Twelfth Prayer Festival

  In the market of Dehume, slaves were usually sold in large quantities, but today was an exception. As Lady Wogin's 'Magic' themed festival, magical items, circus performers and minstrels filled the entire market. In the villages surrounding Dehume City, the Sel people who believed in Wogin brought their children to participate in this mysterious carnival together.

  The icon of the lady was carried to the center of the market, where a praying priest performed the ceremony, while the temple was left for merchants to organize a grand banquet, and the slave traders were polite and courteous, as if everything had changed on this day.

  Although the Red Guards' rule in Sichuan was mostly gloomy, it was hard to suppress people's fondness for revelry. Everywhere there were songs, chases and laughter; occasionally a girl holding flowers would shout "For the ladies" and thrust bunches of flowers into the hands of passers-by.

  "I don't like it here." Hickory's expression wasn't great, apparently crowded places really did get on her nerves.

  "You haven't gotten used to the atmosphere here yet." Penny smiled, taking a purple lilac from a girl: "It smells nice, want to take a sniff?"

  "No more." Hickory tilted her head, and then let out a cry of surprise as Penny deftly tucked a bouquet of flowers into her hairdo, the petals and stamens sprinkling across her locks, releasing wave after wave of sweet fragrance.

  "You're so annoying!" Hickory was furious and wanted to sweep away the scattered cloves, but was stopped by Penny. The girl glared angrily, only to see Penny smilingly pull over a little girl who was less than two-thirds of their height and ask: "Do you think this sister is pretty?"

  "She's pretty." The little loli covered her mouth with her fingers, her big eyes twinkling, nodding heavily: "Big sister is really beautiful."

  A mix of awkwardness and shyness instantly filled Hickory's chest, she lowered her head, hearing Penny say in her ear: "I said it before, hoping you could become happy, see, aren't you happy?"

  The little loli skipped away, and Hickory looked at Penny with a complex expression: "Why do you want me to be happy?"

  "You're the biggest boss in this tavern, if you're gloomy all day, it's hard to do business." Penny said: "I just hope my work goes smoothly."

  "Don't lie." Hickel bit his lower lip, clenching his fist: "That person lets you be the manager, whatever you say goes, why ask me?"

  "Take down the old sign at the entrance?"

  "You!"

  "You see, no matter what I say, you always think I have ulterior motives and won't believe that I'm a good person?" By this point, Penny himself couldn't help but laugh - what kind of good person was he? Seeing Hickory's suspicious expression, Penny could only sigh and rub the girl's head: "In any case, don't assume everyone is out to harm you."

  "Hmmph." Hickel pouted, feeling indignant in her heart, but facing the person in front of her, she felt like she had nowhere to vent her anger, and was just sulking. After a short while, this anger dissipated again. Penny didn't give her much time to think: "Come on, let's pray for the lady, wishing our business will get better and better."

  "Why do you have to interfere with what I'm praying for?"

  "Don't you want more beautiful pendants and better-looking clothes?"

  "What...?" Hickel was about to say, but his expression suddenly darkened. The pastor, dressed in fine attire, walked up with a smile: "Disciple, are you ready to participate in the revelry of Lady Wealth?"

  "Let us proceed with prayer and praise." Penny tossed a few berels into the donation box, and the pastor smiled as he arranged the seating - these pastors were all very wealthy, for the devout followers of Wealth were merchants, and the whole church reeked of greed. Penny bowed to the stone statue of the goddess several times, his wish as always being that he wouldn't be buried in a brick wall after death - this was what he prayed for every time, hoping business would be good at the tavern, and having more money than he could spend was just an added bonus; but Hickory didn't know what he had wished for, and after opening his eyes became silent, seeming somewhat downcast.

  "Oh! Little brother, you've come to worship the goddess too?" A warm smile spread from behind, and Penny turned around, without hesitation, directly embracing the mature woman's body. A fragrance wafted up: "Those doing business always have to ask for a lady's blessing."

  "Hah, such a warm welcome for sister, aren't you afraid your little girlfriend will get jealous?" Vika was taken aback by the overly enthusiastic greeting, but she smiled and didn't seem to mind, ruffling the boy's hair and smiling at Hikaru who had his cheeks puffed out.

  "This is the big boss of our tavern, Hickel Janssen, and this is Vicka lady of Black Horse and Cangyue." Penny sniffed heavily on Vicka's chest for a few times until Vicka and Hickel rolled their eyes together before letting go, introducing themselves calmly.

  Heiko felt a bit strange, why did he feel slightly unhappy when Vika appeared? After some deliberation, he found that he didn't have any reason to be angry. However, seeing Penny taking advantage of the situation with such intention, his face inexplicably looked even more unpleasant. But seeing the lady's warm and radiant smile, he had no choice but to ask: "Hello, Miss Vika."

  "Just call me Sister Vika, okay?" Vika smiled and gave the girl a hug. The girl's face turned red as she heard this woman tell Penny: "You have to be good to girls, or Lady Luck won't bless you and the girl you love will leave you because of money. In this day and age, this blessing is more effective than Madame Fire's." As she said this, her face grew even redder.

  "Whatever... Whatever."

  "Miss Vika, you really got it wrong." Penny rubbed his nose, somewhat helplessly. Although Hickel was pretty, he was still young and inexperienced, and to be honest, not very interesting. More importantly, this rumor might give Hickel a bad impression.

  "Hehe, don't mind if I misunderstand or not." Vika smiled and said: "Besides, why be so formal? Call me sister and see how it sounds."

  "Sister, hello." Penny rolled her eyes, seemingly teased.

  "Is sister's gift satisfactory?"

  "Thank you, sister." Penny suddenly remembered the big gift from that morning and, not being stupid, had already roughly figured out what was going on: "Actually, sister, you didn't have to do that."

  "How can sister and brother fight for business?" Vika smiled and rubbed Penny's head: "Now I have to ask Mrs. Wogin for more business opportunities."

  Although there was no obvious resentment in his tone, it still made Penny feel a little guilty, despite knowing that if Xilin Wine House grew bigger, it would be difficult for Hei Ma and Cang Yue to continue without a backing.

  If business competition comes together, even if you don't use Penny to find Old John Waters, directly finding the listed government is enough to make competitors drink a pot of wine. It has to be said that this beautiful woman is very capable, and she actually makes Penny feel ashamed.

  More importantly, Penny still can't tell whether all this is Vika's deliberate arrangement or a real coincidence.

  He didn't think about that at all, he just felt it was always good to be close to such a beautiful woman for a moment. Thinking back to the day the tavern opened, he even spent half a day holding up the sign with Vika for five Berlen, and still thought it was very interesting.

  "Alright, little brother, if you have any opportunities to get rich in the future, don't forget to tell your sister!" Veeka smiled and saw Ogen's greeting from afar, gave Penny another kiss on the face, and turned around to leave.

  "Are you this nice to everyone?" A mature woman walked away, and Penny heard the girl next to her ask in a cold tone.

  "Probably so." Why would he be mean to others if they didn't have any ill intentions towards him?

  Xie Keer's two eyes looked at Penny, her gaze for the first time without a hint of rejection from afar, but rather calm observation, as if she wanted to see this boy who seemed about the same size as her clearly. After a long while, she turned her head and said: "You said that today you would make me happy, right?"

  "Yes." Penny nodded casually again.

  "Can you grant me one thing..."

  ……

  This afternoon I went out and came back to see that there were many new friends, my heart was excited, I couldn't wait to spit out the new chapter, but unfortunately, I divided my attention and my hands were slow, typing all the way until now...

  Continue to ask for recommendation votes with a thick face, asking everyone for support...