Chapter 115 The Beginning of the New Year
Xie Yi strode out of the house and washed his hands by the pool in the yard.
"Wash with this."
Lin Xiaotong followed and handed Xie Yi a bar of soap. She felt uncomfortable if she didn't wash her hands thoroughly when they slept in the same bed together at night.
"Wife, you are so nice."
The one she received was Xie Yi with starry eyes. Lin Xiaotong was too embarrassed to say that it was a gift from her workplace. She usually used honey soap.
Xie Yi rubbed his hands carefully and thoroughly, even cleaning the spaces between his fingers.
He waved his hand and followed Lin Xiaotong into the Xie family's house where the lights were on.
The family of four sat down and a large table was set with a New Year's Eve dinner, which included fish and meat, and was much more sumptuous than usual meals.
"So many dishes! Mom, your cooking skills have improved again. You're almost as good as the chefs at state-owned restaurants!"
On the table were chicken stewed with mushrooms, fried hairtail, mustard dumplings, steamed pork with rice flour, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and pork skin jelly.
There is also a large platter of fried food including fried meatballs, fried crispy dumplings, fried peanuts, and fried steamed bun slices.
The staple food is a large plate of meat-filled dumplings. This year, they are lamb dumplings. Gao Xiulan put some chopped shepherd's purse in them to make them more fresh.
"It's really delicious. No one else can learn Mom's talent for cooking."
Lin Xiaotong also applied to join the Xie family's praise group. After eating a piece of steamed pork with rice flour, her cheeks puffed up and she gave Gao Xiulan a thumbs up.
"That's my skill, I'm not bragging..."
The family raised their wine glasses and had a lively time, and their laughter could be heard outside the house.
Occasionally, the sound of firecrackers could be heard in this alley.
After dinner, Gao Xiulan brought over two boxes of mixed food and placed them on the table. The whole family sat by the coal stove to celebrate the New Year.
Zabaner is a kind of "fruit box" used to entertain guests during the Chinese New Year. Zabaner is divided into coarse zabaner and fine zabaner.
The main ingredients of the mixed dish are peanuts, melon seeds, hazelnuts, dried persimmons, dates, and fried broad beans.
As the name suggests, the mixed dish contains more delicate ingredients, such as apple preserves, apricot preserves, peach preserves, crabapple preserves, candied golden dates, sugar-coated melon strips, green plum preserves, hawthorn, etc., which taste sweet.
Gao Xiulan prepared both kinds of mixed dishes this year and served them on a wooden plate with small grids.
The family eats it as a snack when they stay up all night to celebrate the New Year, and also serves it to guests when they come to visit the next day.
There was a kettle on the coal stove, with a few sweet potatoes next to it.
Xie Da Jiao turned on the radio, and the family of four sat together listening to the program.
When Xie Yi saw the radio, his eyes lit up. He tilted his head and looked at Lin Xiaotong who was chatting with Gao Xiulan, and his smile deepened.
It was late at night, and time passed quickly while I was eating melon seeds as snacks.
Finally it was twelve o'clock, and Lin Xiaotong held her eyes open and went back to sleep with Xie Yi.
"Go to sleep, you have to get up tomorrow morning."
Gao Xiulan yawned, and with the help of Xie Dajiao, she went back to sleep. She was too old to bear it anymore.
Lin Xiaotong lay down in the middle of the bed as usual, rolled up the quilt and yawned, then she saw Xie Yi looking at her from under the bed.
He shuddered, and most of his sleepiness flew away. He smiled awkwardly: "Come up and sleep. You sleep over here. I don't snore when I sleep, don't worry."
"I don't snore either."
Xie Yi rolled over onto the bed, lay on the right side of the bed, turned his head and spoke to Lin Xiaotong.
"Wife, have you forgotten something?"
"What? Fine."
Lin Xiaotong opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at Xie Yi who was sleeping next to her. His eyes were sparkling.
After thinking for a while, she straightened up, leaned over and gently kissed Xie Yi's lips, then paused for three seconds.
Just as he was about to pull his arm back, Xie Yi held it down, and he was about to speak.
Xie Yi chose to turn over, take the initiative, and deepen the kiss.
For the first time, Lin Xiaotong felt that she was too close to someone. She could see Xie Yi's eyelashes trembling slightly and could feel each other's breathing.
She felt that her face must be as red as an apple. The first kiss of two lives was gone just like that.
At this moment, she really wants to cover her mouth, bury her head in the quilt and laugh. She finally tasted the sweetness of love!
"Wife, is it okay?"
Xie Yi let go of the "ripe apple" under him and looked straight at Lin Xiaotong who was covering her eyes.
Lin Xiaotong met Xie Yi's serious gaze through the wide gap between her fingers. Under the night sky, she nodded slightly as if possessed by a ghost.
To celebrate the New Year, Gao Xiulan specially changed her bedding into bright red, embroidered with an auspicious pattern of mandarin ducks playing in the water.
The two people were pressed together, the lights in the room were turned off, everything was hazy, and if they wanted to see each other clearly, they could only get closer and closer.
It turns out that he really has abdominal muscles. I touched them out of curiosity and they were hard and rose and fell with my breathing.
Occasionally, she would clench the red sheet under the bed with her hands, and in a trance, it seemed as if she was holding the head of a mandarin duck. She pinched the mandarin duck's mouth carefully.
Let you talk too much!
Damn it, why are you using so much force!
It was late at night, and she felt like she was sleeping on a water bed, swaying. She regretted why she was so tired.
Beauty really misleads people!
…
The next morning, Lin Xiaotong felt a buzzing in her ears, which made her annoyed. She pulled the quilt over and continued sleeping on the other side.
"Wife, wife——"
"What are you doing? I'm sleepy."
Lin Xiaotong felt her ears itchy, so she opened one eye and looked at the enlarged version of Xie Yi in front of her in a muffled voice.
Damn it, why is she so tired, but he is like nothing happened.
"What time is it?"
Lin Xiaotong opened her other eye and leaned on Xie Yi. The calendar on the table turned to 1976. She glanced out the window and saw that it was already dawn. She yawned and asked.
"It's half past nine. Eat something to fill your stomach before going to sleep."
Xie Yi held Lin Xiaotong in his arms and gently wiped her face with a hot towel: "Drink a glass of warm water first and eat a few dumplings in the morning."
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, there is a bowl of dumplings and noodles. Gao Xiulan is making shepherd's purse and mutton dumplings, and the dumplings are plump.
Lin Xiaotong ate one word at a time and finished her breakfast in a daze. Then she fell on the bed and fell asleep again.
I’m so sleepy. I slept too late last night.
"Look at you, why don't you take it easy? Xiaotong didn't even get up to eat breakfast."
Gao Xiulan saw Xie Yi coming out quietly and whispered that the red envelopes in her pocket had warmed up and she had not given them away yet.
"I'm wrong, Mom. Xiaotong just ate. Please keep your voice down."
Gao Xiulan pinched Xie Yi's ears, and he bent down slightly, grinning.
He's been single for so long, it's inevitable that he's a little excited.
"I don't know you, kid. Okay, go wash the dishes. Your dad and I are going out for a walk. You stay home and watch the door."
Gao Xiulan adjusted the new dark red dress on her body. It was made of fashionable fabric her daughter-in-law had bought for her. She was not going out for a walk, so how could her sisters see it if she hid it at home?
"I understand."
Xie Yi washed the dishes with a miserable look on his face, watching his parents walk out hand in hand, wearing new clothes and smiling.
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