The Sweet Little Fulang

Shen Yan was so happy that she clapped her hands, lit the tip with a thin wooden branch, and said to Lu Gu, "Brother Guzi, I'm not afraid of setting off firecrackers, I'll set off a big one for you later."

     Shen Xuanqing brought out a lot of maleizis, and there were a lot of things in the yard, so he put them outside the door. Hearing Shen Yan's words, he smiled and said: "Then you come and set off this maleizi, it's sound is loud enough."

[麻雷子 má léi zǐ:  which explode very loudly]

     "Just set it off, you arrange it for me first." After all, Shen Yan was young, and her family had no money in the past two years, so during the Chinese New Year, she could only watch others set it off, and she was very envious. Now she was eager to try, and her eyes widened as if fearing nothing in Heaven or Earth.

[天不怕地不怕 tiān bù pà dì bù pà: fearing nothing in Heaven or Earth (idiom); fearless]

     When she got to the door, Shen Xuanqing put maleizi on the ground for her, and she moved forward with the wooden branch in her hand, and after lit the tip carefully, she immediately ran away like a rabbit.

     The reason why maleizi was called maleizi was because the sound of the explosion was like thunder. Lu Gu stood in front of the door, covered his ears and retreated subconsciously, but his retreat was blocked by Shen Xuanqing behind him.

     When the first explosion exploded, Shen Xuanqing immediately covered his hands with his big hands when he saw him shrank back.

    After the sound dissipated, Lu Gu opened his closed eyes. Behind him, Shen Xuanqing was almost hugging him, with his big hands still covering his hands.

    With a slight movement of his hands, as if to let go of his ears, Shen Xuanqing let go his hands first.

    The lantern hanging at the door reflected red light, and when Lu Gu turned around, he saw Shen Xuanqing who was smiling with starry eyes, and his heart fell firmly in his chest.

    "Why were you running so fast? didn't you say you aren't afraid?" Shen Yaoqing laughed at Shen Yan.

    Not only their family who had firecrackers on New Year's Eve. Almost every family in the village was playing in front of the door, and Miao Chunsheng's family also came out. 

    Looking over here, Miao Chunsheng smiled and said, "This maleizi is really powerful, I bought it too, let's make a noise."

     When Aunt Miao saw that he was about to set off maleizi, she put her fingers in her ears and hurried to the side, for fear of getting too close.

     There was a "bang", snowflakes and black mud splashed everywhere, and there was another sound of maleizi exploded.

     On the other side of the village, the sounds of various firecrackers were heard one after another.

     Compared with maleizi, who could only hear a sound, Huoqihua (火起花 firecracker that rise into the sky) and Erqijiao (二踢脚 double sounding firecracker) were more interesting.

     Shen Yaoqing took the igniting branch in Shen Yan's hand and set off the second maleizi. The maleizi bounced on the ground, there was a second "bang" in mid-air, and the red paper wrapped on the maleizi exploded and scattered on the ground.

     He lit several times in a row, bang bang bang, Wei Lanxiang saw that it was really lively, so she also set off two maleizis, she was so happy and smiled from ear to ear, and then she urged Aunt Miao to do the same, it was interesting.

     Miao Chunsheng bought a little more maleizis. He was courageous, and he thought maleizi's sound was powerful. Aunt Miao was afraid of the sound of maleizi, so she didn't dare to set them off at all.

     Quanzi’s family had a baby, and Quanzi’s fulang didn’t come out. He hugged the baby and coaxed him in the room. When Quanzi was at home in winter, Quanzi’s fulang often asked him to hug and coax the baby. He couldn’t do anything at home, and today he finally could go outside to have a good time.

     The firecrackers sounded one after another, and lanterns were hung at the door of every house. It was as lively as during the day, and everyone was talking and laughing in front of the door to watch the firecrackers of each house.

     Huoqihua was tied to a long reed pole, Lu Gu didn't dare to say anything, so Shen Xuanqing took one huoqihua for him and said: "Hold it tight, don't be afraid, after I light it, it will immediately go up to a higher place."

     Lu Gu was very nervous, so he could only nod his head and clenched his hands tightly. Perhaps Shen Xuanqing was afraid that something would happen to him, and immediately grabbed his hand and raised it to the sky after he lit the huoqihua.

    The huoqihua tied to the reed poles rushed into the sky, crackled and exploded in the air, bursting out radiant flames.

    Lu Gu only dared to open one eye to look, and closed the other tightly, but after the first sound, he seemed to become more courageous. The reed pole was long enough and it couldn't hurt him, so he became a little bit more interested.

    There were big and small huoqihuas, Shen Yan took a small one and asked Shen Yaoqing to light it for her. When it was lit, she raised it towards the sky, and the small huoqihua also flew into the sky.

    When Lu Gu put down the reed pole, he glanced at the pile of huoqihuas, and Shen Xuanqing knew that he still wanted to set off another huoqihua, so he smiled and took another big one.

    This time Lu Gu didn't need him to help, he immediately raised the huoqihua up as soon as he lit it, his eyes only closed for a moment when the huoqihua exploded.

    "I'll come too." Seeing that they were having fun, Ji Qiuyue who originally shrank back and covered her ears, now she was eager to come forward.

    Wei Lanxiang became anxious as soon as she heard it, for fear that she would be frightened, but the Chinese New Year must be lively, so she quickly took a big huoqihua. This one was better, the maleizi was too noisy, and after lighting it, you had to run to the side quickly, in case your feet would slip, it would be bad.

    Shen Yaoqing was always been someone who followed whatever his wife said, and did it directly.

    "Don't tell me, it's quite enjoyable. "Ji Qiuyue also couldn't get enough of it, she laughed so hard that you could only see her teeth and couldn't see her eyes.