Gourmet Food Supplier

"I don’t need your fake kindness. This old man can scoop the soup by myself." Mr. Ma didn’t accept Yuan Zhou’s kindness.

"I know. But your hands can’t work normally now, can they?" said Yuan Zhou bluntly.

"Fu*k off," Mr. Ma instantly became expressionless and then he said peacefully. Yuan Zhou’s words had touched his sore spot.

"One moment. Let’s first finish my breakfast," said Yuan Zhou indifferently. He was now more confident about his previous speculation.

"Are you here to pretend to be pathetic? With the sappanwood on your face?" Mr. Ma appeared to get really angry and hence spoke without thinking.

"No, no. They look nice," Yuan Zhou gulped down a mouthful of soup and said naturally.

"In my opinion, you are just trying to gain sympathy with that trick," Mr. Ma insisted.

"If you insist on that, just think that way." Yuan Zhou didn’t retort him and just answered quietly. Meanwhile, he didn’t slow down the hand actions and continued to eat the soup in the bowl.

"You want to eat the royal dish? That’s impossible." Mr. Ma refused toughly.

"Now that you say I’m trying to gain sympathy, do you agree to cook the Wu Chicken?" asked Yuan Zhou peacefully.

"Ho Ho. I have experienced much of the life. What do you expect to get with the sappanwood?" said Mr. Ma with an ironic smile shown on his face.

"Alright. I have finished my meal. I’m going to send the bowls back after you finish yours. The bowls don’t belong to me." Yuan Zhou set down the chopsticks and then pointed at the barely touched soup of the old man.

"Humph." Having grunted, Mr. Ma stopped talking and just ate the soup quietly. Yet, his brows were tightly wrinkled.

Ever then onwards, Mr. Ma spoke no more until Yuan Zhou carried the bowls and walked further away.

"He’s so young," looking at the back of Yuan Zhou, Mr. Ma said with a jealous tone.

Walking in the village, Yuan Zhou was nevertheless surrounded by several kids.

"Li Ping, is this the person that is similar to us but comes from outside the village?" Of them, a seemingly fierce boy was asking the grandson of the aged man.

"Yeah, that’s him. Huang Hu, look at the red points on his face," The grandson of the aged man pointed at the red points on Yuan Zhou’s face and then said excitedly.

"Humph. But I heard that was because he had just got stung by the bees," said Huang Hu with a manner of scorn.

"Yeah, I also heard of that in the morning from my mum," a little girl chimed in.

"Me, too," said another boy while standing behind Huang Hu. He appeared to be the thinnest boy of them.

"No, you are wrong. The bulges vanished yesterday, but grew out again this morning." Li Ping just couldn’t make himself understood when he was worried.

"Then he must have got the red points out of the bees’ sting." Huang Hu gave the final conclusion.

"No, it’s not. Uncle, you tell them," Li Ping first waved his hand to his friends anxiously and then said excitedly to Yuan Zhou.

Looking at the red spots on the faces of the several boys at different degrees, Yuan Zhou slightly nodded the head and said naturally, "Humm. Yes, I have the same problem."

"How do you know it’s the same problem? What if you know your problem is just allergies?" Obviously, Huang Hu was fairly sensible. He straightforwardly questioned Yuan Zhou.

"The main symptoms of the allergies are turning red, aching and itching as well as producing small pimples or red spots. And the major reasons that cause allergies are the natural allergic constitution and the thin layer of the skin. Due to that, some people don’t have the resistance to the external stimulus." Yuan Zhou first listed all the allergic reactions without taking a breath and then continued after he looked at the puzzled kids.

"But, I got thick skin and won’t be allergic. Most importantly, the red spots on my face neither ache nor itch, which is same as all you little kids," said Yuan Zhou with a determined tone.

"Can I touch them?" Huang Hu considered for a while and then said earnestly.

"Ok, sure." Yuan Zhou crouched carefully while carrying the square plate.

Huang Hu reached out his small palm and touched Yuan Zhou’s face lightly. Indeed, he felt the little bulges on Yuan Zhou’s face. Only then did he confirm that Yuan Zhou really had the same red points.

"Is he infected by you?" he turned the head to Li Ping and asked him seriously.

"No, no." Li Ping took a step back and hurriedly waved his hand.

"Are you sure?" Huang Hu looked at Li Ping suspiciously. He didn’t seem to trust his words.

"Even if I’m infectious, I will surely infect my parents and my grandparents first. How could he be infected before my parents?" said Li Ping with quick wits.

"That indeed makes sense." Finally, Huang Hu was convinced.

"Elder brother, do you think we will get better in the future?" The little girl looked at Yuan Zhou expectantly while opening her eyes wide.

"Of course. Me, too," Yuan Zhou answered seriously.

"Really? Can I also become lovable?" The little girl called Niu Niu raised her head and asked Yuan Zhou. Both her cheeks were covered with the red spots.

"You are quite lovable even now." Yuan Zhou nodded the head earnestly. With the solemn expression on his face, he seemed to be fairly convincing.

"Thank you, elder brother," the little girl said obediently.

"Humm." With a smile revealed on his face, Yuan Zhou nodded the head and then left.

The several kids then passed Yuan Zhou’s words to their parents one by one. Looking at the expectant expressions of their kids, even the most desperate parents couldn’t bear to say that it wasn’t like that and they probably wouldn’t get better.

In the afternoon, all members of the family of the aged man daubed red spots on their faces. As for the plant, it was naturally the sappanwood pulp provided by Yuan Zhou.

The small red spots were like little hearts of affection. Initiated by Yuan Zhou and responded by the aged man’s family, other villagers whose kids had the same problem all went to Yuan Zhou and asked for the sappanwood pulp. After that, they all started to daub the red points on their faces.

Instantly, the number of adults and kids with red points on their faces increased in Yanfeng Village, which looked quite extraordinary.

Sappanwood was a natural wood dye of superior health and safety. It was usually used to incarnadine the eggs when people celebrated the birth of infants at the first month in some regions of China.

As a result, other kids weren’t afraid of those who had red spots on their faces anymore. Of course, they wouldn’t become friends immediately. But when they met, they no longer shouted the words of "monster" to them.

Kids were the purest devil and they never knew how sharp their unintentional utterances were.

When the red spots were no longer a special and independent occurrence but became a normal state, Yuan Zhou achieved his goal of helping those poor kids.

In the evening, in the room that Yuan Zhou had rented.

"Thank you, young man. You have really got a terrific idea," said the aged man while holding the tobacco pipe. With the sappanwood red spots on his face, he appeared to be quite composed.

"You are welcome. The method of using the sappanwood has been given to you," said Yuan Zhou courteously.

"Now that we get this terrific idea, those kids would be happier," while smoking, the aged man said contentedly.

"Yeah." Yuan Zhou nodded his head with a smile.

"It was a pity that I failed in persuading the stubborn old guy to cook the Wu Chicken. I have some golden mushrooms over here for you to take back." The aged man felt a little regretful about Yuan Zhou’s wish. He took out a cloth bag which contained some dried golden mushroom from the back.

"Thank you. It doesn’t matter." Yuan Zhou received the cloth bag smilingly. About his wish of eating Wu Chicken not being fulfilled, Yuan Zhou nevertheless didn’t care much.

After all, Yuan Zhou had basically understood why Mr. Ma no longer cooked.

"Alright. Sorry for bothering you. Do come back again to have fun. I’m leaving." When the aged man saw Yuan Zhou so happy with the golden mushrooms, he also felt satisfied and then he turned around and left.

"Good night." Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

......