BDSMST -Chapter 119 Fireworks on New Year’s Eve

Time quietly passed amid the steaming hot pots and the warmth of cotton clothing. In the blink of an eye, the year had come to its end—New Year’s Eve.

This was the first truly meaningful reunion year for Woniu Village after its expansion. The entire village was decorated with lanterns and colorful ornaments, and every household had pasted brand-new Spring Festival couplets on their doors. Most of these couplets were written by the children from the village school, their newly learned characters crooked and uneven, yet full of vibrant energy.

At Jiang Suisui’s suggestion, instead of celebrating separately, the villagers held a grand “Hundred-Family Feast” in the large grain-drying ground in front of the school. Every household brought out its signature dish, creating a long flowing banquet. Long tables stretched from one end of the yard to the other, covered with a dazzling variety of dishes. Their aroma filled the entire village.

Jiang Suisui and Gu Yan came with the Old Marquis and Gu Xuan and joined the celebration. They did not sit at the head table but casually found seats among the villagers, eating and chatting like the most ordinary family.

The Old Marquis, his face flushed from drinking, grabbed a few fellow villagers who were also retired soldiers and loudly bragged about his exploits from years past, drawing bursts of applause.

After several rounds of wine and many dishes, the children from the school stepped onto a temporary stage under Jiang Suisui’s arrangements. Wearing their new cotton coats, their little faces red with excitement, they performed for the entire village.

Some recited the “Three Character Classic.”
Some demonstrated arithmetic.
Others sang, in childish voices, a song about the Twenty-Four Solar Terms that Jiang Suisui had taught them.

The villagers looked at their children—who just a few months earlier had been thin, yellow-faced, and unable to recognize even a single character. Now they were lively, confident, and able to read and write. Tears of excitement filled the villagers’ eyes. When they looked toward Jiang Suisui and Gu Yan, their gazes carried the most sincere gratitude.

When night fully fell and the banquet was drawing to an end, Gu Xuan and Bai Ling’er led Wang Xiaopang and several other workshop companions out from the warehouse, carrying several thick paper tubes about half the height of a person.

“Xuan’er, what are you up to now?” the Old Marquis asked curiously.

Gu Xuan grinned mysteriously. “Grandpa, you’ll see soon. I guarantee it’s something you’ve never seen before!”

They cleared an open space in the center of the yard and fixed the paper tubes firmly into the ground. Then Bai Ling’er handed Gu Xuan a long stick of burning incense.

Under the curious gaze of the entire village, Gu Xuan took a deep breath and used the incense to light the fuse sticking out of one of the tubes.

“Quick! Everyone step back!” he shouted, grabbing Bai Ling’er and running back to the crowd.

The fuse sizzled as it burned, glowing faintly. Everyone held their breath.

Then—

Whoosh!

A streak of fire shot out from the tube, soaring straight into the sky. When it reached its highest point, it suddenly exploded.

Boom!

A huge peony-shaped firework, made of countless red sparks, burst open in the dark night sky. Its dazzling light instantly illuminated the entire Woniu Village—and the astonished faces of everyone staring upward.

“My heavens! What is that?”

“Flowers! Flowers are falling from the sky!”

The villagers gasped loudly. Most of them had lived their entire lives on this land and had never seen such a magnificent and magical sight.

Soon the second and third tubes were lit.

Golden chrysanthemums blossomed in the sky.
Green willow leaves spread across the darkness.
One after another they bloomed and slowly faded like falling meteors.

The entire night sky became a painting of flowing light and color.

This was the New Year’s gift secretly developed by Gu Xuan and Bai Ling’er after studying gunpowder formulas and the burning colors of different mineral powders for nearly a month—fireworks.

Jiang Suisui stood beside Gu Yan, looking up at the dazzling sky. The brilliant light reflected in her eyes, flickering and dancing. She turned her head to look at her husband.

Gu Yan was also looking at her.

There was little expression on his face, but his deep eyes were filled with the glow of the fireworks—and her reflection.

Without thinking, she gently leaned her head on his shoulder.

“So beautiful,” she whispered.

“Mhm,” Gu Yan replied softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

At that moment, she felt incomparably satisfied. After transmigrating to this world, she had been given a brand-new beginning. And with her own hands, she had turned that beginning into the home she had always dreamed of.

Here were the people she loved.
Here was the work she had poured her heart into.
Here were the kind villagers.
And above them all were the fireworks blooming across the sky—for her.

In a corner not far away, Bai Yutang stood alone holding a cup of wine, quietly watching the scene.

He looked at Jiang Suisui and Gu Yan leaning against each other, at Gu Xuan being lifted high into the air by the crowd while shouting excitedly, and then at the dazzling fireworks above.

In his eyes flashed an emotion he himself didn’t even realize—longing.

When the final and most magnificent firework exploded into a gigantic seven-colored embroidered ball in the sky, the cheers of Woniu Village reached their peak.

Gu Xuan broke free from the crowd and ran to Jiang Suisui and Gu Yan, his little face flushed red as he shouted loudly:

“Mother! Father! Happy New Year!”

Jiang Suisui bent down and hugged him tightly.

“Happy New Year, my little inventor.”