Fu Yucheng gently placed his palm on the back of Yun Tangyin's neck, the warm touch seeping through her woolen clothes like charcoal burning in a stove.
He looked at the faint shadow cast by her eyelashes under her eyes and suddenly remembered the first time he saw Yun Tangyin when he was young. She was also dozing off against a tree trunk like this, with a dandelion tangled in her hair, which would fall down with a rustling sound when the wind blew.
The sauerkraut and pork ribs on the stove were bubbling away, the sour aroma mixed with the meaty fragrance spreading out, even making the icicles on the windowsill drip water.
When Yun Tangyin woke up, the sky was already tinged with a pale purple.
Fu Yucheng was squatting in front of the chicken coop, holding a handful of millet in his hands. The old hen was pecking at the millet in his palm, its golden feathers covered with snow, like a moving lump of gold.
“It recognizes people now,” he said, turning back with a smile, his fingertips still damp with rice. “I reached out to touch it just now, and it didn’t peck me.”
Just as she was about to get up, she saw Fu Yucheng come in carrying a bowl of spare ribs. A layer of oil droplets clung to the rim of the porcelain bowl, glistening under the light.
“I added some rock sugar,” he said, placing a piece of cartilage into her bowl. “Director Wang said that adding rock sugar when stewing ribs helps extract the calcium.”
The ribs were stewed until tender, falling off the bone with a touch of chopsticks. The sourness of the pickled cabbage mixed with the aroma of the meat exploded on the tongue, warming the body until sweat broke out on the nose.
Just as we were eating, Aunt Li's loud voice boomed from outside the courtyard, cutting through the wind and snow: "Yinyin! Is your light still on?"
She lifted the curtain and came in carrying her child. The snow on her cotton shoes melted into a small puddle on the ground. "I was just changing the baby's diaper when I heard noises coming from your house, so I brought you two hot steamed buns."
Yun Tangyin served the child two pieces of pork ribs, but Aunt Li quickly stopped her, saying, "He's just teething, don't let him get stuck."
She glanced at the table and saw the bowl piled high with ribs. Suddenly she laughed, "Your Yucheng really treats you like a treasure. My husband is lucky if he even remembers to bring me a bag of salt."
Fu Yucheng added a spoonful of soup to Li Sao's bowl: "Drink it while it's hot to warm yourself up. Look how cold your face is."
As Li Sao sipped her soup, she glanced at the chicken coop and saw the old hen dozing in it. Suddenly, she slapped her thigh and laughed, "This chicken is more intelligent than my own! Look how curled up it is, just like a little old lady."
She slipped a packet of Sichuan peppercorns into Yun Tangyin's pocket. "These were sent from my family. Add a couple when stewing meat; they'll make it very fragrant."
After seeing Li Sao off, Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove, the firelight casting a flickering shadow on the wall.
He suddenly pulled a wooden box out of the cabinet; most of the red paint had peeled off, and the lock was covered in rust.
"I found it while I was cleaning out the warehouse a few days ago. Mom asked me to give it to you."
He opened the box, which was lined with a red cloth. Song Yushuang happened to come in and, seeing this, casually said, "This is what my mother left for her future grandchildren. She said it was made with money she saved when she was young. I found it, so I'm giving it to you."
The silver lock was engraved with the words "Long Live to a Hundred Years," and its edges were worn smooth, clearly having been handled countless times.
Yun Tangyin held the silver lock, its cool touch against her palm.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said, hanging the silver lock around her neck, close to her heart. “I’ll put it on the baby when he’s born.”
Fu Yucheng hugged her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head. The military green cotton-padded jacket wrapped around the two of them like a warm, cozy wad of cotton.
The wind picked up in the latter half of the night, making the window paper whistle loudly.
Yun Tangyin was awakened by the cold and saw Fu Yucheng spreading dry grass on the chicken coop. His military boots made a soft crunching sound as they stepped on the snow.
“The chicken coop is drafty,” he stuffed a piece of cotton into the coop, “so the chickens don’t get cold, they still need to lay eggs in the spring.”
The moonlight streamed down his shoulders, casting a long shadow that resembled a silent mountain.
She put on her coat, got up, and handed him a hot water bottle: "It's freshly filled with hot water, warm yourself up."
Fu Yucheng stuffed the hot water bottle into his arms, then suddenly grabbed her hand and touched the chicken coop: "Look, it laid an egg."
A white egg lay in the haystack, still warm, and looked like a piece of jade in the moonlight.
Yun Tangyin put the egg into her cotton-padded jacket pocket and suddenly laughed: "I'll make you scrambled eggs with scallions tomorrow."
As dawn approached, the snow began to fall again, swirling and fluttering like crumpled cotton wool.
Fu Yucheng added firewood to the stove, and flames shot up, illuminating the calendar on the wall.
The Little New Year is just half a month away.
He slipped a piece of red paper into Yun Tangyin's hand: "I just got this from the clerk. Here, you can cut paper snowflakes for the window to play with. It'll brighten the window if you stick them on."
The red paper glowed warmly in the firelight, like a melting sunset.
Yun Tangyin picked up the scissors, and the red paper spun in her hand. Soon, she cut out a chubby baby, holding a carp in its arms, just like the New Year picture on the wall. It was exactly the same, but not as exquisite. At least it looked similar.
"It's more spirited than a New Year's picture cutout," Fu Yucheng leaned over to look, his nose almost touching the top of her head, and still praised her in a serious tone: "I'll go borrow some paste later and stick it on the window, I guarantee all the military families in the regiment will come and learn from it."
Just then, Xiaolan ran in holding a rag doll. The snow on her braids hadn't melted yet, looking like it was covered in icing sugar: "Sister-in-law! Look at the rabbit I sewed this time!"
The doll tilted its head, and its eyes, sewn with red beans, were much more regular than the one Xiaolan gave it last time.
“My mother said that this rabbit should have three red bean eyes sewn on it,” she pointed to the doll’s forehead, “the middle one is the third eye, which can see monsters.”
Yun Tangyin stuffed a sugar figurine into Xiaolan's hand: "I just got it from the supply and marketing cooperative. It's a Sun Wukong figurine. You can play with it."
Xiao Lan was munching on a sugar figurine when she suddenly pointed at the paper-cut window decorations and exclaimed, "This chubby baby looks just like the baby in my sister-in-law's belly!"
Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove, and the flames licked the bottom of the pot, making the rice porridge simmer.
He ladled a spoonful of porridge into Yun Tangyin's bowl, the rice oil floating on top like a thin layer of jade: "Eat more, we'll go to the regimental headquarters to pick up the New Year's goods later. I heard that we're getting more melon seeds this year than last year."
As Yun Tangyin sipped her porridge and listened to the sound of snow falling outside the window, she suddenly felt that life was like porridge simmering in a pot.
When picking up New Year's gifts, the military dependents' compound resembles a bustling market.
Yu Xia ran over holding a skewer of candied hawthorns, the sugar coating glistening in the sunlight: "These are for your family. I asked the doctor, and it's okay for you to eat one or two during this period, just don't eat too many."
Zhou Desheng's wife held a piece of cured meat, oil stains forming a small yellow dot on her blue cotton jacket: "My mother sent this; I'm making you stew it with cabbage."
Fu Yucheng carried a bag of flour, Yun Tangyin carried a bag of melon seeds, and Song Yushuang was not idle either, but walked slowly behind. Watching the shadows of Yun Tangyin and Fu Yucheng close together on the snow, she smiled until her eyes turned into crescent moons.
On the way home, Fu Yucheng suddenly slipped a red ribbon into Yun Tangyin's hand.
Yun Tangyin smiled, holding the red hair tie. Seeing his ears were red from the cold, she suddenly stood on tiptoe and breathed on his earlobe: "Why are you giving me this? To make me braid a big pigtail?"
Fu Yucheng's ears turned even redder. He grabbed her hand and walked home. His military boots left two parallel sets of footprints on the snow, which stretched all the way to the lit lamp in the yard.
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