Chapter 43

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and Jian Li felt that the winter break was too short!

She hadn’t really rested much, yet it was already the fifteenth day of the first month (Lantern Festival)!

Wang Mengmei’s small restaurant had opened for business. Originally, she thought there wouldn’t be many people on the fifteenth, but since opening, every mealtime had been bustling with crowds.

On Lantern Festival itself, the restaurant was packed with people, and Wang Mengmei was sweating from the busyness.

It felt like a ghost was haunting her—why hadn’t there been this many people in previous years?

Xue Ling came over to deliver dishes and replied, “In recent years, more people have been moving into the city. Our neighborhood’s restaurant has been open since the third day of the new year. It’s not just restaurants—our local market also opens on the fifth day.”

Life has become more convenient, and many families with visitors don’t want to cook at home; they prefer to take their relatives out to eat. It’s cleaner, more hygienic, and saves time.

Xue Ling stuck out her tongue. “If our shop hadn’t been closed, I’d have had my dad bring my grandmother and uncle’s family here for dinner this year.”

Xue Ling’s family was quite ordinary, just like many others, and had its own set of common family struggles.

Her father couldn’t distinguish between his family and the extended family, her mother liked to help her side of the family too much, and the two had been arguing for decades over small matters without causing serious rifts.

This year, just as expected, her parents had fought after the New Year, and Xue Ling thought to herself that next year, she would make sure to take everyone out to eat. She would rather spend a little money than deal with the arguments about who would cook or wash the dishes at home.

Ni Hao had gained some weight after the new year. His face, which used to be defined, had become rounder, and he looked more approachable.

While Xue Ling and Wang Mengmei chatted, he quietly chopped vegetables. But today, he seemed a little absent-minded, and occasionally, Wang Mengmei would catch him grinning foolishly.

Wang Mengmei teased, “Are you in love?”

Ni Hao’s face turned red, almost cutting his finger. “N-no…”

Wang Mengmei smiled, happy to see young people pairing up. “Once you’re settled, you’ve got to tell me. I’ll give you a big red envelope!”

Ni Hao worked efficiently. Wang Mengmei had planned to keep him around, but she was afraid he might change his mind once he got married. So, she asked casually, giving him a bit of encouragement.

As she spoke, Wang Mengmei saw Xue Ling’s clothes flash past the kitchen door.

She sighed inwardly.

As someone who had been through it before, Wang Mengmei could easily tell that Xue Ling had developed feelings for Ni Hao.

Ni Hao worked quickly, and since he was the only male in the restaurant, he took care of any more complicated tasks. For Wang Mengmei, who was already married, his work ethic was simply seen as being observant. But for Xue Ling, who had just graduated and was still young, it was normal for her to start developing feelings for a big brother who wasn’t as childish as the boys from high school.

If both of them felt the same way, Wang Mengmei didn’t have a problem with it. But from her observation, Ni Hao treated Xue Ling like a little sister, so she didn’t want to interfere. She chose to act as if she didn’t know anything.

Now that Ni Hao seemed to have someone he liked, Xue Ling would probably let go of her feelings.

On the evening of Lantern Festival, Jian Feng finished work early and waited for Wang Mengmei to finish up. The family hurried to close the restaurant and go out to watch fireworks.

Jian Li, wrapped up like a zongzi (rice dumpling), carried the little lantern Jian Feng insisted on buying for her.

It was just a simple lantern, with no decorations, only a basic plastic shell and a string of small lights inside.

It sold for five yuan each.

Jian Li felt like she could bleed out—she could have just grabbed one!

This thing had no craftsmanship at all. She wondered if the cost price even reached one yuan, yet they sold it for five.

“I’ll sell these next year!”

She had missed the chance this time. She should have stocked up early and earned at least a hundred yuan tonight!

Wang Mengmei knocked her on the forehead. “Little money lover.”

The three of them squeezed through the crowd. This year, Peach City had started hosting a lantern festival, with each department showcasing their own colorful lanterns. The city gate area had been cleared for fireworks.

Jian Li jumped up and down in the crowd, but couldn’t see much. Jian Feng excitedly rolled up his sleeves. “Come, come, I’ll lift you up so you can see better.”

Before she could react, her dad had lifted her onto his shoulders.

Just as the fireworks were lit, they shot up into the sky with a whoosh.

The flames illuminated everyone’s pupils, causing both adults and children to cheer.

Jian Li felt something strange. Although she had seen even more spectacular fireworks in her previous life, like the giant footprints, the Olympic rings, and colorful fireworks, none of them seemed as captivating as the ones in front of her.

Each firework bloomed imperfectly but beautifully.

Jian Feng held her up for a while before putting her down, wanting to lift Wang Mengmei next.

Wang Mengmei was embarrassed. “I can see just fine.”

Everyone around them was holding their children up, but who would carry their wife?

Without hesitation, Jian Feng hoisted his wife onto his shoulders. “It’s clearer from up here!”

Wang Mengmei, now perched on his shoulders, stood out in the crowd and blushed.

After a round of fireworks, the family, feeling crowded, decided to leave early.

Once they were out of the dense crowd, they saw a stall selling candied hawthorn.

Each of them bought a skewer and continued walking, admiring the lanterns.

After a short while, they noticed someone selling the same little lanterns that Jian Li had.

“Four bucks, four bucks!”

Jian Feng angrily took a bite of his candied hawthorn.

The roadside lanterns were all different shapes, mostly featuring zodiac signs and various auspicious designs. Jian Li was very interested in looking at them.

After finishing a walk, they were about to head home when they heard someone mention that there was an accident at the fireworks display area.

“The firework tube tipped over, and the fireworks exploded into the crowd.”

“I heard the ambulance came and took several people away!”

“They’ve already started evacuating, telling everyone to go home.”

Wang Mengmei felt a lingering fear, “Thankfully, we left early!”

If they had been there, getting injured by fireworks would have been the least of their worries; the main concern would be the huge crowd and the risk of a stampede.

“Let’s go, let’s go, we need to hurry home.”

A few steps later, the lantern vendors started calling out.

“Three bucks each!”

With everyone leaving, who were they going to sell to?

They might as well just discount them and clear out the stock.

A few steps further, another vendor shouted out prices.

“Two bucks! Two bucks!”

The vendor diagonally across from them was even more aggressive: “One buck fifty!”

Jian Li comforted Jian Feng, who clearly looked downhearted, “Look on the bright side, this is the only lantern I bought this year.”

Wang Mengmei, when she used to scold Jian Li, loved to bring up old stories, especially how every year during the Lantern Festival, Jian Li would insist on buying at least three lanterns.

Whenever she saw someone else with one, she would want one too. But once she bought them, she would often forget about them or lose them, sometimes even stepping on them, and then she would need more. If she wasn’t allowed to buy, she would cry and throw a tantrum.

During the holidays, Wang Mengmei didn’t want to deal with her, so she just bought them every time.

Seeing Jian Li being so self-aware, Wang Mengmei couldn’t help but sigh, “You really have the nerve to say that.”

Not to mention last year when she bought two.

Just as they were talking about Jian Li’s childhood awkward moments, they heard a child crying and an adult reprimanding them.

“Buy, buy, buy, all you ever do is buy! Why didn’t you take care of the one I just bought for you? Serves you right! No more buying!”

The child stood in front of the lantern seller, tears streaming down, refusing to leave.

After a scolding, the adult could only take out one dollar.

“Next year, don’t come out with me! Every time we go out, it’s just money down the drain!”

Jian Li looked at her mother with a knowing gaze: “You’ve said that before.”

She said it every year, but the next year, she still ended up taking Jian Li out.

Jian Li took her small lantern and went home, having a pleasant nap.

—-

The next day, Wang Mengmei woke her up early.

“Go report in today. Hurry up, get up, and I’ll have your dad take you.”

While getting dressed, Jian Li mumbled like a broken record: “I’m so silly, I thought the winter vacation still had many days left. I’m really silly…”

The planned 60 pages of comics had only been finished to 30, and as for the winter vacation homework, she had been cramming like crazy in the last few days.

Jian Li made excuses for herself, saying it was too cold in winter, and the house didn’t have heating!

The road was icy, and Jian Feng rode carefully, sending Jian Li to school, then seeing her into the classroom and paying the tuition fee before leaving.

Xia Liu was already there, and Jian Li sat down, hearing Xia Liu and the person behind her discussing the fireworks explosion from the previous night.

“My parents and I went there. We were farther away, but we saw the fireworks go along the ground and then explode.”

The person behind her exclaimed, asking if she was hurt, and if it was true that some people were taken away by the ambulance.

Xia Liu shook her head: “I wasn’t hurt. It seemed like a few people got injured and were sent to the hospital.”

Later, the police came to help disperse the crowd and told everyone to go home.

Jian Li asked Xia Liu, “You guys went there last night too? How come I didn’t see you?”

In the past, Aunt Li Juan always took them along.

Xia Liu said, “Wasn’t your mom busy? So we went first, hoping to run into you, but we never did.”

More classmates arrived, and most of them were discussing the fireworks explosion.

For kids of this age, experiencing such an accident was the only major event in their usually peaceful lives.

In the lively atmosphere, only the student in front, Xu Yanan, remained silent.

Compared to before the winter break, Xu Yanan had lost weight and seemed even more taciturn.

Xia Liu wrote on a piece of paper, “Did you hear? Xu Yanan’s dad lost his job,” and pushed the notebook to Jian Li.

Jian Li glanced at it and nodded.

She had heard about Xu Jianguo losing his job. Her dad had even tried to advise him.

Actually, the leaders at the cotton mill didn’t really want to make things difficult for Xu Jianguo since he had been a long-time worker. They just needed Sun Yan to make sure the child wasn’t left in the city, and everything would be fine.

But Sun Yan was determined to get the child registered under their household.

Jian Feng had gone to try and convince them, but Sun Yan wasn’t appreciative and had said some unkind things.

Jian Feng was very angry, and it was Wang Mengmei who overheard from some guests at dinner about Sun Yan’s reasoning for doing this.

The child had been registered under Xu Jianguo’s older brother’s name. Xu Jianguo’s brother only had one daughter, and Sun Yan was afraid that if the child stayed with him too long, he would become someone else’s. That’s why she was in such a hurry to take him back.

In the end, the mill couldn’t protect Xu Jianguo and had no choice but to fire him.

After Xu Jianguo was fired, it was Wang Liming who lent him a hand.

Wang Liming gave Xu Jianguo a contact, saying it was for a contractor at a construction site in Shenzhen.

“Contact him when you get there, tell him I referred you.”

Working as a contractor in another place also involves factional divisions. Some people only hire locals from the same village or county and don’t like using outsiders. The contractor Wang Liming introduced to Xu Jianguo was local. Once Xu Jianguo arrived and worked diligently, he was sure to make money.

Xu Jianguo hesitated and asked himself why he couldn’t go to Wang Liming’s construction site.

Wang Liming said, “I’m not working on construction sites after the New Year.”

Since the day he drank too much and vomited with Jian Feng, Wang Liming had been thinking a lot after returning home to see his wife and daughter.

Working on construction sites makes money, but accidents happen often. Wang Liming thought long and hard and decided that for the sake of his family and himself, he was willing to take a step back.

He planned to stop working on the construction site after the New Year and send gifts to the contractor. With the money he had earned over the years, he intended to open a door and window flooring shop.

Compared to the large sums of money earned on construction sites, this would naturally be less, but Wang Liming thought it would be better for him to settle down early and bring his wife and child over quickly.

He couldn’t bear to have his family so far apart.

However, Wang Liming didn’t deceive Xu Jianguo. He introduced him to someone he knew well. With Xu Jianguo’s personality, he wouldn’t be bullied.

So, Xu Jianguo boarded the train to the south before the Lantern Festival.

But…

Jian Li secretly glanced at Xu Yanan in front of her.

Xu Yanan was pursing her lips, and in her usually determined eyes, there was now a subtle trace of pain that was hard to detect.