TGCF Extras

TGCF Extra - chapter 245

[TGCF Extra - Chapter 245]
Lanterns & Riddles, Yuanxiao Night - The taste of yuanxiao is the taste of reunion!

Yuanxiao Festival, a lovely night since sundown.
Although it was considered the start of spring, winter was not yet distant, and the wind was crisp and cold. Xie Lian hefted a huge sack as he walked slowly along the side of the road, a faint red flush on his face from the wind.

The sack contained a jumble of scraps he had just collected. He did not know if they were of any use, but regardless of whether they were of use or not, it was to be his only livelihood from now on.
Not too long later, he came across a stall by the side of the street.

The stall was called "Heji Xiaoshi" [1], and sold some snacks and small bites. It appeared that the stall-owner's family of three were sitting at a small table placed towards a lane. A slim and rather pretty lady was bustling amidst rows of tables; she did not heed the stall-owner as he called for her to stop bustling about and to take a seat at the table, instead only saying, "be there soon," her voice like an oriole's call. Although customers sat at the other tables in twos and threes, but all of them seemed to be there for the young ladies passing by, as they sat and chatted casually before heading home after a while. After all, it was Yuanxiao Festival today.

In front of the stall was a small pot. The contents of the pot - white, round, glistening little objects, piping hot in a roiling boil - made him slow down his footsteps.

Xie Lian remarked internally: "Ah, it's yuanxiao."
When he was little, every Yuanxiao Festival, Xianle's king and queen would eat a meal of yuanxiao with him. Xie Lian was an extremely picky-eater, and did not like yuanxiao. Even the tiny delicacies made by renowned chefs, served to him in dishes of gold and jade, were not to his liking. He disliked how they were too sweet, how they made his teeth feel funny when he ate them; he would not eat this filling, nor would he eat that filling; a couple of bites and he would be done.

Afterwards, when he had grown up a little and run off to cultivate on Taicang Mountain, he only went home for Yuanxiao Festival occasionally, and all in all only ate a few meals. Thinking about it now, Xie Lian discovered that he could not remember just what yuanxiao tasted like.
Xie Lian darted a few glances cautiously from the side of the stall, and set the huge, ugly sack down from his shoulder cautiously, and finally, stepped cautiously towards the stall.

He took off his straw hat, and held it in his hands as he said, "Boss [3], could I have a bowl of yuanxiao? Do you have any here?"

The stall-owner was quite old, and gave Xie Lian a look, but before he could answer, that slim young lady replied with a smile, "Yes, you have a seat first!" With that, she hurried to prepare a bowl. Xie Lian, but saw the stall-owner shake his head. He found it strange, and wondered if it was because he looked dirty, such that he was displeasing to others, and he looked down deliberately to study his clothes. After ascertaining that he was not dirty, he felt slightly relieved, and asked, "What is it?"

He thought, if the stall-keeper did not like that he had brought that sack in, he would just place the sack outside. But the stall-keeper gave him another look, and shook his head, saying, "Pitiful. How pitiful."

Xie Lian said, "Ah? What did you say?"
The stall-keeper said, "On Yuanxiao Festival, a single person s itting at an outdoors stall in the cold, eating yuanxiao, is too pitiful, surely."
"......" Xie Lian said, "Don't be like that. Aren't you making a business......"

The stall-owner did not speak to him further, but started collecting bowls. After sitting for a while, Xie Lian felt that the people around him were studying him, or rather, studying him and that extraordinarily and unexpectedly large sack beside him.