Chapter 129: Firecrackers, Traffic Lights, and the Joy of the New Year!

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Zhou Sinian looked curiously at the object in Ming Dai’s hand. “Ming Dai, what is that?”

Ming Dai took out one of the firecrackers and held it out for him to see. “It’s a firecracker. We set them off during the New Year to drive away the Nian beast, which brings harm to people. Firecrackers are a little loud, rather like gunshots. Are you afraid?”

From the scenes Zhou Sinian had described and the images he had seen in his mind, Ming Dai guessed that something might have gone wrong while he was carrying out a mission. She did not dare let him come into contact with anything related to battle without warning. If it triggered some buried memory, Zhou Sinian might lose control again.

Zhou Sinian hesitated, then shook his head. “I’m not afraid. But Ming Dai, this doesn’t look like a gun. How can it make a gunshot sound?”

As long as he wasn’t afraid.

Ming Dai tore off one firecracker and handed the rest to Zhou Sinian to hold.

“I’ll set this one off. You watch.”

She struck a match and brought it close to the fuse. As the fuse caught, sparks flashed, and Ming Dai quickly tossed the firecracker toward an open patch of ground.

“Pop!”

The sound rang out through the space. Zhou Sinian was not startled, but the lambs and silly roe deer began bleating and calling anxiously, while Big Chop and Little Chop moved even farther away.

From the moment she threw the firecracker, Ming Dai had been watching Zhou Sinian closely. He showed not the slightest fear. Instead, he looked excited. He tore off a firecracker himself and gestured toward her.

“Ming Dai! I know what this is! I’ve used ones much bigger than this. You pull it once and throw it out, and bang! It’s much louder than this!”

Ming Dai thought, You were setting off firecrackers? That was clearly a grenade!

After saying this, Zhou Sinian shook the firecracker in his hand with some disdain. “Ming Dai, this is too small. It’s not satisfying enough. Let’s buy some of the big ones I mentioned. Those are much more fun to set off.”

Ming Dai thought, I’d like to!

“Those aren’t allowed to be sold. If you buy one, you’ll be locked up, so don’t ever mention them outside, all right? Let’s play with firecrackers instead. They’re fun too!”

Zhou Sinian looked a little disappointed. “All right.”

Ming Dai took the firecrackers back, handed him the matches, and began teaching him how to set them off.

Zhou Sinian learned at once. One after another, he flung them out with a steady stream of pops.

When Ming Dai thought he had had enough, she handed him the remaining half-string of firecrackers. “Light this fuse, then throw the whole string out. Got it?”

Zhou Sinian nodded excitedly. He lit the spot Ming Dai had indicated. When larger sparks began to spray out, he quickly tossed the entire string toward the open ground.

“Pop-pop-pop-pop!”

A continuous string of explosions rang out, sounding remarkably like the rattatattat of a machine gun.

Zhou Sinian blinked. Somehow, the sound seemed terribly familiar.

In the end, he became completely addicted to the game. Ming Dai took out half a box and let him set off as many as he wanted inside the space.

The firecrackers went off for a long time, and the animals in the little pasture cried out for just as long.

By the time Zhou Sinian had finished, the throats of the silly roe deer, the lambs, and Big Chop and Little Chop were nearly hoarse.

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After the firecrackers, Ming Dai dragged the still-unsatisfied Zhou Sinian over to make ice lanterns. She froze blocks of ice, and the two of them took shovels to carve them.

Ming Dai simply hollowed hers out, dyed it with paint, and put a light bulb inside. It looked rather like one of the ground lights in a park.

Zhou Sinian tinkered away for a while and produced two long, thin potatoes, one large and one small. He told her that the waist-high one was meant to be her, while the taller one represented himself.

Ming Dai protested. She was already almost up to his chest!

Zhou Sinian declared that her protest was invalid. Almost up to his chest meant she still had not reached it.

In the end, Zhou Sinian used paint to dye the taller one red and the waist-high one green, then put light bulbs inside them.

When he turned them on, Zhou Sinian could not have been more satisfied. Ming Dai, however, found them increasingly strange.

Finally, she brought over the ice lantern she had made and placed it beside the other two. That was when she discovered the truth.

She had dyed hers yellow.

Together, the three of them perfectly cosplayed a traffic light.

The two of them were having such a wonderful time that they carved many more ice lanterns, each one recognizable only to themselves. Zhou Sinian even made one for every animal in the space.

Ming Dai had no idea what the animals thought of them. As for her, she utterly despised her green potato. It looked as though it had been poisoned.

As midnight approached, Ming Dai led Zhou Sinian out of the space.

The two of them hid in the kitchen, heating water to keep warm.

When midnight arrived, firecrackers began popping throughout Willow Bay.

Zhou Sinian, who had been waiting impatiently, pulled Ming Dai outside and set off a string by the back door.

Amid the crackling explosions came Zhou Sinian’s delighted voice.

“Happy New Year! Happy New Year!”

Watching Zhou Sinian frolic beneath the moonlight, Ming Dai smiled softly.

She touched her racing heart and silently wished herself a happy New Year.

When the firecrackers were finished, they returned to the kitchen to cook dumplings.

Although they had eaten plenty during their New Year’s Eve dinner, they had also been running around and making merry. A bowl of dumplings was just right before bed.

Zhou Sinian had a large bowl. Ming Dai had a small one.

The two of them wished each other a happy New Year and began eating.

Zhou Sinian had been eager for this moment. He picked up a dumpling and put it into his mouth. With his first bite, sweet filling burst out!

Hmm?

It was sweet!

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He looked at Ming Dai in delighted surprise. “Ming Dai! It’s sweet!”

Ming Dai opened her mouth dramatically. “Wow! Zhou Sinian! You’re so lucky! You got a sugar dumpling on your very first bite. Your new year is sure to be safe and smooth, and you’ll turn every danger into good fortune! It will be sweet from beginning to end!”

Zhou Sinian’s face flushed with delight. He asked her in disbelief, “Really? Ming Dai, will everything really be that good for me?”

Ming Dai nodded firmly. “Of course! If you eat a sugar dumpling during the New Year, that’s what happens!”

Zhou Sinian gave a foolish, happy grin.

They continued eating. Before long, Zhou Sinian found a second sugar dumpling, then a third and a fourth.

When he reached the fifth, he discovered the secret behind them.

All the flat, slender dumplings were sugar dumplings.

Half of the dumplings in his bowl were sugar dumplings.

Looking at the plump dumplings in Ming Dai’s bowl, Zhou Sinian counted those in his own and divided half of them between them.

Ming Dai had only made the sugar dumplings to cheer him up. She had not made any for herself, since she did not like sweet things.

But when she looked at the dumplings Zhou Sinian had placed in her bowl, she felt that she could already taste their sweetness before taking a bite.

Ming Dai ate every sugar dumpling he gave her. They were still a little too sweet for her, but this time she ate them happily.

Watching Zhou Sinian rise to serve himself more dumplings, Ming Dai felt that fate was truly a strange thing.

In her previous life, she would never have believed that she could form such an intimate bond with a stranger in so short a time—that they could share food and keep each other company.

Perhaps this was the unique bond between her and Zhou Sinian.

They were closer than friends, yet more distant than lovers. They were more like family, relying on and accompanying each other.

Although she did not know whether their relationship would change once Zhou Sinian recovered, Ming Dai was happy in this moment.

Zhou Sinian looked at Ming Dai as she gazed at him with gentle warmth. He glanced at the plump dumplings remaining in her bowl, then at the empty pot, and rubbed his stomach.

“Ming Dai, are you still eating?”

Ming Dai thought, You really are an expert at ruining the mood!

“I’m done. You eat. Once you finish, you can’t have anything else. We need to go back to sleep.”

Zhou Sinian happily took the bowl from her and nodded.

Meat dumplings, sugar dumplings, and then vegetable dumplings to clear away the richness—that was the proper way to eat dumplings!

The New Year was wonderful!