CHAPTER 709: CHAPTER 713: FAIRY TALE TOWN (PART 2)

Xiao Hua lived next door, a sister who had played with the original owner very well from childhood.

Whenever she encountered something novel, she never forgot to drag the original owner along to see it, and when she found something delicious, she never forgot to save a portion for the original owner.

She was truly a super bestie, far more moving than those spoiled best friend cliches.

Of course, neither the original owner nor Su Li had ever enjoyed the aforementioned treatments.

Simply because in the village year after year, the only novelty was the few days when outsiders visited, as for delicious food, now every household had nothing to eat but potatoes.

The soil in the village was not very fertile, except for potatoes which were high-yielding, any other crops would only end in death no matter how they were planted.

Su Li tossed away the potato she was holding, wiped her hands on her patched-up trousers, and ran off towards her little buddy.

Waiting outside, Xiao Hua was already impatient. Seeing Su Li emerge, she launched into complaints, "Why were you so slow today?"

"If you didn’t hurry up, my spot would have been taken by other girls, and we wouldn’t be able to see anything clearly."

Xiao Hua was also a scrawny, malnourished girl.

Su Li looked her up and down and felt immediately better.

Even now, at her lowest historical beauty value, she still wasn’t the ugliest.

In fact, with a point of comparison, she could even be considered somewhat attractive.

With this contrast, Su Li’s heart was somewhat consoled.

By the time Su Li and Xiao Hua had hurried over to the village chief’s house, the courtyard outside the village chief’s house was already full of people standing on the wall.

A girl used stones as a footing to climb and peer over the courtyard wall, her eyes darting back and forth, quickly spotting Su Li and Xiao Hua outside looking for a good spot.

The young girl raised her hand and joyfully shouted, "Xiao Li, come over here, I saved you a spot."

Sure enough, next to that girl, there was just enough space to squeeze in two or three people’s figures, especially since they were all so thin, they wouldn’t take up much space.

Xiao Hua was over the moon and heap praise, "Da Niu, you’re so kind."

Peering over the courtyard wall into the village chief’s house, it was clear that his courtyard was indeed more luxurious than others.

Of course, more luxurious meant only that it was a bit more leveled and larger.

The grains spread on the ground were still potatoes, without any other food to speak of.

At that moment, they could faintly hear voices from inside the house. After a while, four young men and five young women came out.

Xiao Hua and Da Niu immediately exclaimed in surprise, covering their reddish-black cheeks, infatuatedly sighing, "Wow, they’re really good-looking."

"They all look so handsome."

Su Li critically sized up these outsiders and had to admit, their attractiveness was on point,

each one a perfect example of handsome men and beautiful women.

Unlike her two friends who were busy admiring their good looks, Su Li paid more attention to the conversation between them and the village chief.

"Village chief, we would like to go to Fairy Tale Town, and we need you to write us a travel pass..."

A man with a baby-faced smile said this as he slipped the village chief a pack of cigarettes.

These days, when even eating was a problem, who could afford to smoke?

However, smoking was the village chief’s sole hobby, supposedly a habit formed back in his youth when the village was doing well.

The villagers seldom knew about this habit, because the village chief had quit a long time ago, and it was only by chance that the original owner saw the village chief chewing those coarse and astringent tobacco leaves that they learned of it.

How did these outsiders... come to know about it?

The village chief’s eyes widened, and he quickly stuffed the tobacco into his pocket.

He cleared his throat, "No problem, but there are still conditions, you need to do a few simple things for our village, and I’ll exchange with you."

---------

"I was right, wasn’t I? You insisted that the old man was being difficult last time, but in reality, as long as you find the right approach, everything can be resolved."

"After all, we’re all here to relax, certainly no difficult challenges would be set."

After leaving the village chief’s house, the group of outsiders, seeing no one around, immediately began discussing.

It was the baby-faced man who spoke first, clearly very pleased with his own actions.

The other girls also spoke happily, "Si really has a way."

"Just thinking about soon seeing a real-life version of the fairy tales from our childhood makes me so happy...."

Another boy, with a cold appearance and looking rather cool, said disdainfully, "It’s only you girls who like that kind of stuff."

His comment was immediately met with an onslaught from the girls present, "Anian, if you don’t like it, then why are you following us here? Could it be that ’the drinker is not interested in the wine’?"

"Cough cough..." Anian choked on his own saliva, his face turned crimson, and he dodged the glances, particularly from one of the girls, clearly having been hit where it hurt.

The young people’s topics grew increasingly off-track, thinking no one was around and speaking as if no one else existed, not knowing that a dark shadow had quietly fallen behind them, overhearing every word they said.

The next day, those pretty outsiders were seen helping the villagers with work.

Su Li pretended to pass by them occasionally and then invited them back to her house for a meal.

Su Li’s actions were not out of line, as several girls had already done so before her.

Su Li had simply added an extra stroke to the word "again".

Maybe it was because of Su Li’s unique aura; these outsiders chose to dine at Su Li’s house.

For this, Su Li was thrilled and had prepared a feast in advance.

"You are visiting for the first time and might not know, but the people in this village are so welcoming and hospitable, they will bring out the best food in the house to treat us."

Si, the baby-faced man, was speaking authoritatively, as if he were quite experienced.

Leading the way, Su Li listened with a mysterious smile on her lips.

The outsider was not wrong; the villagers were indeed warm and hospitable, preferring to go without themselves to ensure their guests were treated well.

Don’t be fooled by every household being so poor that they could only eat potatoes; didn’t every family have something hidden up their sleeves, stashed in their cellar or on the rafters?

It was exactly for moments like this, to entertain guests.

"Last time I had stewed pork with salty meat, which was so delicious, a pity there was only a tiny bit of it, not enough for two bites of mine."

"I heard that the Su Family, although they don’t show off, actually has the most hidden away."

Su Li: "..." When did that happen? How come she didn’t know?

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that might be the case.

But unfortunately... the few valuables that the original owner had hidden away had been consumed by Su Li during three consecutive days of eating potatoes.

She certainly did not possess the noble sentiment of sparing her own tastes to satisfy someone else’s stomach.