Continuation 4: Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate on New Year's Eve

Zhou Shuling's wool slippers couldn't get wet; they were supposedly made of wool, which she cherished. Besides, she wasn't wearing socks yet, and she was a little worried that she might get the inside of her slippers wet if she stepped in the snow a few times.

So she nudged Liu Chang'an, signaling Liu Chang'an to go and bring Zhou Dongdong back.

Liu Chang'an didn't move, so Zhou Shuling used more force, determined to push him into the snow as well.

But she didn't have that much strength. Seeing that Liu Chang'an didn't move at all, Zhou Shuling turned around, put her feet on the ground, and tried to use her recently gained weight to push Liu Chang'an away.

Listening to her panting heavily behind him, and sensing that she had recently gained weight and wondered where all the flesh had gone, Liu Chang'an's mind wandered, and he was actually successfully pushed onto the snow by her.

She herself almost fell, but she was still somewhat amused. However, when her gaze fell on Zhou Dongdong, she immediately stomped her foot in anger.

Zhou Dongdong was covered in snow, like a little snowman that had been piled up under a sycamore tree, but suddenly grew legs, stood up from the snow, and ran around everywhere.

"Neither of you will get breakfast later!" Zhou Shuling grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and threw it on Liu Chang'an's back. "Go and bring her back."

Let's have a snowball fight!

Seeing her mother throwing snowballs at her brother Chang'an, Zhou Dongdong rushed over, grabbed a big snowball, and threw it at Zhou Shuling.

Seeing Zhou Dongdong Zhou Shuling turn and run away, and seeing her beautiful clothes that she had specially worn to go out to buy New Year's goods today covered with snow mixed with leaves and dry branches, Zhou Shuling angrily ran upstairs, put on a leather jacket and rain boots, and chased after Zhou Dongdong.

Zhou Dongdong was shocked to see her mother fully armed. She knew she couldn't fight back against her mother, so she yelled and ran away.

Liu Chang'an loved watching this kind of scene and couldn't help but laugh. At this moment, Zhou Shuling turned around, saw Liu Chang'an laughing, grabbed a snowball, and threw it at his head.

"Let you laugh!" Seeing the snowflakes bloom on Liu Chang'an's face, Zhou Shuling burst out laughing.

"Giggle..."

Laughter, like a hen showing off after laying an egg, rang out again. Liu Chang'an glanced at Shangguan Dandan, who was gloating beside him, grabbed two handfuls of snow from the ground, and threw them at Zhou Shuling and Shangguan Dandan.

Shangguan Dandan's laughter stopped abruptly. She looked angrily at her thermos, then at Liu Chang'an, and sat there motionless. She kicked her little feet and, taking advantage of Zhou Shuling kneeling on the ground scooping up snow to prepare for a counterattack, she rolled her long hair on the ground and hurled a snowball the size of a millstone at Liu Chang'an.

As Liu Chang'an stared at her tentacle-like hair, he nimbly dodged the snowball, only to have it explode right next to his head, instantly covering him in snow.

Shangguan Dandan glanced at her, then her expression changed from blank to giggling.

"Look at my big snowball!" Zhou Shuling also successfully scooped up a big snowball and struggled to lift it up, but her foot slipped and the snowball successfully hit Liu Chang'an, but she herself fell to the ground.

Liu Chang'an casually put his arm around her shoulder and supported her slender waist with the other hand. This woman's flesh hadn't grown in any inappropriate places.

Seeing Liu Chang'an's ambiguous smile so close to her face, Zhou Shuling quickly grabbed his shoulders and straightened up, her face slightly flushed. "It's all your fault. I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I'm going to make breakfast."

After a long commotion in the morning, Liu Chang'an finally managed to bring Zhou Dongdong back. She was sweating a lot, and much of the snow on her clothes had melted, leaving her soaking wet. Zhou Shuling was making breakfast, so she handed over the task of changing Zhou Dongdong's clothes to Liu Chang'an.

Liu Chang'an carried Zhou Dongdong to the electric heater table, took off her clothes, and touched her back, which was covered in sweat. Before he could dry her with a towel, Zhou Dongdong quickly crawled under the electric heater table to hide. It was warm and cozy inside. Liu Chang'an went upstairs to get some clothes to change into, but Zhou Dongdong refused to come out from under the heater table.

However, the child couldn't dress herself in winter clothes, so Liu Chang'an didn't just throw the clothes under the electric heater and let her change herself. Instead, he took a stick and poked around under the heater for a while, finally driving her out and grabbing her to get dressed.

After breakfast, Liu Chang'an and Zhou Shuling went to the market to buy fish. Fish is an essential dish on the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner table, symbolizing abundance year after year.

"Actually, it's just as auspicious to deposit one yuan in Yu'ebao," Liu Chang'an said to Zhou Shuling.

"How can that be the same?" Zhou Shuling didn't think so.

"What's the difference? It's all about good fortune. Fish represents abundance, and so does Yu'ebao (Alipay's money market fund)."

"It's just different," Zhou Shuling insisted, even though there was no real reason. Why bother finding a reason or thinking about why things are the same? Just like Zhou Shuling felt happy and content with her life, she didn't dwell on unnecessary things.

Just then, a car skidded, sending up a flurry of snowflakes. Zhou Shuling was startled and quickly pulled Liu Chang'an's arm to the side.

"You were scared even though you were several meters away." Liu Chang'an laughed. Sometimes he often wondered if Zhou Shuling was just as foolish as Zhou Dongdong when she was little, only she wasn't as lucky as Zhou Dongdong.

Zhou Dongdong met the gentle and kind Chang'an brother, who was like a god descending to illuminate all living beings, when she was very young. Zhou Shuling did not have such good fortune when she was young. No one took care of her and preserved her simple and honest nature.

It's not that Zhou Shuling is no longer innocent or naive; it's just that she has experienced a lot of coldness and indifference in human relationships, but the essence of her character has not been worn away and is now gradually reviving.

"What if it... it keeps sliding along and crashes into that little tree, ending up on the sidewalk?" Zhou Shuling said with a sigh of relief. If she could drive, she would only dare to drive slowly when there were no people on the street and the weather was nice. These people dare to drive in the snow; they are really too daring.

"Unless it's specifically targeting you and trying to hit you, the probability of that happening is zero." Liu Chang'an also thought about the car, "Why don't you buy a car? It'll be more convenient to take the two kids out for meals and fun."

The two children, of course, refer to Zhou Dongdong and Shangguan Dandan. In Liu Chang'an, Shangguan Dandan is like Schrödinger's cat—whether she's a little old lady or a child depends entirely on what Liu Chang'an chooses to call her.

Zhou Shuling was somewhat tempted, but after thinking about it, she shook her head. "It's a waste of money. If everyone drives, what's the point of building subways and buses? People still need to ride them."

Liu Chang'an glanced at the woman who smelled so good, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile, "That's a reason, no wonder she's Zhou Dongdong's mother... Zhou Dongdong once said, if all the children are smart and try to get first place, then who will be last?"

"Does she really look like me?" Zhou Shuling denied it reluctantly. "I'm much smarter than her. My grades in elementary school... were probably better than hers."

"Then let me give you a question. It's known that all natural numbers less than 100, except for those of the form 9n plus or minus 4, can be expressed as the sum of the cubes of three integers. Choose one of these numbers: 24, 30, 33, 42, 52, 74, and express it as the sum of the cubes of three integers." Liu Chang'an casually posed a question. The concept of cubes should be something they learned in elementary school, right? Since she seemed so smart, it shouldn't be difficult for her.

Zhou Shuling frowned. She had long realized that intelligent women like her were often not popular with men, which was why her marriages and blind dates were all unsuccessful. However, Zhou Shuling hoped to appear smarter in front of Liu Chang'an, because she didn't want to act silly and cute in front of him.

However, I am still not as smart as Liu Chang'an, so it is normal that I find this question difficult to understand and I don't understand anything he is talking about.

"How would I know?" Zhou Shuling shook her head. "Just because I can't do this problem doesn't mean I'm not smart, okay? Go ask Zhou Dongdong, I guarantee she can't either."

"How can you be so shameless?" Liu Chang'an, the mother, also shook her head.

"I'm smarter than her, so I can be her mother. Does she have to be the smartest person in the world to be a mother?" Zhou Shuling said dismissively.

Liu Chang'an then began to explain to her how to decompose 24, 30, 33, 42, 52, 74 into the sum of the cubes of three integers, talking all the way to the vegetable market.

He knew she wouldn't understand, but he found it amusing to see her looking completely bewildered while nodding occasionally to cooperate with Liu Chang'an's explanation.

Upon arriving at the market, Liu Chang'an and Zhou Shuling approached the fish stall and noticed that all the fish in the tanks seemed unusually excited today, as if they were sacrificing themselves for the New Year. They jumped and splashed in the tanks, crowding together and pressing against the glass.

One of the large grass carp bravely leaped high out of the fish tank in a leaping motion, landing next to Liu Chang'an. It struggled to move to Liu Chang'an's feet by wriggling its body and flapping its tail fin.

"This is it for our New Year's Eve dinner," Liu Chang'an said, deeply moved.

"Let's take this one," Zhou Shuling said, reaching for her phone to pay, only to realize she was holding Liu Chang'an's arm.

It seems... it seems that I took his arm when that car started blowing snow and I was trying to avoid it, and we stayed arm in arm the whole way.

Honestly, he didn't even say anything. Zhou Shuling glared at Liu Chang'an with a hint of embarrassment and anger, then raised her hand and gently placed a few fingers on his arm.

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The new book is now available. Whether you read it or not is up to you, but it would be even better if you could help by placing a first-day order. I have no way to repay you, so I'll offer you chapter after chapter of Longevity... well, not exactly continuous, but rather intermittent sequels.