"An early Happy New Year to Uncle and Auntie, and apologies for bothering you!"
"Ah, Happy New Year, Happy New Year. Auntie will give you a red envelope later. Come in first, Lin Li, here are slippers, brand new, try them on and see if they fit. Both Uncle and I have small feet, so if they're too small, you can wear Bufan's."
"They fit just right, thank you, Auntie." Lin Li, having fully switched into the mode of a well-behaved child from another family, wore a polite smile so sweet that Wu Min would pull out a cross to perform an exorcism.
"That's good!" Mrs. Bai nodded in satisfaction, then frowned at the door.
Because someone was making a racket—
"Hello, hello? Is anyone home? Open the door~"
"Little bunny, open the door~"
"Knock, knock! Knock, knock!"
"Grandma, I'm Little Red Riding Hood! Grandma!"
—So noisy.
"Even during the New Year, the beggars come knocking." Shaking her head in disapproval, Mrs. Bai still reopened the door to let the beggar in.
