When the pears are green

Song Li then told Hu Zhimin about the garlic sprouts. Tomorrow, they would deliver garlic sprouts to the restaurant for the last time. The garlic sprouts were about to get old, and the rest had to be sold at the market in time. From the day after tomorrow, they would officially supply bean sprouts to the restaurant.

Hu Zhimin smiled and expressed his understanding, and told Song Li that Yang Yu and Wu Mingshu's wedding date was set for the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Song Li said goodbye to Hu Zhimin, and as she walked away, she was thinking about what gifts to give to Yang Yu and Wu Mingshu. When she passed by the counter, Shopkeeper Sun was using an abacus to calculate the bills for the middle-aged man standing beside him.

"Brother Liu, you deliver ten pounds of tofu to the restaurant every day, and four cents for one pound, which is forty pounds in total, and one hundred and twenty cents in three days. But, brother, you still owe the restaurant ten taels of wine money. The boss has said that you can either pay off the debt with the money for tofu, or pay the debt first and then settle." Manager Sun smiled apologetically, picked up the account book, and pointed to the detailed account on it to show the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man knocked the account book out of the hands of the shopkeeper Sun without caring, stared at him with disdain and said: "I owe you some money for drinks, so what? I didn't say I wouldn't pay it back. Tofu money is tofu money, and the debt has nothing to do with it. I also say one thing, either pay me the tofu money quickly, or I will go to find Mr. Hu and ask him to pay it for me. I heard that your future young lady is very beautiful, and she is also a delicate girl. You don't want her to be scared, right?"

"You, you..." Shopkeeper Sun looked at the shameless man in front of him with a red face. He helplessly counted out one hundred and twenty coins from the cash box and put them on the counter, asking the man to count them again.

After counting the coins proudly, the man threw them into his purse one by one. Song Li, who was standing at the door of the restaurant, could hear the "ding-dang, ding-dang" sound of the coins hitting each other.

Song Li guessed that this rude man should be Liu Shulin. She secretly looked back at the burly man in the gray cotton-padded jacket and vaguely saw a scar at the corner of his eye on the left side of his face.

Liu Shulin noticed that someone was looking at him. He looked towards the door with a pair of fierce and calculating eyes, but there was no one at the door.

Liu Shulin was about to go to the door to see what was going on, cursing, but was stopped by Manager Sun with a smile.

"Brother Liu, you haven't signed yet, otherwise I won't be able to explain to my boss. It's not too late to wait and see. No one can escape from you!" Shopkeeper Sun said as he took out the ink pad and asked Liu Shulin to put his fingerprints on the tofu account.

Song Li, hiding in front of the Taishan Stone, patted his chest lightly, tiptoed around the left side of the restaurant to the street, and went to the clinic to get gypsum powder.

Shopkeeper Sun saw a lilac figure flash by through the open window and breathed a sigh of relief. He held Liu Shulin's hand and chatted for a while before letting go of his sleeve.

Liu Shulin walked to the door and looked at the busy street. After cursing a few times, he left the restaurant directly.

"Bah, you scoundrel." After cursing at Liu Shulin, Shopkeeper Sun quickly ran to the second floor and told Hu Zhimin what had just happened.

Hu Zhimin praised Manager Sun for his good work, and told him to pay Liu Shulin directly next time and not to anger Liu Shulin. He then arranged for Zhang Er to go to the city to invite the fourth young lady who was good at martial arts to come and accompany Lingling for a few days.

Song Li left the clinic and went to a nearby meat stall to buy two pounds of pork belly. When she walked to the stone tablet with her things, she happened to meet Song Yue who had just got off the ox cart.

Song Yue excitedly ran to Song Li's side, and explained to her with a smile: "Sister, Dad asked me to learn how to make tofu from you. Mom's health has improved a lot, but Dad is worried, so he discussed with Mom and asked me to come and learn."

"That's good too. Have you bought the millstone?" Song Li asked with a smile.

Song Yue nodded. She took Song Li's arm and walked while talking about what happened in the village. It seemed as if time had gone back to when Song Li was still unmarried. The two sisters often sat under the old locust tree and shared the secrets they had heard from each other.

Song Li learned from Song Yue that Lianlian was pregnant again, and Xing'er would get married in the spring of next year. This was the scene when Yang Yu proposed to the Wu family yesterday.

"But those who always gossip about Sister Wu are so jealous. They never thought that the man Sister Wu is going to marry is not only a scholar but also a teacher." Song Yue said as she hooked her fingers on the braid hanging from the top of her head, and the red rope tied in her hair flew back and forth.

Song Li nodded as she listened. She could tell from Song Yue's tone that she was truly happy for Wu Mingshu.

"Let's go back quickly. I'll make dumplings with pork and cabbage stuffing for you at noon. I just bought the pork belly, and Yueyue will need my help!" After Song Li said this, she handed the basket of pork to Song Yue.

Song Yue looked down and replied to Song Li with a smile: "Of course, I came at the right time."

The two sisters laughed at the same time, chatting and laughing, and soon arrived home. However, when they got home, Jiang Qingzhou had already pulled the cart to Zhanggou Village.

Song Li and Song Yue quickly went into the kitchen and started to get busy, chopping cabbage, washing vegetables, washing meat, kneading dough, chopping stuffing, rolling out dough, and making dumplings.

There was a knock on the door. Song Li stood up and stretched, then went to open the door with Song Yue who had already washed her hands.

Song Yue hurriedly opened the door and saw an unfamiliar young man calling Song Li "cousin".

"Cousin? Sister, is this our relative? Why have I never seen her before?" Song Yue asked in surprise.

Song Li laughed dryly twice and told Song Yue softly: "Not yet, maybe in a while."

After hearing this, Song Yue became even more confused. She sometimes looked at Song Li who didn't know how to explain, and sometimes looked at the young man who was a little embarrassed.

"Could it be that you..." Song Yue covered her head in distress, struggling with whether she should tell Jiang Qingzhou about the young man she had seen. On one side was her sister, and on the other was her brother-in-law, what should she do?

Song Li pinched Song Yue's angry face with her flour-covered fingers, smiled and told her not to think too much, and told her about the relationship between Chen Yuan and Ruyi.

"That's great, I thought...uh, Detective Chen, please come in." Song Yue pushed open the gate and invited Chen Yuan in.

Chen Yuan saw that the misunderstanding was resolved, walked into the yard with a smile, and then told Song Li the purpose of his trip. He wanted to go to Ruyi's house with Song Li.

"Sister, I want to go too. I want to learn how to tie knots from Ruyi." Song Yue pulled Song Li's sleeve and asked.

Song Li agreed with a smile. If Song Yue and Jiang Qingzhou both went, it would divert some of Jiang's attention away from Chen Yuan.

Jiang Qingzhou came back with Song Xing and Jiang Qingye. Song Li pushed open the gate and asked Jiang Qingzhou why he came back so late.

"I met Li Yi and Zhang Feng in Zhanggou Village. I helped them cut cabbages and delivered them to the library. These dozen cabbages on the cart were given to me by them." Jiang Qingzhou pushed the cart to the corner of the wall and took out a cabbage from the cart to show Song Li.

Song Li took the cabbage, smiled and asked Song Xing to go to the kitchen to see who came, and then called Chen Yuan who was lying on the rattan chair to come and move the cabbage.

Song Xing hurried to the kitchen, hugged Song Yue who was making a fire, and shouted excitedly.

Song Yue smiled and said that she would stay here for a few days. She took out a few plain handkerchiefs from her bag and asked Song Xing and Jiang Qingye to share them.

Song Xing ran out of the kitchen and squeezed on a rattan chair with Jiang Qingye to share the handkerchief. There were two handkerchiefs of each pattern, and they took turns sharing one.

"Xiaoxing, move your clothes to Qingye's room first, and let Yueyue live in your room first." After Song Li finished speaking, Jiang Qingye stuffed the handkerchief into his bag and hurriedly followed Song Xing to help.

After moving the cabbages, Chen Yuan smiled and invited Jiang Qingzhou to go to Zhang's house with him.

Jiang Qingzhou nodded in agreement. First, Chen Yuan was indeed going to be his match, and second, Ruyi's marriage really couldn't be delayed any longer.

Song Li asked the two to go to the main room to talk, and then went into the kitchen to make dumplings.

In the afternoon, Song Xing and Jiang Qingye went to school. Song Li and others met up with the matchmaker and went to Zhanggou Village together.

Jiang asked Ruyi to go to the kitchen to pour water. Song Yue followed Ruyi to the kitchen. The two of them talked about Chen Yuan in a low voice in the kitchen, and Ruyi blushed with embarrassment.

Everyone followed Jiang into the main hall. The matchmaker introduced Chen Yuan to Jiang and Xia Lin with a smile as they walked. "Sisters and niece-in-law, I didn't lie to you. Not only is he outstanding in appearance, he is also the most famous constable in town. You must seize this opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again. Constable Chen's home is in Nanguan, in Jiangjia Village, which is very close to here."

Jiang and Xia Lin both looked at Chen Yuan who was sitting next to them. The more they looked at Chen Yuan, the more familiar he looked to them.

"Aunt, sister-in-law, I am Chen Shu's brother. My sister once said that she had been to the Zhang family before." Chen Yuan took the initiative to explain to Jiang and Xia Lin.

"So he is Miss Chen's brother. No wonder he looks so familiar." Jiang and Xia Lin said with a smile in unison. Zhang You walked to Chen Yuan and hugged Chen Yuan's legs for a hug.

"Xiaoyou, stop making trouble." Xia Lin quickly scolded Zhang You.

Chen Yuan smiled as he picked up Zhang You and put him on his lap, then told Xia Lin not to worry about it.

Seeing this, the matchmaker smiled and said to Jiang: "Sister, look how much the child likes Constable Chen. This is the fate between your family and Constable Chen."

Jiang nodded in satisfaction. When Ruyi and Song Yue came in to pour water, she asked Chen Yuan, "Captain Chen, how is Miss Chen these days?"

"I got married and moved to Bianzhou." Chen Yuan replied with a smile.

Zhang Ping'an couldn't help but exclaim "Ah". The beautiful sister he had just met a while ago suddenly married so far away.

Everyone looked at Zhang Pingan who reacted so violently. Zhang Pingan blushed with embarrassment and walked out holding Jiang Qingwan's sleeve.

Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li couldn't help laughing, and the others followed suit. "Hahaha" laughter floated out from the main room. Zhang Ping'an's face was as red as the fiery clouds in the sky at dusk.

Jiang then asked about Chen Yuan's family situation.

Chen Yuan answered Jiang truthfully: "There are seven children in our family, my sister is the only girl, and the rest are boys. Except for my sister and I who are away from home, the rest are in Yingzhou. My father and mother are both alive and well. We do some small business and farm at home."

Jiang nodded with satisfaction, and agreed with Chen Yuan to wait for Zhang Peng and Zhang Jixiang to come back before offering betrothal gifts and negotiating a wedding date.