Chapter 340: Chapter 339: Love at First Sight (Part 2)
Yonghe House was a fair distance from Golden Carpenter’s ho. Zhang Chu carried a large pack of tools on his back and followed Golden Carpenter through the streets and alleys. The sun outside was scorching, and they couldn’t find much shade along the way. By the ti the master and apprentice arrived at Yonghe House, they were drenched in sweat, looking like they’d just been fished out of water.
Manager Zhang had been waiting at the door for a while, and hurriedly greeted Golden Carpenter with a smile when he saw him, “Golden Carpenter, it must have been tough walking all the way here in this devilish weather. You must be roasted. Co, co, here’s so cool tea we brewed yesterday, you guys have a drink first.”
After each had a cup of cool tea, Golden Carpenter and Zhang Chu finally felt revived.
“The cabinet is still on the second floor in the old spot, right?” Golden Carpenter asked.
“Yes, it’s still in the sa place. We didn’t dare to move it, fearing we might damage it further,” Manager Zhang said. “And the window fra is also on the second floor. Strange to say, it was all fine yesterday, but this morning when Cao ca in, he found the window fra was broken and told . There wasn’t any rain last night, so it’s baffling how it could have just broken like that for no good reason. Could sothing have crashed into it? It’s truly puzzling.”
“It’s just a broken window fra, repairing it won’t be troubleso,” Golden Carpenter said, finishing his cool tea and pouring himself a glass of cold water, gulping it down. “Manager Zhang, could you please find soone to take my apprentice upstairs to look at that window fra? I’ll go fix the cabinet.”
“Sure, thank you for your trouble,” replied Manager Zhang, turning to look for a strong lad and just happened to catch Cao Guixiang sneakily trying to get a peek at Zhang Chu from the kitchen doorway. He waved at her, “Guixiang, co here, take this young Master Zhang upstairs to fix the window fra.”
Cao Guixiang had initially just wanted to find a concealed spot to watch Zhang Chu, never expecting to be caught red-handed by Manager Zhang. She hurriedly touched her face a few tis, then grabbed at her hair as if trying to make it look better, before slowly erging with her head bowed.
“That, uh, young Master Zhang, I’ll take you, upstairs,” Cao Guixiang said quietly, her voice sounding a bit strange due to her whisper.
“You girl, weren’t you just fine this morning? What happened to your voice to make it sound like that?” asked Manager Zhang.
“Just now, the second brother was frying fish in the kitchen, and I got choked,” Cao Guixiang chose to pass the bla to Qin Guisheng.
This was Zhang Chu’s first ti going out to do repair work for soone, and he was just as nervous. He had his head buried in the big bag of tools he’d dragged along, not lifting his head at all, and hadn’t gotten a clear look at Cao Guixiang’s face.
Cao Guixiang led the way in front, with Zhang Chu following behind her. Throughout the journey, neither of them spoke a word until they reached the window fra that was more than likely broken by Cao Guixiang’s own hand the night before.
“This is it. I discovered it was suddenly broken when I ca in this morning,” Cao Guixiang outright lied.
Zhang Chu stepped forward to inspect it, and saw that the break was clean. Even Jiang Feng could tell it wasn’t naturally broken, and it was highly likely it had been broken by soone either bumping or knocking it.
“This break doesn’t look like it was caused by dampness, more like it was broken by sothing hitting it,” Zhang Chu murmured. As an inexperienced newbie who had never repaired a window fra, he dared only to mutter to himself, hesitant to make a definitive judgnt.
However, Cao Guixiang heard Zhang Chu’s mutterings and thought her little act had been easily exposed. She beca sowhat panicked and blurted out without thinking, “Wasn’t there a downpour last month? Maybe it got damp then, and maybe last night so bird or sothing hit it and it just broke on impact. I don’t know, it was already broken when I found it this morning.”
Cao Guixiang had spoken quickly and softly. Jiang Feng only caught the gist of it. Zhang Chu was still focused on inspecting the break in the window fra, likely pondering how to fix it, and Jiang Feng felt he probably hadn’t heard what Cao Guixiang had just said.
Or perhaps, he hadn’t even noticed that Cao Guixiang had spoken at all.
After speaking, Cao Guixiang looked at Zhang Chu nervously and expectantly, hoping he would respond, but Zhang Chu kept his gaze on the window fra and completely ignored her. Cao Guixiang thought Zhang Chu found her too talkative to even offer a polite response and left looking downcast and a little heartbroken.
Jiang Feng was curious to see what reaction Zhang Chu would have upon noticing Cao Guixiang’s absence, so he didn’t follow her downstairs but stayed beside Zhang Chu.
Zhang Chu scrutinized the break in the window fra for a few minutes, then turned his head and asked, “Comrade, your shop’s…”
“Eh, where did that comrade go?” Zhang Chu was utterly confused.
Unable to find Cao Guixiang, Zhang Chu set about solving the problem by himself, walking over to where Golden Carpenter was and loudly asked, “Master, do you have…”
Jiang Feng didn’t hear the rest because he had already dashed downstairs to see what Cao Guixiang was up to.
When Jiang Feng arrived, he had noticed that there were very few custors at Yonghe House that day. There wasn’t a single table occupied on the second floor, and only one table on the first floor had diners. It was supposed to be story-telling ti, but he hadn’t seen Mr. Che across the way, probably because the weather was too hot. The heat deterred custors from eating out and likely caused Mr. Che to skip work and stay ho to cool off.
With no custors, it ant the kitchen staff must be quite idle. Jiang Feng nonchalantly walked into the kitchen and saw Cao Guixiang and Qin Guisheng seated side by side on small stools, drinking cool tea.
“What should I do? He must think I’m really annoying. Does he not want to see or talk to anymore? If our shop breaks a window fra again, would he be willing to co fix it?” Cao Guixiang, clutching the tea cup in both hands, wore a worried expression.
Qin Guisheng almost spat out his tea when he heard her last sentence; his speech beca stamring.
“Sis…Sister…Sister apprentice, do our shop’s window fras still need breaking?” Qin Guisheng calculated in his mind, if their clandestine activities from last night were discovered by the master, the master might spare his favorite junior because of his fondness for her, but for him, the master would likely be ruthless and unsparing.
He was only in his 20s, just held hands with Amin, and they hadn’t even gotten engaged yet. He couldn’t just die so tragically.
“Of course, it must be over!” Cao Guixiang said, “I went to ask Manager Yin yesterday, and after Golden Carpenter takes the custom order for the Qian Gong Bed, he won’t take any other jobs. The Qian Gong Bed is being made in a different courtyard that belongs to Manager Yin’s family, which is not even on the sa path as ours. After that, he won’t pass by our street, nor will he stay to listen to Mr. Che’s storytelling.”
“Junior Sister, don’t be impulsive, let your second senior brother think it over for you. When you led him upstairs earlier, did he say anything to you?” Qin Guisheng asked.
“He said exactly 28 characters to : ‘This broken end doesn’t look like it’s from dampness, rather it looks like it was smashed by sothing.’ That’s the 28 characters,” Cao Guixiang said with a sad face.
Qin Guisheng: ???
Are you sure he said that to you and not to himself?
“Emmm, that’s,” Qin Guisheng suddenly didn’t know what to say, “but no matter what, we can’t continue destroying the window fra. If our shop keeps breaking window fras every now and then, anyone would find it strange. And the way you smash the window fra is way too dangerous, climbing on the external wall to do it. If you fall one day, then I’m done for. Master would skin alive.”
“What did you do now? My father would skin you alive?” Peng Changping appeared behind them at so point, “What are you so absorbed in talking about that you didn’t even hear the call for lunch?”
“Oh, nothing, ah, it’s ti to eat, co on co on co on, Junior Sister, let’s hurry and eat,” said Qin Guisheng, springing up at once.
Perhaps because of the hot weather, the food was quite simple: stir-fried waterlon rind, smashed cucumber, cold tomato salad, scrambled eggs with chili, with plain stead buns as the main dish, no soup, but plenty of iced tea.
Cao Guixiang was absentmindedly nibbling on a stead bun, occasionally picking up a chopstick of waterlon rind, her mind clearly elsewhere.
“Guixiang, what are you thinking about? You’re not even eating properly,” Master Peng tapped the back of her hand with the end of his chopsticks.
“Ah, oh, Master, I was thinking that it doesn’t seem quite right for us to eat without inviting Master Jin and Little Zhang to join us. They’re still working upstairs,” said Cao Guixiang.
“Originally, there was such a custom that when a master cos to work, you have to not only pay but also provide als. But now the rules have changed. If you pay, als are not included; otherwise, it would disrupt the rules. The finances of our shop are predetermined, and if we ss around like this, it would be hard to account for at the end of the month,” Manager Zhang explained.
“But I rember Little Zhang doesn’t charge for fixing the window fra, right? Since he isn’t taking money, we should at least provide a al, otherwise wouldn’t that be too inconsiderate?” Cao Guixiang said.
“That makes sense. How about this, deduct the cost from my salary this month. Guixiang, later you go make a bowl of zhajiang noodles for Little Zhang and take it up to him,” Master Peng nodded.
Cao Guixiang imdiately lit up, finishing the bun in her hand in a few bites before slipping into the kitchen.
“Master, I’m going to make zhajiang noodles for Little Zhang!”
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’m full already!”
Master Peng shook his head helplessly, smiling: “This child, the older she gets, the less proper she becos.”
Master Wang, however, had noticed sothing and smiled mysteriously, “I think it’s because Guixiang is growing up, and she’s taken a liking to that Little Zhang upstairs, right?”
Qin Guisheng nearly choked on a mouthful of bun.
“Wow, look at Xiaoguisheng’s reaction. It seems Guixiang really has a thing for him,” said Master Wang.
“Master Wang, don’t talk nonsense. It wasn’t who said that, it was you,” Qin Guisheng protested.
“But if Guixiang really has her sights set on Little Zhang upstairs, that could be quite troubleso. That Little Zhang is known as the handso bachelor in his neighborhood, and there are a lot of young girls who like him,” Master Wang said.
Hearing Master Wang talk like that, Qin Guisheng suddenly beca unhappy, “Master Wang, listen to how you speak. My junior sister is also… She’s well-known for her beauty at Yonghe House, and besides, my junior sister is still young. In a couple of years, she might even beco a regular employee. Zhang Chu is just an apprentice of Golden Carpenter and hasn’t even finished his apprenticeship yet; he doesn’t have any steady inco. In terms of work and appearance, where is my junior sister not a match for this Zhang Chu? It’s Zhang Chu who isn’t worthy of her.”
Cao Guixiang was the only female employee at Yonghe House.
Everyone laughed.
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