The 28th day of the 12th lunar month is the day when Shuangshui Village settles the villagers' annual work points as usual. Early in the morning, a long line formed in front of the village brigade office.

Everyone knows exactly how much work the villagers do in a year and the price of each work point, and there is basically no objection. After deducting the food money and the IOUs written to the brigade from the work points the villagers earn in a year, what is left is what they can actually get.

With this calculation, each household can actually earn very little money. Some families even work hard for a whole year and don’t earn a penny. Fortunately, there is a garment workshop this year, which can be regarded as an extra subsidy for the villagers.

Cheng's mother and Cheng Maixiang have been focusing on the garment workshop for the past six months. Cheng Maixiang later went to the county town to study and never went to work in the team. Naturally, she didn't get many work points. The two simply asked Cheng Maiqing to collect them on their behalf and didn't go to the team to join in the fun.

What's more, today is the day that Cheng's mother specially asked her lover to kill the big fat pig raised at home, so Cheng Maixiang naturally had to stay and help.

Cheng's mother is a capable person. When the garment factory opened, Cheng Maixiang was afraid that the work would be too much and tiring, which would make Cheng's mother unable to cope, so she advised her to sell the pig at home. But Cheng's mother refused. In the past six months, she got up early and went to bed late, and went home on time at noon, and fed the pig until it was fat and big.

However, no matter how the pigs were fed in those days, they could not be fattened as well as the feed used in later generations. It was considered good if a pig could grow to over 100 kilograms. Excluding the pig's head, limbs and offal, the pork that could be sold was only about 50 kilograms.

Of course, even if there were 50 kilograms of pork, Cheng Maixiang and her mother could not finish it. In previous years, Cheng's mother would keep a few kilograms of pork for the New Year, and then give a few kilograms to the eldest and second brothers Cheng, and sell the remaining 20 to 30 kilograms.

In those days, pork cost 70 cents per pound, and pig offal was much cheaper. Every year, Cheng's mother could earn dozens of yuan by selling pork. However, this year Cheng Maixiang had a girlfriend, and the garment workshop had a lot of income, so Cheng's mother planned to divide the meat from the pig equally among the four families and no longer sell it at the town market.

During these days, Cheng's mother worked hard for several days to prepare all the meals from New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Although the Cheng family is considered well-off in the village and has some savings, Cheng's mother is preparing for Cheng Maixiang's marriage, and she also wants to prepare for her own old age, so she saves as much as possible.

It's just that this year Cheng's mother made some money and had more money than before. In addition, the garment factory had a good prospect, so Cheng's mother relaxed and wanted to have a good New Year, so she simply prepared a lot of New Year's Eve dishes.

On the 29th day of the 12th lunar month, the brigade made tofu, slaughtered pigs and distributed meat. The village was full of joy, and the villagers were smiling and laughing.

This day happened to be the last big market of the year in the town, and many people took advantage of this last opportunity to buy New Year's goods.

After all, we are busy all year round just for a few days of decent New Year's celebration. We need to buy some snacks and candies to prepare for the children's New Year's greetings. Firecrackers are also indispensable. If we don't have money to buy more, even if we buy dozens of them, listening to the sound can add to the festive atmosphere.

Children all like to go to the market at this time. After all, only at this time can they get a few cents from their parents to buy some snacks to satisfy their cravings.

Cheng's mother was busy at home and wanted Cheng Maixiang to go to the town to join in the fun, but the weather was too cold. Cheng Maixiang would rather stay at home and help Cheng's mother paste couplets and window decorations than go to the market to squeeze in with the crowd.

Cheng Maixiang felt that the bright red Spring Festival couplets and various vivid window decorations looked particularly festive in the cold wind, adding a lot of warmth to the New Year.

This year's twelfth lunar month happens to be a short month, so there is no New Year's Eve, so today is New Year's Eve. According to the custom of the Cheng family, the eldest and second brothers Cheng will take the three boys who love the country, the army and the people to the grave to worship their ancestors and add new soil in the afternoon. In the evening, they will bring their family to Cheng's mother's house to have a New Year's Eve dinner and stay up late.

After Cheng Maixiang helped her mother paste the window paper-cuts, the two of them started making dumplings. There were two kinds of fillings for the dumplings, pork and cabbage and tofu and vermicelli.

People these days lack fat and water in their stomachs, unlike later generations when people are overly hungry, thirsty and hyperlipidemia, so people like to eat meat-filled dumplings. However, according to the rules here, there must be a kind of tofu filling, which means blessings. In fact, it is better to add fish to the tofu, which means there will be surplus every year. However, fish is almost impossible to buy at this time of year, so we have to give up.

Every year, Cheng's mother would only prepare about twenty of these tofu and vermicelli dumplings. It was considered a blessing for each person to eat a few. Most people preferred pork and cabbage dumplings.

I was busy until it was almost dark, and finally everything was ready.

"Grandma! Aunt!"

The crisp sound of buckwheat came from the yard. Before she finished speaking, she ran into the main room with a thud.

Behind them, Brother Cheng, Sister-in-law Cheng and Aijun, each holding two bowls filled with a lot of dishes, walked in one after another, even Dahuang came in wagging his tail.

Every year, when Brother Cheng and his family come to Mother Cheng's house for dinner, they always bring a lot of dishes. Mother Cheng has told them several times that they don't need them, and Brother Cheng and Sister-in-law always agree with a smile in person. But the next year, they still do the same thing. Mother Cheng has no choice but to let them do it.

Following behind Brother Cheng's family, Brother Cheng's family of four also entered the main hall.

What surprised Cheng Maixiang was that this family, who usually came empty-handed, also brought a few bowls of food. Although they were all cheap vegetarian dishes, it was still unprecedented.

Cheng Maixiang secretly glanced at Cheng Ersao and saw that she lowered her head guiltily, so she smiled and said no more.

The main hall suddenly became lively. The four children gathered together and chatted loudly. Brother Cheng and his second brother gathered together to chat. The eldest and second sisters-in-law followed Cheng's mother and were busy serving the dishes. Cheng Maixiang wanted to help, but was pushed back to the main hall by Sister-in-law Cheng.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!