"Wife," he said, "I want to eat flaky baked cakes. I've chopped up the meat and scallions; what do I do next?"
Tan Zhenghong took Qiao Duo'er to the stove, hoping to distract his wife from her worries.
But he had a premonition that he would definitely find Star-of-Bethlehem before their wedding day.
Perhaps his premonition was too strong; he wasn't worried at all.
It was already the fifteenth day of the eighth month, and Qiao Duo'er and Tan Zhenghong had gone to town early to buy the necessary items for the beam-raising.
The first step in the beam-raising ceremony was to worship the Big Beam, with offerings such as pigs, fish, geese, tofu, incense, and candles—they had to purchase all of these today.
Before shopping, however, Qiao Duo'er planned to first head to the cattle market to buy an ox cart.
Uncle Huang and Old Niuniu's families had ox carts they were willing to lend.
But it's always more convenient to have your own, and borrowing them often felt somewhat embarrassing.
