As the saying went, once Laba Festival passed, the New Year was just around the corner.
After Laba Festival, New Year's Eve came around before long.
On New Year's Eve, Shi Feizhe made a batch of dumplings and brought out the Aged Vinegar that had been sitting around for ages.
Of the essentials—firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea—vinegar was actually damn expensive before industrial-scale production.
"Old man, the dumplings are ready! You've gotta dip them in vinegar!" Shi Feizhe carried over two big bowls of dumplings and a small bowl of Aged Vinegar. "Have a bowl first. There's more in the pot."
Up on the mountain, the old man was in charge of growing vegetables, and Shi Feizhe was in charge of cooking.
It wasn't that Shi Feizhe didn't grow vegetables. The old man just thought he was too sloppy with farm work. Especially when it came to turning the soil and watering—the old man did those jobs both faster and better.
There was nothing he could do about it. Shi Feizhe really had never done farm work before.
"Dumplings! Another year gone by!" the old man said when he saw them. "I wonder if I'll still be around to eat dumplings next year."
"Huh? I reckon you can keep going for another two years!" Shi Feizhe took a bite of a pork-and-cabbage dumpling. Delicious!
"It's New Year's! Can't you say something auspicious? Like..." he continued.
"Like wishing me a hundred years of life, right?" The old man took a bite of a dumpling. Hearing Shi Feizhe spout more nonsense, he sneered.
"Heh..." Shi Feizhe had been seen through. As he ate, he said, "This vinegar sure is sour!"
"For someone like me, to be able to wait peacefully for death in the jianghu is no small