70s Delicate Girl: A Guide to Being a Rich Woman-Chapter 189: New Year Is Coming

None of the people from the third household returned, not even sending a message back.

The old couple didn’t look happy. Xu Mumu noticed but didn’t say much.

The old couple was in a bad mood, and even during the reunion dinner, they didn’t smile much.

It’s New Year, and the entire brigade became lively. A few days ago, pigs were slaughtered, and each family got some meat. Combined with the New Year goods they prepared, this year’s harvest was not bad, and there was plenty of grain distributed. So this year for New Year, many people were unusually generous, preparing slightly more New Year goods than usual.

After dinner, the whole family stayed up together. Xu Hai had prepared the firecrackers early on, just waiting for the moment the New Year arrived to light them and celebrate the start of a new year.

Xu Mumu had just borrowed a tape of songs from Du Yu, and now was the perfect time to play it on the tape recorder for them to listen to.

Seeing everyone enjoy these songs, even Xu Jiaojiao could hum along after listening two or three times, which surprised Xu Mumu—she didn’t expect her little cousin to have such a talent.

"Big sister, these songs are really nice," Xu Jiaojiao said happily. Singing along put her in a good mood. These were songs she hadn’t heard before. In the brigade, apart from some revolutionary songs, it was mostly local folk songs.

"If you like them, I’ll borrow more records for you next time," Xu Mumu said with a smile. Such a small request was something she was willing to fulfill for the kids. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Okay, okay," Xu Jiaojiao nodded immediately.

Xu Mumu checked her watch; it was only around ten o’clock, but outside, the sound of firecrackers was already going off sporadically. Except for the two pregnant women who had gone to rest, everyone else stayed in the main room, listening to music and chatting.

Anyway, Xu Hai planned to wait until midnight before setting off the firecrackers.

Time passed little by little. Xu Mumu had already turned off the music, and the kids started to doze off. It was eleven-thirty, only half an hour to the new year.

Xu Mumu watched as Xu Jiaojiao leaned on her, nodding off. She felt a bit helpless, as the loud sound of firecrackers outside didn’t disturb the sleepy kids at all.

The young ones flatly refused to go to bed and insisted on staying up until their family’s firecrackers were set off.

When it was about time, Xu Mumu told Xu Hai that he could start with the firecrackers. At this point, the sound of firecrackers outside had become even more frequent. Xu Mumu woke the kids up; they wanted to see the firecrackers being set off and now they could.

Xu Hai took the firecrackers, and Xu He and Xu Po also brought out the ones they had prepared from their rooms, setting them off together.

The sound of firecrackers exploding echoed in the courtyard, and the children stood not far away, watching happily.

Xu Mumu didn’t go outside. She sat in the main room, watching the scene. She felt that her efforts were worthwhile because her presence had prevented the chaos described in the book from happening to Old Xu Family, making them seem much more harmonious.

"Ah, so sleepy, I need to go to bed," Xu Minghui yawned as he walked up to Xu Mumu.

"Okay, I’ll go in a bit," Xu Mumu nodded with a smile. After staying here for nearly a year, her heart had softened, all thanks to her family.

After setting off the firecrackers, the kids were completely awake. Some even wanted to run to other people’s homes to watch their firecrackers.

But naturally, they were ruthlessly stopped by Xu Hai and the others. If they didn’t sleep, they wouldn’t be able to get up the next day.

The kids were reluctantly sent back to their rooms to sleep. Xu Mumu just smiled helplessly and then went to bed herself. After being in this world for so long, it was her first time staying up until midnight. Her biological clock developed over the past year made her already sleepy.

The next morning, Xu Mumu’s internal clock woke her up again. She opened her eyes, still a bit sleepy, but got up anyway. In the kitchen, the granny and fourth aunt were already busy making dumplings.

"You’re up so early. Why not sleep a little longer?" Madam Chen said kindly, noticing Xu Mumu was still sleepy.

"No need, Granny, I can’t sleep anymore. Let me help you make dumplings," Xu Mumu said with a smile, shaking her head.

"No need for you to do that. Just wait and eat, we’re almost done. There’s hot water in the pot, go wash your face," Sun Huiping said with a smile. She was always grateful to Xu Mumu. If it weren’t for her, her two kids wouldn’t have what they have now.

Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Tao learned so much from Xu Mumu, they could even go to primary school in the town—starting off completely different from the village kids.

Xu Mumu checked the dumplings Madam Chen and the others made; they were indeed almost done, so she didn’t insist. She went to wash her face and then called the kids to get up.

In the morning, Xu Mumu only ate seven or eight dumplings. Eating too many was a bit greasy, and the brown sugar was too sweet.

After breakfast, Madam Chen called the kids over, and except for Xu Minghui, the grandchildren each received a red envelope wrapped in red paper.

This year, they actually had red envelopes to receive. The kids were delighted because usually, that happened only occasionally, on those rare good harvest years for Old Xu Family. Even then, each envelope had just one or two cents—two for boys, and one for girls, except for Xu Mumu.

Of course, once the red envelopes were received, they were naturally taken by the adults at home.

This time, as soon as they got the red envelopes, the kids couldn’t wait to open them. The boys got a little more, each receiving twenty cents, while the girls received ten cents. Xu Mumu’s envelope had five yuan, making the kids envious.

Xu Mumu was stunned when she saw the amount in her red envelope; she hadn’t expected so much. Was it possible that Granny made a mistake?

Xu Mumu looked over at Madam Chen, who immediately understood what Xu Mumu was thinking.

"It’s specially for you, spend it however you like," Madam Chen said with affection, looking at Xu Mumu.

"Thank you, Granny," Xu Mumu said sincerely.

She put the money away—five yuan was quite a lot and could buy many things.

After giving out the red envelopes, Madam Chen brought out part of the nuts and candies she had bought before the New Year.

Qian Ying and Sun Huiping also brought out the snacks they had prepared.

Suddenly, there were so many snacks, making the kids extremely happy.

"Sister, why aren’t you eating?" Xu Minglei asked, putting a piece of candy in his mouth and looking at Xu Mumu.

"You guys eat, but don’t eat too much of these as they can cause heatiness," Xu Mumu said with a smile. There were plenty of candies and seeds, and she was worried about the kids eating snacks without moderation.

"Big sis, do you want to go out? Qian said there’s a dragon dance in the town," Xu Jiaojiao came running in from outside.