"Baby, is it because those educated youth know they'll get into university and go back to the city, so they're all willing to spend money?"
"Grandma is amazing! You even guessed this for me. You know how many boxes of face cream Chen'er bought?" Yan Xiaonan gave Grandma Yan a thumbs up.
"How much?" Grandma Yan asked curiously.
Yan Xiaonan didn't answer, but ran into the house. When she came out, she was carrying two cloth bags. She opened the first bag and found six boxes of face cream and six clam oils inside.
Yan Xiaonan distributed a box of face cream and a clam oil to her grandmother, mother, eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, Fu Bao, and herself.
"How come there are so many? This girl is having a hard time making ends meet. Bao, if Grandma doesn't want it, give it to her so she can use it herself." Grandma Yan felt a little sorry for her. Clam oil was one thing, but face cream was a precious thing, and each of them had a box. It was too expensive.
Yan Xiaonan shrugged: "Grandma, she's your future granddaughter-in-law now, so it's only right that she's filial to you. Here, take it. There will be plenty of good things in the future, so you can use them slowly."
Xuemei returned Fubao's face cream and clam oil to Yan Xiaonan: "Nannan, Fubao is still breastfeeding, why would she need face cream? It's a waste of money. Go and return it to Chen'er. She'll definitely need a lot of money living in the capital in the future."
Yan Xiaonan nodded. When Ye Chen'er gave her the face cream, she had said that the baby didn't want it. But Ye Chen'er was thoughtful, and Fu Bao was also a girl, so she had to treat everyone equally. If the baby didn't want it, that was a different matter.
Yan Xiaonan put away Fu Bao's face cream and took out a bag of milk powder from her pocket: "Chen'er said that if she doesn't want face cream, then she can use milk powder instead. Anyway, all the women in the family have to receive her New Year's gift."
Southeast laughed: "So you mean only women get gifts, and we men don't?"
Yan Xiaonan opened another package, which contained four fountain pens: one for each of the four groups of six and five-and-a-half jin (a unit of weight), and a bottle of Moutai liquor, which was a gift for her father.
Yan Xiaoqiang was overjoyed when he saw the Moutai: "Chen'er, this niece-in-law of mine, is really something else. I can finally have Moutai to drink!"
Yan Dongnan felt a little embarrassed. The other person wasn't even married yet; how could he take their things?
"This was given by Ye Chen'er on behalf of his brother Ye Chenming. He said it was to express his gratitude for the care and support he has received from our family over the years." Yan Xiaonan deliberately walked up to his father before explaining, just in case his father got angry and threw the wine away. This wine will be very expensive in the future.
Yan Xiaoqiang's facial expressions were very varied, ranging from surprise to astonishment to anger to confusion. In the end, he simply put the wine on the table and walked out. Everyone looked at each other, wondering what their father meant and whether they should keep it or not.
Upon hearing that it was a gift from Chen'er's older brother, Ye Chenming, Grandma Yan's face darkened. She grabbed Yan Xiaonan and pulled her into her room, saying, "Nannan, tell Grandma, are you dating that Ye Chenming?"
Yan Xiaonan nodded and then shook her head: "Grandma, I promise to give him a chance, but not to start dating right now. We'll talk about it after he achieves some success."
Grandma Yan was relieved. Ye Chenming was a good person, with a good family background, good abilities, and good looks. But if he couldn't protect Nannan, then so be it. Just like Nannan said, let's wait until he achieves something before making a decision. After all, Nannan is still young.
Today is Lunar New Year's Eve again. There are more and more children in the family. Six-pound and five-and-a-half-pound are just like Southwest and North South back then. No matter how cold the weather is, they always have to go out and play for a while before they stop. The two of them carried buckets and ice weights and dug many ice holes, and they even caught a few fish.
When the two children called out "Great-Grandma, Great-Grandma" as they came in, Grandma Yan seemed to see Bei Nan and Xin Nan as children, carrying buckets of water as they entered the door. Overwhelmed with sorrow, she thought, "Bei Nan, you brat, do you really not want your grandma anymore? Don't you want this family anymore?"
Fu Bao and Duo Duo were sleeping on the fire pit in the main room. Perhaps sensing Grandma Yan's sorrow, they both burst into loud tears. This crying drove away Grandma Yan's longing and focused her thoughts on the two little ones.
As soon as the baby cried, Xuemei and Tang Xiaoling rushed out of the kitchen. It wasn't time for feeding yet, so it meant the baby had wet or soiled himself. They quickly changed the diaper and went back to the kitchen to continue their work.
The fish that weighed six jin and five and a half jin were caught just in time. It's only proper to have fish on the New Year's Eve dinner, as it symbolizes abundance year after year. Grandma Yan brought out the ancestral tablets and offered incense and sacrifices to them in a proper manner this time.
Looking at the ancestral tablets, Yan Xiaonan felt a surge of pride, realizing that he was also a member of the Yan family. This was the deepest realization he had had in over a decade. He took his grandmother's arm, knelt down before the tablets, and respectfully kowtowed three times.
Then Yan Xiaoqiang and Cuihua also knelt down: "Ancestors, I don't know if I will come back next year. Please eat more today. If I don't come back, let Southeast and Southwest pay their respects to you. Please don't blame us."
Listening to Yan Xiaoqiang's rambling, no one found it funny; instead, they all felt a touch of sadness. Southwest was especially heartbroken, wondering if she could leave with her parents, grandmother, and Nannan if she had taken the college entrance exam herself.
But looking at Liu Jin and Tang Xiaoling beside her, and Duo Duo in her arms, she thought, "Oh well, if one door closes, another opens. As long as Nan Nan is alright, that's all that matters."
Southeast and Xuemei knelt down. After the New Year, the four of them would be leaving Mushroom Village to work and live in the county town. They hoped that their ancestors would bless the Yan family and their descendants to prosper.
Southwest led Tang Xiaoling to kneel down, looking at the ancestral tablets and silently praying that the ancestors would bless Nannan, bless her grandmother and parents to live a peaceful life, and bless Beinan to return soon and reunite with her family.
Six-pound and five-and-a-half-pound brothers finally knelt down. The two brothers are now sensible and will no longer fight over who should kneel first. They kneel down together and get up together, which is perfectly fair.
After the worship ceremony, the memorial tablets were removed, and new bowls and chopsticks were set out. Everyone gathered together to eat the New Year's Eve dinner. This was Yan Xiaonan's eighteenth New Year's Eve dinner since birth, and also her last New Year's Eve dinner in Mushroom Village. Whether she would come back in the future depended on her grandmother.
The New Year's Eve dinner was exceptionally warm and cozy. Everyone knew that after the New Year, once the college admission notices arrived, Nan Nan would have to go to the capital. So the meal went on very late, and the two children couldn't stay up any longer and went to sleep. Southwest and Southeast asked Tang Xiaoling and Xue Mei to take the little boy to sleep first.
Nan Nan took out her uncle's letter, which had been sent a couple of days earlier. Along with it came three hundred yuan and a certificate. In the letter, he suggested that when Nan Nan went to the capital, she should bring her grandmother and her parents with her, so that it wouldn't be unsafe for a young woman to be alone on the train.
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