TGCF extra chapters

extra chap 245(Yuanxiao festival)

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 sitting 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.
The stall-owner's daughter came over furtively, crouching down to poke at the sack, as though curious about what the bulky items in it were, and only going back after her mother had called a few times for her. At this time, Xie Lian had yet to cultivate the thick skin which even knives and spears could not penetrate [3], that he would have in the future. He could not help but use his leg to kick the
huge sack under the table, hoping to stuff it in a place where the passers-by would not be able to see it. Alas, the stall was small, and its tables and chairs and benches were also small, such that it was simply impossible to hide such a thing. Xie Lian had no choice but to cough lightly, and do his best to ignore the gazes of the people around him.
He would get used to it. It was no big deal.
Suddenly, he remembered something, and hurriedly reached his hand into the chest of his robes and felt around. His expression changed as he thought, "Now this is even more pitiful! Not only am I sitting alone at an outdoors stall in the cold, eating yuanxiao, on Yuanxiao Festival, I don't even have enough money!!!"
He had intended to slip away hurriedly, but just at that moment, the stall-owner came over with a large porcelain bowl, and set it down on the table, saying, "Five bits of money."
"......"
Xie Lian felt faintly as though he was unable to breathe, as he said, "Uh...... I......"
He coughed a few times, his fist raised before his mouth, as he heard the stall-owner say, "Is it that you don't have any?"
Xie Lian was just about to thicken his skin and stand up and scram, when he saw the large porcelain bowl being put on the table before him with a thud.
He froze, and heard the stall-owner say, "Forget it. Seeing how pitiful you are, I'll give you a bowl. I'll need to close up the stall after you finish this, so hurry up and go back. It's Yuanxiao Festival today,
you should be together with your family!"
"......"
Xie Lian sat down again, and although he remarked to himself that he had nowhere to go back to after he finished this bowl of yuanxiao, he said out loud in a soft voice, "Thank you."
The stall-owner also said, "It's so late out, and to go back back this late on Yuanxiao Festival is improper!"