"Then let's set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve next year," Zhong Mingwei said softly, pinching the little girl's round nose. "If you don't mind the cold, we can set off firecrackers all night long, from dusk to dawn!"
"Aren't you afraid of avalanches next year?" Ah Chou glared at him and grumbled, "You're becoming more and more slick-tongued now. You tell lies without blinking an eyelid. You're really becoming more and more like those scholars."
"Why am I so smooth-talking? Why am I like those scholars?" Zhong Mingwei laughed dumbly, looking at Ah Chou and said softly, "Didn't we agree to go down the mountain and open up a few acres of land and farm it next year? Then we will naturally move down the mountain to live. Then we can set off fireworks, right?"
"Really? I actually forgot about this. Hehe," Ah Chou laughed and snuggled into the man's arms. He kept laughing. "I'm not afraid of the cold. Then we can really set off firecrackers all night long! Hehe, I've wanted to set off firecrackers for a long time. It's just that I never had the chance, and firecrackers are so expensive..." At this point, Ah Chou suddenly sat up again, looking at Zhong Mingwei with a heavy and cautious face, "By the way. How much does it cost to set off firecrackers all night long? One penny? Or two pennies?"
"You have a little brain, and you only talk about money all the time," Zhong Mingwei shook his head helplessly, "You are reluctant to spend several hundred taels of silver. What's wrong? Are you planning to keep it for having children?"
"Bah! You're the one keeping it for giving birth!" Ah Chou glared at the man with a red face, "And all the babies you give birth to are greedy ones!"
The next second, Zhong Mingwei's mouth twitched: "..."
"Are we really going to move down the mountain?" Ah Chou was obviously unaware of the man's worries. She snuggled into the man's arms again and said with emotion, "I really don't want to leave here. We've lived here for such a long time. This kang is newly built. And the mountain is quiet. It's just the two of us..."
The man who was originally so angry that he wanted to bite someone, the annoyance in his heart disappeared at this moment. He hugged Ah Chou and said softly: "In the future we will have a new home. It will be better than here. There will be a big garden. If you want to plant flowers, you can plant flowers. If you don’t want to plant flowers, you can plant the vegetables we like. There will also be a warm kang there, which will be wider and bigger than this kang..."
"What's the point of such a big kang? How much space do two people need to sleep on?" Ah Chou interrupted Zhong Mingwei and swung his legs randomly on the kang. "I think this kang is too big."
"Of course it's useful," Zhong Mingwei laughed softly, clamping Ah Chou's flailing calves with his legs, and said, "Actually, it doesn't matter where we live. The most important thing is that we will be together forever."
"Yes, we are home when we are together," Ah Chou said softly, meeting Zhong Mingwei's eyes, "Zhong Mingwei, you are the pillar of our family. I feel at ease when you are with me."
"No," Zhong Mingwei gently stroked Ah Chou Bai Jinjin's face and said softly, word by word, "You are my backbone."
The pillars and the backbone smiled at each other, and amid the sporadic sound of firecrackers, they hugged each other tightly to welcome the new year.
…
The first day of the first lunar month in the thirty-third year of Jiasheng.
That night.
The capital.
The Second Prince’s Mansion.
Zhong Ming'e returned home in the dark. Concubine Shu was not feeling well, and the Second Prince's wife, Zou, had been in the palace to take care of her in the past few days. She had been going out early and coming back late every day, spending all her time in Zhongcui Palace. Concubine Shu's health seemed to be getting better, but Zou was tired again. So today, the first day of the new year, all the princes and princes' wives came to the palace to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, but Zou could not get up. Zhong Ming'e had to enter the palace alone. He sat in Cining Palace for a long time, looking at Da'an with a bulging belly, his eyes were about to bleed, and he listened to Concubine Shu's nagging in Zhongcui Palace for most of the day. Zhong Ming'e was really exhausted physically and mentally. After having dinner with great difficulty, Zhong Ming'e finally left the palace. Concubine Shu's words kept echoing in his ears, "It's not easy for your wife either. She has no children to rely on. She is really pitiful. Even if you don't like her, you should pity her. Don't be too harsh on her."
Zhong Ming'e didn't know how annoyed he was, but what Concubine Shu said was right. It was indeed pitiful for Zou to marry him. Because of this, he felt even more depressed. From the palace to the second prince's mansion, Zhong Ming'e didn't say a word all the way, sitting in the sedan chair in a daze.
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