Different blessings are posted on the door of each room. For the triplets, the one is "academic progress"; the twin sisters still sleep with their grandparents, so the one in their room is "safe and healthy"; the old man's is "pine and crane for longevity"; and Qiao Qingqing and her husband's is "good fortune and luck".
Red lanterns should be hung outside the gate, and paper-cuts cut by Qiao Qingqing should be pasted on the windows of each room.
With this arrangement, the whole courtyard is filled with a festive atmosphere inside and out.
At noon, everyone had a simple meal to fill their stomachs.
In the afternoon, Shi Meiyun started chopping stuffing, kneading dough and rolling out dough in preparation for making dumplings; while Qiao Qingqing temporarily gave up the kitchen to wash the children's hair and bathe them.
When my mother-in-law has almost finished cooking and her children have washed up, she starts cooking various dishes with ingredients that have been prepared in advance.
This year is the first reunion year for their family in Beijing.
For the New Year’s Eve dinner, they combined the traditional customs of the north and the south, preparing both sumptuous dishes and making dumplings.
Finally, at 5:30 in the evening, the New Year’s Eve dinner was ready.
Lu Heng went out and set off a string of firecrackers. Amid the "crackling" sound of firecrackers, they sat together in the yard and started to eat!
As there are many people in their family and many dishes, one table cannot accommodate all of them, so now there are two tables put together in the yard.
In the middle of the table were two large plates of dumplings, surrounded by the white chicken that they had served at every New Year's Eve dinner in the past few years, as well as beer duck, sweet and sour fish, braised rabbit meat, braised pig's trotters, braised pork, nine-turn pork intestines, spinach and pork liver soup, stir-fried vegetables with garlic, scrambled eggs with leeks, stir-fried dried squid flowers, and braised dried shrimps.
Qiao Qingqing also cooked a pot of scallop, clam and mustard greens porridge.
Before the food was served, the children were already mesmerized by the aroma.
After the meal started, the children were drooling but they still waited for their great-grandfather to start eating first.
Mr. Lu could also see the urgency in everyone's hearts, so he quickly picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat. Then everyone else could finally start eating.
Every child couldn't wait to get their favorite dish.
Even Lu Nianqiao and Lu Nianqing, who were only three years old, ate with their own chopsticks.
They are not very skilled in using chopsticks, but they still try their best to pick up food, and no one will rush them or blame them for using chopsticks improperly.
Everyone was enjoying the food.
Qiao Qingqing ate a dumpling first. The dumpling was filled with pork and green onions. The flavor was particularly good and it was even more delicious when dipped in vinegar. Qiao Qingqing gave her mother-in-law a thumbs up while eating.
However, Shi Meiyun first served herself half a bowl of scallop, clam and mustard greens porridge.
During the ten years they were sent down to the countryside, they were raised by Qingqing who brought them seafood and various nutritious porridges. Now, the family has become accustomed to eating salty porridge, and they will miss it if they don't eat it for a while.
Most of the dried seafood brought back from the Hongsheng Brigade was used to make porridge.
Therefore, this pot of porridge is not a rare delicacy in their family, but a habit engraved in their bones.
Every bite of meat was so satisfying that the children exclaimed with happiness.
"It would be nice if every day was Chinese New Year..."
"It would be wonderful if we could eat such delicious food every day!"
"Mom, when can we raise chickens and ducks? I don't want to be able to eat chicken and duck only during the Chinese New Year."
Qiao Qingqing, who was peeling shrimp, replied casually: "Even if the policy allows, my mother can't raise it, because she has to go to school at the beginning of the year and has no time."
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