Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1094 Another Year

On New Year's Eve, people eat celery-filled dumplings, which symbolizes diligence and hard work in the coming year.

The dishes are easy to prepare. Just heat up the leftovers from the family reunion dinner, make a cold dish, and add a braised pig's trotter. On New Year's Eve, we have to eat pig's trotters to wish for good fortune in the coming year.

Fish are also a must, symbolizing abundance year after year.

They put a big pot on the stove and boiled water. The two of them ate peanuts, pork knuckles, and sausages, while each of them drank a bottle of beer.

Before the water boiled, a sudden burst of firecrackers came from outside. At first, they were sparse, but then they became incredibly dense, so loud that the earth shook and the mountains and rivers trembled. The sound of the television was completely cut off, and countless bright lights shone through the glass windows onto people's faces.

Chen Hui checked the time and said something, but Xiao Wei didn't hear him at all.

My ears were filled with a deafening roar, a whooshing sound... a creak, a thud, a crack, a whooshing sound...

As soon as the kitchen door opened, Xiaowei's mother, Aunt Wang, and Fourth Aunt came in. Xiaowei's mother waved her hand while saying something, and Xiaowei leaned closer, asking, "Huh?"

Xiao Wei's mom shouted, "Get lost, we're doing it. Let's go set off firecrackers!" The firecrackers were too loud, so they couldn't play mahjong, and they couldn't hear each other talking.

Xiao Xiao Hui was crying. Chen Xiao held Xiao Xiao Hui in his arms and covered his ears. Bei Bei leaned against Xiao Hong's arms, looking terrified.

Zhang Bing and the others were all excited, opening boxes at the door to look at the firecrackers and fireworks.

Xiao Wei and Chen Hui went over and helped move several boxes to the pond in the yard. Xiao Wei took Bei Bei and carried her. Everyone in the house came out into the yard and looked up at the firecrackers and fireworks that were flying and flashing in the dark night.

Beibei looked up and pointed at the office building, saying to Xiaowei, "Dad, let's go upstairs and take a look."

Xiao Wei didn't hear at all, but he understood what Xiao Beibei meant. He called out to everyone who wanted to go upstairs, and in the end only Xiao Hong, Chen Xiao, and Wang Guifang responded. The three of them carried the two children out of the yard, entered the building amidst the smoke, and took the elevator to the top floor.

Looking down from the thirtieth floor, one sees the city ablaze with the sounds of firecrackers and the billowing of fireworks. Each ball of fireworks and the occasional burst of sparks sway and rise into the sky, exploding in mid-air, but none reaching a height of a hundred meters. So from the building, the view is filled with colorful bursts of fireworks that seem to envelop the entire city, which is covered with a layer of bright red lanterns, creating a spectacular and incredibly beautiful scene.

The sound of firecrackers grew louder and louder, reaching its peak at midnight. The city was ablaze with light, and fireworks and cannons of all colors were firing at an incredible density, leaving virtually no blind spots in the view.

Chen Hui ran up with his camera: "I almost forgot, take some pictures of the scenery. Are you guys stupid for turning on the lights?"

As the lights inside went out, the outside became even clearer and more spectacular.

Wang Guifang said, "It has to be a big city, it's so magnificent. I used to think it was pretty impressive in the county town, but now I know what it means to be breathtaking."

Xiao Hong nodded in agreement. Chen Xiao said, "Didn't we spend last year here too?"

Xiao Hong said, "Nonsense, were you standing this high last year? Looking up from here, you could only see that little bit of sky."

Little Beibei stared wide-eyed at the window, not blinking, and pressed herself against it. Xiaowei kissed her on the cheek: "The glass is so cool. Isn't it pretty?"

Beibei nodded, bumped her forehead against the glass, startled, and then laughed.

After more than ten minutes, the sound of firecrackers gradually subsided, and the fireworks became sparse. Xiao Hong said, "At this moment, if you looked at the whole country from high altitude, wouldn't it be even more spectacular? People all over the country setting off firecrackers and fireworks together, I guess we are the only ones in the whole world like this."

The world's largest mass participation event still requires active participation; no one wants to be left out.

Xiao Wei said, "It's definitely more spectacular than a war."

Chen Hui put the lens cap back on: "Nonsense, do you think your family, with over a billion people, is fighting a war over a few million square kilometers?"

Beibei was probably too shocked to react earlier, but now she's reacting differently: "It's so beautiful! And so loud, I can't hear anything!"

Xiao Wei asked her, "Have you seen enough? If you've seen enough, go downstairs and eat dumplings and gnaw on pig's trotters."

Beibei looked outside and considered for a moment, her little mouth moving incessantly. She probably couldn't resist the temptation of food and nodded, "Dumplings. Daddy, I want some, hard ones, red and yellow ones, hard dumplings."

"Huh?" Xiao Wei looked at Wang Guifang in confusion. "What?"

Wang Guifang said, "They're fried in oil. I used to fry leftover dumplings for her to eat."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, Dad will go downstairs and make it for you. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone describe pan-fried pancakes as something so magical."

Chen Hui asked, "Did we buy too much?"

Xiao Wei said, "We still have to set off on the fifteenth. Xiao Bing, Xiao Bing, have you moved everything out of the house?"

Without turning his head, Zhang Bing said, "No, the fifteenth ones are still kept. They were already separated a long time ago."

Xiao Wei glanced at the fireworks piled to one side: "Can't you set them off all at once? It'll look nicer. Aren't you cold? What time are you going to have your New Year's Eve dinner?"

Zhang Bing looked back at Xiao Wei, thought for a moment, slapped his thigh, and ran over to Zhang Dawei: "My second brother said to release them together, why didn't we think of that? That's really awesome. Come on, let's release them together."

The remaining four boxes of fireworks were placed together on the ice, about a meter apart, and Zhang Bing and Zhang Dawei each lit two.

Releasing multiple boxes of fireworks together is indeed more visually appealing and spectacular than releasing them individually. Chen Hui looked up at the sky and said, "That's how it should be done. Next year, we'll buy more and release ten boxes together. That will definitely be amazing."

Xiaowei's mom said, "You're just showing off. What's the point of putting so many on? Hurry up, finish burning these and then we'll stop. Come inside and eat."

Aunt Chen whispered to Old Chen, "Isn't it pretty?"

"nice."

"You never let me off the hook before."

"..."

"Next year, we'll buy them and release them ourselves."

"Okay, I'll go with you."

The four boxes of fireworks finally finished spraying, turning into four piles of garbage.

As everyone chatted, they entered the house, where dumplings, dishes, and wine were already laid out. After washing their hands, everyone sat down to eat.

Xiao Wei went to the kitchen, lit the stove, and fried a plate of dumplings for Bei Bei, making the little girl jump and shout with joy. Wang Guifang secretly wiped away a few tears.

"Eat pig's trotters, even if you don't like them, you have to eat them, do you hear me? If you don't like them, take a bite and leave it there, but you still have to eat a bite." Xiaowei's mother was carrying a basin and distributing pig's trotters to everyone, all cut in half, one half for each person.

These days, are there still people who don't like to eat meat?

Aside from Zhang Bing taking half and discarding it, and Old Chen not asking for any more, Aunt Chen took half and ate it herself. After the twenty large pig trotters were braised and cut into forty pieces, only three and a half pieces remained after the New Year's Eve dinner. That half was left over by Little Beibei.

Although people's living standards have improved significantly in the past two years, it is still an era in which most people lack meat and oil.

After finishing their meal and cleaning up, Xiao Beibei got sleepy, so Wang Guifang carried her to bed.

Chen Hui slumped onto the sofa: "Sigh, another year has passed."

(End of this chapter)