My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 154: Chapter 127: Have You Ever Seen a Mountain Village at Four or Five in the Morning on the First Day of the Lunar New Year?

By that logic, Li Xiang had lived two lives, making him a total of 39 plus 25, or 64 years old.

Yeah, a short life either way.

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Jiang Cai’Er didn’t stay out too long, heading home to bed around eight o’clock in the evening.

Tonight was for the New Year’s Eve vigil. Once it passed midnight, it would be the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Then, throughout the surrounding villages, people would start setting off ”door-opening firecrackers.” There’s a saying that the earlier you set them off for a ”fortunate start to the year,” the more auspicious it is. In the past, people would mostly start around four or five in the morning. But the competition escalated, and people started earlier and earlier. Now, many just set them off the moment it strikes midnight, thinking, ’Let’s see who can beat me to it!’

Of course, plenty of people weren’t so particular about it. They’d just set off their firecrackers whenever they woke up and felt like it. As a result, the explosions would start at midnight and continue sporadically, echoing back and forth, until eight or nine in the morning.

Furthermore, the morning of the first day was for ancestral worship or the ”burning of clear incense”—a ritual to commemorate relatives who had passed away in the last year—which meant more firecrackers. Then came lunchtime, and even more firecrackers. In short, if you didn’t get to bed early on New Year’s Eve, you could forget about getting any decent sleep!

Most cities, even down to the county level, now banned fireworks and firecrackers. City dwellers didn’t have to deal with this annoyance and slept soundly. Of course, they also missed out on the festive New Year’s atmosphere.

At three in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang Cai’Er was awakened by the incessant sound of firecrackers, both near and far. She got up, washed her face, brewed a large pot of fragrant tea, and sat down in her study to work on some practice exams.

The tea set was a gift from Li Xiang. It was a beautiful piece of Jingdezhen porcelain with a lovely name, ”Green Calyx Heralds Spring,” and even came with its own electric warming base that kept the tea at a constant 55°C.

The Green Calyx is a type of plum blossom, which is one of the earliest flowers to bloom each year, earning it the names ”Spring’s Harbinger” and ”Spring’s Messenger.”

Though a layer of white frost coated everything outside and a biting chill filled the air, Jiang Cai’Er’s room was warm as spring, filled with the rising steam and rich aroma of tea.

Sipping tea and snacking from a large plate filled with cookies, chocolate, pastries, peanuts, melon seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, almonds, and the dried persimmons she’d gotten from Li Xiang, her productivity soared. In no time at all, she had finished most of a practice exam.

Around four-thirty, Jiang Jianguo also woke up and went to set off firecrackers. Jiang Cai’Er pushed open her window, snapped a photo of the night scene, and posted it to her Moments.

”Have you ever seen a mountain village at four or five in the morning on New Year’s Day? The fireworks are so beautiful, and the sound of firecrackers is everywhere! Cai’Er here, wishing everyone an early Happy New Year! Hope everything goes your way and that the new year brings a fresh start!”

The photo was taken from her bedroom window. Her house was on relatively high ground, so the shot captured her own courtyard as well as fireworks bursting high in the sky far in the distance. It was truly a beautiful night scene.

There was an art to framing the shot through the window. It was a technique common in classical Jiangnan gardens known as ”borrowed scenery,” or ”framed scenery.” The window itself becomes the frame, turning the view into a living painting, and the painting into a window.

As a result, Jiang Cai’Er’s photo had a rich, artistic quality.

Most importantly, she had taken Li Xiang’s earlier advice and added a clever little touch. While framing the shot, she ”unintentionally” included some of the scenery on her desk, which occupied the bottom-right corner of the photo. It showed not only the exquisite teapot, two cups of fragrant tea, snacks, and dried persimmons, but also several completed practice exams, a pen resting diagonally on top of them, and next to it, a freshly spent ink refill.

After posting to her Moments, she added a comment: