During the Chinese New Year, the Navy Compound was not as lively as usual. At least a quarter of the people in the compound went back to their hometowns.

Originally, He Dongchuan did not go back home for the New Year last year, but he could have gone back this year. However, because Su Ting was pregnant, it would not be convenient for him to travel, so they chose to celebrate the New Year where they were.

Although there are fewer people than usual, the festive atmosphere is still there.

On New Year's Eve, Su Ting was sleeping soundly when she was awakened by the sound of firecrackers. The sound of firecrackers continued until seven or eight in the morning.

After getting up and asking around, I found out that the military officers on the island came from all over the country and their New Year customs were also different. For example, the New Year's Eve dinner was divided into early morning, noon and evening meals. The firecrackers in the morning were set off by the group of people who were having the New Year's Eve dinner in the early morning.

As soon as Yu Xiaofang explained, Su Ting understood.

For example, her family and He Dongchuan had different habits of eating New Year's Eve dinner. Whether in her previous life or in this life, the Su family always ate New Year's Eve dinner at noon. But the He family had lived in the capital for many years and had always celebrated the northern New Year, eating New Year's Eve dinner at night.

Su Ting didn't care what time to have the New Year's Eve dinner. After discussing with He Dongchuan, they decided to follow their family customs. This way they didn't have to get up early in the morning to prepare and they would have more time.

After chatting with Yu Xiaofang and returning to the yard, Su Ting saw He Dongchuan and his son pasting Spring Festival couplets.

To be more precise, it was He Dongchuan who posted it and He Yan was causing trouble.

He Dongchuan held up the Spring Festival couplets and asked if they were straight. He Yan said it was straight and crooked at times. When asked which direction to adjust it to, he said left and right at times.

At last, He Dongchuan frowned, held the Spring Festival couplet with one hand, turned around and asked, "Where are we going?"

Su Ting walked over, reached out and tapped He Yan on the forehead and said, "It's fine to stick it like this, it's not crooked."

"Have you finished talking to Sister Yu?" He Dongchuan asked as he pasted the spring festival couplets that had been glued to the door. However, the glue was a little dry when he pasted it to the bottom. In order to make the spring festival couplets stick more firmly, he reached out and said, "Help me get the glue."

He Yan had just gotten into trouble, so he ran out very fast, holding the glue in his hands, and handed it to his father, saying, "Dad, here!"

He Dongchuan picked up a brush, stirred the glue in the bottle, lifted up the Spring Festival couplets with one hand, and applied glue with the other hand. After the couplets were firmly pasted on, he went into the house and spread out the other side of the couplets to continue.

After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, paste the word "Fu".

As soon as He Dongchuan pasted the word "Fu" on the door, He Yan started yelling, "Wrong, wrong! Pasted it upside down! Dad, don't you know how to read? The word "Fu" is pasted wrong!"

He is already a sophomore student and he scored 100 points in both the final examinations, ranking first in the grade. He is now so confident that he even dares to question his own father's cultural level.

He Dongchuan was annoyed by the noise and said sullenly, "Shut up, this is how the word 'Fu' should be pasted."

He Yan pouted, crossed his arms and said in dissatisfaction: "Why is the word 'Fu' pasted like this? It's obviously upside down!"

Su Ting pointed at the Chinese character "Fu" pasted on the door and said, "Think about it. If you read it now, isn't "Fu" upside down? "Fu upside down, Fu upside down, doesn't it mean that good fortune has arrived at home?"

"Is that so?" He Yan tilted his head and fell into thought.

Su Ting said: "That's it."

She was so sure that He Yan reluctantly accepted the explanation. In order to show off how many characters he knew, he pointed to the couplet and read it: "Heaven and earth are in harmony, the family is prosperous, and peace and happiness are bestowed on the people."

Listening to his sentence, Su Ting couldn't help but correct him: "It means harmony between heaven and earth, prosperity for the family, peace and happiness, and happiness for the people. First four words, then three words."

He Yan repeated what Su Ting said and muttered, "It seems to be a little easier to remember." Then he pointed at the banner and read, "Peace in all seasons!"

After reading it, he looked at Su Ting with an expression that seemed to be asking for praise.

Su Ting clapped her hands enthusiastically: "That's right! Xiao Yan is really amazing!"

The boy suddenly became proud, and when he saw that the Spring Festival couplets next door had been put up, he ran over and read them out loud.

Although Su Ting and Wang Lixia have an average relationship, children don't understand the twists and turns between adults, so the relationship between the children is still good.

Not long after He Yan arrived, he mixed with the Jiang siblings. Jiang Weidong even gave him some melon seeds, and the two ran outside to the street, eating melon seeds while competing to see who could spit out the melon seed shells farther.

Su Ting: “…”

To be honest, she didn't really understand what the fun of this game with all the saliva flying around was, but since their children liked it, she let them do it.

He Yan was able to go out and play during the Chinese New Year, but Su Ting and He Dongchuan had a lot of things to do.

Because of the Chinese New Year, the supply of meat on the island was relaxed during this period. The amount of pork increased from one pound per person per month to one and a half pounds per person. The same was true for chickens and ducks, and there was no limit on seafood.

In addition, on the 28th and 29th days of the lunar year, the meat station also supplied beef and mutton in rotation. Each household was limited to purchasing two kilograms. Basically, people in the compound could buy beef and mutton as long as they lined up.

Therefore, as long as you are willing to spend money this year, it will not be a problem for everyone to have a prosperous year.

But abundance also means busyness. Buying chicken, duck, pork, beef and mutton does not mean just putting them on the table. They have to be cooked, marinated, stewed and stir-fried.

So they just got by at noon. Su Ting steamed rice and He Dongchuan simply fried two dishes. They would have the New Year's Eve dinner in the evening anyway, so they didn't ask for a rich meal this time, as long as it could fill their stomachs.

After dinner, the couple continued to work, while He Yan followed others to set off firecrackers everywhere.

The firecrackers they set off were of various kinds. Some required money to buy, such as throwing firecrackers, rubbing firecrackers, sky-high monkeys and double-kick firecrackers, and some did not require money - they would go to the yard of someone's house that had set off firecrackers before and pick up single firecrackers that had not been burned before and take them home to set off.

Su Ting had a classmate in her previous life who was playing with a firecracker he had brought home. When he lit the fuse, the firecracker didn't go off. When he reached out to fiddle with it, the firecracker exploded and he lost two fingers.

So knowing that He Yan was going to set off firecrackers with others, Su Ting specially took out two yuan and gave him instructions: "If you want to play, go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy two boxes of firecrackers. Don't pick them up on the ground. When you light them, if the firecrackers don't light up, don't go to check. If they don't light up, then they don't light up. Just go buy more after you've finished lighting them."

I was also afraid that the Sky Monkey and Firecrackers were too powerful, so I told them, "Just buy the scratching and throwing firecrackers. Don't play with the Sky Monkey and Firecrackers. Do you understand?"

He Yan was in a hurry to go out, and when he heard what she said, he quickly responded, "I know, I know!" and ran away before he finished his words.

Su Ting watched and became even more worried. She suspected that He Yan didn't take her words to heart. After returning to the kitchen, she asked He Dongchuan: "Do you think I should go with him to take a look?"

"It's okay. He's grown up now. He knows what's dangerous and what's not." He Dongchuan said, but seeing that Su Ting was still worried, he said, "If you're really worried, I'll go take a look later. You don't have to go. Their children are not serious. Don't let them trip you up."

Su Ting nodded: "Okay."

After finishing the work at hand, He Dongchuan washed his hands and went out.

After walking around the Man family compound, they finally found He Yan on the beach. As expected, he ignored Su Ting's words and went to the supply and marketing cooperative with the money to buy a lot of firecrackers, including some for breaking, some for scratching, and several double-kick firecrackers.

When He Dongchuan went over, He Yan was gathered with a few half-grown children, burying firecrackers in the sand.

After burying them, the group of children dispersed. He Yan struck a match, bent down to light the fuse of the firecrackers, turned around and ran outside screaming. The group of children scattered like birds and beasts.

However, the fuse of the double-kick firecracker was short, and before He Yan could run a few steps, the double-kick firecracker exploded, and all the sand on the ground was lifted up and flew high.

He Yan was very curious. He looked back while running and was hit in the face by sand. He quickly raised his hands to brush it off, and while brushing, he said "Pooh" as he felt sand entering his mouth.

As he was making these noises, he suddenly saw He Dongchuan and jumped up and shouted, "Dad!"

He Dongchuan walked over, put his hand over his head, then spread his hands and asked, "How many cannons do you have left?"

"There are still a lot more." He Yan didn't understand why, but he obediently took out all the cannons in his hand.

Two boxes of firecrackers, two boxes of friction firecrackers, a monkey wand, and three or four double-kick firecrackers.

He Dongchuan returned the firecrackers he had rubbed and smashed, and put the rest into his pocket: "I'll confiscate them."

He Yan was dumbfounded: "Dad!"

"Um."

“This is the gun I bought!”

“It’s my money.”

He Yan was furious: "This is the money my mom gave me! It's not yours, Dad!"

"Your mother's money is my money, do you understand?" He Dongchuan asked, stretching out two fingers and poking He Yan's forehead twice when he rushed up to grab the shot.

He Yan was poked so hard that he took two steps back to keep his balance. He pursed his lips tightly, covered his forehead, and glared at his father angrily: "But my mother gave it to me, so it's my money! The money is mine, and the gun is mine too. Dad, you stole my things!"

"What did your mother tell you when she gave you the money? She told you not to buy the Sky Monkey and the Firecrackers," He Dongchuan spread out the things in his hand, "What is this?"

He Yan felt guilty: "This, this is the Heavenly Monkey and the Firecracker."

"You didn't listen to your mother, so I confiscated these. Is there a problem?" He Dongchuan continued to ask.

"No." He Yan shook his head, a little unwilling to give up, "But I've already bought it." It would be such a waste if I don't play with it.

Although he hoped that his father would show some mercy, He Yan did not dare to say the second half of the sentence.

He Dongchuan guessed what he was thinking and said, "You kids are too dangerous to play with these things. I will confiscate them for now. I will take you to play with them when I am free in the evening."

He Yan was afraid that He Dongchuan said this just to coax him, so he blinked and asked, "Really?" hoping to get his father's promise.

But He Dongchuan didn't buy it. He just said, "If you don't believe me, forget it." He put the Heavenly Monkey and the Firecrackers back into his pocket and was about to leave.

He Yan quickly hugged his father's thigh and said loudly: "Believe it! Believe it! I believe it! Dad, you must remember that I am waiting for you to take me to play with guns at night!"

He Dongchuan stopped walking, looked down at him banging his abacus, sneered and said, "I know."

He took two steps forward, then came back and said, "You are not allowed to buy firecrackers anymore, especially double-kick firecrackers, and you are not allowed to pick up firecrackers that have been set off by others. If I find out, I will not allow you to set off firecrackers tonight, but will give you a beating."

The situation was stronger than the person, He Yan knew to bow his head: "I know!"

…

The first thing He Dongchuan did when he got home was to take out the Tianhou and firecrackers from his pocket and throw them on the dining table.

"Where did these come from?" Su Ting asked puzzledly.

"You gave Xiaoyan money, and he went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy these the next moment."

"Didn't I tell him not to buy these?"

"I don't think he took it to heart. When I found him just now, he and Zhang Xiaokai were setting off firecrackers on the beach, and they were all covered in sand." He Dongchuan said, "Just wait, he will definitely be covered in sand when he comes back."

Su Ting counted the things that He Dongchuan had thrown on the table and asked, "Did you confiscate all the things he bought?"

He Dongchuan nodded: "Yes, I left him the firecrackers for rubbing and smashing, and the rest are here."

"Didn't he cry when you confiscated these?"

"He was about to cry. I said I would take him out to play in the evening, and he would be fine." He Dongchuan said, and went into the kitchen to check the mutton stewing on the coal stove, and poked it with chopsticks, "It seems to be almost done."

After the mutton is stewed, the other ingredients are almost ready. The preparations before the New Year’s Eve dinner have come to an end. It is only necessary to cook the dishes at the appointed time. The couple then have some free time.

Su Ting sat in the living room for a while, and decided to go back to her room and lie down.

After lying down for a while, He Dongchuan came in and asked, "Are you tired?"

"A little bit." Su Ting said with half-closed eyes.

She is almost eight months pregnant and her belly is already very big. Now she feels like she is carrying a heavy load every day and feels very tired after standing for a while.

"Let me rub your waist for you." He Dongchuan said as he lay down beside Su Ting, put his hands on her waist and gently rubbed her.

Knowing that Su Ting could not bear the weight, He Dongchuan deliberately reduced his strength and slowed down his movements, pinching her so hard that she closed her eyes completely. In order to facilitate his movements, she turned from lying flat to lying on her side.

As he was rubbing, He Dongchuan mentioned something: "I called my mother a while ago, and she mentioned asking Aunt Wang to come to the island to take care of you."

Unlike Su Ting, who has never left Pingchuan Island since returning from a shopping trip to the city in mid-November, He Dongchuan goes to the city almost once a month to help Su Ting send letters to the Su family, call home, and sometimes even go to get money for Su Ting.

Because they decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year at home this year, Su Ting prepared two packages half a month before the Chinese New Year and asked He Dongchuan to go to the city to mail them separately, one for the two elders of the Su family and the other for his parents.

After He Dongchuan sent the things that day, he also called home.

It was also at that time that Cheng Xiaoman mentioned asking Aunt Wang to take care of Su Ting.

Because the last time he talked about this, He Dongchuan could sense that Su Ting didn't want Aunt Wang to come to Pingchuan Island, so after hanging up the phone he hadn't made up his mind whether to mention this to Su Ting again.

On the one hand, he didn't want to embarrass Su Ting, but on the other hand, he was worried about her.

He Dongchuan said, "I was thinking that you are in your advanced stage and it is not convenient for you to move around. It is fine when I am at home. If you need anything, just let me know. When I am not at home, you have to do a lot of things by yourself. If you get bumped or bruised, no one will know."

Su Ting listened quietly, and when he finished speaking, she turned around and asked, "Do you prefer Aunt Wang to come?"

"I feel more at ease knowing someone is taking care of you," He Dongchuan said. "Besides, you will definitely need to stay in bed after giving birth. I heard that you can't be exposed to the wind or get out of bed during this period. You will need someone to help you with many things."

He will definitely take leave when Su Ting gives birth, but he cannot control how many days the leave will be. If it is long, it may be ten days or half a month, and if it is short, it may be only three or five days. It is certain that it cannot cover her entire confinement period.

It is not practical to ask Su Ting's mother to take care of her during the confinement period. Firstly, she is too far away. Secondly, the Su family has a lot of other things to do and Su's mother may not be able to leave.

Hiring a nanny is not very reliable. In this day and age, it is too easy to be criticized.

It was Aunt Wang who was able to stay in the He family for more than ten years because she had a close relationship with He's father. In addition, her in-laws were so unkind that asking her to go back to her hometown would have cut off her future. That was why she stayed so vaguely.

It would be even more unreliable to let He's mother come. She hasn't retired yet and has a lot of things to do in the hospital. She doesn't have that much time to take care of Su Ting during her confinement. Moreover, since Aunt Wang came to the He family, Cheng Xiaoman has not done much housework. If she comes, it's hard to say who will do the housework in the end.

He Dongchuan felt that letting Aunt Wang take care of Su Ting until she gave birth was the most appropriate solution.

In fact, Su Ting had no objection to letting Aunt Wang come to Pingchuan Island, but she felt that staying with the elders for a long time would easily cause conflicts. Before, she was young and could take care of herself, so she didn't want to cause trouble.

But now that she is further along in the pregnancy, Su Ting does not plan to be stubborn anymore. She knows very well that giving birth to the baby safely is more important than anything else.

Therefore, after listening to He Dongchuan's words, Su Ting did not hesitate: "It's fine to let Aunt Wang come, but there are only two rooms in the house. Where will she stay when she comes?"

He Dongchuan didn't think this was a problem and said, "Let her live with Xiaoyan. After all, the second bedroom bed is big enough for sleeping, and she has slept with Xiaoyan before."

"When will Aunt Wang come?" Su Ting asked.

He Dongchuan did not make a decision directly, saying, "Mom said that it will be the eighth day of the first lunar month at the earliest, or the sixteenth day at the latest. After the Chinese New Year, I will call home and discuss this with Mom."

Su Ting calculated the time silently in her heart. After the Lantern Festival, she would be eight months pregnant, which means she would officially enter the waiting stage for childbirth. She nodded and said, "Okay, you can arrange it."

After finishing the business, Su Ting began to feel drowsy again and closed her eyes after a while.

He Dongchuan saw that she fell asleep, stopped what he was doing, quietly left, and continued to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.

…

Su Ting was awakened by the sound of firecrackers.

She opened her eyes dazedly and saw that it was dark outside. She almost forgot what day it was. She picked up the alarm clock on the dressing table and looked at it for a long time before she remembered that she had been taking a nap and sat up in bed.

Su Ting walked around the bed in her slippers and just opened the door. She smelled an alluring aroma, a mixture of various foods.

"Mom! You wake up!"

Su Ting lowered her head and saw He Yan coming out of the kitchen with a plate of fried beef in his hands. When he saw her, he unconsciously raised his hands and held the plate of beef closer to his face.

Su Ting was afraid that his hands would shake and the beef would fall on his face, so she took the plate and asked, "Are you done?"

He Yan nodded first, then shook his head: "One more thing, Dad said he would take me to play after dinner."

Su Ting said "oh" and put the beef on the dining table.

There were already several dishes on the table, including stir-fried beef, spicy chicken, braised duck with basil, lamb with potato dumplings, etc., all of which were big dishes.

He Yan stood in front of the dining table, stretched his neck and sniffed hard: "What a nice smell!"

Su Ting saw that he was drooling and asked, "What else is your father doing?"

"Fried vegetables. Dad said that we can have dinner after the vegetables are done!" He Yan said, then he remembered, "Dad also told me to wake up mom."

Su Ting said: "Then you don't need to call now."

He Yan nodded, jumped into the kitchen and shouted, "Dad, Mom got up by herself."

In addition to the sound of cooking in the kitchen, He Dongchuan's voice could be heard: "Got it."

He Dongchuan said that we could start eating once the vegetables were cooked, but in fact, what was served at the end was a plate of garlic oysters with a few abalones mixed in.

Looking at the huge table of dishes, He Yan was very excited: "So many dishes! They all look delicious!"

Not only did he think it was delicious, he even tried to steal some, but before he could grab the beef, Su Ting knocked his paw back with a chopstick: "No stealing!"

"Got it!" He Yan sighed, waited for a while and looked up to ask, "Aren't the dishes ready? Why is Dad still in the kitchen? Dad! Hurry up! I'm waiting for you!"

"Coming." He Dongchuan responded, brought out the pot of pork ribs soup and placed it in the middle of the dining table.

He Yan quickly sat down on the stool, clapped his hands and said, "It's time to eat!"

He Dongchuan said, "Wait a minute, I'll go set off the firecrackers first."

When the topic of setting off firecrackers came up, He Yan became excited. He was no longer in a hurry to eat. He jumped off the stool and trotted out.

Su Ting walked to the cupboard, took out a bottle of white wine, poured a glass for He Dongchuan, and got a bottle of soda for He Yan. As for herself, because she was pregnant, she could only drink boiled water at the New Year's Eve dinner.

After pouring out three cups of drinks, Su Ting walked outside.

He Dongchuan had already unpacked the round firecrackers and was stretching them from one end of the yard to the other. He Yan seemed to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and when he saw that the firecrackers were not straight enough, he fiddled with them to straighten them.

Noticing Su Ting during the process, He Yan looked up and shouted, "Mom! Such long firecrackers!"

Su Ting stood at the door and said with a smile, "I saw it."

He Dongchuan, who had been standing on the Jiang family's side, said, "I'm going to light firecrackers."

He Yan quickly lowered his head upon hearing this and said loudly: "No! The firecrackers are not set straight yet!" He bent down and continued to work.

He Dongchuan was afraid that He Yan would be blown up, so he had to stop and wait for He Yan to straighten the firecrackers a little bit and move out of the way before he lit a match and bent down to light the fuse of the firecracker.

The fuse burned rapidly, the firecracker exploded quickly, and the smoke spread everywhere.

Amid the crackling sound, He Dongchuan walked behind He Yan and picked him up when he wasn't paying attention. He was so scared that he screamed until he realized that he was being picked up by his father. Then he stopped and shouted, "Dad!"

He Dongchuan held He Yan in one hand and rubbed his ears: "I heard it."

He Yan still felt it was not enough, so he stretched his neck to get close to He Dongchuan's ear and shouted at the top of his voice: "Dad! Dad! Dad, Dad, Dad!"

The child's voice was shrill, and when he raised his voice, it sounded like a duck, and even the sound of firecrackers seemed far away. He Dongchuan couldn't stand it, and bent down to put He Yan on the ground.

But He Yan was quick-witted and jumped up before his feet touched the ground, hugged his father's neck with both hands, and refused to let go. So when He Dongchuan straightened up again, He Yan was hanging on him.

He Dongchuan frowned: "Go down!"

"No!" He Yan not only refused to let go, but also shook his butt arrogantly, "I won't go down, I won't go down! Let's see what you can do to me!"

He Dongchuan's forehead twitched: "..."

Seeing that He Dongchuan was about to hit the child, Su Ting stepped forward and patted He Yan's butt: "Hurry up and get down, or do you mean you don't want to eat?"

Thinking of the delicious food on the table, He Yan's eyes rolled: "Then I'll go down. Dad, you can't beat me."

He Dongchuan frowned and asked unhappily, "Do you know I'm going to beat you up?"

When He Yan heard this, he pouted even higher and clasped his hands even tighter, as if he was saying, "I won't go down unless you agree."

Seeing that the firecrackers were about to stop, Su Ting stepped out to smooth things over. She patted He Yan's butt and said, "Come down. I'm watching your father. I promise not to let him move." She then said to He Dongchuan, "It's New Year's Day, and if we don't have dinner now, the food will get cold."

He Dongchuan remained silent after hearing this.

However, He Yan knew that although his father looked the most ferocious in the family, his mother was actually the one whose words had the most effect. If his mother told his father not to beat him, then even if his father wanted to beat him, he would definitely not be able to do it.

After figuring it out, He Yan let go of his hand with great confidence and jumped off He Dongchuan.

The sound of firecrackers stopped, and the He family of three finally sat around the dinner table.

Feeling that it would be too dry to start eating right away, Su Ting took the lead in raising her cup and said with a smile: "Come on, let's drink one first, and wish you a happy new year every year!"

He Dongchuan was very supportive and raised his glass: "Happy New Year."

He Yan was a little slow and had to work harder on his words of blessing. Deep down, he really wanted to learn what his mother said, but he didn't understand what those words meant, nor did he know if learning them was right.

Finally, He Yan just raised his soda and said, "Happy New Year to my mom, dad, and me!"