Chapter 174 Two Years Later "New Year, New Atmosphere, Wish Each of Us...
"New Year, new beginnings! I wish each of us new hopes, successful careers, and a happy life in the new year." Xu Hui raised his glass and delivered his New Year's speech as firecrackers crackled outside. "Cheers."
"Cheers." Dong Taohua, Dong Fuyun, and Xu Heye also raised their glasses and clinked them with his. However, Xu Heye was drinking soda, while the other three were drinking glutinous rice wine.
After toasting each other and expressing blessings, the family of four began to eat the New Year’s Eve dinner.
In Jiangxi Province, New Year's Eve dinner is usually eaten in the afternoon, and the Xu family continued this tradition. After dinner, which was only four o'clock in the afternoon, Dong Taohua cleared the table of leftovers, wiped it clean, and began kneading the dough.
This is for making dumplings.
Fortunately, the dumpling filling had been prepared last night, so now I just need to make the dough and no longer need to chop the filling.
Dong Taohua's strength was limited, so after adjusting the water-to-flour ratio, she handed the rest of the work over to Xu Hui. Xu Hui's strength was immense, and the dough he kneaded was smoother and more delicate.
Unleavened dough is used to make dumplings and does not need to be proofed. Xu Hui rolls the kneaded dough into long strips, cuts it into evenly sized pieces, and then hands it to Dong Xinghua, who rolls it into round pieces of dough.
There are three people in the family, one kneads the dough, one rolls the dough wrappers, and the other makes the stuffing. Today, there is one more person, Dong Fuyun, so there is one more person making dumplings.
Xu Heye turned on the TV. Although the Spring Festival Gala would not start until eight o'clock in the evening, many programs related to the New Year would also be broadcast in the afternoon.
Four people sat around the stove, warming themselves by the fire, watching TV and making dumplings.
Dong Taohua also took some oranges, peanuts, chestnuts, and sweet potatoes and put them on the stove to simmer. The residual heat from the fire slowly baked them, and gradually the aroma of oranges and sweet potatoes filled the entire space.
Xu Heye put the wrapped dumplings into the round bamboo winnowing basket next to her, then picked up a piece of dough, scooped some stuffing with a spoon and put it in the middle of the dough. Finally, she dipped her hands in water and slid them around the dough. The dough would stick together better when it was wet.
With the start of the opening song and dance "Celebration Song and Dance", the 1991 Spring Festival Gala officially began.
Xu Hui moved the dumplings to the kitchen table. The family of four sat on the sofa, gathered around the fireplace, and gradually immersed themselves in the Spring Festival Gala. Bursts of laughter broke out in the house from time to time.
Xu Heye turned her head, looked at the three smiling faces in the room, and started laughing too.
The Spring Festival Gala is really great.
Before they knew it, it was midnight. Dong Taohua went to the kitchen to cook dumplings on time. They didn't have the New Year's Eve dinner until four in the afternoon. They also had a lot of fruits and snacks in the evening, so Dong Taohua didn't cook much, just over twenty dumplings, and on average each person ate five or six.
After eating dumplings, the vigil ended, but the four of them did not go back to the room to sleep. Instead, they sat in front of the TV and did not turn off the TV until the Spring Festival Gala ended, then they washed up and went back to the room to rest.
The next day was a rare sunny day. The sunlight penetrated the curtains and shone into the house, falling on Xu Heye's face. She frowned, opened her eyes slightly, and then closed them again.
I’m so sleepy and don’t want to get up!
At the head of the bed, a ten-month-old baby, wearing festive red cotton-padded clothes and trousers, with a cute tiger-head hat on his head, was lying on her pillow, staring at her intently.
The little baby noticed that she had opened her eyes, and kicked her two strong little legs excitedly, but she closed her eyes again. A trace of doubt flashed in her tender eyes: Wasn't she awake? Why did she close her eyes again?
She crawled forward, hugged Xu Heye's head, and then reached out to pull Xu Heye's eyelids.
Xu Heye: “…”
Xu Heye reluctantly pushed the baby's hand away, her voice muffled: "Little Apple, play by yourself, don't bother your sister."
"Sister, sister." The little baby heard Xu Heye's voice and immediately made a sound similar to 'sister' excitedly, "Get up, get up."
"Why are you waking up? I didn't go to bed until three in the morning last night." Xu Heye turned sideways and hugged the baby, loosely tying her hands to prevent her from making trouble.
The little baby couldn't move her hands and feet, so she started using her mouth. Her little milk teeth, as big as rice grains, bit Xu Heye's face with a "snap", leaving a mark of love for her big sister.
Xu Heye opened her eyes somewhat helplessly, and then met a lovely smiling face. The little baby's eyes narrowed into a crescent, and her mouth was wide open, with saliva flowing out of the corners of her mouth, hanging in the air.
Seeing that the saliva was about to drip onto her face, Xu Heye quickly reached out and pulled out a tissue, wiped her mouth, and then kissed her chubby face hard, "Little brat, you have no hygiene at all."
"Hehe." The little baby thought Xu Heye was playing with her, so she kissed Xu Heye and kept saying, "Play, play."
"Okay, get up and play with you." Xu Heye got up, put on her cotton jacket and trousers, opened the curtains, and then came out of the house holding the baby.
In the living room, Dong Fuyun saw his niece carrying his daughter out and immediately reached out to hug his daughter: "Baby, Daddy hugs you."
Unexpectedly, Xiaopingguo glanced at her father, turned her head, and lay on Xu Heye's shoulder, showing with her actions that she only wanted the embrace of her older sister.
A young woman on the sofa saw this scene and couldn't help but pretend to be jealous and said, "It's really strange. As soon as Little Apple sees He Ye, she likes her so much that she doesn't even care about our biological parents. Why do I feel like I'm not a daughter for myself, but a sister for He Ye!"
This young woman was Dong Fuyun's wife, Wang Jia.
Two years ago, Dong Fuyun used his dividends to apply for a bank loan to buy a 100-square-meter, three-bedroom apartment in a residential complex near Xu Heye's home. While applying for the loan, he met Wang Jia, a bank salesperson.
After a few encounters, they both developed a positive impression of each other, and naturally became a couple. They then met their parents and got married. Not long after their marriage, Wang Jia became pregnant. After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to little Apple.
The youngest child of Xu Heye's generation, the adorable Little Apple, was loved by all the elders and brothers and sisters, including Xu Heye.
When Xu Heye heard Wang Jia's sour words, she immediately walked over to the woman with Little Apple in her arms and stuffed the baby into Wang Jia's arms, "Little Apple, kiss your mother quickly, your mother is jealous!"
Little Apple didn't know what jealousy was, but she could understand the instructions of Qinqin. Hearing this, she hugged Wang Jia's head and smeared a heavy saliva mark on her face.
"Little Apple, ask your mother if one kiss is enough. If not, ask your father for one kiss." Dong Taohua, who was sitting aside, also teased her sister-in-law.
She quite liked this sister-in-law, who knew when to advance and when to retreat, and knew how to act in moderation. After having a sister-in-law like Dai Ying, when her younger brother said he was in love and wanted to bring his girlfriend back to meet his two sisters, Dong Taohua really couldn't sleep for several nights.
If she met another 'Dai Ying', her relationship with her brother Dong Fuyun would probably not be as harmonious as before.
Fortunately, Wang Jia is a good person.
Although the relationship between the sister-in-law and her sister-in-law was not as close as that between her and Xinghua, they both knew their limits and got along very well. With the help of Little Apple, the relationship between the two sides became even more harmonious.
Wang Jia is also quite satisfied with his two elder sisters-in-law, Dong Taohua and Dong Xinghua.
When she first gave birth to Apple, even her parents were a little worried.
The current family planning policy only allows one child. If she gave birth to a daughter, there was no guarantee her husband's family wouldn't want a son. If she gave birth to a second child to pursue a son, she would lose her job at the bank.
Wang Jia was unwilling to lose her job in order to have a son.
Unexpectedly, Dong Fuyun didn't care about having a son at all. In fact, according to his current situation, he might have been a bachelor for the rest of his life. Now that he finally got married and had a baby daughter, it was already a blessing from God.
As for Dong Taohua, she would not interfere with whether her younger brother and sister-in-law had a son or not. She herself only wanted a daughter, so how could she insist that her younger brother have a son?
Besides, what if I had a son?
The boss really values his eldest son, thinking that his retirement support depends on him, but what is the result? If you have a son, you should teach him to be ambitious and filial, and if you have a daughter, you should teach her to be ambitious and polite. This is the right way.
That's why she wouldn't rely on her status as the eldest sister to meddle in their affairs. As for whether they wanted a son or whether they would secretly try to have one, that was the couple's own business.
After breakfast, Dong Fuyun and Wang Jia took their daughter to visit their parents and said goodbye. Dong Fuyun held Xiaopingguo in his arms, while Wang Jia carried the snacks Dong Taohua had prepared for them, and prepared to leave. After sending the family of three off, Dong Taohua went to the kitchen to clean up the house. Suddenly, she remembered something and called out to Xu Heye: "Heye, tear off the calendar."
"I should have torn off three or four sheets. I was busy at the end of the year and forgot to do it."
"Okay." Xu Heye responded and found the hand-torn calendar hanging by the gate. After tearing off three pages, the calendar finally showed today's date - January 23, 1993, the year of the Rooster, the first day of the first lunar month.
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