Chapter 184 Chance Encounter
Tongli Ancient Town is located on the shore of Tongli Lake in Wujiang District.

It was first built in the Song Dynasty and has a history of a thousand years. The entire ancient town is divided into seven islands by fifteen small rivers in the shape of a "川" character, and forty-nine ancient bridges connect them together.

In the afternoon, Su Chen took a nap at home before bringing Jiang back to Tongli Ancient Town. After wandering around for a while, they were stopped by a Pingtan teahouse on the side of the road.

"Blue bricks with tile paint, white horses stepping on new mud, mountain flowers and banana leaves in the evening"

Listening to the Wu dialect version of "Sheng Sheng Man", Su Chen finally understood why those ancient people yearned to listen to music in the brothels of Jiangnan. Who can move their legs after listening to such lingering and rare music?

Order a pot of tea and some Suzhou-style cakes, sit by the window, listen to the soft Wu dialect and enjoy the scenery of the ancient town.

What a leisurely and comfortable life!
"This Su's pastry not only tastes good, but also has beautiful shapes." Su Chen said, holding a piece of pastry that looks like a rabbit.

An old man at the next table seemed to have heard Su Chen's sigh, and he looked at Su Chen with a smile and said, "Young man, you have good taste. You should know that these cakes in the teahouse are made by themselves, and they must be different from those sold outside."

"Um~ Grandpa, is there any trick in this?" Su Chen asked curiously.

"There are a lot of tricks involved here!" The old man took a sip of tea, moistened his throat and continued, "The ingredients used in the teahouse's pastries are all fresh ingredients purchased from surrounding towns and villages, such as roses, osmanthus flowers, orange peels and the like."

"With rice, wheat and other main ingredients, the pastries are made without any flavors or pigments. You can taste the flavor of the ingredients with every bite, unlike those sold outside which are full of various additives and not tasty at all."

"Uh~" Su Chen was a little stunned. It turned out that the tricks here were so simple and plain.

The old man was also quite talkative. He talked to Su Chen for quite a while and told him that the origin of Su's pastries was in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and that it reached its peak during the Song Dynasty. Many literati and poets were fascinated by it and left behind many poems describing Su's pastries.

He talked for more than an hour and had to refill his tea twice. If the Pingtan show in the teahouse had not ended, the old man would have shared with him the cultural history of Suzhou.

When he walked out of the teahouse, Su Chen's face was almost embarrassed.

"Hahaha~Sir, your expression is so funny!" Jiang Hui couldn't help but joked.

Su Chen glared at him unhappily, "Old men nowadays are really talkative, but you still learn some knowledge, don't you?"

After saying that, his eyes naturally fell on Jiang Hui, waiting for his answer.

Jiang Hui was startled and nodded quickly in response: "Yes, I have indeed learned a lot!"

Seeing this, Su Chen nodded with satisfaction. He couldn't be the only one who gained knowledge, otherwise he would seem so ignorant.

In March, the ancient town of Tongli is already filled with the breath of spring. The big trees provide shade, blocking out the gentle sunlight, leaving only a few rays of light shining through the shade onto the green stone road.

"Handsome guy, would you like to take a boat?" A slightly aged voice sounded not far away.

Su Chen looked around and found a boatman by the river not far away who was looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Master, are you calling me?" Su Chen asked uncertainly, pointing at himself.

The boatman nodded heavily, a smile appeared on his dark face, and he said, "Handsome man, let's take a boat. It only costs 80 yuan for two people to travel around the ancient town for half an hour!"

"Sit down! Just because the master calls you handsome, I have to give you face!" Su Chen walked up with a smile.

He originally wanted to experience what it felt like to ride on a sloop-of-war, and now that the opportunity had been brought to his doorstep, how could Su Chen refuse?

The wupeng boat was not very big. It was estimated to be about four meters long and just over one meter wide, just enough for Su Chen and Jiang Hui to sit side by side.

The boatman's skills are quite good. He stands at the stern and gently rows the oar. The sailed boat sways in the river and moves forward.

"The mist and rain in the south of the Yangtze River is so peaceful..." The boatman at the stern sang a folk song from the Jiangnan water town in a strong Wu dialect accent.

The weeping willows on both sides of the river and the white walls and green tiles give people a particularly peaceful atmosphere.

Su Chen leaned back slightly, resting his elbows on the railing of the sloop, crossed his legs, and followed the tune sung by the boatman, slapping his thigh rhythmically with his right hand and humming along softly.

The momentary silence was soon broken by a confused voice, "Su Chen?"

"Huh?" Su Chen looked in the direction of the voice and saw a slightly plump young man wearing a pair of rimless glasses standing on the bridge and waving at him.

"Third brother?" A trace of surprise flashed across Su Chen's face. The slightly fat man was his third brother Chen Peng.

I had been planning to go to Kunshan to see him in a couple of days, but I never expected to meet him here. What a coincidence.

"Handsome guy, are you going to dock?" The boatman naturally saw this scene and slowed down his paddling movements.

Hearing this, Su Chen said to Jiang Hui beside him, "You can have fun by yourself. I will go back to Zhuyuan by myself later."

After that, he turned to the boatman behind him and said, "Master, come to the shore, I'm getting off the boat!"

The boatman nodded when he heard this. He also heard the conversation between the two people just now.

The boat stopped in front of a step in the river. When getting off the boat, the black-sailed boat swayed slightly and Su Chen stumbled and almost fell into the river. Fortunately, he was nimble and stepped onto the step with one foot. He held the stone pillar railing beside him with his right hand and avoided any embarrassment.

"Sir, are you okay?" Jiang Hui stood up nervously and asked.

"It's okay, go and have fun!" Su Chen waved his hand calmly.

The black-sailed boat swayed forward again. Su Chen took a look and turned around to go to the bridge to find his third brother.

As a result, as soon as I turned around, I saw the slightly plump figure of the third brother appear in my sight, and there was a beautiful figure following beside him, but her belly was slightly bulging.

Su Chen was also stunned for a moment. The beautiful figure was none other than his third brother's wife and his third sister-in-law, Fu Qiaoyu.

"Third brother, third sister-in-law." After greeting them, Su Chen set his eyes on the bulging belly of the third sister-in-law and asked, "How many months has the third sister-in-law been pregnant?"

The third brother, Chen Peng, touched his wife's slightly bulging belly with a proud look on his face and said, "It's been more than three months!"

There were many tourists coming and going around, and it was not a good idea for them to stand in the middle of the road and chat, so Su Chen suggested finding a quiet place to sit down and chat slowly.

The ancient town is full of places like this. I found a bar that looked good, walked in, and sat down at a window seat.

After ordering three cups of the store's signature drinks, Su Chen asked, "Third brother, why are you guys here to play? Aren't you working?"

"Your sister-in-law hasn't been feeling well these past few days, so I thought of taking her out to relax."

At this point, Chen Peng looked at Su Chen with a puzzled look on his face, "You asked me why I didn't go to work, but you didn't go to work either." "Ahem~" Hearing this, Su Chen choked on the drink he had just drunk, it seemed that he hadn't been to work for a long time.

But it's normal to think about it. The third brother didn't know his own situation. His eyes moved slightly, and he wiped his mouth with a tissue and said, "It's just after the New Year. I thought I'd go shopping and find a class to attend."

Chen Peng raised his eyebrows slightly, and also heard other meanings, "Huh? You resigned before the New Year?"

"Yeah~ I quit. It was too tiring to deliver takeout before. I want to find a job that is a little easier!" Su Chen thought to himself that being a hands-off boss should also be considered a job.

"Why don't you come and hang out with your brother and learn how to make molds? It's also a craft. As long as you're willing to study hard, it's easy to earn more than 10,000 yuan a month!" When Chen Peng said this, the smile on his face deepened a little.

"Ah~" Su Chen didn't expect that his third brother would do this.

The two of them noticed the surprise on his face and thought that Su Chen was embarrassed.

The third sister-in-law Fu Qiaoyu, who was sitting next to her, also spoke up, "We are all family, Su Chen, don't be embarrassed. As long as you are willing to come, your brother and I will teach you step by step."

"That's right~ With your cleverness, you can become a master in one or two months at most. Are you still worried about not making money?"

"Although the factory is just starting out and has only five or six people, your brother and sister-in-law have been in this business for many years and have accumulated some connections, so there is no need to worry about not having molds to make!"

"Besides, if your sister-in-law's second uncle misses a few orders, it will keep us busy for a long time!" Chen Peng also echoed.

Su Chen also knew something about the situation of her third sister-in-law's family. There were three brothers in her parents' generation, and the richest one was her second uncle.

But the situation in her family is different from that of the Su family. It's not like the second brother became rich and then took the other two brothers to get rich together. Instead, they are busy with their own things and don't disturb each other. On the surface, they still maintain a respectful relationship between brothers.

But Su Chen had guessed the reality. Not every family is like the Su family, who consider other brothers and sisters when they become rich.

The situation in Fu Qiaoyu's family is the norm in reality. I am rich and you are poor. At most, I will give you some soup to drink.

Otherwise, Chen Peng and Fu Qiaoyu would not have worked in the mold industry for so many years before they decided to start their own factory.

"Third brother~ Let me think about it. I want to relax after working for a few years!" Su Chen could only put the topic aside for the time being. If he really asked him to go to work, Su Chen would have to jump out and reveal his identity.

That’s so low!
Chen Peng wanted to persuade her further, but Fu Qiaoyu kicked him under the table and swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Su Chen also noticed something was wrong and quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Third Brother, do you know what's going on with Big Brother now?"

When he heard Su Chen asking about the boss Chen Fan, his face instantly darkened.

When Su Chen saw this, he instantly had a bad premonition in his heart. Could it be that what he had thought before had come true? Had Big Brother Chen Fan really become a gambler?

As expected, the next second Chen Peng said in an angry tone: "I don't know where he went. It would be best if he died outside."

Hearing this, Su Chen's pupils shrank a lot, as if there were still many things he didn't know.

Seeing his third brother’s angry look, Su Chen could only look at his third sister-in-law beside him.

Su Chen didn't know much about his third sister-in-law, Fu Qiaoyu. He only heard his mother and second uncle talk about this at his grandmother's house during the Chinese New Year. They said that his third sister-in-law, Fu Qiaoyu, was a shrewd person who had a good grasp of the ways of the world.

"Hey, I don't know where big brother got addicted to gambling. He usually plays cards, but he doesn't lose much money."

"But what I didn't expect was that he was addicted to online gambling. He played games like Candy Crush, where a hundred yuan was gone with just a click. In just over two months, he lost more than 600,000 yuan."

"Not only did he lose his savings, he also borrowed a lot of money from outside. Your sister-in-law got divorced after a big fight with him."

"He also borrowed 20,000 yuan from us and said he would pay it back in half a month. If it weren't for the fact that a month had passed and there was no response, and your third brother called to ask about it, we wouldn't have known about this situation."

"No one knows where your brother has gone now. We can't get through to him on the phone. Maybe he has changed his number!"

When Su Chen heard these words, he was stunned and even couldn't believe it.

Chen Fan is nearly ten years older than Chen Peng and Su Chen. He found a beautiful and virtuous wife very early on, which made many people envious at the time.

He is a very generous and shrewd person. Apart from playing mahjong and cards, he has no other hobbies. He never thought that it would turn out like this.

When Su Chen saw the information before, he thought that the person had lost the card game and ran away to another place out of shame.

But now, what the third sister-in-law said made Su Chen a little bit unable to accept it for a while.

"By the way, I remember that my eldest brother has two children. Who are they following now?" Su Chen remembered that the oldest of the two children was only eight or nine years old, and the youngest was five or six years old.

The younger one was born when he graduated from high school, and he went to the village to attend a full-month banquet.

"The two little ones are currently with my uncle. I don't know where my sister-in-law went after her divorce."

"I called and asked before, and it seems that my uncle and aunt are planning to go back to their hometown soon. It's quite stressful for them to stay here and take care of two children." Chen Peng calmed down at this time and briefly explained what he knew.

Su Chen nodded slightly. His uncle and his wife were already quite old, and now they only earned 6,000 to 7,000 yuan a month in the factory. The combined income of the two of them was only over 10,000 yuan. If they sent two children to school here, the burden would be enormous.

The atmosphere became a little depressing for a moment. Su Chen had already made plans for the worst, but he didn't expect it to be worse than he thought.

"It's good that my uncle and his family can go back. At least the people at home can help out a little. But I feel sorry for the two little guys!" Su Chen sighed. He didn't know what the two little guys would grow up to be.

It is said that children without mothers are like weeds, but now the two little guys have no idea where their parents have gone, so they are even more like duckweed.

As for helping, Su Chen would definitely help.

But I can only help temporarily, not forever. I should wait until my uncle and his family return to the Fog City and see what my mother thinks.

After this incident, not only Su Chen but also Chen Peng and the others were in no mood to visit the ancient town.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Peng insisted on finding a place to treat Su Chen to dinner.

In Chen Peng's words, he was half a host, so how could he let Su Chen treat him when he came to Suzhou?

I also specially found a Huaiyang restaurant.

(End of this chapter)