During the Chinese New Year, Mi Yang took his sister back to Shanhai Town a few days in advance.
Old Mrs. Cheng has been in good health in the past two years, but she has some chronic diseases that cannot be cured for a while. She has been taking medicine one after another. As she is old, she can only try her best to recuperate. The old lady did not expect that Mi Yang and his sister would come back early this year. She was very happy and prepared food for them. "There are no good dishes at home. I will buy some. Yangyang, is Luochuan coming back with you? Ask him if he wants to come to dinner. I will buy more dishes. Didn't he say that amber walnut kernels are delicious last time? I will prepare them this time!"
Mi Yang put down his bag and replied, "He hasn't come back yet. It will take a few days. He is very busy at work."
Old Mrs. Cheng was surprised: "Is it an internship during the winter vacation? Are you going now?"
Mi Yang smiled and said, "That's right, grandma, just give me a list of what you want to buy and I'll buy it for you. I know the way."
Old Mrs. Cheng stood and read out a few dishes. After watching Mi Yang write them down, she comforted him: "We are not in a hurry. It is also good to go to work a few days later. You stay in school for a while. You will be tired when you come out. You have to consider saving money and buying a house. There are many things to think about!"
After listening for a while, Mi Yang realized that the old lady was afraid that he would be anxious if he saw Bai Luochuan already "had a job". He smiled and nodded, saying, "I know, grandma, I'm going and will be back soon. Let Xiaoxue accompany you."
The little girl was very well-behaved. She hugged the old lady's arm and called her sweetly. She was very close to Old Lady Cheng.
Mi Yang bought some vegetables and meat and came back. He tied an apron on himself to stop the old lady from working. He said to her, "Grandma, you just give me instructions. I will learn some skills from you."
Mrs. Cheng thought for a moment and said, "That's fine. It will be useful in the future. Girls nowadays like to be considerate and family-oriented. It won't hurt to learn more."
Mi Yang did not refute. He stood there and learned seriously. He skillfully used the wok to cook three dishes and a soup.
By the time Michelle came to serve the dishes, he had already sorted and cleaned the things in the kitchen. It was obvious that he made these often.
Old Mrs. Cheng had dinner with them. She couldn't really taste the saltiness, as she was old and her taste was heavier. But the doctor had advised people with high blood pressure to eat less oil and salt, so she couldn't taste the saltiness and even asked Michelle if the food tasted good.
The little girl is a die-hard fan of her brother. She nodded and gave a thumbs up: "It's delicious!"
Mi Yang accepted the compliment calmly.
Bai Luochuan returned to Shanhai Town on the 29th day of the lunar year. He was not idle after returning. Seeing that the old house was empty, even with the Spring Festival couplets and blessing characters pasted on it, it was still a bit deserted, so he went to the warehouse to find some red lanterns and hung them up. Mr. Bai gave the people who worked in the old house a New Year's holiday and asked them to go home for reunion. When Bai Luochuan returned, there were not many people in the old house, so he rolled up his sleeves and hung them up for half an afternoon. In the evening, he turned on the lights to try it out. It was all red, festive and beautiful.
He has done this every year since Mr. Bai fell ill.
At first, I thought it was to get rid of the bad luck of the old man’s illness, but later I just wanted to live a good life every year and make everyone happy.
When Bai Luochuan was hanging lanterns in the garden, Mi Yang happened to be delivering something to Bai Lao. When he saw it, he went over and straightened the lantern for him from below to give him a hand.
Bai Luochuan's hands lightened as he fixed the copper hook. He stood on the ladder, looked down and said with a smile, "Why are you here?"
Mi Yang said: "I'll bring some food to Grandpa Bai."
Bai Luochuan came down from the ladder and asked, "What are they?"
Mi Yang: "Some red date cakes and steamed cakes just out of the oven, and a few red sugar flower-shaped steamed buns."
Young Master Bai was quite interested. He looked at his basket and asked, "Do you have yellow rice cakes?"
Mi Yang shook his head and said, "No, that needs to be steamed tonight and can only be eaten tomorrow morning. I'll bring it to you then."
Bai Luochuan said, "No, I'll go over and eat. I want fried rice cakes that you dip in sugar."
Mi Yang agreed, and went to take the basket of food into the small building and put it down, then came out to help Bai Luochuan hang up all the lanterns.
The two of them worked much faster. They had been working in harmony with each other for so many years that they had become very close. Mi Yang could give Bai Luochuan whatever he wanted without him asking. In no time, all the lanterns were ready.
Before it got dark, Bai Luochuan couldn't help but light up all the lanterns. The lights were so colorful that the faces of the people were all blushing.
Young Master Bai likes this kind of lively atmosphere and feels that this is what makes the New Year feel real.
Mi Yang was also watching and suddenly asked him, "I didn't see these big lanterns at the door last year. Did you buy them new?"
Bai Luochuan put his arm on his shoulder, raised his eyebrows and said proudly: "Yes, I secretly stuffed it into the warehouse. Isn't it beautiful?"
Mi Yang: "If Uncle Bai knew about this, he would accuse you of wasting it."
Bai Luochuan said, "Never mind him. He wants to live his life, and I am happy to live mine. It's so boring to have so many attentions in my life. I didn't steal or rob, but I can't even hang a lantern by earning my own money?" He frowned slightly, then relaxed and said sarcastically, "Besides, he has already returned. He came quite early this year, not even the first month of the year."
Mi Yang was stunned and asked: "Ah? How did you know? Did you see Uncle Bai?"
Bai Luochuan said lazily: "I have been hanging lanterns here for the whole afternoon. I haven't had time to go anywhere and I haven't seen him yet."
Mi Yang asked curiously: "Then how do you know that Uncle Bai is back?"
Bai Luochuan chuckled and whispered in his ear, "It would have been hung up a long time ago, and he is the only one who is in charge of all the lanterns." His voice was soft, and he didn't need to lower it deliberately. He just acted like that and blew a breath into Mi Yang's ear.
Mi Yang hid for a moment, rubbed his ears and looked at him, his face a little red: "Don't make trouble."
Bai Luochuan said: "What kind of 'trouble' is this? I'm just talking to you. How about I 'trouble' you and let you try?"
Mi Yang dodged him for two steps, and his cell phone rang. When he took it out of his pocket, Bai Luochuan saw the name and asked him, "Which Miss Wu? When did you meet a Miss Wu?"
Mi Yang said: "Brother Chen introduced a private job to help her find literature and materials..."
Bai Luochuan listened to him picking up the phone. The voice on the other end was cold and lonely. He reacted for a moment before remembering that this was Wu Shuang, the eldest daughter of Wu Shuang'an's family. They had met before in Xinjiang, and this woman had been talking to Mi Yang. He listened to Mi Yang talking to her patiently, and he felt jealous. After Mi Yang said, "Let's talk about it in detail when we get back to school," he said jealously, "What do you have to talk about with her?"
Mi Yang: "She wants to find a few jade pendants, but she's not sure about some of the patterns, so she needs me to borrow some information from the archives for her."
As he was talking, another text message came. Bai Luochuan saw Wu Shuang's name again, and pretended to snatch the phone and held it up high, not giving it to Mi Yang: "How can you get a job during the Chinese New Year? There are calls and text messages. It's over. Let her go find Chen Baiwei. Return the money to her. I won't take this job anymore!"
Mi Yang reached out to grab his arm, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "How is that possible? I've already promised them."
Master Bai was also very insistent: "I will pay the penalty for breach of contract and pay her back double!"
"This is not about money. Let me see the text message first..."
…
Two young men were making a fuss in the garden downstairs, which made the people upstairs laugh.
Old Mr. Bai was standing on the balcony, smiling with eyes full of kindness. Looking at the two naughty boys making a fuss, he just felt that they had a good relationship and didn't feel any disgust at all.
Bai Jingrong stayed with the old man. It was the first time in several years that he was able to take annual leave. He did not stay elsewhere for long and came back immediately to visit his old father.
Bai Jingrong stood there and watched for a while. He didn't look at Bai Luochuan, but saw the different shades of red. He frowned slightly and said, "Dad, isn't this a bit extravagant and wasteful?"
Old Bai glanced at him and said slowly, "These are the things I used in the past two years. They have been kept in the warehouse. Luo Chuan is thoughtful and comes back every year to show them to an old man like me."
Bai Jingrong said: "It's not that we can't hang lanterns, I mean, there are too many, dozens of them inside and outside..."
"I think this is good. We can't bring anything with us when we are born and we can't take anything with us when we die. We can only see it a few more times." Bai Lao interrupted him, leaning on his cane to stand in front of the glass window and look outside. He smiled as he looked, "It's really beautiful. I wonder if I can see it next year."
Bai Jingrong didn't dare to say anything. He couldn't help but feel his eyes turn red after just one sentence. He made an excuse that he had to do something and went out first.
Old Bai stood there without moving, looking at the sky outside gradually getting darker and the young people under the warm lights.
The two of them, just like when they were kids, loved to get together to do everything. They discussed hanging up another string of colorful lights. I couldn't hear what they were saying because I was too far away, but the little conflict they had just had was long gone, and the two of them were smiling again.
Bai Lao sighed, shook his head and smiled: "I don't know if I can still see it."
His grandson is very competitive and he deserves to be proud of the fact that he is better than anyone else in running. It is his health that is failing. It has been recurring on and off for the past year. He has been holding on for too long and he feels a little tired, but he still wants to hold on for two more years.
I want to accompany them again.
At least, watch them grow up and live the life they want.