Probably because Zhu Yanyi had previously helped regulate her body, there was no vomiting, only drowsiness. This was understandable.
"That’s settled. Tomorrow, Ani, Little Yan, and Doumiao will go to the rice cake workshop with me. An’nan and Yuanxiang will stay home," Zhu Shunyao decided firmly.
"Dad, why do I have to go to the rice cake workshop with you?" Zhu Zhibin raised his hand, looking confused. "I didn’t say I wanted to go." Although he liked joining in the fun, it didn’t mean he could be ignored. He needed to protest.
"You’re still young and have no autonomy. So, Dad decides where you go," Zhu Shunyao replied domineeringly.
Zhu Zhibin pointed at Zhu Shunyao, then at himself. "Dad, is it okay to abuse your cute son like this?"
"You were cute when you were little," Zhu Shunyao looked him up and down. "But now, not so much. Besides, you’re a man. What are you doing hiding at home all day? Other families have daughters in their chambers. Are you going to be a 'ten-thousand-gold' gentleman?" His eyes were full of disdain. It was clear he wasn’t saying anything nice.
"What does 'ten-thousand-gold gentleman' mean?" Zhu Zhibin didn’t know the term. Although he knew he was a little genius, he found his thinking couldn’t keep up with his father’s. Was his dad an old genius? With a spirit of eager learning, he asked weakly.
"Haha, I can tell you," Zhu Yanyi said with a smile, answering for Zhu Shunyao. "Doumiao, do you know? In ancient times, girls were called 'thousand-gold,' meaning they were precious. But this was only for rich families. Girls from poor families were like grass. So, someone couldn’t stand it and said 'thousand-gold ladies and ten-thousand-gold gentlemen' to mock the rich young masters who spent money like dirt."
"I see," Zhu Zhibin smiled bitterly. "So if I don’t go to the rice cake workshop, I’m a spoiled young master? Dad, your theory is wrong. And what you said implies I have no human rights."
"Human rights? What do you need them for as a child? I’m your guardian," Zhu Shunyao said, standing up to leave. "Alright, everyone go to sleep. Sleep early tonight and wake up early tomorrow. If you don’t learn well at a young age and just want to sleep in, you’ll become lazy to the bone." The last sentence was definitely aimed at Zhu Zhibin.
Watching Zhu Shunyao’s back, Zhu Zhibin looked distressed. "Why can my eldest and second sisters sleep until they wake up naturally, but I have to get up early?"
"Because you’re male, and we’re female," Zhu Yanyi liked to add salt to the wound at times like this.
"Just because I’m male, I have to be bullied? I want to resist, I want to appeal. Men in our family have no status," Zhu Zhibin exaggerated.
"Go ahead, appeal. Go appeal to Mom," Zhu Yanyi said with a smile, holding Yan Aohan’s hand and heading to the third floor.
Taishu Yuanxiang smiled, not joining the siblings’ dispute, and elegantly walked up the stairs with Zhu Yanli.
Zhu Zhibin looked helpless. "So my place in this family is really just an extra. Oh, heaven and earth, it’s so unfair."
Acting finished, he shrugged and followed them to the fourth floor to sleep.
The next morning, Zhu Shunyao took Zhu Yanyi, Yan Aohan, and Zhu Zhibin, pushing an empty handcart to the rice cake workshop.
The rice cake rice had actually been delivered the day before.
"Uncle Shunyao, you’re really early," someone said. Everyone had already started heating the stoves. Soon they would begin steaming the ground powder, while Zhu Shunyao’s rice was currently being ground into powder.
"A’gui, you’ll be working until three or four in the morning these two days, and starting again at seven in the morning. It’s quite hard work," Zhu Shunyao said, handing out two cigarettes.
Since it was near the end of the year, the rice cake workshop would stop after the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Making rice cakes only lasted about a month each year, so it got busier towards the end. These days, they were almost working through the night.
"Everyone wants to make rice cakes at the end of the year, so we have to hurry," A’gui said with a smile. The work was tiring, but the income for this month was not bad. After finishing the rice cakes, he would earn at least 1,500 yuan, which was several months’ wages for an ordinary worker.
The large stove for steaming powder at the rice cake workshop had four eyes. Above each was a straight cylindrical steamer for the powder. What came out was called "cake flowers." After steaming, they were placed on the funnel of a machine, which used mechanical power to pound them. The first pounding produced rice cake balls.
Once steamed, Zhu Yanyi and the others took one steamer of cake flowers and one steamer of first-pounded rice cake balls home. The rest would be made into rice cakes.
After bringing them home, they wrapped them with the filling Xie Xinlian had just made and ate them.
Zhu Yanyi ate three cake flowers, then wrapped five more and sent them over to Zhu Shunyao.
No one had eaten breakfast. This was their breakfast for the morning.
Taishu Yuanxiang was eating rice cake balls like this for the first time. In recent years, he had rarely eaten such warm food, nor had he spent such a warm New Year. Now, in the Zhu family, he felt a warmth he had never experienced before.
"Ani, I’m going to the street to buy New Year goods. Do you want to come?" Xie Xinlian knew Zhu Yanyi would probably help Zhu Shunyao with the rice cakes in the morning, so she planned to go alone.
"Mom, there will be many people on the street. I won’t go. Let Yuanxiang accompany you," Zhu Yanli said seriously.
"Yes, Mom, I’ll go with you. I’ve never been to Sicheng Town. It’s a good chance to walk around and enjoy the bustle," Taishu Yuanxiang said directly.
Xie Xinlian laughed. "What bustle? If you go to the street now, it will be packed with people. I’m just buying some New Year goods, ordering a few Kitchen God images, and buying some red paper with 'Fu' characters. Then Ani can write the couplets."
Besides the 'Fu' characters and Kitchen God images, Zhu Yanyi was usually responsible for the couplets as long as she was home.
Xie Xinlian continued, "Most importantly, I need to prepare supplies for your banquet. It’s a wedding feast, so candy and cigarettes can’t be missing. And the food for the banquet needs to be purchased. So it’s good for Yuanxiang to go with me. I can’t carry all that alone."
Xie Xinlian and Taishu Yuanxiang went to the street. Although the banquet was on the tenth day of the first lunar month, there were only half a month left. Therefore, Xie Xinlian had a lot of New Year goods to buy. Especially the chicken, duck, fish, and meat essential for the banquet tables had to be reserved in advance.
As Xie Xinlian and Taishu Yuanxiang walked around, Taishu Yuanxiang noticed that the people here seemed very enthusiastic about the New Year.
Seeing Taishu Yuanxiang observing everything, Xie Xinlian smiled. "Yuanxiang, you’ve never seen how we country folk celebrate the New Year, have you?"