Chapter 61

Then, having been basked in the sun for a few times, all the chilies were dried, and it was October 28th. In a few days, it would be November; in a day, it would be Liu Tong’s birthday, and he would be 23.

Xu Ran had been so busy these days that he had almost forgotten it, but it finally occurred to him when Tangtang and Guoguo muttered what gifts they should give to their daddy.

In fact, they had no idea about giving gifts in the beginning, but this appeared in the stories Xu Ran had told them, so the two children remembered it.

Speaking of the birthday, Xu Ran had a headache. Liu Tong didn’t seem to lack anything, but he had nothing but the family, and he couldn’t figure out what Liu Tong liked by refering to other Ge’ers.

It was a real headache.

Since he learned tomorrow was Liu Tong’s birthday, Xu Ran had been sitting in a daze in the yard for the whole afternoon.

For a few times, Liu Tong wanted to ask Xu Ran what was going on, but he was stopped by Tangtang and Guoguo, and their explanation was, “Dad is thinking about something. Daddy, you just leave him alone!”

Liu Tong had no choice but to give up. The situation didn’t get better until the chilies were collected at night. There was no telling what good method Xu Ran had thought of, but he was extremely excited.

It didn’t stop until the next morning. Xu Ran got up early in the morning, went to the kitchen to make a bowl of noodles. The dough of the noodles were kneaded and rolled by himself. He intended to to make Longevity Noodles.

On the top of the noodles was a sunny-side-up egg.

Looking at the noodles brought by Xu Ran, Liu Tong could not help feeling touched. Since his dad and daddy passed away, no one had ever remembered his birthday. Tangtang and Guoguo were still young. Even if they knew it, they had not done anything. After so many years, he had almost forgetten it, and he had never thought that he could eat the Longevity Noodles Ran cooked for him like today.

Liu Tong ate the noodles with tearful eyes and then said to Xu Ran, “Ran, these are the most delicious noodles I have ever eaten.”

Although these words were somewhat pretentious, they were what Liu Tong wanted to say most.

Xu Ran held his hand with a smile. “Tongtong, I will be cooking the noodles for you every year from now on.”

These ordinary words were like a vow for a lifetime.

After breakfast, Xu Ran borrowed an ox-cart and went to town. Today, he was not only going to deliver chili paste to Mr. Chen but also had bigger fish to fry.

After arriving in town and hurriedly parking the ox-cart, Xu Ran went to Mr. Chen’s restaurant with chili paste in a pack basket on his back. While talking, he even sounded a little anxious.

Mr. Chen did not know why he was in a hurry, but he paid him right after jokingly accusing him of being a bad boy.

After saying thanks, Xu Ran took the silver to the jewelry shop. Liu Tong didn’t have a single jewel or even a single hairpin, so he aimed to buy him a hairpin today. If Liu Tong were a tough man, he would be able to attract many handsome young men.  Naturally, he would be handsome and have a good demeanor.

Xu Ran didn’t know how to select jewels, and he just chose what he thought was good and suitable for Liu Tong.

Finally, Xu Ran chose a white jade hairpin with plum blossoms carved at the tail of it. When he imagined the scene that Liu Tong wore this hairpin, he had a beautiful picture of the unity of nature and man in his mind.

He chose an emerald crown for himself, which went well with the white jade hairpin.

After leaving the jewelry shop, Xu Ran went to the cloth shop hurriedly.

He went to a cloth shop that looked a little luxurious. After entering the shop, he said to the shopkeeper directly, “Mister, do you have finished wedding dresses here?”

Although he didn’t dress decently, the air of scholars in him could not be concealed. No matter how snobbish a person was, he knew that he needed to treat scholars politely, let alone a rich one.

Immediately, the shopkeeper greeted Xu Ran with respect, “Yes, this way please, sir. There are many superior clothes in our shop.”

The shopkeeper led Xu Ran inside. When Xu Ran found that all the clothes inside were not very good-looking. They were all mandarin duck patterns, which looked complicated but were not attractive.

He didn’t really like them and asked the shopkeeper with a frown, “Only these styles, Mister? Are there any other styles?”

The shopkeeper couldn’t tell whether Xu Ran couldn’t afford these clothes or just didn’t like them or not, but he still took him to see the other two dresses.

On one, clouds were embroidered; on the other, winter plums were embroidered. The embroidery was good, and Xu Ran also liked their patterns. He didn’t know the taboos about wearing these wedding dresses, nor did he care about them. Anyway, they were just a form, so he made the decision immediately.

“What is the price of these two?”

Apart from anything else, these two wedding dresses were larger than the ordinary ones, and neither of them seemed to be suitable for a Ge’er to wear.

Although the shopkeeper was surprised about Xu Ran’s choice, he did not ask further and said, “Sir, these two dresses are customized for someone, but no one came to take them after the deadline. That’s why I began to sell them now. In this case, I can give you a cheaper price. Just pay me 30 taels of silver!”

Most people thought that it was not worth 30 taels on the wedding dresses that would be worn only once. More importantly, most families could not afford it.

Xu Ran thought, ‘My 30 mu of wasteland is just worth 60 taels.’

The wedding dresses were too expensive.

He didn’t want to buy a pig in a poke, so he began to haggle over the price.

Finally, he bought these two wedding dresses with 20 taels. Later, he also bought some other things, so no income of the chili paste in the pack basket he had brought today was left.

Xu Ran was completely unaware that every one of his moves had been seen by others.