Chapter 95: Crack! Crack! Crack! Hiss!!!

After fetching two thermoses of boiling water and shutting the door, the two of them entered the hidden space once more.

The lamb soup and roasted lamb chops were ready as well. Zhou Sinian naturally went to ladle the soup, while Ming Dai took six steamed buns.

There was no time to make flatbread, so buns would have to do for now.

Delicious lamb soup began with soaking a bun in it.

Neither of them could lift their heads while eating. The fresh lamb had been stewed into rich fragrance without much seasoning at all, and the charred, savory lamb chops had an especially distinctive flavor. It was utterly satisfying.

After the meal, Ming Dai made Zhou Sinian bathe, brush his teeth, and smell himself to make sure there was no scent left before she finally let him go back.

Zhou Sinian was unhappy because she had forbidden him to use the rose-scented body wash. He kept fiddling with the little floral strap on his basket and simply would not leave.

Ming Dai sighed in resignation. “Brother, you can’t sleep here. The two of us would be arrested as indecent people!”

Zhou Sinian blinked. “But we’ve slept together before.”

Ming Dai: Nonsense! I did no such thing!

“Before, it was in a thatched shed. There was a pile of firewood in the middle, dividing it into two rooms, and Sister-in-law Huang was there too. That doesn’t count as sharing a room. Remember this: I never slept with you!”

Zhou Sinian did not understand. “Then why did you make me sleep with them? Can’t you go sleep over there? I don’t want to sleep with them. They smell bad.”

Ming Dai had a headache. “I’m a woman! Brother! Women can’t sleep with men!”

Zhou Sinian said plaintively, “Then can I be a woman?”

Ming Dai: “No!”

Zhou Sinian was heartbroken. With his big basket on his back, he looked at Ming Dai with the eyes of someone betrayed by a scoundrel.

Ming Dai took a deep breath, hugged the bedding they had brought, and said, “Come on, I’ll take you back.”

Only then did Zhou Sinian follow her, reluctantly, to the room that Liu Dazhu and the others had rented.

After they knocked and went in, they saw that an extra bed had been added to the room, specially requested by the brigade leader.

Zhou Sinian was unhappy. As soon as he entered, he stood by the door, his face dark, staring at the four people who did not dare make a sound.

Liu Dazhu and Liu Qingmin exchanged looks and felt that the night was going to be a rough one.

Ming Dai placed the bedding on the empty bed at the innermost side, then pulled Zhou Sinian over by his sleeve and took out two big milk-candy drops for him. “You’re sleeping here tonight. Eat the candy first, then go wash up. Tomorrow morning I’ll take you to the state-run restaurant for buns.”

Holding the candy, Zhou Sinian’s mood improved a little. He touched the familiar quilt on the bed and nodded obediently, sitting down to eat the sweets.

Ming Dai breathed out in relief, then turned to the four people huddled in the corner by the wall.

“Uncle Brigade Leader, how did the talks about delivering vegetables go?”

Liu Dazhu sat on the outermost bed and said quietly, “It’s settled. Tomorrow morning we’ll deliver half of them first thing. After the leaders have eaten, the chef will discuss buying the vegetables. We also gave the chef half a jin of chives and two jin of mushrooms to build a connection. We’ll deduct that from the账 later.”

Ming Dai nodded. “All right. Thank you for your trouble, Uncle. Then I’ll go rest first.”

She turned and looked again at Zhou Sinian, who was obediently eating candy. “Zhou Sinian, remember to brush your teeth later.”

Zhou Sinian nodded to show he understood.

Under the reluctant gazes of the four people, Ming Dai opened the door and left.

The four of them sat on the bed near the door, watching Zhou Sinian inside with caution.

He chewed the milk candy, using his fingers to flatten the wrinkles in the candy wrapper bit by bit before carefully tucking it into the inner pocket of his coat.

After finishing the candy, Zhou Sinian stood up, opened his big basket, and took out his wash things one by one.

When the four saw the two brand-new enamel basins and the two different towels, their mouths all fell open.

Only after Zhou Sinian went outside to brush his teeth did the four dare exhale.

Liu Dazhu marveled, “Even a madman has two basins, and our whole family shares one!”

Liu Qingmin, meanwhile, had taken a liking to the towel in the madman’s basket. “That towel is even the Red Double Happiness kind. My future bride is about to marry in, and we still can’t buy one like that anywhere. Yet the madman has one!”

Old Third Liu touched his missing front tooth. “The thing in that thermos cup of his is toothpaste, isn’t it? I only saw it once at the county supply-and-marketing store.”

Liu Guoqiang nodded. “It is toothpaste. Our commune only has tooth powder. That must belong to the little educated youth.”

The four sighed in unison: the little educated youth had it hard. All the good things had been snatched away by the madman.

If they knew that the Red Double Happiness towel was being used by the madman to wipe his feet, they would probably be even less able to accept it.

In the room next door, Ming Dai took out the basket and counted the stacks of bills, grinning from ear to ear.

At night, after Zhou Sinian lay down, only then did the other four dare to drag themselves slowly under the covers.

Any little sound or movement filled them with dread, especially Liu Dazhu, who slept beside Zhou Sinian’s bed.

He curled up in the quilt and did not dare sleep. By midnight, he finally could not hold on any longer, buried his head in the covers, and dozed off.

“Mm~~~~~~mm~~~~~~mm~~~~!!!!”

A muffled chorus of snores rang out in the room. Soon Liu Qingmin on the neighboring bed joined in as well, and the remaining Liu Guoqiang and Old Third Liu followed suit.

Unlike the other three, Old Third Liu’s snoring had a tail to it: “Mm~~~hss! Mm~~~~hssss!”

The sound grew louder and louder, one falling away as another rose up. Sometimes it became a duet, sometimes a trio, while the hissing from Old Third Liu sounded almost like rap accompaniment.

Zhou Sinian sat up from the bed with a dark face and stared straight at the four beds.

The people above were still sleeping soundly, serenely at peace with the world.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack-hiss!!!

Never one to know the meaning of restraint, Zhou Sinian immediately got up, crept over in the dark, and delivered one solid slap to each of the four of them. Whether in placement or force, he achieved complete fairness and justice.

Liu Dazhu clutched his face and stared in terror at Zhou Sinian, who had finished beating them and gone back to sleep. His face hurt, but deep down he also felt a strange sense of relief, as if this was finally what had been coming.

The other three also lay still beneath their quilts, not daring to move.

They did not even know what had happened; their faces hurt and they woke up that way.

After waiting a while and seeing that Zhou Sinian made no further move, the four of them went back to sleep.

Then the four-part snoring started up again.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack-hiss!!!

By morning, that sound of slaps had rung out three times. Liu Qingmin guessed that they must have been snoring and disturbing him.

So the four of them no longer dared sleep. They lay in bed waiting for dawn.

Liu Dazhu thought miserably: as expected, some money simply must not be saved. Should have booked three rooms! Sob!

The next day, Ming Dai got up early to wash up. The moment she opened the door, she saw the four people crouching at the entrance.

She asked in surprise, “Uncle, why did you all get up so early?”

Liu Dazhu: Because we barely slept at all!

“Haha, we’re getting on in years and don’t sleep much. You go wash up; we’ll move the vegetables onto the cart first.”

Ming Dai stepped aside to let them in, then glanced at the neighboring door, still shut, and shook her head before heading to the washroom.

When she came back after washing up, she happened to see Zhou Sinian.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

Zhou Sinian held a basin and thought for a moment. “Not well at the beginning. Better later.”

Ming Dai nodded. “All right, go wash up first. I’ll take you to the state-run restaurant for buns in a bit.”

Zhou Sinian answered cheerfully and walked toward the washroom.

They were the only ones staying there last night, so Ming Dai was not worried about him getting into trouble. She carried the basin back first to pack up their things.

By the time the two of them had finished tidying and came out to the cart, Ming Dai finally saw the brigade leader and the others’ swollen half-faces and the dark circles nearly hanging to their chins.

“Brigade Leader! You all are...” Halfway through, she stopped herself and instead looked toward Zhou Sinian.

He had just washed his face. Full of vitality, eyes bright as stars, he looked at Ming Dai with clear eagerness, waiting to go eat buns.

Liu Dazhu rubbed his face. “It’s nothing, little educated youth. Let’s go deliver the vegetables first.”

Ming Dai felt a little awkward and responded, then tugged Zhou Sinian by the sleeve and got on the cart.

When they reached the county government building, the cart did not stop but made a circle around to the back door.

Liu Qingmin got down and knocked. Soon a middle-aged woman wearing an apron opened the door.

“Aunt Li, we’ve got all the vegetables ready. Please help us get them to Chef Zhou.”

Aunt Li accepted them with a smile. “Don’t worry, Black Egg, Auntie will definitely get them there for you. You all don’t go too far either—wait nearby, all right?”

Liu Qingmin and Liu Dazhu nodded at that, while Ming Dai was amused by the little nickname for the county Party secretary.

Liu Guoqiang leaned over and said quietly, “When Uncle Qingmin was born, he was so dark and skinny that at night you couldn’t even find him without a lamp. That’s why he was called Black Egg.”

Ming Dai muffled a laugh. The name was such a stark contrast to Secretary Liu’s foxlike image.

Just then Liu Qingmin returned and heard Liu Guoqiang’s words. He narrowed his eyes. “Guoqiang, I think the match your aunt is arranging for you isn’t very suitable. You wait a little longer. I’ll have her look around for another couple of years and find you someone proper.”

Liu Guoqiang’s face fell instantly. “Uncle, I was wrong. I think Little Yun is pretty good!”