Withered vine new leaves

Chen Zhicun returned along the same road, and when he got home, Aunt Peipei was cleaning up the dishes.

"Have you delivered Keke to the car?" Aunt Peipei asked when she looked up and saw that Chen Zhicun had returned.Chen Zhicun nodded, answered "Yes." and helped her tidy up.

Standing by the sink, one old and one young, Aunt Peipei carefully cleaned the bowl with dish soap, and then handed it to Chen Zhicun to rinse it carefully with clean water. "I really didn't expect that one day you would bring your classmates to our house to play."

Chen Zhicun was stunned for a moment, looking at Aunt Peipei, but the other party's attention was all on her hands, and she didn't look back at herself: "Don't you like me bringing my classmates back?"

Aunt Peipei shook her head: "How could that be! I was always worried that you would be bullied at school because of your temperament, but now that you have such a cheerful friend as your company, I am relieved. From now on, you must let people come to visit you frequently. ah."

Chen Zhicun smiled slightly, and said hello: "This year's New Year's Eve, I have two friends who want to come with Meng Ke to celebrate the New Year, okay?"

Aunt Peipei's eyes flashed, and she rubbed Chen Zhicun's cheek with her foamy hand: "Of course, ask your friends what they like to eat, so I can buy groceries."

"Thank you, Auntie." Chen Zhicun's face was covered with some dish soap foam, and he looked like a little cat.

"What is there to thank, we are a family, your friends are my friends, your future is my future." Aunt Peipei murmured as if talking to herself.

"What kind of future does Aunt Peipei want for me?" Chen Zhicun asked carefully wiping the dishes with a dry rag.

"That's something you have to consider, just do what you like."

"I don't know what I like. Even reading those historical books is only influenced by you and my mother." Chen Zhicun said a little discouraged.

Aunt Peipei said: "Then rely on your intuition, do what you want to do, love the person you want to love, and live every second of your life well. If you get hurt outside, don't be afraid. There is a family, and you, Aunt Peipei, I will always be here to comfort and encourage you."

Chen Zhicun was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Aunt Peipei, his eyes were red and he was a little choked up, he sniffed to hold back his tears. "It always feels great to be a family member with Auntie Peipei."

Aunt Peipei chuckled twice: "You silly boy."

Aunt Peipei has lived most of her life, and she has never encountered any kind of people or things.Seeing that Chen Zhicun became more cheerful, he knew that he must have met a close friend and confidant in school.As long as the children are happy, she doesn't ask too much. The ancients always said that children and grandchildren have their own blessings, and they can't manage the affairs of the younger generation if they want to.Now that Chen Zhicun brought his friend to his home for the first time as a guest, Aunt Peipei saw that the child was lively and sensible, and she was relieved to have him by Chen Zhicun's side.

Every day that followed, Meng Ke came to Chen Zhicun's house on time, and after dinner at night, Chen Zhicun walked with him wandering towards the station, watching him get on the train before walking back in peace.

"Time flies so fast, it will be New Year's Eve in a few days." Meng Ke said while walking on the road stretching his waist.

"Yeah, remember to bring Andrew and Feng Xiao with you when the time comes. Aunt Peipei said she would show off her skills and cook a good meal. If you don't mind, you can stay at my house that night."

Meng Ke was a little elated: "Really?"

Chen Zhicun nodded: "Of course, I can still lie to you."

On New Year's Eve, the streets were crowded with people and it was unbearably crowded.Even if many years have passed, people's joy and blessings for the beginning of the new year will not dissipate.

In the morning, Aunt Peipei gave Chen Zhi money to go to the street to buy some nut snacks.Chen Zhicun agreed and walked out, and happened to meet Feng Xiao, Meng Ke, and Andrew on the way.

"Why did you come so early? I thought you wouldn't come until noon."

"Come here in time for lunch, doesn't it become a special trip to eat?" Meng Ke joked. "Where are you going?"

"Go get some nut snacks, do you want to come together?"

The three nodded in unison.In the store, the shelves are full of roasted seeds and nuts snacks that are popular for the New Year.Chen Zhicun suddenly found himself in trouble, not knowing what to buy.

"What do you want to eat?" Chen Zhicun turned to look at the three people and asked.

"Nuts." Feng Xiao looked at Chen Zhicun and said.

"???"

"Hazelnuts, pine nuts, and walnuts." Feng Xiao said again.

"I'm asking what you like to eat!" Chen Zhicun said.

Feng Xiao nodded with certainty: "That's right, what you like to eat is what I like to eat."

"..." Chen Zhicun decided to ignore him, and asked Meng Ke sideways.

"Sugar." Meng Ke blinked and looked at himself

"??? What sugar."

"Hard candy, soft candy, lollipop."

"..." Why did Chen Zhicun feel that he would not be able to communicate with them when the winter vacation came?

"No." Andrew stretched out his hand from behind Meng Ke and poked Meng Ke's face. Meng Ke actually covered his face and screamed. "Don't buy candy. This guy got a cavity two days ago and just got it filled. Now he's greedy when he sees candy. You don't need to pay attention to him."

"..." At the end, Chen Zhicun still bought the snacks he often bought in previous years, and Feng Xiao carried them, and the four of them walked home together.At the end, Chen Zhicun looked at Meng Ke with a face full of tears, and looked at himself pitifully, so he secretly bought some candy while walking out of the store, and gave it to Meng Ke.

The moment he handed it to him, Chen Zhicun almost felt that Meng Ke was about to cry: "Don't let Andrew see it, or I will be criticized too."

Meng Ke nodded vigorously, looked around, and saw that Andrew was talking to Feng Xiao with his back turned to him, he was relieved, and stuffed the candy into his pocket.Now the mood naturally seems to be turning from cloudy to sunny, and Meng Ke's smile reappeared.

"Aren't you sad now?" Chen Zhicun looked at him and smiled, too.

Meng Ke took out a fruit candy, peeled off the wrapper, stuffed it into his mouth, and nodded with satisfaction: "Xiaozhi is the best for me!" Then he hugged Chen Zhicun and rubbed his face against him rub.Chen Zhicun smiled helplessly, "Okay, okay, let's go."

Walking into the house, Andrew also reacted the same way as Meng Ke did when he came for the first time last time: "My God, Chen Zhicun, your family runs an antique shop!" Even the tone of complaints was exactly the same.With the previous experience, Chen Zhicun is no stranger to it.

On the contrary, this time Meng Ke put his hips on his hips and said, "Is it saying that you are uneducated? These are the treasures that Aunt Peipei worked so hard to collect. Aunt Peipei likes ancient Chinese things the most."

"..."

Chen Zhicun couldn't help laughing when he saw them bickering with each other.

"Oh, why do I seem to hear Coco's voice?" Aunt Peipei poked her head out of the kitchen with her hands covered in flour.

"Hello, Auntie Peipei!" Seeing that it was Auntie Peipei, Meng Ke shouted sweetly.Seeing this, Feng Xiao and Andrew also called out "Aunt Peipei".

"Okay, good boy, you guys do it first, and I'll make dumplings for you later."

In today's fast-paced life, even if you eat dumplings, you will choose to buy quick-frozen ones in the supermarket. It is fast and convenient, and you don't care whether it is delicious. Eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year is a good sign.But Aunt Peipei still insists on kneading the dough, rolling out the skin, and mixing the stuffing by herself, and she still doesn’t forget to put coins in it when she wraps it up.

After a while, Aunt Peipei came out of the kitchen with a big pot of fillings and woken noodles, and put them on the dining room table.Take out a piece of noodles, sprinkle with flour, knead into long strips, cut into small pieces with a knife, flatten them, and roll them into a thin sheet with a rolling pin.

Seeing the novelty, Meng Ke also wanted to make a move, but Aunt Peipei gently slapped the halfway outstretched hand, "Wash your hands before doing it again."

Meng Ke stuck out his tongue: "Okay."

Five people gathered around the table and made dumplings like Aunt Peipei.Chen Zhicun had made dumplings before, so practice makes perfect. In comparison, Feng Xiao and the others seemed clumsy.

Chen Zhicun couldn't bear it, so he pulled out his hand and taught Feng Xiao beside him: "There is too much stuffing, fold it in half and squeeze it hard, otherwise it will be easy to expose the stuffing in the pot." With four hands folded, Chen Zhicun felt that the person next to him was a little absent-minded. "Where are you looking?"

Feng Xiao casually said: "Look at you."

Chen Zhicun blushed, and lightly poked him with his elbow, Feng Xiao feigned pain and covered his chest exaggeratedly.Both Meng Ke and Andrew were busy with what they were doing, so they had no time to watch them. Only Aunt Peipei, who was opposite, raised her eyes to see them, and then she lowered her eyes and smiled knowingly.

"My God, what are you adding chili for?" Suddenly Andrew exclaimed.Chen Zhicun, who was still fighting with Feng Xiao, was attracted by his voice, and the two looked at Andrew and the others together, only to see Meng Ke adding a large spoonful of pepper to a dumpling.

"Meng Ke made it specially, I wish the person who eats this dumpling will be prosperous all year round." Meng Ke held the dumpling and said pretendingly serious.

Andrew looked at the dumpling with a terrified expression until he took a deep breath: "Aren't you afraid that Auntie Peipei will get spicy?" Meng Ke obviously didn't expect this, and looked at Auntie Peipei with some embarrassment.

Aunt Peipei said: "It's okay, I probably ate spicy food when I was your age. And people in the past really added a lot of things to the dumplings to express different wishes." Carefully put this dumpling into the already wrapped dumpling pile.Feng Xiao on the side also nodded silently as if he heard something.

The dumplings were quite good in the pot, only a few were broken and turned into pieces of soup.Aunt Peipei brought out two plates first: "Eat first, I will continue to cook the rest." Chen Zhicun brought vinegar and chili.

And the dumpling with a big spoonful of chili was naturally eaten by Andrew. When eating the dumpling, Andrew didn't expect this. The whole dumpling was stuffed into his mouth, his face was flushed from choking, and tears were forced out.Meng Ke smiled and brought him a glass of water.

"You guys are really close friends." Feng Xiao complained.

Chen Zhicun smiled and picked up a dumpling, took a bite, but felt that there was something hard and crunchy inside the stuffing, which made a crunching sound when he chewed it, and tasted like hazelnuts. "Why are there nuts in the dumplings?" Chen Zhicun asked curiously, frowning.

Meng Ke shrugged and said he didn't do it himself, Chen Zhicun glanced at Feng Xiao next to him, who was covering his mouth and snickering.In a moment of anger, he kicked Feng Xiao's foot under the table. "What do you mean hazelnuts in dumplings?"

"Hazel love!"

"..." Chen Zhicun kicked him again.

"It's okay if I'm wrong." Feng Xiao begged for forgiveness.

Fortunately, there are only a few of these dumplings with strange fillings, otherwise Chen Zhicun would really refresh his views today, and he would never want to see dumplings for the rest of his life.