96: Rice with a strong sense of smell

Brother-in-law, you're finally back! A Qiu and I were anxious to go home.

When Li Qinghe appeared next to the Wrangler, a tall, long-legged girl rushed towards him. It was Nguyen Thi Linh, who had been waiting impatiently.

She hugged Li Qinghe's arm and pouted, then wrinkled her nose, "Brother-in-law, why are you sweating so much?"

Then she stuck out her tongue and smiled, "It actually smells quite nice."

Luong Thi Thu, a small figure beside her, craned her little head forward, as if she also wanted to smell it, but ultimately felt too shy and stopped behind Nguyen Thi Linh.

"Alright, the temple fair is over. Aren't you going to watch the lantern parade tonight? Your rabbit lantern is very beautiful, you know."

Li Qinghe looked at the pretty face close to him with a smile.

"Ah, that's right, A Qiu, maybe we should go back a bit later?"

Nguyen Thi Linh hesitated. The big rabbit lantern she bought to make up for her childhood regrets would only look better after dark.

"But...my dad is still waiting for me in the county."

"Use my phone to call your dad and tell him you're with me."

Nguyen Thi Linh pulled out her phone from her small purse.

"Wow, A Shui, is yours an iPhone? What model is this?"

Luong Thi Thu's already large eyes widened. From what she knew, she only recognized it as an iPhone, but she truly didn't know the model.

However, Luong Thi Thu's expression showed genuine envy that Nguyen Thi Linh could use a brand new iPhone.

"This is an iPhone 16 Pro Max. My brother-in-law gave it to me. My brother has one too, and my mom has one. My sister already had one."

Nguyen Thi Linh boasted, her face beaming. Her brother-in-law was truly too good, bringing her so many nice things and making her look good in front of her best friend.

Luong Thi Thu was also very cooperative, her mouth slightly agape, her face full of envy: "Wow, the top-of-the-line iPhone model! A Shui, I'm so envious of you."

Luong Thi Thu took the phone from Nguyen Thi Linh's hand and dialed her father's number.

After the call connected, she communicated with her father with an expectant look, while Nguyen Thi Linh, very cooperatively, shouted encouragement from the side.

Finally, after her father's admonitions, Luong Thi Thu hung up the phone, handed it back to Nguyen Thi Linh, and then they hugged and jumped together.

"Haha, that's great, A Shui! I can go back later, or even tomorrow morning!"

The two young girls were excited by the result of their joint negotiation, as if they had achieved some remarkable feat through their efforts.

While her sister and best friend hugged and laughed, Nguyen Thi Linh had already walked forward and linked her arm with Li Qinghe's.

"Brother, did you see anything fun at the temple fair?"

Before she finished speaking, she also brought her nose to Li Qinghe's chest and sniffed, then wrinkled her pretty nose and said, "Brother went to have a secret snack."

Li Qinghe was instantly startled. Good heavens, what a sharp nose!

Nguyen Thi Linh was like a dog, with such a keen sense of smell, able to discern the truth with just a sniff.

"Brother, is it because I'm too weak?"

Nguyen Thi Linh pulled out a tissue and wiped the sweat from Li Qinghe's temples.

She didn't blame Li Qinghe at all; instead, she reflected on her own shortcomings.

She criticized herself for not practicing her basic skills well, causing her brother to always be hungry. If Two Rice Grains were here, it would be better.

She always thought that her own efforts would be enough, but she never considered that some things are very difficult to achieve with just one person's effort.

She should have brought A Ying home with her back then; having a helper would make a complete difference.

When she was with A Ying before, she could sense Li Qinghe's satisfaction.

Now... what to do? Where to find reinforcements?

Nguyen Thi Linh was a bit troubled; for a moment, there seemed to be no suitable candidate.

If worst came to worst, she could let Li Qinghe find a few local 'powders' to eat a few bites to tide him over.

But her mother's teachings constantly echoed in her mind.

A qualified Da Mi Fan must not only feed her man until he is full but also ensure he eats hygienically.

If a man eats cleanly, a woman will be clean.

She must never let a man 'snack' outside and bring bad things home.

Nguyen Thi Linh's difficulty wasn't too obvious; she simply rested her face on Li Qinghe's shoulder.

"Are you all rested? A Ming, A Ling, I'll buy you two big lanterns later too."

"Brother-in-law, you should buy one too," Nguyen Thi Linh interjected in time.

"Okay, I'll buy one too. Tonight, we're all happy children."

Li Qinghe didn't object. Although those who buy lanterns are mostly children, there's no rule that newly grown-up children can't play.

One lantern per person helps to integrate into the atmosphere of the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival.

The afternoon had already taken up a lot of time watching the mixed-gender wrestling.

Later, Li Qinghe spent another two hours with Vu Phan Thanh Lien, researching wrestling techniques.

Not long after the three of them bought their lanterns, night fell upon this small rural town in central Vietnam.

Nights with lights are always different, especially when the surrounding area is lit up with colorful lanterns.

This otherwise unremarkable Vietnamese town, which looked ordinary during the day, transformed into a magnificent world of lights.

Soon, the vendors in the middle of the street moved to the sides.

Starting from the high stage where the mixed-gender wrestling was held in the afternoon, a large group of assembled lantern parade participants organized themselves here.

Under the loud shouts of several organizers with megaphones, the parade team lined up.

First were a large group of flag bearers, carrying yellow flags with streamers that shone golden under the lotus lanterns atop their poles.

Following them was a parade team carrying various lanterns, and behind them was the parade band.

Groups of lantern teams representing various villages and communities, with different accents, shouted their village slogans.

Finally, at the rear, was a dragon lantern over ten meters long.

This procession would parade along Gaoping Village's main street all the way to the intersection of the lower village, then make a circle and return to the high stage along another street.

Among the onlookers, children ran around happily with their lanterns.

Li Qinghe and his group of five, carrying two large rabbit lanterns, a flower boat lantern, and two star lanterns, mingled in the crowd.

Because of their prominent height, they could easily see the Mid-Autumn lantern parade from within the crowd.

After following the parade for a short while, they returned to the vicinity of the high stage.

This was because after the parade, there would be performances on the high stage.

This made Li Qinghe feel that the organizers of these temple fairs were very thoughtful in their overall event arrangements.

However, after the parade returned and Li Qinghe watched a few performances, he regretted it. What performances were these?

Even the aunties dancing square dances in Dragon Country would have more variety in their performances than the people on stage now.

But surprisingly, among the acts, there was indeed a group of young girls performing a somewhat uncoordinated square dance to the background music of a Dragon Country square dance.

It was clearly an act put together with insufficient rehearsal time.

There were also solo singers on stage, holding microphones and singing Vietnamese pop songs.

Anyway, their singing voices were, well, hard to describe, just as Vietnamese songs themselves can be hard to describe.

Li Qinghe felt that pulling a group of students from any middle school in Dragon Country and having them rehearse a show would likely be better than the performances he was watching now.

It was mainly about the lively atmosphere; the audience below seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly.

As mentioned before, present-day Vietnam is like Dragon Country twenty years ago.

Development is extremely uneven. In these relatively backward mountainous villages and towns of Nghe An Province, having such performances to watch is already enough for the villagers to talk about with relish.

After all, in these places, even televisions are not widespread.

Older readers should have memories of gathering at someone's house to watch TV when they were children.

The situation in these backward towns in Vietnam is exactly the same now.

But for Li Qinghe, who had experienced the rich entertainment influence of Dragon Country, this was a form of torture.

So he let out a big yawn.