The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

"This isn't tasty at all!" Chen Qingsheng didn't understand why he would say such an angry thing.

Cheng Feng ignored his little tantrum. He tilted his head and looked at Chen Qingsheng's hair teasingly, "Did you put hair oil on?"

"I didn't!" Chen Qingsheng stubbornly insisted. He absolutely couldn't let anyone know that he had spent two coins to buy a small bottle of hair oil.

Cheng Feng laughed and said, "Then I must have misread it. You need to wash your hair; it's all oily."

Cheng Feng then turned to He Ye and said, “He Ye, I don’t object to you inviting Qing Sheng to the theater, but many people on the street know that you are my niece, Cheng Feng. It’s one thing if you don’t care about appearances when you bring people to the theater, but you absolutely cannot be too shabby. Next time you bring Qing Sheng out, make sure he’s dressed properly. Look at the oil on his head, you could fry a dish with it if you scraped it off. And smell his head, it’s rotten, it smells like a corpse!”

Chen Qingsheng was humiliated, He Ye was dumbfounded, and Cheng Feng wanted to laugh but dared not, seeing their reactions.

"Lotus Leaf, your uncle and Officer Sun are going to the teahouse. Do you want to come along?"

"Uncle, I think I won't go. He hasn't eaten yet for his birthday celebration. I'll take him to get something to eat later."

Cheng Feng took out his money pouch and stuffed it into He Ye's hand, "Don't eat at roadside stalls, find a proper restaurant!"

He Ye nodded in agreement. Even if her uncle hadn't said anything, she also planned to treat Chen Qingsheng to something nice. She usually wouldn't spend money on herself, but for Chen Qingsheng's sake, she had to spend some.

Before leaving, Cheng Feng reached out and rubbed the pitiful Chen Qingsheng's head, then patted Chen Qingsheng's shoulder.

Chen Qingsheng stood there with his head down, looking like a punching bag, tears welling up in his eyes. He Ye was so nervous and helpless that she could only stammer, "My uncle... my uncle didn't mean it, Qingsheng, don't take it to heart, your hair looks... nice!"

Chen Qingsheng was heartbroken. Cheng Feng had shown his disdain for him a while ago. It was one thing to show disdain when no one else was around, but how could he say that he was poor in front of Constable Sun? How was he poor? He had only applied a little extra hair oil for the blind date. He was belittling himself like that. He felt incredibly wronged. He said to He Ye, "I want to go home!"

Lotus Leaf comforted him, saying, "Have a meal before you go back. I'll take you to a seafood feast. You definitely can't get such good seafood in Dalang."

"I don't want to eat, I want to go home!"

"Eat up, I've already reserved a table, it cost two taels of silver! If you don't eat there, you can't get your money back!"

Chen Qingsheng, being a man after all, swallowed back the tears he had shed in anger at Cheng Feng. His thoughts were now on the seafood feast. "You booked a table for two taels of silver, why didn't you discuss it with me beforehand!"

He Ye took Chen Qingsheng's hand and said, "Let's go, the party's over here, let's go have a seafood feast!"

"I'm asking you this: why didn't you discuss spending so much money to book a table with me? There's a seafood restaurant in town with huge bowls full of seafood, and it only costs fifty coins. Two taels of silver can feed the two of us forty bowls of seafood!"

Lotus Leaf said, "They're different."

"What's the difference between those things?"

When the plates of seafood were served, Chen Qingsheng realized that something was different.

Lotus Leaf smiled and said to Chen Qingsheng, "What are you looking at? Eat!"

Chen Qingsheng looked at the table full of seafood and his heart ached. Every bite of this was like real money.

Chen Qingsheng enjoyed the meal and his mood quickly recovered.

After finishing the meal and settling the bill, not counting the deposit, He Ye paid the shopkeeper another three taels of silver.

Chen Qingsheng's heart was bleeding: "So expensive?"

He Ye smiled and carefully put away her money pouch. "This meal isn't expensive. I've already lent out my money, and I get a little over nine taels a month in allowance. It's no problem to treat you to another meal."

"Don't you care about the money?"

"What's wrong with spending a little money to eat with you!" He Ye was practically saying that she was willing to spend money on Chen Qingsheng!

When Chen Qingsheng was eating, he was usually strong and had long chopsticks, but now he was acting all shy and hesitant. "Heye, don't be too nice to me!"

He Ye laughed. This Chen Qingsheng had followed her out and was afraid of getting involved with her. "Just think of me as someone who's only interested in you. Qingsheng, actually I've stopped thinking about you. Aunt Yuhua hinted to me in her words the other day that I know you've been going on blind dates at home these past few days. From now on, we're friends. If I ask you to go out to see a show or have dinner, you can't refuse me!"

"I can accompany you to the theater. Um... my sister-in-law didn't say anything nasty to you, did she?"

"No, Aunt Yuhua took care of me. It's not that I had any improper thoughts about you, and Aunt Yuhua would never turn against me."

"Those insoles?"

"Oh, Aunt Yuhua threw those phoenix and peony insoles at me, and they're still at my house!"

"That's good, that's good!"

After Yu Hua discovered the insoles, she gave Chen Qingsheng a severe scolding and even threatened to throw the insoles He Ye had given him at He Ye's face. Fortunately, her sister-in-law didn't do that, otherwise he would have been too ashamed to face He Ye.

Before Chen Qingsheng could calm down for three seconds, He Ye spoke up again, "I'll make you a pair of shoes!"

Chen Qingsheng waved his hands repeatedly: "I dare not wear that! Lotus Leaf, please spare me!"

Lotus Leaf laughed and said, "Just kidding. I can barely estimate the size of insoles, but I'm not good at shoes. Shoes are like that; if they're too small, they'll pinch your feet, and if they're too big, they won't fit properly. If you want to wear shoes made by me, Lotus Leaf, I'll have to measure your feet myself."

When Chen Qingsheng thought about the lotus leaf touching his feet, his soles felt burning hot, as if he were stepping on an iron plate, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Seeing how nervous Chen Qingsheng was, He Ye stopped teasing him and said, "Qingsheng, the marriage should be settled soon!"

Chen Qingsheng's eyes darted around in their sockets. "I saw three in total!"

"I'm sure I can choose one out of the three! Let me know when your marriage is settled, I've already prepared the wedding gift money, I'm just waiting to drink your wedding wine!"

Seeing that He Ye was no longer persistent with him, Chen Qingsheng stopped hiding his intentions and said, "There's still no sign of it! The ones I've seen these past few days haven't been any good!"

Lotus Leaf smiled and said, "I know you're picky, but when it comes to marriage, you should still be selective."

Chen Qingsheng was embarrassed to say what kind of people he had met these past few days; he had no choice. At this moment, He Ye said again, "Qingsheng, why haven't I seen you setting up a stall on the street lately?"

Since Chen Qingsheng broke his ribs, he has only set up a stall once, on the Lantern Festival, when he sold dozens of lanterns. After that, he hasn't set up a stall again. "I don't have anything to sell!"

"Why don't you just keep selling kites? Business was pretty good when you were selling kites!"

"After my sister-in-law returned that kite design book to you, I haven't been able to make a kite that I'm satisfied with!"