Chapter 489 "Small Blessing"
"Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to all things.
All things bear yin and embrace yang, and the energy is in harmony."
Su Chengyi leaned in the shade of the bus stop, silently reciting passages from the Tao Te Ching sentence by sentence.
Tao is unique. Tao generates the two qi of yin and yang. The two qi of yin and yang intersect to produce tangible things, and then generate all things. All things face the sun and have yin behind them, and the combination of yin and yang creates a harmonious state.
Therefore, everything in the world is born from the combination of Yin and Yang. The two qi of yin and yang are unified in opposites, and opposites complement each other.
In short, the key is "balance".
So.
"Su Chengyi!"
Chu Qingmian stood in front of a stall not far away, waving to him with a bright smile.
Today's sunshine was exceptionally gentle, falling on her curled eyelashes, making her bright eyes shine with dots of brilliance. The dust in the air rose and fell around her with the gentle breeze.
The place they made an appointment with was actually this bus stop, but apparently, a certain young lady was easily stopped by a roadside stall.
Su Chengyi leaned against the limited shade under the stop sign, rather minding the temperature of the direct sunlight outside.
Chu Qingmian looked at his reluctant expression and knew that this man usually hated sunbathing, but she wanted him to come and see this stall, so she immediately started acting like a baby in a pitiful way. .
“Su Chengyi~”
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Su Chengyi had always been unable to do anything to her, so she had no choice but to sigh and stand up lazily.
Chu Qingmian was about to smile as if his plan had succeeded, when he saw him lifting the bouquet of flowers hidden behind him to block the sunlight above his head.
This is a very beautiful bouquet of white roses, but at this time it has become a prop for this person to block the light.
But Chu Qingmian clearly felt that her heartbeat had skipped a few beats, and she might have even forgotten to blink her eyes for a while.
Su Chengyi took long steps, stood firm in front of her, and tapped her head gently with the bouquet.
“Why are you in a daze?”
Chu Qingmian’s eyes are standard apricot eyes. When they are slightly open, they look even clearer and innocent, and they have the artistic conception of looking across the landscape. .
How can I put it, it looks good.
“Oh——”
Chu Qingmian felt pain, covered her head and complained, but couldn't help but laugh happily.
“Give it to me, give it to me!”
She took the white rose in Su Chengyi’s hand with both hands, and her first reaction was to sniff it, like a curious little orange cat.
“Hmph~ When did you go to buy it?”
“I saw something for sale on the way here.”
In fact, he made a special detour to buy it, but Su Chengyi obviously would not admit such a thing.
While she was weak in accepting the flowers, Su Chengyi stretched out his hand and pinched her cheek flesh. The feeling was as good as ever.
Chu Qingmian really didn't care about such trivial matters as being pinched in the face at this time, and just held the flowers and turned around happily.
She really is the most coaxing young lady in the world, Su Chengyi couldn't help but think.
He crossed his arms and took a step back, turning his head to see what the stall next to him that attracted Miss Chu was.
It turned out to be the kind of handmade sugar painting shop that often appeared in childhood memories. There was a turntable next to it with the twelve zodiac animals on it, and the price of each one was marked on it.
Except for the particularly difficult "Dragon" which is priced at 15 yuan, the others are all priced at 10 yuan, which is probably considered a good value for money.
The boss’s business was good, and there was a queue in front of the stall. Most of them were parents with their children waiting.
Of course, there is Chu Qingmian, a child over 200 months old who is happily at the back.
Although I stood far away, the aroma of maltose still lingered in the air.
While looking at the boss's skillful craftsmanship, Su Chengyi thought to herself that the weather was too hot a few days ago, so it was obviously impossible to sell things like sugar paintings. Because it doesn't solidify at all, it will be sticky all over the hands of customers after a while, so probably no one is willing to buy such a troublesome thing.
Fortunately, there was a light rain last night, and the temperature has dropped slightly today. It is probably the coolest weather in Tang'an since the beginning of summer.
The small vendors who usually only appear at night also took advantage of the rare good weather to go out to work early, which allowed Chu Qingmian, the greedy cat, to successfully encounter a dead mouse.
"Did you come here to eat anything else?"
Su Chengyi glanced at the long queue of stalls and looked at her with some suspicion.
Chu Qingmian's almond-shaped eyes widened, and she screamed "Hey, hey, hey," she was wronged.
“Don’t slander me! Uncle Gao just sent me here. When we got to the intersection, the car couldn’t drive in, so I got out of the car and walked over by myself.
There were many, many good things along the way. I didn’t even buy any food!”
Chu Qingmian looked confident and confident.
Su Chengyi wanted to laugh very much. It was as if she had finally done her homework and happened to meet the classmates who the teacher wanted to check one by one.
"Come and check me, come and check me!" is clearly written on his face.
“Why not buy it?”
Su Chengyi looked to the side curiously, and immediately saw Chu Qingmian’s favorite fried rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, old popsicles, etc. A range of street food.
I have to say, the ones in front are still bearable, but it’s hard not to buy one when passing by this old popsicle.
“That’s because I want to see you first.”
Chu Qingmian stood on tiptoe and looked intently at the child holding up the sugar painting in front of her, and answered confidently after hearing this.
“.”
Su Chengyi coughed.
Buy, buy, buy, you can buy everything, buy everything on this street!
"Uncle, is the sugar painting you made the same as the pattern on this one?"
Chu Qingmian looked at the shapes on the turntable and asked curiously.
"Then it must be the same, girl. If it's different, we won't charge you!"
The boss's fighting spirit was obviously aroused by this pretty girl's doubts. Su Chengyi watched him roll up his sleeves. His movements are a bit more heroic.
“Hey, let me spin it~”
Chu Qingmian carefully fiddled with the wooden turntable that seemed to have been used for several years.
Su Chengyi folded his arms and watched the show nearby. He could see that there was nothing weird about the speed of the pointer.
Some owners of roulette games will use some tricks to make the pointer fall to a more profitable area. This sugar painting shop is a standard honest person.
The pointer flipped between "tiger" and "rabbit" several times, and in the end the rabbit was slightly better.
“Okay!!!”
Chu Qingmian happily raised her arms and cheered.
The boss said "haha", expecting that such a little girl would probably like rabbits more, and turned around to scoop out the maltose with a spoon.
At this time, Su Chengyi felt a little strange, so she couldn't help but ask:
"Aren't you a tiger, and you prefer rabbits?"
Chu Qingmian shook her head, He replied:
"No matter which side you are in, you will be happy."
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Su Chengyi couldn't help but reached out and rubbed the top of her hair.
This guy is really full of emotional value. No matter who touches her, they will be infected and happy.
The boss first uses a spoon to hold sugar syrup and outlines the basic shape on the iron plate, and then proceeds to the next step of careful carving.
Wisps of sugar are floating in the air, and soon the image of an auspicious rabbit turning over and jumping up appears. Finally, it is replaced with brown sugar to decorate the eyes, which is lifelike.
"Wow~~~"
Chu Qingmian carefully took the sugar painting and raised it to Su Chengyi with a crooked smile.
Su Chengyi followed her gaze and saw that the sugar rabbit was really crystal clear and vivid in the sunlight.
It really deserves the title of intangible cultural heritage.
“Uncle, your paintings are so beautiful!”
Chu Qingmian held up the candy painting and was not in a hurry to eat it, but put her hand on the turntable again.
"I'll transfer another one." Of course it's a good thing to have business, let alone the business of such a sweet-talking and cute little girl.
This time the pointer successfully stopped on "Tiger".
The roaring tiger in the mountains and forests is powerful in all directions. Compared with the rabbit just now, the process of painting a tiger is obviously more complicated, and the finished product is more spectacular.
Chu Qingmian held a flower in one hand and a rabbit in the other, nudging Su Chengyi to get the tiger.
It's good to look at, and appreciation is appreciation. Su Chengyi has no interest in maltose, but she has already ordered it, so she reluctantly picked up the candy tiger.
“I’ll spin another one!”
Unexpectedly, Miss Chu wasn’t done yet. After noticing that there was no one queuing up behind her, she started spinning the wheel again.
This time the pointer finally luckily landed on the "dragon" with a unique price.
Su Chengyi sighed and watched his boss painting gracefully on the iron plate.
After a while, a flying dragon leaped out of the clouds and mist, majestic. At first glance, even the scales on the dragon's tail are exquisite.
No wonder it’s five yuan more expensive, it’s quite a deal.
Chu Qingmian was finally satisfied and paid the money happily.
“Didn’t you eat it when you were a child?”
Seeing her looking so happy, Su Chengyi couldn't help but ask.
"Well, I'll just watch the other children eat."
Chu Qingmian carefully licked off the candy bunny's ears and nodded.
Why do you say it so pitifully?
Those who knew her knew that she was the eldest daughter of the Chu family, but those who didn’t knew thought she was a child from a poor family who couldn’t afford sweets.
"Oh, my mother won't let me eat it."
Chu Qingmian looked at the rabbit that she had bitten with only one ear left, with a bit of pity in her eyes.
Maltose is sweet, but the lines drawn with the sugar are very thin, so it is not sweet to the point of being greasy. It will taste good for people like Chu Qingmian who are addicted to sugar.
"Then you should eat both of these."
"No, no, no."
Chu Qingmian shook her head like a rattle.
"Huh? But I don't want to eat it."
Su Chengyi felt like he was going to be overtaken by the sweetness just by smelling the taste.
“Then choose one, the Cerebroaxe and the Little Golden Dragon.”
Chu Qingmian poked his arm to indicate.
Su Chengyi followed her words and looked at the two sugar paintings in his hands again.
The dragon roars and the tiger roars, no matter how you look at it, they are not cute creatures that can be called "cerebellar axe" and "little golden dragon".
Su Chengyi thought for a while and replied:
"Choose tiger."
The maltose used for tiger should be less. There are too many dragons and it will be difficult to eat.
"Okay!"
Chu Qingmian dropped the rose bouquet and the sugar dragon in his hand, then turned and ran towards the roadside.
“Uncle Su!”
Su Chengyi raised his eyes and saw a familiar Lincoln Navigator on the side of the road.
Su Zelang was wearing sunglasses, grinning and making a very exaggerated wave to the two of them.
Chu Qingmian quickly ran to the car and handed the sugar dragon in her hand to Su Zelang in the driver's seat through the car window.
"How did you know that uncle likes to eat this sweet thing?!
Thank you, thank you! Thank you very much!"
Su Zelang pretended to put his hands together and said A very grateful gesture.
Seeing this, Chu Qingmian shook her head funnyly, like a beautiful ceramic doll, and said with a smile:
"Guess, guess! Just take a guess!"
Su Chengyi sighed, feeling that these two people seemed to be really having fun.
The two of them were so naive together.
He tucked the rose under his arm and freed one hand to open the rear door.
Chu Qingmian looked like he was greeting Su Zelang, but in fact he was very sharp-eyed and immediately took advantage of every opportunity to get into the car first.
Su Chengyi looked at her like a little rabbit rushing to escape back to the hole, and was secretly amused.
While turning sideways to make room for her, he reached out his hand to block the top of the car door to prevent her from accidentally hitting her head.
After she sat down in the back seat, Su Chengyi got in the car and closed the door.
The air conditioner in the car was turned on fully, and the ventilation was also on. Su Chengyi estimated that Su Zelang had not paid attention on the way here and smoked in the car. He was currently undergoing emergency rescue. .
Today’s appointment with Chu Qingmian was also for a “meeting with the parents” session.
After all, they all came back to Tang'an, so it was somewhat unreasonable not to see each other.
Although Chu Qingmian did not have a "big incident" like Chen Jinzhi's, Su Zelang was thinking about eating, drinking and having fun all day long. Occasionally, when he remembered that he had a cheap son, he was the first The idea is to worry about Su Chengyi's lifelong events.
When Su Chengyi celebrated his birthday last year, the greeting card he wrote specifically emphasized this point.
I accomplished all the important things in my life during my college years and had two friends during my three years of graduate school.
Now that my son has a love partner who is extremely suitable for marriage, it is necessary to keep in touch with him frequently.
Furthermore, Su Zelang was very relieved about everything about Su Chengyi, except for the matter of "falling in love".
It’s not that he thinks there’s anything about his son that’s not worthy of being liked by girls, he’s just worried that his dull temper won’t make girls happy, and if there are any problems in love, he won’t take the initiative to solve them.
When it comes to love, the most taboo thing is "misunderstanding".
This is what Su Zelang has experienced personally, and it is a heart-wrenching experience.
Thinking of this, he subconsciously wanted to reach for a cigarette from his pocket, but the sugar dragon in his hand stopped him.
Su Zelang took a breath, looked at the flying dragon in his hand, and said with a smile:
"What a craft!"
As he said that, he opened his mouth and took a bite. The shape of the flying dragon was eaten to pieces.
Su Chengyi did not answer his exaggerated emotion, but just brought the candy tiger in his hand to Chu Qingmian's mouth.
“I don’t want to eat.”
"Then you taste a little bit and give me the rest, okay?"
Chu Qingmian didn't force him, just blinked and said expectantly.
It is difficult for someone to say rejection to such a pair of eyes. Su Chengyi nodded and bit off the word "king" of the tiger.
It's not as sweet as expected, just a little sticky.
Chu Qingmian seemed happy that he could cooperate. Su Chengyi chewed the candy and felt slightly puzzled by this.
Su Chengyi didn't know that in Chu Xiaomian's understanding, these traditional and characteristic national arts contain "little blessings" that only belong to our people.
The place where she saw the most sugar paintings when she was a child was when attending temple fairs. Almost every child would hold a sugar painting in their hand.
Some are lifelike animals of the Chinese zodiac, some are flower reliefs, and some are patterns representing good fortune.
Under the sunlight, it is crystal clear and filled with golden light, which is really beautiful.
When Chu Qingmian was a cub, she could only watch helplessly. Although she wanted it very much, after being severely rejected once, she was sensible enough not to mention it again.
Now that she has grown up and is a little free from some physical restraints, she has the opportunity to make up for some of the missing parts of her childhood.
Although late candy always has a somewhat spoiled and bitter taste, there is also a good thing that comes with it.
That is, Chu Qingmian can share this "little blessing" hidden in her memory with her favorite person in the world.
I hope the smiling Maitreya Bodhisattva at the temple fair can bless him with joy and happiness.
(End of this chapter)