I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 190. Peace and Joy
The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.

Saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new, hoping for a better year ahead has always been the most basic and common aspiration of the Chinese people.

With only a few days left until the Lunar New Year, perhaps because of the many major events that happened in 08, the festive atmosphere on the street corners is stronger than in previous years as the year draws to a close.

The flower market set up in Licheng Square had been open since the 25th of the lunar year. Around 10 a.m., after Wu Lingyu returned from Gangcheng, Xu Qingfan drove a three-wheeled vehicle with the five girls to stroll through the flower market.

In the past, the girls always went to the flower market with adults. This was the first time they were accompanied by their parents, and they all felt a sense of novelty for no reason.

Although it wasn't evening yet, Licheng Square was still packed with people, and the trees were adorned with festive red lanterns, while the loudspeakers played the joyful song "Happy New Year."

Listen to the resounding drums and gongs, bidding farewell to the old year!

Look how happy and cheerful everyone is!

After locking the rear wheel of the three-wheeled vehicle with an iron chain, Xu Qingfan led the way, twirling a key ring in his hand.

"Let's go see what we can buy to decorate our home!"

"Brother Qingfan, shall we buy some kumquats?" Lin Wanning pulled Zhang Yiyi along and jogged forward, walking side by side with Xu Qingfan.

"Brother Fan, let's take a picture here!" Xiao Ruanwen, Wu Lingyu, and Xia Xiaoxiao ran to the ox mascot not far away and waved to them.

Xu Qingfan and Lin Wanning exchanged a smile. "Let's go take some pictures too."

"Ok!"

"Boy, smile! Don't let your arms hang down. You can make a peace sign!" With the help of kind citizens, they successfully took a group photo of the six of them on this special day.

"Thanks." Xu Qingfan jogged over to retrieve the camera, and when he opened the photos, he was surprised to find that they were actually quite good.

"Brother Qingfan, let me take a look!"

"How is Fan Ge? Will filming continue?"

"Take a look," Xu Qingfan said, flipping the screen over and showing it to them.

Wow~ Not bad!

"This one is beautiful!"

The six people in the photo have natural and confident smiles, a kind of innocence that comes from never having stepped into society, just like young students, full of vigor and vitality.

"Let's go in and have a look around!" He hung the camera back around his neck, put his hands on Lin Wanning's shoulders, and pushed the girl forward.

"Brother Qingfan, I want to buy a windmill!"

"Buy it when you leave."

"Brother Fan, do we want to buy peach trees?"

"You can take them if you want, but you'll have to wait until you're leaving because they're too big. Let's go buy some door god stickers first!"

In previous years, Xu Qingfan had handwritten the couplets and the character "福" (fortune), but he wasn't an art student and couldn't draw the door gods.

The five young women resembled thrifty and virtuous wives, patiently comparing prices at different stores.

"Five dollars!"

"Pretty lady, you can't haggle like that! You should cut the price in half!"

“Auntie, this pattern isn’t a cow or a horse, so normally no one would buy it. Can you give us a discount? We’ll buy something else here.” Wu Lingyu negotiated with the shop owner calmly, her aura unwavering.

It turned out that Lin Wanning had taken a liking to a sticker in this shop, with the image of Ali and the four characters 'Peace and Joy' printed on it.

"Alright, alright, I'm only selling you this cheap because you're students. It's all good quality paper!" The proprietress waved her hand helplessly.

"Hee hee~"

After Xu Qingfan paid and left the stall, several women surrounded Wu Lingyu like stars around the moon.

"Xiaoyu, you're amazing!"

"That's right, I feel guilty when I try to bargain."

"Xiaoyu, great job!"

Wu Lingyu lowered her head and smiled shyly, saying, "It's alright, I learned it when I went grocery shopping with my aunt."

Once, when Wu Lingyu accompanied Yao Jinping to buy groceries, she witnessed Yao's mother's bargaining skills. The young girl was amazed and began to consciously imitate the tone and words used by the other party when bargaining.

"Xiaoyu, you have such a skill but you didn't tell us. You have to teach us when we get back!"

"I never haggle over the price of ducks. Every time the owner says he's selling, I feel like I'm losing out!"

Xu Qingfan patted the girl's head. Wu Lingyu usually gave people the impression of being timid and hesitant, but he didn't expect her to have such a confident side. He felt quite gratified.

"Is there anything else I need to buy? I still need to clean and cook later."

"You haven't bought the red envelopes yet!" Xia Xiaoxiao reminded her.

"Why do we need to buy red envelopes?" Xu Qingfan asked instinctively.

"Hanging on the orange tree like a duck, Brother Qingfan is so stupid!" Lin Wanning was unusually smarter than Xu Qingfan, and proudly raised his hand to pat his head.

"Oh, oh, yes, mine, mine!"

Wu Lingyu made another move, negotiating the prices of the kumquats and peaches to her advantage. Xu Qingfan then drove off in his three-wheeled vehicle, and the group returned home laden with their purchases.

Congratulations on your fortune!

"The God of Wealth is here! The God of Wealth is here! Take a few quick steps!"

"It resounded throughout the Heavenly Palace!"

On the way back, the five girls leaned against the tricycle, humming three different New Year's songs in turn. Back at their secret base, after unloading their belongings, Xu Qingfan drove the tricycle next door to return it to his neighbor, an older woman.

"Thank you, aunt!"

"It's alright, it's alright. Just come and ask Auntie for anything you need next time."

"Okay~" Xu Qingfan replied with a smile.

When he returned home, the girls were all waiting for him in the living room.

"First clean up, then put up the couplets. You three take care of the living room, and Yi Yi and Wan Ning work on the yard." Xu Qingfan clapped his hands, assigning tasks to the five of them. "I'll go to the kitchen to cook the chickens quickly so we can prepare for the worship ceremony. Let's begin!"

With Xu Qingfan in charge, the house quickly became busy.

Before the Lunar New Year, people in the port city would worship the gods at home. The offerings included a rooster that had been artificially ripened, a piece of fatty pork, five kinds of fruits of different colors: apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, and red dates. They would also put a bowl of raw rice in the rooster's bowl, with red dates spread out on top of the rice.

Xu Qingfan vaguely remembers that before the Lunar New Year, people worshiped Tai Sui (the Grand Duke Jupiter). After all, people in Lingnan have too many gods, and you can see people worshiping gods at home almost every day of the year.

He boiled a pot of water in the kitchen, put the rooster and pork belly in to cook them, then took them out and cooled them with cold water, keeping them for later use in the worship ceremony.

The rooster used for the worship ceremony will not be wasted. Half of it will be braised, and the other half will be used to make soup. The pork belly will be reserved to make braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens and taro.

"Ah!" Just as he was busy in the kitchen, Lin Wanning's exclamation suddenly came from outside.

Xu Qingfan didn't even have time to put down the spatula; he grabbed it and rushed out.

"What's wrong?" He was relieved to see that nothing had happened.

"Pfft~ Hahahaha!" Xiao Ruanwen was the first to walk over, then clutched her stomach and pointed at the sticker on the glass window, laughing non-stop.

Xu Qingfan felt confused and went over to take a look, only to find that when Lin Wanning pasted the Ali-themed "Peace and Joy" sticker, he had put the "Joy" character on top first.

"Brother Qingfan, I didn't mean to." Lin Wanning was still holding the remaining three stickers in his hand, carefully poking his fingers at them.

Xu Qingfan sighed. He originally thought that only college students with clear eyes could do such a skill, but he did not expect that Lin Wanning was just as good.

Three minutes later.

Xu Qingfan tore off the original "乐" (joy) character and replaced it with the three characters "平安喜" (peace and happiness).

"Give me some fun!" he shouted, holding a camera and pointing it at Lin Wanning inside the glass.

The girl pressed her head against where the music should have been, revealing her neat, white teeth, and smiled innocently.

"Hee hee hee!" The four girls stood behind Xu Qingfan, laughing out loud at the absurd scene captured in the camera.

Lin Wanning ran out of the living room again, looking like she had done something wrong, and stuck out her tongue shyly.

"Great! Posting photos of Wan Ning is the real fun!" Xu Qingfan pinched one side of her cheek with one hand, turned the photo around and showed it to her.

"Hehe~ It looks good!"

Xu Qingfan went upstairs to print out the photo in color and then pasted it back on.

The six people surrounded the photo, laughing continuously. They greatly admired Xu Qingfan's sudden and ingenious idea.

"Brother Qingfan is still the best!" Lin Wanning felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

"If you put the 'Wishing you prosperity' sticker on the wrong thing, I'll stick your wallet on it!" Xu Qingfan grabbed her tuft of hair.

"Waaah~ No way!"

"Hahaha"

People in the port city will not stop until the New Year cleaning is spotless.

Therefore, Xu Qingfan simply cooked a noodle dish with green peppers and shredded pork for lunch. After finishing the noodles, everyone continued cleaning.

Around 4 p.m., the six of them collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, completely exhausted.

"Finally done~" Looking at their home, which looked like a new house, the five girls were more surprised than tired.

"The duvet cover hasn't been put on yet!" Xu Qingfan reminded him.

"Aww~ Brother Qingfan, I don't want to move anymore, can you help us get in?" Lin Wanning said softly, resting his head on Zhang Yiyi's lap.

"Brother, please."

Wu Lingyu tried to get up and get into bed, but Xiao Ruanwen held her like a pillow and she couldn't move.

Xu Qingfan hated getting into bedsheets the most, and he even wanted the girls to help him with that, but instead, they went and did the opposite.

"Get up and get into bed, go upstairs for a nap, and you can have New Year's Eve dinner when you wake up!" Xu Qingfan promised them.

"Okay~" The five of them were indeed sleepy. They hadn't taken a nap at noon and had been cleaning the place. It would be so comfortable to sleep on the newly made bed!

He had already prepared all the dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner, and the soup was already simmering in the kitchen. There were only some simple steaming and boiling left, which would only take half an hour to prepare before the official start of the meal.

The six of them went up to the third floor together, and under Xu Qingfan's supervision, they put the four quilts in place. The next second, they crawled into the quilts without moving and went to sleep.

Xu Qingfan suddenly felt a little nostalgic for his childhood. Sometimes, when conditions were limited, the six of them would sleep together under one big quilt. He really wanted to sleep snuggled up with the girls!

"Brother Fan, could you please close the curtains?"

"Brother Qingfan even has air conditioning!"

The temperature today is 26 degrees Celsius, but it's more comfortable to sleep under a quilt with the air conditioning on.

Xu Qingfan shook his head, helped them draw the curtains, turned the air conditioner to 24 degrees Celsius, closed the door, and returned to his own bedroom.

He set an alarm for 5 a.m. and went to sleep.

(End of this chapter)