Chapter 70 - Little Fatty is back

Axiu looked at the vendor with lips pursed. "Six Wen, I only have this much. Are you selling?"

On closer inspection, there was a blush of shame that spread over his ears. He had never bargained for anything he bought.

It wasn't that he couldn't get 10 Wen. He could ask his mother for some, but the things he bought for Shengsheng, he only wanted to use his own money.

And six Wen was all he had saved for almost a year.

The peddler looked up and down at Axiu, then at the adults laughing silently behind him, and finally nodded his head in embarrassment. "Forget it. I think you guys are also a good match. There's no profit in selling it to you for six Wen. But the little girl looks pretty. Wearing this red hair band of mine will surely keep the little ones envious."

He spoke while taking down the red hair band on the stall, carefully rolled it up and handed it to Axiu.

Axiu, on the other hand, pulled out the only six Wen he had from his lapel and put it in the peddler���s hand.

He spread out the new and colorful red hair band in front of Liu Yusheng's eyes, the little boy's eyes shy and bright. "Shengsheng, for you."

Gazing at the dazzling red in the boy's palm, Liu Yusheng took it over, then placed it in her own little pocket with great care, her pretty eyes curving into crescent moons. "Thank you Brother Axiu! I love it!"

Axiu's lips quietly quirked up, his dark eyes dense with light breeze tenderness. Her liking it was better than anything else.

The bond between two little children, between two little kids, made the adults who were following behind, smile at each other.

Liu Zhixia and Liu Zhiqiu also turned back this time and respectively dragged the two kids forward. "There are many snacks up front, let's go eat wonton, then beef noodles, and then eat a huge pie!"

The cheerful voices of children, interspersed with the noise, were still loud.

The tiny kids squeezed through the crowd, and were almost drowned out.

Facing a group of people in the third floor elegant room of a restaurant, someone by the window looked down, then withdrew his gaze. "How's the investigation going?"

"Master, I went to the magistrate's office to investigate, and there have been no newcomers households for the past two years. This place is far from the capital and in such a remote location. Could they have never come to this place at all?" Behind the man stood a figure dressed all in black, bowing low while answering.

The man sitting, replied noncommittal, "It's possible to escape and hide out somewhere without registering. You must check carefully, so as not to miss anything. That group is also in hot pursuit and will soon be checking this way. We have to get this done quickly before they do."

After a moment's silence, he said, "Has anything quite unusual happened around here lately?"

"Things in this small town are nothing more than a bit of thievery and petty fights. But speaking of something quite unusual, there were rather one or two. In the last two months, there's been a village around town, where three people had accidents in quick succession. One person died, and two others are said to be missing, and have never been found. In my opinion, they're mostly likely dead."

"How did the other one die?"

"He went to the latrine in the middle of the night, fell into the latrine and drowned. But before he died, he seemed to have been beaten and his hand was broken."

"Which village?"

"Xinghua Village."

The man tapped his fingers on the desk, and after a while, said, "Go check."

On the street, the kids ate till their bellies protruded.

They left their tracks in front of every stall. After walking around from street to street, everyone had their hands full. Toys, snacks, candy canes, woven straw hats, and so on and so forth.

The adults followed behind them, sharing the joy with them.

Passing by a jewelry store, Liu Yusheng also insisted dragging Grandma Liu into it and picked pieces of gold ornaments for each of the ladies of the family. Grandma Liu's heart almost gave out at the checkout.

When they were ready to return home, the adults also had a handful of stuff.

Pork, snacks, sweets, paper for the children to practice calligraphy, and some books.

The whole family again filled the Li family's ox cart, and trails of their laughter were sprinkled everywhere on their way back.

Since dinner was to be eaten together at the Liu's, Wanrong and Axiu followed in tow and went straight to the Liu's house, not getting off the cart midway back to the cabin.

It was just past noon when they arrived home.

After putting things away, the women of the family began to prepare glutinous rice cakes and make dinner.

The children, on the other hand, pulled out their snacks, candies and the like, and sat together, sharing happily. Each talked about the fun they have had. Their excitement was undying.

When making the glutinous rice cakes, the children also joined in.

The most curious was Liu Yusheng.

Back when she was young in her previous life, she lived with her grandparents and they also made glutinous rice cakes for the holidays.

But what they did were white glutinous rice cakes.

The glutinous rice was directly steamed and mashed, and then kneaded into uniform round cake shapes, which then could be steamed, boiled or fried, then coated with sugar, or eaten with salt or sauce, etc.

Grandma Liu's glutinous rice cakes were mochi cakes.

Fresh and tender mugwort leaves were picked and boiled. The juice was then poured into the glutinous rice flour. After kneading and twisting them into a dough, wrap them with sesame sugar filling. Put grapefruit leaves underneath each, steam them, and they would turn out verdant and dark green mochi cakes.

It was sweet and glutinous when you bit on it. The aroma of mugwort leaves mixed with grapefruit leaves and sesame seeds left a taste all over the mouth. It was extraordinarily delicious.

Liu Yusheng enjoyed the different tastes very much.

During this time, Dabao and Gouwa came over with a bunch of friends and exchanged rice cakes with each other. The courtyard was filled with children cheering and playing, thus another round of excitement ensued.

It wasn't until it was time for supper and the adults from each family came to collect their guests that they dispersed.

The dinner of the Liu family was also served on the table.

Worshipping the moon wasn't a custom in the countryside, so once the food was served, everyone took their seats.

The family was about to start when an unexpected guest came outside the door.

Hoofbeats sounded outside – that of a carriage.

A figure appeared in everyone's mind without a word.

Next came the banging of the courtyard door.

"I'll open it." Liu Dalin put down his chopsticks and got up to open the courtyard gates.

When he ushered the person in, the crowd took a look and it was indeed Qian Wanjin, who hadn't shown up for a long time.

Followed by Da Huang, and a handsome, middle-aged man dressed in brocade with shrewd eyes.

"Grandpa Liu, Grandma Liu, Uncle and Aunt, Blessed Baby, I've come to your house to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival!" Qian Wanjin blurted as soon as he walked through the door. "Ow, I've been suffocated this whole time, gosh. We've rushed all the way here. In the blink of an eye, more than a month has passed, and now I'm all skin and bones!"

While complaining, he crowded in front of Liu Yusheng. "Blessed Baby, look at me. Has this young master lost weight? Have I?"

Liu Yusheng looked up at the tonnage of a certain young master before her and, her mouth twitched. "I can't see it."

"How could you not see it? I'm so skinny! My jaw is thinner! I…"

Before he could finish speaking, a small palm reached out and pushed him. No effort was obviously employed, but at his size, he was pushed into taking steps backwards.