Chapter 58: Craving Shrimp

Qiu Qianjin snapped in anger, “What are you bragging about? You’re a grown man who doesn’t know a damn thing, and now you blame my sister for being too capable? Whoever marries into your family is in for a disaster!”

The man, already middle-aged, was momentarily embarrassed by Qiu Qianjin’s retort.

“Jinzi, how can you speak to me like that?”

“You look down on my sister, so why would I treat you well?” he said, waving his hand impatiently, signaling for him to leave. “Alright, alright, everyone go home. Don’t block the door to my house.”

With those words, the old, rickety wooden door slammed shut, nearly hitting the man’s nose.

Fuming, the man rolled up his sleeves dramatically. “Jinzi, you ungrateful brat, when your father was alive, we were like brothers…”

Some bystanders were enjoying the scene, amused that a young person had put an elder in his place. Others advised him to avoid further conflict.

“Forget it, don’t anger the kid. Who knows what trouble he’d cause.”

Qiu Yinuo paid no attention to the commotion outside.

She poured a cup of hot water for the elder. “Thank you for coming all this way. Please drink some warm water to relax.”

“It’s no trouble at all, Comrade Qiu. You don’t know how much you’ve helped our village. We’re all deeply grateful.”

Cheng Hongying lowered her voice. “Can you really fix tractors?”

“Impressive, right?”

“Where did you learn that?”

“From books!”

Cheng Hongying’s wrinkled face twitched at the blatant nonsense, almost blurting out: You’re just making stuff up, aren’t you?

But with an outsider present, she managed to hold back and save face.

She even forced herself to praise Qiu Yinuo alongside him for half an hour. Qiu Yinuo grew too embarrassed to keep listening and excused herself.

The villager from Taolin Village had to drink three full mugs of hot water before he finally escaped—using the excuse of needing the toilet.

Dear heavens, he thought, this auntie from the Qiu family really can talk your ears off.

After seeing the guest off, Cheng Hongying went straight into her daughter’s room. “Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve. Tell me, what do you want to eat?”

“Anything I say, you’ll really make it for me?”

Cheng Hongying thought for a moment, probably just meat or fish, nothing too special.

Since the villagers of Taolin had sent generous New Year’s gifts, Cheng Hongying was in a particularly good mood and looked at the girl with a warm smile.

“It’s New Year, we should eat something good. Come on, tell me, what do you want?”

Qiu Yinuo pressed her lips together, as if she could already taste the flavor in her mouth. “I want shrimp.”

She used to love seafood, but years of social drinking had slowly pushed it out of her diet. Since arriving in this new world, she hadn’t even tasted seaweed.

Ever since she arrived in this world, she hadn’t even eaten seaweed.

Now, she craved shrimp the most, whether raw-marinated or simply boiled. Her mouth had almost forgotten the taste of umami.

Cheng Hongying hesitated. “Why shrimp? It’s not easy to get them here.”

They lived quite far from the coast. The only seafood available was dried after fishermen caught it during the summer, and even that was hard to find. If she wanted to get shrimp or abalone, she’d have to ask for favors and connections.

“I was just saying. It’s not like I have to eat it. Don’t trouble yourself over it.”

Something crossed Cheng Hongying’s mind, and she took a deep breath. “It’s no trouble. I promise you’ll have shrimp on New Year’s Eve.”

Qiu Yinuo immediately became curious. “Where will you get shrimp?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll get them, and then you can decide if you want to eat them.”

“I’ll definitely eat them!”

…

New Year’s Eve was here, and the sounds of firecrackers echoed in the distance, sometimes loud, sometimes soft. Occasionally, the laughter and shouting of children playing outside could be heard.

Perhaps because it was the New Year, excited children didn’t sleep in.

Those with better conditions had already put on new clothes and were showing them off to everyone.

Qiu Yinuo usually slept until she woke up naturally, but today, the sporadic firecracker sounds kept disturbing her, making it hard to sleep. She felt irritable.

She pulled the blanket over her head, but after a while, she felt someone pushing her.

She pulled the blanket down and looked— it was her eldest son, Dabao.

The two stared at each other for a while, Qiu Yinuo’s eyes silently asking: What do you want?

Before his debut, Dabao had spent every New Year’s Eve in the orphanage. He never knew how other people celebrated the New Year, but now, hearing the noise outside, his heart was already flying outside.

So, he could only plead with his eyes, wanting to go out and play.

Qiu Yinuo, frustrated with herself for understanding, sighed. “Be good, it’s too cold outside. We’re not going.”

Dabao pointed outside and started calling loudly, “Ah ah ah!”

“It’s too cold out there. There’s nothing fun. Come, let’s sleep with Mom.”

No! Why did he have such a lazy mom?

Facing Dabao’s pleading eyes, Qiu Yinuo pointed to Erbao. “Why don’t we ask Erbao? Erbao, if you want to go out, just make the same ‘ah ah’ sound like your brother. If you don’t want to, don’t say anything.”

Erbao clenched his little fists and stared blankly at a spot.

“See, Erbao doesn’t want to go,” Qiu Yinuo said.

Dabao was so upset that he made a few more “ah ah” sounds, never expecting his mom to be so unreasonable.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Qiu Yinuo heard Qiu Qianjin’s voice. “Sis, the little shop in the village is selling small firecrackers. Let’s go buy some for Dabao and Erbao.”

Upon hearing his uncle’s words, Dabao almost jumped out of bed to open the door, calling out non-stop.

Qiu Qianjin chuckled. “Is Dabao awake?”

It had been a while, and only Dabao responded to him; Erbao was unresponsive no matter how much he was teased.

Qiu Yinuo sighed. Even if she didn’t want to go, she had to. “I’ll change clothes and be right there. Wait for me.”

Twenty minutes later, Qiu Yinuo and her sibling each carried a child out of the house.

Worried that her two little nephews might be scared, Qiu Qianjin didn’t buy too many firecrackers.

“Let’s go, we’ll set off the firecrackers at home.”

Dabao’s eyes sparkled with excitement. He hadn’t expected that, in the end, it was his uncle who was the most reliable.

The firecrackers in the little shop were sold in full trays, and after disassembling them, they cost about ten cents for twenty pops. The children were reluctant to use them all at once, so they would tear one off at a time, extending their playtime.

Qiu Qianjin wasn’t a child, though, and wasn’t as stingy. He planned to use all twenty pops at once.

Without any matches in his pocket, they decided to go back home to light them, so that his mom and cousin Qingqing could join in the fun as well.

After setting up the small firecrackers, Qiu Qianjin was about to pick up Dabao to light them when he was caught by his mother.

Without hesitation, she slapped him and snatched the child away. “If you want to set off firecrackers, do it yourself. You’ve scared Dabao. Just wait until I deal with you.”

“Just twenty pops, it’s not a big deal,” Qiu Qianjin, seeing the dark look on his mother’s face, turned into a turtle and retreated. “Alright, you hold him.”

Cheng Hongying stepped back a few paces, holding Dabao in her arms. “Don’t stand too close to your nephew. What if the firecrackers explode near him?”

The next moment, Jinzi lit the firecrackers, and they crackled with a few pops, lasting only three to five seconds.

Dabao: ???

…That’s it?

Are you sure this isn’t a joke?

Cheng Hongying, thinking that Dabao might have been scared, growled in irritation, “You two siblings, even at your age, still playing with firecrackers. Look at how you’ve scared Dabao.”

She gently patted his little head. “Don’t be scared, it’s just a little noise. It won’t hurt, just calm down.”