Chen Yan’s hometown, the customs for giving gifts in the countryside are much simpler and straightforward than in the city—not like city folk who, when delivering gifts, have to step inside, sit down, and the host invariably must offer a cup of tea followed by some small talk and pleasantries...
The customs in this place are much simpler.
In the village, households generally don’t close their doors, the gates are wide open, allowing people to come and go freely. Those delivering gifts bring things inside, if the host is home, they directly place the items on the table or against the wall, exchange a few polite words, and greet each other.
If the main hall happens to be empty, the gift-giver will shout, wait for the host to emerge from the kitchen or a room, and as long as they meet face to face, they can just place the items down, quickly greet each other, and then turn around and leave.
—That’s considered completing the gift-giving process! The entire process takes no more than two minutes.
The host knows you came, and knows what you brought—that’s enough.
Of course, for ordinary visits it’s ; if you’re asking for a favor, that’s a different story.
Because it’s simple, the speed is fast. Although there are over a hundred households in the village, Chen Yan finishes visiting each home in just one or two minutes.
In one morning, he managed to visit everyone in the village—except for the old village chief’s family, whom Chen Yan plans to visit specifically on New Year’s Day to pay respects and deliver gifts.
In this hurried manner, he finally completed all the gift-giving before noon—it must not be delayed past noon!
Today is New Year’s Eve, and the custom in Chen Yan’s hometown is that the New Year’s Eve dinner starts after noon.
The whole family gathers around a table full of dishes, which can be enjoyed from noon all the way to evening—those playing cards play cards, those chatting chat, those drinking drink, those eating eat.
If the gift-giving is delayed past noon, when people have already started the New Year’s Eve dinner, it’s not appropriate to visit.
At that point, should the host invite you to stay for dinner or not?
Though Chen Yan is quite fit now, after delivering gifts to over a hundred households in one morning, he is exhausted and drenched in sweat.
Upon returning to his courtyard, he sees Gu Qingyi building a snowman in the yard.
Young Lady Gu has already finished building one and is using a shovel to adjust its shape, while nearby, Lu Sisi is squatting on the ground helping, trying hard to make a large snowball even bigger.
In the yard, there are already three snowmen.
One was made by Lu Sisi on the first day, the other two must have been the girls’ morning creations.
Chen Yan stands at the gate, smiling at the scene, the tallest snowman has a smooth head with cabbage leaves as hair, two pieces of black charcoal for eyes, and a carrot for a nose.
The other two snowmen are slightly shorter and clearly different. One has a smiling face drawn on its head.
The other is being shaped by Gu Qingyi with a shovel...
She actually hung the pillowcase from the bedroom on the snowman’s back—counting it as a cape?
Chen Yan sighs, whatever.
Using the pillowcase is fine, no one uses it anyway, it can just be washed in a few days.
Chen Yan’s eyes twinkle as he bends down, grabs a snowball from the ground, shapes it, and throws it at Gu Qingyi.
Young Lady Gu doesn’t even turn around but extends her hand lightly, effortlessly catching the snowball mid-air. She glances at Chen Yan, a slight sneer on her face: "Is that all?"
After saying that, this girl’s backhand move makes Chen Yan’s vision blur, a "bang" sound, and the snowball hits his forehead squarely! He almost staggers—Young Lady Gu, hitting harder would be illegal!
Lu Sisi sees this and laughs, then also grabs a snowball from the ground and aims at Chen Yan.
In an instant, Chen Yan rushes into the yard, engaging in a playful fight with the two girls.
Essentially, it’s Gu Qingyi pressing Chen Yan down, one snowball after another smashing onto his head, eventually pinning him to the ground and stuffing handfuls of snow down his collar.
Chen Yan yells a few times, uses the Escape Rune Technique to flee, daring not to provoke the Celestial Human Realm Young Lady Gu, and turns to target Lu Sisi.
After throwing a few snowballs at Lu Sisi, she shrieks laughingly while running around the yard, none of her retaliatory snowballs hitting Chen Yan.
Finally, when Chen Yan catches up with her, she exclaims and is encircled by his arms...
Watching, Gu Qingyi, who had a snowball ready for a sneak attack, suddenly finds her laughter cut off like by scissors!
Her smile freezes, her delicate face slowly tensing.
Fine, fine... throwing snowballs and you’re giving me dog food, huh?
Young Lady Gu rolls her eyes, drops her snowball, and heads indoors.
"You, let me go." Lu Sisi, face flushed, stands in Chen Yan’s embrace, looks up at him: "You... Sister Gu couldn’t bear to watch anymore."
"Hey! She’s a generation older than me, calling her sister isn’t appropriate, isn’t that taking advantage of me?" Chen Yan shakes his head.
"Oh come on, let go of me." Lu Sisi bites her lip.
Chen Yan chuckles: "I can let you go, unless you..."
Before he finishes, Lu Sisi stands on tiptoe, quickly pecks Chen Yan’s cheek lightly.
Chen Yan is stunned, and before he can react, Lu Sisi ducks out from beneath his arms.
Preparation for the New Year’s Eve dinner begins at noon.
Spring roll wrappers bought from the market, and the freshly chopped and seasoned fillings—chives and meat stuffing.