Yang bent over, his hand holding the wooden spoon to scoop porridge paused slightly. He looked up and replied shyly, “Thank you for your concern, auntie. My wife-master has at least survived, and apart from not being able to get out of bed, everything is fine.”

The two middle-aged women sighed, their expressions sympathetic: “Alas, this is a sin. If it weren’t for the legitimate daughter of the Ying Marquis House riding her horse recklessly on the street, losing control of the fierce steed and charging into the crowd, how would Yang’s wife have had her legs crushed by the horse? Suffering such an undeserved calamity, forcing Mr. Yang and his young daughter to work in the open, selling buns to make a living. Now as the weather gets colder… sigh…”

“The lives of us common people are worthless.”

They looked up at the bun stall with few customers, their eyes full of pity.

The middle-aged husband brought two steaming buns and a bowl of thin porridge to the table. Liu Changning looked up, and at close range, she saw that the middle-aged man before her was as thin as a bamboo pole, looking as if a gust of cold wind could blow him over.

Liu Changning narrowed her eyes, took out a piece of broken silver from her bosom and handed it to him, pretending to be casual as she instructed, “No need for change, copper coins are a bit cumbersome to carry, consider it a tip!”

The middle-aged husband was stunned for a moment, then bowed to her.

Liu Changning didn’t pay him any attention, picked up a meat bun and put it in her mouth. Her apricot eyes narrowed with pleasure.

The buns at this stall were made extremely well, large in size with thin skin and plenty of meat. When eaten, they released a rich, savory broth that suited Liu Changning’s taste perfectly.

In her previous life, she had eaten dim sum once while traveling in G City. At that time, a basket of meat buns made her, who didn’t usually care much about food, fall in love with juicy and meaty soup dumplings.

Because the soup dumplings were so delicious, Liu Changning couldn’t help but have another one.

Just as she was lowering her head to have breakfast, a blue-canopied black-covered carriage suddenly drove in from not far away. The appearance of the carriage was not particularly luxurious, but if one knew what to look for and observed carefully, the crossbeams of the carriage body were actually made of purple sandalwood. The carriage railings were carved with dragons and phoenixes, truly lifelike.

There weren’t many carriages in the market, and because of the small stalls distributed on both sides of the street and the mixed crowd, it wasn’t easy for carriages to move around inside the market.

So when a carriage suddenly appeared, the gazes of the surrounding vendors all gathered on the carriage body.

The carriage woman jumped down after parking the carriage properly.

She stood straight beside the carriage and called out to the person inside: “Your High… Young Master, we’ve arrived at the bun shop?”

The man inside the carriage put down the white jade blue porcelain cup in his hand on the table and instructed, “Go buy two buns.”

Liu Changning choked on a mouthful of porridge and coughed lightly.

She looked up towards the carriage, her willow-leaf eyebrows slightly furrowed.

That voice from inside the carriage… was very familiar.

While she was suspiciously staring at the carriage, the carriage woman who had been standing with her head bowed had already walked to the bun stall.

The middle-aged husband’s eyes had been filling with tears from the moment the carriage drove in.

He tremblingly dragged his daughter, making as if to kneel before the master in the carriage, but was stopped by the carriage woman: “The young master instructed that there’s no need for such courtesy.”

She then took out a piece of silver from her bosom and handed it to the middle-aged husband.

“Pack two buns for the young master, the same as usual, the meatiest ones with the most soup.”

The tears in the middle-aged husband’s eyes finally couldn’t be held back and slid down his cheeks.

The little girl, with her innocent big eyes, pulled at the middle-aged man’s clothes and asked in her childish voice: “Daddy, why are you crying again? Every time the young master comes to buy buns from us, you always cry. If you’re like this, won’t the young master dislike you?”

The middle-aged husband turned back and glared at the little girl, then wiped his tears with his hand.

He quickly stepped forward, walked to the side of the carriage, and knelt down on the ground. He said to the master inside the carriage: “Your High… Young Master, you have bestowed too much grace upon my family. If it weren’t for your help, my wife-master would probably be beyond medical help now, lying dead on the street. These days, you come to my stall every day to buy one or two buns, which should only cost one copper coin, but you give a piece of silver every time.”

The middle-aged husband’s voice was a bit choked: “Now my wife-master is out of danger. I absolutely cannot accept this silver anymore…”

The man inside the carriage remained silent. His slender hand was wrapped around a cloth handkerchief that had been laundered many times, its edges turning yellow.

Inside the canopied carriage, there was a small round table made of gold-threaded sandalwood, on which were placed a purple gold embossed hand warmer and a gold-painted ink lotus tea cup. The carriage was lined with sable fur cushions.

The entire carriage interior was extremely exquisite, yet only the coarse linen handkerchief in the carriage master’s hand seemed out of place. He raised the handkerchief in his hand and sniffed it.

In his peach blossom eyes, a layer of thick ink seemed to be rendered in his black pupils.

After a while, the man’s melancholy voice finally sounded: “Don’t worry, take it. This prince… this young master has been looking for a bun shop in the capital for two whole years. Only the buns made by your family, with thin skin and plenty of filling, rich in soup, suit that person’s taste. Since she likes them, this silver is worth it no matter how much is given. You need not refuse, this is a reward for your exquisite craftsmanship, not entirely out of pity for your family’s situation.”

The middle-aged husband’s hot tears fell like beads off a broken string. He tremblingly kowtowed three times, steadied his mind, and then said to the master inside the carriage: “If the young master’s friend likes the buns made by this humble one, I can pack a few more for the young master…”

“No need, that person says that waste will incur heaven’s wrath.”

A seemingly mocking laugh came from inside the carriage.

The middle-aged husband couldn’t persuade him otherwise, so he could only turn around, pack two meat buns into an oiled paper bag, and hand it to the carriage woman.

His eyes were rimmed with red, filled with gratitude.

The carriage woman handed the oiled paper bag into the carriage and asked with her head bowed: “Young master, shall we return to the mansion?”

“Go to Guiyun Teahouse.”

Having received the order, the carriage woman drove the blue-canopied black-covered carriage swiftly on the slippery bluestone road. Where the carriage passed, it left a straight water mark, trailing all the way to the street corner.

Liu Changning stared at the gradually disappearing carriage, the corner of her lips suddenly curling into an extremely subtle arc, her apricot eyes moist, suffused with a dazed smile.

If she wasn’t mistaken, the man in the carriage should be an old acquaintance.

A scene appeared in her memory.

West Qiao Village, the old house in the west of the village

A man in red clothes with stove ashes on his cheeks pointed at the food on the square table, his ink-black eyes shining brightly. He said to her, pretending to be cold: “Don’t you like to eat meat buns? Look, I bought you ten, enough to fill you up.”

“How can I possibly finish so many? Meat buns can’t be kept for long, if I can’t finish them, wouldn’t it be a waste? Wasting food might incur heaven’s wrath.”

The person’s originally bright eyes instantly dimmed, and he said dejectedly: “Oh.”