Chapter 61: The Witch Candy House contains You An’s thoughtful gift…
The capital welcomed the coldest time of the year. Outside, heavy snow fell, and snowflakes hit the windows and the tavern sign. Guard Justin walked with difficulty in the snow. He finally reached Honey Lane and opened the heavy door. He felt like he had entered another warm world.
The fireplace has become the most important heart of the entire tavern. The pine wood is burning vigorously in the hearth, sparks are crackling, and golden-red flames are constantly licking the copper pot hanging above. The pot is filled with boiling mulled wine, and various spices are rolling in the wine.
He pressed the bell on the counter, and soon Ye Wan came out of the kitchen. She was wearing a colorful red Christmas sweater today, and she looked much more energetic.
"Good day, Justin. I didn't expect you to patronize my business in such horrible weather. I'll give you a free glass of mulled wine."
Justin looked exhausted. "Oh yes. Because of what happened during the Winter Solstice, the Guards have been tightening their patrols. I mean, today is Christmas Eve, after all, and there are Christmas activities everywhere. Luckily, my shift is done today, so I don't have to go tomorrow. I'm going to stay home all day for Christmas..."
He suddenly started to complain like a company slave, and Ye Wan brought him a bowl of pork trotter rice.
After several hours of stewing, the pig's trotters have become soft and rotten, as if covered with a layer of translucent honey, with an attractive oily luster. The rich marinade slowly flows from the layers of pig's trotters into the white rice, and it looks very delicious when paired with sauerkraut and soft-boiled eggs.
Justin picked up a spoon and scooped up some rice into his mouth. The pork collagen gave it a sticky texture, and the aroma of various spices in the marinade, paired with the crispy sauerkraut, cut through the greasiness.
He felt that the rice mixed with the soup was delicious, and he couldn't stop eating spoonful after spoonful. In the end, Justin even scraped up the last bit of sauce at the bottom of the bowl.
"It's so delicious I think I'll have the energy to patrol the streets again," he said.
"There's a performance of 'The Nutcracker' tonight at City Hall Square, and Santa Claus will be flying through the market on his reindeer sleigh on King Street. I know the pubs are closed on Christmas Eve, so why not go and check it out?" Justin offered a sincere suggestion. He patrolled the area every day and was well-informed about Christmas activities.
"I'll go shopping, thank you Justin." Ye Wan said sincerely.
After noon, the guests had almost all left. Ye Wan went to get a wooden bucket of water and prepared to give the room a thorough cleaning: "After all, the New Year is coming!"
She climbed up the creaking wooden ladder to the attic, dusted the bookshelves with a feather duster, poured lavender-scented detergent into the water, wrung out the rag after it was soaked with water, and wiped the table.
"This Youan, I don't know where he went on such an important occasion as Christmas Eve."
Youan went out after breakfast early in the morning and hasn't come back yet.
Ye Wan muttered to himself as he wiped the bookshelf dry. Many books bought by Youan were added to the bookshelf. Those books looked very expensive. Although the leather covers were a little worn, the gold-plated words looked very impressive.
The muffin rolled around boredly on the linen cloth on the desk. Perhaps because it had eaten too many delicious foods in the winter, it had become as fluffy as a ball, and the orange fluff on its body flew in the air like countless floating dandelions.
"Muffin, you're making trouble." Ye Wan complained, and then pushed open the glass window. Tiny snow particles danced in the air, and the chill and cold wind drifted in.
Ye Wan heard some noise downstairs.
She glanced down the window and saw a balsam fir tree standing in the courtyard, and then Ye Wan saw Youan under the tree.
He must have been carrying a fir tree all the way. The tree was much taller than him, and its dark green needles were scattered all over the yard.
His green cloak, which was spotless, was now covered with dark brown mud spots, and his brown leather boots, which were usually polished to a shine, were now covered with dark brown mud spots.
It was also covered with thick mud.
The fresh scent of balsam fir wafted up, mixed with the fragrance of earth after the snow.
Ye Wan stared at Youan. She suddenly became curious about how Youan, who always loved cleanliness, could walk into the forest outside the city with an axe, get covered in mud, and carry back this tree covered with snow and wildness to stand in the courtyard of the tavern.
She wanted to ask, "Why did you think of bringing a tree back?"
"Is it because of me?" Ye Wan thought.
She heard her heart beating so fast it almost deafened her.
You An was brushing off the mud on his body when he looked up as if sensing something and saw Ye Wan sticking his head out of the attic window.
He pointed to the tree:
"Merry Christmas!"
Ye Wan stammered back, "Merry Christmas!"
Then he hurriedly closed the window.
Muffin sat on the windowsill and ate a pine nut. Ye Wan in front of him closed the window and hurriedly picked up a rag to wipe the table, then turned around to pick up the feather duster on the hook.
It's like a person performing a funny silent movie.
After a long time, she put down the feather duster in her hand and looked at the muffins.
Muffin tilted his head: “?”
She sighed and ran downstairs to greet Youan.
He had dragged the fir tree into the tavern. It seemed that it had been carefully selected by Youan. The tree was very beautiful, with pine needles spread out lushly and shining with a dark green luster.
Obviously no one had time to decorate it yet. There were no twinkling lights wrapped around it, nor were there any pretty colored balls adorning it. But strangely, as soon as the tree stood there, the atmosphere was immediately created.
The firelight from the fireplace reflected on the tree, making Ye Wan feel some warm anticipation for Christmas.
She ran to look out the window, and as if by a generous gift from God, the snow had stopped.
"Let's go to the Christmas market to buy some decorations for the Christmas tree, and then go to the witch's candy house to buy some screaming rainbow candies to distribute to the guests on Christmas Day tomorrow."
Ye Wan looked very excited. He put on a cloak and pulled You An to go out.
The entire royal capital was decorated with mistletoe, holly, and red berries. Many people went out to join in the fun on Christmas Eve, and the skytrains and flying brooms in the blue sky never stopped.
Not only that, Christmas is probably the most important holiday of the year in the kingdom, and the city hall released flamingos to add to the festive atmosphere.
When that kind of bird spreads its wings, it looks like it is dragging two pieces of burning sunset. When it flaps its wings in the air, it will shake off tiny bits of debris, which are golden and red shiny debris, slowly falling to the ground.
The only downside is that the crumbs stuck to the woolen cloak are difficult to deal with, but no one blames this. After all, it’s the lively Christmas season!
Ye Wan looked up at the Moltres, his neck almost tilted upwards, but unfortunately there was a small frozen puddle in front of him.
Youan grabbed her hand.
"Sorry, sorry, I've never seen this kind of magical creature before." Ye Wan said embarrassedly.
He sighed, then reached out and held her hand. They both wore gloves, his were dark green needlework gloves, and hers were red cashmere gloves.
When we hold each other...
"I'll hold you, and you can watch." He said with rare consideration.
In the past, Ye Wan would tease, "What a considerate Princess Rapunzel!" But today, for some reason, she said nothing. She just let him hold her hand, stiffen her neck, and continue to look at the molten bird in the sky in an awkward posture.
Ye Wan felt as if his palms were sweating.
"It's holding hands. Wouldn't it be romantic to outsiders too?" she thought.
A couple with a child passed by them.
The child turned his head to look at Ye Wan, and then shouted: "Mom, that sister's posture is so weird!"
His mother quickly covered his mouth and said, "Poor girl, you're so loud and hurtful!"
Ye Wan quickly retracted his head.
After all, from an outsider's perspective, this scene looks like a kind young man helping an abnormal girl cross the street.
Not romantic at all!
The Witch Candy Shop is hidden behind Regent Lane. Funded by the royal family, the shop invites royal pastry chefs to carefully create chocolates, candies, etc. Therefore, the shop is only open around Christmas every year, and its main purpose is to be close to the people and have fun with the people.
The walls of this shop are really made up of huge blocks of chocolate, exuding a rich sweet aroma of cocoa. The roof is covered with all kinds of shiny candies, and white marshmallows pop out of the chimney from time to time.
The bad thing was that there was already a long line of people outside the house, and Ye Wan cried out in disbelief.
You An looked at her with amusement: "What's the point of saying that? Anyway, it's already here."
The two waited for a while, and Youan stuffed the pancake cart into Ye Wan's hand, saying that he wanted to walk around, and then left in a swagger.
After a while, a man dressed as a long chocolate bar ran into the line and invited Ye Wan in.
Ye Wan: “?”
"Guests with reservations can come in directly." The long chocolate bar bowed to Ye Wan and then led her into the candy house.
Youan was already waiting for her at the shelf.
"Who made the reservation? You?" Ye Wan asked.
He didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore, so he just nodded and stuffed the shopping basket into her arms: "Take whatever you like."
The shelves inside were more densely packed than library shelves, with all kinds of sweet and juicy candies displayed on them.
Ye Wan saw sparkling pink gummy bears; juicy Sicilian blood orange candies; chocolates carved into all sorts of bizarre shapes, and huge barrels of candy canes and licorice sticks.
There is a small pink waterfall in the middle of the room, which is made of pink milk. Many people line up there to get milk to take home.
There was also a chef in a white uniform making crepes. Ye Wan watched as the chef generously filled them with butter, bananas, and strawberries, and then poured a thick layer of chocolate sauce on them.
"Oh that crepe looks delicious, it's going on my Christmas Eve meal list."
Of course, this being a witch's candy shop, there's a shelf dedicated to magical candies, like Cupid lollipops.
This candy can only be bought in pairs. When one person opens one and hands the other to a friend, if the candy tastes sweet, it means that both parties like it; if it tastes bitter, it means that both parties dislike it.
There is also bubble gum, the bubbles you blow will float in the air, which is very dreamy.
Ye Wan developed a great interest in a kind of multi-flavored bean candy. The candy was colorful and chewy, and the flavors were really diverse.
How diverse is it? In addition to the flavors that are acceptable to the public, such as cherry, apple, and roasted marshmallow, there are also the flavors of cockroach, expired eggs, soil, and moldy wood.
She weighed a pound and encouraged Youan to take a suspicious-looking brown candy.
Youan refused.
"Try it, what if it tastes good?"
After facing Youan's cold rejection, she turned around and handed the candy to Muffin, who stretched out his nose and sniffed the boss for a while.
Then I carefully picked a red one, which looked like a berry and was very cute.
"It's probably cherry or strawberry flavored." Ye Wan said confidently.
The next second, Pancake finished licking the candy and his fluffy face wrinkled up.
"Well, it should smell like blood. Vampires like it very much." A passing waiter said happily.
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