While grandma agreed, she fished out a steaming tea egg from the big pot in front of the door and handed it to the leading little beggar.

Maybe it was because the tea eggs that had just come out of the pot were a bit hot to the touch. After the little beggar in the lead took them, he quickly brought them to his mouth to suck the marinade, and then put them in his hands again, and kept doing this with his hands.

Song Xiaoniu and Gu Zhunian were bored, so they laughed and felt very confused.

Since it's hot, just put it on your tattered clothes. Besides, if you do this repeatedly, it's not hygienic to handle it with dirty hands.

After a while, only five little beggars were seen. They obediently walked to the corner opposite the door and squatted down. The leading child slowly opened the unburned tea eggs, carefully placed the eggshells on the clothes, and then pinched the tea eggs with his fingers.

, and then distributed it to the other four children.

He also got a small piece himself, holding it carefully in his hand, licking it bit by bit, reluctant to eat it in one bite.

After licking the palm of your hand, tremble your fingers again, and finally pick up the eggshell and lick it carefully.

The other four squatting beggars also licked their palms carefully after eating the little tea eggs they were given, and finally looked at the pile of eggshells with fiery eyes.

Song Xiaoniu breathed out a heavy breath, feeling her heart congested, and inexplicably thought of how similar these little beggars were to her when she was a child.

The old lady put two bowls of noodles on the table, with large pieces of mutton on them, which made everyone salivate. However, Song Xiaoniu only glanced at the little beggars squatting in the corner outside the door and gave up the idea of ​​eating.

I couldn't help but glance away, my face gradually lost expression, and I felt more and more uncomfortable.

These children were all wearing tattered shoes with exposed toes, and they didn't have any decent cotton-padded clothes. But it was already the twelfth lunar month, and even though it was Jiangnan, the temperature was around zero even at noon.

Grandma seemed to have read Song Xiaoniu's thoughts, and sat down on the empty bench next to the table between him and Gu Zhunian, sighing:

"They are all abandoned children of boat owners on the inland rivers here. Some of them are orphans. They are all like mud monkeys. They are quite pitiful. Every time I bring some guests to eat noodles, I will give them a tea egg."

Gu Zhunian turned around, looked at grandma's gray hair, and was wearing a torn apron. She was smiling and looking at these little beggars kindly, and then suddenly realized:

"It turns out they followed us to get this attention!!"

"That's right." Song Xiaoniu also responded, looking at these little brats with pity while eating noodles.

The little beggars finished eating the small pieces of eggs they were given, and after carefully licking their palms clean, they looked eagerly at the steaming cauldron at the door.

There are a lot of tea eggs and braised pork inside, which is a fatal temptation for children.

But no matter how much I wanted to eat and my mouth was watering, I didn't go beyond the rules. I just squatted in the corner and watched.

But it made Song Xiaoniu feel really sad. Thinking that there were only five children, he said:

"Grandma, give each of these children two tea eggs, and I'll pay the bill."

The grandma was surprised when she heard this, then took a look at Song Xiaoniu and Gu Zhunian and found that they were not children from a rich family.

If you were a kid from a rich family, you wouldn't come to such a common people's home to eat noodles.

She did not get up, but reminded her kindly: "I think the two gentlemen are warm-hearted and good people. If you feel pity for these children, it's best not to do this."

Song Xiaoniu was confused and asked quickly: "Why?"

Grandma looked at the children and smiled without saying a word. After a long time, she said with compassion: "Giving them too much only makes them greedy. They think every day that there are all poor people here, and there are many beggars, and not everyone is greedy."

Every guest is as warm-hearted as these two.”

Grandma said so clearly that Song Xiaoniu already understood the meaning of this issue and lowered his head gradually to continue eating noodles.

Yes, there are so many beggars in the world, and it’s true that little beggars can’t even do good deeds.

Gu Zhunian saw this and knew that his sworn brother had a chivalrous heart and always wanted to do something when he saw the poor.

He thought for a moment and said to the old lady: "Grandma, let's buy 10 tea eggs and store them here, and give them one more each time in the future."

After hearing this, Song Xiaoniu couldn't help but nodded and expressed his appreciation. The grandma understood it, got up, walked to the door and shouted:

"Little dog, come here quickly. Grandma sold two bowls of mutton noodles today, and I'll give you an extra tea egg."

When the little beggars heard that they could get one more, their eyes widened and they immediately ran over.

The one called Little Dog Baby doesn't care whether it's hot or not, he just takes it and puts it in his mouth, then puts it in his hand, repeating this process without wasting any juice.

Song Xiaoniu then calmly finished the mutton noodles and drank all the soup. Finally, he asked Danian to pay the bill, asked for directions to the Embarcadero Pier, wiped his mouth, and left Grandma's Noodle House.

…

When the two woke up from the inn bed, it was almost dusk.

It was a great sleep.

I got up, washed my face, and prepared to go downstairs to check out.

A queue has already formed at the front desk of the inn downstairs, with people checking in. Only Song Xiaoniu's room is checking out.

I saw that I was checking out, and the front desk clerk gave me a warm welcome. It was half price for just one day.

Gu Zhunian handed over the room key and paid for the room and breakfast. When the ward patrolman upstairs called out, the person in charge of the front office said: "Okay, please excuse me."

Song Xiaoniu and Gu Zhunian had never stayed in an inn alone, and they did not understand the procedures and implications of room inspections required by the hotel when checking out.

I guess the store owner is afraid that customers may forget their items.

But after thinking about it for a while, the brothers didn't expect to have any valuable items, so they took them all with them.

Two hundred steps away is the Inland River Terminal, which is a mixed passenger and freight terminal where all merchant ships unload and load cargo.

Although the sun had already set by this time, there was still a fiery scene on the pier.

Perhaps it is approaching the end of the year, and food and various new year goods are needed everywhere, and the transportation of goods is extremely busy.

The coolies rolled up their trousers, wore only a thin shirt on their upper body, and a sweat towel around their necks, and lined up in front of the ship to wait for the anti-rice bags.

A big man unloading goods stood on the boat and shouted:

"Brothers, work harder, this ship is about to sail!"

The anti-rice men shouted: "One more bag!"

When Song Xiaoniu and Gu Zhunian met, they were both moved by the scene, which brought back the sad scenes at the East Pier of the Japanese Concession.

The passenger ship to Bengbu leaves every two hours, so those who arrive early will have to wait by the river.

In the twelfth lunar month, the river is not so full, and the foundation stones under the dock are exposed.
Chapter completed!