Chapter 241: Stepping Forward ②
The Winter Holiday arrived, and the New Year, stepping on the heels of the Winter Holiday, hurried its arrival.
Study tours with classmates happened about once every three to four days, with the longest interval being a week. When the children in the residential area set off firecrackers, and pedestrians carrying bags of New Year goods could be seen on the roads, they had also visited many places—the seaside, the reservoir, the mountains, and within the residential area—they had set up camp. It could be said that this was the most meaningful and happiest Winter Holiday they had ever had, and such a Winter Holiday would only happen once.
A few days before New Year’s Eve, they discarded their books, tents, and sleeping bags, and spent a whole day playing in A City’s most famous tourist area. Then, they bid each other a Happy New Year and parted ways.
Before New Year’s Eve, Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang went to the market to buy a lot of ingredients. Their family sold vegetables, but they still had to pay for groceries. Dried goods like black fungus, and meat dishes like pig trotters and chicken, were not available at home, so they had to buy everything. Nie Aifang was usually frugal, but there was no reason to be frugal during the New Year. Fortunately, it was winter, and cooked dishes, even without a refrigerator, wouldn’t spoil as easily as in summer if sealed with plastic wrap.
The day before New Year’s Eve, the market administrator closed the market. Even shoppers needed to celebrate the New Year, so on the day before New Year’s Eve, most people at the market rushed to buy New Year goods. Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang were no exception. Although they had bought most of their things two days prior, Nie Aifang, seizing the rare holiday, invited Nie Aiwen, and the three of them went shopping, each buying a new outfit, complete with clothes, pants, and shoes.
The next day was New Year’s Eve. Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang woke up very early. Nie Aiwen slept on the sofa in the small room partitioned by a curtain. He groggily got up amidst the aroma and the sound of firecrackers.
Nie Aifang’s hometown had a custom of eating dumplings and tangyuan during the New Year. Seeing Nie Aiwen awake, she smiled and asked, “Aiwen, do you want dumplings or tangyuan?”
Nie Aiwen stood in the small bathroom, rinsing his mouth. Hearing Nie Aifang’s question, his mouth full of foam, he mumbled indistinctly, “I’ll have tangyuan.”
Nie Aifang put tangyuan into the boiling pot and asked, “How many do you want?”
“About a dozen should be fine,” Nie Aiwen took a sip of water, swishing it around in his mouth with a ‘gurgle,’ then spitting it into the sink in the bathroom. After rinsing several times, he took his towel to wipe his mouth.
Nie Aifang put twenty tangyuan into the pot, and Nie Qiu dropped in the wrapped dumplings. While Nie Aifang watched the pot, Nie Qiu began to put seasonings into three bowls. For the tangyuan, she added a few spoonfuls of peanut powder and white sugar. For herself and Nie Aifang, who were eating dumplings, she added all sorts of seasonings.
After breakfast, they started preparing lunch. The New Year seemed like a paradise for foodies; everyone was dedicated to ‘eating.’ After a sumptuous lunch, they began preparing for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Nie Aifang took charge as the head chef, Nie Qiu assisted, and Nie Aiwen was responsible for carrying things up and down.
Nie Aifang was preparing the fish. Nie Aiwen smiled and said, “This fish is so big, how can the three of us finish it?”
“This is called ‘nian nian you yu’ (abundance every year). It’s good if we can’t finish it,” Nie Aifang said as she skillfully cleaned the fish, cutting half of it to stew into soup and the other half to make spicy and sour fish.
A pot of pig trotters, containing kelp, lotus root, peanuts, and eucommia fruit, was simmering on the honeycomb briquette. The entire kitchen was filled with steam, carrying a faint aroma of pig trotter soup. The chicken soup had been stewed earlier, and on the gas stove, chili stir-fried shredded beef was being cooked in a wok.
Nie Qiu took a deep breath, recalling her previous lives during the Spring Festival. She was alone, too lazy to prepare a grand meal, and often just made do with something simple. Today was the first time in her thirty to forty years that she was truly celebrating the Spring Festival. When she was little, when there was a nanny, the nanny would take leave before the New Year to go home to celebrate with her family. At a few years old, not understanding anything, she would be left with neighbors by the nanny. The nanny would give the neighbors some money, and the neighbors would let her play with their children. However, food and toys were never for her, and no one paid special attention to her. As she grew older, she could heat dishes on the gas stove. The nanny would prepare all her meals for the day, and she only needed to heat the prepared food. She was alone, cold and lonely. In the years she was with Yang Zihao, during the Spring Festival, Yang Zihao had to go home to be with his parents. Although he would return early on the first day of the New Year, the festive spirit was already lost.
Her eyes felt sore and painful, stung by the steam from the kitchen. Moisture welled up in her eyes, and tears began to flow uncontrollably.
Putting the washed pea pods into the vegetable bag, Nie Qiu wiped away her tears and smiled, “Mom, Uncle, Happy New Year.” This greeting should have been said on the morning of the first day of the New Year; New Year’s Eve was just the last day of the year.
Nie Aifang, while stir-frying, smiled and said, “It’s not the first day of the New Year yet! Already thinking about red envelopes? Haha… Alright, alright, you did well on your exams this year, and Mom is happy. I’ll prepare a red envelope for you later.”
Nie Qiu smiled. She just wanted to express some unspeakable words. Her heart felt a sour ache, yet in this cold winter, it was warm. What surged in her heart was a happiness she had never felt before, inexpressible. So much emotion, so many words. She wanted to say thank you, she wanted to say she was so happy, so happy. She wiped away the tears that had escaped and looked at Nie Aiwen, who was carrying a stack of washed plates into the room, “Uncle, congratulations and be prosperous, give me a red envelope.”
Nie Aiwen was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, “Qiu Qiu, you’re already paying New Year’s calls on New Year’s Eve! You’ll still be paying calls on the first day. You’re quite clever, aren’t you!”
Nie Qiu smiled, “Of course. I’ll be paying New Year’s calls from New Year’s Eve until the seventh day. Uncle, are you going to give me one or not?”
“Yes, of course, I will. I’m also hoping to get rich next year with your good wishes!” Nie Aiwen placed the plates in the kitchen cabinet and handed one to Nie Aifang.
“You’re the only one who spoils Qiu Qiu,” Nie Aifang took the plate and glared at Nie Aiwen.
“If I don’t spoil her, who will?” Nie Aiwen smiled, “Don’t you spoil her too?”
Nie Qiu watched Nie Aifang and Nie Aiwen bicker and took out another vegetable to trim. She had never said the phrase, “Congratulations and be prosperous, give me a red envelope.”
She couldn’t say it when she was little, and she couldn’t bring herself to say it when she grew up. This simple phrase felt extraordinarily meaningful to her. What was meaningful wasn’t the red envelope, but the person giving it to her.
