In the past, there were three people in Zhuang Rui's family celebrating the New Year. Later, after Zhuang Min got married, it was just him and his mother. Although Liu Chuan's parents would invite them over every year, Zhuang Rui's mother didn't like to trouble others and always declined. Over the years, Zhuang Rui had gotten used to it.
Starting from the morning of New Year's Eve, Zhuang Rui was busy. First, he cleaned the house, then pasted the 'fu' character upside down on the door, along with Spring Festival couplets, window paper-cuts, New Year paintings, and so on. Even though it was just him and his mother celebrating, he made the home brimming with New Year's atmosphere. The stereo played the Cantonese version of 'Gong Xi Fa Cai,' filling the house with a festive vibe.
Around six in the evening on New Year's Eve, Zhuang Rui first lit incense and paid respects to his deceased grandparents and father. Then he and his mother had an early dinner and sat by the TV, waiting for the Spring Festival Gala to start while making dumplings. According to custom, the dumplings were to be boiled first thing the next morning. Mother and son worked smoothly—one rolling out the wrappers, the other wrapping the filling.
When it comes to making dumplings, Zhuang Rui had gotten scolded by his mother plenty as a kid. When he was young and playful, he'd grab a wrapper, put some filling in, and start pinching it randomly. The dumplings he made were all indescribable shapes, and as soon as they went into the pot, they'd fall apart. But his mother never scolded him—she just made him eat whatever he made every time. Over time, Zhuang Rui's dumplings started to look pretty decent. They say children from poor families mature early, and that's definitely true. Zhuang Rui often saw that guy Liu Chuan making dumplings that looked like buns.
“Xiao Rui, look, even Liu Chuan has found a girlfriend, and Lei Lei has such a good personality. You and Liu Chuan were born in the same year, and you're twenty-five now. When are you going to bring a daughter-in-law home for me?”
The rolling pin in Zhuang Rui's mother's hand didn't stop moving. She asked her son casually, as if offhandedly, but in her heart, she was already worried. Although she didn't want to interfere too much with her children's marriage due to some reasons she couldn't explain to them, and she was quite open-minded and democratic at home, she was getting older after all, so she naturally paid more attention to her son's lifelong matters.
But Zhuang Rui's mother didn't bring up Qin Xuanbing. She could tell that girl was definitely from a well-off family—what the old folks would call a socialite. She was polite enough, but she always gave off a sense of distance. A woman like that wasn't suitable for her son.
“Mom, I'm still young. No rush. I'll take my time finding someone. I'll definitely find a daughter-in-law who's filial to you, who'll cook for you and massage your back every day. If she doesn't behave, I'll divorce her and get a new one…”
Zhuang Rui was joking with his mom. Although he worked in a pawnshop in Shanghai and often came into contact with women, those women were either wealthy or powerful and never gave him a second glance. As an ordinary white-collar worker with no money or status, finding a satisfactory girlfriend in Shanghai was really not an easy task. Zhuang Rui was also a normal man—well, a normal little virgin guy, otherwise the scene he saw at the hospital wouldn't have shocked him so much.
"You want me to massage your back and cook for you every day? You think you're hiring a maid? I'm old, son. As long as I can see you settle down and get married, I'll be satisfied. Then I can still take care of the kids for a few years. If you keep dragging it out, I won't have the strength to help you with the kids later...".
Zhuang Rui's mother seemed to have thought of something. Her voice gradually dropped, and tears seemed to glisten in her eyes. She stood up and walked toward her own room.
"Mom, how could you say you're old? Look, you don't even have a wrinkle on your face. Alright, the Spring Festival Gala has started. Come out and watch TV. We've made enough dumplings for now." Zhuang Rui, seeing his mother getting sad, quickly changed the subject and stood up to turn up the volume on the TV.
Actually, Zhuang Rui and his sister had had a question in their hearts for many years. When they were young, their mother spoke standard Mandarin, which gradually turned into the local Pengcheng dialect she used now. Also, she never mentioned anything about her maiden family. When Zhuang Rui was little and saw that others had uncles, aunts, and grandparents, he and his sister once asked their mother about it. The result was that Zhuang Rui's mother, who had never laid a finger on either of her two children, gave them both a severe beating that time.
From then on, the sensible Zhuang Rui and Zhuang Min never brought it up again, but whenever the holidays came around, both siblings would notice their mother's spirits sink low, and she would go to her room to be alone for a while, while Zhuang Rui was always trying to think of ways to cheer her up.
When Zhuang Rui was daydreaming, he often thought that his mother must have come from a prominent family, and then she and his dad must have pulled off a classic tale of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun eloping to the back garden, because his mother not only knew English but was also proficient in Russian. Zhuang Rui was genuinely curious about his mother's background; he had no idea what kind of family could raise a woman with such a character—independent and strong, yet tactful and refined. Compared to Zhuang Rui's mother, the wealthy wives and officials' ladies he had seen in Shanghai fell far short in terms of temperament.
After a while, when the Spring Festival Gala had already started, Zhuang Rui's mother came out of her room with red-rimmed eyes, but her mood was much better than before. She sat down in front of the TV and chatted with Zhuang Rui as they watched the Spring Festival Gala.
Watching the Spring Festival Gala now was just a habit during the New Year; the feeling from the old days was long gone. Zhuang Rui's mother was getting older and went back to her room to sleep around 10 o'clock. Zhuang Rui found it pretty boring watching alone and was getting really drowsy, but he didn't dare go to sleep because he knew the New Year's calls at midnight would definitely wake him up.
He held out until almost midnight, then hurriedly pulled the living room phone line into his room. Sure enough, not long after, Liu Chuan, his four college dorm brothers, and a bunch of junior high classmates he had just exchanged numbers with yesterday all called one after another. After finishing the calls, Zhuang Rui thought about calling Uncle De, but seeing that it was already almost one in the morning, he decided not to and planned to call to wish Uncle De a Happy New Year in the morning.
After getting up early in the morning and boiling dumplings to eat, Zhuang Rui made New Year phone calls to Liu Chuan's parents, Uncle De, and some friends in Zhonghai, then went back to bed to catch up on sleep.
……
Nothing much happened on the first and second days of the New Year. Aside from visiting his godmother and his sister's house to pay New Year's respects, Zhuang Rui stayed home reading books. He had bought several hundred yuan worth of appraisal and collection books from Xinhua Bookstore at once, but had only read a few so far. His understanding of the antique trade was still a bit ambiguous and vague, but it was much better than before when he'd doze off at the sight of such books—at least now he could get through them.
Whether it was due to relying on his eyes or those days of cramming knowledge, Zhuang Rui actually felt a bit of an itching to try something. If the flower and bird market hadn't only opened on the fifth day of the New Year, he might have gone to test his hand.
On the third day of the New Year, when daughters return to their parents' homes, his sister and brother-in-law brought little Nannan over, naturally making another lively day. Nannan was very close to her uncle, whom she didn't see often but who allowed her to eat White Rabbit candy. In the evening, she didn't want to go home with her parents, so Zhuang Min left her daughter to stay for a few days—after all, their mother used to help take care of the child often.
As a result, Zhuang Rui had no time to read books either. Instead, he took his niece around Pengcheng for a few days of fun, forgetting about his plan to visit the flower and bird market. It wasn't until the sixth day of the New Year, when Liu Chuan called and invited him to come hang out at the shop, that he finally sauntered over leisurely with Nannan.
This time, walking through the flower and bird market wasn't so smooth for Zhuang Rui. The heavy snow had long stopped, and now on both sides of the streets in the flower, bird, and antique market, vendors had set up stalls everywhere, selling everything from old books and newspapers to coins, jade, and bronze ware. Paired with the antique market's pseudo-classical buildings, if not for the clothes people wore, you'd think you'd stepped back into ancient times.
With the little girl sitting on his shoulders, Zhuang Rui struggled with all his might to squeeze into Liu Chuan's shop. Once inside, he saw the place had transformed in just a few days—the once-empty store was now packed with all kinds of pets. He wondered where Liu Chuan had kept these animals before the New Year. By the door stood two fish tanks, one big and one small, filled with ornamental fish and pet turtles, while the cages held dogs of all sizes, from petite Pekingese and Shih Tzus to baring their teeth, ferocious German Shepherds and other herding dogs—everything you could imagine.
The shop had also hired two new staff members. Liu Chuan was often traveling across the country to stock up, rarely staying in the store, so the two of them handled the daily operations. Zhuang Rui had been there a few times before and was fairly familiar with them. Last time he came, Liu Chuan had given the two employees the day off.
Compared to the quiet before the New Year, the shop was now swamped with business. The three of them were running around non-stop, and it was a wonder that Liu Chuan, that guy, could handle cash and make change without messing up.
“Hey there, now that you have a girlfriend, you’re actually doing serious work, huh?” Seeing Liu Chuan sweating profusely even in the cold weather, Zhuang Rui teased him.
“Of course. I can’t keep hanging out with a bachelor like you anymore. Oh, look, our little princess is here! Come on, kowtow to your uncle, so I can give you New Year’s money.”
When Liu Chuan saw little Nannan, he lit up right away. Growing up, he had always been the one kowtowing to others. Last year Nannan was still too young, but this year he had been talking about wanting her to kowtow and wish him a happy New Year ever since before the holiday.