Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 94 Brown Sugar Noodles
When she carried the dishes to the dining room, she found an exquisite flower petal fruit plate on the living room table. It had eight compartments with two more in the middle, making a total of ten compartments. On it were placed melon seeds, plums, candied fruit, peanuts, sunflower seeds, hard fruit candies, soft candies, and lollipops. The two middle compartments contained rock sugar, candied winter melon, and crispy strips.

All the snacks for Chinese New Year are here!

In her previous life, she lived in the 1990s, and every household had this kind of thing for the New Year, including the Tanka people. However, her family didn't have it because they didn't have any guests. Buying this kind of thing would have been a waste. Unexpectedly, in this new life, Chen Wenjun fulfilled her wish much earlier.

Lin Qin felt a warmth in her heart, her eyes reddened, and she jogged to the kitchen to continue serving the dishes.

Once all the dishes were served, Chen Wenjun went outside and set off a string of firecrackers.

As if by magic, two bottles of soda appeared.

During the Lunar New Year, Lin Yi didn't dare complain about Chen Wenjun's wasteful spending and urged everyone to sit down and eat.

The fragrant egg fried rice made both children swoon.

The two of them each held a large bowl of egg fried rice and buried themselves in it, showing no interest in the braised pork or fish.

Lin Qin put a piece of oyster omelet on each of their plates. The children took a couple of bites and then refused to eat anymore. However, they really liked the shrimp cakes. They ate a bite of fried rice followed by a bite of shrimp cake, and their bellies were bulging after they finished.

After finishing their meal, the two couldn't wait to run outside and set off small firecrackers.

Chen Wenjun played with them for a while before returning to eat.

The meal didn't end until after 8 PM.

According to local custom, the New Year's Eve dinner cannot be cleaned up. It is left as is after eating, and then reheated and cooked with brown sugar noodles the next morning.

The whole family is used to going to bed early and getting up early. They couldn't stay up until 10 o'clock and all went back to their rooms.

At midnight, Nanxi set off fireworks, and the loud noise woke Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun.

The two of them huddled together in their warm blankets, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Chen Wenjun pulled her into his arms, laughing heartily, "This is wonderful! This is the first New Year we've ever spent together, and we have everything!"

Lin Qin nodded repeatedly, her voice a little hoarse, "Things will get better and better from now on!"

When passion reaches its peak, the spring scenery on this night is boundless.

The couple got up together at five o'clock the next morning.

It was still pitch black outside.

Seeing that they were awake, Lin Yi scolded them, "Why didn't you sleep a little longer? There are only a few days a year when you can be lazy."

Chen Wenjun grinned broadly, "Dad! It's time! I'm bursting with energy right now, I can't wait to head to Nan'gang. It's just that nobody's fishing today, hahaha!"

Lin Qin smiled and took out brown sugar and noodles. "I'll cook brown sugar noodles. We'll have this for breakfast."

Back in the Liu family, good things like brown sugar noodles were never given to her and Ya Ya. At most, they would be given a bite for good luck. If it wasn't for good luck, Ma Cuihua wouldn't even give them a chance to lick the bowl clean.

Lin Yi lives a simple life, and he doesn't even bother to cook brown sugar noodles for the New Year. Chen Wenjun is even less likely to cook, as he's busy fishing to make money during the New Year.

Everyone was incredibly excited about this pot of brown sugar noodles.

Chen Wenjun even went over to help Lin Qin start a fire.

Lin Yi found a few ugly-looking sweet potatoes and threw them into the stove, saying, "Roast a few and try them."

Without their children around, the three of them indulged in a rare moment of childlike indulgence.

Brown sugar noodles cook quickly, but sweet potatoes need to be warmed for a while longer.

Lin Qin brought brown sugar noodles and five kinds of fruit, which Chen Wenjun took by boat to the Wanggong Temple to pray. The Wanggong Temple was on a five-awning boat, and on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the incense was burning brightly.

The couple arrived in their tin boat, causing quite a stir.

Chen Yongding asked curiously, "Wenjun, did you buy a tin boat?"

Everyone else pricked up their ears to listen.

Chen Wenjun chuckled and shook his head. "No, no, I traded it with someone. A friend of mine needs to transport goods, but the tin boat is too small to carry much. It's perfect for us to move it onto land. The tin boat is enough for fishing."

Everyone looked surprised.

Chen Yongding thought of Chen Wenjun's impressive house and could understand it.

As they were talking, Chen Wenjun led Lin Qin into the Royal Palace Temple, where he set out brown sugar noodles and five kinds of fruit. After glancing at the other vendors, he found that their food was the most exquisite.

Zhou Shuifang glanced at them and asked enviously, "Are they all newly bought?"

Lin Qin smiled modestly, "We didn't have any at home before; we just got these."

After Lin Qin left, a woman whispered in Zhou Shuifang's ear, "That woman is so lucky. She married Wenjun and now she lives a good life. All the suffering was done by the previous one."

Zhou Shuifang knew the inside story, but instead of gossiping with the women, she offered an explanation.

"What? If you ask me, it's because Aqin is a lucky wife. Wenjun used to live a peaceful life with Ping An, and it was like that for so many years! But ever since he married Aqin, he immediately had the idea of ​​buying land and building a house. Now his father-in-law is even helping with the farming, and their lives are getting better and better."

And Ping An, she used to be pampered like a girl by Wenjun, and now she's doing so well! She even goes to the city's experimental primary school! Could Wenjun have accomplished all this on his own?

The woman naturally knew that Chen Wenjun's good life was inseparable from Lin Qin's efforts, and she was just jealous, wanting to find someone who shared her hatred to vent her anger on.

It's one thing for Zhou Shuifang not to agree with her, but to say such annoying things as well.

The woman pursed her lips, turned around, and left.

Lin Qin was nearby. Although she couldn't hear what the woman was saying, she could tell from her expression that she was unhappy. She asked Chen Wenjun, who was next to her, about the woman's identity.

Chen Wenjun glanced at her, his expression rather indifferent. "Her name is He Xia. She's related to the one in front of me. Ignore her."

Lin Qin nodded and made a note of the person.

When the two returned from the royal temple, they found that the children had all woken up, changed into new clothes, and were showing them off in the courtyard.

Lin Qin quickly heated up the brown sugar noodles and served a bowl to each of the two children.

The next day was the second day of the Lunar New Year, the day Lin Ying took her family back to her parents' home.

Lin Yi hadn't told Lin Ying about moving here yet, and worried that his eldest daughter and son-in-law would come and find it empty-handed, so he specially rode his bicycle to Shanglin Village to pick them up.

He arrived at the old house at eight o'clock.

Lin Jianqiang had just gotten engaged, and on the second day of the Lunar New Year, he was busy going to his future father-in-law's house to curry favor. He left early, and since the gate was locked, Lin Yi sat on the steps, not minding that it was dirty.

However, before he could even settle in, someone arrived, but it wasn't Lin Ying or Xu Dahai.

"Fugen! Why are you here on the second day of the Lunar New Year?" Lin Yi stood up in shock.

Zhu Fugen is Lin Yi's wife's nephew, that is, Lin Qin's biological mother's cousin. Since Lin Qin's mother passed away, no relatives from Zhu's side have come over these years. The only time was when Lin Qin got married, and only Lin Qin's uncle came.

What kind of wind is blowing today? It actually attracted Zhu Fugen and his wife here!

(End of this chapter)