Carrying a Jurassic on me-Chapter 1329 - 648 Meddling

On New Year’s Eve morning, the sound of firecrackers was incessant, and they were all a big bunch of firecrackers, which seemed to last an especially long time. By around seven o’clock, the noise of the firecrackers had reached a climax, with the whole town’s firecrackers echoing ceaselessly through the clouds.

If you lived in the town, it was impossible to sleep in with the firecrackers going off all around—it’s not as if people weren’t setting them off at midnight, but the town didn’t have much nightlife, and everyone was used to going to bed early, with many not even staying up to see the end of the Spring Festival Gala.

At this time, not many people were sleeping in. The students, who were usually the most sleep-loving, were accustomed to waking up around five in the morning for school. During the holidays, this habit was hard to break; they would wake up on time at five and couldn’t linger in bed for too long before getting up to eat.

Here in Sancha River County, it was customary not to call on anyone on the morning of the first day of the new year; everyone had to get up on their own. The night before, parents had reminded their children, and the naughty children rarely slept until eight or nine before getting out of bed.

On the first day of the new year, it was taboo to visit relatives—old traditions didn’t even allow for visiting neighbors, but these last few years, the rule had gradually been ignored, especially by the naughty children, who simply couldn’t be stopped from running out to play with their friends.

By eight or nine, the sound of firecrackers heard were no longer from within the town, but from the fields—it was an old tradition in Sancha River County to visit the graves on the morning of the first day of the new year.

Early in the morning, Yan Chao had been lured out of bed by Yan Fei with a toy, dressed up in new clothes, and coaxed into eating a big bowl of dumplings. Soon after, he was pulled into the car, and the whole family headed out to Yan Village to visit the tomb.

It wasn’t far, and now that the roads were good, it took less than half an hour for the family to reach their destination.

After parking the car and carrying bundles of paper money, they walked towards the depths of the farmland, treading on the green wheat sprouts. Along the way, they often bumped into acquaintances also visiting graves and had to exchange a few words.

Several tombs looked particularly large; those were the graves of Yan Fei’s grandfather and other ancestors—these grave plots also belonged to the families of Yan Village. Now they were taken care of by a local cooperative farm, and Yan Fei specifically asked these people to look after them a bit more. They did a good job; they took advantage of the time they spent in the fields to make the tombs look particularly impressive.

A large pile of paper money was lit, followed by a big bunch of firecrackers, and then the family lined up to kowtow to their elders, one by one.

After finishing the kowtows, Yan Wenhai took off his glasses, rubbed his red eyes, and muttered in front of his father’s tomb, "Now that the family is doing well, you all get to just lie there! Alright, let’s go back and celebrate the new year..."

The saying "children keen to support their parents, but the parents are no longer around" resonated deeply with this family. Yan Fei’s grandmother had passed away early, and Yan Wenhai had left early for school, taking a job after graduation, which meant he hardly spent time at home.

It wasn’t until he got married, had a wife, and then had Yan Fei--a somewhat different child--that no one really knew how Blacksmith Yan initially coped when he first discovered Yan Fei was different...

After getting back into the car, the mood quickly recovered from the previous solemnity, thanks to little Yan Chao’s chatter and mischief.

Back at the complex, the meeting room was set up with Mahjong and card tables, with men, women, young and old all enthusiastically joining in. Yan Wenhai and his wife took Yan Chao to the town for a stroll, while Yan Fei walked around the meeting room, checking out the lively scene, when Heizi called out, "Brother Fei, come and play a round?"

"What are we playing?"

"Landlord!" Heizi said, excited. "It’s really simple..."

Indeed it was simple. Even though Yan Fei didn’t play cards often, he knew the basic rules, but he was very modest, "Could you explain the rules to me in more detail?"

After a brief explanation, Yan Fei asked, "How can we play with just the two of us?"

Heizi looked puzzled; although this guy had lost a fair amount of money gambling in the past, gambling dens were full of deceit, which didn’t mean he lacked skill. In fact, among the people here, his skill was top-notch—that’s why no one wanted to play with him. With so many people around, why not play with someone else instead of leaving him out?

After looking around, Heizi called out, "Honest man, come play cards!"

Guan Shi, seeing that Yan Fei was getting ready to play, seemed eager to try, "How much are we playing?"

Heizi suggested, "One, two, three yuan bets, small gambling for fun!"

Then Guan Shi replied, somewhat reluctantly, "That’s too much to bet, how about playing for a dime?"

The four from Guan Village were also playing, but they were playing Mahjong with dime stakes, and only the one who "fired" had to pay. Even if they played all day, they wouldn’t lose much.

Heizi nearly spat blood, "You’re not making too little money each month, right? Even among those in the village who go out to work, who gets a higher salary than you? And you think playing for one yuan is too much?"

Guan Shi answered earnestly, "I have money, but I don’t gamble!"

Heizi fell silent; an honest man had his own ideas, not very talkative but decidedly upright, and if he said he wouldn’t play, no amount of persuasion would change his mind.

Just then, someone burst into the room, blustering, "Everyone’s playing already, didn’t wait for me? Anyone free, come on and join in for a round..."

The only one to make such a fuss was Lin Haihu. During the festive season, the guy had just come home yesterday, and now he was already out and about.

Heizi laughed, "Come on, Huzi, let’s play with the boss, win his money!"

Lin Haihu, seeing a big spender, was even more pleased but pretended to be reluctant, "Yan Fei rarely plays, what if I win his money and he holds it against me? Maybe we shouldn’t..."

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com