Since I rarely get to go out, I made sure to look for places with good food. This small town happened to have a long, beautiful stall with all sorts of different foods on it.
"Ying'er, have you forgotten about the meat skewers from last time?" Xie Yuancheng said abruptly when he saw me staring at the skewers.
I was a little conflicted, so I asked him, "What can I eat?"
"It would be best if we just had a meal. I'll cook anything else for you when we get back to the capital."
"Ah~" I smelled the aroma and really wanted to eat it, but Xie Yuancheng wouldn't let me, so I could only watch.
"Ying'er, your health isn't very good, and you've had three children. Don't ruin your health. If you're not feeling well, I'll be the one who suffers."
Xie Yuancheng started telling me again that childbirth is very harmful to the body, and that I need to take good care of myself, and that he would cook for me, etc. Every time he sees a roadside stall, he can't help but get nervous.
"Yuancheng~ Let's go check out other streets~"
“Okay.” Xie Yuancheng would be especially happy every time I agreed with his statement.
He probably cares about me too much, so he gets nervous about everything, good or bad.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not going to eat anything random." I noticed he was staring at me, so I left and didn't go back to the street we had just been on.
"Ying'er, I'm doing this for your own good, not to control you~" Xie Yuancheng's voice was very soft, but I could still hear it clearly.
I took his hand and said, "I know, I'm not blaming you. Look at you, you're so remorseful."
"Really? Then let's go somewhere else and then go back to rest."
"Okay, whatever you say." I found it funny that I knew some things; he probably didn't really want me to stay young forever, so he was starting to take care of me now.
"I remember now, you didn't listen to that nonsense I said, so you're thinking about the future, right?"
"Yes, I remember everything Ying'er said. But you're the one who only realized it now."
"I was just saying. I'm only in my early twenties, not that old. Don't always worry about me."
"No, I'm going to treat you exceptionally well and care about you a lot, just to see how you'll leave me later~"
When I heard Xie Yuancheng say that, I reached out and took his hand. "Okay, let's be together. You can't live without me, and I can't live without you!"
"That's right, there are a lot of people here, come over here." Xie Yuancheng was pleased with himself and grabbed my hand to go over. The street was full of people wearing masks.
I don't know what holiday it is today, but the streets are full of people wearing masks. I held Xie Yuancheng's hand tightly, worried that we would get separated.
He didn't care about anything else. Regardless of how many people there were, he just put his arm around my waist and walked in front of me. At first, I was worried, but then I stopped caring. It was so crowded and easy to bump into people.
Voices began to rise from the crowd. Xie Yuancheng pulled me to a corner, and I then realized that these people were wearing masks and holding sticks with red cloth tied to them.
"Are they going to offer sacrifices to heaven or to worship gods?" I thought their strange attire made them hard to spot in the crowd, but it would be clear from the outside.
"It's probably just a small-town performance. It's just a bit scary in form, but it doesn't have any offensive capabilities. Let's go."
When Xie Yuancheng and I walked to the side of the street, we heard cheers coming from inside. Many people were laughing, and there were also sounds of crying.
People outside joined in, and it got quite crowded. Xie Yuancheng helped me squeeze through. This little town is really strange. One minute they're laughing, the next they're making the children cry.
I watched them start running and jumping around, and then Xie Yuancheng and I left from the other side. There were fewer people walking around here, and as soon as we reached the alley entrance, we smelled a very foul odor.
"Give me some food, I haven't eaten for three days!" she cried, her little beggar sticking her toes out to block us.
She smelled really bad. Her face was wrinkled and you couldn't tell her age. She was short, but she spoke very fluently.
Xie Yuancheng tossed a silver coin to the side, and the little beggar pounced on it. He took the opportunity to pull me away. The little beggar from before probably had the smelliest feet; her family never washed them.
"Sister~ I want all the money, it's shiny, haha~" She was just crying, but now she's all smiles.
"Ying'er, don't look anymore. I don't have any copper coins on me. Just consider it as doing a good deed."
Xie Yuancheng's voice drifted over, and I didn't think much of it, just hoping I wouldn't run into him again.
As soon as I entered the inn, I heard noises outside. I turned around and saw a group of beggars crowding at the inn's entrance, begging for food.
A few men went over and took them away, but a few more squeezed in, and the manager chased them all away. They looked very strange; their foreheads protruded, but their eyes and mouths were sunken.
"Shopkeeper, are they children from here? Why don't they have any family members taking care of them?"
"What the people may not know is that today is the town's prayer festival. Many poor families will have their children roll around in the smelly clothes and pretend to be little beggars to ask for money."
When I first arrived, I didn't know, so I gave money to everyone. Later, every year during this holiday, more and more people came. We're all small businesses; if this continues, we'll go bankrupt.
"Is this holiday held every year?" Actually, it's given once a year and doesn't cost much.
"No, it's every month. It's all my fault for being too soft-hearted and giving each person twenty coins. Now they come to ask for more, and if I give them too little, they throw a tantrum in the shop, littering and urinating everywhere. I can't stand them making such a racket."
I finally understood. He wasn't a beggar at all; he was just pretending to be one: "Looks like I shouldn't go out tonight."
"Objective, did you pay them? If you paid too much, they might come knocking on your door demanding payment."
I nodded and told him about encountering the little beggar on the street. The shopkeeper stamped his feet, saying it was his oversight. He quickly told us to go upstairs and come down again at noon the next day.
"That's strange. There's no war in Da Zhao this year, so why are there so many poor people pretending to be beggars?" Since they were bored, they started discussing it with Xie Yuancheng.
He wasn't very interested: "Ying'er, they're faking it. They must know this is a way to make money. This town looks quite wealthy; it's probably one of the surrounding villages."
"We walked very fast just now, the little beggar probably doesn't know we live here, right?" I felt like throwing up just thinking about that stench, and I actually did.
"Ying'er, smell this." Xie Yuancheng patted my back and handed me a small bottle to smell.
After smelling it once, I finally calmed down. I didn't mean to laugh at them; it really stank.
"Ying'er~ Luckily we'll be in the capital soon. You need to work on that curious nature of yours~"
"You're only two years older than me, but you talk like an old man!"
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