After eating and drinking, Xiao Huaiting also told his purpose.

He came to thank Yan Qiushu.

As for what they were thanking him for, the two did not say anything specific as their three children were watching. However, they still gave him a lot of gifts, which were said to be sent by Jinzhou to please him.

Yan Qiushu felt that this was an overreaction. After returning from a long journey, he should have a good rest first. She was just providing some information.

But she didn't say this. It was getting late and it was not appropriate to stay any longer, so Xiao Huaiting left with the three children.

Yan Qiushu also returned to her room, ready to take a shower and go to bed.

That night, I seemed to sleep much more soundly than the previous nights.

Xiao Huaiting had been away from home for a long time and came back again. The Xiao family was happy for another two days.

The one who was even happier was Xiao Huaiting himself.

As soon as she came back, she found that Mrs. Xiao was willing to eat on her own initiative, especially she liked this snack called spicy strips. She ate on time every day, and only after she had eaten enough would Madam Huang allow her to eat two more pieces of spicy strips.

For the sake of this spicy strip, she has been eating more than usual these days. As she eats more, her health naturally gets better. Her cheeks, which were originally sunken, are now becoming fuller and she seems to be ten years younger!

In Yan Qiushu's opinion, it seemed as if the knot in her heart had been untied and she was no longer depressed.

But the Xiao family didn't mention it, so she just pretended not to know.

For this happy event, Xiao Huaiting returned home, and Xiao Huaiwu also came back more diligently than usual.

In the extra time, she and her son came to Yan Qiushu's place to eat for free. When Yan Qiushu went to visit Mrs. Xiao, Xiao Huaiwu was accused more than once of eating for free, and even brought her son to eat for free.

Xiao Huaiwu pretended not to hear and she still had to eat.

And every time she went there, she never came empty-handed. She either brought a bunch of jewelry or the latest rouge and powder from Kyoto. After a few times, when they found out that she didn't like rouge and powder, they made new clothes for her.

Yan Qiushu liked this, so her clothes increased visibly. She originally came empty-handed with nothing but some seasonings, but now, a whole closet is full of her clothes.

During this period, the Qiao family was unable to pay the fine, and the entire Qiao family, including those who colluded with the Qiao family to shelter people, were killed or exiled. The three clans had a total population of several hundred people, which shocked the atmosphere in Kyoto before the New Year.

However, it just so happened that it snowed a lot in Kyoto during this period. After a heavy snowfall, it was impossible to go out, so Yan Qiushu did not go out either.

I didn't feel the shadow of this incident.

On the contrary, as the New Year approached, time seemed to pass much faster. Eating and drinking every day, Yan Qiushu found that the weight Xiao Huaiting had lost was quickly gaining back.

On New Year's Eve, all houses are decorated with lights, red lanterns, red couplets, and various door gods.

It is worth mentioning that the couplet outside the door that can be seen by outsiders was written by Chen Pingyu. The young boy was full of pride, and he looked so handsome when he stood in front of the desk and wrote!

It was as if a general had arrived at his own battlefield, handling the situation with ease, and the words he wrote were indescribably beautiful.

Yan Qiushu praised the child again and again, and Dongdong started to clamor to write too. Under his leadership, Wan'er also raised her hand.

So the couplets of Dongdong and Wan'er occupied the rest of the Xiao family's inner courtyard, including Yan Qiushu's yard. As for why Chen Pingyu was in charge of the outside and the remaining two children were in charge of the inside, there is no need to explain more.

After pasting couplets, making dumplings is an indispensable activity during the Spring Festival.

Because this New Year, there was a person named Yan Qiushu, who was strongly requested by the Xiao family to eat the New Year’s Eve dinner and keep vigil together, so she also made her own contribution and pulled everyone to make dumplings together.

When she first proposed this idea, she thought the Xiao family would not like it. However, as soon as she proposed it, she immediately received the approval of the Xiao family. Before she could come to her senses, the venue had already been prepared.

Nanny Huang personally went to invite all the masters of the Xiao family.

In Mrs. Xiao's yard, there were several charcoal stoves in the living room, and the windows were open for ventilation. The temperature was just right, and there was no need to wear cloaks. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and did their own tasks.

The work table, which was made up of two tables put together, was washed clean. Flour and dough were placed on it. Xiao Huaiting was kneading the dough, while Aunt Xu and Shui Yu helped roll out the dough, and the others were making dumplings.

Yan Qiushu is very dexterous. While others make dumplings in a fixed shape, she can turn her slender fingers and the dumplings in her hand will have a new pattern. With another turn, another new pattern appears, which makes the children stunned.

Seeing that they were all staring at her, Yan Qiushu took out clean pearls from a box in front of them, wrapped them one by one and stuffed them into the dumplings, saying, "I put six pearls in the dumplings. Whoever eats the most pearls will be the lucky star of this year!"

This pearl was one of the gifts Xiao Huaiting gave her.

Dongdong patted his belly and said, "I must be the lucky star!"

Wan'er's eyes sparkled: "I can have it too!"

Chen Pingyu had a blank expression on his face and looked uninterested, so Yan Qiushu took advantage of the other two children's inattention and pointed at the small flower she had pinched on it, smiling and saying, "Remember this, this is one I secretly saved for Pingyu."

Shen Pingyu pursed her lips and smiled, her beautiful eyes gleaming with joy, but she was still reserved and polite as she said, "Thank you, Aunt Yan."

Yan Qiushu was satisfied and put the dumplings back.

Dongdong and Wan'er became interested: "I want to make dumplings too!"

"Okay, come here, come here." Xiao Huaiwu couldn't wait to hand over the thing in his hand, looking as if he couldn't avoid it.

Dongdong held the leaky dumplings made by his mother. Now he was stuffing mutton, and the filling was overflowing. He frowned and said with disgust: "Mom, you gave it back to me after it was ruined!"

Xiao Huaiwu glared at him with her hands on her hips: "What's wrong? He's just a bad guy, can't you just pinch him?"

"Fourth brother!" Mrs. Xiao glared at her.

Xiao Huaiwu shrank his neck and remained silent.

Xie Qingyun smiled and said, "The dumplings in your hands are still the most beautiful."

Xiao Huaiqi, who was sitting in a wheelchair, took a look and praised: "It's true, none of us are as talented as our mother."

Mrs. Xiao looked at the dumplings in her hand. The Yuanbao dumplings made under Yan Qiushu's guidance were chubby and squatted on the table, looking very pleasing to the eye.

She seemed to recall something, and her expression softened. "Come to think of it, I also made dumplings when I was young, specially for your father. I didn't know the quantity at the time, so I made a lot. He ate it all and groaned with fullness at night. The second son also liked me the most..."

The atmosphere was gloomy for a moment, and Xiao Huaiting suddenly exerted force.

With a "click" sound, the dough was hit on the table, startling everyone to look over.

He smiled innocently: "What's wrong? I just want to learn how to beat the dough a few times to make it more chewy."

"Wrap it well!" Madam Xiao scolded, "Don't waste food."

"I know." Xiao Huaiting nodded with a smile, then turned his head to look at Yan Qiushu: "Can you make some vegetarian dumplings?"

Yan Qiushu didn't react at first, but she nodded immediately: "Sure, I'll go prepare some fungus..."

Xiao Huaiting also hurriedly followed: "I'll go with you."

Yan Qiushu nodded, and the two of them walked out of the living room which was so warm that it made people dizzy. Suddenly, it occurred to her that the fifth young lady of the Xiao family had not come back yet. She was in the Taoist temple. Was she not planning to come back during the New Year?

After making the dumplings, the rest was left to Aunt Xu and Shui Yu to cook.

It was almost time to wait and it was also lunch time.

The reason why it was lunch was because it was New Year's Eve dinner, and as a Duke, Xiao Huaiting needed to go to the palace to eat. By then, in order to wait for him, it would definitely be very late, and it would be impossible to make dumplings slowly.

So I'll eat dumplings at noon and then wait for him to come back in the evening to have the New Year's Eve dinner together.

There are many kinds of dumplings to cook, and there are many flavors. If you have no dietary restrictions, just mix them together. If you have dietary restrictions, just remove the ones you don’t like.

Yan Qiushu loves to eat them all, so she filled a big bowl with two of each kind.

The skin of the cooked dumplings is smooth, and when they are taken out of the dumpling soup, they are still emitting hot steam. Take a bite of the slippery skin and you can reveal the filling inside like a blind box.

The first one she ate was the one stuffed with leeks and shrimps. The shrimps were tender and chewy, and the leeks were also very tender. Maybe it was because it was winter, but it had a light sweetness to it. She added her homemade spices to the stuffing, which also had a fragrant taste.

However, it was still a bit bland, so Yan Qiushu dipped it in the specially prepared dipping sauce. The chili oil made with Sichuan peppercorns and cornus officinalis was spicy and stimulating, and the dipping sauce mixed with soy sauce and vinegar added a bit of salty and sour taste. Combined with the flour fragrance of the dumplings and the taste of the fillings, it had another flavor.

She was eating in small bites, but the boy sitting next to her was eating in big mouthfuls.

He first rolled the plump white dumpling in chili oil, blew on it, and then swallowed it in one gulp after just two blasts, completely ignoring how hot the contents of the dumpling skin were.

Dongdong on the opposite side was grimacing in pain from the burns. Xiao Huaiwu laughed at him and asked him to spit it out. Seeing that he was reluctant, she gave him some cold water to cool him down.

Xiao Huaiting just took a few breaths of hot air and swallowed it easily.

Yan Qiushu was stunned.

I've eaten with the same table a few times before, but rarely have I eaten food that's so hot inside, and I haven't noticed it yet. Does this person have no sense of pain?

As if noticing her gaze, the boy turned around and smiled at her: "What's wrong?"

The tone was very natural and familiar.

Yan Qiushu subconsciously asked, "Aren't you hot?"

Xiao Huaiting shook his head: "It's okay, I don't feel anything. I always eat fast."

Yan Qiushu smiled, leaned closer to him, and whispered, "Eat slowly, otherwise you will hurt your esophagus. The esophagus has no sense of pain, and you won't feel the pain, but if it is repeatedly injured, after a long time, you may never be able to eat again."

This kind of topic was not auspicious on a day like this, and she didn't dare let others hear it, so she spoke quietly.

Xiao Huaiting was speechless, raised his defiant eyebrows, and nodded obediently: "Yeah."

When he finished eating the next dumpling, he slowed down and ate it in small bites instead of swallowing it in big mouthfuls like before.

Seeing this, Yan Qiushu withdrew her gaze and continued eating.

But when she looked away, her eyes accidentally caught sight of other people, and she saw several pairs of eyes at the table looking at her. She didn't know when the chatting stopped.

Yan Qiushu was silent for a moment and quickly lowered her head.

At this moment, Dongdong seemed to have discovered some signal. He pointed at Yan Qiushu and said, "Sister Shu and Uncle said... um!"

He was covered by the quick-eyed and quick-handed Shen Pingyu's mouth.

Madam Xiao coughed lightly, frowned slightly, and looked serious: "Don't talk loudly while eating."

"Oh..." Dongdong responded listlessly and continued eating.

Yan Qiushu secretly touched her face with her cold hands. It felt a little hot. She slowly exhaled and took a big bite of the dumpling as if to vent her anger.

This time it was filled with fennel and egg. When she took a bite, she suddenly felt as if her teeth had bitten something hard. She immediately moved her tongue, caught it with her hand, and spat out a pink pearl!

Just at this moment, the boy next to him couldn't wait to raise his hand and said, "I ate a pearl!"

"Wow!" Dongdong looked at it with envy, then ate a dumpling with all his might.

After a while, Shen Pingyu also spit out the pearl modestly: "I ate one too!"

After a while, Madam Xiao ate it. Xiao Huaiqi frowned and put a dumpling from his bowl into Wan'er's bowl. The little girl smiled shyly, ate it in small bites, and said in surprise: "Mom! I ate it!"

Dongdong was anxious: "Ah, there are only two left, no, I have to hurry!"

Yan Qiushu was very surprised that he was really good at math, and Xiao Huaiting told him: "Dongdong, your sister Shu has also eaten it. There is one left. Let's see who gets it last."

Dongdong: “?!”

His face was filled with grief and indignation, and he became more cautious about his appetite. However, he could not afford to waste food, so he could only finish them one bite at a time.

Seeing her son like this, Xiao Huaiwu laughed so hard that she couldn't close her mouth even while eating dumplings. Suddenly, her teeth gritted. She blinked, moved her mouth, and sure enough, she spat out a round pearl. She told her son very 'sadly': "The last pearl was eaten by mom, hahahaha!"

Dongdong froze, saying in disbelief, "What?!"

He pouted sadly, and everyone thought he was going to cry, staring at him curiously.

Yan Qiushu quickly told him: "There is one more, a total of seven."

Dongdong finally came back to life.

The elders sighed with great regret.

Yan Qiushu: "..."

However, there was still one pearl left. Dongdong didn't dare to eat it anymore. He really couldn't eat it, so he chose to stare at the elders eagerly. The main reason was that it was just one pearl, like looking for a needle in a haystack. What if it was in someone else's bowl? For example, his mother.

So whenever he saw someone stop eating, he would nervously ask, "Are they pearls? Can you give them to me? I want pearls!"

In the end, Xiao Huaiqi couldn't bear it anymore and carefully picked out one from the pile of dumplings and put it in front of him.

Dongdong took a bite and found it was stuffed with shrimp. He took another bite and said, "Mmm! Pearls!!!"

After finishing the dumplings, everyone still had smiles on their faces.

After eating and drinking, everyone will disperse and go back to rest, waiting for the upcoming New Year’s Eve dinner and vigil.

But before they could disperse, a personal guard came rushing over: "General, His Majesty has summoned you!"

"Just now, Eunuch Fu, who is beside His Majesty, came over and asked the general to come over early to discuss something important. The Prime Minister was also notified..."

The Xiao family's expressions changed slightly and the atmosphere became tense.

Only Xiao Huaiting smiled at them soothingly: "It's a small matter, I'll be back soon. Mother, brother and sister-in-law...you can eat the New Year's Eve dinner first, no need to wait for me, I'll come back and keep watch with you."