NOVPUB
Chapter 673: Chapter 678: Silly Sister!_1
A few days had passed, and the snow had finally all melted.
Tan Zhenghong harnessed the ox cart early in the morning, taking advantage of the clear day to go to town to buy New Year’s goods.
Little Year was approaching, and the village was already imbued with the atmosphere of the upcoming New Year; many households were busy cleaning, and some of the more impatient ones had even started to post couplets.
Qiao Duo’er couldn’t help feeling: "Time passes so quickly, in the blink of an eye it’s almost New Year’s."
"Did people celebrate New Year’s where you used to live?" Tan Zhenghong asked curiously.
"They did, but everyone was so busy there that the festival atmosphere was rather faint," Qiao Duo’er honestly replied.
Back then, she was on her own, and the concept of New Year’s was even more alien to her.
Tan Zhenghong was puzzled; he couldn’t imagine why those people wouldn’t properly celebrate New Year’s.
Here, the Spring Festival was the most important day, when people who were away would come back, and the whole family, young and old, would gather together to have a warm New Year’s celebration.
Qiao Duo’er squinted her eyes: "Perhaps later on, life got better, and every day felt like New Year’s."
"That’s hard to imagine," Tan Zhenghong weakly commented.
Qiao Duo’er didn’t insist further, as the ways of the later world were too remote for him.
Once they reached the town, Qiao Duo’er planned to first go to Chen Dashan’s butcher shop to pay off the remaining debt for the meat.
Since there were fewer people at the docks these days, she decided to close the marinated meat shop for the next couple of days and treat it as an early holiday for the folks from Hu’s Clan and the two aunties.
As the end of the year approached, the butcher shop was bustling with business.
Qiao Duo’er and Tan Zhenghong stood aside, waiting for Chen Dashan and his spouse to finish their workload.
"The two of you, my shop’s meat is excellent; take a look!"
The owner of the adjacent butcher’s shop called out. His neighbor’s stall was doing brisk business while his own was desolately empty, and he was almost frantic with anxiety.
Qiao Duo’er glanced over, instantly losing interest.
The meat at that butcher’s shop seemed to have been sitting for a while. Although it was winter, fresh pork was still the tastiest.
It was a hard life for that shopkeeper, whose only role appeared to be highlighting Chen Dashan’s honest business, where all the pork was slaughtered on the first day and sold out by the second, creating a stark contrast.
The owner couldn’t help but take a closer look at Qiao Duo’er. He remembered seeing her before, but couldn’t quite recall where.
After a while, he suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Aren’t you the Da Xing Village’s ’simple girl’? We’re from the same village; why don’t you help a brother out and buy some meat from my shop?"
The owner’s face was plastered with a smile. When the Qiao family had once come to Big Willow Village, he had hitched a ride for them, and at that time, they were seeking out this very woman.
It had been a while since he had seen her, and she had grown even more beautiful, like an angel fallen to earth.
But the moment the words left his mouth, the owner wanted to slap himself twice; wasn’t this insulting her?
Tan Zhenghong said irritably, "Don’t bother with him. The guy’s crazy, no wonder no one buys meat here."
"How can you speak like that? She was originally the ’simple girl,’ everyone in our village knows it. You’re the unlucky one, marrying a simpleton," the butcher shop owner commented sourly. In truth, he wanted to add that just for her face alone, it was worth it.
And looking at her now, where was there even a trace of a simpleton?
Was it as the village elders said, that she had been reborn?
"It’s your lack of insight," Tan Zhenghong said contemptuously.
He also discreetly moved to stand in front of Qiao Duo’er, shielding her from the man’s meaningful glances.
"Consider it like being bitten by a dog; we can’t bite back. Let’s just go," Qiao Duo’er suddenly interjected.
Tan Zhenghong agreed, "Makes sense, let’s rest a bit inside the butcher’s shop."
