to see him. She asked him if he was addicted to eating steamed buns and had followed her all the way from Qin's Steamed Bun Shop to the Jiang family's house.
The little beggar nodded calmly.
The next day, Chunhe started distributing steamed buns at the back door of the Jiang family's house.
Just like the previous rules for distributing steamed buns at the back door of Qin's Steamed Bun Shop, two buns for the little beggar and one for the big beggar, and two extra bowls of hot water for particularly cold or snowy days.
The little beggar spent another winter begging for food.
After spring arrived, just like last year when Shi Tou did, he immediately pawned his cotton-padded coat, moved out of the dilapidated temple, and began to live a life of hardship on the streets. Every day, he went between begging for food and the back door of the Jiang family, checking off the list regularly. Apart from begging, he would contemplate life. The boring plot made Qin Huai a little sleepy, and he especially wanted to ask the game system when this memory would end. The audience was about to fall asleep.
To Qin Huai's surprise, he spent several years looking at such a boring memory.
Over the years, the beggars came and went, and the little beggars were like weeds in the field; one died in winter and a new one would grow in spring.
Chunhe got married, but Qin Huai didn't know who she married. He heard it from the people in the Jiang family mansion when he was watching a little beggar receiving a steamed bun at the back gate. After Chunhe got married, Qin Huai never saw her again.
Qin Wan had two sons, the elder named Jiang Weize and the younger named Jiang Weijin. The little beggar wandered around the Jiang family's neighborhood like a surveillance camera, occasionally spotting Qin Wan with her two sons and her sister-in-law Jiang Huiqin.
Qin Wan was no longer dressed like a young girl. She had her hair styled in a woman's bun and, with three children by her side, looked every bit the part of a married woman. She often had a smile on her face when she went out, which showed that she was living a happy life.
When Qin Wan became pregnant with her third child, Jiang Chengde's father squandered the last of their family's assets—the Jiang family's old mansion—on opium addiction. Qin Wan had no choice but to move with her child and husband to a small house, which was said to have been given to the Jiang family by Boss Lu, the new owner of Taifeng Restaurant.
The Jiang family has fallen on hard times.
The original servants either left or were sold, and there was no place for them to live in the small house. There wasn't even a back door, only a front door. Qin Wan started going out to buy groceries, do housework, and take care of the children every day. She had no time, energy, or money to make dumplings to help the beggars.
But every winter, especially when it snows, Qin Wan would make a basket of steamed buns and boil two kettles of hot water, placing them at her doorstep for any beggars in need to take.
Qin Huai felt like he was still watching a documentary, but the protagonist of this documentary was no longer the little beggar, but Qin Wan. The little beggar was like a photographer, or a camera carried on the photographer's shoulder, constantly lingering around Qin Wan, recording and filming Qin Wan's life near the Jiang family's residence, observing Qin Wan's changes, without participating, only recording.
The protagonist of this documentary, Qin Wan, has never seen a little beggar in all these years.
When Chunhe was alive, she was the one who gave the buns to the beggars. After Chunhe got married, this job was taken over by other servants of the Jiang family. Later, when the Jiang family fell into poverty, the buns distributed on snowy days became self-service. Qin Wan, the maker of these buns and the person in charge of this long-term charity project, never showed her face from beginning to end.
Qin Huai began to understand why the little beggar was so persistent in observing Qin Wan.
She truly is a good person, a rare and precious kind of person in this era. Whether rich or poor, she has always persisted in doing her best to help those she wants to help. Many wealthy people in the city have also done charity work briefly for fame or out of momentary goodwill, but they all had something in mind to gain. Only Qin Wan seems to have nothing in mind.
She gave very little, but she kept giving.
Just as Qin Wan said to Chunhe before her marriage, the two steamed buns might not be worth much money, but they could help homeless little beggars get through a winter, even though she had never met these little beggars before.
After watching this documentary for a long time, Qin Huai would sometimes ponder in his moments of quiet reflection how long the little beggar would have to act as a cameraman like this.
The little beggar actually had many choices; he didn't need to beg for food at all.
Having been a beggar for so many years, he has come to understand the rules of the world very well. In fact, because of his profession as a beggar, Qin Huai believes that he can also understand the complexities of people and human nature to some extent.
The little beggar possesses extraordinary abilities, and unlike the phoenix, he doesn't blindly trust humans. If he so desires and is even slightly cautious, he could become incredibly wealthy and live a life of unbridled pleasure.
But the little beggar didn't have any. He begged for food day after day for years, staying by Qin Wan's side, as if only to eat the few steamed buns Qin Wan made.
He didn't repay the stone by going to Qin Wan to ask her to make a wish, nor did he give her any money for the steamed buns. Of course, he didn't have any money to give Qin Wan either.
He was like Qin Wan's fervent fan, following his idol every day and recording her every word and action.
At the same time, he did not do anything out of line, and he never even spoke to his idol.
Qin Huai can only say that he still doesn't understand these philosophers.
Qin Huai even suspected that this long memory would last until the Jiang family moved to Beiping, and the little beggar would follow Qin Wan all the way from the Northeast to Beiping. Qin Huai didn't know when the Jiang family moved to Beiping, but he felt it should be soon. The Qin Wan he saw in Chen Huihong's memory looked quite similar to the one he saw now, so they shouldn't be much different in age.
Sure enough, not long after Qin Wan gave birth to her third son, Jiang Weiming, Qin Huai heard from passersby while a little beggar was begging for food that Taifeng Restaurant was moving to Beiping and that the signboard had been demolished.
The little beggar was obviously less efficient at receiving information than passersby. By the time the little beggar discovered all this, the Jiang family had already moved to Beiping.
The Jiang family could afford train tickets to Beiping, but the little beggar couldn't. His begging skills were far inferior to An Youyou's, and he couldn't get enough money for a train ticket.
Then the little beggar did something really awesome.
He didn't know the way, but he was in good health.
He followed the railway, asking questions along the way, and walked all the way to Beiping.
Walking with the little beggar to Qinhuai in Beiping: ...
Help, buddy, are you some kind of plant spirit? I think your thought process is a bit like Chen Huihong's.
Having read so many memories of spirits, it seems only you and Chen Huihong enjoy running marathons, and even more so, running them on a monthly basis.
There's a giveaway in the comments section where you can win a physical copy of a life-themed game. Interested readers are welcome to participate.
(End of this chapter)