Chapter 15 Restaurant Sightings (2)_1

It was already past lunchtime, the restaurant had very few customers; only four or five men in long robes were huddled around a table, sipping their wine as they discussed poetry and occasionally recited a few lines that were indeed very pedantic.

The shop assistant approached them, noting that Caiwei and Lady Du were dressed in ragged clothes and did not seem wealthy. He nonchalantly asked, "What will you have, esteemed guests?"

Caiwei, twirling a lock of her own hair and laughing, said, "We'll have a plate of Stir-Fried Real eggs with Chili Peppers please!"

"What? What kind of eggs?" The shop assistant was baffled, "I've been working at this tavern for over a decade, I've heard of chicken, duck, goose and bird eggs, even, quite bizarrely, cow, sheep and pig eggs, but I've never heard of a real egg!"

"Oh? Is that so?" A fleeting chuckle appeared in Caiwei's eyes, and then she said, "In that case, never mind. We'll have a plate of Crystal Jelly please?"

"Crystal Jelly? What is a Crystal Jelly?" The face of the shop assistant slightly dropped: "Are you here to poke fun at this humble establishment? Just making up names of dishes that I've never heard of? I've been a busboy for over ten years, I've never heard of these 'Real egg' or 'Crystal Jelly'? What is a Crystal Jelly?"

"Crystal jelly is a type of jelly that's half clear, half cloudy! Surely, you must have it?" Mu Caiwei asked patiently.

The shop assistant, rolling his eyes, said impatiently: "No, we don't…"

Caiwei was not annoyed by the shop assistant's rude attitude, and she cheerfully ordered two bowls of vegetable noodles and a dish of stir-fried shredded potatoes, and then began to eat slowly with her mother.

At this moment, she was in high spirits, because another plan to get rich had already formed in her mind!

At the next table

The few men in long robes were still slowly sipping and shaking their heads as they competed in composing poetry. One of them, the man in the purple silk robe, glanced towards the entrance repeatedly and complained, "Why isn't Brother Hanwen here yet?"

As he murmured, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a white-faced scholar came rushing in. As soon as he entered, he apologized profusely: "Gentlemen, I am extremely sorry. Something happened on the Front Street just now, and I was too engrossed in it and thus, arrived late. I'll punish myself with a drink."

After saying that he reached for the wine pot, the man in the purple silk robe stopped him and said, "Hold on Brother Hanwen, don't rush to drink your wine. Why don't you first tell us what caused you to be late for our poetry society meeting? If it was something worth being late for, we'll let it slide, but if not, you'll have to drink a whole pot."

The one called Hanwen didn't decline, he sat down at an angle and said excitedly, "Do you all remember the old beggar who often begs for food at the entrance of 'Fragrance in the Bone'?"

Someone said: "Of course, that old fellow has been in our town for eight or nine years. He's always rambling and mysterious, if not for the benevolent heart of the old shopkeeper at Li Family's Record and Cloth Store who occasionally gives him some food, he would have starved to death long ago."

Hanwen said, "Well, now that old beggar is not far from death. It was his bad luck, today he somehow managed to beg a pot of wine, drank until he was utterly drunk, and fell in the middle of Front Street. Who would have expected that a horse carriage would be startled, its big hoof directly stomping on his chest, and then the carriage ran over him. The old beggar vomited blood on the spot and the driver fled. It was only when some kind-hearted people passing by rescued him and took him to the medical center. The doctor said his injuries were too severe and there was no chance of survival. The shopkeeper of the medical center, frightened of bad luck, had people carry him out. Now, he's just left out on the street near the vegetable market, breathing less, exhaling more, barely hanging on."

The young master in the purple silk robe sighed: "Ah, such a disaster to have befallen him during the New Year, truly pitiful!"