Chapter 47.1

Li Xiao bought a color television—which was quite large. He carried it straight to their room, as the house was too small and the living room only had a dining table. After examining the room, he decided to place the television on top of the wardrobe.

The wardrobe was not very big, and its top reached just up to his chest, which was perfect for preventing An An from climbing up and bumping into it.

After setting up the television, he went back outside to the car to retrieve the satellite dish and other equipment.

Li Xiao had been frustrated earlier with the number of people buying televisions and had considered waiting for the employees to install them. Instead, he had asked how to install it himself. He read through the manual, connected the various cables, and then threaded the cables out through the window.

While Li Xiao was installing the satellite on the roof, An An was particularly excited. She was delighted to see the new addition to their home. She occasionally glanced at the television on top of the wardrobe and then ran to the outside to look up at her father.

She ran back and forth without seeming to get tired.

In the kitchen, Jiang Rou and Li Xin stopped cooking and ran to the room to watch television. Jiang Rou felt around the television, found the power switch, and turned it on. The screen lit up immediately, and the initial sound was quite loud, which Li Xiao on the roof could hear. He asked, “How is it? Can you see clearly?”

Jiang Rou changed a few channels and replied, “It’s a bit blurry; we’re only getting three channels.”

Outside, Li Xiao continued to adjust the satellite dish.

An An saw the people on the television with a look of astonishment. She pointed at them with her chubby fingers and said in a soft voice, “There are people.”

She seemed puzzled about how those people were inside the box.

Li Xin squatted down and held her, preventing her from running around. “Yes, these are the people on the television. From now on, we’ll have TV to watch.”

An An did not understand and wanted to reach out to touch the screen, but she was too short to reach it. She turned around, hoping that her aunt would pick her up.

Li Xin picked her up and walked over to the television. When An An’s chubby hand touched the screen, she quickly pulled it back and then turned to Li Xin, giggling.

After Li Xiao’s adjustments, he had somehow managed to pick up many channels. Jiang Rou shouted up to the roof, “Okay, it’s good like this.”

Just after shouting, the picture on the television became blurry again, and she quickly added, “No, it’s blurry again. It was fine just now.”

Hearing this, Li Xiao squatted down again.

This time, once Li Xiao heard Jiang Rou say it was good, he stopped adjusting. He waited for a while, and when Jiang Rou did not say anything further, he stood up and went downstairs.

It was now just past three in the afternoon. Many channels were replaying last year’s Spring Festival Gala, while a few others were broadcasting the preliminary preparations for tonight’s gala, including the performances and the invited celebrities.

Only channel H consistently played “Journey to the West,” and Starry Sky TV broadcasted “Chinese Cooking Master.”

An An watched in awe as the cooking master on the television sliced vegetables with such speed that it mesmerized her.

Li Xin looked at it with curiosity, “What is this? The people look so strange.”

“It’s a cartoon,” Jiang Rou explained.

She felt a bit nostalgic, recalling that she had watched “The Best in Chinese (food)” when she was young. She hadn’t expected the show to have appeared so early. ^[1]In case you’re not familiar, it’s an anime called Chūka Ichiban! I’ll be posting the picture above

Li Xiao came in from outside, glanced at the television, and reached for the remote to change the channel. However, An An would not allow it and insisted on watching this show.

Indeed, children were often fascinated by such things.

Jiang Rou placed a small stool outside the front door and said: “An An, come over and sit here to watch. Mommy, Auntie, and Daddy need to go and be busy. Don’t run around, okay?”

Jiang Rou was concerned that standing too close to the television might damage their eyes, and knowing that the kitchen had a clear view of the spot, Jiang Rou could keep an eye on whether An An stayed put.

An An obediently walked to the front door and sat down, repeating her mother’s words, “I won’t run around.”

“That’s right, don’t run around. You’re so obedient.”

Li Xin followed Jiang Rou to the kitchen, turning back multiple times. Jiang Rou found it amusing, thinking that she was still just a child.

Back in the kitchen, Jiang Rou put the minced meat into a bowl and placed it in a clean sieve. She also poured a small bowl of soy sauce, instructing Li Xin to take it to the room to make meatballs.

Li Xin glanced at Jiang Rou with a bright smile, saying, “Thank you, Sister.”

She happily carried the sieve to the room.

Soon, sounds of talking came from the room. An An’s soft voice could be heard saying, “Fighting, fighting… not good.”

“Yes, fighting is not good.”

“Meat, yummy.”

“That’s fake meat. Tonight, we’ll be able to eat real meat.”

Li Xiao came to the kitchen to help Jiang Rou. As she was chopping vegetables, she asked him how he suddenly thought of buying a television.

Li Xiao explained, “After buying the yellow paper, I remembered I promised to get strawberries for An An, so I took a detour to the mall. There was a promotion at the mall’s entrance—today, televisions were 30% off. I grabbed one.”

Even with the discount, it was still expensive, over two thousand.

He had forgotten to buy the strawberries in his rush to grab the television.

Fortunately, his daughter did not remember about it at the time.

Li Xiao noticed some stray hair falling over Jiang Rou’s forehead and gently tucked it behind her ear.

Jiang Rou felt a tickle by her ear and turned her head to glance at him with a faint smile.

Li Xiao also curved his lips, lifting the lid of the pot and stirring the contents with a spatula.

That evening, they prepared a lot of dishes: steamed crab, soy sauce beef, garlic oysters, steamed grouper, seaweed shrimp pancakes, mushroom and vegetable stir-fry, stir-fried bean sprouts, tomato scrambled eggs, and a bowl of mushroom meatball and vegetable soup.

Jiang Rou didn’t like leftovers, so each portion was not very large, but it was enough for the four of them.

The family of four first finished their individual washing up. Jiang Rou also dressed An An in a new outfit, a brand-new bright red cotton jacket with two red hair clips on her head, which was both beautiful and festive.

Before dinner, Li Xiao burned a basin of paper at the entrance and then went outside to set off firecrackers.

An An sat in Jiang Rou’s lap, being exceptionally well-behaved. Although she was clearly eager, her chubby little hands kept reaching for the edge of her plate, but she managed to resist moving.

Earlier, Jiang Rou had told her to wait until her father came back before starting to eat.

When Li Xiao returned and sat down next to them, Jiang Rou placed a piece of seaweed shrimp pancake in An An’s small bowl, and she happily picked it up and started nibbling.

She ate while sitting up straight, seeming to think about what to eat next.

Jiang Rou found it amusing and added a piece of egg with tomato sauce to her bowl.

An An was not picky. After finishing the pancake, she used a small spoon to scoop up the egg and seemed to enjoy it. After finishing, she reached out for more.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Li Xiao took two red envelopes from his pocket, one for An An and one for Li Xin.

Li Xin hesitated, feeling that since she usually received things from her sister, she really shouldn’t accept the money.

But Jiang Rou insisted, “You’re still young, you can take this money. Once you’re grown up, you won’t be able to receive any. Save it well for now; you can use it to buy school supplies in the future.”

Li Xin could not refuse any longer but resolved to repay it in some other way once she started earning money from work.

An An did not understand much and took the red envelope from her father without hesitation. Jiang Rou coaxed her and said: “Give it to Mommy. Mommy will keep it for you and buy you candy when you grow up.”

Li Xiao and Li Xin, who were nearby, smiled, they were curious about An An’s reaction.

An An handed over the red envelope to her mother without any reservations and cheerfully said, “Buy tomorrow.”

Jiang Rou smiled as she put away the envelope: “We have candy at home now. We’ll buy more when we run out.”

An An thought for a moment, then nodded energetically and added, “Watch TV.”

Jiang Rou affectionately rubbed her head, saying, “You little TV addict.”

At eight o’clock, the Spring Festival Gala began on time. The family gathered in the living room to watch, and Jiang Rou brought out some snacks.

An An sat in Jiang Rou’s lap. Since eight o’clock was her bedtime every night, she was extremely sleepy but reluctant to fall asleep. Her eyes would close and open repeatedly.

Jiang Rou found it amusing and gently rocked her in her arms. Soon, An An fell asleep, and Jiang Rou placed her on the bed.

She then returned and lowered the volume of the television.

Around ten o’clock, Li Xiao brought a few tea eggs from the kitchen to eat.

When midnight arrived, the Spring Festival Gala concluded with the song “Unforgettable Tonight,” marking the arrival of the year 2000.

Li Xin, who was also extremely tired, wished everyone goodnight and rubbed her eyes as she went back to her room.

As for Jiang Rou and Li Xiao, they also went to bed.

After lying down and turning off the lights, Li Xiao reached out and made some movements outside. He suddenly turned over, hugged Jiang Rou, and slipped a red envelope into her hand: “This is for you.”

Jiang Rou was pleasantly surprised, and when she took it out, she found it to be quite thick.

Jiang Rou lifted her head to look at Li Xiao, who lowered his face and kissed her on the forehead.

Jiang Rou smiled and said, “Actually, you have one too. I put it under your pillow.”

Li Xiao was momentarily stunned, then reached under the pillow and indeed found a red envelope there.

He felt a slight emotional touch and, with a hoarse voice, asked, “You gave this to me? When did you do this”

Jiang Rou replied, “I did it when you weren’t around at noon. I almost forgot about it if you hadn’t found it.”

Li Xiao was silent for a while, looked at the envelope, and put it back under the pillow, intending to keep it safe for the morning. But after placing it back, he worried he might forget about it and An An might find it and tear it up.

He suddenly got up, went out of the room, and hid the envelope in the cabinet.

Jiang Rou didn’t know if she should laugh or cry: “Is it really necessary?”

Li Xiao returned to the bed and hugged her: “Yes, it is.”

This was the first red envelope he had ever received. His family had been poor when he was a child, and even when his grandfather was alive, the most they got during the New Year was a bowl of meat. The rest of the money was all gambled away by his father.

He planned to keep this red envelope along with the old photographs he had, locking them in a box.

—o—o—o—