This is a story that happened on New Year's Day in 2004.
Mei Fang and his friends are still in the second grade of elementary school.
The lights of memory quietly come on. On the winter night of 2004, residents are immersed in the joy of the coming of the New Year, and stalls of various vendors have spread throughout the cultural square.
Mei Fang followed her parents to the Cultural Square to visit the night market. Mei Ya had just turned one year old at this time and still had difficulty walking, but she could already babble.
"Xiaoya, who do you think this is?"
"Mama, mama."
Little Meiya raised her head and called out to her mother Xiang Xiaoxia.
"Well, what about this?"
Mei Fang cooperated by making faces at her sister in her mother's arms.
"gege, gege."
Her babyish voice made people couldn't help but call her adorable, even the reborn Mei Fang couldn't help but rub her a few more times.
"My sister is the cutest sister in the world!"
"Then you must protect your sister well in the future."
"Yeah!" Mei Fang nodded, "I will definitely take good care of her."
Only Meilijun still looked unhappy:
"Why can't this girl call me daddy..."
"Dad, this kind of thing depends on fate. You can't rush it."
"You're the only one who talks too much."
Mei Lijun was tapping his son's head at the moment, and happened to see Xia Yuan's family out shopping together -
"Oh, isn't this Teacher Yu?"
"What a coincidence, Mei Fang's parents!"
When Xia Yuan saw Mei Fang's family, he also came up to them excitedly and greeted them respectfully, "Hello, Aunt Mei, Hello, Uncle Mei!"
"Hello, Yuanyuan!"
As soon as Xia Yuan came over, he was attracted by little Meiya in Xiang Xiaoxia's arms.
"Aunt Mei! Can you, can you let me touch the baby?"
"You have to be careful and gentle, Xiaoya is still very delicate now."
"Yeah, I'll be careful..."
Xiang Xiaoxia was sitting on a stone bench nearby. Xia Yuan came over and gently touched Mei Ya's cheek with her hand.
Little Meiya blinked her big eyes and looked at this strange sister with great curiosity.
"She smiled... She smiled at me! Did you see that, Mei Fang?"
Happy Xia Yuan pulled Mei Fang and kept yelling. Xiang Xiaoxia saw that her daughter was looking in one direction, as if she wanted to reach out and grab something.
"She seems to like your hairpin very much."
“This… this?”
As Xia Yuan spoke, she took out a hairpin with peach blossom ornaments from her hair and showed it to Mei Ya.
"This is a hair accessory with a pointed tip. You are too young to hold it directly..."
"Mama, mama..."
Little Meiya stretched out her hand to grasp it, and at the same time made a sound to ask her mother for help.
"You really can't take this, it's too dangerous..."
Mei Ya obviously didn't understand what Xia Yuan said. Realizing that she couldn't get what she wanted, she immediately started crying loudly with some grievance.
"Yoyo... Xiaoya, be good... Sister Yuanyuan is right. That is still very dangerous. You can't touch it now."
Xiang Xiaoxia stood up and hugged Mei Ya to comfort her, and signaled Xia Yuan to take away the hairpin quickly.
"… "
Xia Yuan put the hairpin back on her head. At this time, Teacher Yu gently patted her daughter's shoulder and said, "You brought your wallet today, right? You can go to the stall over there with Mei Fang, but don't go too far."
"Yeah, sure!"
As soon as Xia Yuan got the promise, he became a wild horse and started to trot while holding Mei Fang's hand.
"Mei Fang, let's go play over there!"
"Hey, wait a minute... didn't I tell you not to run too far?"
After entering elementary school, Xia Yuan no longer needed Mei Fang to take her out to play, but she would not go out alone. Going out to play with other children was Xia Yuan's normal routine.
As long as we hold hands, we will be fearless.
Xia Yuan took Mei Fang to watch others shoot air guns and set rings.
A game of dice rolling is still very popular during the Spring Festival in Baimei County. Various shapes of animals are drawn on the dice, and people earn corresponding prizes by betting on how many animals fall.
Xia Yuan was still watching from the side.
Mei Fang asked her, "Why don't you try to place a bet yourself?"
Xia Yuan shook her head. "Mom said this is gambling, and children shouldn't do this kind of thing."
"But you're obviously very interested!"
Xia Yuan blushed, "See if there's anything wrong..."
"Then I'll play."
Mei Fang had just rolled up his sleeves when Xia Yuan grabbed him. Mei Fang frowned and asked, "Are you going to complain to Teacher Yu?"
"That's not what I meant..."
Xia Yuan took out a 10-yuan note from her wallet and said, "Mei Fang, I'll give you money to play! This way I can feel a sense of participation... If you win, it's yours, and if you lose, it's mine. What do you think?"
"Um... then what animal do you want to guess?"
"Rabbit, rabbit! All in on the rabbit!"
"This game costs 2 yuan per time. Does it mean you bet all on the rabbit 5 times, or bet 5 times in a row?"
"Just play for a while! Just, just play once... Help me crush the rabbit."
Mei Fang listened to Xia Yuan and bet on the rabbit, and everyone placed their bets again before the next round began.
"Buy it and leave it, buy it and leave it, the dice are about to start rolling!"
The shopkeeper pulled the thick hemp rope. Xia Yuan was so scared that he didn't dare to look. He just held Mei Fang's arm and covered his eyes.
Seeing that she looked amused, Mei Fang also started stroking her little head.
"Speaking of which, Xia Yuan, your hairpin is quite beautiful..."
"Yes, right! I really like this hairpin!"
As soon as Xia Yuan finished speaking, the shop owner who was throwing the dice pulled the hemp rope, and three huge dice rolled off the board.
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit...
"It's three rabbits!"
"Wow, wow!"
Xia Yuan happily hugged Mei Fang and celebrated together, "I'm so lucky to be with you!"
Although winning three rabbits at the same time is a random event with an extremely low probability, the prize money Mei Fang and his team received was only 20 yuan.
Xia Yuan gave the 18 yuan he earned to Mei Fang as promised, and then took him around for a walk.
This time they strolled together for a short while before they heard someone calling Xia Yuan's name from behind.
When the two looked back, they found that the little girl who appeared was Lin Youxi.
She left her father Lin Guochuan's hand and happily ran up to greet Xia Yuan.
"Lin Youxi, you came out to play tonight too!"
Lin Youxi nodded and looked at Xia Yuan and Mei Fang curiously:
"What are you two playing?"
"We were watching other people throwing circles! One person threw the circles very accurately and got a lot of gifts."
"Mei Fang can also throw very accurately, why don't you let him try?"
Lin Youxi danced happily and gestured, "We played the game of throwing circles together a few days ago. You don't know, he's really good at it!"
Xia Yuan immediately put his hands on his hips and looked annoyed, "Did you come here to play by yourselves a few days ago? Why didn't you call me?"
"No, no... We didn't come here by ourselves. Uncle Mei brought us here. We were playing on Main Street at the time."
At this time, Lin Guochuan came over to greet the children, asked where their parents were, and then reminded the three little ones:
"Someone is flying Kongming lanterns in the south of the square. Do you want to go over there and play? There are also Kongming lanterns for sale there. If you want to play, you can fly them together."
“Kongming lantern? What is that…” Xia Yuan tilted his head.
Mei Fang reminded, "You can release the lanterns into the sky. Can't you see them in the night sky over there?"
"Oh, that's beautiful! I want to light the lanterns too."
So Lin Guochuan gave Lin Youxi 5 yuan and told them, "If you want to light lanterns together, use this money to buy lanterns."
Lin Youxi tilted her head in confusion, "Dad, aren't you going to take us to light the lanterns?"
"It will be more fun if you kids play it together."
Lin Guochuan patted Lin Youxi's little head and said, "Remember not to run too far, especially since there is a pond in the south."
"Got it, Dad! Don't worry, Mei Fang is here. He's a man, he will protect us!"
Lin Youxi held her little head high, her clear eyes filled with infinite trust in Mei Fang.
I wish you all a happy New Year. The New Year’s Day special has about 2 chapters, this is the first one.
(End of this chapter)