Chapter 56: Human affairs are unpredictable, how can one exchange for a jade-like beauty like Si Xiang?

  "That's true, it tastes even better than what my father makes, and I love their pickled vegetables too."

  "It's not just that it tastes good." Little Sanzi said: "Today, I heard several people discussing in the market that the pickled vegetables have an addictive ability that is not ordinary. You think, originally it was a poor and sour pickled vegetable, used to fill the stomach, how can it be so addictive that even big fish and meat are not as delicious as the pickled vegetables? This is not common."

  "It's indeed rare." I nodded: "I think that Hu Saner brother has good skills and a unique formula."

  "Exactly, that's the secret recipe." Little Sanzi said: "You don't know what they say, they say that only by adding human flesh to the braised sauce and marinating it into a dish, can it make people more and more addicted, feeling the flavor is fresh and sweet, unable to stop."

  "Human flesh?" I widened my eyes: "How is that possible?"

  "So, Third Brother said this is just a story to amuse you. The truth is, no one has died on Zi Yu Street. Even if they really wanted human flesh, where would they go to find it? It's just a rumor spread by other sauce shops due to the intense competition."

  "It's so ridiculous and hateful." I said: "If it gets more and more serious, won't even Hu Saner's brother be able to do business?"

  "It's just like that sometimes." Xiaosan sighed: "Maybe Hu's brother offended a petty person and invited jealousy. Petty people are like this, if you're not good enough, they look down on you, but if you're good, they get jealous of you and try every means to harm you, no matter how hard you try to please them."

  "This little guy is really too much." I said: "But it's actually absurd, who would believe such a thing."

  Can I apply for a return?

  "So it can only make people gnash their teeth in frustration." Little Sanzi shook his head.

  The business of the sauce shop was not affected by the rumors and is still exceptionally hot.

  One day, an old woman from outside took advantage of Hu San'er and Le Qinqu's busy schedule in the shop to sneak into the back kitchen of Hu San'er's house to see what secret recipe was used to make such delicious pickled vegetables. Who knew that as soon as she entered, the old woman let out a loud cry: "Dead person! Dead person!" She stumbled and staggered as she ran over from the back kitchen: "Quickly come and see! Behind... a corpse..."

  The people in the shop were frightened and someone quickly supported the old lady, asking: "Old lady, what did you see?"

  The old lady panted heavily and said: "It's a corpse... a child's corpse..."

  One sentence stirred up a thousand waves, and people listened. They didn't even buy the pickled vegetables anymore, ignoring Hu San'er and Le Qinchun's attempts to stop them, and rushed into the back kitchen. However, in the pickled vegetable jar, there was no child's corpse as the old lady had said, but instead, there were chunks of white radish soaking in it. Some of the radishes looked strange, with their roots split into two stalks, resembling two legs. The crowd looked and said that the old lady must have been seeing things, trying to steal a chicken but ending up losing rice, and she deserved to be frightened like this.

  The old lady, however, refused to admit it, swearing and cursing, saying that the pickle jar was definitely full of plump white babies. The crowd naturally believed what they saw, ignoring her as she bought pickles on her own.

  The old lady saw that everyone didn't believe her and had no choice but to flee in defeat.

  Someone asked Hu Sanye, "Are you afraid of not being able to make a living?" The moon of the dark sea sank with the stars.

  "What is meant by rumors is just like this. That's why people say, 'What you hear may be false, but what you see is true.' As long as it's not real, there will come a day when the truth will reveal itself."

  Some people caught the wind and grasped the shadow, saying that the sauce of the pickled vegetables was tempting, and it was said that it was refined with human bones. No one believed in it anymore.

  That day, our family made a lot of red bean paste glutinous rice balls, and since they didn't sell out, they would definitely go bad the next day. Father saw that Hu San'er's shop was still lit up and told me to send some rice balls for him to eat.

  I hastily agreed, packed the rice balls in a basket and went to knock on Hu San'er's door. It just so happened that Hu San'er hadn't locked the door, and the light from inside was shining through the gaps in the wooden boards. I called out several times, but no one responded. I had to call out "Hu brother" while walking towards the house: "Hu San'er brother, today my family made rice balls, come try some..." After a long time with no response, I didn't dare open someone else's door without permission, so I decided to leave and head back home.

  Just as I was about to turn around, I suddenly smelled a burning smell at the tip of my nose. My heart tightened and I thought to myself, "Could it be that Hu San'er's brother fell asleep and the lamp oil spilled out and ignited something?" It's common knowledge that in dry weather, fires can be extremely dangerous in wooden buildings like this one. If a fire were to start, not only would Hu San'er's brother be in grave danger, but also the entire row of shops on Purple Jade Street, which are mostly made of brick and wood, would likely catch fire as well, with unthinkable consequences.

  Thinking of this, I couldn't care about etiquette anymore, so I hastily pushed open the door and shouted: "Third Brother Hu, is something on fire?!"

  Unexpectedly, there was no one in the house. A thick smoke came over, and I covered my nose and squinted to take a look. It seemed that the oil lamp on the table had been knocked over for some reason, and the flame spread along the oil, burning to the corner of the table.

  The Great Song Dynasty's Peach Blossom Envoy

  This is terrible... I didn't have time to think much, just wanted to put out the table, saw that there were all kinds of sauce jars at my feet, remembered that they were all filled with braising liquid, quickly picked up a lid of one of the jars, used all my strength to lift it up and poured it onto the table. Who would have thought that along with the braising liquid, a plump white baby was also splashed out!

  I was stunned, but saw the baby fall onto the burning table with the soup, and the baby melted away like a piece of ice in the flames.

  "Huh......huh?" I finally came to my senses, rubbed my eyes, and thought, "That...that's a baby? Am I seeing things? How can a baby just melt away?"

  The smell of braised water covered the burnt smell, which was particularly smoky. I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me and hadn't come back to my senses yet. Just then, Hu Saniu's voice rang out in a flustered tone: "Oh no! What's going on?"

  I pointed at the table and muttered: "It's on fire... it's burning..."

  "Hu San'er cursed: 'These past few days, the old mouse has been causing trouble. I just went out for a moment, and it must have been the mouse that stole oil to eat, knocking over the oil lamp. How hateful! It almost led to a great disaster! Fortunately, Mei Cai arrived in time!'"

  "I hastily said: 'I didn't know there was a fire here either, it was my dad who asked me to send red bean paste glutinous rice balls to Hu Saner's brother, so I rashly came in and smelled the burnt smell...'"

  "That's truly the blessing of heaven!" Hu San'er kept chanting Amitabha, asking me: "Mei Cai, are you scared silly? What's with this look on your face?"

  "I hastily said: 'No... it's not like that, I was just anxious to put out the fire and accidentally broke Hu Saner's sauce jar with my flustered hands..."