A foreign city, dear you

New Year! It’s New Year’s Day!

The Year of the Horse (2002) is gone and the Year of the Sheep (2003) is here, but the streets along the city are not lively.

Yancheng is a city of immigrants. When the Chinese New Year comes, those people who have been working hard in every corner for a year rush to their hometowns and reunite with their families because of the call of family affection.

The whole city was empty, like a skeleton with its air bag drained of air.

The bustling crowds and the densely packed vehicles all disappeared.

Rows of shops are closed and quiet; the streets are idle and empty. Deserted and quiet, this is the unique flavor of the New Year along the city...

Entering the lovely Year of the Sheep, cute little Lanshan will be three years old!

Ye Lian is about to be twenty-eight years old, and Cao Xueqian is about to be twenty-seven.

Year after year.

In the early morning, Ye Lian got up amidst the sound of firecrackers and got dressed. She pretended to be worried and coquettishly asked Cao Xueqian: "What should I do? Once this year is over, I will be thirty soon."

Cao Xueqian smiled: "What should I do (ban)? Accompany (ban), am I not with you?"

But Ye Lian felt that the sadness between men and women was not the same, and said quietly: "You men are not afraid. Isn't it said that men are thirty-one flowers?"

"What about women? Women are thirty..." Cao Xueqian smiled evilly, but when he saw Ye Lian's eyes widening, he quickly stopped his tongue.

"What do you mean, you started to dislike me?" Ye Lian did not let Cao Xueqian go.

Cao Xueqian quickly redressed his injustice and asked for his life: "How dare I? How do you know what I am going to say next? I mean, you are still a little girl even if you are thirty."

That sounds nice.

Ye Lian smiled.

Cao Xueqian took advantage of Ye Lian's unpreparedness and quickly kissed her on the forehead, then looked away as if nothing had happened.

mock up.

Ye Lian snickered.

My mood improved instantly.

Ye Lian is an older sister in terms of age, but in front of Cao Xueqian, she is just a little sister, often acting coquettishly in front of Cao Xueqian for comfort.

The two of them heard that Lanshan's grandparents were busy outside, so they took three New Year's red envelopes that had been prepared, opened the door to the room and walked out.

……

The first day of the Lunar New Year, the beginning of the new year.

The Spring Festival Gala is being replayed happily.

Cao Xueqian lowered his voice, and Ye Lian and Lanshan made the first phone call to Lanshan's grandparents to wish them a happy new year.

Grandpa and grandma's phone is a landline. It was installed just over a year ago. When Ye Lian was still in Pingcheng, she used her meager salary to install it for them. It was expensive, costing more than [-] yuan. .

Now that Cao Xueqian and the others have a higher income, it is easier to get some money for the elderly.

Before the New Year, Cao Xueqian asked Ye Lian to remit some money to Lanshan's grandparents, including their New Year expenses and sister-in-law Ye Wei's tuition after school started.

Ye Wei is graduating from college this year, and Cao Xueqian and Ye Lian still have to pay for her tuition, fees and living expenses for the last six months.

After saying some New Year greetings to Lanshan's grandpa and grandma, and asking about Ye Wei's studies and her graduation plans this year, the first phone call was completed.

Then according to the rules, we have to pay New Year greetings to some other elders.

However, due to conditions, not everyone has a landline or mobile phone at home that can be contacted, so I can only send New Year greetings to those elders who can be contacted.

After paying New Year’s greetings to the elders, it’s time to become relatives or friends of the same generation.

In order not to interfere with Lanshan and the two old people watching TV, Cao Xueqian and Ye Lian came to their rooms, either on the phone or through text messages, to greet their relatives and friends one by one with a happy New Year.

So, throughout the morning, there were constant calls and text messages, coming and going to celebrate the New Year.

Cao Xueqian has many relatives and friends, but Ye Lian has fewer.

This is the first time for the two of them to celebrate the New Year after owning mobile phones, so it still feels very fresh. They often share with each other who calls and who sends text messages.

In fact, they are all New Year greetings, the same over and over again.

"Ding." Ye Lian's cell phone on the bed rang again.

"Who sent the message?" Cao Xueqian asked, first opening Ye Lian's phone.

Ye Lian herself came over to take a look.

"May the New Year's bells bring my greetings and thoughts to you." Cao Xueqian read as he read.

"Who is this?" Cao Xueqian asked, hesitating for a moment and then guessed: "Is it Teacher Xie?"

Ye Lian looked at it and nodded: "Yes, it's Teacher Xie."