According to the traditions of Min Province, starting from the first day of the Lunar New Year, people must walk along the small paths of the village to visit households door-to-door, offering New Year greetings and catching up with relatives and friends they hadn't seen all year.
As long as you were a child—especially one who only returned to the village once a year—the very first thing relatives and friends would say upon seeing you was:
"I haven't seen you in so long! How did you suddenly grow this tall? I even held you when you were little, do you remember?"
Then they would usually sigh about the fleeting passage of time with the other adults nearby.
This was for kids under eighteen. For unmarried youths over eighteen, relatives and friends would typically resort to "creative matchmaking pressure":
"So-and-so, when are you going to bring someone back for your family?"
At times like this, you would always reply with a smile:
"Next year, next year."
And then, when next year arrived, you would repeat the exact same words to them.
Chapter 161