This year, since both of his daughters have found their partners, Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang seemed especially vibrant, radiating happiness every day, and you could just tell how delighted they were without them having to say a single word.
Xiao Yuan and Xiao Yuzhu didn’t return home for the New Year.
The main reason was that Xiao Yuzhu still needed to recover her health, and Xiao Yuan had discussed with Mr. Xiao and Mother Xiao that after the New Year they would come to N City, so the couple didn’t go back.
Mrs. Jiang thought, since Xiao Yuan wasn’t going home, celebrating the New Year with just his mother would be a bit lonely. She originally planned to invite the couple to celebrate the New Year at the Jiang family home.
But then she remembered that it hadn’t been a month since Xiao Yuzhu’s surgery, so she dismissed the idea.
It is a tradition for the elderly to prefer a more peaceful New Year celebration, and Mrs. Jiang was no exception.
Later, she and Mr. Jiang discussed not inviting them home, but instead going out to a restaurant might be good.
Since the family owns a restaurant, they could reserve a room specifically for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Mr. Jiang told the restaurant to reserve a room.
During the New Year, it’s tough to book a restaurant. The pretty decent ones would have their private rooms booked up many days in advance.
If it was not for their own family restaurant, the Jiang family would have had a hard time booking a feast.
Anning went to help Xiao Yuzhu prepare some food at Xiao Yuan’s place on the afternoon of the 29th.
When she went over, she brought homemade steamed buns, flower rolls, rice cakes, and some other things like marinated meats and sausages.
These marinated meats and sausages were specially prepared by Wei Jiaming; not a big deal for the meats, but the sausages were hand-stuffed by Wei Jiaming and his father.
He had prepared them early. On the 29th, An Nan informed the family about their affair, and at noon, An Nan went to get the sausages and marinated meats.
The Wei Family gave a generous amount of sausages and marinated meats; the Jiang family couldn’t finish them all, so Mrs. Jiang asked Anning to bring some over to Xiao Yuan.
Anning checked out the fridge at Xiao Yuan’s; he had bought plenty of meats and vegetables. Anning put what she brought into the fridge, cleaned up Xiao Yuzhu’s room, getting everything neat before driving home.
On New Year’s Eve, Mrs. Jiang had Anning and her sisters get up early to tidy up the house again, put up couplets and the character "Fú," and the rooms were decorated with many little red lanterns and strings of fabric red chili peppers, making the house very festive.
After tidying up, the three sisters began changing into new clothes, doing makeup, and the like.
Mrs. Jiang also put on a new outfit and wore jewelry, looking radiant.
Anning drove, taking Mrs. Jiang, Eldest, Third, and Xiao Hua to the restaurant.
By the time they arrived, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Yuzhu were already there.
Xiao Yuan also brought some things.
He brought alcohol, and some New Year goods sent over from the Xiao Family.
Xiao Yuzhu had stayed with Xiao Yuan for a while, and with his care, her health had greatly improved, her complexion very rosy and her skin had lightened, and today she had changed into new clothes and spruced herself up, looking like a great beauty.
Everyone sat in the private room, Mr. Jiang personally cooked a table full of dishes, and they all happily had their New Year’s Eve dinner.
Xiao Yuzhu appeared to be quite comfortable, her face wearing more smiles, not having the timid look from when she had just arrived, looking much more at ease.
Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Jiang were also having very pleasant times recently, the couple having gained a bit of weight, with smiles that couldn’t be held back.
During the meal, Mr. Jiang kept talking with Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan gave Mr. Jiang many tips, and Mr. Jiang listened so attentively, he almost wished he could take notes.
They continued eating until around ten o’clock before the meal ended.
After dinner, Xiao Yuan took Xiao Yuzhu home, while Anning and the others from the Jiang family didn’t go back. They stayed to help clean up at the restaurant until nearly midnight before heading home.
Once home, everyone simply fell into bed, sleeping until nearly eight o’clock.
Dumplings had been made the day before and were frozen in the fridge with various fillings; they just needed to be boiled.
Mrs. Jiang got up early to cook the dumplings.
Mr. Jiang sliced some marinated meats onto a plate for the table. When the dumplings were ready, Mrs. Jiang called the daughters to get up.
Since they had gone to bed late the night before, it was hard for them to get up early today. When Anning and her sisters finally got up, they still felt sleepy.
Feeling sleepy, no one had much of an appetite, eating only a few dumplings before they didn’t want any more.
Mrs. Jiang said, "Eat more; you must eat even if you’re full. Otherwise, when you go to your Grandma’s place, you’ll be starving."