Xia Ziyu put on a self-directed show at the Xia household that was almost touching enough to move herself.

In Qijing Village, Xia Xiaolan remained completely unaffected. With a full purse, this year’s New Year’s Eve was bound to be good. Although they didn’t have a television, the whole family could still stay up late gathering around the stove, eating sunflower seeds, and chatting.

Tao Tao’s head kept nodding, and it was clear he wouldn’t make it to midnight without falling asleep.

Liu Fen nudged him and handed him a bulging red envelope.

“This is your New Year’s money from your aunt.”

Red envelopes given before midnight on New Year’s Eve are called “Ya Sui Qian” (money to ward off evil spirits). Given before the New Year countdown, it represents the elders’ wishes for the younger generation’s health, fortune, and safety in the coming year.

Besides the pre-New Year money, there are also red envelopes given during visits to relatives in the first month. After receiving gifts, relatives would give children red envelopes – these are New Year’s greeting envelopes.

In these times, nobody had much money. Red envelopes usually contained five or ten yuan at most, and poorer families might even just give one or two yuan.

These red envelopes were reciprocal – you give to my children, and I return the favor when visiting your home. If a family kept giving out red envelopes without receiving any in return, the first month would be a significant financial drain.

Liu Fen prepared a red envelope for her nephew, and Li Fengmei also prepared one for Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan would turn nineteen in a few months. If she had married early, she might already have children running around – hardly the age to still receive red envelopes.

Li Fengmei insisted on giving it to her, so Xia Xiaolan had no choice but to accept. Feeling its thickness, she estimated it contained at least 100 yuan – exactly matching what Liu Fen gave to Tao Tao. Xia Xiaolan gave her mother a helpless look; the legendary red envelope offsetting method was real.

Around eleven o’clock, Li Fengmei started organizing dumpling-making. The whole family joined in, kneading dough, rolling wrappers, mixing filling and wrapping dumplings. They also had to hide coins inside some dumplings. Xia Xiaolan noticed Li Fengmei secretly marking the dumplings with coins, but she kept quiet.

Liu Yong bought firecrackers and planned to light them at midnight outside the house.

Even before midnight, sporadic firecracker sounds could be heard everywhere, increasing as midnight approached. Fireworks were rare at this time, but every household would buy at least one string of firecrackers.

Liu Yong bought several strings, laying them end to end along the path by their front door to make them last longer!

In rural areas, the amount of firecrackers set off during New Year reflected a household’s financial status, since they only lasted briefly, and less wealthy families would just set off a token amount. In previous years, Liu Yong had been among those who just made a token effort, but this year, with plenty of money in his pocket, he had achieved quite a turnaround.

When neighbors were also setting off firecrackers, someone shouted:

“Yong, those are some impressive firecrackers you’ve got there! How many shots?”

“One thousand shots, five strings connected!”

Well, that was certainly extravagant.

Last year they had set off just one small string of firecrackers, probably only a hundred shots!

Children especially loved these moments. Liu Zitao wasn’t sleepy anymore, watching Liu Yong set off firecrackers in the courtyard. Xia Xiaolan worried about his ears and wouldn’t let him get too close, but Liu Zitao jumped and shouted excitedly.

Children are sensitive to their family’s circumstances.

The past year has been significant for Liu Zitao. First, he became a primary school student, and soon after, his parents took him to live in the provincial capital, Shangdu, where he transferred to a local school. In the past, meat was rare at home, and when they did have it, his parents always made sure he ate it first.

Now they had meat dishes almost every day, and Liu Zitao had become picky, refusing to eat without meat.

New clothes and shoes were no longer an issue, since the family was in the clothing business, Liu Zitao never went without them.

At five or six years old, he was old enough to remember things. Liu Zitao still recalled last New Year when someone came to collect a debt, and they couldn’t pay. The debt collector wouldn’t leave, and his mother even made noodles for them… After finally seeing the debt collector off, his mother had a huge fight with his father. Liu Zitao cried in fear, and his mother held him and cried too.

Though initially angry, his father stopped arguing when he saw them crying.

He patted Liu Zitao’s head and said many things that Liu Zitao couldn’t remember. He only knew that before the first month ended, his father left to “work away from home” with a backpack.

A few months later, he returned with money to pay the debts. His mother called the creditors to their home one by one, taking several payments to clear all debts.

Then his father bought a new bicycle to ride home, and after that, Cousin Xiaolan and his Second Aunt came.

Liu Zitao shouted excitedly, soon covered in sweat.

As the firecracker sounds outside gradually diminished, Xia Xiaolan crouched down to check him for any spark burns. Liu Zitao suddenly leaned close to her ear and said, “Sister Xiaolan, I feel so happy!”

Xia Xiaolan chuckled, “You little imp, what do you know about happiness?”

Liu Zitao became urgent: “Teacher says we live in a socialist country, we have education, clothes to wear, and food to eat – that’s happiness! I am very happy! I have Dad and Mom, Sister Xiaolan, and Second Aunt!”

This kid was adorable, melting Xia Xiaolan’s heart.

Liu Yong returned after finishing with the firecrackers, having heard everything.

He used to be such a mess, but fortunately, he had awakened in time. He scooped up his son onto his shoulders, positioning Liu Zitao’s legs around his neck, and rushed inside:

“Come on, let’s eat dumplings!”

After the New Year firecrackers, it was time for dumplings.

Today’s dumplings were filled with pure meat, each bite particularly satisfying. As expected, both Xia Xiaolan and Liu Zitao found the marked dumplings from Li Fengmei. Xia Xiaolan was prepared, but the innocent little Liu Zitao almost chipped his tooth.

He covered his mouth, on the verge of tears.

“No crying now, it’s already the first day of the New Year. We can’t have tears on New Year’s Day.”

Xia Xiaolan consoled him too, “If you eat more slowly, you won’t chip your tooth. People who find these dumplings will be even happier!”

Liu Yong was worried – how could he not chip his tooth, eating so hastily!

Liu Yong suddenly thought of Zhou Cheng, who could describe eating a carp in such detail – wondering how his family had educated him. Liu Yong was thinking far ahead; he hadn’t even become wealthy yet but was already considering how to raise Liu Zitao to become a sophisticated second-generation rich.

After the firecrackers and dumplings, New Year’s Eve was complete. Before going to bed, Xia Xiaolan found a bulging red envelope under her pillow, obviously secretly placed there by Liu Fen.

Mother and daughter shared their earnings without distinction, using money collectively, but Liu Fen still felt a need to compensate Xia Xiaolan.

In the past, even a one or two-yuan New Year’s envelope was difficult, but now that they had money, she wanted to make it up to Xia Xiaolan.

In Beijing, the Zhou family was also celebrating New Year.

Zhou Cheng’s grandparents were still alive and very healthy. They didn’t live with their children, as elderly people disliked climbing stairs, and high-ranking retired cadres like Old Zhou were assigned single-story courtyard homes. With their rank came staff to look after them, so the elderly couple lived quite comfortably. Having all their children and grandchildren gather for the New Year made them very happy.

Take Old Zhou – how many of his combat companions hadn’t lived to enjoy peaceful days, sacrificing their lives? And how many had seen peace arrive but couldn’t enjoy it due to poor health, passing away early?

Old Zhou was very satisfied with his life.

Good fortune and contentment had brought him to where he was today, peacefully handing over his duties – truly beginning well and ending well.

He and his wife had two sons and two daughters, all healthy. They hadn’t had to bury any children, what more could they ask for? Even though some children were more successful at work than others, Old Zhou wasn’t greedy.

Having survived warfare, he knew nothing was more important than life itself, and the Zhou family hadn’t fought like others, remaining largely united despite minor friction.

On New Year’s Eve, all the Zhou children and grandchildren gathered to stay up with the elderly couple.

Only Zhou Cheng was missing, and Grandmother Zhou kept mentioning her eldest grandson, making her granddaughter slightly jealous. Zhou Cheng’s cousin Zhou Yi suddenly said:

“Grandmother, I heard something from my friends, though I’m not sure if it’s true. They say Cheng has found himself a girlfriend from another province… You might be getting a granddaughter-in-law!”

As Zhou Yi spoke these words, the entire family fell silent.

Guan Hui’e nearly dropped her soup spoon into her bowl, “Zhou Yi, where did you hear this?”