Chapter 11: Sweet Soup

Just now, Xia Daohua hadn’t been idle either.

While hiding in the supermarket, she kept an eye on the outside through the floor-to-ceiling mirror. As she listened in on the secrets exchanged between Xia Yujiao and that familiar-looking stranger, she also made good use of her time—downing two cans of 100% fruit and vegetable juice.

After finishing them, she honestly didn’t feel like going back out.

The temperature inside the supermarket was perfectly comfortable. There was food and drink, a bed and blankets—living alone in there would be no problem at all!

But when she thought of how much the Xia family cared about her, she knew that if she just disappeared, they would definitely panic and worry. They might even go shouting across the hills searching for her, calling her name so loudly that even hiding in her space-supermarket, she wouldn’t be able to sleep through the noise.

Xia Daohua couldn’t bring herself to ignore their feelings, so she had no choice but to give up this comfortable shortcut.

Taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, Xia Daohua slipped out of the space and jogged all the way back home.

Everyone—Linghua and the others—had already returned.

Linghua and Zaohua, it was said, had eaten freshly cooked blood sausage and sauerkraut at the village head’s house and were in a great mood. As soon as Linghua saw Xia Daohua, she angrily started complaining:

“Where did you run off to? You disappeared in the blink of an eye! I saved a big piece of blood sausage for you—Sixth Brother almost snatched it! But when you didn’t show up, I had to eat it myself!”

Xia Daohua smiled and gently patted Linghua’s head. “Sis doesn’t like blood sausage. You enjoy it yourself.”

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone looked at her in surprise.

Xia Daohua immediately realized she’d said something wrong. She herself really didn’t like blood sausage, but the original owner of this body probably loved it!

She tensed up slightly and swallowed hard in embarrassment.

But then she noticed that the surprised looks in their eyes quickly melted away. Madam Jiang even smiled warmly and reached out to stroke the short fuzz of hair just growing back on Xia Daohua’s head.

“Our little Daohua has grown up—she’s sensible now!”

Linghua seemed to catch on too and couldn’t hold back any longer. She bared her small white teeth and snapped at Daohua in mock outrage:

“Are you dumb? At the village head’s house, why were you being so polite with me? When eating a feast like that at someone else’s place, shouldn’t you eat as much as you can? That wasn’t our family’s blood sausage—if you eat one more bite, I’ll get one less!”

Watching Linghua calculating like a tiny abacus, Xia Daohua couldn’t help but smile and felt a sudden urge to ruffle her head.

But before she could lift her hand, Linghua’s forehead was sharply flicked by Wulang.

“You and your calculating ways! If Daohua was as silly as you, when our family slaughters pigs later, the village head’s dozen grandsons would probably come and clean out all the meat from our pot—do you believe it?”

Linghua shrank her lips, looking aggrieved, but didn’t dare cry.

In Beiguan Village, people were very particular about maintaining “auspicious words,” especially during the New Year period. Ever since Little New Year, children weren’t allowed to cry or say anything inauspicious.

So in more traditional families, they wouldn’t even hit kids during the twelfth and first lunar months.

Even if a child was naughty and broke a bowl while running around, they would just say, “Safe every year,” and let it go.

Madam Jiang laughed and said:

“Don’t cry, Linghua. And Wulang, no need to be afraid.

Our family has scheduled to slaughter pigs on the 26th day of the twelfth month. We’re doing it on the same day as Mason Old Chen’s family, Boozy Old Lu’s house, and Blacksmith Xu’s family from the town.

At most, the village head’s family might send three or four of his grandsons our way—and that would already be a lot!”

That made sense.

After all, who in the village didn’t know that the Xia family had just split up?

Other families might sell or share some of their New Year pork with neighbors, but the Xia family’s New Year pigs—well, even dividing them among their own people was bound to cause arguments! During the New Year, while festivities were nice, in the end, having meat on the table was more practical!

Starting from the village head’s pig slaughter, Beiguan Village seemed to officially kick off the holiday celebrations.

Children went from house to house watching pigs being slaughtered, eating the slaughter feast, fighting over blood sausage, sauerkraut, pork belly, and stewed offal—having the time of their lives.

Xia Daohua rarely joined in the chaos.

Most of the time, while everyone else was engrossed in watching the pig killings, she’d quietly slip away, find a secluded corner, and sneak into her space supermarket to treat herself to a nice little meal.

At first, Linghua had been a bit upset about this. But later, she noticed that every time Xia Daohua came back, she carried the distinct scent of meat. That reassured her, and she stopped nagging like an old lady.

On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Xia family invited Old Hu, the village’s butcher, to slaughter two pigs for the family’s different branches. For the first time, Xia Daohua didn’t take this opportunity to escape to her space supermarket. Instead, she stayed and watched almost the entire process.

The expected chaos didn’t occur—probably because Old Lady Zhou’s stern expression was intimidating enough.

Or maybe it was because there were outsiders present. Even if the daughters-in-law of the Xia family didn’t get along, they still kept up appearances. No one liked to air their dirty laundry in front of strangers.

Butcher Old Hu was tall and skinny. Though he wore short work clothes, he was so thin that he somehow gave off an ethereal, floating vibe.

He looked more like a bamboo pole that had gained sentience or a skeleton wrapped in skin than someone who had no shortage of meat to eat.

Still, despite his appearance, Old Hu’s skills were top-notch.

With ease, he flipped a 200-plus-pound pig onto its side and, with a swift, clean stab, pierced it. The pig let out a wail that drowned out the noisy crowd as steaming hot blood gushed out into a large wooden basin set beneath the table.

Xia Daohua couldn’t help but feel dizzy at the sight.

She turned her head and took a sharp breath, trying to steady her swirling mind.

She had a slight fear of blood. It wasn’t serious enough to make her faint at the sight, but it did make her feel woozy and nauseous, like being drunk.

“Daohua?”

Xia Yujiao noticed something was off and rushed over in three quick steps, helping her up and leading her away from the crowd into her own room. She poured her a bowl of hot water.

“Drink something warm. You’re pale. Is your head hurting again?”

Xia Daohua took the bowl and sipped it gently.

So sweet—it must’ve had a lot of sugar.

She looked up at Xia Yujiao.

The girl was sixteen this year, with a round face, plump cheeks, big eyes, double eyelids, long lashes, and a high nose bridge. Her skin was fair and flawless.

At first glance, she looked just like a younger version of Zhou Shi.

Only, Xia Yujiao’s features were softer, and she lacked the sharpness in Zhou Shi’s brow. She didn’t have that suffocating, authoritative air Zhou Shi exuded when she was stern.

In her past life, she’d be just a naive high school student!

Thinking of that bearded man, Xia Daohua couldn’t help but shudder inside.