Build One for You and One for Me (1)
It was the beginning of the New Year.
Jiang Xiumei went back to the village alone, leaving Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Xing alone in the house.
The Yu family next door also went quiet. The workers and maids went home for the New Year holiday, leaving it without any movement nor sound.
Jiang Xing went out early in the morning to buy a door couplet, and the uncle and niece pair worked together to paste it on the door.
After it was pasted on, Jiang Xing thought that it felt wrong and tore it off again.
Jiang Xiaoman glanced at him and asked, “Uncle, what are you doing?”
“It doesn’t look good, this is just a mass-produced couplet.”
“Oh.”
Weren’t all of them like that?
Jiang Xiaoman didn’t understand what he was concerned with.
Soon after, Jiang Xing brought red paper and ink and asked Jiang Xiaoman to write.
“You can write it instead.” Jiang Xing put the items down, “If you’re the one who writes it, it will look good when we put it up. ”
Jiang Xiaoman didn’t know why he was so confident. Although she could write well and had practiced calligraphy with a brush for a few days, but at best she was only at the level where her writing at least wasn’t crooked. But compared to the mass-produced ones, hers wasn’t pretty at all.
Jiang Xiaoman was helpless because Jiang Xing insisted, and couldn’t help but wrote the word Luck. After she finished writing Luck, she continued working on the couplet. After thinking for a while, Jiang Xiaoman still couldn’t figure out what couplet she should write. She stared at the word Luck for a few moments, then suddenly lifted her pen and wrote the word Star.
This made Jiang Xing very happy.
The more he looked at it, the better it looked to him. He praised, “Not bad, Good Luck, Lucky Star. The words are simple but meaningful. Very auspicious!”
Jiang Xiaoman was also happy and started to play.
She wrote Overflowing Wealth and Outstanding1.
After she finished writing them, she let Jiang Xing paste them on the door.
So this year, the Jiang family had unique New Year couplets.
Left: Outstanding.
Right: Overflowing Wealth.
Horizontal: Lucky Star.
Actually, couplets needed to rhyme, but Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Xing both felt very good and satisfied.
After it was done, everyone went to work on their own affairs.
Jiang Xiaoman went back to her bedroom, and sent New Year’s greetings to Ye Jiajia and Zhang Xinhua. Because she had too much free time, she even sent one to Sun Xiaojie.
She also called Yu Qingshi to give a New Year’s greetings, but the other party did not answer.
With nothing else to do, Jiang Xiaoman opened the window and started reading.
As evening approached, Jiang Xiaoman came back to her senses, and when she looked up she found out that it had snowed.
It did not snow heavily. The snow was falling down silently.
Jiang Xiaoman patted her face, stretched her waist, stood up and shouted downstairs, “Uncle, I’m hungry.”
Jiang Xing was now also experienced in how to take care of himself when Jiang Xiumei wasn’t home.
He told Xiaoman to put on an extra piece of clothing and put on a coat himself, then drove out to eat hot pot.
Hehe, he already booked a spot long in advance this time. He wouldn’t crash everywhere like a headless fly again like last time.
The uncle and niece duo had mutton hot pot with clear and fresh soup. Jiang Xiaoman first scooped up a bowl of soup and warmed her stomach, then put in the processed mutton and the meatballs. Just as she was taking the meatballs, her cellphone rang.
When she turned it on, it was a call from Yu Qingshi.
Jiang Xiaoman put a meatball on her mouth, and then answered the phone with a muffled voice, “Hey, Yu Qingshi, what are you doing?”
“I’m…” Yu Qingshi was quiet, without a sound, “Looking at the moon.”
Jiang Xiaoman said, “It’s not snowing at your place?”
“No.”
“It’s snowing at our house.”
“Is it heavy?”
“It’s very light.” Jiang Xiaoman stood up and came to the door. At this moment, the ground was covered with a thin layer of snow. She suddenly said, “I’ll build a snowman for you.”
After saying that, she hung up.
Yu Qingshi frowned, wondering what had suddenly come into her mind.
After hesitating for a long time, while Yu Qingshi was still wondering whether to continue calling her, Jiang Xiaoman sent him a photo.
She really built a small, pocket-sized snowman. It was as big as three fingers, small and cute. The little guy was chubby and had no hands nor neck, and his eyes were just two holes made with her fingers.
She put the little snowman in her hand and took a picture, and then sent it to Yu Qingshi.
Underneath the dark night, the snowman and her palms were brightly illuminated. Her palms were a little red from the cold, and her slender fingers that held the snowman seemed to tremble a little.
It must be very cold, Yu Qingshi thought.
“This is you.” Jiang Xiaoman said, “I will build another one, me.”
“…Don’t get frostbite.”
“How could I? This is nothing.” Jiang Xiaoman wasn’t afraid at all. She was very happy and really did make another one.
She put the two little snowmen together, took a picture, and sent it to Yu Qingshi to see.
…Yu Qingshi silently saved it.
He also thought these two little snowmen were very cute.
But having said that, although Jiang Xiaoman was very confident in her handicraft ability, even after so many years, her handiwork was still very poor.
After eating and drinking to their hearts’ content, the uncle and niece duo returned home.
The next day when the snow stopped, Jiang Xing went to pick up Jiang Xiumei.
When Jiang Xiumei saw the couplet at the door, she stood still and watched it for a long, long time. Based on her intuition, she felt that the couplet was not right, in fact it was very wrong.
Jiang Xiaoman felt a little guilty. She knew that grandma valued this sense of ritual during New Year.
Grandma was going to give her a talking to…
Just when Jiang Xiaoman was ready to surrender, Jiang Xiumei took the initiative, “Xiaoman, your couplet is wrong.”
“What’s wrong?”
“There are too few words. Write a few more next year.”
“Oh.” Jiang Xiaoman nodded obediently, “Okay.”
Jiang Xiaoman had already thought about the couplet for next year.
Left: Outstanding and Foremost
Right: Overflowing Wealth, Waves of Prosperity
Horizontal: Shining Lucky Star
More words, right?
After New Year came spring, and the weather gradually grew hotter. Jiang Xiaoman started school again, and Jiang Xing was busy with work.
Jiang Xiumei felt sorry for the child. She felt that Jiang Xiaoman looked too thin. She thought that Xiaoman might have been studying so hard that she lost weight, so she decided to make up for it.
Jiang Xiaoman got to eat brain flower2 and a series of tonic soups good for the brain for a while, and finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
She squeezed her arm, patted her belly, and refused Jiang Xiumei’s food.
Footnote:
1. The three couplet she wrote contains a word that corresponds to the name of one of the members of the Jiang family.
– The first couplet reads Lucky Star, where the Xing part of Jiang Xing’s name means Star
– The literal translation for Overflowing Wealth is “Hall Filled with Jade and Gold”. Full here corresponds to the Man in Xiaoman’s name.
– The literal translation for Outstanding is “The Single Branch That Stands Out Beautifully”, where Beautiful corresponds to the Xiu in Jiang Xiumei’s name.
2. A type of dish made from pig brain.
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