Chapter 86 Lantern Festival

Chapter 86 Lantern Festival

Eating a beautiful and delicious wonton, followed by a sip of savory and hot wonton soup, is an indescribable delight.

As for the braised pig's head and sauerkraut tofu buns recommended by Hao Yu, Xie Wanniang doesn't like pig's ears, but she likes pig's head. Sauerkraut, tofu, and white flour are also her favorite foods.

Because the ingredients were her favorites, she would eat a few more bites even if the cook's cooking was just average, not to mention that the head chef of this noodle shop really had some real skills.

He also makes quite delicious braised pig's head and steamed buns.

As Xie Wanniang ate, she would occasionally give a thumbs-up, praising the three foods recommended by Hao Yu, saying that they provided plenty of emotional value.

Xiao Yang, who learns from those he associates with, never stopped talking.

"tasty!"

"This is delicious too!"

"This tastes even better!"

Only Jiang Yuan remained silent as always, proving that the three foods recommended by Hao Yu were indeed delicious by eating voraciously.

It took the four of them almost half an hour to finally finish eating the three kinds of food that Hao Yu had ordered.

Xie Wanniang and Xiao Yang had big eyes and small bellies. Besides their respective bowls of wontons, they also ate a few slices of braised pig's head and half a steamed bun.

The vast majority of the remaining braised pig's head meat and sauerkraut tofu buns ended up in Hao Yu and Jiang Yuan's stomachs.

After lunch, Hao Yu took them for a walk around the neighborhood to ease their hunger.

During the trip, Hao Yu also bought walnut shortbread, ox-tongue pastry, jujube blossom pastry, and hawthorn cake, intending to take them back so that everyone could have a snack when they were hungry.

Having finally made the trip to the county town, Xie Wanniang bought a lot of fabrics, needles and thread, face cream, brown sugar, and lamp oil and lamps for her new home, all at prices cheaper than in town.

After shopping all afternoon, the four of them rushed home before sunset to deliver their purchases. Their stomachs were already empty, so they went out to find dinner.

This time they ate donkey meat sandwiches and donkey bone soup, and the shop they went to was recommended by Hao Yu.

Xie Wanniang didn't dare to eat too much for dinner. She ordered a donkey meat sandwich and a bowl of donkey bone soup for herself and Xiao Yang respectively. As for Hao Yu and Jiang Yuan, they could eat as much as they wanted. They were both adults, and Xie Wanniang wouldn't interfere.

After finishing a delicious dinner, the four of them slowly walked home along the street, which was already lit up with lanterns.

Xiao Yang looked left and right, never getting enough of the sight, and kept talking excitedly to Xie Wan Niang as he looked around.

"Sister, look at that!"

"Sister, what's that?"

"elder sister......"

Xie Wanniang was very patient; whatever Xiao Yang said to her, she would respond lazily with a single word.

The four of them walked back to Hao Yu's house in the county town, then each washed up briefly and went to bed early.

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Hao Yu bought a lot of things he would need when he went to the Chen family to propose marriage, planning to bring them back to the village on the sixteenth.

He had already made an appointment with the Chen family through a matchmaker, and on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, he would bring gifts and betrothal money, accompanied by the matchmaker, to the Chen family to formally propose marriage.

They chose to rest at home in the afternoon, and it wasn't until the sun was about to set that they took their money bags and prepared to go out.

There were many more lanterns on the street today than yesterday, and the crowds of people coming out to see them were countless. Xiao Yang's legs were short, and in the bustling street, she was completely obscured by the tall figures of the adults coming and going.

Seeing that even when she stood on tiptoe she still couldn't see anything, Hao Yu simply picked up the little girl and let her ride on his shoulders to get a better view.

Although he had an old injury in one hand, carrying a little girl was still a piece of cake for him.

As he carried Xiao Yang forward without breaking a sweat, he turned to Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan beside him and asked, "There are still quite a few lanterns that haven't been lit yet. Why don't we find a place to eat something first?"

Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan nodded at the same time. Xie Wanniang added as she nodded, "I'm fine with either."

As for Xiaoyang, it was the first time the little girl had been carried on an adult's shoulders. After the initial surprise, she was so happy that she lost her bearings and didn't pay any attention to what Hao Yu and the others were saying.

The four of them found a stall selling glutinous rice balls and yuanxiao on the street and sat down. After the stall owners introduced the different fillings, Jiang Yuan carefully ordered a bowl of red bean glutinous rice balls, a bowl of peanut glutinous rice balls, and a plate of fried yuanxiao with brown sugar and black sesame fillings.

The fried glutinous rice balls were crispy on the outside, and anyone who wanted to eat them could just pick them up from the plate. The two bowls of boiled glutinous rice balls were divided into four small portions by the stall owners, giving one portion to each of the four of them.

The four of them first ate the sweet, soft, and smooth glutinous rice balls with the soup in their bowls, and then reached out with their chopsticks to pick up the two kinds of golden, crispy, and fragrant fried glutinous rice balls from the plate.

With slurping sounds, one after another, the four of them finished all the glutinous rice balls and sweet dumplings in no time.

After paying the bill, the four people, still not full, went to the stall next door and bought four chess-piece-shaped sesame cakes.

The fillings for the chess piece sesame cakes come in both sweet and savory varieties. Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan both chose the sweet brown sugar filling, while Hao Yu and Xiao Yang opted for the savory pork filling.

After finishing the sesame seed cake, Xie Wanniang set her sights on the millet cakes at the stall of the old lady next to her.

This time, Hao Yu and the others didn't eat with her. While she was buying millet cakes, Hao Yu bought honey sesame candy for Xiao Yang, who wanted it. As for him and Jiang Yuan, they bought roasted chestnuts and donkey rolls respectively.

Passing by a stall selling mutton offal soup, the four of them sat down and ordered two large bowls of mutton soup to share.

The shopkeeper was used to a large number of customers asking for empty bowls during holidays. Before the four of them could even explain, the woman serving them soup had already neatly divided the two bowls of mutton soup into four half bowls.

The four of them drank mutton soup and ate the four kinds of snacks they had just bought.

After finishing the mutton soup and eating about half of the snacks, the four of them paid the bill and left, officially beginning their evening's stroll through the lantern festival.

By this time, the sky was already slightly dark, and ninety-nine percent of the lanterns displayed or hung in front of the shops had been lit up.

The four of them blended into the crowd, strolling slowly down the street, looking around to admire the lanterns or observe what was being sold at the street stalls.

Occasionally, if they come across something interesting, they will stop and take a closer look, picking and choosing to see if there's anything that catches their eye.

During this time, Xie Wanniang bought two combs and two bracelets, all made of common wood that wasn't very valuable, but they were exquisite and unique.

As for hairpins, earrings, rouge, and face powder, Xie Wanniang didn't buy them. She preferred to buy these things from more reputable shops.