sjar Chapter 25 Sugar Painting and New Year's Eve
Chapter 25 Sugar Painting and New Year's Eve
The pointer slowly approached the phoenix pattern, and Yufei thought to herself, "Am I about to have incredible luck in this life?!" But then the pointer slowly moved past the phoenix pattern and finally stopped at the candy cake pattern.
She knew it! -_-
Never mind~ She loves sugar cakes too. She still misses the taste of her childhood. After she grew up and earned money, when she came across a sugar painting stall, she missed the taste of her childhood and bought one.
She frowned as she ate it; it didn't taste like the one she remembered from her childhood at all!
"Grandpa, I want soft candy cakes~" Yufei didn't draw the dragon and phoenix, so she wanted to make sure she could taste the soft candy she loved most back then. She quickly told the old man at the sugar painting stall her request.
"Alright!"
The old man at the sugar painting stall took out a small piece of slightly reddish sugar and put it into his small iron pot.
As the iron pot heats up, the sugar cubes slowly melt inside, turning into syrup.
The old man, seizing the opportunity, scooped up a third of a spoonful and deftly poured it onto the white poster with a hint of reddish-brown.
Then he took out an iron ruler that looked somewhat like a discipline ruler, but with a rounded head.
It's done after just a couple of fiddlings. It's strange, this candy is clearly soft, but it doesn't drip off the bamboo skewer like liquid.
Yufei put it in her mouth, and the unique sweetness blossomed on its own.
Yufei took the candy out of her mouth again. It tasted the same as when she was a child, but it seemed to be missing something, and it didn't taste the same as it did when she was a child.
Wait a minute, how could the food we ate as kids now not taste the same as it did back then?
Yufei seemed to be lost in philosophical contemplation.
Several children, slightly older than her, crowded around the sugar painting stall, excitedly paying for their zodiac animal paintings.
Suddenly, Yufei understood. It turned out that in her past life, when she grew up, she was always searching for the taste of her childhood. She wasn't just looking for the taste itself, but for her childhood playmates and the things she did with them.
"Okay! I'll bring my cousin here to play after he gets back," Yufei secretly resolved.
"Little Yufei, would you like to try again?" Grandpa saw Yufei staring blankly at the candy cake and thought she was a little disappointed because she hadn't gotten the dragon and phoenix design.
Yufei shook her head, smiled brightly, and tugged at her grandfather's sleeve with the hand that wasn't holding the candy, saying to him...
"Grandpa, let's go find Dad."
The grandfather and granddaughter left the sugar painting stall, and as they walked, Yufei blurted out another sentence.
"Grandpa, when are my older and younger cousins coming over?"
"I'll be there in just a few days."
"Great! I'm going to bring my two older cousins over to try out sugar painting!"
Only then did Grandpa Yufei realize that Yufei had seen the group of children at the stall and wanted to play with them.
Grandpa Yufei couldn't help but recall that it seemed from the time Yufei was old enough to understand, few of her friends wanted to play with her, and she had always been involved in their business.
Thinking of this, Grandpa Yufei glanced at Yufei with some guilt.
When people get busy, they sometimes forget that Yufei is still a child who needs playmates.
Grandpa Yufei remembered his son-in-law Li Aiguo's suggestion from a few days ago: Li Aiguo would be transferring to teach at the town's middle school next year, which happened to be very close to the village school where Yufei's mother, Liu Meili, was studying.
He and his wife got together. The town's middle school had provided a house, and he wanted to bring Yufei there to study. Next year, the school would be in its pre-school year.
Grandpa Yufei was initially against it; he couldn't afford to offend his granddaughter. But now, he really should reconsider.
You can't buy all the New Year's goods in one day. Yufei's family spent two days buying a lot of New Year's goods like mice carrying house.
These past two days, the village has been celebrating the Lunar New Year early. Every household has tied red flowers to their color TVs, set off firecrackers, and welcomed the TVs into their homes.
The happiest people were the children, who handed out candy at the door to families welcoming the color TV home.
A group of children went from house to house asking for candy, and after visiting only a few houses, each child's pockets were full of candy.
Then he ran home like lightning, had his mother put the candy away, and went to another house to ask for candy.
The candy that was given to the children at Yufei's house came from Yufei's space. Yufei had entrusted Granny Chun to deliver it to them on the day she sent it, and she gave them a whole half-ton of it.
Yufei's mother felt embarrassed. The family hadn't even had a chance to try the candy they received, because some had been given to the people who came to congratulate them and the children who wanted good luck, all because of the color TV.
Of course, those who receive the candy don't eat it right away; they're supposed to wait until Lunar New Year's Eve to share it with their families.
Putting up Spring Festival couplets and cleaning the house, time quickly passed and it was New Year's Eve. Early in the morning, Yufei's family of five prepared the New Year's Eve dinner, while Yufei sat on a small stool watching TV.
Unfortunately, Yufei's mother and grandmother told her she was too young to help.
Meanwhile, Dad and Grandpa went to offer sacrifices to our ancestors, praying for a good harvest next year.
Yufei's mother looked at the clock.
"Mom~ It's 8:30! Sigh~ Why aren't Dad and Aiguo home yet? We're about to have our family reunion dinner with Buddha."
As she spoke, Yufei's mother carried a basin containing half a pig's head and placed it in front of the Buddha statue.
After a while, Grandpa Yufei and Dad returned. Under Grandma's guidance, a small piece of white radish was cut to serve as a base, and three incense sticks were inserted.
I bow my head in gratitude to the Bodhisattva for blessing us with a bountiful harvest this year.
Grateful for the good health and safety of my family members this year, and for the harmony and happiness among all family members.
May the coming year also be a year of health, harmony, abundance, and good fortune.
Under Grandma's guidance, Yufei and the other four children made New Year's wishes, and at the end, they bowed three times.
Then we started eating. The reunion dinner had 12 dishes, the most lavish meal the Liu family had ever had. Of course, it will definitely get better and better in the future.
Five Longyang specialty pot dishes: Chicken in a pot, Turtle in a pot, Beef stew with radish, Cured pork stew with winter bamboo shoots, and Cured pig's trotters.
Seven side dishes: stir-fried pork with chili peppers, stir-fried shredded dried radish with cured pork, spicy beef jerky, lotus root sandwiches, steamed pork with rice flour, green vegetables, and finally, the indispensable large carp for the reunion dinner.
The large carp is a semi-finished product; it's only fried and no further processing is done. We won't eat it with the meal; we'll save it for next year, symbolizing abundance year after year.
This was the first time any of the Liu family members, except for Yufei, had eaten soft-shelled turtle. One bite revealed its smooth, tender texture and incredibly fresh flavor.
After eating it, I felt a warm current flow from my stomach throughout my body, driving away the winter chill.
"This turtle is so delicious! It doesn't have the muddy taste of the turtle we ate before." Even Yufei's mom, who doesn't usually like turtle, unconsciously ate a few more bites.
Yufei ate her favorite spicy beef jerky since childhood, a dish her father excelled at making. In her past life, whenever relatives visited her family, her father would cook this dish.
This dish was devoured as soon as it was served, by the other children who came to pay their respects for the New Year. Yufei could only taste it.
Beef was expensive back then. Although Yufei really wanted to eat this dish, she felt sorry for her parents who worked hard to earn money, so she never asked her father to make it. She only asked her father to make it during the Chinese New Year.
But during Chinese New Year, there were always people who would take the dish from her, making it impossible for her to enjoy the delicious food all to herself.
When I grew up and was able to enjoy food on my own, I wondered if my father's sense of taste had changed, because he could no longer make it taste the same.
Yufei is now happily enjoying this delicious food all by herself; yes, this is the taste!