RBCT Chapter 408 The Festive Atmosphere
Chapter 408 The Festive Atmosphere
The two went outside, and it was indeed a bit cold.
Winters in Shanghai are not as dry and cold as those in the north; they are a damp cold that chills you to the bone.
The wind wasn't strong, but it was damp, and when it blew on my face it felt like someone was whipping me with a wet towel.
Lu Ran zipped up his windbreaker all the way and hunched his neck.
Shen Yuege glanced at him, took off her scarf, and wrapped it around his neck.
"Aren't you cold?" Lu Ran asked.
"I'm wearing a down jacket. It's much warmer than your windbreaker."
The scarf still carried the warmth of Shen Yuege's body and had a faint scent of laundry detergent.
Lu Ran pulled the scarf up, covering half of her face.
Neither of them was driving.
Traffic conditions in Shanghai during the Spring Festival are completely different from usual. The elevated roads are no longer congested, and the ground roads are also less congested. However, parking spaces are harder to find than usual because many shopping malls and office buildings have closed their parking lots, and the security guards have gone home for the Spring Festival.
It's not very convenient to get a taxi either, because the drivers have all gone home for the Chinese New Year.
The remaining drivers were so busy in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year that they had to wait more than ten minutes to hail a ride.
The subway is actually the most reliable option.
The two walked to the subway station and swiped their cards to enter.
There were quite a few people on the platform, but compared to the usual rush hour crowds, it was like paradise.
"How long has it been since you last took the subway?" Shen Yuege asked Lu Ran.
Lu Ran thought for a moment: "I haven't ridden a car since I broke my leg. I didn't ride a car often before either; I mostly took taxis."
"Me too. I haven't taken the subway much since my debut. I'm afraid of being recognized, it'll be a hassle."
"So you're not afraid today?"
Shen Yuege pointed to her face.
She wore a mask, a hat, and black-rimmed glasses today, covering herself up completely. Let alone her fans, even Priscilla Chan probably wouldn't recognize her if she stood right in front of them.
"With that disguise, you could rob a bank," Lu Ran said.
"Stop talking nonsense. The car is here."
The subway arrived at the station, and the two people boarded the train.
The carriage was almost empty, with most of the seats empty and very few people standing.
Lu Ran found a seat near the door and sat down, and Shen Yuege sat down next to him.
"This feels so strange." Shen Yuege looked around. "There are actually seats available on the Shanghai subway."
"It's Chinese New Year. Millions of people leave Shanghai to go back to their hometowns, so the subway is naturally empty. These few days are probably the quietest time of the year in Shanghai."
"It's usually packed like sardine cans, but now it's so empty you could do somersaults in the carriage."
"Then flip one over and let me see."
Shen Yuege rolled her eyes at him and ignored him.
After a few subway stops, several people with suitcases got on, heading towards the train station.
The wheels of the suitcase made a rumbling sound on the carriage floor, which seemed particularly loud in the quiet carriage.
A young woman stood at the door, dragging a pink suitcase. She looked at her phone and then at the bus stop sign, her expression a little confused. It was probably her first time transferring trains in Shanghai.
Shen Yuege glanced at her and whispered to Lu Ran, "Do you think she's thinking, 'So the Shanghai subway isn't that crowded after all?'"
"Once she takes the morning rush hour again on her first day back at work after the Spring Festival, she won't think that way anymore."
Shen Yuege smiled.
The two of them rode for three stops and got off at People's Square Station.
People's Square is the city center of Shanghai, and the flow of people here is usually incredibly large.
Although there were still quite a few people today, it was significantly less than usual.
The pigeons in the square were still there, walking around the tourists' feet in groups, waiting to be fed.
Shen Yuege stood in the middle of the square, looked around, and said, "What should we buy first?"
Lu Ran pulled the crumpled list out of his pocket, unfolded it, and looked at it: "Buy snacks first. The snacks section is first on the list, which means it has the highest priority."
"Are you doing things in order, or are you just too tired to carry things?"
"Is there a difference? I'll have to buy them anyway."
Shen Yuege thought he made sense, and the two walked east along Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street.
Most of the shops on Nanjing Road were still open, with bright red Spring Festival couplets and the character "福" (good fortune) pasted on the doors, and various New Year's greeting songs playing from the speakers.
Shen Yuege stopped in front of a time-honored food store.
This store has been in Shanghai for decades, specializing in all kinds of snacks and dried fruits.
A row of large, transparent glass jars were placed at the entrance, filled with sunflower seeds, peanuts, and candies, each with a price tag on it.
The store was packed with people, all buying New Year's goods. They were all carrying shopping baskets and jostling between the shelves.
Shen Yuege grabbed a shopping basket and slipped into the crowd.
Lu Ran followed behind, taking care of catching the things she took off the shelf and threw into the basket.
Two pounds of plain sunflower seeds and two pounds of spiced sunflower seeds, throw them in.
Two pounds of fried peanuts and two pounds of boiled peanuts, then throw them in.
Add one pound each of soft candy, hard candy, and milk candy to the mixture.
Put in one box each of dark chocolate and white chocolate.
Add one pound each of pistachios, cashews, and almonds.
Three bags each of original and tomato flavor potato chips, a large bag of jelly, two hawthorn cakes, and a bag each of preserved plum, dried tangerine peel, and lemon slices. Just throw them in, throw them in, throw them in!
The shopping basket was soon full.
Lu Ran lifted it; it was heavy, weighing at least ten kilograms.
"That's enough, that's enough, I can't carry any more."
Shen Yuege glanced at the list; there was only one item left in the snack section: "I haven't bought the candied fruit yet."
"Didn't we already buy preserved plums, dried tangerine peel, and lemon slices?"
"That's the preserved plum section. Candied fruit is candied fruit, it's different."
Lu Ran didn't know what was different, but he didn't ask.
Arguing with Shen Yuege about "what's the difference between A and B" when it comes to buying things is pointless.
She bought it, she's happy, that's enough.
The two of them went to the cashier to pay, left two large bags of snacks at the service desk, and agreed to pick them up later.
After leaving the food store, the two went to a store selling dried goods next door.
Southern-style goods stores are a specialty of Shanghai, selling all kinds of cured and dried meats. Ham, cured pork, sausages, salted fish, dried scallops, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear fungus, red dates, longan, you name it, they have it all.
The shop has a complex aroma, a blend of the salty fragrance of cured meats, the fresh scent of dried goods, and the fishy smell of seafood, giving it a strong festive feel.
Shen Yuege looked at the list and walked around the store.
She ordered the ham, but not a whole ham; she cut off a piece, which weighed about three or four pounds.
The old man selling ham wore reading glasses and used a long, narrow knife to slice the ham slices one by one, making them so thin that light could pass through them.
She ordered two pieces of cured pork, one pork belly and one hind leg.
She ordered three kinds of sausages: Cantonese sweet, Sichuan spicy, and Shanghai salty, one pound of each.
She didn't want the salted fish, saying that no one in her family liked to eat it, and it would just sit there anyway.
I ordered a bag each of dried scallops and dried shrimp, saying I'd add a few to the soup during the Lunar New Year to enhance the flavor.
I ordered one bag each of shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, and one bag each of red dates and longan.
After buying the southern goods, the two went to the vegetable market.
The wet market is the main venue for purchasing New Year's goods. Most of the long list of ingredients on the shopping list can only be found at the wet market to ensure the freshest products.
The market is located in an alley. It's usually very lively, with vendors selling vegetables, meat, fish, and bean products, their shouts rising and falling.
Today is even more lively because Lunar New Year's Eve is just two days away, and every household is making their final shopping.
Shen Yuege squeezed into the crowd, holding a shopping list, and went from stall to stall buying goods.
Five pounds of pork belly, five pounds of spare ribs, and three pounds of lean meat, packed into bags.
Three pounds of beef brisket and two beef shanks, packed in a bag.
One old hen and one yellow-feathered chicken were slaughtered, plucked, and bagged by the boss.
One sea bass and two ribbonfish. The sea bass must be alive, and the ribbonfish must be frozen. Pack them in a bag.
Two pounds of shrimp, live ones, jumping around in the bag, put them in a bag.
Two trays of eggs, a handful of each of the following vegetables: bok choy, spinach, celery, garlic sprouts, scallions, ginger, and garlic. Pack them in a bag.
Pack a block of tofu, half a pound of dried tofu, and a bag of dried bean curd sticks into a bag.
One bag each of wood ear fungus, shiitake mushrooms, and daylily buds, packaged.
Lu Ran's hands were full of bags, and his fingers were red from being squeezed by the plastic bag handles.
He changed his posture, gathered the bags in one hand, and shook the other hand.
"Are you alright?" Shen Yuege asked, looking at him.
"It's okay. My hand just hurts a little."
"Then put it on the ground and rest for a while."
"Put it on the ground? The ground is covered in mud and fish scales, the bag will get dirty if you put it on the ground."
Shen Yuege looked around, found a stall selling dried goods, greeted the owner, and temporarily stored the bag behind the counter.
The shop owner, a woman in her fifties, was very straightforward. She cleared out a space behind the counter for Lu Ran to pile his things there.
"Is this for your whole family to eat during the Chinese New Year or is it for a restaurant?" The eldest sister couldn't help but ask, looking at the pile of food.
"It's for the whole family," Shen Yuege said.
"You have quite a few family members, don't you?"
"Not many. Just four people."
The older sister paused for a moment, looked at the pile of New Year's goods that weighed at least forty or fifty pounds, then looked at Shen Yuege, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Your family has a really good appetite."
Shen Yuege felt a little embarrassed by what was said, but she didn't explain.
The two of them strolled around the market again and bought the remaining items on their list.
Lu Ran bought a bottle of Zhenjiang vinegar and a bottle of dark soy sauce at the condiment stall, Shen Yuege bought a bag of red dates and two bags of longan at the dried goods stall, and finally bought a pot of daffodils at the entrance of the flower shop.
Several daffodils have already bloomed, with white petals and yellow stamens, and a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Shen Yuege held a daffodil, while Lu Ran carried large and small bags. When the two of them came out of the market, it was almost dark.
"What time is it?" Shen Yuege asked.
Lu Ran freed one hand and struggled to pull his phone out of his pocket, glancing at it: "4:30. How come it's already dark?"
"It gets dark early in winter. And today it's cloudy, so it'll get dark even earlier."
The two returned to the place where they had stored their belongings, picked up all the bags they had left there, retrieved the two bags of snacks from the service desk, and then hailed a taxi at the intersection.
The driver, a man in his fifties, saw that the two people were carrying more than a dozen bags, so he quickly got out of the car to help open the trunk.
The trunk was packed full, and even the back seat had several bags on it.
"Did you bring the whole supermarket home with you?" the uncle said with a smile.
"More or less," Lu Ran said.
"It's all about the festive atmosphere during the Chinese New Year." The uncle started his car and glanced at them in the rearview mirror. "These days, not many young people are willing to go to such lengths to buy New Year's goods. Most of my customers buy online and have them delivered to their homes, which is convenient."
Shen Yuege leaned back in her seat, watching the street scene rushing past the window: "Buying online is convenient, but it doesn't feel the same as shopping. It's Chinese New Year, isn't that what we're supposed to do? Shopping makes it feel like the New Year."
The middle-aged man nodded: "That's right. The festive atmosphere of the New Year isn't something you buy, it's something you experience by exploring it."
...
When Priscilla Chan got home, her eyes lit up when she saw the two of them carrying more than a dozen bags of things upstairs.
She squatted down and looked through each item one by one, saying things like "This is a good buy," "This is good," and "This is fresher than the ones I bought myself."
When she came to the pot of daffodils, she picked it up, smelled it, and said with a smile, "You young people really know how to buy things. I've been to the flower shop several times, but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything."
"Mom, didn't you say Dad would cover the New Year's goods this year?" Shen Yuege leaned back on the sofa, too tired to move.
"He makes his, I buy mine. There's no contradiction." Priscilla Chan placed the daffodils on the coffee table, adjusting their angle. "The ones your dad makes are for you to eat. The ones I buy are for me to make myself. Can they be the same?"
Shen Yuege was speechless at her mother's antics and too lazy to argue with her.
Lu Ran sorted and organized the items: snacks into the living room cabinet, ingredients into the refrigerator, dried goods into the kitchen cabinet, and daffodils onto the coffee table.
Priscilla Chan was directing from the side, saying things like "Put this here" and "Put that there."
Lu Ran was completely at her beck and call, but he didn't utter a single complaint.
After he finished tidying up, he stood in the middle of the living room and looked around.
The locker was crammed with snacks, the refrigerator was full of ingredients, daffodils were placed on the coffee table, and the character "福" (fortune/blessing) was pasted on the door.
It seems like the festive atmosphere of the New Year has suddenly arrived.
...