Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Inquiring About Something

Xia Chuyi left, leaving He Qing at the original spot, half a day unable to snap back to reality.

When the burning sensation in his eyes had subsided enough for him to slightly open them, he was already sporting a bruised nose and a swollen face.

The people around him were still pointing and making remarks about him.

He Qing felt extremely embarrassed and was seething with rage.

“Xia Chuyi, you just wait for me!” His expression was so ferocious that it caused his face to hurt from the strain.

Then, he left the train station in a most disgraceful manner.

The next day at noon, Zhao Xiaogui brought Xia Chengzong into Provincial City at last–the very reason his cousin was a day late.

“Big sis, we’re here!” Compared to Zhao Xiaogui’s excitement, Xia Chengzong huffed in a less than pleased way, which passed for a greeting.

Xia Chuyi didn’t mind and simply said, “You’ve come at the right time. The ingredients in the storeroom need to be sorted out quickly!”

The storeroom’s contents were those she had swapped from the Purification Array–those stored before the New Year.

The new batch of ingredients just delivered, she had already put into the space, waiting for the next delivery to exchange.

Because these ingredients were not purely space-grown foods anymore; they were purified foods.

She worried that people might think they didn’t taste as good as before, so she planned to put extra effort into the marinade.

Having simmered all morning, the marinade was already very rich in flavor.

Zhao Xiaogui, lured by the aroma, seemed to lose his soul and happily responded, “Big sis, I’m off to work!”

His voice was filled with joy.

However, Xia Chengzong’s reaction was to freeze for a moment, then incredulously ask, “Start working now? Am I supposed to work too?”

Wasn’t he just here to check things out?

Xia Chuyi glanced at him and calmly said, “You don’t have to work, but if you don’t, then there won’t be any dinner for you.”

Xia Chengzong’s face turned ashen as he asked, “You’re not providing dinner?”

She glanced at him without a direct answer, merely chuckling, “You’re not going to work?”

Meaning, no work, no dinner.

Xia Chengzong gritted his teeth and glared at her fiercely.

He had come into the city without any money from home, and over the New Year, he felt too embarrassed to ask Brother Qiang for help.

So he had no choice but to follow Zhao Xiaogui to work.

Just as Xia Chengzong, filled with resentment, resigned himself to work, no one noticed that not far from the shop, He Qing was glaring this way with a face full of spite.

It turned out that yesterday, worried about potential lasting damage to his eyes because of his injury, he had gone to the hospital. This had delayed him for a night, and he hadn’t returned to Provincial City for the time being.

Today, as he headed to the train station, he had just happened to run into Zhao Xiaogui and his companion entering the city.

Almost as if guided by fate, he followed them and arrived here.

Sure enough, as he had speculated, they were here to find Xia Chuyi.

But what was Xia Chu doing here?

He casually stopped someone and asked, “Hey, comrade, I’d like to ask you something!”

“What do you want?” The person responded impatiently at first, then, upon noticing his military uniform, replied with a bit of reluctance, “What is it?”

He Qing wasn’t offended by the rude tone.

He had always been adaptable, and with a smile he said to the woman, “Comrade, hello, I am a soldier from the Provincial City military. I just wanted to ask you what this shop sells? And that woman with the apron, what is she doing inside? Is she a worker?”

He pointed at Xia Chuyi.

The woman opposite him glanced at him sideways, dissatisfied, “You know Xia Chuyi? What are you to her?”

“You know her as well?” He Qing, observant, noticed that this woman seemed to dislike Xia Chuyi?

Indeed, this comrade was none other than Zhang Xiaoling.