After having enough food and drinks, the aunts seemed to have set aside the matter of eating barbecue behind their minds.
During the meal, the uncles were so enthusiastic that Su Chang ended up drinking a few glasses as well. This made Yu Zhou angry, and she almost got into a quarrel with her eldest uncle.
Su Chang’s stomach was not good and finally, she had the chance to go home for a few days of rest during the Spring Festival. However, there was still the unfortunate habit of people pressuring her to drink despite her condition.
But Yu Zhou wouldn’t really get angry. She just finished her meal early, sat on the sofa play with her phone and sulked.
Ms. Zhao knew her temper best. Seeing that Yu Zhou stopped talking, Ms. Zhao knew that she was unhappy, so she walked over and patted her on the back, saying, “It’s the New Year!”
“I hate hearing ‘It’s the New Year’ the most.”
It’s even more useful than a lifesaving charm. Like some kind of spell, it seems like you have to burst into laughter immediately after hearing it, otherwise you would be considered not sensible. But could the adults also be a little more sensible?
“Your uncle is looking.” Ms. Zhao hit her shoulder with the chopsticks.
Yu Zhou glanced at her eldest uncle, who was grinning with a drunken look, “Oh, it’s just two cups. What’s the big deal? It’s for fun.”
“Yeah, yeah, for fun, let’s have another round.” The younger uncle saw that he was getting drunk and was afraid of adding fuel to the fire, so he quickly raised his glass and clinked it with eldest uncle’s.
Su Chang stood up, walked over, bent down in front of her with hands resting on the armrests of the sofa, “I won’t drink anymore, don’t be angry, okay?”
“You said before that you wouldn’t drink if you didn’t have to.” Yu Zhou felt like she was being a little melodramatic, like one of those emotionally tense people, which was particularly annoying, but she couldn’t help it. Every time she smelled the white wine when Su Chang spoke, she would unintentionally frown.
Su Chang had always found that white wine was hard to take, with its fiery taste.
“Zhouzhou,” Ms. Zhao called her while holding a bowl, “Go to the kitchen and fry the marinated crispy meat I prepared earlier. Changchang didn’t eat much just now, so let her fill her stomach.”
It’s not good to stay with an unhappy face here.
Yu Zhou took a deep breath and silently went to the kitchen, turned on the stove, heated the pan, and started pouring oil.
A large bowl was covered with plastic wrap, containing marinated meat strips. She tore off the plastic wrap, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and waited for the oil to heat up before putting them in one by one.
Amid the humming of the range hood, the fragrance wafted when she fell into a cool embrace.
Su Chang hugged her waist from behind, resting her chin on Yu Zhou’s neck, watching her fry the crispy meat.
“The door is not closed,” Yu Zhou said.
But Su Chang tightened her arms and didn’t let her go.
With a hint of drunkenness, she said, “You were also holding me while playing mahjong just now.”
At that time, she didn’t care about hiding their relationship, and now she couldn’t either.
Alright then, that made sense.
Su Chang looked down at her frying the crispy meat, letting out a soft laugh suddenly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sometimes your movements and expressions resemble your mother,” Su Chang said with a smile, wrinkling her eyebrows slightly in helplessness. “It’s a bit out of place.”
“What do you mean?” Yu Zhou was annoyed.
Thinking about Ms. Zhao Qingxia, her face almost turned green.
“Hmm, when you’re angry, your eyes look a bit like your father too.” Su Chang tilted her head to examine her carefully, speaking softly.
Speechless.
“Su Chang, you’ve provoked me now.”
What a lovely flower she was, being in the arms of the person she liked, and the atmosphere was so delightful. But Su Chang kept remarking that she resembled her parents.
What kind of love life was that?
Yu Zhou pushed her away with one arm. Was today just a bad day for her? Why was she always getting angry?
Su Chang leaned against the kitchen counter with her hand resting lightly on the side. “I think it’s very cute.”
“Your parents are both very cute, that’s why they gave birth to someone as cute as you.”
Of course, it might also be because Yu Zhou was cute, so Su Chang found her parents, who seemed to have some resemblance to her, endearing too.
“I was just thinking, if you’re like your parents, when you’re old, I’ll probably still like you, and it should still be interesting for us to be together.”
“When I’m old, you’ll be older. What choice do you have then?” Yu Zhou was feeling a little better, but she wanted to hold out a bit longer.
“No choice.” Su Chang opened her mouth slightly, as if the words were pushed out from the tip of her tongue.
Yu Zhou turned off the heat, picked up the crispy meat from the pot before placing it in the sieve to drain the oil. “I’ve never seen you be so talkative before.”
Su Chang watched her in curiosity. “Why are you putting it in a sieve and not a slotted spoon?”
Metal utensils should be easier to clean than bamboo sieves.
Yu Zhou explained, “When I was little, my grandmother used to make crispy meat for us and she would put it in a sieve. My mother said she ate this during New Year’s, also from a sieve. So when my mother made it, she followed her example, and now I do the same.”
“Some habits can’t be changed, like how we eat noodles on the first morning of the new year. It’s a tradition and a sense of ceremony. When the day comes that no one wants to do these things, is too lazy to continue, or can’t remember, I’m afraid our big family won’t gather together like this anymore.”
Su Chang pondered.
“Does your family have such rules?” Yu Zhou suddenly wanted to know more about her family.
Su Chang thought for a moment, running her hand along the edge of the counter. “No.”
“Probably when I was very young, there was a time when the whole family went back to our hometown for the New Year. My dad, my mom, a few of my aunts, and I kowtowed to my great-grandfather. Does that count?”
“But it never happened again,” Su Chang added.
“Oh my god, your family is both modern and also feudal? Kowtowing…” Yu Zhou was stunned.
“We never kowtowed during the New Year, only the children would, never the adults,” she continued.
But Su Chang raised her eyebrows, “There is.”
Her eyes were fixed on Yu Zhou, the meaning is evident without words.
As if she was saying — there is someone who has offered to kowtow to me.
“You’re so annoying!” Yu Zhou wanted to hit her.
“Just do one.” Su Chang reached out and gently scratched Yu Zhou’s waist.
“I’m afraid it will shorten your life, sister.” Yu Zhou snorted coldly.
“Sister?”
“Yeah, if you want me to kowtow and you don’t want to shorten your life, then the only thing we can do is make a sworn promise,” Yu Zhou laughed, “With Heaven above and Earth below, then we would bite our finger, hahahaha.”
Su Chang shook her head silently without saying a word.
“What? Any better ideas?”
“There’s not only the possibility of kowtow to each other, right?”
“Oh?” Yu Zhou looked at her and smiled.
“Also, getting married.”
Yu Zhou folded her arms, leaning against the wall tiles: “So is this a proposal?”
“What do you think?”
“Not really.”
“I want an ostentatious one, hahaha,” Yu Zhou said, “Like, one day you take me to the movie theater, and after the movie, we watch a man propose and fail. Then I say how miserable he is, and you reply that he is not miserable because the hero of the proposal today is someone else. I am bewildered, and you stand up. I am stunned, covering my mouth with both hands, gasping in cold air.”
Su Chang’s brows gradually furrowed: “That specific?”
“Um… I saw it on Weibo, and thought it was kind of fun.”
Su Chang took a deep breath with her eyebrows not relaxed, “Are you sure you want that?”
“Not really. If it’s true, it’ll be quite embarrassing.”
She saw Su Chang heave a small sigh of relief.
“What’s the matter? You really thought about proposing to me?” Yu Zhou said in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t we going a bit too fast?” Ever since they got back together, it seemed as if Su Chang had hit the accelerator. It had only been half a year.
“Yeah it is a bit fast, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking about it.”
“Oh my god, this person is always scheming in her mind how to marry me.” Yu Zhou suddenly grew coy.
Su Chang laughed softly, her eyes pointing at Yu Zhou’s forehead.
This gaze made Yu Zhous’ feigned shyness become a little more genuine. She stopped joking and cleared her throat to ask Su Chang, “Do you want to eat crispy meat? It’s not too hot now.”
“Mm.” Su Chang responded with a hum but didn’t move her hand.
Yu Zhou sighed, picked up a piece with her chopsticks and brought it to Su Chang’s lips.
She took a bite.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yeah.”
Yu Zhou found that she was really a little bit like Ms. Zhao. They were all the same, very fond of feeding others.
This discovery left her with a faint sorrowful sense of feeling old. She handed the chopsticks to Su Chang. Her phone rang and she tapped on it, seeing a video from Peng Xiangzhi in the group. She and Xiang Wan were at a temple fair.
After having enough food and drinks, the aunts seemed to have set aside the matter of eating barbecue behind their minds.
During the meal, the uncles were so enthusiastic that Su Chang ended up drinking a few glasses as well. This made Yu Zhou angry, and she almost got into a quarrel with her eldest uncle.
Su Chang’s stomach was not good and finally, she had the chance to go home for a few days of rest during the Spring Festival. However, there was still the unfortunate habit of people pressuring her to drink despite her condition.
But Yu Zhou wouldn’t really get angry. She just finished her meal early, sat on the sofa play with her phone and sulked.
Ms. Zhao knew her temper best. Seeing that Yu Zhou stopped talking, Ms. Zhao knew that she was unhappy, so she walked over and patted her on the back, saying, “It’s the New Year!”
“I hate hearing ‘It’s the New Year’ the most.”
It’s even more useful than a lifesaving charm. Like some kind of spell, it seems like you have to burst into laughter immediately after hearing it, otherwise you would be considered not sensible. But could the adults also be a little more sensible?
“Your uncle is looking.” Ms. Zhao hit her shoulder with the chopsticks.
Yu Zhou glanced at her eldest uncle, who was grinning with a drunken look, “Oh, it’s just two cups. What’s the big deal? It’s for fun.”
“Yeah, yeah, for fun, let’s have another round.” The younger uncle saw that he was getting drunk and was afraid of adding fuel to the fire, so he quickly raised his glass and clinked it with eldest uncle’s.
Su Chang stood up, walked over, bent down in front of her with hands resting on the armrests of the sofa, “I won’t drink anymore, don’t be angry, okay?”
“You said before that you wouldn’t drink if you didn’t have to.” Yu Zhou felt like she was being a little melodramatic, like one of those emotionally tense people, which was particularly annoying, but she couldn’t help it. Every time she smelled the white wine when Su Chang spoke, she would unintentionally frown.
Su Chang had always found that white wine was hard to take, with its fiery taste.
“Zhouzhou,” Ms. Zhao called her while holding a bowl, “Go to the kitchen and fry the marinated crispy meat I prepared earlier. Changchang didn’t eat much just now, so let her fill her stomach.”
It’s not good to stay with an unhappy face here.
Yu Zhou took a deep breath and silently went to the kitchen, turned on the stove, heated the pan, and started pouring oil.
A large bowl was covered with plastic wrap, containing marinated meat strips. She tore off the plastic wrap, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and waited for the oil to heat up before putting them in one by one.
Amid the humming of the range hood, the fragrance wafted when she fell into a cool embrace.
Su Chang hugged her waist from behind, resting her chin on Yu Zhou’s neck, watching her fry the crispy meat.
“The door is not closed,” Yu Zhou said.
But Su Chang tightened her arms and didn’t let her go.
With a hint of drunkenness, she said, “You were also holding me while playing mahjong just now.”
At that time, she didn’t care about hiding their relationship, and now she couldn’t either.
Alright then, that made sense.
Su Chang looked down at her frying the crispy meat, letting out a soft laugh suddenly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sometimes your movements and expressions resemble your mother,” Su Chang said with a smile, wrinkling her eyebrows slightly in helplessness. “It’s a bit out of place.”
“What do you mean?” Yu Zhou was annoyed.
Thinking about Ms. Zhao Qingxia, her face almost turned green.
“Hmm, when you’re angry, your eyes look a bit like your father too.” Su Chang tilted her head to examine her carefully, speaking softly.
Speechless.
“Su Chang, you’ve provoked me now.”
What a lovely flower she was, being in the arms of the person she liked, and the atmosphere was so delightful. But Su Chang kept remarking that she resembled her parents.
What kind of love life was that?
Yu Zhou pushed her away with one arm. Was today just a bad day for her? Why was she always getting angry?
Su Chang leaned against the kitchen counter with her hand resting lightly on the side. “I think it’s very cute.”
“Your parents are both very cute, that’s why they gave birth to someone as cute as you.”
Of course, it might also be because Yu Zhou was cute, so Su Chang found her parents, who seemed to have some resemblance to her, endearing too.
“I was just thinking, if you’re like your parents, when you’re old, I’ll probably still like you, and it should still be interesting for us to be together.”
“When I’m old, you’ll be older. What choice do you have then?” Yu Zhou was feeling a little better, but she wanted to hold out a bit longer.
“No choice.” Su Chang opened her mouth slightly, as if the words were pushed out from the tip of her tongue.
Yu Zhou turned off the heat, picked up the crispy meat from the pot before placing it in the sieve to drain the oil. “I’ve never seen you be so talkative before.”
Su Chang watched her in curiosity. “Why are you putting it in a sieve and not a slotted spoon?”
Metal utensils should be easier to clean than bamboo sieves.
Yu Zhou explained, “When I was little, my grandmother used to make crispy meat for us and she would put it in a sieve. My mother said she ate this during New Year’s, also from a sieve. So when my mother made it, she followed her example, and now I do the same.”
“Some habits can’t be changed, like how we eat noodles on the first morning of the new year. It’s a tradition and a sense of ceremony. When the day comes that no one wants to do these things, is too lazy to continue, or can’t remember, I’m afraid our big family won’t gather together like this anymore.”
Su Chang pondered.
“Does your family have such rules?” Yu Zhou suddenly wanted to know more about her family.
Su Chang thought for a moment, running her hand along the edge of the counter. “No.”
“Probably when I was very young, there was a time when the whole family went back to our hometown for the New Year. My dad, my mom, a few of my aunts, and I kowtowed to my great-grandfather. Does that count?”
“But it never happened again,” Su Chang added.
“Oh my god, your family is both modern and also feudal? Kowtowing…” Yu Zhou was stunned.
“We never kowtowed during the New Year, only the children would, never the adults,” she continued.
But Su Chang raised her eyebrows, “There is.”
Her eyes were fixed on Yu Zhou, the meaning is evident without words.
As if she was saying — there is someone who has offered to kowtow to me.
“You’re so annoying!” Yu Zhou wanted to hit her.
“Just do one.” Su Chang reached out and gently scratched Yu Zhou’s waist.
“I’m afraid it will shorten your life, sister.” Yu Zhou snorted coldly.
“Sister?”
“Yeah, if you want me to kowtow and you don’t want to shorten your life, then the only thing we can do is make a sworn promise,” Yu Zhou laughed, “With Heaven above and Earth below, then we would bite our finger, hahahaha.”
Su Chang shook her head silently without saying a word.
“What? Any better ideas?”
“There’s not only the possibility of kowtow to each other, right?”
“Oh?” Yu Zhou looked at her and smiled.
“Also, getting married.”
Yu Zhou folded her arms, leaning against the wall tiles: “So is this a proposal?”
“What do you think?”
“Not really.”
“I want an ostentatious one, hahaha,” Yu Zhou said, “Like, one day you take me to the movie theater, and after the movie, we watch a man propose and fail. Then I say how miserable he is, and you reply that he is not miserable because the hero of the proposal today is someone else. I am bewildered, and you stand up. I am stunned, covering my mouth with both hands, gasping in cold air.”
Su Chang’s brows gradually furrowed: “That specific?”
“Um… I saw it on Weibo, and thought it was kind of fun.”
Su Chang took a deep breath with her eyebrows not relaxed, “Are you sure you want that?”
“Not really. If it’s true, it’ll be quite embarrassing.”
She saw Su Chang heave a small sigh of relief.
“What’s the matter? You really thought about proposing to me?” Yu Zhou said in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t we going a bit too fast?” Ever since they got back together, it seemed as if Su Chang had hit the accelerator. It had only been half a year.
“Yeah it is a bit fast, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking about it.”
“Oh my god, this person is always scheming in her mind how to marry me.” Yu Zhou suddenly grew coy.
Su Chang laughed softly, her eyes pointing at Yu Zhou’s forehead.
This gaze made Yu Zhous’ feigned shyness become a little more genuine. She stopped joking and cleared her throat to ask Su Chang, “Do you want to eat crispy meat? It’s not too hot now.”
“Mm.” Su Chang responded with a hum but didn’t move her hand.
Yu Zhou sighed, picked up a piece with her chopsticks and brought it to Su Chang’s lips.
She took a bite.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yeah.”
Yu Zhou found that she was really a little bit like Ms. Zhao. They were all the same, very fond of feeding others.
This discovery left her with a faint sorrowful sense of feeling old. She handed the chopsticks to Su Chang. Her phone rang and she tapped on it, seeing a video from Peng Xiangzhi in the group. She and Xiang Wan were at a temple fair.
