Sugar Jar [Rebirth]

After walking a few steps, Xi Xin heard the person next to him ask him, "How do you know that there is someone over there in the woods?"

The reason Shi Chen knew was because he had learned martial arts, so his hearing was much more sensitive than ordinary people.

Xi Xin rubbed the kitten and smiled: "Guess."

"Guess?" Shi Chen was surprised at first, then he seemed to understand something, and then laughed, "I understand."

When he took Xi Xin home before, servants followed him quietly on the road.At that time, Shi Chen was also like this, looking back quietly.

Xi Xin probably remembered that scene, so today she found that Shi Chen's attention was diverted to the woods behind her, so she made this guess.

Suddenly there was the sound of bells ringing in the distance, and the bells on the mountain were ringing continuously. Xi Xin looked up and saw that the people who were walking on the street had gradually moved towards the temple.

"The temple fair has begun." Xi Xin said to Shi Chen, and then led him to a crowded place.

The gate of the temple is always open to the outside world. Only the main courtyard where incense is burned will be temporarily closed tonight, and it will not be opened until the first day of the first lunar month, allowing the villagers to offer the first stick of incense in the new year.

The nearby temple fair was very lively, and basically all the children in the village came, and there were no special activities on weekdays. Only during the New Year, the village would be more lively and interesting.

The temple fair here is quite famous, and every year it attracts many foreigners to come here to join in the fun, so every time this time comes, you will always see many new faces.

Xi Xin took Shi Chen to the place where the lantern riddles were guessed, and reached out to take down a colored lantern.

After the stall owner saw it, he quickly handed him the pen, "But you want to guess this lantern?"

Xi Xin stared at him, and asked him with a smile: "I remember this lantern, it seems to have been placed here since last year, haven't you guessed it yet?"

The stall owner replied: "Exactly. Last year a child gave me the colored lantern he made, saying that he needs to wait for someone who can really understand the answer to the mystery. It's just that no one can solve the answer to the mystery with this lantern even now." .”

Xi Xin held the lantern, just smiled, but didn't speak.

The stall owner was stunned for a moment, then seemed to think of something, looked at Xi Xin carefully, patted his head, and suddenly realized: "You are the child who gave me the lantern last year."

Xi Xin rolled her eyes, "It's me, so you still remember me."

The stall owner also smiled: "Isn't that right, your colorful lantern has stumped many of my customers."

Xi Xin lowered her eyes, as if a little embarrassed, blinked her long eyelashes, and swept them lightly. After a while, she raised her eyes again, and said with a soft smile: "Since no one has guessed it yet, let's continue." Put it here, maybe it will be untied this year."

"Let me take a look." Shi Chen who had been quietly listening to their conversation for a long time suddenly spoke.

Xi Xin looked at him, then reached out and gave the lantern to Shi Chen.

Shi Chen stared intently at the thing in his hand, which read: "Young woman in yellow silk, grandson Jijiu".

There are almost no patterns painted on the lanterns, only a few strokes are drawn, and a simple landscape painting is drawn.

But the scenes in the painting have almost nothing to do with lantern riddles.

Looking at the slightly immature handwriting on it, Shi Chen could almost imagine what kind of expression Xi Xin had when he wrote this sentence himself.

With a slight smile, he gradually added the riddles.

Shi Chen took the pen and wrote on the other side of the lantern, "Wonderful words".

When he put down the pen, the stall owner also came over to take a look, and said with surprise in his eyes, "I guessed it."

Shi Chen just looked at Xi Xin with a smile, as if asking, how did he answer this time?

Xi Xin looked at the lantern he was holding, and said softly, "You got the answer right, this lantern is yours."

"I got the answer right, but is there any reward?" Shi Chen asked hastily.

Xi Xin simply stuffed the lantern into his arms and snorted softly: "This is the reward."

As he spoke, he carried the kitten and walked forward.

Shi Chen hurriedly chased after him.

The stall owner looked at them like this, shook his head while watching, and sighed helplessly: "So in the end, this kid's friend came up with the answer, and none of the outsiders guessed it right."

Not long after Xi Xin and the others left, another person came towards the lantern riddles.

One of them said: "I didn't expect such a small place to have such a lively scene. The temple fair here really lives up to its reputation."

He looked at the lantern riddle booth, and winked at the boy next to him, "How about Shi Jinzhi? Do you want to guess the lantern riddle?"

Shi Jinzhi glanced at the colorful lights on the booth, and asked, "Is this the place you said you would bring me?"

His friend Jiang Qinghong quickly said: "Isn't it? I have been visiting the Lantern Festival in June for so long, but there is nothing new about it. It gets more and more boring every year. I heard from my first brother that there are many temple fairs here. New stuff, I’ll bring you here.”

Shi Jinzhi didn't speak, just quietly looked at the lanterns on the stall, and then asked the stall owner in a gentle voice, "Are there any other lantern riddles?"

The stall owner was stunned for a moment, "None of the colorful lights here can catch your eyes?"

Jiang Qinghong joked: "Our great talent probably guessed all the answers here after just one glance."

Shi Jinzhi looked at him and shook his head lightly, as if he didn't agree with what he said.

Hearing Jiang Qinghong's words, the stall owner inevitably felt that it was a bit exaggerated, and couldn't help saying: "Originally there was another one, but the friend brought by that young man has already revealed the answer to the mystery, so it's not here."

Shi Jinzhi was a little interested, and asked curiously: "Do you still remember the lantern riddles?"

"Of course I remember," the stall owner was very impressed with the lanterns that had been placed in his place for more than a year, "Young woman in yellow silk, grandson Jijiu."

Hearing this novel lantern riddle, even Jiang Qinghong couldn't help being surprised.

"Yellow silk young woman..." Shi Jinzhi read silently.

"Young woman in yellow silk, what a wonderful excuse..." Shi Jinzhi smiled, "It's really interesting."

Seeing that he also solved the riddle straight away, the stall owner was secretly surprised and thought, what happened this year, but the ones who guessed the answer came one after another.

On the other side, Xi Xin and Shi Chen had already arrived at the temple, and it was indeed crowded with people, some even brought their bedding over, as if they were planning to spend the night here directly.

Someone who knew Xi Xin saw his figure and hurriedly waved and shouted: "Xi Xin!"

Xi Xin looked over, and it turned out to be his partner of the same age, Guo Ruo who lived opposite Xi Xin's house.

Xi Xin and Shi Chen walked over and smiled when they saw him: "You came so early today."

Guo Ruo put the belongings on his back to the side to take a place, and sighed when he heard Xi Xin's words: "Isn't that right, I was driven over by my mother just after eating."

"What's so fun about it? It's better to stay at home to watch the new year. But my mother just won't give it, saying that this year I have to grab the incense sticks." Guo Ruo looked puzzled.

Xi Xin felt a little sympathetic, but it was hard to say anything, so she stuffed a candy to him, and comforted him, "Then go for it."

Seeing the candy in his hand, Guo Ruo smiled cheerfully: "Hey, you still like candy so much."

He smiled and put the candy into his arms, "Thanks, I'll bring you a bowl when my mother cooks glutinous rice balls tomorrow."

While talking, he noticed that there was another person standing next to Xi Xin, and asked involuntarily, "Who is this?"

Xi Xin explained: "He is my friend, Shi Chen."

When Guo Ruo heard the name, he suddenly felt familiar, and when he remembered it, he stared at him with wide eyes.

Shi Chen smiled, stretched out his fingers and made a "shh" gesture to him.

Guo Ruo quickly covered his mouth.

After the two walked away, he said with emotion: "The relationship between these two people is really good, it's not at all like the relationship between the young master and the book boy."

Seeing that it was getting late, Xi Xin proposed to go back, of course Shi Chen agreed, so the two went home.

When they went back, Xi's father and Xi's mother were still cleaning. Seeing that Xi Xin and the others had come back, they asked with a smile, "Is it fun outside?"

This sentence was naturally asked by Shi Chen. Xi Xin grew up in the village and has long been used to everything here.

Shi Chen quickly responded: "It's very lively, completely different from the New Year in the mansion."

The Chinese New Year in the Hou Mansion is more of a ceremony, but here, it has a new year flavor and a more Chinese New Year atmosphere.

"Mom, is there anything I can help with?" He saw his parents cleaning and wanted to work together.

Mother Xi stopped him, shook her head and said with a smile: "Go over there and get some snacks, put them on a small plate, and wait for the New Year's Eve."

When Xi Xin heard that there was finally something to do, she was very excited, nodded and said happily: "Okay!"

He ran to the cabinet briskly, tiptoed and tried to take down the things on it, but seeing that he couldn't reach it, he moved a chair over and planned to step on the chair to get it.

Shi Chen walked over, reached out to take the things, and took down the plate with melon seeds easily.

Xi Xin looked at herself, then at Shi Chen, and then fell silent.

Seeing the position of his gaze, Shi Chen knew that he was thinking about his height again, so he couldn't help comforting him: "I think you seem to be a little taller these days."

Hearing his words, Xi Xin's eyes suddenly brightened, and he asked happily: "Really?"

He walked up to the wall, leaned against the wall, and made gestures on the wall with his hands. When he found that his current height was indeed higher than the marks left by last year, he was even happier.

Xi Xin ran to her parents and happily announced the good news: "Father, mother! Look, have I grown taller?"

Mother Xi stopped what she was doing, looked at the child seriously, then hugged him in her arms, and smiled lovingly: "Yes, yes, Xin'er is much taller than last year."

Xi Xin stayed obediently in her mother's arms, then raised her eyes to look at Shi Chen, and then rolled her eyes with a smile.

Xi Xin actively took out all the snacks from the cabinet, sorted them one by one, put them in small plates, and put them on the table.

Shi Chen helped bring over the apples, and they made up a whole big plate.

He asked, "Does this mean peace?"

Xi Xin didn't look back, she was busy preparing other things, when she heard his question, she responded with a smile: "Yes, it means peace and safety."

Originally, Xi Xin was still busy with her work, but after thinking about it, as if she had discovered something, she turned around curiously and glanced at Shi Chen.

"Is there anything dirty on my face?" Seeing that Xi Xin didn't speak, but just stared at himself, Shi Chen couldn't help but wiped his cheeks.

Xi Xin's eyes were clear, and then he smiled, and the soft smile spread in his eyes.

He slowly put the rest of the things over, then picked up the kitten and put it in his arms.

Xi Xin explained slowly: "I sometimes find that you are very similar to Yuanyuan."

Shi Chen subconsciously glanced at the little fur ball, pointed at it, then pointed at himself, and asked Xi Xin: "I, do I look like it?"

Yuanyuan yelled at the right time, not knowing whether she was following Xi Xin's words or expressing her own small protest.

Xi Xin nodded, and said softly: "Well, sometimes it looks silly."

Shi Chen understood what he meant, but the point was not about him being like Yuanyuan, but about the latter sentence.

He sighed helplessly: "Xi Xin..."

Xi Xin looked over suspiciously, as if asking, what's wrong?

Shi Chen smiled, "Forget it, it's nothing."

He finally found out that his little bookboy has been getting smaller and smaller recently.but……

The smile in Shi Chen's eyes deepened.

This is what Shi Chen is happy to see, Xi Xin who has no sense of alienation from him.

The two of them had already arranged everything on the table.

Shi Chen moved two small stools over and sat with Xi Xin, and the two began to chat.

It's just that Shi Chen asked, and Xi Xin answered occasionally.

Xi Xin held the kitten in her arms, watching her parents cleaning intently, with a flash of eagerness in her eyes.

He actually wanted to go over to help, but he knew that his parents would definitely not agree.

Xi Xin sighed softly, hugged Yuanyuan somewhat disappointedly, put her face on top of its head, and said to herself, "It's so boring."

As he was talking, his eyes lit up, and then he ran over to fetch two books, and casually handed one of them to Shi Chen.

"Let's read the book!" He said happily.

Shi Chen glanced at the "Zeng Guang Xian Wen" in his hand, it should be the reading material of Xi Xin's enlightenment, the book looks a bit old.

Thinking that this was something that Xi Xin had read countless times, Shi Chen's mood obviously improved a lot. He opened the book seriously, and then read it carefully.

Seeing this, the husband and wife who were busy not far away could not help but smile.

When she finally finished her work, Xi Xin reluctantly put down the book in her hand when she heard the greeting from her parents, and sat down near the dining table.

Xi Xin's parents gave him the New Year's money they had prepared long ago.

When Xi Xin received the red envelope, her eyes were slightly bent, "Thank you parents, happy new year, Gong Xi Fa Cai, everything goes well, happy new year!"

Xi Mu looked at him and couldn't help laughing: "Where do you come from so many new words?"

Xi Xin put the New Year's money carefully in her arms and hid it. Hearing what her mother said, she hurriedly said, "Guo Ruo taught me, if you say so, you can get a few more New Year's money."

He tilted his head to look at his mother, his small eyes looked innocent and ignorant, "Mother, is he right?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Seeing him like this, Xi's mother's heart almost softened, and she quickly gave him a few more.

Xi Xin looked even happier.

"Is this for me?" Shi Chen looked at the thing wrapped in red paper that suddenly appeared in front of him and asked.

Xi Xin's parents nodded: "Although the money is not much, you can get rid of evil spirits with the lucky money on New Year's Eve. If you don't dislike it, just accept it."

Shi Chen quickly took it: "No, no, I don't dislike it, I'm just, I'm so surprised."

The smile on his face was extremely sincere, and then he took the things very cherished.

"Happy New Year." Shi Chen said with a smile.

Originally, it was agreed to keep the year old, but just after the time passed, Xi Xin became sleepy, rubbed her eyes, and there was a mist in her eyes.

He looked at his family members who were still in high spirits, and then looked at Shi Chen as if nothing happened, then shook his head, trying to wake himself up.

Seeing this, Xi's mother hurriedly said: "If Xin'er is sleepy, go to bed."

He used to go to bed early, and the habit he has always formed is not easy to break. In the past, when he was watching the new year, he would feel drowsy at this moment, and he never really persisted until the moment when the first cock crowed. .

Every time Xi Xin promises to watch the new year with her family, she is always coaxed to rest without exception.

He responded, and then went back to the house with Yuanyuan in his arms.

Shi Chen and Xi Xin live in the same room. Originally, Xi Xin's parents planned to let Xi Xin come over to squeeze with them, and then let the young master of the Shi family sleep in a room alone, but Shi Chen resolutely refused, and proposed not to use it. so troublesome.

Seeing that he was so persistent, Xi's father and Xi's mother could not emphasize anything more, so they agreed.

It's just that another bed was placed in Xi Xin's room, and the quilt was moved over and spread out, so that the two of them would not be crowded together.

Xi Xin climbed onto her bed and lay down, and Shi Chen came over soon.

He rushed here today, and was delayed on the road for some time, and his whole body was exhausted. At night, this feeling became more obvious, but he was holding on for the sake of keeping up with the old age, and there was nothing unusual on the surface. Now Seeing Xi Xin go back to the room, he went to rest with him.

Xi Xin's father made a simple nest for the kitten out of worn out clothes.

Yuanyuan is very satisfied with this little nest, she is very excited when she sleeps in it, she always pokes her head out, looks around curiously, and can't help but cry out softly every time she gets excited.

Shi Chen glanced at Xi Xin who had fallen into a deep sleep, walked to the side of the kitten, and tapped the edge of the nest to signal it to be quiet.

He didn't pay attention to his little furball at first, but suddenly became more sensible at this moment. Looking in the direction he was looking, he saw Xi Xin lying quietly on the bed.

It slowly withdrew its small head, and then lay back to the nest.

"I knew you could understand." Shi Chen cursed with a low laugh.

Yuanyuan ignored him, shrunk herself into a ball, and turned her back to Shi Chen.

Xi Xin felt a pair of hands patting him gently, and he heard his mother calling him softly: "Xin'er, Xin'er?"

Xi Xin was in a drowsy sleep, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his parents standing beside his bed in freshly made clothes.

He lifted the quilt, got up, and called softly: "Mother, what's the matter?"

Because he hadn't woken up yet, his tone sounded softer.

Mother Xi smiled softly, rubbed his head, covered part of the quilt on his legs, covering most of his body, and then explained softly: "Mother and father are going to the temple to offer incense, you and Young Master Shi stay at home, do you know?"

He nodded in confusion, mist gradually appeared in his eyes.

Seeing his little confused look, the smile in Xi's mother's eyes deepened.

She worriedly said: "There is food on the stove, if you are hungry, go and heat up the food. If it is troublesome, then take the money and go out to eat, you know?"

As she spoke, she put another bunch of copper coins into Xi Xin's hands.

Xi Xin nodded again, and replied: "Yes, I understand."

When they talked, they lowered their voices as much as possible, thinking that they were afraid of waking up Shi Chen who was sleeping beside him, but the Second Young Master Shi, who had always been a light sleeper, was actually awakened by the sound of footsteps the moment they entered, but he didn't make a sound, for fear of waking up. They will feel guilty for waking them up, so they will still lean on the pillow and pretend to be asleep.

"Look carefully at the firewood, don't hurt yourself..." Xi Xin's mother urged, the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became, so she changed her words, "Forget it, you should take the money and go out to eat with Master Shi."

No matter what mother said, Xi Xin just nodded.

Seeing that he seemed to be falling asleep again, Xi's mother didn't know whether she had listened to her words.

Father Xi on the side reminded: "The time is coming."

She looked at the sky, and looked at her son worriedly, "Xin'er, do you remember what mother said?"

Xi Xin kept nodding her head, and when she heard her mother's words, she raised her head and said seriously: "Remember, there is food on the stove, if you find it troublesome, you can eat outside."

"It's you who went out to eat directly." Xi's mother couldn't help laughing, and quickly lowered her face seriously to emphasize.

"Yeah, go out to eat." Xi Xin repeated obediently.

Since it was almost time for the temple to open, they were inconvenient to stay at home for too long, so after a few words of confession, they went out.

Xi Xin leaned against the head of the bed in a daze, then yawned, glanced at the copper coin in her hand, and muttered, "Who gave this to me?"

He conveniently stuffed the copper money into the pillow, put it together with the New Year's money, and then lay back down.

Shi Chen was not sleepy at this time, he walked out of bed lightly, glanced at Xi Xin whose quilt was stuffed in a mess, then walked over to tuck the quilt for him.

Looking at Xi Xin's sleeping face, he smiled, and said in a low voice: "I can tell by looking at it that you will definitely forget it when you wake up."

Yuanyuan was also woken up, she poked her head out, glanced at Shi Chen, and was about to go to Xi Xin's bed, imagining to wake him up as usual.

Shi Chen grabbed it and warned softly, "Be quiet and don't disturb him to sleep."

After finally having time to rest, let his book boy take a good rest.

Shi Chen took the kitten out, thinking as he walked, Mrs. Xi seemed to say that there is food on the stove.

Then go see it.

The author has something to say:

Shi Chen: Actually, I really know how to cook.