Half an hour later, the two ran back home.
After entering the village, they encountered some villagers on the road. They saw Lin Yuan running and chatting with Zhao Huanhuan and looked at them curiously.
Lin Yuan is back?
After yesterday's rumors and Aunt Chu's sending those two women out to relay messages for her, people are paying even more attention to Tao Shize, Zhao Huanhuan, and Lin Yuan.
Of course, there are still more rational people. Although most people are not familiar with Zhao Huanhuan, they are clear about Tao Shize's character.
Then I saw that Lin Yuan had also returned for the New Year, and the young couple were chatting and laughing. It seems that Lin Yuan didn't believe this kind of thing either.
When they ran into acquaintances, Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan stopped running and greeted their neighbors.
Just before returning to his own front door, he ran into Tao Shize, who was carrying a load of garbage out of his house and was about to dump it outside the village.
"Hey, Lin Yuan, you're back?" Tao Shize greeted Lin Yuan with a smile when he saw her.
Lin Yuan hummed in agreement, and the two stood together to talk.
Zhao Huanhuan smiled and greeted Tao Shize with a "Good morning, Teacher Tao," then whispered to Lin Yuan that she would go back to wash up before going inside.
Lin Yuan and Tao Shize stood and chatted for a while before going back.
Some villagers witnessed this scene and went around telling others about it behind their backs.
But this time, they believed it was all a lie. Lin Yuan and Shi Ze had grown up together since childhood, and those who knew them understood their relationship.
After breakfast on New Year's Day, Zhao Huanhuan went to make paste, while Uncle Lin and Lin Yuan went to clean the wall by the door in preparation for pasting up the couplets later.
The Lin family courtyard has several rooms, and couplets need to be pasted on both sides of the door and window of each room. Uncle Lin bought more than a dozen pairs of couplets.
Zhao Huanhuan was applying paste to the couplets on the table inside the house, while Uncle Lin was taking them out the door for Lin Yuan, who was standing on a stool to paste the couplets.
While Aunt Chu was tidying up in the kitchen, she peeked outside at the father and son putting up couplets and chuckled twice. For so many years, it had only been her and Uncle Lin who were busy putting up couplets every year during the Spring Festival.
Although I do these things every year, I just don't feel any sense of happiness during the New Year.
But today is different. Everyone is here, and the scene makes people feel happy.
It turns out that the happiness of celebrating the New Year is never about eating and dressing well, but about family reunion, putting up couplets together, wearing new clothes and eating delicious food together.
After putting up the couplets, the family stood in the yard and saw that the originally drab yard had suddenly become much more colorful, and everyone had a smile on their face.
After reading it, Zhao Huanhuan remembered that she didn't have any red lanterns; she had forgotten to buy them and also forgot to make them herself.
Next, Aunt Chu and Zhao Huanhuan went back inside to make dumplings, while Lin Yuan and Uncle Lin started building a bonfire.
At eleven o'clock, Uncle Lin and Lin Yuan finished their work and went back inside to rest, watching Aunt Chu and Zhao Huanhuan make dumplings.
They ate dinner around 9:30 or 10:00, and planned to have another meal at 5:00 pm, going straight to their New Year's Eve dinner.
Uncle Lin said, "Yuan'er, Huanhuan, do you two need to go and meet your matchmaker?"
Lin Yuan paused, "Captain?"
Uncle Lin nodded. "That's all in the past. He fell ill after being dismissed from his post, and I heard he's been lying in bed these past few days. Regardless of whether he did something right or wrong in other matters, he was kind to both of you in your case."
“We don’t know what life will be like in the future, but before the New Year is over, Dad thinks you should go and visit him to pay your respects and repay this kindness. But if you go during the first month of the lunar year, then the situation will be different.”
After Lin's father finished speaking, Lin Yuan thought for a moment, exchanged a glance with Zhao Huanhuan, and asked Zhao Huanhuan for her opinion.
Zhao Huanhuan clapped the noodles in her hands and nodded, "Dad is right, let's go over there!"
Lin Yuan hummed in agreement and stood up as well. The two of them prepared to go back inside to change their clothes.
"Then bring a bottle of the wine Lin Yuan brought back last night, two packs of cigarettes, and a bundle of the fried dough twists we bought," Aunt Chu said.
Uncle Lin shook his head, "Don't bring the wine, save it for your in-laws. Just bring a bundle of fried dough twists, two cans of food, and a bag of milk powder!"
Aunt Chu thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, I'll still prepare the formula for Huanhuan!"
Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan exchanged another glance and chuckled. "Take it with you, Mom. I don't need any more formula. I still have half a bag left!"
“Okay!” Aunt Chu replied.
The former battalion commander was named Tao Haijun. He was forty-eight or forty-nine years old. This time, being dismissed from his post and expelled from the Party made him look ten years older. He wasn't seriously ill, but he was so ashamed that he couldn't go out and see anyone. He just lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) every day.
When he heard Lin Yuan talking to his son in the yard, he quickly pulled the blanket over himself and pretended to be terminally ill, his eyes suddenly becoming unfocused.
When Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan came in and saw the captain looking like this, they put down their things and asked him a few questions with concern.
Tao Haijun responded listlessly, asking Lin Yuan how she was doing in the army.
Lin Yuan said she signed another three-year contract and stayed, but didn't say anything else.
After exchanging a few words, seeing that Tao Haijun was really out of sorts, Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan said goodbye and left.
After they left, the sons of the brigade leader went inside and saw that Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan had brought gifts to visit their father. They were impressed by Lin Yuan's good manners.
Lin Yuan and Zhao Huanhuan returned home, and Zhao Huanhuan continued making dumplings with Aunt Chu.
They kept wrapping dumplings until 1 a.m. before taking them out to the grain room and covering them with a cloth to freeze.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
