Chapter 286 - 286 New Year

286 New Year

Yu Niaoniao was very surprised.

“What are you doing here?”

Xiao Juan said lightly, “I saw that you haven’t returned, so I came to take a look. Are you not done yet?”

Yu Niaoniao said, “It’s still early. I’ll probably be busy until very late today. Go to sleep first.”

Xiao Juan said, “Can’t you get the servants to help you?”

Yu Niaoniao shook her head. “No. My mother said that we have to make our own sausages. Sausages made by a family working together are the most fragrant.”

Xiao Juan looked at the pig intestines in the wooden basin.

All the pig intestines had been cleaned up and there was no stench. However, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

Yu Niaoniao was very curious to see him standing still.

“Is there anything else?”

The next moment, she saw Xiao Juan walk into the kitchen.

He walked straight to the side of the wooden basin, rolled up his sleeves, bent down, and took a deep breath. Then, he held his breath and tried his best to suppress the resistance in his heart. He slowly extended his right hand.

His slender fingers grabbed a pig intestine and scooped it up.

This simple action had almost exhausted all his strength.

Yu Niaoniao looked at him in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

She remembered that he hated pig intestines very much. To be precise, he hated all dirty and smelly things.

However, she did not expect him to personally hold the pig intestines.

Xiao Juan tried his best to forget what he was holding and said calmly, “Didn’t you say that sausages made by a family working together are the best? Of course, I have to help you.”

As much as he hated pig intestines, he couldn’t leave her to make sausages alone.

Because they were family.

At this moment, Yu Niaoniao suddenly felt a lump in her throat.

In the past, she had spent the New Year with her stepfather and mother. The entire family was lively, but now that her stepfather and mother were gone, she was alone.

It would be a lie to say that she did not feel uncomfortable at all.

To her, filling sausages was not as simple as cooking delicacies. It was a ritual for her to remember her family.

She wanted to use this ceremony to tell her stepfather and mother that she still remembered them.

She would never forget them. Seeing that she was silent, Xiao Juan could not help but ask.

“What should I do next? I’ve never stuffed sausage before. You have to teach me.”

Yu Niaoniao took a deep breath and suppressed the poignant feeling. She smiled brightly.

“It’s easy. I’ll show you.”

She squeezed the pork into the funnel with all her might. The pork was slowly poured into the pig’s small intestine through the funnel.

The originally flat pig intestine was filled by the meat filling and gradually bulged.

Xiao Juan was very smart and immediately understood the principle.

This job was not difficult. It just required strength.

He practiced martial arts all year round, so his strength was naturally not small. With just a little force, the meat filling was poured into the pig intestine.

Yu Niaoniao brought over an embroidery needle.

As soon as she saw where there was air in the sausage, she would poke it with a needle to let out the air inside. The pig intestine would stick even tighter to the meat filling.

When a pig intestine was filled, Yu Niaoniao picked up the fine twine and tied a knot in the sausage every half foot.

One sausage was done.

Chun Feng and Ye Yu were dumbfounded. They never expected the cold and indifferent Duke Lang to personally stuff sausages. Who would believe this?

Next, the work of circulating one sausage after another.

There was a shelf in the storeroom for drying ingredients. These sausages were hung up and could be eaten when they had dried.

After finishing his work, Xiao Juan could not wait to take a bath. This time, he bathed for two hours and changed the hot water three times.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he could no longer smell anything strange. He returned to the bedroom in his pajamas and found Yu Niaoniao already asleep on the bed.

Filling sausages was a laborious task. She was exhausted tonight and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She did not feel anything about Xiao Juan lying down beside her. She was still sleeping soundly.

Xiao Juan turned around and looked at the sleeping Yu Niaoniao. In the dark night, her face became blurry and unclear.

However, in Xiao Juan’s mind, he still remembered her lonely expression when she was making sausages.

The only reason he helped her with the sausages was that he didn’t want to see that lonely emotion on her face again.

The Yu Niaoniao in his heart should always be as bright and dazzling as a small sun.

As he thought about it, Xiao Juan could not resist approaching her to gently kiss her forehead.

“Good night, my little sun.”

… .

All kinds of snacks were essential for the new year.

Yu Niaoniao had been busy in the kitchen for the past few days.

She made grapefruit sugar, sugar yams, peach cakes, candied hawthorns, sesame pastries, red beans, hemp potatoes, and a series of other foods. She organized them into boxes and tied them with beautiful red ribbons.

The preserved century eggs, salted duck eggs, and moldy tofu were also taken out from the cellar and placed in gift boxes.

Yu Niaoniao divided these gift boxes into several portions.

With that, the New Year’s gifts was ready.

Granny Xiu Yan had already gotten someone to prepare the couplets for the new spring. Red lanterns were hung at the entrance and under the eaves. There were also red window flowers and blessings. Even the flowers in the vase had been replaced with red plum blossoms.

She even chose five people from her servants to form a lion dance team. After a period of training, this lion dance team had already become proficient. Granny Xiu Yan had even specially equipped them with lion dance clothes. They were just waiting to show their skills.

Five days passed in a flash.

It would be New Year’s Eve soon.

Everyone in the Justice Department was especially happy today.

Even Xiao Juan was more amiable than usual.

In the past, he did not have any expectations for the New Year, but it was different this year. There was a little princess consort at home, and she had prepared a lot of delicious food for him.

He was now looking forward to the New Year.

It was not easy for them to make it to the end of the day. Everyone could not wait to pack up and go home.

Meng Xizhou and Yan Nanguan knew that there was no one at Lo Pingsha’s house. The two of them ran to find Lo Pingsha to ask if he was willing to spend the New Year at their house.

As a result, as soon as they entered Lo Pingsha’s residence, they saw him packing his luggage.

Meng Xizhou could not help but ask.

“Where are you going?”

Lo Pingsha replied without looking up, “To the Langjun Imperial Palace for the New Year.”

Meng Xizhou and Yan Nanguan were stunned.

They thought they had misheard.

“What? Where are you going for the New Year?”

Lo Pingsha did not have many things. He packed his luggage in a few moves.

He carried his luggage and said calmly, “The Princess Consort said that she had made a lot of delicious food and wanted to invite me to her house as a guest to celebrate the New Year with her. I agreed.”

Meng Xizhou and Yan Nanguan were instantly envious.

They also wanted to go to the Langjun Imperial Palace to freeload!