But after receiving the money, the service had to be in place.
His sister said she was going to set off fireworks, so Yu Zhuo also reluctantly had to go downstairs to set off fireworks.
Haicheng had fireworks and firecrackers controls. A person would be fined if they set off a cannon, and they can’t light those crackers that could fly up in the sky. So, the three people bought a bunch of tops, whirlwinds, and sparklers, lit them and threw them on the ground, spinning them and crackling them. There were colorful sparks, and some even sang while spinning.
The wind was rustling, and the wind was so cold that it cut like a knife. The three of them squatted on the ground and watched the crackers spinning and jumping.
Ji Rang suddenly stood up and said: “Let’s go back.”
Qi Ying: “Hmm.”
Yu Zhuo: “…”
I think you two are really sick.
When they got home, they finally got warmer. Ji Rang poured several cups of Yu’s traditional drink, Ginger Coke. Yu Zhuo looked at him like a monster, “Don’t you find it difficult to drink?”
Ji Rang: “It’s delicious.”
Yu Zhuo: “???”
This was one of the dark dishes he hated the most. How did this person’s sense of taste develop? Why is it as strange as his parents? He didn’t bother to care about him and fell back on the sofa to continue playing games.
Qi Ying accompanied Ji Rang on the sofa to watch TV. They were watching a horror variety show. Qi Ying watched them with interest. Ji Rang peeled candy from time to time to feed her. The scene was so warm that Yu Zhuo felt like an outsider who was here as a guest.
He was reluctant to see his sister being so intimate with the boss, and deliberately shouted: “Dad, what are you doing in the kitchen? Come out to watch TV, there is your favorite female celebrity.”
With garlic in his hand, Yu Cheng poked his head out of the kitchen and glanced at it. “I’ve seen this issue. Why are you lying down again, and not sitting still! Take a look at Xiao Ji and sit up!”
Yu Zhuo: “…”
So angry!
He glared at the boss aggressively, Ji Rang just turned his head, his icy gaze was intimidating, and Yu Zhuo was immediately stunned, and he went back to play his own game because of his grievances.
Then he heard his sister say: “I don’t want candy, but melon seeds, with five flavors.”
The boss’s voice was so gentle as if the person who killed him with his eyes was not him: “Okay.”
Yu Zhuo: I don’t want new year’s money anymore, now I want to expose this person’s true face in front of my dad.
Towards the evening, the sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner was finally on the table. Qi Ying asked Yu Zhuo to tell Wu Yinghua about Ji Rang’s favorites in advance, and several dishes on the table were Ji Rang’s favorite dishes.
Yu Cheng and Wu Yinghua had a hearty personality, and they didn’t make people feel uncomfortable at all. Ji Rang sat between Qi Ying and Yu Zhuo, and the family kept serving him dishes and drinks, telling him not to be polite and treat this place as his own home and to eat more.
For a few moments, it made him fall in a trance.
He hadn’t eaten New Year’s Eve dinner with anyone for many years. He has a tough temper, even when taking revenge. He punished others by punishing himself, wishing for them to die together.
After punishing himself for so many years, he even forgot what it was like to celebrate the New Year.
He thought he liked someone, but now he realized that he was also used to that person.
Wu Yinghua put the biggest piece of sweet and sour pork ribs into his bowl: “Xiao Ji, don’t freeze, eat it quickly, this one should be delicious while it’s hot. Auntie’s craftsmanship is absolutely good, you should try it soon.”
Ji Rang took his thoughts back and nodded and smiled: “Okay, thank you auntie.”
The tradition of the Yu family was to send out the New Year’s money at the New Year’s Eve dinner table. Yu Cheng took out three red envelopes from the inner pockets of his clothes, he first gave them to Qi Ying and Yu Zhuo, and then handed one to Ji Rang with a smile: “Xiao Ji, Happy New Year. In the next year, you must study hard and try to get into a good university in the coming year!”
Ji Rang was taken aback for a moment, and Yu Zhuo said next to him: “Don’t want it? Don’t give it to him.”
Yu Chen hit him: “Smelly boy, eat your meal! When you can test as good as Xiaoji, I will give you double new year’s money.”
Qi Ying was right: they were really good.
Ji Rang took the red envelope and whispered, “Thank you, uncle, I will.”
Yu Cheng smiled from ear to ear.
He was polite and gentle, and after a meal, he reached the status of a good student in the hearts of both husband and wife.
After eating, Ji Rang wanted to help clean up the dishes, but Wu Yinghua drove him back and let the three children play by themselves. It depended on them whether they wanted to go out or watch the Spring Festival Gala, they just had to pay attention to safety.
Last year, Haicheng had a New Year’s Eve fireworks show, and this year it had a countdown clock. It was a real big bronze clock, three stories high, and it had been standing on the square in the city center for some time.
Several major businesses in the city bid for the qualifications to ring the bell. When the countdown was counted, the bidders would strike the bell. They heard that there would be a whole year of good luck by ringing the bell, in the coming year.
After all, there was only one qualification to strike the bell. Of course, the more the New Year’s blessings were, the better. Later, everyone said that those who hear the first toll of the bell will have good luck in the coming year. So, many people ran to the central square to watch the clock strike, waiting for the New Year’s Eve.
Ji Rang also took Qi Ying.
Before going out, she ran back to the bedroom and changed her clothes.
She took off his coat and put on the red cloak.
When they came out, even Wu Yinghua and Yu Cheng looked dumbfounded: “Yingying, what are you wearing? Cloak? It’s pretty.”
She was very suitable for wearing red.
The skin is white, the facial features are exquisite, and the red looked especially delicate on her.
Ji Rang’s eyes sank, and he didn’t say a word. When the three of them left the house, Yu Zhuo ran to find his classmates. Standing under the dim streetlamp, Ji Rang couldn’t help but pull the little girl to him.
He rubbed her cheek with his fingers, as if it wasn’t enough, he asked her in a low voice, “What are you doing in such a beautiful dress?”
She smiled beautifully, well-behaved and soft: “Wear new clothes for the New Year.”
Ji Rang made his fingers tighten.
He wanted to kiss her.
The sound of children firing off cannons came from a distance, and the wind passed by, bringing a burst of gunpowder smoke.
He brushed the corners of her lips with his thumb and said in a low voice, “Close your eyes.”
She blinked her wet eyes, then closed obediently.
He leaned down, held his breath, and gently kissed her trembling eyelashes.
“Okay, there was something dirty, I wiped it off for you.” He stood up straight and smiled, took her hand, and hailed a taxi casually: “Let’s go to New Year’s Eve celebration.”
Qi Ying pursed her lips and smiled obediently.
The colorful lights in the central square were dazzling, as bright as daylight, and the crowds were extremely lively, and one could see the bronze bell in the middle from a distance. There were also many people who took advantage of this opportunity to make money. Food stalls and toy stalls were everywhere.
Qi Ying liked this kind of fun the most. She wanted to see everything and taste everything.
Ji Rang followed her.
As long as he watched her smile, he felt that it would be no big deal even if the sky fell.
As it was approaching twelve o’clock in the morning, the scattered crowd gradually moved closer to the bronze bell, and representatives of successful bidders were already in place.
Neither of them wanted to squeeze in the crowd, so they stood in the outer circle with peace of mind, waiting, anyway, they would hear the bell. Ji Rang asked her to stand on the round stone platform and hugged her from behind so that she could see the scene of the bell ringing clearly.
Soon, the countdown began in the crowd. Starting from ten, Qi Ying reacted and shouted with joy.
Five! Four! Three! Two! One!
The vigorous bells rang again, like water ripples, swaying in the square circle after circle, everyone shouted excitedly: “Happy New Year! “
Ji Rang put his arms around her waist, lowered his head to her ear, and muttered in a low voice: “Baby, grow up quickly.”
…
After the New Year’s Eve celebration, they played in the square for a while, but not wanting the Yu family to worry, Ji Rang sent Qi Ying home.
She hid her slender body under the red cloak, like an elf sneaking into the world from the night, holding the corner of her clothes and asking him: “Will we go to see the panda tomorrow?”
On the first day of the new year, she wanted to look at pandas.
Ji Rang smiled and touched her furry hat brim: “Okay.”
Walking downstairs in the community, the innocent moonlight sprinkled from the dead branches of the Begonia and fell on her. She waved to him, her eyebrows were like crescent moons in the sky, “I’m leaving, see you tomorrow.”
She could always make him look forward to tomorrow.
On the way home, he flipped through his phone and received a lot of congratulatory text messages and red envelopes. Qu Dazhuang sent a lot of them in the group:
——Brother, I heard that you went to see your in-laws?
——How was it? Is your father-in-law satisfied with you?
——Yu Zhuo, that kid didn’t trip you up, right?
——The brother-in-law is the most difficult to deal with!
Yu Zhuo who was pulled into the group by Yue Li: Qu Dazhuang, rubbish.
Little cute Qu: Who is this white lotus??? Why do you call me rubbish??? There is a single opportunity for take-backs!!!
White lotus Yu: middle finger.
The group made a lot of noise, Ji Rang turned over, shook his head and smiled and cursed. When he got home, he washed up and went to sleep. After all, he had to accompany his baby to see the panda tomorrow.
The phone rang at four o’clock in the morning.
Ji Rang was confused, thinking he was dreaming, and ignored it the first two times.
The third time he realized that the phone was ringing. He was so impatient that he was disturbed by the ringing. He half-squinted and opened his eyes, and said angrily: “Hello?”
Ji Qian’s trembling cry came from the earpiece: “Arang, Grandpa is going to die.”
Ji Rang immediately became sober, turned over and sat up from the bed. On the phone, Ji Qian was still crying and told him the address of the hospital.
Before dawn, everything was silent, he hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out.
The hospital was as bright as day.
In the corridor outside the ward, the people of the Ji family were all there, along with many comrades in military uniforms and subordinates.
Ji Qian waited at the elevator entrance with red eyes. When she saw him coming out, she immediately rushed up. Ji Rang felt his throat tighten and asked in a low voice, “Is he still there?”
She nodded and said in a low voice: “The old man seems to…have something he has on his mind and so keeps hanging on his breath.”
Ji Rang ignored the people in the corridor and went straight into the ward.
There were only doctors and nurses inside, as Old Man Ji drove everyone out.
There was a strong smell of disinfectant in the ward, and the heartbeat device was faintly audible. The old man on the bed half-squinted his eyes, hearing the sound of footsteps, and slowly opened them.
Ji Rang stood still by the bed.
The old man’s eyes were muddy. The military body he once was so proud of was now so thin that he could almost see the bones. The vitality had been slowly drained from him, and he kept looking at the grown-up boy next to the bed.
He tremblingly stretched out his dry fingers and tried hard to pull the juvenile’s fingers.
He remembered that when he was a child, his baby grandson liked holding his hand like this the most.
Ji Rang moved for a while, and slowly held his hand.
He opened his eyes hard to see what the young man looked like now, but he couldn’t see clearly. There was only a vague outline in front of him. The young man walked away from him many years ago.
The temperature of the boy’s palm was transmitted to his heart through his thin fingers.
Fortunately, the boy’s hands were still so warm.
He opened his mouth, and his hoarse and faint voice seemed to squeeze out of his throat: “Arang…” The light and shadow began to scatter in front of him, and the old man didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes, but he still stubbornly looked at the light and shadow. He wanted to see that vague figure clearly for the last time.
His whole life flashed in his mind.
A life full of honor, and a life of regret and gloom.
A wry smile overflowed at the corner of his mouth. Only when he was about to die, did he realize that there had been all kinds of mistakes, but there was no chance to make up for it now.
That boy had already gone so far away from him.
The old man slowly closed his eyes: “Arang… Grandpa was wrong…” A drop of muddy tears slipped from the corner of his eyes, and Ji Rang’s hands fell weakly in his palms.
The heartbeat monitor made a sharp beep, and everyone outside the door rushed in.
Ji Rang just stood there, watching the old man on the bed let out his last breath.
The hospital in the early hours of the morning began to get busy again.
Ji Rang didn’t want to talk to anyone and couldn’t hear anyone talking.
He walked out of the ward alone, walked along the corridor for a long time, walked out of the hospital building, and sat down on the edge of the flower bed downstairs.
It was not light yet, and the cold wind in the early morning was very cold.
He put his elbows on his knees, and slowly covered his face with his hands.
He did not cry, just felt a little uncomfortable.
——What is the family motto of the Ji family? Come out, grandpa will buy you a gun.
——Loyal and brave! Always do good! I will serve the motherland with my body, and protect it with my blood!
——Arang is so smart, let’s go, grandpa will buy you a gun. With a gun in hand, you are a small soldier. You must protect your country and family. Remember?
——I will remember! Grandpa, I want the most powerful gun.
——Hahaha good, what does Arang want grandpa to buy!
That majestic toy gun accompanied him for many years but was later crushed by him.
The phone rang.
It was from Qi Ying.
Ji Rang retracted his thoughts and coughed dryly, so that his voice didn’t sound so dumb: “Why did you wake up so early?”
The little girl’s voice was dim and soft: “I had a nightmare, and I’m a little scared.”
He chuckled softly: “Don’t be afraid, I’ll stay with you, so sleep for a while without hanging up the phone.”
She hummed obediently, as if she had changed her position, and there was a rustling low voice.
She said: “Then I will sleep.”
“Well, go to sleep.”
A shallow breath gradually came out of the receiver, and once again, through the phone, it brushed his heart.
It didn’t seem so uncomfortable anymore.
