Chapter 500 - 514: It’s the New Year

After becoming her disciple, the precious Zhou Chengzhe learned new things from An Ning every day.

Anna didn’t go back for the time being either. Her life revolved entirely around her precious son, so the two of them temporarily stayed at Anning’s house, deciding to figure things out after the New Year.

Besides the time she spent teaching her young disciple, An Ning also had regular lessons with Li Chengze. Three days before the New Year, Li Chengze finally set off for home. After celebrating the holiday in his hometown, he would soon be heading abroad.

The master and disciple’s parting was free of sorrow, filled instead with positive energy.

An Ning: "Remember, if you can’t win a fight, run. Come home and find me."

Li Chengze: "Master, I definitely won’t bring shame upon you."

An Ning: "Don’t worry about that. Just focus on staying alive."

Li Chengze: "Master, I’m just going to study, not to war."

An Ning: "Same difference. Go on."

With the advice "if you can’t win, run" and "just stay alive" ringing in his ears, Li Chengze embarked on the final leg of his journey before going abroad.

After seeing Li Chengze off, the An family was officially on holiday.

After offering incense to his master, Zhou Chengzhe returned to Beijing with Anna to celebrate the New Year with his maternal grandparents and other relatives.

With Anna and her son gone, only the family was left.

They did a massive clean-up, prepared food for the New Year, and made a huge batch of sweet bean sticky rice buns.

On the day they made the buns, An Ning was in charge of placing the corn husks. At first, she tried to keep count, but she gave up after reaching over five hundred.

’What’s the point?’

’Can’t life just be a little simpler?’

That night, An Ning lay on the kang, which had been heated all day from steaming sticky buns. She endured the ache in her arms, and the heat was intense all night long.

As the New Year approached, the kang at Anning’s house was always kept hot.

The spot at the head of the kang was especially scorched. It was the first time An Ning had seen a kang burned like that, and she hurriedly told Lin Cuihua.

Lin Cuihua came in and gave it a simple glance.

"It’s fine. We’ll replace it in the spring. Replacing it now would be a waste."

With that, Lin Cuihua left, leaving An Ning alone to stare blankly at the dark, scorched ring at the head of the kang.

She wondered: ’If I put a raw egg there, would it cook?’

’If I fell asleep there, how cooked would I be?’

The Spring Festival drew ever closer, and the An family’s preparations grew more elaborate.

The An family’s standard of living was definitely the best in the village. There was no need to hide the fact that they had money, but they didn’t deliberately flaunt it either.

This year, thanks to land distribution and jobs provided by the An family, the villagers’ incomes had clearly increased.

Just in the matter of slaughtering pigs for the holiday, five families in the village did so, a visible sign of the improved standard of living.

The An family had slaughtered a pig early on, and just before the New Year, their neighbor Jiang Xia brought over a deer.

They definitely had enough meat.

As for vegetables, the greenhouse provided more than enough.

On the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month, Uncle An’s family came to Anning’s house to celebrate the New Year, and An Ercheng’s family of four also returned from the county town.

This time, no one caused any trouble.

An Ercheng’s daughter, An Jing, had been cleaning toilets for half a year, and her former crazed jealousy was gone.

According to Du Guijuan, An Jing spent her days cleaning toilets and her nights attending school to become a nurse.

After all, they were family. As long as they lived their lives honestly, no one would deliberately make things difficult for them.

That day marked the An family’s first truly harmonious and happy get-together.

The thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month was New Year’s Eve, and as was tradition, the An family went to Uncle An’s house for dinner.

With no elders in their own household, Uncle An was the most senior member, the one who steered the family ship.

Lin Cuihua, Du Guijuan, their eldest aunt, and the others were bustling with activity in the kitchen.

Inside the house, the children, big and small, were gathered together playing cards.

An Ning was strictly forbidden from playing and could only watch from the sidelines.

The card games were split into two groups. One group was all adults; the other had only one adult, An Guoming.

"Wow—you’re so good!"

"He won again!"

"Uncle, how are you so good at this?!"

Hearing the children’s exclamations, An Guoming put on a cool act and said, "It’s all skill. Pure skill."

An Ning leaned to the side and saw An Guoming quickly tuck two cards into his waistband with the hand behind his back.

She held back a laugh.

’No wonder he wins every hand. He really has a "competitive" spirit.’

An Ning didn’t expose him. ’Let the kids keep idolizing him,’ she thought.

"Alright, stop playing! Get off the kang and stretch your legs. Time to set the tables for dinner!"

Their eldest aunt shouted from the kitchen. The people inside sped up, slapping cards down with thunderous force. If someone had a two, they looked like they could leap to the heavens with joy.

They bluffed and shouted at the top of their lungs, until the game finally ended with a measly little three.

Many hands make light work, and they cleaned up in a flash.

Setting the tables, bringing out the dishes, pouring the drinks.

Three tables were packed full. Everyone’s bowl was filled with alcohol or a soft drink. Uncle An stood up, holding his bowl.

"The first bowl is a toast to the ancestors of our An family."

"To the ancestors!"

Everyone raised their bowls, and the first drink was poured onto the ground.

"The second bowl is a toast to An Ning."

An Ning shot to her feet, terrified they would habitually pour the drink on the ground. She still remembered the plot Uncle An had reserved for her at the ancestral gravesite.

Fortunately, this time, everyone drank.

Uncle An poured one last bowl, raising it again. "A large tree has many branches, and a large family may go its separate ways, but no matter what, our roots are the same. Never forget that. Let’s all work hard next year and do even better than this year."

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Everyone drained their bowls. Uncle An sat down and told everyone to eat.

After more than an hour of eating and drinking, the New Year’s Eve dinner came to an end.

An Ning’s family returned to their own home, while An Ercheng’s family stayed at Uncle An’s. They would head back to the county town on the second day of the New Year.

That evening, the An family and the Jiang family set off firecrackers and fireworks together, attracting many children who came to watch.

On New Year’s Eve, fireworks lit up the sky, their light reflecting off the snowy landscape.

Just after midnight, Jiang Xia quietly moved to stand beside An Ning. "Happy New Year," he said.

"Hm? Happy New Year to you, too."

A smile graced An Ning’s profile. ’It’s a new year.’

On the first day of the New Year, the villagers, young and old, began visiting each other’s homes to offer greetings. Families with elders couldn’t go anywhere; they had to stay home and wait for others to come pay their respects.

An Ning’s family was no exception.

The younger generation, including Hei Dan’er, set out before dawn to pay New Year’s respects to the An family elders in the village.

The entire day was spent kneeling, standing up, and kneeling again.

By the time An Ning returned home, her knees were already starting to ache.

After the first day of the New Year came the second, which was traditionally the day for married women to visit their parents.

In An Ning’s family, her eldest sister-in-law had long since cut ties with her own family. Plus, now that the An family was so influential, her relatives didn’t dare come and cause trouble, a fact the sister-in-law quite enjoyed.

As for Lin Cuihua, she never mentioned anything about An Ning’s maternal grandmother’s family.

So on the second day of the New Year, the An family home was unusually quiet.

At ten in the morning, there was a knock on the An family’s main gate. An Guoming, who lived in the front courtyard, went to open it, only to find complete strangers at the door.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Is this the An family’s home... An Sancheng and Lin Cuihua’s home?"