During dinner, they cooked the vegetables that Uncle Liu had sent over. They ate most of the large pot of snake soup with rice. It was delicious, especially since Aunt Liu had added some dried mushrooms from their farm, which were sliced and stewed in the soup. Su Caier had never tasted anything so good and almost swallowed her tongue. Zhao Ce ate two large bowls of rice, and they both felt full.

They fed the leftover vegetable leaves to the chicken and boiled the remaining soup, leaving it on the stove for the next day. As the night grew dark, Su Caier used a small stick to drive the chicken back to the woodshed. Zhao Ce had promised to take her to the city, so he planned to bring some sugar from home and then take her to buy what she needed.

That night, Su Caier lay in bed and asked uncertainly, "Husband, are you really taking me out?"

Zhao Ce asked, "Don't you want to go?"

After a moment of silence, Su Caier honestly said, "I don't know..."

At first, she was happy to hear the news since she had never been to the city before. But after thinking about it, she wasn't sure she wanted to go. Zhao Ce said, "I don't understand anything about making shoes."

"It would be best if you picked out something that suits you. This way, it would be easier for you to work." Su Caier nervously swallowed her saliva.

She was 16 years old and had never been out of the village before. The first time she left the village was when her uncle took her to the matchmaker to find a husband. Then she met Zhao Ce.

She was afraid because she didn't know anything and her eyes and legs had problems, she was worried about embarrassing her husband in the city.

So, after Zhao Ce finished speaking, Su Caier still seemed hesitant. Zhao Ce could tell that she was nervous and said, pretending to be hesitant, "I'm a big man, and I can't remember everything about the little things at home."

"I've been to the city a few times before and never thought of bringing back soybean oil."

"If I go alone again, I'll probably forget a lot of things."

"You're the housekeeper, and you know what the house needs."

"When we go to the city together, we can buy all the things we need at once, so I don't have to keep going back and forth."

Upon hearing her husband's words, Su Caier felt a sense of responsibility emerging within her. Yes, she was the little housekeeper at home, and her husband had entrusted her with all the money. So, she had to work hard for the sake of the household. Thinking this way, Su Caier said seriously, "Alright then."

Zhao Ce comforted her, saying, "Don't worry about your eyes. As long as you don't make eye contact with others, they won't be able to tell."

Hearing this, Su Caier finally felt relieved. The matter was settled, and they were going out the next day. However, Su Caier couldn't sleep and turned over in bed a few times.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She had heard that people in the city were all very rich. Her new clothes weren't ready yet, and she wondered if it would be inappropriate to go out wearing old clothes. Even her best outfit had many patches on it, which she had grown accustomed to wearing.

But after coming to her husband's home and seeing his long robe, she wondered if people in the city wore clothes without patches. If she wore her old clothes out and was seen by someone who knew her husband, would they make fun of him?

The young girl stared at the dark room with worry, her mind constantly racing. She felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Zhao Ce listened to the sounds beside him, feeling both amused and sympathetic. When he was a child, if his grandfather had told him he was going to the fair the next day, he would also be too excited to sleep. However, this little girl was probably feeling a mix of other emotions as well.

Zhao Ce asked, "Can't sleep?"

Su Caier whispered, "I'm sorry, husband, I'm disturbing you. I'm just a bit nervous."

She reached out and grabbed her husband's sleeve.

Su Caier said, "Husband, let's go to sleep."

After saying that, she closed her eyes. Zhao Ce agreed, and the sound of their breathing soon became lighter. After the young girl fell asleep, the hand holding onto Zhao Ce's sleeve slowly relaxed.

Zhao Ce turned over and reached out to cover her little belly with the blanket, whispering softly, "Little one, don't be too nervous, just sleep..."

The next morning, the young girl changed into her better clothes, which had fewer patches on them. Because there wasn't much to do at home for the past two days, Su Caier had already made a list of everything they needed to buy. Zhao Ce packed the sugar, and they finished breakfast.

Zhao Ce asked, "Did you remember everything we need to buy?"

The little girl began to count on her fingers one by one. "We need to buy soybean oil, tools for making shoes, some bran to feed the chicken, and we also need to buy two pots..."

She listed everything they needed to buy, and then looked up at Zhao Ce with her big eyes, as if saying, "Husband, do you have any praise for me?"

Zhao Ce nodded and smiled, "There are quite a few things we need to buy."

"Thanks to you, I wouldn't have thought of so many things," he added.

Su Caier blushed with pleasure at her husband's praise and said, "I may not have listed everything we need to buy."

"It's okay. If we still need some things later, I'll buy them when I go to the city," Zhao Ce replied.

They didn't let the new mother hen out but tied her feet with a rope and gave her some rice and vegetable leaves before leaving. Su Caier even squatted down and talked to the mother hen that was pecking at the rice, saying, "When we come back, you have to lay an egg, okay?"

The mother hen didn't respond, but Su Caier was in a good mood and closed the doors of the kitchen, room, and woodshed, leaving the front door tied with a rope.

They set out from home when it was still a little dark outside. Zhao Ce went to wait for the ox cart at the village entrance, thinking about his wife's weak legs. Su Caier was looking forward to riding on the ox cart for the first time.

It was the busy season for farming, so there weren't many people leaving the city. At the village entrance under the big pagoda tree, only two people were loading goods onto the ox cart. When they saw Zhao Ce and his little wife coming over, they looked at them curiously but didn't say anything.

Big Chang's ox cart was about to leave. When he saw Zhao Ce and Su Caier, he said, "If you want to take the ox cart, you'd better hurry. I'm going to the city and have to come back to haul food later."

Zhao Ce agreed, and they quickly walked over with their goods. Big Chang glanced at Su Caier's feet and quickly turned his head without saying anything. Zhao Ce went around to the front to pay the fare, while the little girl was about to climb onto the ox cart.

The two people who had already climbed on quickly moved further into the cart when they saw Su Caier approaching. One of them even clicked his tongue and said, "Riding with this little jinx, who knows how long we'll be unlucky."

Su Caier paused for a moment when she was about to climb up, feeling a bit unsure of what to do as she stood behind the ox cart.