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After Yu Qian mentioned she used to envy the New Year’s atmosphere of other families when she was little, Cheng Xiaonan started putting effort into decorating their home. Every day he returned, he would make some changes to the decorations.
By New Year’s Eve, their formerly minimalist home was filled with festive cheer.
A few small red goldfish swam in the fish tank, and even the chandelier was adorned with fabric lanterns. Last night, Yu Qian even saw Cheng Xiaonan write wishes on them with a brush:
Yu Qian happy every day.
Perhaps to make up for her childhood regrets, Cheng Xiaonan was truly a bit over-the-top.
When Yu Qian woke up in the morning, there was a burst of firecracker sounds in the living room. Red electronic firecrackers flashed and popped on the floor, and many “Fu” (blessing) characters hung around the room.
He also gave her a thick red envelope, saying it was from Old Cheng.
The Shirley Poppies by the French window had passed their blooming season. A few days ago, Cheng Xiaonan went out and, from who knows where, found a thriving pot of trumpet vine.
Its flexible branches climbed the plastic trellises woven into the flowerpot, growing luxuriantly.
Large red, trumpet-shaped flowers bloomed all over the branches.
When Yu Qian came out of the bedroom, Cheng Xiaonan had just put away the electronic firecrackers and was watering the flowers with a long-spouted watering can.
Even with his flamboyant personality, there was a sense of peaceful serenity about him while watering the flowers.
Feeling Yu Qian’s presence, Cheng Xiaonan didn’t turn around. He sprinkled water into the flowerpot and suddenly recited a few lines from Shu Ting’s most famous poem, “To the Oak Tree”:
“If I love you— I will never be a clinging trumpet creeper, borrowing your tall branches to show off myself.”
“I must be a kapok tree beside you, standing with you as the image of a tree.”
Yu Qian hadn’t expected Cheng Xiaonan to recite poetry. She paused before asking, “You read poetry collections?”
Cheng Xiaonan put down the watering can: “I’m not that refined. I memorized that one for a class poetry recitation in high school. There’s also an English one I memorized in college.”
“Which one?”
“I’ll recite it for you later. Let’s do something else first.”
It wasn’t Yu Qian’s overthinking; the night before last, before they got intimate, Cheng Xiaonan also interrupted her watching a movie and suddenly asked, “Do something else?”
So she didn’t answer, just used her eyes to ask, “Now?”
Cheng Xiaonan chuckled: “Sister, early in the morning, what are you thinking? What I mean by ‘do’ isn’t ‘making love’.”
It was indeed Yu Qian who misunderstood. Cheng Xiaonan brought out ink and neatly cut red paper.
The paper was affixed with gold foil, looking like the size and shape for couplets and “Fu” characters, but it had no writing on it.
Cheng Xiaonan said he wanted to write them himself.
With thick ink poured into a dish, Cheng Xiaonan dipped his brush, thought for a moment, and suddenly felt a bit unsure of what to write.
Yu Qian didn’t have much knowledge of couplets either, so she asked if he wanted to search online.
“No, let’s write something simple.”
Cheng Xiaonan thought for a few seconds, then put down the brush in his hand. “Blame Old Cheng. Every year the couplets are gifts from business partners. It’s either ‘Business prosperous year after year’ or ‘Wealth accumulates day by day.’ Now my mind is full of money-related things.”
Cheng Xiaonan couldn’t recall anything, but Yu Qian did.
She remembered one from when she was in school. Back then, every household put up spring couplets. There were ones about family harmony leading to prosperity, wealth accumulation, and more common ones like increasing blessings and longevity, or welcoming the New Year.
Yu Qian only had a deep impression of one family’s spring couplet, put up by a distant neighbor in the community at the time. It seemed the homeowners were an old couple.
There was no horizontal scroll; the upper couplet was “Year after year,” and the lower couplet was “Year after year.”
She took the brush from Cheng Xiaonan’s hand. Her strokes weren’t very skilled, but her handwriting was decent. She wrote the upper couplet, “年年歲歲” (nián nián suì suì - year after year).
The lower couplet was written by Cheng Xiaonan.
The handwriting of a man and a woman has different visual appeals. One’s strokes are more delicate and graceful, while the other’s are bold and expansive, somewhat arrogant. When placed together, the upper and lower couplets surprisingly appeared harmonious.
This was their first New Year together. It was a bit like children who had just moved out of their parents’ home, wanting to try everything themselves.
When Cheng Xiaonan suggested they make dumplings themselves in the evening, Yu Qian agreed.
They huddled on the sofa, occasionally answering a congratulatory call from a friend, spending the rest of the time together, watching tutorial videos on how to make dumplings on a tablet.
After watching a few videos, Cheng Xiaonan was confident: “I think we can do this.”
________________________________________
Going out to buy ingredients was after lunch. Cheng Xiaonan didn’t let Yu Qian go with him, saying that New Year’s Eve would surely be crowded with people and cars, causing traffic jams, and the supermarket would also be packed.
He told her to take a nap at home and rest, waiting for him to come back so they could make dumplings together.
Before leaving, Cheng Xiaonan didn’t forget to take out the fruits from the refrigerator, wash them, and cut them: “Eat some fruit when you wake up, and I’ll be back soon. Wait for me.”
“Okay, drive safe.”
Cheng Xiaonan took his coat from the entryway and left.
The door had just closed when the sound of a password being entered came from outside. Yu Qian looked at him with slight surprise as he strode back in, thinking he had forgotten something: “Didn’t you take...”
Cheng Xiaonan, with his long legs, took a few steps to Yu Qian, leaned down, held the back of her neck, and kissed her forehead.
“What are you doing?”
Cheng Xiaonan’s eyes were full of smiles: “Afraid I’ll miss you when I’m out, so I’ll kiss you first.”
Before her nap, Yu Qian received a call from Peter, who was abroad, asking how her New Year’s Eve was going.
Yu Qian had already put on her eye mask, ready to sleep, and casually said, “Cheng Xiaonan went grocery shopping; we’re going to make dumplings together tonight.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Yu Qian thought the call signal was bad, so she pulled back a small corner of her eye mask and glanced at the screen.
After a while, Peter finally spoke, his voice actually a little choked up: “Yu Qian, ah, Yu Qian.”
“Hm?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard you talk on the phone with such a homely tone, buying groceries and making dumplings. Honestly, as your old friend of many years, I’m truly so happy for you. A few days ago, Sun Yue sent me a short video, and at that moment, I suddenly felt so relieved, so incredibly happy for you.”
There was still some static on the phone, like the sound of Peter sniffling.
Yu Qian asked, “What short video?”
“It was a small video from a snowy day in the Imperial City, where Cheng Xiaonan covered your heads with his coat as you walked towards the car. I’ll send it to you later?”
Yu Qian remembered that day.
It was the last workday before the “Eleven” New Year holiday. The company had given out year-end bonuses to employees, and every staff member she met on each floor was joyful.
It wasn’t cold that day, and there was a light snow, not heavy, melting as it fell on them.
Yu Qian’s scarf and gloves were left in the car that day, and Cheng Xiaonan said she absolutely shouldn’t catch a cold near New Year’s.
He said, “I’m not exaggerating, sister, you’re our whole family’s precious treasure now. Yesterday, when I video-called my maternal grandmother, she happened to glimpse you boiling water in the kitchen and immediately scolded me.”
Cheng Xiaonan took off his coat, imitating the old lady’s slow way of speaking: “Oh, you’ll be the death of me! Little Qian works so hard filming all day, and you still make her do housework. How can you be so unthoughtful? What if Little Qian gets exhausted!”
Cheng Xiaonan held up his coat, draping it over both their heads, and walked into the snow with her.
“I asked the old lady, ‘I go to work every day too, why don’t you feel bad for me?’ Guess what Grandma said? She’s clearly biased. She sternly asked me, ‘You sit in an office every day, what are you tired from?’“
________________________________________
That day, the wind and snow couldn’t penetrate the warmth enveloped by the coat at all. They got into the car and kissed inside.
Fortunately, Sun Yue didn’t record what happened inside the car.
Nor did she see Cheng Xiaonan’s hand reaching into the collar of her silk shirt.
Peter sighed into the phone for a while, then hung up. Yu Qian followed Cheng Xiaonan’s advice and took a nap.
When she woke up, she also ate half a sweet orange.
But as time slowly passed, by past 3 PM, Cheng Xiaonan still hadn’t returned.
When Yu Qian sent him a WeChat message, Cheng Xiaonan realized she was awake and continuously sent her photos, broadcasting the live situation of the crowds outside.
There were photos of crowded supermarkets, empty vegetable shelves, and long checkout lines.
He also took a picture of his shopping cart, which contained red wine from Yu Qian’s favorite brand, and the ingredients needed for making dumplings.
[It’s good you didn’t come. The supermarket near home isn’t fully stocked, so I went a bit further. It’s crowded everywhere here.]
[Even this shopping cart of mine, I only found later. There were no empty carts at the entrance at all.]
The last message stopped at 3:30 PM. Cheng Xiaonan took a photo of the checkout line with 4 or 5 people ahead, saying it would be his turn soon, and if there wasn’t a traffic jam outside, he would definitely be home within an hour.
Yu Qian didn’t reply with “.” or “okay” as she usually did.
She ate a small piece of dragon fruit and replied to him:
[Okay, waiting for you to come back.]
________________________________________
It was almost 5 PM when the sky outside began to gradually darken.
Cheng Xiaonan still hadn’t returned.
Yu Qian wasn’t very good at handling such situations because Cheng Xiaonan had never made her wait before.
Between them, it was always him waiting for her, patiently and gently.
She thought for a moment and decided to call Cheng Xiaonan.
His phone was off.
Just as Yu Qian’s brow furrowed, an unfamiliar number called.
She usually didn’t answer unknown calls, but she had a feeling it might be related to Cheng Xiaonan, so she picked up.
The background noise on the phone was very loud. Cheng Xiaonan’s voice came through: “Don’t worry, listen to me first. I ran into a bit of an accident outside the supermarket. There was a madman hurting people at the supermarket entrance, and I helped out a little. My phone broke...”
“Where are you?”
“...I told you not to worry. I’m at the hospital now, dealing with a minor injury. I’ll be back soon. Just wait for me at home.”
“Which hospital?”
“You really don’t need to come. It’s a minor injury, a skinny guy, not even as strong as Sun Yue, you...”
Yu Qian raised her voice: “I asked you, which hospital?”
Cheng Xiaonan on the phone seemed to pause for a moment, then chuckled: “Okay, I know you’re worried about me. Come over. City Hospital. Drive slowly on the way, don’t make me worry, okay?”
“Okay.”
Yu Qian didn’t drive slowly at all. She even inadvertently drove into the wrong lane.
Fortunately, she noticed in time and didn’t cause a traffic jam.
No matter how festive the day, the city hospital was never short of patients.
Yu Qian hurried to the location Cheng Xiaonan had described on the phone.
When she arrived, Cheng Xiaonan was leaning against the hospital corridor wall, surrounded by several police officers and a woman holding a child.
The child was crying continuously, and the police seemed to be asking something. There were passersby in the corridor.
But as soon as Yu Qian appeared, Cheng Xiaonan seemed to sense her presence and immediately looked up.
He walked through the crowd and embraced Yu Qian: “Were you worried? My phone broke while I was already on my way to the hospital, so I borrowed a police officer’s phone to call you.”
Yu Qian lowered her eyes.
Cheng Xiaonan was wearing a long, light dusk-blue cashmere coat today, which she had bought for him. There were dark red bloodstains near the coat’s pocket.
Cheng Xiaonan followed her gaze to his clothes: “The bloodstain should wash out. I’ll send it to the dry cleaner after the third day of the New Year when they open.”
“And the injury?”
“Here.”
He held up his bandaged hand and gestured with his chin behind him, “I was protecting the child, otherwise that man wouldn’t have hurt me. It’s a very shallow wound. I’ll show you when we get back.”
He explained every detail, afraid Yu Qian would worry.
Yu Qian didn’t say anything. Later, during the police’s questioning and the woman’s thanks, she remained by his side.
From their fragmented words, Yu Qian learned that when Cheng Xiaonan was putting his purchased items into the trunk, he saw a man and a woman fighting. Later, a child got involved in the fight, and the man even pulled out a portable fruit knife.
He went over to help and protected the child and the woman.
________________________________________
When they could leave, Yu Qian told Cheng Xiaonan, “Let’s take the stairs.”
Cheng Xiaonan obediently followed her into the stairwell.
As soon as they stepped inside, before the heavy door had even closed, Yu Qian grabbed his collar, pulling him to bend his back slightly, and kissed him.
Cheng Xiaonan closed the door behind them: “Hey, so proactive? We’re still outside, isn’t this a bit too passionate? Were you really worried?”
If it were the old Yu Qian, she might not have answered such a question.
But when she released Cheng Xiaonan, she looked directly at him: “Yes, I was worried, worried about you.”
Cheng Xiaonan’s movement of embracing her with one hand paused for a moment before he lowered his head to kiss her: “Don’t worry, I’m fine, aren’t I? All my limbs are intact, and I can still make dumplings with you.”
They had driven two cars there but didn’t want to separate, so they simply left Yu Qian’s car in the hospital parking lot and drove back in Cheng Xiaonan’s car.
Yu Qian never thought she would be such an affectionate person when in love.
Cheng Xiaonan’s hand injury wasn’t deep, but Yu Qian still forbade him from some tasks, like washing vegetables, meat, and kneading dough.
The process of making dumplings was a bit difficult. As two novices, the dough was a bit dry, and the filling was too watery.
Even so, Cheng Xiaonan still took photos, sent them to his family members one by one, and finally posted them on WeChat Moments.
Yu Qian heard him answer a call, it seemed to be one of his cousins, who furiously scolded him over the phone: “Cousin, you know I just broke up a month ago. I even left the family group chat just to avoid seeing you show off your affection, and you still send it to me individually. Isn’t this just force-feeding me ‘dog food’?”
“It’s fine as long as I’m happy,” Cheng Xiaonan said.
His cousin screamed and called their parents, threatening Cheng Xiaonan that he had to send an extra 500 yuan in New Year’s red packets.
Before hanging up, the cousin said: “Tell my future sister-in-law that I really, really like her. Yesterday I even copied the makeup from one of her magazine issues. Wish her a Happy New Year and I look forward to meeting her!”
“Okay, I’ll tell her. Gotta go.”
Actually, he had it on speakerphone. After hanging up, he swaggered into the kitchen: “Hear that? Everyone likes you.”
Cheng Xiaonan suggested they move the dumpling-making supplies to the coffee table and make dumplings while watching TV.
The dumpling wrappers were made by Cheng Xiaonan; they were all odd shapes, not a single one was round.
Yu Qian held a dumpling wrapper, frowning, wondering where to begin wrapping, when suddenly her name was heard from the TV.
She looked up at the sound, and an unfamiliar girl appeared on the TV screen.
The girl called her “Qianqian,” smiling broadly as she said, “Qianqian, Happy New Year! I saw your photo in a magazine three years ago, and later made your photo my screen saver. I really like you, and I hope you’re always happy. To all the unhappiness, screw them!”
The last sentence sounded like something Cheng Xiaonan had said to her.
Yu Qian, however, had no time to look at Cheng Xiaonan, because after this video, another unfamiliar woman appeared on the screen, waving at her and wishing her a Happy New Year.
One after another, many women and men spoke of how they knew her, then wished her a Happy New Year and wished her eternal happiness.
This was Cheng Xiaonan’s New Year’s gift for Yu Qian.
He wanted to tell her that while there might be many who criticized her, there were just as many who loved her.
In this world, there were always people who liked her and genuinely wished her everlasting happiness.
The last two video segments were from Cheng Xiaonan’s maternal and paternal grandparents’ families. People from both families gathered together, each welcoming Yu Qian.
They opened their arms to the camera, saying they looked forward to her joining their big family.
For 28 years, Yu Qian’s suppressed displeasure, forced composure, and necessary strength suddenly wavered, cracked, and crumbled at this moment.
She felt something she had never felt before: a stinging in her nasal cavity, followed by dryness in her eyes.
For the first time, Yu Qian’s eyes welled up, and she was embraced by Cheng Xiaonan.
The dumpling wrapper in her hand fell to the floor, leaving a white flour mark on his dark shirt.
All the bursting emotions slowly subsided in Cheng Xiaonan’s voice.
If there was ever a moment she felt at peace with the world, it was now.
He whispered in her ear: “Happy New Year, sister.”
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