Sure enough, Qin Jiao arrived early the next morning with Xiao Shi, carrying couplets and "Fu" characters. Shen Yi had woken up very early. Since he was tall, it ended up being his job to hang the couplets and characters, while Qin Jiao and Xiao Shi watched from below to see if they were straight.

Shen Yi’s handsome face was as impassive as ever, but in reality, he was thrilled. ’Hanging couplets together—it’s such a small thing, but we never did it in our past life, even after all those years of being married.’

’So many little things we never did. And all of them, because of me, were filled with regret.’

’In this life, I’ll slowly make up for all of them.’

Shen Yi turned his head and saw the girl in the bright red sweater, and a warmth spread through his heart.

With several families gathered together, the day was turning out to be quite lively. Sun Jianhua had also arrived with his son, Xiao Cheng, bringing plenty of fresh vegetables, some cured meat, a fish, and a whole chicken.

Qin Jiao also secretly pulled two large fish from her space and told her parents she had bought them at the wet market.

Du Liya suddenly took an interest and wanted to learn a few dishes from Su Yun, and she was surprisingly serious about it.

With so many people working in the kitchen, Qin Jiao, who had wanted to help, was shooed away. "Go entertain Xiao Yi and Xiao Cheng," Su Yun said.

Qin Jiao: "..."

Xiao Cheng was easy enough to handle. Although the boy wasn’t very talkative, he was getting along great with Xiao Shi. Xiao Shi had taken out his treasured collection of picture-story books. Xiao Cheng had just started preschool and only knew a few words, but the books were filled with pictures, and he stared at them with great excitement!

Xiao Shi even washed a plate of fruit and sat beside him, looking at the books together and explaining the stories as they went. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"This is Li Kui! He looks scary, but he’s super powerful! And this is Lu Zhishen. He can pull a whole willow tree right out of the ground!"

A look of awe shone in Xiao Cheng’s dark eyes.

Qin Jiao glanced at the two little ones, then looked over at Shen Yi, who was examining the cactus on her desk. After a moment’s thought, she said, "How about we work on some practice tests together?"

Shen Yi: "..."

When dinner was ready downstairs, Qin Na came up to call the four kids to eat. She found the two little ones sprawled out, looking at picture-story books, while the two older ones sat at the desk, working on practice problems and occasionally discussing them with each other.

Qin Na’s expression softened at the sight.

"Alright, time to eat."

Qin Jiao put down her pen just then. She had finished the test paper just before Shen Yi. He was a step behind, but his progress was actually astonishingly fast.

Shen Yi’s words held a double meaning. "I’ll definitely catch up to you."

"Alright then. I’ll be waiting to see."

Starving, the group went downstairs together. Since the original table was too small for so many people, they had pushed two together. There weren’t enough stools, so they borrowed some from the neighbors, and somehow, the dozen or so people, young and old, all managed to sit down.

There was chicken, duck, fish, and meat, all kinds of vegetables, and impressive main dishes made with the seafood Shen Yi and his family had brought.

Shen Yi sat between his mother and grandfather. His eyes fell on a dish placed before him, and he froze.

It was a small clay pot. Two crab shells sat on top, and underneath were crab meat, rice cakes, potatoes, and chicken feet. The spice level could be adjusted to personal taste, and other favorite ingredients could be added in.

It was crab hot pot. Shen Yi remembered this had been Qin Jiao’s favorite dish in their past life.

Du Liya, sitting beside Shen Yi, also loved the dish. She tasted the fresh, savory crab meat and a well-seasoned chicken foot, then turned to Su Yun in amazement. "Sister Su, this dish is absolutely delicious!"