Chapter 282 New Year's Eve

  New Year's Eve is the last night at the end of the year. The last day at the end of the year is called "Sui Chu", which means that the old year is removed and a new one is replaced.

  Early in the morning, Ye Yaodong got up to post New Year's reds, and Lin Xiuqing and Lin Xiuqing cleaned the door, and then began to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner. Although there are only four people in the family this year, there are still things that should be there.

   "Ah Dong, there are only three people in the old house now, why don't you tell your parents not to prepare anything today, and come to us for the New Year's Eve dinner? We bought a lot of food at home."

"I gonna go see."

   His old mother said before that this year is the first year they moved to a new home, and they can’t be cold and cold, they must start the New Year in their new home, otherwise they will ask everyone to go to their hometown to eat, which will be more lively.

  His elder brother and second brother's family are not having a good New Year this year. The two couples are not in the mood to celebrate the New Year. There are frequent quarrels at home, and they probably don't think of going to the old house to invite people to celebrate the New Year.

   It happened that he went there just in time, the old house had just finished posting New Year's reds, and his mother hadn't started preparing meals yet.

  He opened his mouth and said that he would go to their new home for the New Year, and the old lady happily agreed. Seeing this, his parents also agreed, otherwise how would they cook?

   Immediately, he took advantage of the opportunity to help the old lady back to the new house, let her sit by the door to bask in the sun, and by the way, he would be happier watching the children making noise.

  When people get old, they like to have a lively home. Since they all moved out, the old house has been deserted and unpopular. Even after Ye Huimei got married, the old lady has no juniors around her.

  Ye Yaodong was helping to light the fire in the house, and he could hear the old lady shouting outside, slow down, slow down, don't fall, and he could feel that the old man was very happy by listening to the loud voice.

  After his father and mother came over with the killed chicken, it was not his turn to help, so he went out to wander around.

  The village is full of New Year flavor, every household is decorated with lanterns, couplets are pasted everywhere, new lanterns are hung up, chickens and ducks are killed.

  Everyone on the road had bright smiles on their faces. The children chased each other with firecrackers, playing, making noise and laughing.

  Every few steps he took, he could see a small table where a group of men played cards or gambled money, with a pile here and a pile there.

  The Chinese New Year is coming, and the villagers take advantage of the Chinese New Year to relax. All year round, they can rest well during the Chinese New Year. At this time, the women in the family don’t care about it. It’s not like the Chinese New Year without gambling.

  Ye Yaodong took a look at this stall and that stall. Some bet with dice, some opened the lid to bet on points, some gathered in twos and threes to play cards, and what's more, they played Pai Gow directly at the canteen.

  Women are basically preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner at home. The chimneys of every household have been smoking since the morning, and the fragrance is everywhere.

Wandering all the way, I ran into Ah Zheng and the others, everyone was bored, hit it off, and went directly to the fat man's house to play cards, it happened that his wife had just marinated large intestines, small intestines, pork belly and pig ears, and immediately brought them out to greet them. !

  People play cards and eat melon seeds, but they have a hard time playing cards and eating stewed food.

   "It's no wonder that one of your parents-in-law is fatter than the other. The food is so good. It's not like we can only eat seafood with shells every day, and we can't grow meat."

   "This is the importance of having a good wife, and you can't envy her." The fat man is a little proud. These days, it is not easy to be a fat man, and it is impossible to have no family background.

   A group of people dispersed until the meal was ordered, and made an appointment to fight again in the afternoon.

  Ye Yaodong touched the few dollars he had won in his pocket, and saw that the children on the road were playing with firecrackers there. When he passed by a small shop, he also bought a few boxes of firecrackers, as well as strings.

  As soon as they took it back, everyone at the door screamed excitedly, and Ye Yaodong didn't favor one another, everyone of the eight children got a share.

   "Be careful not to blow up your hands."

   "Wow... third uncle, I like you the most..."

   "There are firecrackers to play..."

   "Third uncle is so kind. When I asked my mother for money to buy firecrackers in the morning, he even scolded me."

   "It's okay, get through today, and your mother won't be able to scold you on the New Year's Day tomorrow!"

  The children nodded, "Fortunately, the new clothes were made in advance, otherwise there would be no new clothes."

   "Hurry up and go back to the house to eat, and come out to play after eating."

  At noon, I simply fried a sweet potato vermicelli with fish ball soup. The whole family was eating happily, but soon they heard scolding from the next door.

Mother Ye frowned immediately, stood up, and was about to go over to have a look, and she was still muttering: "The sin I made, and scolding the children all day long, it has been so many days, and there is no rest, everyone will be scolded Like a quail, you will be scolded for being stupid, and you will be scolded even after eating..."

  The old lady also sighed, and then greeted the two children who stopped, "Eat, eat, you eat yours, don't worry about the neighbor."

   After a while, the neighbor stopped, and Mother Ye came back nagging.

  With the help of Mother Ye throughout the day, Lin Xiuqing was much more relaxed. At three or four in the afternoon, they would light incense for Zao Gong and Zao Po, and then set off firecrackers for dinner.

  The sound of firecrackers for dinner was also heard in the village one after another.

  As long as it is Chinese New Year and the festival, meals are usually served earlier. Fish is a must for New Year’s Eve dinner, and the head and tail must be left when eating, which is called more than every year.

  A table of more than a dozen hard dishes, everyone's mouths were full of greasy food. After the meal, Mother Ye helped clean up, while Lin Xiuqing went to bathe the two children and change new clothes.

   Not only the two children in the family have it, but also the 6 children of the two neighbors, each with one yuan in the red envelope.

  When Ye Chenghai got the lucky money, after seeing the amount inside, his face collapsed immediately, and he said in a low voice: "Third Aunt, Third Uncle didn't tell you, can I just ask you to give half of it?"

  Lin Xiuqing was surprised, "What do you mean giving half? Do you think it's too much?"

   "No... I can't get this into my pocket." He pouted into the room, "You know..."

  Ye Chengjiang also echoed, "Yes, third aunt, can you only give 80 cents, and secretly give us the remaining 20 cents, don't tell my mother and others."

  This proposal was approved by all the children.

  Lin Xiuqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "That won't work, I'll give you less. What if your mother thinks that I'm too stingy as an aunt? In previous years, I gave you one piece."

  The children were immediately downcast.

  Ye Yaodong came out of the shower and saw it, and quickly asked: "What's the matter? Isn't it fun to set off firecrackers? Yo, I got the New Year's money..."

   "Alas~ I have to hand in, but there is no left..."

  So that's the case, thinking that this kid was a chicken thief and dragged him yesterday, asking him to give half of the New Year's money and the rest, he smacked his forehead with a smile.

   "What a big deal, wait, when I come back later playing cards and winning a little, I'll give each of you a few ten-cent bills to buy firecrackers."

   "Hey, bless third uncle, you will win a lot. I will go with you and be your bodyguard..."

   "Get out of the way!"

   "You go out now, you must go to sleep before you come back..."

   This was the original idea.

   "Go, go, go, the few boxes I just bought before dinner are enough for you to play for a while, what should I do if the money is running out now, don't get in the way, I'll give it to you when I come back."

  At this moment, Second Sister-in-Law Ye also finished packing and came out to ask the children to take a bath, and they stopped surrounding him, and Ye Yaodong also took the opportunity to slip away.

   It’s rare to have a leisurely time during Chinese New Year. As soon as he walked out of the house, he saw small tables set up all over the village again. The men just let go of their meals and started gambling again.

  He also saw his cousin-in-law, a gambler, brazenly collaborating with a few people from the next-door village to set up a stall on the side of the road to push Pai Gow.

   This is the Chinese New Year, so there is no need to restrain yourself?

  I don't know where the capital came from, but I have a good wife.

  Small bets are fun, but big bets hurt his health. He also has a scale in his heart, and it’s fine to play cards once in a while.

  But he played this card until midnight. He wanted to go home early, but he was dragged by some friends to drink. After 12 o'clock, he went to offer incense together when the bell of Mazu Temple rang.

   It is their custom to go to the Mazu Temple to offer incense on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Don’t even think about the first pillar of incense. The temple will be the first to order when the time comes.

  But there were quite a few people waiting to offer incense at night. The Mazu Temple was full of people. When Ye Yaodong came back from offering incense, he started to set off firecrackers, and the village also started to sound firecrackers one after another.

  It is rare for the whole village to be brightly lit tonight, whether or not you keep the New Year's Eve may not be determined, but every household must keep their lights on until dawn on New Year's Eve.

  The children in the room were still asleep, but Lin Xiuqing was awake.

   "Come back so late?"

   "I'm waiting for the incense at 12 o'clock, and I set off a firecracker when I came back." He took off his clothes and went to bed while talking, "Why haven't you slept yet? Wait for me."

   "Woke up."

   "Tough mouth."

  After he lay down, he took her into his arms and touched her belly, "Are you tired today?"

   "I'm not tired, I have my mother to help me, so I didn't do anything." She twisted a bit, and found a comfortable position in his arms.

   "It seems that the second day of junior high school has no days. Do you want to go back to your mother's house a few days later?"

   "Will you go back after the Thirteenth Fourteenth? My natal village has a custom of celebrating the Lantern Festival, which is very lively. I just go back to watch the excitement."

   "Alright." While talking, his hands were not idle.

   "It's a bit far away, otherwise we can come back after the second day of junior high school and make the Lantern Festival."

   "It's too much trouble for you to go back and forth like this now. If you want to go back next year, you can go back a few more times."

   "Well, let's talk about it, my parents are tossing too much after going back home." Lin Xiuqing grabbed his hands, "Why do you always like to toss around in the middle of the night?"

   "It's inconvenient during the day, and it's just the New Year. Let's have a New Year's Eve cannon? Let's get rid of the old and welcome the new?"

   "What? Talking about strange things every day..."

Ye Yaodong turned over and covered his ears, and said something coquettish, "Hey... New Year's Eve fireworks are just that... When the firecrackers go off, there are ten thousand taels of gold, and as soon as the fireworks go off, the whole house is full of children and grandchildren... That's what it means... Do you understand... Hehe... Come on...Celebrate Let's look at the New Year..."

  Lin Xiuqing was angry and funny, and any serious words became unserious in his mouth.

   "Stop pressing your stomach."

   "I should be more careful, you should go sideways? Save effort and don't press your stomach?"

  ...

  (end of this chapter)