Chapter 871: Moving into the New House and Eating Dumplings

Unknowingly, a few days passed.

During these few days, all the furniture for Wang An's new house had been completed. From large items like wardrobes, kang-beds, and tables, to small items like chairs and stools, everything was brand new.

This included the bedding and pillows for every member of the family, which were all new.

Even the pots, pans, spatulas, cooking utensils, and food covers—all various kitchenware—were entirely new.

Of course, the two new houses were furnished with identical items.

The reason Wang An wanted everything to be new wasn't because he was fickle or tired of the old, but because he wanted to perfectly preserve the old house and the various daily necessities within it.

Although there wasn't much practical meaning to doing this, Wang An simply wanted to do it, so he did.

As the saying goes, "Money can't buy the pleasure of doing what I want!"

In Wang An's view, the feeling of everything within his sight being new was simply quite wonderful.

During these few days, not only was the furniture finished, but the walls of the entire new courtyard had also been completed.

Furthermore, thanks to the continuous heating of the kangs, the houses had dried out and were ready for move-in.

Of course, the fact that the houses were ready to be lived in as soon as they dried was a benefit of the building materials of that era.

Because the building materials at this time were basically pure, natural, and pollution-free. If they were like those of later generations with excessive formaldehyde, then even if the house were completely dry, it would be absolutely uninhabitable.

Wang An knew exactly how terrifying and sinister formaldehyde could be.

Living in a place with high concentrations of formaldehyde for a long time could lead to dizziness, nosebleeds, or red rashes in mild cases, and severe anemia or even leukemia in serious cases.

Therefore, Wang An would never joke with the life and health of his family.

Early one morning, after the Wang family woke up but before they had breakfast, the whole family gathered in the new courtyard.

The reason they were there so early was that the Wang family was moving into the new house today.

Moving into a new house didn't necessarily require such an early start, but Comrade Liu Guilan had specifically consulted an old master regarding the auspicious timing of the move.

He stated that during the Mao hour—the period between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM—cooking should be done in the house where Wang Dazhu and his wife would live.

And during the Wu hour—the period between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM—cooking should be done in the house where Wang An and Mu Xueqing would live.

As for the specific reason why, the old master's exact words were

"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed. If you believe, follow the instructions; if you don't, you can just go be a piece of shit."

To be honest, when Wang An heard the master say "you can just go be a piece of shit," he almost slapped the man across the face.

Mainly, does this damn fortune-teller actually love using foul language?

However, seeing how Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan both held this master in the highest esteem, Wang An lowered the hand he had just begun to raise.

The reason Wang An lowered his hand wasn't entirely because of Wang Dazhu and his wife, but mainly because the old master had frowned and softly muttered something while looking at Wang An's face.

That sentence was: "Truly fucking strange, where the hell did this kid pop up from? It shouldn't be!"

Although the old master spoke very softly, Wang An heard it clearly.

Without exaggeration, Wang An felt a massive internal shock when he heard those words.

Because aside from Wang An himself, no one knew about his rebirth.

But how the hell did this old master see that there was something "wrong" with him?

However, it was also evident that while the old master had doubts, he himself was confused, not knowing if the problem lay with Wang An or if his own "Daoist arts" were insufficient.

He had to admit that talented and eccentric people truly existed in this world.

Fortunately, Wang An hadn't delivered that slap, otherwise, he really would have offended the old master.

Mainly, Wang An truly didn't understand these metaphysical matters!

So, in the end, Wang An obediently complied.

After all, it was just moving from an old house to a new one; whether it happened a bit earlier or later didn't matter at all.

And so, early that morning, the whole Wang family arrived.

Although the family had visited before, actually moving in provided a completely different experience.

It had to be said that a new house was wonderful; it was both spacious and bright, giving one a feeling of comfort and ease just by staying inside.

Most importantly, the large family finally didn't have to squeeze together in those three small earthen rooms.

Although the whole family was happy to move into the new house, the happiest person was undoubtedly Wang Yi.

Wang Yi was already 14 years old this year, and a 14-year-old child could definitely be called a proper "big kid."

Yet, a child of that age had previously had to live with his parents every day. As the old saying goes, "When the daughter grows, she avoids the father; when the son grows, he avoids the mother."

Therefore, living with his parents every day had been very inconvenient for Wang Yi.

Now, Wang Yi had his own separate room. In addition to the wardrobe, kang-bed, and other furniture, Wang An had thoughtfully made him a writing desk and a matching chair.

As a result, after seeing his room, the smile on Wang Yi's face never faded.

As for the sisters Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli, although they knew the two westernmost rooms belonged to them, they didn't move in yet because they were still too young; they continued to live with Wang Dazhu and his wife.

Farmhouse breakfasts were generally very simple, usually just porridge and steamed buns with pickled vegetables.

However, because they were moving into the new house today, Liu Guilan decided that the first meal in the new house must be dumplings.

Because of this, one of the Wang family's yellow goats disappeared last night, becoming today's dumpling filling.

Mainly, in the hearts of Northeasterners, any festive occasion could only be truly expressed by eating dumplings.

For example, they ate dumplings for the New Year, on the first day of the first lunar month (Spring Festival), on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Lantern Festival), on the days of the four solar terms of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and during the May and August festivals.

Especially on the Winter Solstice, they absolutely had to eat dumplings.

Because if one didn't eat dumplings on the Winter Solstice, it was easy for their ears to freeze off during the winter.

Of course, whether one's ears actually froze off had very little to do with eating dumplings on the Winter Solstice.

However, this deep-rooted belief existed in the minds of Northeasterners: one must eat a meal of dumplings on the Winter Solstice to protect one's ears.

With the whole family pitching in, the speed of wrapping dumplings was incredibly fast. Wang An's speed in particular was almost equal to the rest of the family combined.

And so, the first meal after moving into the new house was spent eating dumplings.

Thanks to "Big Account Empire Emperor" for the reward, thank you, thank you.

(End of Chapter)