Reuben would still pay visits to Digton City or other parts of Astoria as he had to travel around for business.
“The city streets seem especially busy nowadays. I see lights and decorations everywhere I look. Oh, that’s right! The Spring Festival is coming up soon, right?” The rest of the family members only realized that the Spring Festival was happening soon after Jocelyn brought it up.
“That’s right. Astoria’s Spring Festival is happening soon. That’s why the city seems extra lively these days. When I went out earlier, I overheard some strangers talking about a light festival happening during the celebration this year,” Jason said with a smile.
Lindsay’s eyes lit up immediately. The family had shifted to Yucaria more than ten years ago. Although they tried their best to preserve some of Astoria’s traditions in the start, it was simply too hard for them to celebrate their Astorian festivals because of the limited amount of materials they could purchase in Yucaria. Just the preparation work for such festivals was a huge problem. The traditional festivals they used to celebrate therefore got simpler and simpler each year, and they eventually absorbed Yucaria’s practices of celebrating Christmas, Easter, and so on. For the past few years, the most they did during the Spring Festival was to prepare some handmade dumplings. Hence, it no longer felt like a celebration to them.
“It’s really rare for you guys to come back here, so why don’t we stay for the Spring Festival celebrations?” Jason asked. Linda’s heart sank into her stomach the moment she heard his suggestion. Please don’t let that happen! I had to do so many things just to ensure that the tombstone was all set up. Selena stays in this very city—I’m afraid they might bump into her if they remain here for a little longer.
“Okay! That’s perfect. I’ve never had our local dishes for a long time now. We used to gather and wrap dumplings during the eve of the Spring Festival. Back then, the belief was that the person who ate the dumpling with a coin in it would have a year’s worth of luck. I remember how we used to make tiny marks on the dumplings just to tell us which one of them were the ones with coins.” Lindsay’s worn and wrinkly face seemed to glow with youth whenever she recalled her past experiences.
Jerry had a wide smile on his face too. “Alright. We can stay around for the Spring Festival and go back after that. There won’t be any celebrations in Yucaria anyway. Let’s just treat this as our last Spring Festival over here.”
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