Chapter 75: New Year’s Eve
That evening, after tidying everything up, Li Xiu climbed onto the kang bed, hugged Zhou Lian, and said with a contented sigh, "Bao’er, our daughter’s full-month celebration went well."
"Yes, it was all thanks to Grandma Li and our aunts," Zhou Lian said, agreeing wholeheartedly. ’My mother-in-law isn’t a reasonable person, and neither is her family. Those three aunts of hers are a real handful. We were lucky Grandma Li was there to keep things under control, or it wouldn’t have been so quiet.’
"Yeah, we really owe them. Don’t worry. Since they were good to us, I’ll find a way to repay the favor," Li Xiu said softly, stroking his wife’s hair.
"By the way, what did your parents say to you earlier? You looked unhappy."
Zhou Lian paused for a moment. "Dad said my qi-and-blood deficiency is almost healed," she said. "It was the ginseng."
"What else?" Li Xiu noticed his wife seemed uncomfortable, but since it concerned her health, he pressed her for more.
"Dad said that if I take it for another half month, I’ll be fully recovered... and that I should be nicer to you," Zhou Lian said, shifting uncomfortably. ’Father rarely lectures his daughters; he usually leaves that to Mother while he teaches the sons. The fact he said so much today must be because I was sickly growing up, so he naturally worried more about me. And more importantly, it’s because of Li Xiu. Father thinks very highly of him as a son-in-law.’
Li Xiu broke into a happy smile. ’Looks like my father-in-law is quite pleased with me this life.’ He turned to Zhou Lian and said gently, "Bao’er is already very good to me. Just you being happy and living well each day is the best way to be good to me."
The couple chatted late into the night, changed their daughter’s diaper, and finally fell asleep in each other’s arms.
After two straight days of busyness, Li Xiu finally had everything ready for the New Year. On the 29th, New Year’s Eve, he was up early and bustling about once again.
Zhou Lian saw it all but couldn’t help in the slightest. Li Xiu forbade her from getting off the kang bed, so she could only focus on taking good care of their daughter, hoping to lighten his load.
By the time he finished mincing the dumpling filling, kneading the dough, and prepping the ingredients for dinner, it was almost eleven o’clock. Li Xiu then boiled some ginger water and hot water to wash Zhou Lian’s hair and give her a sponge bath.
The room was warm, so Li Xiu took the opportunity to also wash his little daughter’s hair, give her a bath, and dress her in clean, new clothes.
After tending to both mother and daughter, he went back to cook a meal for Zhou Lian. He himself simply made do with her leftovers.
After lunch, Li Bao and Li Guo came over to help hang the Spring Festival couplets, using freshly made paste.
By the time the dumplings were all wrapped, the sky was dark. Li Xiu went outside to light the firecrackers that traditionally marked the occasion. He then returned and quickly whipped up six dishes, boiled the dumplings, and carried everything to the small table on the kang bed. Only then did he finally sit down to have New Year’s Eve dinner with Zhou Lian.
"Bao’er, eat up. These are all your favorite dishes," Li Xiu said, putting some food on her plate.
Looking at the table laden with food, Zhou Lian was at a loss for words. Chicken stewed with mushrooms, braised carp, celery stir-fried with pork, pork ribs stewed with potatoes, tofu in soybean paste, and garlic-sautéed crown daisy—they were truly all her favorite dishes, and all suitable for her to eat during her postpartum recovery. Li Xiu couldn’t enjoy a meal without spice, yet there wasn’t a single chili pepper in any of the dishes on the table.
"You should have made a couple of dishes you like, too!"
"Bao’er, you can’t have spicy food yet. If I made some, you’d just have to watch me eat and get cravings," Li Xiu said, looking at her gently. "I’ll make them when you can eat them too. Besides, I like these dishes as well. Don’t worry about it. It’s New Year’s Eve, our first one as a married couple. How about you have a drink with me to celebrate?"
"Alright. It’s the New Year, so I’ll have a drink with you." It was rare for Li Xiu to ask for anything, so Zhou Lian agreed without a second thought.
They ate until past ten. Li Xiu cleared the table, and gazing at his daughter sleeping soundly on the kang, he hugged his wife. He smacked his lips contentedly and said, "This has been the best and happiest year of my entire life. I married the woman I’ve always dreamed of in the spring, and by year’s end, we had a beautiful, chubby daughter. I feel like all the hardships of my past twenty-odd years were just to get to this day, to a New Year’s spent with my wife and daughter."
Looking at Li Xiu, who was already a bit tipsy despite not having much to drink, Zhou Lian said with a rare gentleness, "I’m very happy, too. I have our daughter, and a man who dotes on me."
Li Xiu was overjoyed to hear this. He gave her a firm kiss. "As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. I’ll always dote on you and spoil you. I’ll never make you regret marrying me. I want to make all the other women envy you for having a man who treasures you like a priceless gem. I’m going to work hard and earn money so that you and our child never have to suffer."
"Okay, I believe you. You’ll give me and our child a good life, and I believe you’ll always treasure me like a priceless gem," Zhou Lian said, gently stroking Li Xiu’s face. ’I’ll trust this man one more time,’ she thought. ’Just one more time.’
Holding Zhou Lian tightly, Li Xiu was overcome with emotion. ’She believes me,’ he thought. ’She believes that I’ll always cherish, spoil, and love her. Yes, I, Li Xiu, love Zhou Lian. I loved her in our last life, too, but by the time I understood my own feelings, she had already grown cold and disheartened with me. I never had the chance to tell her how I felt. And in this life... I haven’t dared to.’
’This era isn’t as open-minded as the future. There isn’t all this talk of romance. People get married when they find a suitable match. Once they have children, they live for their kids, for survival, just busily getting by. Very few people think to actively pursue romantic love. It’s more like just being partners in life. If a man is even a little nice to his wife, he’s praised as a good husband. Even my past self was considered a good man by others.’
’In this life, I ask for nothing else. From the moment I started living again, I knew it was all for my wife. Nothing is more important than her, not even the two filial children I had. Children grow up and eventually leave home; the only one who stays by your side for your whole life is your spouse. Even the ancients knew that a husband and wife "share a bed in life and a tomb in death."’
"Bao’er, you don’t know how much I love you. So, so much," Li Xiu said gently, gazing into Zhou Lian’s eyes. "You’ll slowly come to love me too, right? I’m not in a hurry. We have a lifetime. I’ll wait for you to like me, to fall in love with me."
Zhou Lian stared at him, bewildered. ’Love? Li Xiu loved her? She’d always thought it was just his paranoia and possessiveness acting up. The Li Xiu of her past life had loved her, and that was why he’d always seemed so crazed and obsessive. The Li Xiu of this life loved her too, which was why he put her before all else. Even her eldest sister-in-law had said, "Li Xiu holds you in his palm, afraid you’ll fall; he keeps you in his mouth, afraid you’ll melt." This was Li Xiu’s love.’
’But did she love Li Xiu? In their last life, they had drifted apart before she ever had the chance to fall for him. So what about this life? Did she love him? She thought back to the beginning, from when they were first introduced as a potential match. She had gone from being guarded, indifferent, and formal with him to now getting angry, losing her temper, being willful, feeling her heart ache for him, and worrying when he wasn’t around. Was that love?’
"Bao’er, we have all the time in the world. You can take it slow. I’ll be right here, taking care of you, staying with you, and waiting for you," Li Xiu said, his heart aching as he saw her lost and bewildered expression. ’I’m not in a hurry,’ he thought. ’Really. We have an entire lifetime. I can afford to wait, and I am more than willing to.’
"Li Xiu, I don’t know if this is love or not," Zhou Lian murmured. "When I see you looking tired, my heart aches. When you’re late coming home, I worry about you. Is that love?" ’Even though she had the memories of a past life,’ she thought, ’she had never truly been in love in either of them. She’d witnessed all the grand romances of the future, but as an old soul, she couldn’t quite grasp what this "true love conquers all" stuff was really about.’
Suppressing the excitement bubbling up inside him, Li Xiu smiled and asked, "Bao’er, what if... what if you saw me flirting with another woman? How would you feel?"
"You’d dare?!"
Seeing his wife bare her teeth, Li Xiu laughed. "I wouldn’t dare! I’m just asking you to imagine it. Would you be angry? Upset?"