Chapter 28: Ordinary Night
"I'll do it, I'll order it."
It was getting dark, so Wenbo pulled out a piece of candle, took it from the fire, and watched the huge flame slowly swaying.
What the kids are looking forward to most tonight is to split the candy. Turn two small sticks over the syrup, and the candy will turn white.
"Fu Bao, give it a try."
Wenbo handed the candy his brother had turned to Fu Bao.
An Ran looked at the twist candy in front of her. Isn't this malt candy? Take a lick and wow! It's sweet with a hint of malt.
"Brother, brother, Fu Bao has teeth! I saw it!"
An Ran was wondering what all the fuss was about. She had felt it a month ago, as if two teeth had sprouted from her lower gums.
"Really? Let me see!"
Help! A group of boys looked at her, especially Wen Yuan, and pinched her cheeks.
"Wow! It really has teeth!"
"Will Fubao be able to eat delicious food in the future?"
Li Zhenxiang had just taken out tomorrow's flour and looked at Fubao worriedly.
"Fu Bao has teeth!" Several boys seemed to have discovered something extraordinary.
Li Zhenxiang already knew that her daughter had baby teeth.
"Fu Bao, I'll give you a lick of my brother's candy. It's delicious."
For a moment, everything in front of An Ran was filled with twists and turns, and she couldn't even lick a single lick.
This is the first time in a long time that she has eaten sweet candy, and it tastes very good.
As the wax oil dripped, the candle wick was snipped, and the night fell silent.
The sun rises, night falls, and the last day of the new year comes.
Liu Chunlan made a financial summary of this year. In the past few days, the noodle seller in their family sold noodles, and the fish bait seller sold fish bait. Even the wheat was exchanged for 500 kilograms, and the rest was exchanged for rice.
The remaining money is eighty taels in big money and 3,654 in small money.
Several women began to prepare for the New Year and took inventory of their household supplies.
"You all come here. These are the new clothes you will wear for the New Year tomorrow. Take them and put them under your pillow."
An Ran saw that everyone was handing out new clothes, and she also had a share, which was a red floral cotton-padded jacket.
This floral cotton-padded jacket looks bright red and green, like a large floral jacket from Northeast China.
Her dress was a small one, with a circle of rabbit fur sewn on the cuffs, which was white and fluffy.
She has the most new clothes. In addition to the big flowered coat, she also has a flowered hat, which is still the kind with ear flaps, and a pair of cotton shoes with little rabbits embroidered on them.
Most of my brothers' clothes are plain-colored, simple, and much longer than my body length, so I can wear them even if I am taller.
Li A Liu and Li A Ling cherished their new clothes. They didn't expect that they also had new clothes. The new clothes were very beautiful.
Each child neatly folded their new clothes and placed them on their own pillows, and took them out for gestures from time to time.
The women are very busy in the kitchen, they have to prepare four meat dishes.
The first one is braised pork with pickles. Brush the pork skin with soy sauce and fry it in a pan. Cut it into thick slices and put it in a bowl. Cover it with pickles. When it is steamed, turn the bowl upside down so that it is full.
The full meat is on the top of the bowl, and the pickles soaked in lard are below. It's ready for dinner.
The others are pork stewed vermicelli, a reserved large braised carp, and crispy meatballs.
The boys were running wildly in the yard. Father Wang was sitting under the eaves, wrapping tobacco leaves, and Li Aling was busy behind a few aunts.
Whenever a dish was prepared, the aunts would give it to her to taste, and by the way, they would peel off the old vegetable leaves and feed them to the rabbits.
Two tables were set up for the New Year's Eve dinner, one for adults and one for children. It was not like before where everyone had their meal ready in a bowl.
Father Wang took out his wine gourd. He was very happy today. If he drank a little wine, his children and grandchildren would be blessed. It would be great if Su Rong was still here. He would be just as happy as he was.
"Fu Bao, grandpa, what do you want to eat?"
Father Wang picked her up and filled her with some egg custard and minced meat porridge in a small bowl.
She was not polite, she just grabbed her hand into the bowl if she wanted to eat.
"Fu Bao, you can't eat this yet, please wait a few more months."
An Ran didn't like to eat meat, but it tasted so good that she was craving for it, especially the big, fat and shiny pieces of meat, which made her salivate.
The adults also began to eat big chunks of food. An Ran used her paws to scoop up the small noodles in the bowl. She didn't like being fed by others.
Grabbing food with your own little paws, one word, delicious~
Adults don't care too much, as long as they can eat well by themselves.
"Fu Bao, this is my aunt's New Year's gift to you."
A red rope with a lucky bead on it looks very festive.
"Mom, where is mine? Do you have it?"
"Don't you two have new clothes?"
"But we want this too."
"Go, go, I'll buy it for you two bastards next year."
Father Wang's face was now red and he took out a handful of coins from his arms.
"Everyone line up to receive the New Year's money."
Suddenly the room started to howl non-stop and jump up and down very happily.
Father Wang piled the copper coins on the table and counted six copper coins.
"This is Wen Ming's. May you be safe and healthy in the coming year. This is Wen Yuan's. May you be wise and wise..."
Whenever Mr. Wang gives out the new year's money, each child can also receive a piece of sesame candy.
"Now comes our blessing, full of blessings, happy every year."
Similarly, An Ran also received six cents of new year's money, which her mother saved in a small bag.
The boys were very happy and discussed what they would do with their lucky money. In the past, they only had one penny.
Tonight is also New Year's Eve. If you stand outside the house, you may be lucky enough to see the praying sky lanterns shining like stars.
An Ran's little chubby hand is wearing a bracelet given by her aunt, and she is sitting on the bed of her brothers. Tonight, everyone will stay together to watch the New Year.
"Fu Bao, here you go, the rabbit I made."
In the hand of the eldest brother Wen Ming is a wood-carved little rabbit, which is vivid and looks like the rabbit at home.
"And mine, I picked it up."
They were several beautiful rain flower stones. Wenjing liked to collect such stones with beautiful patterns. He gave the three most beautiful ones to Fu Bao.
A Ling looked at many gifts being placed on the bed. She forgot to prepare them for Fu Bao and looked at her brother.
Li Aliu was very envious of these gifts from Fubao, especially the Bagua Lock, which was very interesting.
This Bagua Lock was made by Wen Yuan every day and he was taught by his uncle. His uncle was proficient in many wood crafts and could also study some gadgets.
This Bagua lock does not use nails or ropes, and relies entirely on its own structural connection. It has a mortise and tenon structure, and the concave and convex parts inside mesh together in just the right way.
An Ran holds the Bagua Lock in his hand, which is actually a round ball. It looks like a complete ball, but it is actually built from pieces of wood.
Compared with the flat jigsaw puzzle she had played, this Bagua Lock is a three-dimensional way to play.
His second brother also looked up to her. If she were really a child, she would only hold it and chew it.
Look! Before she even touched her gift, her brothers began to take it apart and study how to assemble it.
Wenbo ate the sesame candy given by Father Wang. It made a crunching sound and tasted delicious. From time to time, he would show it to her on the tip of her nose. He bullied her into not being able to bite her teeth, so she could only look at it with drooling eyes.
A few boys were sticking their buttocks out and playing with the Bagua lock, but Li Aling couldn't fit in and stood aside pinching the corners of her clothes.
"Brother, we didn't prepare a gift for Fu Bao, what should we do?" A Ling asked cautiously.
Li Aliu didn't take it seriously, they had nothing to give as gifts, Nuo, he only had the New Year's money given by Grandpa Wang, so he wanted to give some of it to Fu Bao.
What he didn't understand was that Fu Bao was treated like nothing he had ever seen in the Wang family. Everyone in the Wang family was particularly fond of her, especially Grandpa Wang.
Grandpa Wang likes to hold Fu Bao and make toys for Fu Bao. Even if the aunts have any good things, they will stick to little Fu Bao.
Chapter completed!