novelden Chapter 1020: The Man Comes Riding on a Bamboo Horse (9)
Chapter 1020: The Man Comes Riding on a Bamboo Horse (9)
Ning Yun widened his eyes and looked at the young man in front of him who was almost a head taller than him. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should believe him.
"He's not lying to you, he's really only eleven!" The stall owner saw Ning Yun's confusion and smiled as he explained for the boy, "His family runs a blacksmith shop, and he's been learning blacksmithing from his father since he was little, so he has this skinny body."
The young man finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard someone prove it to his parents. He then took out the handkerchief he had just found and handed it to Ning Yun: "Sister, this handkerchief just fell off you. Here!"
"Thank you!" Ning Yun recognized her handkerchief and thanked her quickly. "By the way, would you like some almond tea? I'll treat you to a bowl! This is just a thank you for returning the handkerchief to me."
The boy actually likes sweets very much, but his father doesn't like him to eat them, so he hasn't drunk almond tea for many years.
She licked her lips and was about to refuse when a bowl of almond tea with black sesame seeds appeared in her hand.
"Here, I think you will like this taste!" Ning Yun's almond tea was added with sugared osmanthus.
Although both are almond tea, one bowl is black and white, like a Tai Chi Bagua, and the other bowl has a golden osmanthus topping, which is also very beautiful.
"Thank you, sister. My name is Xue Yuan!" Xue Yuan took a sip of almond tea and squinted his eyes and said, "I saw a word 'Se' embroidered on the handkerchief. Is your name Arthur?"
As a woman of this era, she should not reveal her maiden name to a strange man casually, but Ning Yun only treated Xue Yuan as a "child".
"My nickname is Sese!" Ning Yun said frankly, "My full name is Ning Yun."
Your surname is Ning!
There was only one family with the surname Ning in the entire Yanzhou Prefecture. As soon as this name came out, Xue Yuan knew whose daughter Ning Yun was and where she lived.
"Sister, your nickname is so nice! It doesn't sound like mine!" When mentioning his nickname, the tall and strong Xue Yuan had a look of grievance on his face. "I was in poor health when I was a child, and my father said that it would be easier to raise me if I didn't have a good name, so my nickname is Ah Chong."
It was really hard to associate a bug with such a tall and strong young man, so Ning Yun couldn't help but ask, "Is it a bug's bug?"
"That's right!" Xue Yuan nodded.
Then the two chatted for a while, drank almond tea, and planned to go to their common destination - Xue's Blacksmith Shop.
In fact, while Xue Yuan knew Ning Yun's identity, Ning Yun had also long understood the other party's identity from the information revealed by the stall owner.
As the sun rose high in the sky, the boy and girl walked along the way, talking.
"Sister Sese, we're at the shop. Wait for me, I'll check on the door!" Xue Yuan asked Ning Yun to stand further away. "The lock cylinder is a bit broken, so it takes a lot of force to open it. If you don't control the force properly, you might get hurt."
In fact, no one knows how many times the door locks of Xue’s Blacksmith Shop have been changed.
Since Xue Yuan started learning blacksmithing, he basically replaced the lock every six months. The lock became bigger and bigger, and the lock core became tighter and tighter.
This is also a way for Xue's father to train his son's wrist and arm strength.
Ning Yundu was also a man who listened to advice. He didn't ask why, but just took a few steps back and even confirmed with Xue Yuan: "Is it okay to stand here?"
Xue Yuan, who had been prepared for Ning Yun to ask about the lock core, was now a little confused.
The Xue family's blacksmith shop made a lot of money, but over the years, the Xue family father and son had no demands on the quality of life - mainly because Xue Yuan's father Xue Yao had too low requirements for "worldly" life.
So even though they had some wealth, they still rented a house in the slums of Yanzhou Prefecture.
"Why are you in such a hurry? You're still young. When you get married in the future, you can buy a better house!" Xue Yao answered his son's question proudly, "Of course I have the money to buy a house.
But think about it! If you buy a house now, what if your wife doesn't like it in the future? A woman leaves her parents' home to marry someone who has no blood relationship with her and becomes a relative. Then she has to risk her life to give birth to a child for that person.
So, considering it from the perspective of your future daughter-in-law, I plan to wait until you want to get married one day, and then sell the house after the marriage is settled. Don't worry, I have money!"
Because of this, Xue Yuan grew up in a slum.
There were many children in the compound. Although he was not the oldest, he was the tallest and strongest, and gradually became the king of the children.
After getting along with the children in his compound - both boys and girls - he found that most of them liked to watch the fun and ask questions.
It was rare to meet someone like Ning Yun, so he found it even more surprising.
"Sister, please sit down! I'll go get you the tools that Brother Ning asked me to repair!" The shop door opened, and Xue Yuan moved Ning Yun to the side of the chair used for entertaining guests, asking her to sit down and wait for him to get the things.
Perhaps the workshop was indeed a bit messy, so Ning Yun only heard the clanging sounds coming from inside, but never saw Xue Yuan come out.