Su Bei and Su Xiaobao quickly returned to their room to clean up and put on their New Year's clothes. The two sets of clothes were prepared by Uncle Fu for the twins before he took the leave. They were specially designed and were matching in pair.
Su Xiaobao wore a red sweater, and Su Bei wore a long red dress. But they had the same pattern and color style. In addition, they also wore a small badge on their clothes. The badges were custom-ordered by Su Bei in advance and printed with the words' Excellent Younger Brother' and 'Excellent Elder Sister' respectively.
When Mr. Qin saw the twins in their New Year's clothes, his eyes lit up, and a burst of pride suddenly rose in his heart: No matter what they wore, his children looked the best.
"Dad, how? Do we look festive in these clothes?" Su Bei asked with a smile.
"Not bad."
The siblings thought that the clothes were prepared by Uncle Fu, but didn't know that actually Mr. Qin was the one who personally ordered and selected it from many other designs provided by the designer team.
Su Bei: "Do we look like a lucky baby?"1
Qin Shao: Yes.
Su Xiaobao: "Like the New Year gift decoration at the door of the stores."
As a teen boy who somewhat lacked aesthetics, Su Xiaobao had a bit inexplicable sense of rejection towards bright red, mainly because he was forced to wear 'that' special underwear Su Bei bought.
Qin Shao: It's a New Year. He should hold back from hitting this stinky boy.
"That's a lucky baby!" Su Bei twisted Su Xiaobao's arm.
Mr. Qin has also changed his clothes. Today, he wore a white casual shirt and the red tie that Su Bei tied for him, coupled with a dark gray sweater. Unlike the usual business suit that made him looked solemn and cold, today's Mr. Qin looked young and casual.
Su Bei stared at Mr. Qin with shining eyes. As for the sentence 'Dad, you look younger,' she very wisely didn't say it aloud.
"Dad, you are super handsome today!"
Hearing his daughter's compliment, Mr. Qin smiled.
Su Xiaobao also glanced at Mr. Qin: Not bad.
But compared to this, he was much more curious about another thing: Since his old Dad wore the tie Su Bei bought, did he also wear the ugly underwear he gave?
Of course Mr. Qin would not give Su Xiaobao an opportunity to confirm it.
"Let's go down and eat breakfast."
Thanks to Su Bei's long-term efforts, she finally got rid of Mr. Qin's bad habit of skipping breakfast.
—
After breakfast, without allowing Mr. Qin to help, Su Bei and Su Xiaobao quickly brought the used utensils and plates to the sink. While Su Xiaobao washed the dishes in the kitchen, Su Bei took out a few large plates of ingredients.
"Dad, let's make dumplings together."
The kitchen staff has prepared the meat and vegetable fillings, as well as the dough for the wrappers, in advance. They only need to wrap the fillings with the wrappers and cook it.
"Dad, do you know how to make dumplings?"
Mr. Qin: "..." This question was torture.
Seeing Mr. Qin did not answer, Su Bei understood. She smiled, "Then, I will teach you."
Hearing this, Mr. Qin also smiled, "Xiaobei can make dumplings?"
"Of course, I am already a master." Su Bei quickly rolled out a few dumpling wrappers on the chopping board and demonstrated how to wrap the fillings.
"That's it. Dad, it's not hard."
Mr. Qin: Seems easy enough.
Mr. Qin took one wrapper and began to make his first dumpling, but it ended up pretty ugly.
"You have to pinch here." Like how Mr. Qin taught her how to tie a tie before, Su Bei patiently guided Mr. Qin to wrap the dumpling.
When Su Xiaobao came out after washed the dishes, he saw this warm father and daughter scene. But Su Xiaobao didn't feel touched. Seeing Mr. Qin's clumsy movement, he wanted to laugh a little: He finally found a thing that his old Dad did worse than himself.
Su Xiaobao went over, picked up one wrapper, quickly put the filling in, and placed the just-made dumpling next to the 'ugly dumpling' Mr. Qin had made before. The boy also didn't forget to raise his eyebrows provocatively.
"Su Xiaobao, you must be quicker. We should finish all before dinner."
"Don't worry. Just making dumplings takes no time."
"Are you sure? Let me tell you, all of these has to be wrapped." Su Bei pointed out the pots full of fillings.
"There are just three of us. Why did you prepare so much?"
"We will eat some today, and the rest will be eaten on the road. There are also Uncle Fu and Uncle Chen's shares."
"Oh." Su Xiaobao hastened his speed.
From the side, Mr. Qin watched his two children rolling out dough and wrapping dumplings. His eyes flashed with a smile. But soon, he frowned again. Seeing their clothes and sleeves rubbed against the chopping board, Mr. Qin couldn't stand in and went into the kitchen to fetch two aprons.
"Raise your hands."
Looking at his daughter's small hands covered with flour, Mr. Qin didn't feel disgusted and helped roll up her sleeves. "Alright, turn around." Mr. Qin put on the apron for his daughter.
Afterward, he glanced at his son and threw the other apron: "Wear it."
Su Xiaobao: ...
Fine. It was his new clothes anyway.
Afterward, Mr. Qin continued to make dumplings with his children. After several attempts, he gradually found the trick, and finally finished an acceptable-looking dumpling. However, Su Xiaobao still looked down on Mr. Qin's 'creations' and deliberately separated what he made from the ones made by Mr. Qin, which were pretty apparent.
On the side, Su Bei kept rolling out dough to make new wrappers. Seeing Su Xiaobao's quick movement, Mr. Qin also focused fully on the task. Seeing Mr. Qin's focus, Su Bei's eyes flashed. She wiped her flour-stained hands on her apron and quietly took out another badge from her pocket. While Mr. Qin didn't pay attention, she secretly pinned the badge on the corner of Mr. Qin's clothes.
Looking at the words [Excellent Dad] on the badge, Su Bei smiled triumphantly and nodded in satisfaction.
Regarding his daughter's little action, Mr. Qin chose to pretend not to notice.
...
On the other side, Su Xiaobao, who found himself far ahead, was feeling itchy. He took a lump of dough and began to fiddle with it. Soon, two puppies-shaped dough figures were born from his hands.
If Su Xiaobao's little fans at school knew that their 'Young Master Su' still had this skill, they might be exploded: "Su Xiaobao is so great," "Young Master Su can do anything," "I want to become a dough in Young Master Su's hand," "Aaahh! Young master Su, please make one for me..."
Su Bei has been accustomed to Su Xiaobao's skill. Every time they made dumplings for Chinese New Year, he would make two dough figures.
Su Xiaobao placed the two dough puppies side by side. After hesitating for a moment, he took another lump of dough to make a larger dog and put it next to the puppies.
"Have you finished? Alright, I'll steam it now." Su Bei picked up the plate with dough figures on it. Two puppies and one adult dog. One of the puppies looked soft and cute, the other one was ferocious, and the adult dog...was even more ferocious. But seeing Mr. Qin's expression, he seemed to be quite pleasant.
—
That evening, Su Bei prepared the dinner. Most of the domestic worker in the villa has returned to their hometown for the holiday. Although the family could find temporary workers, because it was a New Year, it's better to not disturb others.
Except for the freshly-made dumplings, Su Bei also prepared several side dishes. Although she couldn't make particularly complex or high-end dishes, just a few simple home-made meals were enough to make Mr. Qin brag endlessly on his WeChat.
Father, son, and daughter. A family of three sat on a table full of simple dishes. The atmosphere didn't feel deserted at all. On the contrary, it was very warm.
Looking at the two children, Mr. Qin's eyes overflowed with warmth. Even since he could remember things, Qin Jinguo and Yang Guizhi's relationship was not harmonious. This was Qin Shao's first time feeling the joy of celebrating the New Year together with his family.
"Dad."
"Mm?"
"Thank you." Su Bei raised the glass of grape juice in her hands. Her shiny eyes and warm smile seemed to melt Mr. Qin's heart.
"Thank me for what?" Mr. Qin asked, his eyebrows raised.
"Thank you for taking us into your family and for being willing to raise us."
Su Xiaobao also took Su Bei's words and added: "Thank you for not disliking us."
Hearing this, Mr. Qin couldn't help but smiled. He suddenly felt quite emotional. It should be him who had to thank them. He was thankful for their existence, thankful for coming to him, and thankful for them to choose him over their biological mother.
As for the dislike...At first, he was indeed a bit disgusted at them. But now, they were his pride.
—
After they finished eating dinner and washing dishes, Mr. Qin glanced at the clock.
"Let's go upstairs."
"Huh?"
"A gift from me."
"Okay!" The siblings said in unison.
Originally, Su Bei thought Mr. Qin was going to give them physical things, similar to the tie, socks, and....underwear they gave him. However, as soon as they arrived on the second floor, a splendid firework was flared outside the large french windows and fell into their eyes.
Afterward, colorful fireworks bloomed one by one over the villa.
"How beautiful!" After recovering from the initial shock, Su Bei looked up at the sky full of fireworks in surprise.
In the past, the siblings often saw fireworks being lit in the county town, but they were merely looking from a distance. For the first time, Su Bei and Su Xiaobao watched fireworks at such a close distance. It was so dazzling. Their entire sight was filled with colorful fireworks. This scenery was simply too fantastical.
"Dad." Su Bei pulled Mr. Qin's arm: "Let's watch it outside."
Qin Shao: "It's cold outside. Isn't it the same watching from here?"
"It's not the same. Fireworks should be watched outdoors. It's all about the atmosphere."
Su Xiaobao nodded in agreement.
Faced with his daughter's rare persistence, Mr. Qin finally nodded: "Go back first and put on more coats."
It was not until he saw the twins wrapped tightly like two balls that Mr. Qin nodded in satisfaction and led them to the terrace. Outside the house, it was indeed pretty cold. Su Bei shuddered as soon as she was outside. Although she watched the fireworks enthusiastically, her body subconsciously snuggled towards Mr. Qin.
"Didn't I tell you that it's cold outside?" Qin Shao lowered his gaze at Su Bei and chuckled.
"Not too cold." While Su Bei stubbornly said that she didn't feel cold, she secretly put her cold hand into the pocket of Mr. Qin's coat.
The next moment, a warm and big hand wrapped Su Bei's cold hand.