Spring Festival, a traditional holiday in Daxia Country.
The thirtieth day of the lunar year, New Year's Eve.
During this New Year season, families gathered for a lavish reunion dinner, chatting about the gains of the past year and imagining how they should work hard in the coming year, believing life would only get better and better.
On this day of family reunion, Ning Yifan's family was naturally no exception.
His father and grandfather chatted in the living room, their faces beaming with joy as they reminisced about the recent changes in their lives and recalled what Spring Festival had been like in the past.
Over these two days of the New Year, his younger brother had also received their mother's special permission for unlimited playtime. Curled up on the sofa with his phone, he was completely absorbed in playing.
In the kitchen, Ning Yifan helped his mother prepare the family dinner.
Lemon chicken feet made with carefully selected premium boneless chicken feet.
Homemade sausages and cured meat, steamed until their fragrance filled the air.
A layer of red chili oil, cilantro, and chopped scallions floated atop the boiled fish, symbolizing abundance year after year.
Garlic prawns with the shells already peeled.
Cold sour chicken salad with a sweet-and-sour flavor.
Crispy cold-eaten rabbit fried with an enormous amount of dried chilies.
Golden cola chicken wings.
Dish after dish of food was swiftly prepared by his mother and carried to the table by Ning Yifan.
Rather than eating in the dining room, they brought all the dishes to the coffee table in the living room. With the underfloor heating regulating the temperature, the room remained at around twenty-four to twenty-five degrees Celsius, and the family felt perfectly comfortable without needing to wear thick winter clothes.
The house was as warm as