Chapter 84 The troops celebrate the New Year.

He Susu was unable to help with the cleaning before the New Year, so it was Cheng Shi and He's mother who did the work and cleaned the house inside and out.

On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, Cheng Shi and He's mother were preparing the New Year's Eve dinner in the kitchen. He Susu was just an idler, wandering around the living room with glutinous rice balls in her arms.

Tangyuan is very lively when he is awake, especially when an adult is taking care of him. When he sees a different environment like now, he screams "ahhhh" and points forward with his little hand, as if telling his mother to go there and take a look.

He Susu also cooperated with him, took him around the living room, and then stood at the kitchen door to watch the people busy inside.

He's mother was the main cook, and she was in charge of the New Year's Eve dinner. She refused when her son-in-law asked to help, but Cheng Shi had a lot of work to do, and it was not good to leave his mother-in-law alone in the kitchen, so she went into the kitchen to help.

At this moment, the two of them are working together, one preparing the dishes while the other cooking, which really complements each other.

When Tang Yuan saw a familiar person, he immediately shouted excitedly: "Ahhhh."

Cheng Shi turned around and smiled at his wife and son.

He's mother was also happy to see her daughter and grandson, but she immediately urged them: "The kitchen is full of fumes, Susu, take the dumplings and move away quickly, so they don't get fumed."

He Susu originally just wanted to take a look, but now she listened to her mother's words and took the excited Tangyuan away. The child looked unhappy, pouted but didn't cry, just put his little head on his mother's body, sticky.

Normally, a baby less than 20 days old would not have much strength, and his head and neck would not be that powerful when moving. But perhaps because he was well taken care of in the womb, Tangyuan is much stronger in this respect. He usually likes to stretch out his hands and punch, and his little head also likes to move around when being held.

He Susu patted the child's back and coaxed him: "Be good, Tangyuan. Mom will take you back to your room."

Thinking that dinner would be ready in the kitchen soon and that it had been a while since the child had been fed at noon, she simply closed the door, opened her clothes and started feeding the child.

When Tangyuan smelled the rations, he no longer felt aggrieved and hurried over to eat.

After feeding the child, He Susu held him horizontally and rocked him gently, singing a new lullaby she had learned to coax him to sleep. After a while, Tangyuan fell asleep.

She put the glutinous rice balls back in the middle of the bed and covered them with a small quilt to prevent them from catching a cold. She glanced at the sleeping child and then walked out to the living room. At this time, three dishes were already on the table. Cheng Shi then brought out two more dishes and went to get a bowl to serve rice.

After five dishes and a soup were put on the table, the family sat down to eat.

He Susu looked at the sour plum spare ribs and found the slightly salty and sour aroma particularly fragrant, not to mention the fat floating on the ribs. It was much more flavorful than the lighter braised spare ribs with winter vegetables.

She smiled and said, "Finally, I can eat some salty food today. These sour plum pork ribs smell delicious."

Mother He said, "Only tonight, New Year's Eve, will you be able to have a meal to your heart's content. After today, we'll go back to the old way of eating. Don't you like braised pork ribs with winter vegetables?"

He Susu: "No matter how delicious it is, you will get tired of it if you eat it often, right? But after I finish this meal tonight, I will also like those light meat dishes tomorrow."

Mother He shook her head in amusement, there was nothing she could do about Susu. Not to mention that the family had been cooking good meals for their daughter recently, and even made soup every day, so she and her son-in-law also had good meals, and they were both plumper in less than a month.

Cheng Shi was more particular about the sense of ceremony, and looked at his mother-in-law: "Mom, today is New Year's Day, you can say a few words."

Mother He was not polite either: "Okay, then I'll say a few words. I've been very happy here during this period. Of course, the happiest thing is that we have a lovely grandson, Tangyuan. Son-in-law, you are a smart person. Even if you go to the army for training during the day and come home tired, you still help with the work. Susu, you are also very good. You have endured everything that mother told you to endure during the confinement period. You will be fine soon. I just hope that you will be healthy in the new year and that Tangyuan will grow up quickly."

He Susu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work these past few months. I hope you will be healthy and happy in the new year."

Cheng Shi nodded: "Yes, thank you for coming to take care of us. If you hadn't come, I don't know how to take care of Su Su during her confinement. I wish you health and happiness in the new year."

Mother He smiled and agreed: "Okay, I accept your blessings, let's eat while it's hot."

He Susu and Cheng Shi agreed with a smile.

He Susu tasted the sour plum spare ribs, pan-fried hairtail, braised chicken, stir-fried pork slices with bean curd, stir-fried pickled cabbage and chicken soup with red dates and wolfberries one by one and thought these meat dishes with plenty of oil and salt were delicious.

Last winter she pickled spicy cabbage. This year, when my mother was preparing to pickle the cabbage, she thought that she would not be able to eat spicy food during the confinement period after giving birth, so she did not dare to add chili peppers. Now it tastes the lightest of all the dishes.

He Susu tasted a little bit of everything and ate it with white rice. After finishing the white rice, she stopped eating meat and vegetables. Although she liked the salty meat and vegetables, she was afraid that eating too much at once would be bad for her health, after all, she had only eaten light meat and vegetables before.

She poured a bowl of chicken soup, skimmed off the grease floating on the surface with a spoon, and then picked up the bowl to drink the soup. The chicken soup was very sweet because it was cooked with red dates and wolfberries. After drinking the hot soup, my whole body was warmed up and I felt very comfortable.

Cheng Shi and He's mother also enjoyed the meal. The family chatted with each other from time to time, and the atmosphere was very warm.

That’s why I made five dishes and a soup tonight because I was thinking about Chinese New Year, but it was still too much for three people. There was some leftover from each dish, which really lived up to the saying “abundance every year”.

It is not good to leave the chicken soup overnight. Even though the three of them were full, they still drank another bowl each after a while to catch their breath and finished all the chicken soup.

Cheng Shi cleaned up and washed the dishes. He Susu and her mother sat in the living room and made some tea.

Mother He thought of the people back home: "I don't know how your father and his family are doing. The eldest and second daughters-in-law should have prepared a table of delicious food in the evening."

He Susu smiled and said, "Don't worry, mom. The eldest and second sisters-in-law are so capable, they will definitely take good care of the family. Dad will definitely take good care of himself. Maybe they are sitting in the main room chatting after finishing the New Year's Eve dinner."

Mother He nodded: "That's right, your eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law are both capable people, so taking care of the family is not a problem. I am born to worry, and I am still thinking about them when I came here."

He Susu: "That's normal. My dad is your husband, and there are your son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and granddaughters over there. He must be thinking about them a lot. I think that the third brother and his family will come over tomorrow, so you can just ask the third brother to go with you to the mail room to make a call and go back to talk to dad. It's a pity that I can't go out because I'm in confinement, otherwise I would take you there directly."

Then she realized, "It's a pity that I didn't send a telegram in advance. I can't call until the day after tomorrow."

He's mother was really interested and wanted to call the old man: "I will ask your third brother to send a telegram tomorrow and ask your father and eldest brother to go to the post office on the third day of the New Year to wait for the call. On the second day of the New Year, your eldest and second brothers have to accompany their wives to their parents' home. No one will take the old man to the county town. Xiuxiu also has to go back to her parents' home, so he has to stay at home."

He Susu nodded: "Okay, let's do as you arranged."

After Cheng Shi finished washing the dishes, he came out and sat down in the living room to drink tea and chat.

It was a rare occasion for the family of three to get together and talk. They talked about the various cute expressions of glutinous rice balls, the gossip that He's mother heard when she met Mrs. Wu, and the embarrassing moments that some soldiers in Cheng Shi's unit had during training. They were all having a great time.

A little later, He Susu simply washed herself and soaked in mugwort water, while Cheng Shi and He's mother went to take a bath and wash clothes one after another.

At night, He Susu and Cheng Shi were lying on the bed, looking at the little ball of glutinous rice balls sleeping soundly in the middle. The couple looked at each other and couldn't help but smile.

He Susu: "I think the best gift I received this year is this little treasure, Tangyuan."

Cheng Shi: "Yes, the arrival of Tangyuan is the biggest happy event for our family this year. Thank you for your hard work, Susu."

He reached out and held Susu's hand, with undisguised love in his eyes.

He Susu smiled and felt that this moment was the happiest moment.

The couple talked a few words about their expectations for the New Year and then went to bed.

As expected, He Susu slept in the next day. After all, getting up at night to feed the baby was quite exhausting. If she didn't sleep well at night, she would naturally have to make up for it with more sleep in the morning.

Cheng Shi quietly carried Tangyuan to the next room to sleep. He spoke quietly to He's mother and ate the first breakfast of the New Year.

When He Susu woke up, her mother heated up some porridge and egg custard for her.

After a while, He Lianzhou and Su Yu brought Dabao and Erbao over with gifts, and the house suddenly became lively.

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year, Grandma, Aunt, and Uncle!"

As soon as the eldest and second children said hello, they started clamoring to go see their younger brother.

He Susu smiled and said, "Tangyuan is sleeping in the room. I don't know if he has woken up yet. Let's go in and take a look."

She led the two children to the room. The eldest and second child consciously lowered their footsteps without their aunt's reminder, for fear that the loud noise would wake up their younger brother, which would be terrible.

He Susu walked to the bedside and looked over. Tangyuan was sleeping soundly with his hands raised on both sides of his head. She looked at Dabao and Erbao: "Tangyuan hasn't woken up yet."

Dabao and Erbao were already very excited when they saw Tangyuan. They were not disappointed to see their younger brother sleeping. Instead, they asked in a low voice: "Aunt, can we watch Tangyuan sleep here? We promise not to make any noise and just watch him."

He Susu smiled and agreed: "Okay, then you two can help look after the dumplings here, I'll go out and sit with your parents for a while."

"That's great." Dabao and Erbao immediately smiled happily.

The two of them didn't climb onto the bed, but just huddled together beside the bed, with their elbows on the bed and their chins supported, looking at the sleeping Tangyuan as if they were observing some rare treasure, as if they wanted to memorize the occasional slight movements of his expression when he slept.

He Susu found it funny and thought that with the child's nature, he would get bored after watching for a long time and would naturally come out.

She walked out of the room to the living room first, and saw her third brother and his wife smilingly explaining, "Tangyuan is still sleeping. Dabao and Erbao said they wanted to watch Tangyuan sleep, so I let them do what they wanted."

Su Yu smiled and said, "Dabao and Erbao love glutinous rice balls very much. They kept asking to come and see their brother. I held them back yesterday and told them to come today. Now they have woken up early in the morning and are urging to come over after breakfast."

She kept delaying it at home, explaining that her aunt had to take care of her younger brother at night and didn't wake up so early, and only then did Dabao and Erbao agree to come later.

He Lianzhou thought of the white and plump dumplings and liked them very much.

Cheng Shi made some tea and treated them to some tea. The whole family sat in the living room and talked.

He Lianzhou immediately agreed: "Mom, I will send a telegram back later. I was thinking about calling Dad since I didn't go home for the New Year. I will pick you up on the third day of the New Year and take you to the mail room to make a call."

He's mother naturally agreed with a smile.

He Susu sat for a while thinking about Tangyuan. She went back to the room and saw Dabao and Erbao maintaining the same posture as before. They watched Tangyuan sleeping as seriously as if he was reading in class, without even blinking.

I don’t know if Tangyuan had slept enough, or if he felt his mother coming in and the gazes of his two cousins, but his eyebrows on his round face moved, his mouth opened slightly, and he hummed a few times, and then burst into tears loudly.

Dabao immediately reached out and patted him to coax him: "Tangyuan, don't cry, Tangyuan, don't cry."

Erbao stood up: "I'll go call my aunt over."

As soon as he turned around, he saw his aunt: "Aunt, Tangyuan woke up and is crying!"

He Susu walked over and picked up Tangyuan. She touched his diaper and found it was dry. The child didn't have the energy to crawl into her arms to find food, so she knew that the child had simply woken up and wanted to cry.

She held Tangyuan horizontally, patted his back with one hand, and rocked him gently: "Tangyuan, be good, mom is here, don't be afraid. Your two brothers are here to see you today, and your third uncle and aunt are here too, let's be happy and don't cry."

Perhaps he felt his mother's breath, or maybe it was because it was very comfortable to be held and rocked like this, Tangyuan's crying gradually became quieter and he stopped crying. Except for a few tears in his round eyes, he was smiling with his mouth wide open.

Dabao and Erbao tried to stand on tiptoe to see, and they were very happy to see their younger brother smiling.

Dabao: "My little brother is so good. The kid downstairs in my house loves to cry. She cries every day and her mother can't stop her from crying no matter how hard she tries."

Erbao nodded: "Yes, the crying kids downstairs are really noisy, my little brother is still the cutest."

Tangyuan cooperated by grinning brightly, with sweet dimples.

He Susu lowered her rice balls a little to show them the two of them: "Look, my brother is very happy to hear you praise him."

She walked out of the room, "Let's go outside and show your parents and your brother."

"Okay." Dabao and Erbao obediently walked out.

He Susu carried Tangyuan to the living room to show her brother and sister-in-law: "Tangyuan is awake, and he was very happy to see Dabao and Erbao. Come here, Tangyuan, let's wish our uncle and aunt a happy new year."

Tangyuan was not afraid of strangers and kept babbling as if he was really wishing a happy new year.

He Lianzhou and Su Yu are very fond of Tangyuan.

Su Yu smiled and took out a red envelope from her pocket and stuffed it into Tangyuan's blanket: "Come, auntie will give Tangyuan a red envelope. I hope you grow up healthy and happy in the new year."

He Susu said amiably: "Tangyuan thanks my aunt, she is such a nice person."

Su Yu smiled and said, "In the past, you, my little sister, always gave red envelopes to Dabao and Erbao. Now it is our turn to give red envelopes to your children."

He Lianzhou asked: "Little sister, can I hold the glutinous rice balls?"

"Of course." He Susu handed him the dumplings.

He Lianzhou had held Dabao and Erbao before, so he was quite familiar with the posture of holding a baby. But this was his first time holding Tangyuan, and he almost stiffened his hands when he took the child. Feeling the soft little body, he subconsciously used less force for fear of making him uncomfortable.

The child Tangyuan smiled at his third uncle very politely.

He Lianzhou immediately relaxed when he saw them, his eyes showing love: "Our Tangyuan is just good-looking, and you are not afraid of strangers, you will definitely be brave in the future."

He Susu smiled and said, "Then I will accept your good words, uncle."

He's mother and Cheng Shi couldn't help laughing as they watched this heartwarming and amusing scene.

Su Yu saw her husband holding Tang Yuan, Tang Yuan kept smiling, and she was very jealous. She patted Tang Yuan to coax him, made various expressions to tease him, and urged her husband to let her hold Tang Yuan from time to time.

He Lianzhou had enjoyed the dumplings for a long time, but knowing that his wife was waiting anxiously, he reluctantly handed the dumplings to Su Yu.

Su Yu smiled and hugged him, then teased Tangyuan. Tangyuan was attracted by her aunt's various expressions before, so even though she was in another embrace, she didn't feel scared, and still cooperated with her mouth and babbled.

"Little sister, Tangyuan seems to be becoming more and more sensible." Su Yu sighed.

He Susu watched from the side and was very pleased with Tang Yuan. She smiled and said, "This child changes every day. There is an old saying that children grow up quickly when they are exposed to the wind. We are always surprised to see him every day."

Tangyuan had been so energetic for such a long time, and with the constant grinning and waving his little fists, his energy was quickly consumed. At this moment, he yawned, his eyelids drooped, and his mood began to drop. He pouted and hummed.

Seeing this, He Susu said, "Tangyuan is a little sleepy and probably a little hungry. I'll carry him back to the room to feed him and coax him to sleep."

"Okay, little sister, you go." Su Yu reluctantly returned the dumplings to her little sister.

He Susu took the child back to the room to feed him. Tangyuan fell asleep soon after eating and drinking. She put him back in the middle of the bed and covered him with a quilt. She opened the door and saw Dabao and Erbao trying to come in again.

"Aunt, let's come in and continue watching my brother sleep."

He Susu knew how much they loved the glutinous rice balls. They had just been looking at them for so long that they still hadn’t had enough. She nodded and said, “Okay, you two help me take care of the glutinous rice balls.”

Dabao and Erbao were so happy that they didn't dare to speak loudly because their younger brother was sleeping. They just responded in a low voice, then tiptoed to the bed, supported themselves with their elbows on the bed and held up their chins to look at Tangyuan as before.

He Susu saw this and shook her head with amusement, then walked out to the living room to chat with her brother and sister-in-law.

Seeing that it was getting late, He Lianzhou said, "I'll go to the mail room to send a telegram back home. If it's late, the staff will probably be off work."

The mailroom staff also have to rest during the Chinese New Year, but in order to maintain the normal operation of the mailroom and ensure external communication with the family compound, it is only open in the morning from New Year's Eve to the second day of the New Year. Fortunately, he asked about it when he sent New Year's goods home a few days ago.

Mother He nodded: "Okay, go ahead, I'm going to make lunch too."

Seeing this, Su Yu stood up and prepared to go to the kitchen with her mother-in-law to help.

Cheng Shi thought it would be inappropriate to let his mother-in-law and sister-in-law cook at home, so he planned to go in and help. But He's mother refused: "It's New Year's Day, so you should take a rest. Xiaoyu and I are here. You two can sit and chat when the third child comes back. You are usually in the army training, and you don't have much chance to sit down and talk."

Su Yu smiled and agreed: "Yes, leave the lunch to me and mother."

He Lianzhou also said, "Yes, I'll go to the mail room and be back soon. I'll continue drinking tea later."

Cheng Shi had no choice but to agree.

He Susu also wanted to go in to help, but was stopped as expected. He's mother and Su Yu both said the same thing: "You are still in confinement, so don't go into the kitchen to help. Just take care of Tangyuan and Dabao and Erbao."

"Okay." He Susu had no choice but to go back to the room to check on the children. Seeing the sleeping Tangyuan and the two children, Dabao and Erbao, who were devoted to studying his micro-expressions while sleeping, she sat at the desk and picked up a book to read.

Soon it was time for lunch. As usual, there were five dishes and one soup on the table, with chicken, duck, fish and meat all present. The soup was black bean and pork ribs soup.

Before the meal started, He's mother said a few pleasant words as usual, and then the meal started.

Dabao and Erbao like to come to my aunt's house for dinner the most. Usually, a table full of meat dishes will be prepared at this time. They will use their chopsticks to pick out all kinds of food and eat them happily.

He Susu and others were chatting while eating. The main point of this reunion dinner is to get together, talk and keep in touch. Of course, a delicious meal is also the top priority.

My mother and sister-in-law are good cooks, and the food they prepare is delicious.

Braised pork belly with bean curd sticks, fried diced chicken, braised fish fillets, braised pork with tofu and stir-fried pickled cabbage, each of them goes well with rice. She also eats them evenly and finishes a bowl of rice very quickly.

Then a bowl of black bean and pork rib soup was served. The soup was dark yet clear, the pork ribs were cooked till soft, and even the black beans were cooked to give off a fragrant aroma. The soft beans tasted great when chewed.

After dinner, Cheng Shi refused to let his mother-in-law go to the kitchen to wash the dishes. He just said he would do it a little later and invited everyone to sit in the living room and drink tea.

Later, He Lianzhou took his family back so that his younger sister's family could have some rest.

He's mother also went back with the third brother's family. The room where Xiuxiu lived had been cleaned and put away, so she could have a place to take a nap. After having dinner at the third brother's house tonight, she would come back to her daughter.

On the third day of the Chinese New Year, because He Susu was still in confinement, she naturally could not go to the mail room to talk to her father on the phone. In the end, only He Lianzhou and his mother went to the mail room together.

Visiting each other is a must during the Chinese New Year, and the family also prepared New Year's gifts for the corresponding visits. Cheng Shi returned to the army for training on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, but he still found time to take some things with his mother-in-law and go to Zhang Zhengwei's house to sit for a while to keep in touch.

As for Mrs. Wu and her three companions, He's mother went to visit them with New Year gifts. Not to mention that they chatted with Mrs. Wu and her three companions about all kinds of gossip about the family compound, which made them feel refreshed and comfortable.

To be honest, the New Year celebrations in the family compound were a little quieter than those in the Qinghe Production Team. Only those who were slightly familiar with each other would visit each other, while the rest of the families just celebrated their own New Year celebrations.

After finally making it to the twelfth day of the lunar year, He Susu finally came out of confinement.

After getting up early in the morning and having breakfast, she asked her mother to help her boil some hot water and bring it to the toilet, and He Susu began to take a bath and wash her hair.

She used a lot of shampoo powder to wash her hair carefully, and then washed her body with soap. The feeling of hot water on her body was so refreshing that she felt all the pores on her body opened up and screamed for comfort.

After changing into dry clothes, He Susu used a towel to dry her hair, letting her jet-black hair hang down on her shoulders.

She put on a cotton jacket, moved a chair to the yard and sat down in the sun, letting the wind dry her hair. She felt like she was coming back to life.