The sky was just bright, and Zhou Xiaoyun was woken up by the sound of firecrackers. A small piece of cake was placed beside her pillow, which she ate before speaking, meaning "high opening" with a homophonic pun on "opening high".

  After finishing the soft, sweet and fragrant cake, the sweetness lingered in my mouth for a long time. This is Zhou Xiaoyun's favorite New Year's food, but unfortunately, it's only available during the New Year's season and can't be bought at other times. Moreover, the taste of the cake at this time is also very authentic, and businessmen are more honest and rarely adulterate, unlike some cakes sold later that aren't even steamed ripe.

  Zhou Xiaoyun put on a new cotton-padded jacket and pants that she had never worn before. When making them, Zhao Yuzhen had deliberately made them a bit larger so that they could be worn next year as well. Overall, they still fit quite well.

  Zhou Xiaoyun deliberately went to take a look in the mirror, and the self in the mirror had grown one year older and was now seven years old. Her height was slightly taller than half a year ago, and she had also gained some weight, no longer looking so thin.

  Zhou Xiaoyun neatly tied her hair into two ponytails with colored rubber bands, set against a pink sweater, her face was exceptionally fair and her eyes were particularly bright, no matter how you looked at her, she was a lovely girl, only then did she go out satisfied.

  "Dad, Happy New Year. Mom, Happy New Year."

  Zhou Fu and Zhao Yu Zhen smiled and agreed, letting Zhou Xiao Yun have breakfast.

  For breakfast, there are dishes like meat dumplings called "Wan Wan Shun" and glutinous rice balls called "Yuan Bao". When eating, one must not misname them, or they will be scolded.

  Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't understand where these titles came from, anyway, calling them out according to usual was always correct.

  When eating "yuanbao", I unexpectedly found a one-jiao coin, which was another unexpected surprise. As usual, this coin was stuck on the wall's New Year picture, and it could only be peeled off after the 15th of the first month, and then this one jiao would belong to Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Eating coins is considered a good omen, bringing good luck in the new year. Zhao Yu Zhen had already used boiling water to scald four one-jiao coins and wrapped them in large tangyuan early that morning.

  Zhou's father was the first to eat it and he smiled with joy, saying that this year will bring good fortune.

  Zhao Yuzhen also ate one, and with Zhou Xiaoyun eating this one, the tangyuan was left with only one coin.

  Dabao saw Zhou Xiaoyun sticking sticky coins on the New Year's painting, and his eyes turned red with envy. He shouted that he also wanted to eat a tangyuan with coins. In fact, Dabao never liked sweet things, but for one mao (a small amount of money) and so-called good luck, this was also considered a great sacrifice for Dabao.

  After swallowing four Tangyuan, still no sign of the coin, Dabao started to get anxious. Using chopsticks, he picked up each Tangyuan in the big bowl and cut them in half, finally finding the coin at the bottom of the bowl, and happily pasted it onto the New Year's painting.

  After Xiaobao and Er Ya finished their meal, the four siblings started visiting each household to pay their New Year's greetings.

  The first stop was at the eldest uncle's house, where the aunt grabbed a handful of pumpkin seeds, sugar and greasy fried doughnuts for the kids. Zhou Xiaoyun politely took one or two, but Dabao stuffed his pockets full.

  An unexpected surprise was that the elder gave each of the children one yuan in lucky money, and although Little Treasure was small, he also knew that money was a good thing and quickly accepted it and put it into his pocket.

  Zhou Xiaoyun nudged Xiao Bao: "Hurry up and say thank you to Uncle."

  Xiao Bao did as he was told, and his uncle repeatedly praised him for being sensible.

  Er Ya learned from her example and said in a sweet voice: "Thank you, Uncle." This made both Uncle and Aunt laugh.

  Dabao's eyes lit up when he saw the red envelopes with money, and he whispered to Zhou Zhihai to rush out and buy firecrackers.

  Zhou Xiaoyun didn't have time to stop him and saw Dabao disappear in a flash, so she had no choice but to thank Dabo on his behalf.

  After leaving the eldest uncle's house, Zhou Xiaoxia joined the New Year's greeting team. After visiting several more houses, the team grew bigger and bigger. From one end of the village to the other, they walked around in a circle, saying "Happy New Year" and "Congratulations on getting rich" to everyone they met. Zhou Xiaoyun's face was sore from smiling so much. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, you have to put on a smile when meeting people; it wouldn't be right if you didn't!

  It's been over an hour since New Year's Eve ended, and finally, I can take a break, Zhou Xiaoyun thought.

  Before she could finish thinking, Wang Jingjing and Pang Niang, Xiao Bu Dian came over to find her again, pulling her to kick the shuttlecock. Zhou Xiaoyun smiled wryly and asked: "Can I not go?"

  "Absolutely not!" they chimed in unison.

  Zhou Xiaoyun had no choice but to muster up her spirits and reluctantly followed behind.

  The first day of the New Year was spent visiting relatives and playing, and Zhou Xiaoyun's legs were so tired that they felt soft by the end of the day. Before she could rest and recover, the next day began with visits to more relatives.

  The characteristic of Chinese New Year is eating and drinking, eating at home, going to relatives' homes to eat, relatives coming to their own home to eat, married daughters returning home to eat, bringing their mothers' family members to eat, a whole family of brothers and sisters gathering together to eat...

  In short, it's all about eating. If you visit and eat with relatives until the 10th or so of the first month, a whole year will have passed in eating.

  The second day of the Chinese New Year was the day for married women to return to their parents' home, and Zhao Yuzhen, who rarely returned to her parents' home, brought her husband and children back to her parents' home in another village.

  Zhao Yuzhen's mother had three sisters and a fourth uncle who was still unmarried.

  Zhao Yuzhen was the third in line, and her two older sisters had also gotten married and returned with their families. A bunch of children chattered noisily, making quite a lively scene.

  When eating, adults sit at one table and drink wine, bringing a few dishes to a small table for the children to eat together.

  Er Ya was held by her mother on the big table, while Zhou Xiaoyun and his siblings, two children from Da Yi's household, and a pair of twins from Er Yi's household were surrounding the small square table, eating with great enthusiasm.

  Xiao Bao was too short to reach the dishes he loved to eat and was getting anxious, so Zhou Xiaoyun took a bowl and scooped some food for Xiao Bao.

  Zhao Yuzhen took a glance at Xiao Yun taking good care of Bao and felt relieved, then turned back to chat with her sisters.