Year of the Rabbit
âItâs that time again!â I scream, âMy year! Mine and only mine!â I squeal and roll around in my bed.
âYeng Xui, calm down!â My cranky brother throws a pillow at me. âYou think youâre so special that you get to wake us all up!â I ingnore him, I was born in an entire family of Dragons and Iâm the only rabbit theyâve had in 200 years! 200! If Iâm not special in my family, all those swordsmen and emperors in my family arenât either! I go downstairs to see the whole place decked out in paper lanterns and statues! How exciting is this?! Itâs like what people tell me Christmas is like! I know it happens every year, but unlike Christmas, itâs not the same every year! My oldest sister, Mingxia is practicing her solo for her Chinese Opera performance, it sounds amazing, Mom is making breakfast, and Dad is doing what he normally does. âHey Yu Yu, can you bring these flowers to the shrine for me?â I accept and leave the house with my sandals hardly on.
I look around and I see all the paper lanterns are arranged around the house and connected to street lights. I buy a yam from Mrs. Yang for 6.78 yuan and I eat it on the way. Mrs. Yang is what you call ânon-negotiableâ every time someone asks for a yam or anything else she says; â6.78 each, no bargaining!â Itâs piping hot when I bite into it. Usually theyâre a little warm but today, she actually gave us something fresh from the oven!
Iâm almost at the shrine and something gold flashes past me. Was that a rabbit? I give my job to my younger cousins who just happen to be passing by handing out red envelope gifts to everyone who passes by them. âHi, Yeng Xui, have a red envelope!â Theyâre only 4 but they can manage larger jobs than given to them. I ask them to take these to the shrine and assure them they can finish their handout afterwards.
Whatever ran past me went into the bushes behind the Noodle Shop. I look through the bushes and I find a golden colored rabbit! I brush itâs shiny fur, glitter falls off of it, but the rabbit doesnât seem like it was painted gold, the golden hair goes all the way down to the follicle!
"Hey, it's okay, I'm friendly!" It climbs into my arms and then we touch foreheads, she shows me...