Rebirth of Bloody Romance

Zhou Xiaobai gently pushed open the door. The cold wind quietly slipped into the house from behind her, but was quickly melted by the warm scene before her.

The two little guys, Xiao Haichen and Shihua, ran over happily like two happy little birds, held Zhou Xiaobai's hands tightly, and couldn't wait to take her to a row of snowmen in the yard.

"Mom, mom, come and see!" Little Haichen's face flushed with excitement. He pointed at one of the tiny and exquisite snowmen, his eyes shining with pride, as if it was his most precious work of art.

"These are the snowmen my sister and I built together!"

Zhou Xiaobai's eyes were filled with a warm smile. She squatted down and gently stroked the snowman's carrot nose, feeling the children's happiness and innocence. "Wow, Shihua and Haichen are amazing. Mommy doesn't even know how to make a snowman! Our little snowman army is so cute! But where is Daddy? Why didn't he come to appreciate your masterpiece?"

Xiao Haichen pouted slightly, with a hint of disappointment and grievance. "Dad is in the room. Many people came to our house today to look for dad. They said they would play with me, but in the end I can only play with other children."

Zhong Yuemin, who had just walked out of the house, happened to hear these words. He smiled and shook his head, strode up to the two of them, and said with a deliberately fierce face, "Hey...hey...you kid, are you telling on me in front of your mother again? Didn't I help you build these snowmen? And you're still blaming me!"

Little Haichen cleverly hid behind Zhou Xiaobai, only showing his little head. He blinked his big eyes and shouted in a baby voice, "You only accompanied me and my sister for two, and then I will never see you again!"

"Isn't that enough? Besides, Dad has something to do and has to entertain the guests." Zhong Yuemin spread out his hands pretending to be helpless, but his eyes were full of doting.

Zhou Xiaobai couldn't help laughing when she saw the father and son bickering. She reached out and gently patted Zhong Yuemin, scolding him, "Yuemin, you are so annoying. Why are you competing with children? However, our little snowmen are really great. It seems that this winter has become more interesting because of your little works." As she spoke, she took another look at the cute snowmen, her face filled with a happy smile.

The laughter of the family, in this cold winter day, is like warm sunshine, illuminating every corner.

Zhong Yuemin looked at Zhou Xiaobai tenderly, with a faint smile on his lips, and asked softly, "Wife, what are we going to eat tonight? How about I help you?" His eyes were full of expectation and care, as if he hoped to do his part for this family.

Zhou Xiaobai thought for a moment, a gentle light flashed in her eyes, and she replied softly, "Well...how about I make dumplings for you? I haven't eaten dumplings for a long time." Her voice revealed her love for her family, and she seemed to want to warm everyone's hearts with delicious food.

However, little Haichen on the side couldn't wait to shout loudly, "Mom, why don't you ask me and my sister? We want to eat delicious food too!"

Zhou Xiaobai couldn't help laughing, gently pinched Xiao Haichen's little face, and asked softly, "Hey, you little naughty boy, then tell mom what you want to eat?"

Xiao Haichen answered loudly without hesitation, "Mom, I want to eat rice!" His eyes flashed with determination, as if this was the delicacy he most desired in his heart.

On the other side, Xiao Shihua was not to be outdone. She quickly raised her hand and said, "Mom, I want to eat spare ribs!" Her face was filled with a happy smile, which moved people.

Zhou Xiaobai responded with a smile. "Okay, okay, I'll satisfy you all. But Yuemin, what do you want to eat?"

Zhong Yuemin frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly slapped his thigh and said excitedly, "Wife, today is the day to worship the Kitchen God! Shouldn't we follow tradition and eat something special?"

When Zhou Xiaobai heard Zhong Yuemin's words, a playful smile appeared on his lips, and a mischievous light flashed in his eyes.

Zhong Yuemin was somewhat annoyed by her smile. He raised his eyebrows and shouted in dissatisfaction, "Zhou Xiaobai, why are you laughing? This is a serious matter!"

"Yuemin, Yuemin," Zhou Xiaobai laughed even more happily, as if he had discovered some extremely interesting secret. "Back then, you were the leader, and your energy to defeat all monsters was stronger than anyone else's. Why do you believe in these supernatural things now?"

When Zhong Yuemin heard this, he was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, and he quickly defended himself. "Hey! Wife, you can't talk nonsense. I was young and ignorant at that time, and I followed everyone to make trouble. But there was really no such superstition in the early days. In the later days, I withdrew a long time ago and didn't get involved in those things."

Seeing him eager to clear himself, Zhou Xiaobai laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth. He teased, "Yuemin, you haven't done anything wrong, why are you so excited?"

"I won't talk to you anymore. I can't explain it to you clearly." Zhong Yuemin waved his hand helplessly, but a doting smile appeared on his face. It was obvious that he was both helpless and happy with Zhou Xiaobai's teasing. Inside the house, the laughter of the two people intertwined, warm and full of the joy of life.

As for whether the Kitchen God really exists and whether he can bless his family with peace and happiness, Zhong Yuemin does not have too many obsessions.

Zhong Yuemin feels that this is just a belief, a cultural heritage, and whether to believe it or not depends entirely on one's mood.

Zhong Yuemin is the same with those gods and Buddhas in the sky. He worships when he sees one, and forgets it if he doesn't. Sometimes worshipping is more to satisfy the sense of ritual deep in his heart.

Although Zhong Yuemin himself does not often mention these things, every Chinese New Year and other holidays, when he sees Zhou Xiaobai busy pasting Spring Festival couplets and hanging lanterns, an indescribable sense of warmth and belonging always wells up in his heart.

These traditional customs seem to have taken deep root in their hearts, becoming an inseparable emotional bond.

However, with the continuous development and progress of cities, many traditional customs are gradually disappearing from people's lives. In particular, the popularization of pipeline gas has completely eliminated the earthen stove that the Kitchen God once relied on.

Nowadays, even in my own home, the once familiar kitchen has long been replaced by a brand new gas stove, becoming clean and bright.

Despite this, Zhong Yuemin occasionally can't help but think of his childhood, the days when everyone sat around the earthen stove, watching the flames dancing happily and listening to the crisp sound of burning firewood.

Life at that time was simple and beautiful, full of the flavor of fireworks. Looking back now, those scenes seem to be right in front of me, yet out of reach.

"Yuemin, do you think it's hard for kids nowadays to imagine us cooking on clay stoves when we were kids?"

Zhou Xiaobai sighed as he set the tableware, "In the future, the children may not even know what a clay stove looks like!"

Zhong Yuemin smiled and nodded, and replied, "Yes, children nowadays have better living conditions and have never seen many things. But it's okay this way, as the times are progressing, and we must keep pace with the times. Maybe one day, the earthen stoves in these farmhouse restaurants will become a rarity, and people will line up to experience them!"

Zhou Xiaobai was amused by him and said with a smile, "That's true. After all, everyone likes to pursue new things now. Besides, I recently heard that the food cooked with earth stoves and firewood tastes better than the food cooked with gas stoves at home."

Zhou Xiaobai asked curiously, "Yuemin, do you think this is a return to nature?"

Zhong Yuemin thought for a moment and answered seriously, "It should be considered as such, but it is more like a kind of sentiment. Just like we occasionally miss the past, not because the past was so beautiful, but because those memories contain our emotions and stories. So even the most ordinary things will become particularly precious as long as they can remind us of those good times."

Zhou Xiaobai nodded gently in agreement. She knew that Zhong Yuemin was right. Although times are constantly changing, people's need for emotions and memories will never change. And these seemingly ordinary things can often evoke the most sincere emotions in their hearts.

On Saturday night, Zhou Xiaobai sat on the sofa, flipping through a calendar, and asked Zhong Yuemin casually, "Yuemin, have you bought everything for the New Year? Don't miss anything by then."

Zhong Yuemin thought for a moment, put down the teacup in his hand, and said, "It's almost done, except for writing the Spring Festival couplets."

"Okay, then let's write Spring Festival couplets tomorrow." Zhou Xiaobai closed the magazine and made a decision.

The next day, after breakfast, Zhong Yuemin enthusiastically began to prepare to write Spring Festival couplets, while Zhou Xiaobai, Xiao Shihua and Xiao Haichen were busy cutting paper, and the family was having a great time.

After each couplet he wrote, Zhong Yuemin would look at it with pride, as if he was looking at his own masterpiece. After reading it, he did not forget to say to Xiao Shihua, "Girl, take it aside to dry it, don't let the ink rub it."

"Okay, Dad, your handwriting is so beautiful." Xiao Shihua took the Spring Festival couplets obediently, and praised while hanging them up.

When Zhong Yuemin heard the praise from his daughter, he felt so proud that a smile almost burst out on his face.

When Zhou Xiaobai saw this, he just smiled and said nothing, but his eyes were full of tenderness and doting.

Zhong Yuemin began to appreciate his own work repeatedly, changing his perspective, squinting, opening his eyes wide, looking closer, and looking farther away. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became. Finally, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Fuck him! How can I write so beautifully? Ah? Ah? Ah? Ah."

Zhou Xiaobai, Xiao Shihua and Xiao Haichen couldn't help laughing when they heard him talking to himself. Zhou Xiaobai joked, "Yuemin, you are too narcissistic."

Zhong Yuemin replied seriously, "Wife, I'm not narcissistic. I'm pursuing and respecting art. I think my calligraphy has really improved. It's getting smoother and smoother."

At this time, Chen Yijun slowly walked over, and Xiao Shihua immediately came forward and said excitedly, "Grandma, look at my father's handwriting. Is it good-looking? Doesn't it look beautiful?"

When Zhong Yuemin heard what his daughter said, he put down the pen in his hand, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at Chen Yijun with expectant eyes. The meaning was very clear, he was waiting for Chen Yijun's praise.

However, after looking at the couplets, Chen Yijun frowned and said bluntly, "Yuemin, the structure of your characters is correct, but it looks too elegant, boneless, soft, and without a pen tip. The characters appear very thin, and some strokes are also very empty, without a sense of heaviness, giving people a feeling of being powerless, as if they are about to faint while writing. It's still the old saying that the handwriting reflects the character of the writer." She said, shaking her head, as if she was not satisfied with Zhong Yuemin's calligraphy.

Zhou Xiaobai couldn't hold back his laughter when he heard his mother's words. The laughter was clear and cheerful, like a string of silver bells echoing in the air.

Although Xiao Haichen didn't know what his mother was laughing at, he laughed along. His laughter was childish and innocent, like the chirping of birds in spring.

After hearing this, Zhong Yuemin felt a burning pain on his face, as if he had been slapped hard in the face, and felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

Xiao Shihua was indeed his sweetheart. She immediately supported Zhong Yuemin and said, "Grandma, I think what dad wrote is beautiful. It's really beautiful!"

Chen Yijun continued to point at the Spring Festival couplets and said to Zhong Yuemin, "Yuemin, look at this calligraphy, it looks nice, but it's just a show, without any foundation. The way you write, it's obvious that you write casually according to your own temperament, without any systematic learning. It's not calligraphy that can be called calligraphy just by writing with a brush. I started learning official script when I was young, and later I learned Ouyang Xun for a while. Although I haven't picked up a brush for a few years now, if I pick up a brush to write, I should be better than you."

"Mom, that's impossible? You can also write calligraphy?" Zhong Yuemin said somewhat unconvinced.

Zhou Xiaobai smiled and said, "Yuemin, our mother is a professor of history and likes these classical things. Do you think she can write calligraphy?"

Seeing that Zhong Yuemin was not convinced, Chen Yijun pointed directly at the word "five" and said, "Yuemin, look at this word, the strokes are stiff. Let me tell you the simplest one. You wrote the word "five" in a running stroke, but the strokes are very thick. The middle stroke should be connected with a hairline, but you just carried it over, making the word "five" look very fat. The basic structure should be there, and the strokes should echo each other. Your work can only be considered a painting at best. Your shortcoming is that you like to "draw", and each stroke is clean and neat. But calligraphy is not like this. Yan Jin Liu Gu, the first lesson of calligraphy usually talks about this. A deeper level is to pay attention to the hook like bending gold, the spear like firing a crossbow, the vertical and horizontal have an image, and the low and high have aspirations. What's your talent?"

Chen Yijun paused and continued, "Calligraphy requires a smooth flow without any pauses. If you pause, the flow of energy will be interrupted. Also, the turning points of your strokes are too stiff and lack a sense of roundness. Also, when you write, you should pay attention to the changes in the thickness of the ink. Don't just use thick ink, which will make the characters look rigid. Finally, you should practice more classic calligraphy works, such as those by Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Wang Xizhi, etc., and learn their brushwork and structure. Only in this way can your calligraphy improve."

After hearing what Chen Yijun said, Zhong Yuemin's face turned red like a monkey's butt.