As the New Year approaches, the festive aura became more prominent everywhere. Today, right after Mr. Qin left for work, Su Bei dragged Su Xiaobao and also prepared to go out.
"Xiaobei, Xiaobao, are you going out too?" Uncle Fu asked the siblings.
"Yeah. We want to buy New Year's gifts." Su Bei replied cheerfully.
"Gifts? You can ask people to send anything you need, or you can make a customized order."
"No," Su Bei shook her head. "of course we have to choose the gifts by ourselves." And those high-end items didn't suit their intention.
"Okay, but you must pay attention to safety and never go too far from the bodyguards, understand?" Seeing the twins nodded obediently, Uncle Fu finally saw them off.
—
Like two prisoners on respite, right after they arrived at the mall, Su Bei and Su Xiaobao ran towards the area selling small clothing items. At first, Su Bei was a bit worry. She didn't know whether the custom of giving red items for the New Year was unique to their previous Hongxing County or a culture shared by the whole nation. Therefore, when she saw the racks full of beaming red items, she sighed in relief.
First, Su Bei picked some socks: this pair of big red socks has a 'fortune' word on its sole, and they looked pretty good.
Su Xiaobao chose a pair of red gloves.
"Do you want both of these?" A salesperson came over.
Su Bei: "Well, we need four pairs of men's socks, one pair of women's socks, and five pairs of this glove. Could you please help us wrap one pair of gloves and one pair of socks each into five separate gift boxes?"
Su Bei has counted the number of people in their home. First, there were Mr. Qin and Uncle Fu. Also, even though the gifts Chen De gave them actually exercise books, Su Bei and Su Xiaobao decided to repay grievances with virtue and included Chen De in their gift recipients. As for the remaining two sets, Su Bei planned to send them to Qin Jinguo and Chen Xueyan, who were far abroad.
After buying gifts for family members, Su Bei took Su Xiaobao to the men's underwear area. After a lot of pondering, Su Bei finally chose the most good-looking one and took a closer look at the label to see the size and material.
"Haha, are you going to give it to our old man?" Su Xiaobao asked from the side. Standing with both hands in his pockets, his tone was full of glee at other's misfortune.
"No, we've bought the gift for Dad. This one is for you." Su Bei said calmly, but her words were like thunder.
Su Xiaobao: !!!
"This size should be just right for you." Su Bei took the bright red underwear on her hand closer to Su Xiaobao, trying to compare the size.
Su Xiaobao quickly took a step behind, avoiding the horrendous underwear. "I don't want it." He muttered. Every cell in his body rejected that thing. Even if Su Bei killed him, he still refused!!
The bright red color was still okay, and even the yellow 'fortune' word on the side was tolerable. But what terrified him the most was the large zodiac picture printed on the buttock side. He would never wear this kind of underwear!
"No, this one is good." Su Bei frowned. She stared at Su Xiaobao: "You can wear it on the New Year." Su Bei added: "Anyway, what's wrong with this? The material is comfortable, the print is cute. It's look so good."
Su Xiaobao: "..." As long as Xiaobei was happy. Who made her having the final say in their family?
Su Bei: "Do you want to try the size?"
"No." This was Su Xiaobao's greatest concession.
"If you don't want to try, then okay. Anyway, I know your size." Su Bei took the underwear and posed it in front of Su Xiaobao to ensure the size was not wrong.
—
When Su Bei went to pay for the underwear, Su Xiaobao walked over to the nearest salesperson. This salesperson was young, and talking to such a handsome young guy made her a little nervous. "Ha-handsome guy, can I help you?"
"That thing," Su Xiaobao pointed to the same underwear Su Bei chose for him. "Do you have anything uglier than that?"
"Huh?" The salesperson was dumbfounded. Although these kinds of underwear were quite unpopular, shouldn't he use a subtler word? Who would say 'it's ugly' so blatantly inside the shop?
The salesperson didn't quite understand what kind of 'ugliness' this handsome guy wanted. However, she bit the bullet and found another red underwear from the shelf. It was printed with a zodiac sign on the front and a koi carp with 'Rich and Wealth' on the back.
"Handsome guy, how about this?"
"Okay, I'll take it." Su Xiaobao was satisfied. "XL size, please."
Salesperson: "Okay, do you want to pay it together?"
"No, I'll pay myself." Su Xiaobao took out his mobile phone, paid with WeChat, then satisfiedly took the item he just bought.
When Mr. Qin returned home, he saw the children on the step ladder, hanging a row of red lanterns on the windows.
"Xiaobao, push it over there a little bit more."
"Like this?"
"Too much. Pull it back a little bit."
...
Seeing the two children's dangerous position, Mr. Qin's temple throbbed, and his eyes narrowed. He immediately walked over and lifted Su Bei down from the step ladder.
"Why are you climbing so high? Don't you know it's dangerous? What if you fall down?" Mr. Qin reprimanded the twins. He then turned to Su Xiaobao: "You too. Quickly come down."
Su Bei: "We won't fall..."
Su Xiaobao "It's not that high."
Hearing their whispers, Mr. Qin's eyes darkened. After suppressing his anger, he sighed softly and spoke with a gentler tone: "What are you doing?"
"Ah, just hanging up some New Year's decorations." Su Bei explained. When they went shopping earlier, many shops were selling items for the New Year. Seeing so many beautiful and festive decorations, Su Bei couldn't hold herself and bought quite a lot. Anyway, it was only a few days before New Year's eve. They could start decorating today.
Mr. Qin glanced at the decorations that had been hung up, and then to the rest that was still piled up on the table. His eyes flickered slightly. It was actually not bad.
Qin Shao: "Let the helpers do it."
"No. It's meaningful only if we decorate our home by ourselves." Letting others do it would be soulless.
Su Xiaobao also nodded cooperatively.
When Su Bei said 'our home,' Mr. Qin secretly smiled. Faced with his children's insistence, he once again made a compromise. Mr. Qin took out his suit and handed it to Su Bei, then began to unbutton his cuffs: "Where else to hang?"
Su Bei's eyes lit up instantly. "Dad, are you going to help? Then let's hang it on the window."
"Okay. You stand on the side."
...
Mr. Qin hung up the decorations, while Su Xiaobao handed it from below. The father and son's efficiency was much better than Su Bei, and soon enough, all the decorations had been hung up.
Qin Shao: "Is there more?"
"No. Dad, you must be tired. Here is some water." Seeing their house looked so festive, Su Bei smiled brightly.
"Dad." Su Bei tugged Mr. Qin's hand.
"Mm?"
"How will our family spend New Year's Eve?"
Mr. Qin was taken off guard. How to spend New Year's Eve? He actually hasn't made any plan. In the past, Qin Shao would be busy with various year-end events. On the night of December 30th, he just went to Qin Jinguo's home for routine dinner. After that, he would spend the time no different than usual: either dealing with work's documents or reading some book. But, this year was different. With the two children here, the previously deserted residence has finally become lively and felt like home. This was the first time Mr. Qin actually thought of the New Year as a festive day.
"Anything is okay." Mr. Qin smiled. He raised his hands and patted the twins' head: "Let's do anything you want."
"Really?!"
"Then let's make dumplings together!"
"Okay."
"Then, at night, we should watch the countdown."
Hearing that Su Bei wanted to stay up late, Mr. Qin frowned subconsciously. But he finally agreed——it was a special day after all, he should be more tolerant.
Speaking of New Year, Mr. Qin actually prepared a gift for the twins. However, he didn't plan to tell them now. Let's save it later for a surprise.
"Those are the gifts you bought?" Noticing a few exquisitely-wrapped boxes, Mr. Qin asked.
"Yeah. This one is yours, Dad." Su Bei handed one to Mr. Qin.
Qin Shao glanced at the other gifts on the table, which were indistinguishable from the one in his hand. Originally, he wanted to ask who those were for. But in the end, he held back his inquiry.
"I'll go up and change my clothes. You two wait here, let's have dinner together."
"Okay."
...
Mr. Qin went upstairs and just was about to enter his bedroom when he saw a string of mini red lanterns hanging on his door handle. There was even a cute ribbon tied on it, obviously Su Bei's handiwork.
Seeing the bunch of red decorations, Mr. Qin chuckled twice and thought: it looks festive.
—
That night, Mr. Qin was reading in his room when Su Bei suddenly knocked on his door. Seeing the door was cracked open, Mr. Qin smiled and put down the book in his hand: "Xiaobei?"
Generally, if the footsteps were so small it could barely be heard, then it was Xiaobei. If Xiaobao, he would walk quicker and made obvious noise.
Su Bei poked her head from the door and peeked inside: "Dad, are you asleep?"
"No, but it's already your bedtime."
"Uh-huh, I'll go back right after this." Su Bei ran into the room and stuffed the red gift box she was carrying into Mr. Qin's hand: "This is New Year's gift. Dad, this one is only for you."
"I'm going to bed now. Dad, good night." Su Bei quickly ran back to her room.
Originally, Su Bei wanted to hand over the gift together with Su Xiaobao. But after knowing what gift the boy prepared for Mr. Qin, Su Bei refused to go with him. Because of this, the twins debated for a while:
Su Xiaobao: "Aren't these two the same? Why do you dislike the gift I bought so much."
Su Bei: "It's not the same. The one I bought for you is good looking. The one you bought for Dad is deadly ugly."
Su Xiaobao: "..." Were his eyes too tired? Why did he think that those were almost no different?
—
After Su Bei left, Mr. Qin opened the gift his daughter specially prepared only for him: it was a large, bright red tie.
In his life, Mr. Qin probably never wore such a lively tie even once.