Su Tang silently expressed her admiration for this person’s shamelessness before patting the hand that was holding her sleeve. “I’m not free in the afternoon. I’ll come over and cook for you this evening though. I’ll have Ms. Lan go and buy the ingredients first, and then I’ll be able to give you a proper reception tonight!”
“Great. I always knew that my Tang treats me best!” Luo Xingchen clung to Su Tang happily.
Su Tang also had a helpless but happy smile on her face. There was no one in this world that truly wanted to live as a singular individual, and Su Tang was no exception. She, like anyone else, also longed to have friends. Back in Sujia Village she had often worked with Su Nuan and had been quite fond of her but, in the end, Su Nuan was a very ordinary farm girl. She was gentle, sensible, clever, and she greatly enjoyed listening to Su Tang’s stories, but that was it. She was still very much a child who was a product of the era.
However, Luo Xingchen was different. Su Tang didn’t know if she would keep meeting more ambitious and worldly girls like her in the future but, for the moment at least, Luo Xingchen was the girl with the most modern outlook that she had met so far.
Having a person who she could talk about cooperation with, who she could do business with, who she could speak her mind to, it created good feelings, not just for Luo Xingchen, but also for Su Tang.
“Anyway, let’s discuss more later. All of your bedding from last time is still in the main room so go and get some sleep first.” From the moment she saw Luo Xingchen today, Su Tang could tell at a glance that the other girl had been working very hard because her face looked tired and travelworn, with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.
The cup of tea that was made with ingredients from the space would have refreshed her a little bit, but it was still important that she get some real rest. Of course, when Luo Xingchen heard Su Tang say that, she agreed with a tired smile, “En. I’ll go and get some sleep and then see you again later this evening.”
Su Tang made sure the other girl really went to rest, and then left with Su Nuo over to the Song Residence. Then, later that evening, Su Tang came back with Su Nuo in tow, carrying a basket on her back.
When Zhang Cuilan saw Su Tang coming over carrying a big basket filled with many things she hurriedly went over to take it while saying, “Young miss, in the future, let this servant buy whatever you need.”
“It’s fine!” Su Tang agreeably passed the basket over to Zhang Cuilan. In fact, the reason why she had brought this basket over herself was because inside it were ingredients that had been taken from inside her space. Su Tang felt it would be a terrible waste to spend money to buy ingredients that she could get for free herself and, on top of that, the ingredients from the space tasted better than the ones outside anyway. That was why she had asked Zhang Cuilan to buy certain ingredients that she couldn’t harvest from her space while bringing the rest herself.
“Ms. Lan go ahead and prepare these two fish, and Baohe, you wash and cut up these vegetables!” After arriving in the kitchen, Su Tang quickly issued instructions.
Zhang Cuilan and Baohe worked efficiently and the fire was soon stoked and ready, just waiting for the dishes to be cooked over it.
As the two people moved to attend to their tasks very quickly, Su Tang didn’t just continue to stare at them, instead, she headed off to the main room to check on her guest. There she found Luo Xingchen, who was already awake and changed into fresh clothes, sitting in front of the desk with a cup of tea close at hand while she looked down at something with a serious expression.
When she heard Su Tang enter the room, she looked up and asked, “You’re back?”
Su Tang raised an eyebrow. “Why does this scene feel like the little wife who is waiting for her husband to come home?”
Luo Xingchen laughed and joked. “If that’s the case then shouldn’t I be the husband while you are the little wife?”
After that, her face turned serious and she motioned for Su Tang to sit down, “Come and take a look with me, where do you think would be the best place to build the sauce factory?”
It turned out that she was looking at a map and trying to choose the location for the sauce factory. When she understood that, Su Tang asked Baohe to warm her a glass of milk before also sitting down and saying, “It needs to be somewhere that’s convenient to transport goods to and from, and it would be better if it could be a bit remote.”
It was a pretty simple suggestion, but hearing it caused Luo Xingchen’s eyes to brighten. “You’re right, it needs to be convenient to transport the raw materials there and the finished products away, and it will be less noticeable if it’s a bit more remote.”
With that in mind, Luo Xingchen set her sights on a particular place, “This area seems to be pretty good. What do you think Tang?”
Su Tang glanced at her and replied, “You have good eyes.”
