After eating and drinking, Xiao Waiting also told the purpose of his visit.

He came to thank Yan Qiushu.

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

Yan Qiushu felt that this was an exaggeration. After returning from such a long journey, she should have a good rest first. She was just providing a piece of information.

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

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

That night, I seemed to sleep much better than the previous few nights.

Xiao Waiting had been away from home for a long time and when he came back, the Xiao family was happy for two more days.

The happier one is Xiao Waiting himself.

When she came back, she found that Mrs. Xiao always took the initiative to eat, and she especially liked the snack called spicy strips. She ate on time every day, and only when she had eaten enough would Madam Huang allow her to have two more slices of spicy strips.

For the sake of this spicy strip, she has been eating more than usual these few days. As she eats more, her body naturally gets better. Her cheeks, which were originally so thin that they were sunken, are now starting to become full again, and she seems to be ten years younger!

From Yan Qiushu's perspective, it seemed like 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 would come 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 bringing her son to eat for free.

Xiao Huaiwu pretended not to hear anything 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 visits, it was discovered that she didn't like rouge and powder, so she made new clothes for her.

Yan Qiushu liked this, so her clothes increased visibly. Originally, she came empty-handed with nothing but some seasonings, but now, an entire closet is filled with her clothes.

During this period, because the Qiao family could not pay the fine, the entire Qiao family, including those who colluded with the Qiao family to shelter people, were killed or exiled. The three clans together had a population of several hundred people. Before the New Year, the atmosphere in Kyoto was shaken.

However, it 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. After 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 the 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 Shen 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, which made Dongdong want to write as well. Under his leadership, Wan'er also raised her hand.

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

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

Because of this New Year, there was a girl named Yan Qiushu, who was strongly requested by the Xiao family to have the New Year's Eve dinner and stay up all night 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 no one needed to wear cloaks. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and did their own tasks.

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

Yan Qiushu is very deft with her hands. While others are making dumplings in a fixed shape, she is the only one who can twist her slender fingers and the dumpling in her hand will have a new pattern. With another twist, another new pattern appears, which makes the children stunned.

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

This pearl was also one of the gifts Xiao Wai Ting gave her.

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

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

Shen Pingyu had a blank expression on his face and looked uninterested, so Yan Qiushu took advantage of the other two children not noticing and pointed at the small flower she had pinched on it, smiling and saying, "Remember this, I secretly saved this for Pingyu."

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

Yan Qiushu was satisfied and put the dumpling 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 things in his hand, looking like he wanted to avoid it.

Dong Dong held the leaky dumplings made by his mother. Now he was stuffing them with mutton. The filling had all overflowed. He frowned and said in disgust: "Mom, you've ruined it and you're giving it back to me!"

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

"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. We don't have the talent that our mother has."

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

She seemed to remember something, and her expression became softer: "Speaking of which, I also made dumplings when I was young, especially for your father. At that time, I didn't know the amount, so I made a lot. He ate it all and groaned in the evening. The second child also liked me the most..."

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

With a "bang", the dough was hit on the table, shocking everyone to look over.

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

"Wrap it well!" Mrs. 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 directly: "Sure, I'll go prepare some black fungus..."

Xiao Waiting also followed closely: "I'll go with you."

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

After the dumplings were made, the rest was handed over to Aunt Xu and Shui Yu to cook.

It's almost time to wait, and it's also time for lunch.

The reason why it was lunch was because it was the New Year's Eve dinner. As a Duke, Xiao Waiting 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 for him to make dumplings slowly.

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

A lot of dumplings are cooked in many flavors. If you don’t have any food restrictions, just mix them together. If you have any food restrictions, just remove the ones you don’t like.

Yan Qiushu loves them all, so she had a big bowl full of them, with two of each.

The cooked dumplings have a smooth skin, and they are still emitting hot steam when they are taken out of the dumpling soup. A bite of the slippery skin reveals the blind-box-like fillings inside.

The first one she ate was the one with leek and shrimp stuffing. The shrimp was tender and chewy, and the leek was also very tender. Maybe it was because it was winter, it had a light sweetness to it. She added her homemade spices to the stuffing, so it had a fragrance to it.

But it was still a little bland, so Yan Qiushu dipped it in the specially prepared dipping sauce. The chili oil made from Sichuan peppercorns and dogwood was spicy and stimulating, and the mixture of soy sauce and vinegar added a slightly salty and sour taste, which, combined with the fragrance of the flour and the taste of the fillings, created 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, not caring how hot the thing wrapped in the dumpling skin was.

Dongdong on the opposite side was grimacing due to the scald. Xiao Huaiwu laughed at him and asked him to spit it out. Seeing that he was reluctant to do so, she gave him some cold water to cool him down.

Xiao Huaiting just exhaled a few breaths and swallowed it easily.

Yan Qiushu was stunned.

I have eaten with this person several times before, but rarely have I eaten food that is so hot inside, and I have never noticed it. 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 going to perm it?"

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

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

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

Xiao Huaiting was silent, raised his eyebrows defiantly, and nodded obediently: "Yes."

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

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

But when she looked away, her eyes inadvertently saw other people, and she saw several eyes on her at the table. She didn't know when the chatting stopped.

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

At this time, Dong Dong seemed to have discovered something. He pointed at Yan Qiushu and said, "Sister Shu and uncle said... um!"

His mouth was covered by the quick-eyed and quick-handed Shen Pingyu.

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

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

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

This time it was filled with fennel and egg. After taking a bite, she suddenly felt like her teeth had eaten something hard. Immediately, her tongue moved, and she caught it with her hand, and spit out a pink pearl!

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 swallowed a dumpling with great effort.

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

After a while, Mrs. 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: "Mother! I ate it!"

Dong Dong 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 Waiting told him: "Dongdong, your sister Shu has also eaten it, there is one left, let's see who gets it last."

Dong Dong: “?!”

His face was filled with anger and he became more cautious about his appetite. However, he could not waste the food, so he had to eat it one bite at a time.

Seeing her son like this, Xiao Huaiwu laughed so hard that she couldn't stop eating dumplings. Suddenly, her teeth got stuck. She blinked, moved her mouth, and spit out a round pearl. She told her son very 'sadly': "The last pearl was eaten by mother, hahahaha!"

Dong Dong froze and said in disbelief: "What?!"

He pursed his lips in sadness, and everyone thought he was going to cry, so they all stared at him in surprise.

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. Dong Dong did not dare to eat it anymore. He could not finish it. So he chose to stare at the elders. The main reason was that it was just one pearl. What if it was in someone else's bowl? For example, his mother.

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

In the end, Xiao Huaiqi couldn't bear it anymore, so he 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, "Wow! 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 had time to disperse, the guards came rushing in: "General, His Majesty has summoned you!"

"Just now, Eunuch Fu beside His Majesty came over and asked the general to go over in advance because there was something important to discuss. The Prime Minister was also notified..."

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

Only Xiao Waiting smiled at them soothingly: "It's nothing, 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 all."