Yun Jian smiled awkwardly at the elderly shopkeeper’s exaggeration—so that was how he remembered her.
“Oh, right. You wouldn’t be here to make a call again, would you, young lady?” The shopkeeper recovered from his excitement earlier and asked Yun Jian as he sat down.
“No.” Yun Jian shook her head and brought Yun Zhu into the shop before turning back to grin at the old man. “I’m here to buy snacks for my younger brother today.”—Not here to do strange things anymore.
When Yun Jian was just rebirthed, she was unaccustomed to society since she roamed the exclusive part of the world for the later part of her life. She was used to acting her way in her previous life, so she followed how she had been when she was just reborn.
Now that she had lived here for some time, she discovered that it was inappropriate.
“Oh, sure, feel free to look around!” The shopkeeper nodded and said with a loud laugh.
Yun Jian grabbed Yun Zhu’s hand as they circled the shop once.
When people came to buy firecrackers, the shopkeeper went out to attend to them. When the clock struck twelve tonight, the fireworks and firecrackers would be the loudest then.
It was only a little past nine now, so it was the calm before the merry blast of fire and colors. Like the darkness before dawn, the quieter it was currently, the louder and bigger the fireworks would go when it was time.
Yun Jian allowed Yun Zhu to pick out a big bag of snacks, some Lay’s chips, bubblegum, lollipops… Yun Zhu had picked several of those. While he chose them, he muttered, “Strawberry for Si Yi-gege, blueberry for jiejie, lychee for Yun Yi-gege…”
His small hand went around the lollipops that were stabbed erected on a box.
Yun Jian was not someone patient but her patience peaked when it came to Yun Zhu. In the end, she waited until Yun Zhu had gotten all the snacks he liked and paid for them before they walked back to Zhang Meihua’s house.
It was not far from the shop to their grandmother’s house but they had to go through several streets. With every house brightly lit, they did not have to walk in the dark.
Bang! Clap!
Firecrackers cackled loudly against the silence.
There were people who fired off fireworks at this timing, scarce but present. Narrowing her eyes, Yun Jian coincidentally passed by a household that was lighting some up when she went down a street holding Yun Zhu’s hand.
Before 12am, the majority who lit firecrackers at this time were praying for blessing from the deities for the upcoming year.
People from the countryside were mostly superstitious and Longmen City’s locals paid homage to deities with pig’s heads, poultry, and similar animals. While they did that, they burned offerings of scripture and sutra.
These were traditions passed from the older generation.
Yun Jian led Yun Zhu in moving forward staying close to the side.
When the impressive firecrackers went out and Yun Jian and little Yun Zhu were about to move past the family, a group of children ran out holding matches and lighters with some smaller firecrackers.
“Look, there are villains who walked past us! Quick, blast them up!” a whippersnapper said pointing at Yun Jian and Yun Zhu.
A boy with a crew cut immediately grabbed a large handful of firecrackers, lit them up swiftly and threw them toward Yun Jian and Yun Zhu.
When the adults of the household saw it, they were terrified, scurrying out to stop the whippersnappers but it was already too late.