My Dreamy Old Husband

We’ve only been gone for two days! Does she really need to do this?

Sophia saw the filming crew arriving, so she quickly put on a straw hat to cover even more of her face as her dark eyes swiveled around. After she changed out of the clothes she had on just now, she rode the motorcycle over. She was garbed in a dirty apron, and below her work pants that were caked with mud were her bare feet. She was pretending that she had just dug up the potatoes, and to make things even more realistic, she even swiped mud on her cheeks.

The village was a producer of large and mild-flavored potatoes. It was potato-harvesting season now, so more than half of the market was filled with those colorful tubers. Blending in with the other farmers, Sophia remained hidden in plain sight.

There were many different types of potatoes, ranging from the round and golden ones to the oblong and reddish ones. The earthy smell from them wafted into the air, and most of them were still caked with mud, having just been freshly dug up from the potato fields early this morning.

Michael followed closely behind, carrying her small husky bag for her.

Carmen made her way toward Sophia, who was extremely nervous as she was afraid of being recognized. Thus, she kept her head bowed.

Michael walked over and squatted down next to Sophia’s stall. Although he pretended to choose the potatoes in her stall very carefully, he was in fact secretly looking at his wife.

Looking at the potatoes, he asked his daughter, “Carmen, would you like to eat potatoes?”

Carmen nodded. “Yes!”

Michael continued, “But potatoes make one look ugly. Carmen, aren’t you afraid of becoming ugly?”

The little girl became a little hesitant. Staring at the potatoes, she felt herself drooling at the thought of eating them, but she was also deathly afraid of turning ugly. After swallowing back her saliva, she decided to give up her food cravings for the sake of beauty. Tugging at Michael’s sleeve, she said pitifully, “Daddy, we’d better go. I don’t want to turn ugly.”

Michael said, “It’s okay, you can eat less while I’ll eat more. If we turn ugly, I’ll be uglier than you.”

Sophia, who was in disguise, could not help but laugh. However, in the next second, she heard Michael say, “Ma’am, give me two pounds of potatoes.”

Ma’am?

Sophia was surprised by this form of address, but she immediately got into her role and weighed the potatoes for them.

Carmen squatted and watched very carefully as Sophia took out a small scale to weigh their vegetables.

“Daddy, look! What is this?”

Carmen was seeing this kind of scale for the first time, which thrilled her to no end. She looked at Sophia in adoration.

Sophia secretly felt elated in her heart. She deliberately took a long time to weigh the potatoes and thought to herself how fortunate it was that she had practiced using this scale before.

to buy food. On one of those trips, she had learned how to use the scale. Although she was slightly rusty at using it right now, she could still

took the opportunity to explain how the scale worked to Carmen, who

quickly weighed out. Then, Sophia told them

looked at Sophia, who was trying hard to look professional, and couldn’t help but laugh. However, he did not expose her but let Carmen pay for the potatoes by

pay

Sophia pitifully, saying,

soft and tiny face,

give them to you for

keep her act together and pretended to be unhappy. “We are a small business trying to make ends meet. How about I give you a few more potatoes to make up the full amount of that

Michael said, “Just charge us a little bit less. It’s not a big deal, and you don’t have to keep so

Sophia pretended to mull over it for a

up the potatoes, took the note, and gave some change to

in her

few coins, it was as satisfying

holding the potatoes while Carmen skipped along

time. He did not want to see her again later as he felt awkward negotiating

live in was without a refrigerator, so he had to eat however much he bought. The potatoes and beans could last until tomorrow, but the leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and meat had to be finished by today, or they

Sophia there, he could finally feel bold enough to negotiate prices with

a spicy

surprise, when he finally went to buy the chili,

on. Right now, she was working as a cashier in a snack

was at a loss for

if she only showed a toe, Michael could recognize

the only snack cum grocery shop in the village, it was well stocked. From pistachios to sanitary napkins and from ice cream to cumin powder, it had everything one would need. As soon as Carmen entered, she had her

I want that…

Michael glanced at the price of the

we buy the lollipop today, we’ll have to

at Michael,

want that

lollipop, it was the first time Michael felt that he couldn’t afford to buy such a common

big that it would not be easy to hide it from the other kids.

his teeth and said, “You can’t have the lollipop now. I’ll get it for you when