After Shao Qiyang and the kids were done being excited, they quickly realized that Mu Jingzhe hadn’t eaten yet. Therefore, they studied the remaining dumplings and picked some up for Mu Jingzhe, asking her to eat quickly so that she could bite into a coin as well.

  There were six of them, and each of them had picked up one dumpling, so Mu Jingzhe was offered six dumplings in the end. After she finished eating, seeing that she hadn’t bitten a coin, each of them picked up another dumpling for Mu Jingzhe.

  This put Mu Jingzhe in a difficult position. Because of the sumptuous dinner, Mu Jingzhe wasn’t hungry to begin with. Eating dumplings was actually just ceremonial, but now, she couldn’t refuse, so she was in a tough spot.

  She couldn’t possibly bite into a coin because she had only put a coin in six of them.

  She had forgotten to include one for herself, so she couldn’t eat one. Mu Jingzhe couldn’t say this directly and only said that she couldn’t eat anymore.

  Shao Dong, who could tell what was going on, stopped everyone. Instead, his eyes darted around, and he secretly got busy in the kitchen for a while to cook one for Mu Jingzhe.

  “Mommy, this is the last one. You’ll definitely find a coin in there. Eat.”

  Mu Jingzhe ate it doubtfully, not expecting to really bite into a coin. “Why is there another…”

  “Congratulations for biting the coin, Mommy. You’re going to be lucky this year!” Shao Dong clapped his hands. Why was there a coin? Because he had added it, of course.

  Since they were going to have good luck in the coming year, everyone had to have good luck together. The family had to be united. How could Mommy be left out?

  Mu Jingzhe also reacted, sighing helplessly with emotion. She had blessed the children, and Shao Dong had blessed her in return. They wished each other well and hoped that each other’s dreams would come true.

  By the time they ate the dumplings and packed up, it was already late. “Alright, it’s more or less bedtime.”

  “Mommy, are you going to sleep too?”

  “Me? I’m not sleeping yet. You kids go to sleep first. Don’t stay up too late.”

  Although Mu Jingzhe had arranged for them to sleep, when the kids were left alone, all of them quietly sat up in the dark and began to Shousui.

  “We haven’t been able to help Mommy Shousui for several years. We must hold on until morning tonight. In the future, we will help Mommy Shousui every year. This way, Mommy will live a long life.”

  As soon as Shao Xi finished speaking, the other kids, including Xiao Wu, nodded. “That’s right. Let’s stay up the entire night then.”

  Shao Xi even thought that because their biological mother had left just like that and they had been too young at the time, they hadn’t known how to Shousui for their mother. That was why she had passed away so early.

  \r \r \r

  Now that they were older, they couldn’t fall behind anymore.

  They couldn’t speak, so they could only monitor each other. By pinching each other to prevent themselves from falling asleep, they persisted all the way till dawn.

  Mu Jingzhe fell asleep sometime in the middle of the night. She didn’t expect them to be able to hold on.

  When Mu Jingzhe got up to see them, they pretended to be asleep.

  On the first day of the new year, both Mu Jingzhe and Shao Qiyang gave the five kids red packets.

  “Thank you, Mommy.”

  “Thank you, Young Uncle.”

  After sending Li Zhaodi, Mu Teng, and Mu Han New Year greetings, they received three more red packets. This was the year that the five kids received the most red packets.

  On the other hand, Mu Jingzhe surprisingly received a red packet from Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng. Even though she was already a grown married adult, Mu Jingzhe still ignored this fact and accepted it.

  This was the first red packet her parents had given her.

  After breakfast, the five kids set off firecrackers at the door. The tips of their noses were filled with the unique smell of firecrackers. Children were seen running around in the village everywhere.

  Mu Jingzhe naturally didn’t lack money to buy firecrackers. She didn’t hate the smell, but the occasional bang was scary.

  “Be careful. Don’t get injured by the firecrackers and don’t play in crowded places. Go play out in the open. You must be careful.” It was rare for the children to relax. Mu Jingzhe didn’t stop them from playing with the other children in the village. She only reminded them to be careful.

  “Okay.” Shao Dong agreed loudly. “I will watch over them.”

  After the children ran away, Mu Jingzhe turned around and saw Shao Qiyang. “Aren’t you going to play cards?”

  The villagers loved to play cards during the New Year.

  “No.” Shao Qiyang shook his head. “Are we going to watch Little Bei’s movie in the afternoon?”

  The movie Little Bei had acted in previously would be released on New Year’s Eve. It had been confirmed that it would be released in the county city too. Mu Jingzhe planned to take the five kids to watch it in the afternoon. Shao Qiyang had also said that he wanted to go.

  “Mm, we’ll go after lunch.”

  The corners of Shao Qiyang’s mouth curled up as he responded with an “Mm”. At the thought of going to the movie with Mu Jingzhe, his mood became much better and his heart began racing.

  Then, he heard Mu Jingzhe add, “My mom and the rest also said that they wanted to go. They said that when the movie premiered, they would invite the villagers to watch it with us. She said that she wanted to talk to the person in charge of the theater.”

  Shao Qiyang: “…”

  Al… Alright then.

  In the afternoon, Mu Han brought Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng to the county city to watch a movie, while Mu Jingzhe and Shao Qiyang brought the five kids.

  Perhaps it was because this was the New Year’s break, but there were quite a lot of people watching the movie. Shao Qiyang and Mu Jingzhe were queuing up to buy tickets, whereas Li Zhaodi and the rest went to ask about showing the movie in their village. In the end, it was as Mu Jingzhe had guessed. Other movies were fine, but Little Bei’s new movie would have to wait a while before it could be booked and released in the village.

  Half an hour after Mu Jingzhe and the others got their hands on the tickets, Little Bei’s “Xiao Jiu” appeared on the screen.

  Although the movie theater was quite old and the sound effects couldn’t compare to modern ones, it still felt different watching a movie in a theater.

  When Little Bei appeared in the movie, everyone got very excited. Li Zhaodi even exclaimed a few times. “It’s really Little Bei. They look exactly the same.”

  Upon seeing someone she knew in real life appear on the big screen, Li Zhaodi was thrilled. She hugged Little Bei and made a fuss over her.

  Mu Jingzhe said helplessly, “Mom, Little Bei acted in the movie, so of course they look exactly the same. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen this. You’ve seen Little Bei’s TV drama and Little Nan’s game show previously.”

  “I know, but I’m still fascinated.”

  Little Bei, who was being hugged by Li Zhaodi, nodded. “Mommy, I think it’s fascinating too. I actually appeared in the movie theater.”

  “There will be more and more such opportunities in the future. Mom, just you wait. Didn’t you also make a cameo appearance in the movie? You’ll appear too.”

  “Right, I have to watch closely for my appearance.”

  That said, after a while, when the plot slowly started, Li Zhaodi couldn’t be bothered anymore. Even though she had watched it once, Mu Jingzhe was too engrossed in the movie to care.

  Half an hour later, everyone was mesmerized by Little Bei’s crying scene and started crying as well.

  When the wicked grandmother that Zhao Lan had portrayed appeared, so did Li Zhaodi’s character. However, at that moment, Li Zhaodi couldn’t be bothered to get worked up anymore. She only cared about hating herself and Zhao Lan for their roles.

  “They’re such baddies. I wish I could crawl in and beat them to death!”

  Mu Jingzhe: “…”

  Did she mean she was going to beat herself up?

  Other than Li Zhaodi herself, this was also what everyone watching the movie thought. Later on, many people cried, including the children.

  Children couldn’t differentiate between reality and movies, so they thought that it was real. The other viewers didn’t feel like it was acting either and didn’t say things such as that Little Bei had acted really well. They were only deeply engrossed in the movie.