On the way, the couple encountered a lot of things. Shao Yan had never noticed that there was a grandmother who had been selling fresh cut flowers near the corner from her office building. The weather had changed from hot summer to cool autumn, and yet the old grandmother only had a thin sweater on her, as well as a worn-out wool hat.
Shao Yan decided to buy the rest of her flowers; around five bouquets total, in order to let the grandmother to retire early for the night. The old grandmother was so happy; that she kept thanking her, and wrapped the bouquets prettily with more care than usual.
The next person she met was an old man who was pus.h.i.+ng a cart across the street from them. It seemed that he had just wrapped up for the day; Shao Yan could see it was a cart to sell noodles. Three plastic chairs were stacked and tied up on top of the cart. A bucket made from an old biscuit tin was hanged by the side of the cart; which she a.s.sumed this tin was to keep the money that he received during the day whenever he served the noodle, so people could just drop the money inside.
Shao Yan turned to the side and looked at Li Xiqing, who was also staring at the old man. She squeezed her hand within his warm palm, and Li Xiqing swiftly turned to look at her.
"Do you mind having late dinner? Let"s help him for a while," she said to him while looking around at the traffic road, looking for a chance to cross the road.
Li Xiqing was surprised at her initiative, he did not answer her, but instead, he pulled her hand gently and started to walk to the old man. Caring, selfless wife, beautiful moon, and a happy heart. What more could he ask for.
They finally reached the hotpot restaurant around nine in the evening. It was a simple home-based establishment. The owner was an old husband and wife couple who had been running the restaurant for almost twenty years. It was still using the most traditional method of hotpot.
Meaning, there was no fancy broth selection, only one was available. Pork bone broth was personally cooked overnight by the wife. Thin layers of meat were freshly sliced by the husband upon every order. Mushrooms, vegetables and other side dishes were also prepared by the husband and wife. They even prepared fried garlic oil for condiments. Overall, every ingredients was prepared fresh and with the utmost attention to detail.
"What should we order?" Shao Yan was wiping her hands using the warm cloth that was given by the restaurant"s lady boss. Li Xiqing was wiping the saucers and chopsticks for both of them to use. "You can decide, but don"t order too much, it"s already late, let"s not eat too full," he said without lifting up his head.
He prepared two small plates for condiments to dip the meat in; one with chili pepper for himself, and one without for her. After he was done, he was about to say something to Shao Yan, when he felt a gentle cool breeze blew pa.s.s him.
Li Xiqing was already seated with his back against the door to let Shao Yan sat further inside, so that she was s.h.i.+elded by his body. When he felt the cool wind, he lifted up his face to look at her, "Wait for me for a while," and then he stood up and walked to the lady boss who was standing near the door to the kitchen area, "Auntie, can I also order one cup of hot ginger tea?"
Lady boss was preparing their bowl of rice when Li Xiqing spoke to her; she beamed at him, and quickly said, "Of course, of course you can. Aiyah~ Your girlfriend is cold, isn"t she? You are so attentive. It is so cold outside, ginger tea will indeed keep her warm." She quickly put down the rice bowl in her hand, and reached out to take a clean teapot to brew some hot water. "Young people nowadays, they do not know much about ginger tea and its benefit anymore. Young man, how did you know these things?"
Li Xiqing slowly smiled at her, at the same time, he also helped her to get the two teacups that were a little out of her reach. While pa.s.sing the cups to her, he said, "My mother had repeatedly told me in the past, that women"s body tends to be cold. So she taught me how to brew ginger tea for her and my sister."
Lady boss heard his reply, and her already smiling face, had an even more joyful look. She laughed and patted his hand repeatedly, "Wise mother. So fortunate. She"s so lucky to have you as a son. You go back to your girlfriend. Once this is done, i"ll deliver this to your table, alright?"
When Li Xiqing sat down again, Shao Yan was looking at him quizzically. His lips slowly curved up, and nodded at her, "It"s nothing, don"t worry."
Shao Yan pursed her lips and wanted to ask more but she decided to drop the topic. She grabbed her gla.s.s of water and started to sip on it.
Not long after, their table was quickly crowded with all the ingredients that Shao Yan had ordered. Shao Yan was not a fan of lamb meat, so she only ordered beef brisket and fish fillet. She ordered a lot of vegetables because she knew Li Xiqing loved them.
When he put in the order to the lady boss, he saw that Shao Yan only ordered everything that he loved to eat, and nothing for herself. So he also added mushroom and tofu because he knew how much Shao Yan loved to eat them. At the end, their order came to a table full of fresh food, which could feed the entire army camp.
Shao Yan looked up at Li Xiqing, dumbfounded. Her mouth gaped open and her eyes was so surprised, they went so big and round, "How are we supposed to finish all of these, Xiqing~" she felt like she wanted to cry.