After two days, Wang Liansheng laughed and told Ling Chengyan, "My eldest cousin gave the other TV ticket to the neighborhood watch chief, Guo Zhanrong."
Ling Chengyan thought about Guo Zhanrong’s spacious ten-room courtyard and suddenly laughed. Her uncle and cousin were more calculating than she had expected.
The children’s classes went on until the 26th of the lunar month. Hongbing didn’t go ho with his father but instead finished his basketball class and played for two more days before going back to the old ho with his second uncle and aunt for the New Year.
Ling Chengyan’s last trip was on the 28th, and Wang Liansheng’s work also got busier towards the end of the year. Luckily, her eldest cousin brought so things over, and along with the snacks and candies bought by Ling Chengyan, they didn’t lack much.
After a few cousins left, Xiao Xing and Shi Tou both seed a bit listless, so Ling Chengyan decided to take the three children out to shop for New Year’s goods.
With the addition of the farr’s market and the grand market, the New Year’s goods market was noticeably more abundant and diverse than in previous years. Even the number of patrols and inspections before the New Year had decreased, and the street in front of the departnt store and farr’s market was lined with all kinds of small stalls.
"Mom, look at that," Xiao Xing said, pointing with a candied hawthorn in her hand to a sugar painting stall ahead. Next to the sugar painting stall, there was a stick with over a dozen beautiful sugar paintings stuck into it.
Ling Chengyan squinted her eyes with a touch of nostalgia. Despite the passage of ti and changes, so things continued to be passed down, like these sugar paintings. Back then, she, too, would hold on to her father and brother’s clothes and wander the streets to buy sugar paintings.
Her favorite was the tiger sugar painting, and it just so happened that Xiao Xing chose a big tiger too. Shi Tou chose a phoenix, and Xiaoyu didn’t want anything, so Ling Chengyan took a blessing character sugar painting for Xiaoyu.
This girl had suffered too much before, and she hoped that for the rest of her life, she would be safe, smooth, and full of blessings.
Little Wenzhang had grown a bit taller and didn’t want to be held by his mom, full of energy, as he pulled Ling Chengyan along in front.
Xiaoyu held Xiao Xing’s hand as they walked behind, and Ling Chengyan heard Xiao Xing whisper, "Auntie, why are you crying?"
Xiaoyu replied, "No, I’m not crying; it’s just the wind blowing in my eyes."
At ho for Little New Year, there was no kitchen god, nor did they hold any kitchen offerings, but when passing by a stall selling sugar lons, Ling Chengyan still bought a few. The stall also had sesa candies with a sesa coating, crispy and fragrant, which the children loved, so she bought two pounds as well.
Soone else was selling flowers on a stick, and the flowers were quite rustic—a thin wire with a few thin pieces of colorfully dyed sponge that looked a bit silly and rustic, but also very fitting for the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
Ling Chengyan bought one each for Xiao Xing and Xiaoyu, and Little Wenzhang, not yet knowing the concept of gender, bounced up and down excitedly asking for one too. Looking at her son with his shaved head close to the scalp, she smiled, shook her head, but still bought a butterfly-shaped hair flower and placed it on his cap, making the happy little Shi Tou shake his head all the way as he walked.
Indeed, it did have a bit of the majestic air of Great Qi’s n parading with flowers through the streets.
The mother and kids walked and shopped, with Ling Chengyan’s vegetable basket already full, and even Xiaoyu and Xiao Xing were holding quite a few paper packages. The mother and kids had their lunch on the street, eating particularly well-flavored braised wild rabbit at sold in chunks. A piece about five centiters long was only two dis, the front leg cost two dis, and the hind leg three. She bought rabbit legs for the kids and a chunk of loin at for herself. It ca with a richly fragrant broth, sprinkled with chopped green onions and pepper powder, slightly spicy and intensely flavorful, paired with a freshly baked roasted flatbread, a perfect match. Unsurprisingly, the entire family feasted heartily.
Before leaving, Ling Chengyan bought two more braised wild rabbits to take ho as an extra dish for the New Year.
The next day was New Year’s Eve, and Wang Liansheng finally finished his work and didn’t have to go in. After breakfast, he started chopping the at filling.
Wang Lianqi brought a few pounds of mutton, the finest goat at, and Wang Liansheng selected a piece of rib at, which had just a bit of fat, perfect for making stuffing.
The chopping of at went on throughout the morning, and Wang Liansheng patiently chopped while adding pepper water, soy sauce, green onions, and a bit of cabbage.
Beside him, a coal stove was simring at, four or five chunks, each weighing about a pound, plus two pork knuckles and four pig trotters, a few pig tails, all simred with seasonings. The aroma of at filled the house and wafted through cracks in the windows and doors, detectable even across the courtyard.
Ling Chengyan went out again, this ti without the three kids, just by herself. Yesterday’s outing had been too fun, with all the eating and drinking with the kids, so she hadn’t gone to the stalls selling firecrackers.
For the New Year, it was the right ti to buy firecrackers. There were quite a few stalls lined up, one beside the other. To showcase the quality of their firecrackers, they would occasionally hang up so to light, causing a series of crackles and pops. On the 26th, a good day, the streets were crowded with New Year shoppers, and firecracker sellers were particularly excited. During one of these tis, a stall exploded, and all the firecrackers on it went off, injuring five or six people, including the stall owner, all of whom ended up in the hospital.
With the kids at ho being small, Ling Chengyan didn’t plan to buy too many firecrackers, but thought about getting so small fireworks and snappers for the kids to play with.
Shi Tou had been playing with Xing Fei and Da Linzi, feeling quite envious, and had been asking her for days.
Riding a bicycle alone, Ling Chengyan arrived at the alley beside the departnt store where all the fireworks stands were gathered.
With fewer people shopping on New Year’s Eve, Ling Chengyan easily made her way to a fireworks stand.
As soon as she stopped, the stand’s owner warmly greeted her, "Sis, what kind are you buying? You have good taste coming to our shop. Our firecrackers are the loudest, never misfire..."
Finding his chatter excessive, she promptly interrupted him, "Give two strings of firecrackers..."
Before she could finish, he interrupted, "Sis, two strings aren’t enough. Let calculate for you. Tonight’s New Year’s Eve, you need so, right? Tomorrow’s the first day of the New Year, you’ll need them, right? The morning of the second as well, the fifth also, and for the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth too... Count them. You need at least five."
Ling Chengyan laughed, saying, "Then make it five strings. Show so small fireworks for the kids."
The vendor, having no other custors, enthusiastically introduced the small fireworks, firecrackers, and snappers to Ling Chengyan, who was earnestly picking them out when suddenly, the vendor shouted, "What are you doing?"
Ling Chengyan quickly turned to see her bicycle being pushed away by soone.
She snorted, "This is daylight robbery!"
The thief, after a few swift steps, leapt onto the bike, about to pedal away when Ling Chengyan threw a box of children’s snappers she was holding, striking the thief right on the back of his head!
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