Chapter 716: Chapter 716: Gu Shen Ate Them as a Child Too?

Thinking back to the past, in his youth, this is how the old lady tricked him into love.

It wasn’t until after they got married that he realized how good this old lady was at talking.

And she didn’t just fool him alone!

Ye Feixin already had a premonition.

With such teachings from the old lady, whether Xiao Mo would grow up to be tricky depended entirely on his character.

The old man put the little guy down.

The little guy was still carrying his small backpack.

Inside were things he could play with, like a game console and an iPad.

In city B, fireworks and firecrackers are banned during the Lunar New Year.

Without these to play with, the little guy could only play games.

But now that it started snowing, the little guy lost interest in these games.

He put his backpack on the sofa, didn’t take off his hat, gloves, or scarf, nor did he remove his down jacket.

He was just waiting to go out and play.

The little guy bounced and said, "Great-grandpa, great-grandma, I want to go outside and see the snow."

"Go ahead," the old man said cheerfully.

No matter what the little guy asked for, the old man would agree happily.

Let alone something as small as watching the snow.

The old lady quickly added, "Don’t stay outside too long and catch a cold. Come back in after a while."

"At this rate, the snow will keep falling. By the afternoon, a thin layer might accumulate, and you can go out and step on the snow," the old lady said.

"Will there be thick snow during the day?" the little guy asked expectantly.

"Not very likely," Chi Jingsi dashed the little guy’s hopeful wishes.

"During the day, the sun is out, and the temperature isn’t low enough for the snow to stay on the ground," Chi Jingsi said. "But at night it might be possible. It’s cold enough at night, and with low ground temperatures, the snow might remain."

"If it continues to snow tonight, you’ll see a thick layer of snow tomorrow morning," Chi Jingsi said.

She said this because, traditionally, everyone stayed at the old house during the Lunar New Year.

This year, Ye Fei and Xiao Mo were spending the Lunar New Year with the Zhao Family and would stay here with them.

New Year’s Eve was when everyone stayed up late and ate dumplings together.

Going back too late wouldn’t be comforting for anyone.

Not to mention, it snowed heavily today.

So, filled with anticipation, the little guy went out to play with the snow.

The other servants in the old house were busy doing the New Year decorations.

Once they were finished, they would go home to celebrate the holiday.

In city B, fireworks and firecrackers were banned.

Even the courtyard in the old house wouldn’t secretly light them.

But to keep the spirit, Housekeeper Hong bought some firecracker-shaped decorations.

They were fake, couldn’t be lit, but when hung on a tree, they were festive with their red color.

Now hanging on the tree, they were covered in snow. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Looking red and white, it was even more beautiful.

Each window in the old house was adorned with paper-cuttings.

Couplets were pasted on the main door.

The corridors outside had festive ’Fu’ characters.

While the little guy was playing outside in the snow, Ye Fei was preparing the dumpling stuffing.

The dough, Aunt Lin had already prepared.

Just waiting for the dumpling filling to be ready, then they could roll out the dough and make dumplings.

Because the family had a chef like Ye Fei,

Aunt Lin didn’t compete with Ye Fei over making the dumpling filling.

She just helped out.

Besides the traditional meat filling, Ye Fei also bought mackerel and cuttlefish.

She deboned the mackerel and added eggs to both the mackerel and cuttlefish, grinding them into a paste.

Constantly working the fish paste to give it texture.

Then she simmered fish bones with gelatin sheets to make a thick broth.

Chill it in the fridge to make fish jelly.

Cut the fish jelly into small cubes.

Squeeze the fish paste into a ball by hand, press a hole in the center, place a fish jelly cube inside, close it, then wrap it in dumpling skin.

Aunt Lin brought already washed and boiled new sterilized hard coins.

They were small coins, worth a dime each.

"In the past, our family didn’t have the habit of wrapping coins in dumplings. Only when the young master was little," Aunt Lin said with a smile.

Kids, they love surprises like these.

Whoever finds a dumpling with a coin inside is said to prosper, be smooth-sailing, and have all their wishes come true in the coming year.

Zhao Gushen also loved it as a child.

The most anticipated thing at the Lunar New Year was eating dumplings.

"Gu Shen ate them too when he was young?" Ye Fei asked in surprise.

She was very curious about Zhao Gushen’s childhood.

Aunt Lin chuckled and said, "Yes, he loved them as a child. He could eat many plates to get a dumpling with a coin."

"Imagine, such a small boy, with a limited appetite, yet he would force himself to eat over forty dumplings just for that coin, to the point he couldn’t move," she said.

"But that was in the past," Aunt Lin said. "Once he started middle school, he stopped eating coin dumplings. Whether he was still looking forward to them, I don’t know, but by then, he already had the temperament of an adult, insisting he wouldn’t do something so childish."

As people grow up, they tend to become indifferent or dismissive of such traditions.

They aren’t fond of such rituals anymore.

"So, our family temporarily stopped the tradition of putting coins in dumplings during the New Year," Aunt Lin said.

"It’s been many years since we last did it. Now that Xiao Mo is here, I think he will love it!" Aunt Lin said.

"While he still enjoys such games, let him enjoy it. As he grows, he might become like the young master," Aunt Lin said.

Ye Fei nodded and smiled, "I think so too. Xiao Mo has never eaten dumplings with coins. He was too small before, and I was afraid he might swallow the coin accidentally."

Last New Year, Xiao Mo was only three years old and only turned four after his birthday.

"Now it’s not a problem, he’ll definitely be surprised," Ye Fei said.

So she and Aunt Lin occasionally wrapped a coin in a dumpling.

It wasn’t just Ye Fei and Aunt Lin making dumplings.

Chi Jingsi and the old lady helped too.

Four people sat around the dining table, making dumplings while chatting.

As for the old man, he didn’t know how, so he went outside to play with Xiao Mo.

Housekeeper Hong was in charge of the New Year decorations in the old house.

For the cuttlefish dumplings, Ye Fei used cuttlefish ink to make a bit of black dough to wrap them.

Besides mackerel and cuttlefish dumplings,

There were also regular pork ones.

Ye Fei chose pork belly.

But the pork belly had a bit too much fat.

She cut off a lot of fat, only keeping some to hang with the lean meat.

A bit of fat helps the meat have juice, making it less dry.

The meat filling also included chopped mushrooms, chopped wood ear mushrooms, minced onions, and chopped cabbage.

They added a few coins in dumplings of each filling.

Besides, Ye Fei prepared some special fillings.