freenovelworld Chapter 203 Roasted chestnuts with sugar
Chapter 203 Roasted chestnuts with sugar
Lin Qingchuan got off the carriage and bought a bag of sugar cubes and two bags of roasted chestnuts from the roadside. He asked two different stall owners, and both of them gave him the same directions.
After paying the money and thanking the stall owner, he returned to his carriage, drove it out of the city, and headed in the direction he had heard about.
Lin Xiaotang and her father sat in the front. She could not only look at the scenery on both sides and remember the way, but also chat with her father, so that he wouldn't be bored driving the carriage alone.
She was surprised when her father suddenly stuffed a bag of roasted chestnuts into her hand.
Before she even got home, her father stuffed food into her hands and told her to eat it first.
"Dad, let's wait until we get home and eat together."
"Tang'er, you're so young and you don't like sweets. You follow your father around doing business all day, but you never buy snacks on your own. I don't know what you like to eat. When I was asking for directions just now, I smelled the sweet aroma of these roasted chestnuts, so I bought two bags. One bag is for you, and the other is for everyone to take back."
Dad actually let her eat the whole bag, isn't that too good to her?
“Dad, let’s eat together, I’ll peel it for you.” She smiled, her eyes crinkling to reveal two little tiger teeth. She opened the paper bag, grabbed a handful of food, put the bag in the back of the carriage, and started peeling.
How could Lin Qingchuan let his daughter peel eggs for an adult like him? He grabbed a handful from the bag in the carriage, put them in his pocket, and started peeling eggs as he drove the carriage.
He looked at it from left to right and couldn't help but exclaim, "So this is what chestnuts are! But when I bought them, the pot clearly didn't contain sugar, it contained stones. Why are chestnuts roasted with stones called sugar-roasted chestnuts instead of stone-roasted chestnuts?"
Lin Xiaotang laughed awkwardly, "I don't know either. Maybe when they roast chestnuts with stones, they put sugar in the pot. Roasting chestnuts with stones doesn't sound good, so they called it sugar-roasted chestnuts."
She knew but couldn't say anything. After all, this was her first time eating here, and if she knew something she was eating for the first time and was so sure about it, her father would definitely become suspicious.
"Tang'er is right. Sugar-roasted chestnuts sound better. These chestnuts smell sweet, so they must have been roasted with sugar."
He noticed a small slit cut into one side of the chestnut, so he broke it open along the slit. Inside was golden flesh that looked delicious. He turned and put it into his daughter's hand.
"Tang'er, your father peeled these. Try them and see if they're good. If you like them, your father will buy them for you again next time."
There are some things that my wife and Xiaoyu have never seen before. We'll buy them to try first, and if they're good, we'll buy more in the future. We can't always be reluctant to spend the money we've earned.
Look at the Xue family; they are extremely particular about their lunches. Not only are the food delicious, but the presentation is also beautiful, and there are many different kinds of food.
Lin Xiaotang thought to herself, who doesn't like roasted chestnuts? They're sweet and chewy, and when you put them in your mouth and chew slowly, they leave a lingering fragrance and an unforgettable aftertaste!
Being able to eat roasted chestnuts here is pure bliss.
"Dad, these chestnuts are delicious, you should try some." She popped the ones she had peeled into her father's mouth.
Lin Qingchuan had a chestnut stuffed into his mouth, and his eyes showed his delight as he secretly admired his daughter's filial piety.
"Dad will peel and eat them himself. If you like them, eat more. Don't worry about Dad."
“Good things should be shared. How can I eat them all by myself, Dad? The journey is long, and we don’t have much to do while we’re driving the carriage, so let’s peel and eat them slowly.”
The father and daughter leisurely peeled chestnuts all the way, finishing the entire bag of roasted chestnuts in one go.
Lin Xiaotang yawned, feeling a bit sleepy. She had gotten up early today and hadn't taken much nap on the way. Now that she had finished her business and eaten, she wanted to go to sleep.
Lin Qingchuan said, "Tang'er, if you're sleepy, go sleep in the carriage. Dad will hurry up and start the carriage so we can get home as soon as possible and not keep your mother waiting."
“Alright, if Dad gets tired, wake me up and we’ll take turns driving the carriage.”
"Tang'er, sleep peacefully. Dad is a big man, Dad isn't tired."
Lin Xiaotang lay down in the carriage and fell asleep in no time, with soft snoring coming from inside.
Lin Qingchuan took a deep breath, feeling a little guilty. His daughter was so young, yet she followed him around. She was at the age where she should be growing, but she was working hard with the adults from dawn till dusk.
It's all because he, as the father, is incompetent. He's slow-witted and clumsy with words. He's not as good as his daughter at negotiating business deals and partnerships. If he could handle it himself, he could hire a helper or buy a servant, and his daughter wouldn't have to work so hard.
Sigh, there's nothing I can do!
He drove the carriage, speeding up towards Dushui County. Fortunately, the road was wide and straight, with few forks, and the carriage traveled smoothly for about two and a half hours. They were almost at Dushui County. The mountain ahead was the one his daughter had visited to worship Buddha at the temple halfway up the mountain during the New Year. They could just drive the carriage around it.
He stopped several times along the way to let the horse drink water, eat grass, and rest. If he hadn't been worried that the horse wouldn't be able to handle the continuous travel, the journey would have taken even less time.
After a while, Lin Xiaotang could no longer hear the carriage moving. She woke up groggily and found the carriage parked by the roadside, but her father was gone.
Her drowsiness vanished instantly, and she became wide awake.
"father??"
"Father, where have you gone?"
Good heavens, where did her dad go?
Could it be that bandits kidnapped his father?
Alarm bells rang in Lin Xiaotang's mind. She immediately jumped off the carriage and carefully examined the footprints on the ground. Fortunately, it hadn't rained recently, so the soil was soft and there were footprints on the ground. She could follow the trail to find the person.
She was terrified. Her father was a grown man, and he didn't have anything valuable on him. What if the bandits thought he was poor and killed him to cover up the crime?
My parents' love is stronger than gold. What if my father is harmed? My mother can't bear the shock. How will she live after that?
Wait... something's not right!
If there really were bandits, why wouldn't they have robbed the carriage as well? Why would they be so kind as to leave the carriage behind and let her sleep peacefully in the carriage?
She's not the kind of person who sleeps like a log and can't hear a little noise.
She looked around for her father. Even though he hadn't been kidnapped by the bandits, she was still a little scared. This desolate mountain wilderness was somewhat eerie.
She cried out in a trembling voice, "Father, where have you gone? Come back quickly, I'm scared."
She carefully discerned the direction and saw that the mountain in front of her looked somewhat familiar, with what appeared to be a temple halfway up the mountain.
"Hey, this looks so much like the place I visited during Chinese New Year..."
“That’s right, it’s the one Tang’er went to. We can drive there in a carriage and we’ll be in Dushui County. It’s very close.”
Upon hearing her father's voice, Lin Xiaotang immediately turned around, patted her chest, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dad, where did you go? You scared me to death! I thought you ran into a bad guy."
Lin Qingchuan blushed slightly and said, "Dad needed to pee, but since you were still asleep, I didn't wake you."
It turned out she needed to use the restroom, which terrified her.
Lin Xiaotang felt a little embarrassed, but she pretended to be relaxed and said, "Okay, I know. The horses have rested enough. Let's go home?"
"Okay, go home."
They drove the carriage all the way back to Qinghe Town. The sun was almost setting when they arrived home. Liu Cai'er and Xiao Jiu had already cleaned the pig's trotters, and Shui Sheng had already left.
The next day, before dawn, Shui Sheng drove his carriage to the Lin family and told Lin Qingchuan and Lin Xiaotang that Shen Qianchuan had gotten his family to agree to divide the debt, but he had also fallen out with his family.