EBE Chapter 129 New Year’s Eve Dinner
Chapter 129 New Year’s Eve Dinner
Celebrating the Chinese New Year requires a sense of ritual. Wearing new clothes and new shoes can symbolize the beginning of a new year and the end of the old year.
Be sure to take a bath before wearing new clothes.
On the night of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Rong's earthen stove and coal stove never stopped working.
Hot water was boiled in pot after pot, and the whole family took a bath and changed into new clothes in turn. Then the three sisters took advantage of the fact that they had just finished taking a bath and were not cold, and worked together to wash everyone's clothes and hung them outside to dry.
On the morning of New Year's Eve, the three Zhou Rong sisters cleaned the house, put up couplets and New Year pictures of great men, and then began to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.
Some sophisticated families will hold a grand ceremony. Before preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, they will use whole chickens, fish, large pieces of meat, etc. to first pay respect to the heavens, the earth, the gods, and the ancestors. Then they will start cutting vegetables and cooking. Finally, the whole family will gather together to eat.
The Jia family next door started setting off firecrackers early in the morning to complete the sacrificial ceremony before the New Year's Eve dinner.
Zhou Rong and her friends didn't go through all these procedures and prepared the New Year's dinner directly according to their own preferences.
The New Year's Eve dinner prepared by Zhou Rong's family includes: steamed pork with rice flour, steamed chicken, braised Wuchang fish, fish cake, fried bacon with mugwort, spring rolls, pork ribs and lotus root soup, meatballs, fried bacon with cauliflower, and stir-fried cabbage.
Ten dishes represent perfection.
When it was time to set off firecrackers, the eldest boy volunteered, saying that he was grown up and the eldest man in the family, so this job should be done by him.
After a series of "crackling..." sounds, Zhou Rong's family closed the door and began to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.
It means "making money behind closed doors and good luck when open."
Zhou Rong and his friends didn't drink alcohol, so he made a cup of brown sugar water for each person.
Zhou Rong raised his teacup and said, "This is our first New Year in Jiangcheng. During this year, we have made great progress in our respective areas of responsibility.
We have stable jobs, the eldest child studies hard and gets excellent grades, and the second child and Nini, under the care of their third aunt, are not only well-behaved and obedient, but also know more and more poems and arithmetic.
I am proud of you all, let us raise a toast to celebrate this year's progress and wish you all the best in the next year!"
The enamel cups clinked together and everyone took a sip of the brown sugar water.
The sweet taste makes everyone feel that such days are really happy.
Zhou Guiqian smiled and said, "I always feel like this is all a dream. I never thought that I would be able to come to the provincial capital one day, not have to rush to get married, and be able to study and earn 40 yuan a month.
All of this is thanks to my elder sister. I want to give a toast to my elder sister. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I will remember it in my heart and repay you for my whole life. "
Zhou Cai: "I also want to thank my elder sister. I feel very fulfilled and motivated during my time in Jiangcheng. This is the happy life I want."
Da Wa was deeply touched by Zhou Rong's hard-working, enterprising spirit and filial piety to his parents. He raised his teacup and said seriously, "Mom, I want to toast you, too. You've worked hard. When I grow up, I'll take care of you."
Erwa and Nini also raised their teacups and said they wanted to toast Zhou Rong.
Zhou Rong smiled and said, "It is my blessing to have a family like you. Let's toast together and work together to make our lives more prosperous!"
"cheers!"
Let's raise our glasses together, to the past, to the future, and to ourselves...
After dinner, Zhou Rong and his friends made dumplings while staying up all night to celebrate the New Year.
Three children also helped. The dumplings they made were of strange shapes, some were even made into the shapes of mice, pigs, etc.
Zhou Rong said nothing and let the children work and play at the same time...
The Yang family had finished their New Year’s Eve dinner and were now making dumplings, but the atmosphere was rather serious.
Yang Jinlin originally wanted to invite his parents, brother and sister-in-law to the government compound to have the New Year's dinner, but Yang Kaiyun and Mrs. Fang were unwilling to do so, saying that they did not want to see the faces of the Feng family.
Yang Jinlin had no choice but to take Feng Qiaolan, Wang Tiesheng, Wang Xinping, Sini, and a basket of New Year's goods to his parents' house.
When preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, Yang Kaiyun did not get involved at all. He sat in the lobby with his pipe, smoking leisurely and chatting with Yang Jinlin about work from time to time.
Feng Qiaolan and Wang Xinping were ordered around by Mrs. Fang in various ways, either to clean the room or to help in the kitchen.
Si Ni lay on the bed crying alone, and did not allow Feng Qiaolan to hold her. Mother Fang said that she had checked and there was nothing wrong with the child, she was just crying for no reason, and that there was no need to worry about it, as she would be fine in a while. She also said that children should not be pampered, otherwise they would not grow up.
At first, Feng Qiaolan didn't want to offend Mother Fang, so she ignored Si Ni. When she saw the child's crying getting louder and louder, she picked up Si Ni and found that the child had already urinated and defecated. If her mother-in-law had really checked the child, she would not have been unaware of it.
Feng Qiaolan didn't like the way Mrs. Fang looked down on her daughter, and was a little angry, so she went to Yang Jinlin to explain the situation.
I thought my husband would protect me and my child, but what I heard was: "My mother is old and often confused. Don't bother with her.
Just change Si Ni's diaper, it's not a big deal. It's New Year's Day, don't cause trouble at home."
Feng Qiaolan felt a wave of sadness in her heart. She couldn't help but think that her original choice might have been wrong...
When eating the New Year's Eve dinner, Feng Qiaolan was holding Si Ni and was about to sit at the table when she was stopped by Mrs. Fang: "We have a rule in our Yang family that women cannot sit at the table to eat. You and Xin Ping should go to the kitchen to eat together.
Your sister-in-law, Yao Di and the others are all there. Today is New Year's Eve, and I specially left half a bowl of meat in the kitchen. It smells delicious. Let's go over there quickly, or it will be gone soon."
Feng Qiaolan was so shocked that she was speechless. How could the Yang family have such a rule?
Why didn't Yang Jinlin tell her before? !
Wang Xinping felt that she was not only enslaved, but also discriminated against. She said angrily: "This is a new society, men and women are equal! The fish and meat on the table were brought by us, and the meals were cooked by us. Why can't we eat at the table?"
Yang Kaiyun glanced at Wang Xinping and said in a cold voice: "How can you talk like that, little girl? You have no respect for your elders! This is the Yang family, you must follow the rules of the Yang family!
Stop spouting those lies made up by literati. Go to the kitchen and don't bring bad luck here!"
Wang Xinping bit her lower lip in anger.
Wang Tiesheng stood up from his seat and said with a dark face: "Mom, let's go back. We have food to eat at home. Why are we suffering here?"
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Yang Jinlin hurried out to mediate: "It's New Year's Day, family members shouldn't get upset over trivial matters. It's just a meal in the kitchen, why bother?
I'll give you some of the dishes on the table. It will be no different from eating in the main room.
Qiaolan, please persuade the two children. If we go back now, the people in the compound will definitely laugh at us. We will only stay for one night. After paying New Year's greetings to our parents tomorrow morning, we will leave."
Feng Qiaolan didn't want to cause embarrassment on New Year's Eve, so after weighing the pros and cons, she talked to Wang Tiesheng and Wang Xinping and asked them to be patient.
The brother and sister were very disappointed with Feng Qiaolan and felt that she was useless.
But in order not to embarrass Feng Qiaolan, the two stopped arguing about leaving, and Wang Xinping held back her tears and went to the kitchen to eat...