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A little girl pouted: "I'm not playing with you. You'll be playing for a while and then you'll remember to settle the score!"

Children's innocent remarks caused the whole courtyard to burst into laughter.

Shanglin remained silent, looked up at the sky, then lowered his head and said fiercely, "I won't give you any meat later!"

The other person turned their head away: "My family stews it too!"

She was speechless for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "I'll tell the store that I'll never sell you the latest model of eraser again!"

The little girl was startled, her eyes immediately welled up with tears, and her lips trembled as if she were about to cry. This terrified Shanglin; how could he let someone's child cry during the New Year? He quickly tried to comfort her.

"Your sister was just kidding, don't cry, don't cry. I'll ask them to save the new erasers for you next time!"

He lifted the pot lid, scooped out a piece of meat, and handed it to her: "Eat meat, eat meat, don't cry! It's not good to cry during the New Year, or children who cry won't get lucky money!"

By a combination of deception and coaxing, they finally managed to appease the person and prevent them from shedding any tears.

By this time, the first pot of meat was ready. After distributing some to the children, Zhang Hongwei instructed Shang Lin and Li Changsheng to deliver it to each household, telling them to deliver it to the single workers first.

Logically speaking, her delivering these goods door-to-door like this isn't really a good thing.

It's Chinese New Year, who doesn't buy meat and cook it? Are you just showing off how rich you are?

Shanglin understood the resentment towards the rich very well, and she was also very good at talking. At each house, she would first put down her bowl, sweetly addressing everyone as "Uncle," "Grandpa," "Aunt," and "Grandma," before saying:

“My mom said that she and my dad usually don’t have time to take care of my brother and me, and we rely on everyone’s help. We’ve been bothering you all the time, so we’re not invited to eat at your house today. She said if we keep eating here, we should all change our surnames and live with you!”

The family who accepted the gift were initially reluctant, feeling that they shouldn't accept something for no reason and that their self-esteem would be hurt for no reason. However, after hearing the reason, it seemed to make some sense. But since they hadn't taken good care of the two children on a daily basis, and looking at the beautiful Qiu Shanglin and the stern-faced Li Changsheng, they accepted it with a bit of guilt.

To be honest, the Qiu family lived in the Hongxing Compound for three years until they raised funds to build a new apartment building, at which point they moved to the town. During those three years, Zhang Hongwei was so busy that none of the neighbors could say a bad word about him, and they were even reluctant to leave. This was all thanks to Qiu Shanglin's silver tongue, which could talk the dead back to life.

That's a story for later. It's said that Yin Yeyao also went to deliver the meat, her face long and drawn, almost like a horse's, a sour sight on a day of universal joy.

Shang Lin glanced at him, slowed his pace, and fell behind the group, asking in a low voice:

"What's wrong with you? You were fine this morning."

In front of them, Xia Lin was twisting and making a fuss with Li Changsheng. When Li Changsheng got annoyed, he grabbed Xia Lin by the collar, swung him around in mid-air, and then put him on the ground.

Xia Lin was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he chattered excitedly.

Following his gaze, I saw this scene and immediately understood, finding it somewhat amusing.

No matter how much thought he has, he's still just a child.

"Xia Lin just loves to play. He's strong and honest. After playing with him for so many days, he seems closer to you than most people. Don't worry, in his heart, you're still the all-powerful Brother Yin!"

Yin Yeyao asked in a low voice, "And you?"

Li Changsheng was a little annoyed by Xia Lin's antics, and was about to throw the bowl on his head when Qiu Shanglin, who was watching, was so frightened that he almost screamed. Fortunately, he knew his limits and was just trying to scare him, so he breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't hear Yin Yeyao's question.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"It's nothing." He smiled slightly, took a few big strides past Shang Lin, and went to Li Changsheng's side. He said something to Xia Lin, then obediently went to play with the others, leaving the space to Yin Yeyao.

New Year's greetings and smoke

Chinese New Year is a very unique festival. Shanglin once hosted a Spanish client who had lived in China for five years. His greatest interest was living in the Chinese countryside and experiencing the daily lives of the farmers. He was a major client of the company, and the boss invited him to spend the Spring Festival in his luxuriously decorated villa every year, but he declined, requesting to spend the New Year with an employee whose family lived in the countryside.

One year, Shanglin didn't want to go back to his hometown and was bored by himself, so he accepted his colleague's request and went to his hometown together.

The foreigner said he liked the Chinese New Year culture.

Everyone was busy, yet everyone was at ease. He enjoyed the New Year's Day greetings and pleasantries exchanged between neighbors, and he enjoyed the evenings when people sat together playing mahjong and cards—by the way, the foreigners' mahjong skills far exceeded his expectations.

On the first day of 1988, Qiu Shanglin opened her eyes, jumped up, and saw a white expanse outside through the clear glass window. She immediately became excited, quickly put on the new clothes she had hidden under her pillow, pulled back the curtains, and shouted:

"It's snowing! It's snowing!"

She kicked two boys who were rolling around on the small bed outside the curtain, and shouted in their ears, "Get up! It's snowing! It's snowing!"

Li Changsheng was highly vigilant; he grabbed the wicked man's foot and pulled hard—

"pain!"

Qiu Shanglin's scream jolted him awake from his daze.

Qiu Xialin turned over and muttered, "Let me sleep a little longer, sis."

Shanglin ignored him and, just like before, found his toes under the covers, pulled hard, and shouted, "Happy New Year, wishing you prosperity! Hurry up and wish me prosperity!"

She then rushed towards Li Changsheng, who had already gotten up: "Happy New Year and wishing you prosperity!" Her bright eyes looked at him expectantly.

Li Changsheng wanted to pretend to be silent, but he couldn't.

Qiu Shanglin's gaze was like that of a kitten yearning for food. He wanted to kick it away, but this weak life evoked pity, and bullying the weak was not the act of a man, he told himself once again.

He whispered, "Happy New Year, and may you prosper!"

Then, over the course of a day, he repeated that sentence a hundred times—no, maybe three hundred, or five hundred.

He could have spent the Spring Festival quietly in his room, sleeping soundly all day long. That was his original plan, since there was no one he knew or recognized in this small town.

But Qiu Shanglin told him last night that there was no need to go back and waste the fire, and Xia Lin would be happy to share a bed with him.

What should have been a quiet day turned into a nightmare. The screams of Qiu Shanglin, the falling snowflakes, the joyful smiles of people going from house to house, and the constant greetings of "Happy New Year" and "Wishing you prosperity" left him with a headache by the end of the day.

How could the Qiu family have so many relatives? Aunts, uncles, great-uncle, great-great-uncle, and even his own uncles—he accompanied her on a tour of the entire village! Every household greeted her with a smile, stuffing handfuls of candy and melon seeds into their pockets, while curiously asking:

"Whose child is this? He's got a chubby face and looks really energetic."

Listen to this, it's infuriating! The child—he's not a child; since he was six, he hasn't considered himself one. But to strangers, he is a child, and a chubby-cheeked, somewhat shy, not violent one at that.

Qiu Shanglin would always patiently pull him in front of everyone and introduce him: "Li Changsheng, our new neighbor."

So everyone laughed happily, as if that sentence was worth a thousand or eight hundred dollars.

He could sense their goodwill, not malice. They didn't press him for details, nor were they surprised that a neighbor's child was going out to visit relatives with the Qiu family's children for the New Year.

They were all cheerful, but a little silly. Just like Qiu Shanglin.

Li Changsheng held this view.

On the first day, the first household went back to their old house.

They had already gone there last night to pay respects to their ancestors, kowtow, and receive New Year's money from the elders. But Shanglin didn't want to stay for dinner. Her excuse was that there were still guests at home. Clearly, Zhang Hongwei preferred to spend the last day of the year at his own home rather than being busy all day and still hearing his sister-in-law's sarcastic remarks.

The heavy wooden door of the old house was open. The snow from last night had been washed away, and snowflakes kept falling from the sky, accumulating in a thin layer on the ground. They were not the first group of people to offer New Year's greetings, because there were messy footprints on the ground.

Standing before the wooden door, its natural wood grain now visible through the years, Shang Lin shook his head, trying to convince himself to forget the unpleasantness that had occurred behind that door the previous night.

Qiu Xialin pulled up her new clothes: "Sister, I don't want to go in."

Li Changsheng was even more decisive, turning around and leaving.

Looking into his younger brother's eyes, he told him, "I don't want to go in either. But we have to."

There are people they dislike, but there are also their closest relatives.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I grabbed one grandpa and one grandma in each hand, making my voice sound cheerful and energetic: "Happy New Year, Grandpa and Grandma, wishing you good health!"

He rubbed Qiu Xialin's head vigorously with his palm, and despite the pain, he glared at his sister and shouted, "Grandpa and Grandma, Happy New Year and wishing you prosperity!"

The old man and woman came out to greet him, smiling and putting their arms around Qiu Xialin: "This child, your grandparents are so old, why would we want to make money!"

Shanglin smiled and forcefully pulled Li Changsheng along: "It's good to get rich! Everyone gets rich! Uncle and younger uncle, Happy New Year and wish you prosperity!"

The three generations, young and old, entered the main house in a joyful atmosphere, as if the argument of the previous night was just a dream.

Shanglin's grandmother lovingly stroked Shanglin's hair: "Where are your parents?"

She wrinkled her nose and said, "I don't want to exchange New Year's greetings with them on the street! They won't let me do this or that!"

He respectfully kowtowed before the offering table, then sat down and started cracking melon seeds for fun.

By mid-afternoon, after visiting every relative's home in the entire village, Xia Lin was exhausted and asked, "Sister, shall we go home?"

He missed the warm fireplace at home, the special tablecloth on the table, and the sweet potatoes and potatoes that had been roasting for hours against the stove lid, emitting a wonderful aroma.

She thought for a moment and said, "You go home first, I'll go to the factory to take a look."

Children don't stop eating popsicles just because it's Chinese New Year. On the contrary, adults are more willing to spend money on their children because of the holiday, leading to a surge in popsicle sales. Small vendors sold out of their stock after a morning of work and needed to replenish their supplies.