A bit after that, Su Tang started to cook dinner for the Song residence. She made a few dishes including stewed chicken with chestnuts, fish ball and bean curd soup, Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs, crisp lettuce salad, and a Bitter Gourd Omelet.
In short, it was the typical four dish and one soup dinner spread, as well as a side of rice, the typical staple food, and some hand-rolled noodles that she had made separately for Pei Xuan.
After all, it was said that it was better to eat noodles after traveling in a carriage. However, once she finished cooking dinner Su Tang noticed she was running a bit behind schedule, so she went to find Pei Xuan’s clothes and took them away to mend while everyone else was eating.
“What about that girl? Why isn’t she joining us?” When Pei Xuan arrived and saw the table was already full of food but Su Tang was nowhere to be seen, he couldn’t help but ask about it.
Pengmo, who was busy setting out all the bowls and chopsticks on the table, briefly stopped working to explain: “The young miss is busy mending your clothes. Master and young master will be able to eat together, but the young miss will be going home to eat once she finishes mending your clothes.”
Pei Xuan looked down at the bowl of warm hand-rolled noodles in front of him and drummed his fingers on the table. That little money grubber might have no conscience and like to cheat people, but he couldn’t just let her work while hungry.
“I’m in no rush to have those clothes mended, just ask her to come and eat dinner with us. She can mend them after the meal.” Pei Xuan said to Pengmo.
Pengmo paused. He opened his mouth was about to explain, but then he saw that Song Yi had entered the room so he just saluted and withdrew. At the same time, Song Yi walked over, sat down, and said: “There’s no need to call Tang’er over. She has a lot of things to do tonight. She still needs to accompany her brother to have dinner later on.”
Song Yi, of course, wasn’t trying to stop Su Tang from eating. He just knew that she truly was very busy at the moment. Every afternoon she came here to his residence to further her studies, so she usually didn’t have much time to accompany her brother.
Su Tang was her little brother’s only relative. Moreover, Su Nuo was still young, and he lacked a sense of security at home because of the things he had experienced before, which was why Su Tang tried her best to make time to go back and eat dinner with him every day. She used these opportunities to talk with him about how his day at the academy went, and also to watch over him while he worked on his homework.
Thus, dinnertime was their rare moment of brother-sister family time. And because Song Yi was aware of all this, he always tried to make sure not to keep Su Tang too long and leave her enough time to get home for dinner. After all, it had always been his principle to respect his disciples’ lives and personal arrangements.
As a result of all this, Su Tang was usually not responsible for cooking at night at the Song residence. However, today, not only had she cooked dinner, she also needed to mend Pei Xuan’s clothes. Therefore, Song Yi estimated that she was eager to finish everything as quickly as possible so she could go home and meet her brother a bit sooner. Because he knew all this, Song Yi didn’t let Pei Xuan call her over to eat.
Pei Xuan frowned and then replied with a slightly muted tone, “What does that little girl have to do that keeps her so busy?”
“Well, she’s much busier than an idle boy like you. And that actually reminds me, I have something to tell you. Your junior sister is going to leave town tomorrow for work, but I’m worried to let her go alone. You should follow her when she goes. And if anything happens you can protect her, all right?”
Song Yi knew a bit about Su Tang’s plans and why she was leaving town, but he didn’t bother to tell Pei Xuan about any of that. He just told Pei Xuan to follow and protect Su Tang.
“What? Why is she still running around outside? !” Pei Xuan exclaimed in surprise.
Song Yi chuckled and said, “Since you’re so fond of her, don’t wear a sullen face all day. Anyway, she’s a smart girl, so you probably won’t be able to win over her in tricks.”
Pei Xuan fell silent, but he didn’t immediately refuse. Song Yi smiled internally. He could tell at a glance that Pei Xuan didn’t really dislike Su Tang, he was just a bit tsundere.
“Who’s fond of her? Her clothes are so scruffy and she’s ugly to boot.” Pei Xuan directly denied it. There was no way he liked that girl!
“I guess this is just like you. You’re just like your father back then. I can tell you for sure that you will be bullied by that little fox in the future, but don’t ask me to make decisions for you when that time comes. I can’t be too partial or she won’t cook and make clothes for me anymore. I really can’t control her.” Song Yi said with a smile.
Obviously, neither of his two disciples really disliked each other, but they still had to act so awkward about things. It seemed they were simply destined foes.
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tl begging corner:
