Reborn: I'll Never Fail My Childhood Sweetheart Again-Chapter 281 - 122: Lazy Pig, Get Out of Bed!

Very soon, New Year's Eve arrived.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, the Su family of three watched the Spring Festival Gala in the living room.

The Spring Festival Gala began in 1983, back then the only professional host was Zhao Zhongxiang, responsible for simple hosting announcements, while others were guest appearances from the entertainment industry.

For example, guest host Ma Ji, who also performed crosstalk at the Gala.

Zhao Zhongxiang is indeed worthy of being called an elder; throughout the 90s, the Spring Festival Gala stage was basically dominated by him and Ni Ping.

Li Guyi became the first singer to formally appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage, leaving a profound impression on countless people with the song "Romance of the Countryside."

Since then, the Spring Festival Gala has become Xia Country's most grand and spectacular television entertainment program, gradually evolving into an indispensable tradition but it's unclear when this transformation began.

Every New Year's Eve, families, regardless of age, love to gather in front of the TV to watch the Gala, enjoying a harmonious time together.

Especially in the early 21st century when the internet wasn't very developed yet, the Gala's popularity and viewership were extremely high, almost making it a must-watch program for every household in the nation.

The high level of attention and popularity also made many stars famous.

The earliest was Chen Peisi in 1984; Chen Peisi, along with Zhu Shimo, performed the skit "Eating Noodles" at that year's Gala, rapidly becoming Xia Country's hottest comedy star, although he was later banned by the main broadcaster and stopped appearing on the Gala. Otherwise, Uncle Ben Shan might never have had his moment.

Zhu Shimo has always been a male idol; in the movie "The Horse Herder," the line "Old Xu, do you want a wife?" by the character played by Guo Zi made waves later on.

Also that year was Zhang Mingmin; once the song "My Heart of Xia Country" was sung, it quickly became popular across the country. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Then there's Fei Xiang in 1987, whose performance of "Fire in Winter," with its passionate demeanor, igniting the enthusiasm of every audience member, along with his handsome mixed-race features and tall physique, soon captivated countless female hearts and earned widespread popularity.

Not to mention Dong Wenhua's "Moon of the Fifteenth," Jiang Dawei's "In the Place Where Peach Blossoms Bloom," and Mao Xiaomin's "Miss"...

In the early years, many stars appearing on the Gala were grassroots, like Zhang Mingmin who was previously a worker in an electronics factory.

Later, stars who appeared on the Gala were basically top-tier, and if your popularity was slightly lacking you wouldn't even think of making a brief appearance on that grand stage, and the atmosphere became more commercialized, losing some of its charm.

The Gala quickly began and, being the first Gala of the New Era, both stage design and performance styles underwent bold innovations, giving audiences a fresh experience.

The first program was Sun Yue and Chen Xiaodong's "Today is Great," followed by Song Zuying's "Getting Better and Better"...

During Uncle Ben Shan's "Selling a Crutch," Zhao Mingxia laughed heartily.

However, Su Jianjun and Su Zelin, father and son, didn't find the skit particularly amusing due to their higher standards for comedy.

But the other programs were quite interesting.

With commercialization not being too serious and ad quantity still reasonable, the Gala still had plenty of highlights.

Accompanying Dad and Mom until the Gala ended, it was already past twelve, and outside the sound of firecrackers was everywhere.

Currently, Xia Country hadn't banned firecrackers yet, and once past midnight almost every household would set off firecrackers to celebrate the arrival of the Spring Festival, symbolizing the start of the new year with a bang.

Su Zelin ran out to the courtyard to light firecrackers, then returned to the room and found a few text messages waiting.

A junior schoolmate: "The new spring has arrived, Panpan wishes you good health and fortune, all your wishes come true, being together, in short, Happy Spring Festival!"

Su Zelin casually replied: "Mm, Panpan, you also have a happy spring. May your studies progress, family be blissful, and every day be joyous!"

Opening the second message, it was from Nanaz, who remembered Su Zelin's number. During the winter break she also bought a phone and occasionally sent him messages, even inviting him to go online.

Nanaz: "The year of the snake is here, class president, I wish you become more handsome this year, stay strong, enjoy all the delicious foods, have the snake spit fortune, achieve monumental success, and flexibly adapt!"

Nanaz's message was quite playful in its wishes.

When Su Zelin replied, he followed her playful tone.

"Nanaz, Happy New Year! May the Green Snake gift you 'beauty like a flower,' the White Snake grant you 'three lifetimes of love,' the 'greedy snake' devour all your worries, and may you be happy as the lucky snake!"

Opening the third message, it was from Luo Xi, but Su Zelin's contact rating wasn't her real name. For acquaintances and friends, he preferred interesting nicknames.

A capable little assistant: "Boss, Happy New Year, may all go well. Please continue to look after me in the new year!"

Few people owned mobile phones at the time, and when sending New Year's greetings it wasn't like later generations where online templates are copied for mass sending. Everyone manually typed them individually; every style was unique, lacking the refinement of mass-sent commercial greetings but possessing more warmth.

"Ah Xi, I have always appreciated you, you will become more capable, keep up the good work this year, strive even harder!"

There were only a few messages, not many, unlike later times when phones would constantly ring after New Year's Eve, filled with not just text messages but also WeChat and QQ ones. However, those messages would all be similar, and you would see piles of them where only the sender's name differs completely but with identical content.

Su Zelin wouldn't even bother to glance at those; when others mass-send, he would simply mass-reply.

It should have been a joyful Spring Festival, yet for some reason, thoughts of Liu Wanyin suddenly came to mind.