After that, Song Yi sat down to have breakfast and began to sort out in his mind what he planned to teach Su Tang today.
Meanwhile, Su Tang was busy going through her usual daily tasks. As Zhang Cuilan hurriedly made breakfast, Su Tang had her hands full teaching Su Nuo all morning. Then, in the afternoon, she left Su Nuo to practice his calligraphy alone while she headed off to the Song residence alone.
And during all that, she made some time to make a few more of her milk candies and put them into a beautiful box, which she took with her to the Song residence.
“Master, please try some of this milk candy I made. Is it good?” Immediately after she arrived at the Song residence, Su Tang went and found Song Yi and offered him the milk candies she had made for him this morning.
Song Yi was busy drinking tea when his disciple suddenly appeared and offered him the small, round, and white milk candies. Curious, he reached for one and popped it into his mouth. After a moment, he was shocked by the sweet but also milky taste.
In fact, while making delicious foods with cow or goat milk wasn’t too common in small places like Qinghe Town, you could find it here and there in the capital. Before this he had eaten a dish called Gusulao before, which Su Tang would have recognized as a kind of yogurt, and that dish had a similar taste. However, that dish had come in a large bowl, while the thing Su Tang had given him was very small, and obviously easier to carry and eat, but still equally flavorful.
Song Yi took another at Su Tang and couldn’t help but think that this little disciple of his really had some skills, she was truly worthy to be called a genius.
“Delicious, right?” Su Tang was completely unaware that the milk candies she had casually made had caused Song Yi to reaffirm his evaluation of her once again, so she just stood to one side and looked at him with a mischievous expression on her face.
But when Song Yi saw that, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows. He had long learned that he would always be in for a headache whenever he saw that mischievous expression on Su Tang’s face because, generally, she would only put it on when she had set her mind on something strange again.
“En, it’s alright. Your master has felt your filial piety this time.” Song Yi stroked his beard and threw out these words.
Su Tang gritted her teeth. It seemed that he was determined to play dumb with her.
“Master…” Seeing him like this, Su Tang forced her eyes to turn red and then threw herself into acting pitifully. “Master, this disciple really doesn’t have things easy. Originally, I just wanted to go to the river to catch fish so I could make some fish balls to sell, but now the river has frozen over and my way to make money has disappeared.”
“At home… there are no elders, but there is a little one. This disciple has to care for her little brother, and also teach him to read and write while also earning money to send him to school in the future.”
“This disciple has had many sleepless nights recently. Whenever I remember that I have a responsibility to uphold my father’s household, and that I still need to go out to bring back my poor brother, sister-in-law, and niece, it all becomes too much to bear. I can almost feel my father looking down at me from above with disappointment.”
No matter whether the circumstances really made her feel miserable or not, Su Tang certainly put on her pitiful act wholeheartedly, with reddened eyes that seemed to tell a story filled with countless difficulties.
But was this the first time Song Yi had dealt with this little fox? Seeing her like this, he just looked at her and asked dryly, “So you have no money?”
Heh, in fact, Song Yi had long been waiting for this day to come for this little fox and, after asking that question, he quickly produced a large coin purse from inside of his robe. The coin purse was almost comically oversized, and it jingled loudly as it appeared.
Song Yi opened it to reveal a great many silver taels, and he took a handful out with a flourish.
Su Tang’s pitiful act ground to a halt as she was distracted by the sudden appearance of so many silver taels. All around, she felt she could almost hear the siren song of that rotten thing called money… it was beautiful!
“Want it?” Song Yi watched the little fox staring fixedly at the silver in his hands, and asked in a cheerful tone. However, opposite to his cheerful tone, his expression was like the sinister smile of an insidious and perverted old man who was trying to abduct an underaged little loli.
Song Yi, of course, had no idea that he had been branded as an insidious perverted old man by his little disciple in her heart, but he was able to notice that the way she was looking at him had turned slightly strange. He asked, “What’s the matter?”
But just as that question escaped Song Yi’s lips, he suddenly felt that he was about to eat a big loss after this move.
And, sure enough, after the question was spoken, the next thing he heard was Su Tang heaving a big sigh before saying: “In fact, this disciple hesitated greatly in the past. This disciple always felt a little worried, worried that perhaps she was a little too out of sync with her master, who has a noble character that treats money like dirt. Back then, this disciple could only sigh, because in the end this disciple really does love money too much to give up on this part of herself. But, unexpectedly, even though master supposedly has the noble character that treats money like dirt, it turns out that in reality master was more similar to this disciple than she had ever believed…”
wow