Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 340: Driving to the Academy to Deliver Meals is Fast

Because Yang Songtao and Aunt Qiu were here, the meals that had originally been planned to be cooked later today were quickly prepared in advance.

Li asked Zhou Dalang to come over and pull the cart out.

Together with Yang Songtao, they put Xiaobai in a car harness and went outside for a drive to see if Zhou Dalang could control it.

Zhou Dalang fell in love with Xiaobai at the first sight, saying that this little donkey had a well-proportioned body, could be used to pull carts steadily and could run fast.

Yang Songtao was instructing him like a little adult, telling him how many meals of fodder Xiaobai should eat a day and how much he should eat.

Zhou Dalang listened carefully to everything and finally assured: "Don't worry, Yang Xiaoge, Xiaobai will be well taken care of in our restaurant. He won't suffer and he won't be made to do heavy work."

Yang Songtao blinked his big eyes and touched the donkey's head reluctantly: "Xiaobai is very well behaved and can understand what people say. From now on, it will be the Xiaobai in your restaurant."

The two of them worked together to harness the donkey and prepared to go out for a walk to give it a try.

When harnessing the cart, the little donkey was very docile and was harnessed in no time.

Zhou Dalang was full of praise for the sleek little donkey, and kept praising it for being obedient and not afraid of strangers. He felt at ease using it to pull the cart and driving the car.

While the two of them were out testing the car, Shen Yu, Jiang, and Zheng Sanniang were cooking on three stoves at the same time, and soon they had prepared the meals to be delivered to the academy today.

According to the agreement with Yang Tao, the daily dishes are two meat and two vegetable dishes, and the meals are rotated between rice, pancakes, steamed buns and dumplings.

Now the academy is far away, so we don’t cook any meals with soup. We will add porridge and soup after we move closer.

The fried dishes were placed in a large casserole with a lid, and the rice was placed in a covered bamboo basket padded with lotus leaves. All were placed in a large double-handled bamboo basket padded with thick straw that was specially prepared for meal delivery.

The bamboo basket is covered with a thick cotton cover. After the food is put in, the bamboo basket is covered with the cotton-covered lid so that it will cool down more slowly on the road.

Aunt Qiu was not good at speaking, and she just watched Shen Yu and the others busying themselves from the side with a reserved look.

Seeing how carefully they prepared the food, he said gratefully, "Our head of the family was worried and insisted that I follow Xiao Tao to come and take a look."

"If he sees you delivering food like this, he won't have anything to say. Now you can finally lie down and recuperate without any worries."

Speaking of recuperation, Shen Yu hurriedly brought over a clay pot that he had prepared, and said with a smile, "I was in a hurry and almost forgot about this."

"This earthenware pot contains bone soup specially made for Uncle Qiu. It is good for recovery from injuries. Take it home and heat it up on the stove before drinking."

"It has been simmering over the fire in the kitchen all night. It is fragrant and rich. I don't know what Uncle Qiu likes, so I didn't put too much salt in it. If you think the soup is too bland, just add some salt yourself."

When Aunt Qiu heard that Shen Yu had made soup for Uncle Qiu, her lips trembled and she couldn't speak. Her eyes were red. After a while, she said, "You are really good people. How can I do this?"

Li smiled and said, "It's nothing, just a side job. The stove in our restaurant is easy to use and the ingredients are all ready. It doesn't cost much, don't worry about it."

"We often hear Yucheng and Dundun say that you two are good people and take good care of them. We are very grateful."

As they were talking, Zhou Dalang and Yang Songtao came back. Looking at Zhou Dalang's relaxed and happy expression, they knew that this little donkey was easy to control.

Zhou Dalang loaded the prepared food onto the cart and asked Aunt Qiu and Yang Songtao to get on. He sat on the shaft of the cart, shouted loudly, and started running briskly under the gaze of Shen Yu and others.

Li looked at the donkey cart that quickly disappeared in the alley and said with emotion: "I didn't expect that our family would have a donkey cart again so soon. It will be very convenient for us to go out in the future."

Shen Yu felt the same way: "Yes, next time I go out, I don't have to stand on the street looking for a car. I just don't know if this little donkey is easy to raise."

Li's expression was cheerful: "Donkeys are easy to raise. When I'm not busy after noon, I'll go and order some fodder and beans."

"This little donkey is fat and strong, with shiny fur. It looks like it has been well taken care of in the past. We can't let it become thin in our home. If Yang Songtao saw it, he would be heartbroken."

After Li finished speaking, she laughed and muttered, "This child is quite interesting. He is obviously a little black donkey, but he insisted on naming him Xiaobai. I really don't know what he was thinking."

After saying this, Shen Yu and the others also laughed.

Yu Tao smiled and said, "Maybe he thinks the donkey's mouth is very white."

Shen Yu thought about it and it was true. The snow-white fur at the little donkey's mouth was clearly black and white compared to its body, and was particularly eye-catching.

After a few words, they hurried to prepare the lunch. After a while, it was time for lunch.

It was different with a donkey cart. Before the busiest time of noon, Zhou Dalang came back driving his cart. And he didn't come back empty-handed. Half of the cart was loaded with hay and bean feed.

Because it was lunchtime, Zhou Dalang took Xiaobai and pulled the cart into the yard. He tied up the donkey, prepared hay and water for it, then washed his hands and face, tied on an apron, and went to the kitchen to work.

It was not until after the meal that everyone realized that the grass and bean fodder were packed by Qiu Bo after the meal was delivered to the academy. He said it was prepared for Xiaobai and asked him to bring it along.

When Li saw that there was so much fodder in the cart that he couldn't finish it in a short time, he gave up the idea of ​​ordering fodder.

Instead, he was busy buying some bamboo poles and wood, and asked a craftsman to build a thatched shed for Xiaobai in the corner of the yard: "If it rains or snows, we can't let it get wet."

After Zhou Dalang drove to deliver a meal, he liked Xiaobai very much. He kept praising Xiaobai for running steadily and fast and knowing the way, saying he was a very smart little donkey.

In the evening, Yucheng and Dundun came back from school.

As soon as the two entered the yard, they ran to see Xiaobai without even putting down their book boxes.

Yu Cheng said happily, "I didn't expect Uncle Qiu would actually give his dog Xiaobai to our family. He usually treasures Xiaobai so much that he won't let it carry anything heavy, and he's not willing to ride it either."

Dun Dun said seriously, "Qiu Bo fell because he couldn't bear to ride the donkey and had to walk on the muddy road by himself."

"The master said that he spoiled the little donkey too much, so he gave it to our restaurant."

"He said that donkeys are meant to carry loads and pull carts. We can't raise them like kittens or puppies. That would be a deviation from their duties."

Yu Cheng blinked his big eyes and muttered unconvincedly: "But Xiaobai is still young, it hasn't fully grown up yet, there's nothing wrong with loving it more."