Shocking! A three-year-old brings his aloof mother to their door.

When buying couplets, Tongtong stood in front of the stall, unable to move.

The couplet featured two chubby golden babies, one holding a gold ingot and the other holding a large red lantern, their smiles so bright they seemed to leap off the paper.

Tongtong pointed at them: "I want this!"

Mo Ye squatted down and looked at her: "Tongtong likes this?"

Tongtong nodded: "They're so happy!"

Mo Ye smiled, turned to the shopkeeper and said, "Give me three of these."

I chose another simple and elegant one, with gold lettering on an ink background and dignified characters, to paste on the first-floor front door.

Tongtong also picked out the lanterns.

She tiptoed among the rows of red lanterns three times, finally stopping in front of the largest pair, hands on her hips: "If I'm going to buy one, I'll buy the biggest one!"

Mo Ye nodded obediently and then bought three strings of LED lights to hang on the trees in the yard.

He also prepared a copy for Jiang Shuya, intending to send it over later.

Tongtong started clamoring to set off fireworks again, so Moye drove his tricycle, taking the three of them to a fireworks wholesale market on the outskirts of town.

The shop was filled with the smell of gunpowder. Tongtong twitched her little nose, as if she were a little rabbit smelling carrots.

She wandered between the shelves, touching this and that with her little hands, and finally chose a huge firework tube, taller than herself. She held it in her arms like she was hugging a red pillar, her little face full of satisfaction.

Mo Ye then moved two more boxes of small fireworks and several firecrackers, filling the back of the tricycle to the brim.

Mo Ye parked his car at a designated car rental place to prevent theft, then clapped his hands and turned to look at the several people who were already impatient:

"Let's go check out the food festival."

It's called a food festival, but it's really just a street full of barbecue and snack stalls: lamb skewers, fried chicken strips, grilled gluten, sizzling tofu...

The smell of fireworks was so strong it was choking, but for children, this place was paradise.

At the food festival, signs advertising "10 skewers for 10 yuan" were plastered everywhere. Looking at the signs, He Wanning muttered to herself, "How can they make money selling things so cheaply?"

Mo Ye gestured with his chin towards her, indicating that she should look at the meat on the skewer: "Take a look at that skewer."

He Wanning looked down and her lips twitched. The skewers were free!

He Wanqing casually chimed in from the side, "They don't mind if you're poor, even if it's only one yuan a skewer."

He Wanning fell silent; she had indeed never eaten anything so cheap before.

"Won't it give me diarrhea?" she asked softly.

Mo Ye thought for a moment: "If you're scared, how about we do it ourselves tonight?"

He Wanning's eyes lit up: "Great! I'll bake it myself when we get back!"

Tongtong, however, was already captivated by the aroma wafting from the nearby stalls. She tugged at Mo Ye's sleeve, tilted her head back, and spoke in a soft, sweet voice:

"Daddy, Tongtong wants to eat it now, it smells so good!"

Just as He Wanqing was about to speak up to stop him, Mo Ye pointed to a stall selling rock sugar pears next to them: "Let's eat that."

It was a stall where rock sugar pears were being cooked in large iron pots, the sweet aroma of pears wafting from the pots as steam rose.

Tongtong leaned closer and sniffed it, her eyes sparkling: "Tongtong wants to eat it!"

Mo Ye bought four cups, one for each person.

Tongtong held her little paper cup, looked down at the amber-colored pear soup inside, tentatively blew on it, carefully took a sip, and then a satisfied smile spread across her face: "Delicious!"

A group of people strolled around the food street and found that the food was basically the same everywhere: lamb skewers, grilled squid, fried potatoes—it was just the same few things over and over again.

Mo Ye lost interest after browsing for a while, so he took the group to buy barbecue ingredients: chicken wings, beef, pork belly, enoki mushrooms, corn, eggplant, and a large bag of charcoal. Then he threw the stuff into the car and headed home.

When I got home, Jiang Hui was holding a bamboo pole with bamboo leaves tied to it, looking up as she swept the dust off the roof.

Tongtong jumped out of the car, ran over, and looked up at her with her little face: "Grandma, what are you doing?"

Jiang Hui looked down at the little dumpling with its face tilted upwards: "Grandma is cleaning."

Tongtong looked at the bamboo pole, her little face full of eager anticipation: "Can you let Tongtong try it out?"

Jiang Hui held the bamboo pole and handed it to her: "Okay, Tongtong, give it a try."

Tongtong gripped the bamboo pole with her two chubby little hands, stood on tiptoe and tried to reach the roof. Her little face turned red, but the tip of the bamboo was still a long way from the roof.

She put down the bamboo pole, pouted, and said in a muffled voice, "Tongtong can't reach it."

Mo Ye walked over, bent down, picked her up with one hand, and took the bamboo pole with the other:

"Come on, Daddy will help you. Tongtong, come and play."

Tongtong gripped the bamboo pole again, lifted it up, and her little face scrunched up again: "It's so heavy!"

Mo Ye put her down and pinched her little face: "Tongtong is too weak to do this."

Tongtong nodded: "Too heavy, not fun."

Jiang Hui smiled and took the bamboo pole back, continuing to sweep her roof.

Tongtong ran into the house and saw that He Wanqing and He Wanning had already started wiping the table.

She immediately went over, picked up a rag, and started wiping the table with great seriousness. After wiping the corner of the table, she wiped the table legs, wiping more carefully than anyone else.

The four of them spent the whole afternoon cleaning windows, doors, and sweeping the yard.

Tongtong's little face was also covered in a few streaks of ash, making her look like a little kitten that had just crawled out of the stove.

I was busy until almost sunset before I finally finished tidying up.

He Wanning straightened up, rubbed her lower back, and let out a long sigh: "Damn, this is really tiring."

Mo Ye straightened up and turned to look at her: "I guess your place needs cleaning too."

He Wanning let out an "Ah," as if reminded of something unpleasant, and wilted, having completely forgotten about it.

We used to hire someone to clean the house when we lived there, but this year my parents are spending the Lunar New Year here, so the house there probably needs some cleaning too.

However, the feeling of the whole family cleaning together, although tiring, is definitely much more festive than hiring someone to clean.

Tongtong put down the dishcloth, her chubby little hands on her hips: "We're done! Time for a barbecue!"

After washing his hands, Mo Ye nodded: "Let's make some kiln-roasted chicken."

Tongtong: "Yay! Tongtong wants to build a house!"

Jiang Hui's voice came from the kitchen: "I'll go catch a chicken for you."

He Wanning immediately raised her hand: "I definitely want to participate in the kiln-roasted chicken competition!"

Mo Ye led her and Tongtong to an open space not far from the entrance, a piece of land that had been left idle after the rice harvest.

The ground was dry and hard, with large and small clods of earth scattered all around.

He pointed to the ground: "Right here."

He Wanning flexed her wrists and looked down at Tongtong: "Hey Tongtong, let's team up."

Tongtong glanced at her, then crossed her arms and said, "Auntie, don't hold me back!"

He Wanning: "Are you kidding me? Your aunt is an expert."

Tongtong looked at her suspiciously: "Really?"

He Wanning raised an eyebrow: "You actually don't believe me?"

Tongtong supported her belly with her two little hands, then slowly opened her mouth:

"Who knew you'd be bullying me all the time?"

Ignoring their bickering, Mo Ye said, "I'll leave the kiln to you two. I'll go kill a chicken, and you two can make it bigger."

He Wanning patted her chest and assured him, "Brother-in-law, leave it to me!"

Tongtong quickly raised her chubby little hand: "Me too!"