The next day was the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, and Zilu was going to take Zishou, Zixi, and Ziyu to sell couplets in Anzhou City. The three said they wanted to earn some pocket money to play mahjong, and with Ziyu there, they would definitely be able to sell faster. Zifu was going to the Liu family to deliver New Year's gifts, while Zeng Rui Xiang accompanied Shen Shi to buy New Year's goods. Kang Ping drove a cart, taking Ziqing along as well, and carefully put a fox-fur scarf on her.

  Lin Kangping sent everyone away and left the carriage at Zhou Zhanggui's general store. Accompanying Shen Shi to buy New Year's goods, Zi Qing hadn't gone out for a stroll in a long time. This time with Lin Kangping by her side, it was like letting loose, walking along the way, seeing some novel small things made her want to touch them - wooden carvings, bamboo weavings, and some white jade small animals that were not particularly valuable but had good craftsmanship. She didn't intend to buy anything, mainly just looking at the excitement. The bustle of ancient streets was in no way inferior to modern times. Because there were fewer cities in ancient times, goods were more concentrated, so basically everyone from the entire Anzhou Prefecture and nearby villages came here, naturally making it crowded with people rubbing shoulders. Lin Kangping carefully protected Zi Qing all along, originally he still wanted to habitually hold Zi Qing's hand, but Zi Qing searched everywhere on the street and didn't find anyone holding hands, so she let go.

  "You're still a kid, people will just think I'm your older brother. They'll probably praise me for taking care of my little sister. You're thinking too much, what if we really get separated?" Lin Kangping asked with a smirk.

  "Aren't you just next to me? If you stick close, it's fine. What's that stone?" Zi Qing found 7 or 8 small stones, which were just right for making seals. Zi Qing wanted to buy them back for Zi Shou, but unexpectedly the other party asked for a price of one or two silver coins per piece.

  Zi Qing naturally disliked the expensive ones, and pulled Lin Kangping to squat in front of a few stones, holding them in her hand and turning them over repeatedly. The red stones were radiant like clouds and mist, and Zi Qing liked them very much. The other party was an older man who said: "Little girl, you see this stone, it's not an ordinary stone, its color is so red, like chicken blood. I got it from the local residents when I traveled to Zhejiang many years ago, and they called it 'chicken blood red'. It's best for carving seals and the like. You should know that Jiangsu and Zhejiang have produced many talents since ancient times. The local literati often use this kind of seal. If my family weren't struggling now, I wouldn't exchange it for a few silver coins."

  Ziying's heart suddenly moved when she heard that the chicken blood stone was red. She had seen it on an antique TV show, and it was indeed a good thing. She remembered that a top-quality piece could sell for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Someone had traded a house for one. However, Ziying felt that she couldn't have such good luck. She went to the provincial city and encountered jade in Anzhou City, and then she met chicken blood stone again. Ziying held the stone and looked at it repeatedly. Ahead, Shen Shi saw that they were falling behind by a large margin and was urging them on.

  "Little girl, don't worry and just buy it. This thing is hard to come by here. If I weren't waiting for the silver to take my wife to see a doctor and grab some medicine, I wouldn't have taken it out." Zi Qing saw that his face was etched with wrinkles of sorrow, and on a whim, she bought those few pieces of stone and gave him ten taels of silver.

  The old man hastily said: "Too much, too much, I didn't give you silver to scatter."

  "Old man, don't bother, hurry back home to get medicine for your wife, don't delay on this big festival day. Wishing you both a healthy and happy new year." Zi Qing said as she pulled Lin Kangping away.

  "It's a sad fate for poor couples to have a hundred worries, but this old woman is still relatively lucky. At least her husband is willing to give up his beloved things for her." Zi Qing sighed.

  "That's because in Old Man Gao's heart, nothing is more important than his wife. His wife is the apple of his eye, so how can a few pieces of rock compare to that?" Lin Kangping stopped and said, looking into Zi Qing's eyes.

  Zi Qing was looked down upon by him and suddenly heard Shen's shout in front, her face turned red, and she hurriedly ran over.

  "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and come carry things." Shen looked at Lin Kangping and Ziying, these two children were too close, she was also anxious in her heart, Ziying was still young, she didn't want her daughter to go astray. But Lin Kangping was an orphan with no parents, there was no way to tell him to leave, besides, the two children had just met after so long and had just gone through that ordeal, Lin Kangping's behavior made her very satisfied, she also couldn't bear to separate them, Ziying was still young, probably didn't understand these things yet, she had to keep a closer eye on her.

  Just as Zi Qing was about to speak, Lin Kangping took the thing from Shen's hand and spoke first, "Mother, it's rare for Qing'er to come out this time. I want her to buy some things she likes, so we looked around for a while."

  "You've spoiled her so much that she dares to spend money now, tens of taels of silver are spent without even blinking an eye. You'd better keep your silver for more important things, if you want to buy something, take a few strings of cash from me." Shen said with a smile.

  "As my mother said, I'm not so poor that I can't even support my own wife?"

  "Daughter-in-law? You don't even have a son, where did you get a daughter-in-law from?" Shen Shi asked with a suspicious face.

  "Mom, I was wrong. I forgot that it's different here. In our northern region, one's own wife is called 'daughter-in-law', and the wife of one's son should be called 'son's daughter-in-law'."

  "Scared me half to death, this is ridiculous, what a mess." Shen muttered to herself and forgot about the earlier incident.

  After dinner, Ziqing finally took out the stone, and Zishou was indeed delighted when he saw it. He even stopped playing mahjong and went to one side to study it himself. Ziqing smiled and said: "First, I'll carve a seal for Father. You can choose first, each of you can have one piece, and I'll keep the rest for myself. That stone seller said this is 'chicken blood stone', which is loved by scholars in Zhejiang to carve seals. It cost me ten taels of silver! If he wasn't in urgent need of money, he wouldn't have sold it. I think it will definitely appreciate in value later, so let's keep it well. Consider it my New Year gift to you all."

  "What? You child, spending ten taels of silver to buy these few small stones? It's not even as good as the twenty taels last time, at least that bought a few larger stones. This one is so small! Kangping, you're also like this, can't let her have her way in everything." Shen Shi complained for a while.

  Zeng Ruixiang glanced at Shen and smiled: "You are far inferior to Qing'er, she knows much more than you."

  Zeng Ruixiang finished speaking and took a stone in his hand, carefully examining it under the lamp for half a day. The color was bright red, with patterns and texts that seemed like mist in the clouds, swirling around each other. He couldn't help but feel delighted, so he put it back and compared it to others for a long time. Seeing that several of his sons were staring at him eagerly, he finally chose one with the brightest color and instructed Zishou to carve it carefully, not to waste it. After a short while, he took the stone back again, examined it carefully for a long time, and said: "Qing'er, this stone might really have some origin, it's a good object. Xiaosan, let them go first, I'm not in a hurry, I haven't thought of what to carve yet."

  "Dad, aren't you just afraid that Xiaosan will accidentally break the stone? Just say it directly, why make excuses. Who's going to come first?" Zi Qing said with a smile.

  Zeng Ruixiang coughed twice, stared at Zi Qing and said: "You don't understand, this good material also needs to be carved by a master craftsman to complement each other. In the future, it will be passed down as a beautiful story. Let Xiaosan practice his skills, not waste it."

  Everyone listened and quickly picked their favorite stones to keep, except for Zi Yu's which was kept by Shen Shi. After waiting for half a day, no one came to ask him to engrave, so Zi Shou said: "No one is asking me to engrave, I'll just engrave my own. Later if you come looking for me to engrave, I won't do it anymore."

  Ziying still had three pieces left in her hand, picked the worst one, handed it over and said: "Let's just say sister is good, take this to practice, first engrave Kangping's, he always runs outside, use it."

  Zi Fu said, "Qing Er, Big Brother said that if you're free, you should go out and take a stroll more often. Who knows, you might even pick up some good stuff. This dog's luck is too good, Big Brother will accompany you next time." Shen Shi was sitting beside him mending shoes, and she knocked on his head with her hand.

  These days, the old master and Tian Shi come over to eat and have fun every day. The 30th of the year is approaching quickly. When Tian Shi sees Lin Kangping staying at the Zeng's for the New Year, she is not very willing, but after all, this is not her own home, so she just grumbled a few sentences and let it go. The incident with Da Mao has not passed for long, and Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi still have a grievance in their hearts. Tian Shi also does not dare to make trouble again. Moreover, Lin Kangping brought a cart full of New Year's gifts. To say nothing else, this financial power is something that even if Da Mao took off his shoes, he could not catch up with.

  When the men in the house returned from worship, Zifeng took everyone to post couplets and hang lanterns. Lin Kangping was very enthusiastic, saying that with this, there is a New Year's flavor. Ziying helped her mother prepare the New Year's Eve dinner. Because Lin Kangping was present this year, Shen Shi's New Year's Eve dinner was made more carefully and abundantly than usual. Lin Kangping helped distribute the abalone and sea cucumber, letting Shen Shi put them in chicken soup to simmer slowly, one per person. The sea cucumber was cut into segments and stir-fried with scallions, dried squid was stir-fried with pork, and dried chili peppers were stir-fried with squid. There were four more seafood dishes on the table, and the rest were similar to previous years, except for the chicken soup, there was also a dish of poached chicken. The water from the poached chicken that Ziyin poured into the chicken soup was originally used to steam the abalone.

  The old man ate with great relish, saying that he had never seen or heard of such a thing before, and now he was finally able to try it, thanks to his son-in-law. Tian Shi listened and smiled along, saying: "Usually, just having a bowl of meat pancake soup makes me feel especially content, but today I finally got to drink some truly good soup. It's really all thanks to my son-in-law."

  The old man had eaten and drunk enough, but insisted on playing a few more rounds before leaving. Since it was the New Year, everyone was equal, big or small, and they all rushed to take their seats at the table. No one gave in to anyone else, until finally the old man spoke up. Except for him, the other three people drew lots. Zi Qing calculated that there were exactly eight people, so she brought out a set of camphor wood mahjong tiles that she had made herself this year. Zi Xi jumped up excitedly and hugged Zi Qing, saying: "Sister, you're too great! I really like you!"

  Then, two tables of mahjong were opened in the hall, with lights all around, shining brightly like daytime. Tian and Shen watched the excitement, and Shen took out some oranges that she had intentionally saved to slice and serve to everyone to relieve their boredom and also to sober up from drinking. Tian saw this and had a hint of a smile on her face, saying: "This is truly an unprecedented excitement, and Old Master is also unusually delighted."

  It wasn't until eleven o'clock that the old man finally got ready to leave, insisting on going home to lock the gate. Lin Kangping said: "There are still some fireworks from Beijing that haven't been lit yet, let Grandma and Grandpa watch the fireworks before leaving." After finishing speaking, he moved a few paper boxes out of the warehouse, and Zi Xi shouted that he wanted to light them himself, and Lin Kangping naturally agreed.

  Under the dazzling fireworks, Ziqing saw a family looking up at the beautiful fireworks with happy smiles on their faces. At this moment, Ziqing's heart was filled with conflicting thoughts and gratitude, thinking of her loved ones from her past life, grateful for the peace, tranquility, and happiness of being together as a family in this life, not to mention having her loving partner by her side.