Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 74 - 61 Drought and Famine (Seven)_2

Chapter 74: Chapter 61 Drought and Famine (Seven)_2

The small table was filled with snacks like nuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, and dried fruits all mixed together, with a pile of sunflower seed shells next to those nuts, looking surprisingly abundant for this room.

Hui Niang placed a small basket on the ground, uncovered the cloth, revealing sweet potatoes inside.

"Sister, the price of cornmeal has gone up again, and I didn’t bring enough money, so I could only buy sweet potatoes," Hui Niang said a little embarrassed, "Now the girl’s school is on vacation, they don’t need us odd-job workers. If I had known earlier, I would have looked for a maid’s job; during the New Year, I could earn some extra money and buy some offal at the Second Meat Shop at the alley’s entrance."

Chen Huihong calmly cracked sunflower seeds and said, "Being a maid is easy to get beaten to death."

In Hui Niang’s shocked gaze, Chen Huihong continued, "The other day I was sitting at the door of Qin’s Steamed Bun Shop, hearing the staff inside say that a few people were dragged out and buried from Gong Mansion, or some family. Also mentioned some newly emerged young actor in some opera troupe who offended some lord and had his tongue cut out alive."

"Whether being a maid or acting in an opera, they’re all high-risk jobs," Chen Huihong concluded.

Although Hui Niang didn’t quite understand, she felt it made sense and nodded repeatedly.

"Want some?" Chen Huihong handed Hui Niang a handful of sunflower seeds, which Hui Niang refused by shaking her head repeatedly.

"What do you feel like eating today?" Chen Huihong stood up and asked.

Hui Niang pondered seriously for a moment: "I want to eat black steamed buns."

Chen Huihong couldn’t help but click her tongue, obviously not comprehending Hui Niang’s taste for black steamed buns, but she nodded anyway, pushed the door, and prepared to leave.

Hui Niang hurried to the inner room to fetch clothes for Chen Huihong.

"Sister, your cotton coat!"

"Oh right, almost forgot to wear it." Chen Huihong took the clothing and put it on directly at the door.

Her clothes looked significantly better than Hui Niang’s, clean, the fabric was visibly thicker, and not grayish nor blackened or yellowed.

The key thing was that her cotton coat was very thick.

"Did you stuff too much straw in last night?" Chen Huihong patted her chest, making a dull sound, "Did you take all the cotton out?"

"Pulled it all out and stuffed it into the quilt," Hui Niang said, "Now the quilt is really warm."

Chen Huihong nodded and went out.

Chen Huihong lived in the Outer City.

Probably due to the heavy snow, there were very few people on the road, and the snow on the streets basically remained uncleared, with only a few occasionally sweeping the snow only from their own doorsteps.

Wearing a brand new cotton coat, Chen Huihong walking down the road was undoubtedly the most striking sight, attracting quiet whispers from onlookers wherever she went.

"The crazy lady is out again."

"Look at the way you talk, is there a day she doesn’t go out?"

"Look at her clothes, that fabric, that thickness; one piece is worth more than all the clothes and quilts of my entire family combined. A lady remains a lady, even when driven to rent a small yard in the Outer City, she still dresses better than us."

"When someone rents a small yard after being driven out, she even has a maid to serve her, can you compare with her?"

"Isn’t that maid working as a handyman at the girl’s school?"

"That’s just to slack off and not serve her; she wants to make extra money outside. I just ran into her maid on the street buying a basket of sweet potatoes earlier; presumably, the crazy lady didn’t want to eat sweet potatoes and so came out to find something else to eat."

"I heard she’s quite famous in the inner city now; wherever she sits in front of a restaurant, the staff inside will politely invite her in, serving hot dishes, snacks, and tea. If she eats some dish, every customer in the restaurant will order a portion, and when she leaves, the staff will not only respectfully escort her out but also pack up what she didn’t finish for her. Is that true?"

"How would I know? I haven’t been to the inner city much at all."

"Sounds great, I also want to be the crazy lady."

"You? Look at yourself, if you sit in front of those restaurants, the staff would chase you away with a stick, thinking you’re dirtying the place."

"Hey, how can you talk like that?"

"I just love speaking the truth, so what?"

The onlookers’ discussion continued, nearly escalating into a fight.

Chen Huihong, appearing indifferent, continued heading towards the inner city.

The distance from the Outer City to the inner city was quite far, and with the snowy roads difficult to navigate, some rickshaw pullers unfamiliar with Chen Huihong called out to ask if the lady would like a ride, but they were stopped by colleagues nearby.

Explaining to them that the crazy lady’s mind doesn’t permit her to understand how to pay the fare for a rickshaw, a sophisticated behavior.

The closer to the inner city, the cleaner the roads became, and the busier it was.

If the Outer City was a snow-covered silver world, the roads in the inner city had been mostly cleared of snow, and there were even street vendors with stalls selling items along the way in great variety.

A candied haw seller, seeing Chen Huihong, even raised his voice to ask, "Crazy lady, want a candied haw?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Huihong paused, glanced at his candied haws, scrutinized them, and moved on without speaking.

Someone next to the candied haw seller immediately remarked, "The crazy lady is rushing to eat lunch at Taifeng Building, what would she see in your candied haws."

Unconvinced, the candied haw seller retorted, "The crazy lady looked at the candied haws three times, she just might take a liking to them someday."

Then he raised his voice to advertise, "Candied haws glanced at three times by the crazy lady, delicious and affordable!"

Hearing the candied haw seller shout like this, indeed, some people stepped forward to buy a skewer and try it.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.