When it was time to go to bed at night, Yu Zhilan took out the quilt and prepared to sleep on the floor. Before Haizhou and Haiping got married, there were two beds in the room. Later, when they both left home, the beds were put away.
Xu Haizhou quickly stopped his mother and said, "Don't bother. I'll take Qiao Lu to the hotel."
"What? A hotel. How much is that for one night?"
"It's not much, just a few cents. You can leave the luggage at home. You won't need it." In winter, you don't have to change clothes every day like in summer. You can go to the store to buy new teeth when you brush your teeth. You can take a shower in the bathroom, saving the trouble of carrying luggage.
In the 1980s, the price of accommodation in hotels generally did not exceed one yuan. The rooms were not decorated, the environment was very ordinary, and the beds were small, less than 1.5 meters, about 1.35 meters. It was a bit crowded for a family of three to sleep in.
But no matter how bad the conditions are, it is better than living in a small building with his parents.
…
The Spring Festival is just five days away, so it’s time to prepare for the New Year.
Ancheng is a city slightly larger than Li'an in area and with a smaller population, but its market is much busier than Li'an. Often whole families go out to buy New Year's goods, and the market is so crowded that the snow doesn't seem so freezing anymore.
During the Spring Festival, sugar is freely available, ham, sausage and salted duck are enough without having to grab them, melon seeds, peanut candied pastries are indispensable, and New Year pictures and couplets can be bought or written by yourself.
There is an old man named Niu on the second floor of the tube building who is good at calligraphy. Every year, the Xu family buys red paper and asks the old man to write couplets, and this year is no exception.
Xu Yonghe was sent there, and Qiao An followed to join in the fun. When he came back, his pocket was full of candies and snacks.
When asked, they said that the child was so sweet-mouthed that he made Mr. Niu laugh heartily. He was so happy that he could not help feeding the child. Feeding the child was not enough, so he insisted that the child take some home.
Qiao Lu and her husband looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
This year, Xu Haizhou and his wife joined in, and we prepared more and more New Year's goods. We bought almost all the food available on the market and took it home, as if it were free.
In the process of preparing New Year's goods, Qiao Lu gradually got closer to Yu Zhilan and Song Wenmin. The three women had a lot to talk about, and they talked about everything, including Haizhou's life in the south and the situation at home after Haizhou left.
My father-in-law is still the same, cold and indifferent. He would occasionally say a few words, but fortunately he is not indifferent from beginning to end.
Except for the Xu family, no one knew that Xu Haizhou had married a divorced wife.
"Mom, I shared the candies that Dad bought with everyone. Everyone should be my friend! Can I go downstairs and play with my new friends?"
"Going to play in the snow again?" Qiao Lu was making dumplings with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Upon hearing this, she pinched her son's pretty face with two fingers and pinched it twice, and half of his face was covered with white powder.
"Yeah!" Snowball fights are fun, "Mom, do you want to go?"
Qiao Lu smiled and shook her head: "Mom and grandma are making dumplings, you go ahead, be careful not to run too far."
"Dad, grandpa, uncle, and Mianmian, do you want to play together?"
Xu Haiping refused with a smile. Even if Xu Yonghe didn't say anything, he would definitely not go, because Xu Haizhou was playing chess with his father.
Only Mianmian stood up and said: "I want to go too!"
"Okay~" Holding his sister's little hand, the two little ones twisted their butts and ran away.
This child is unfamiliar with the place and can't beat the northern kids in snowball fights. Qiao Lu is a little worried.
"Haizhou, why don't you go down and take care of it." He turned around and reminded Xu Haizhou.
"OK."
Xu Haizhou was playing chess with his old man. Hearing this, he stood up and patted his eldest brother on the shoulder: "Come here, I'll go downstairs to see my son."
Song Wenmin almost ran down. Looking at his hurriedly leaving figure, she said with a smile: "Haizhou and An'an have a good relationship. When you two got married, An'an was only three years old, so he can remember things. Doesn't your son reject him?"
Yu Zhilan was also curious about this question. Normally, if a family is reorganized, it would be impossible for the child to quickly accept living with a stepfather.
Thinking back to those days, Qiao Lu couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I rejected him. I wouldn't let him hold my hand and I would walk away from Haizhou. But a child is still a child after all. Haizhou was really good to him and I could sense it over time. After a while, they got to know each other and after going through some things, I accepted him.
"Oh~ It seems that things are not all smooth sailing, but Haizhou is a reliable person, and there should be no child who dislikes him."
"Yeah, no one doesn't like him." Such a gentle man, with a good personality and good looks, let alone children, isn't it said that even the mothers in Hong Kong can't resist him?
"Hey, Dad, where are you going?" The father and son were playing chess happily when Xu Yonghe suddenly put down the chess piece and left.
"Take a stroll!" He put his hands behind his back and walked out of the room without looking back.
Everyone in the room looked at each other in confusion. What was Xu Yonghe doing?
Putting down the chess piece, Xu Haiping followed quickly.
"What's wrong with Dad? Where is he going in such a cold weather? Isn't he most afraid of the cold?" Song Wenmin was puzzled.
"Who knows what's wrong with the old man? He has so much free time and he doesn't even come to help us make dumplings. He's just strolling around. He must have eaten too much salt!" So salty!
Suddenly remembering something, Yu Zhilan paused and suddenly laughed out loud. She said, "Qiao Lu, after you wrap the dumplings, I'll teach you how to stuff blood sausage later."
"good."
Blood sausage is also a specialty of Northeast China. Pork blood sausage stewed with sauerkraut is spicy and appetizing, and it is great to eat with rice.
Yu Zhilan asked Qiao Lu to bring some blood sausage back to Li'an for her family to taste, so more blood sausage would need to be stuffed. As there were not enough people, she asked Song Wenmin to go next door to call Yan Ni and several other sisters to help.
The older sisters were experienced and were all experts at filling blood intestines. While chatting, they filled a large basin in no time.
"The black dress you wore the day you first arrived, the long one, did you buy it in the South? It was very pretty."
The clothing industry in the north really cannot keep up with the "trend" and is far inferior to that in the south. The woolen coats that are so popular in the south have never been seen in the north.
So when Qiao Lu came here wearing a coat, many people's eyes lit up and showed great interest.
"You probably can't buy it on the market. If you like it, you can try making it yourself."
They were all old neighbors with whom her husband's family had a good relationship. How could Qiao Lu not understand what they meant when they asked her so many questions? It was necessary to go along with the situation and do her a favor.
"That's great!"
Qiao Lu took out her clothes. Because the winter in the north was really cold, she didn't plan to wear the coat. She only wore it to show off on the first day they met. She had already changed into a big cotton jacket a long time ago.
"You can go to the market and look around. If you can't find this material, there's nothing I can do."
"Okay, okay, if there's no material, we can use other materials to make it look like this."
I happily took my coat and hurried home to study it. When I left the house, Qiaoan and a few others were just coming home after playing snowball fight. Adults and children were walking towards me covered in snow. They were smiling, but they looked a little funny because they were covered in snow.
The most frightening thing is, how come this old man Xu Yonghe is covered in snow foam?
"Mom, Mom, Grandma, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandpa!" The little guy jumped up and down excitedly. "I couldn't beat them, but then Grandpa helped me beat them. Grandpa is so powerful, even more powerful than Dad!"
"Every snowball that Grandpa threw was accurate. He beat them until they fell to their knees and begged for mercy!" I learned the phrase "kneeling to beg for mercy" from Huo Yuanjia. I have a good memory.
"Many older brothers couldn't beat Grandpa. Sometimes I would help him, but I was too weak and couldn't hit him."
Qiaoan kept on talking...and the women over there were dumbfounded.
What? Xu Yonghe played snowballs with the kids? Xu Yonghe, who has a personality like a rock, can play snowballs with kids?
It is hard to imagine that an old man with unsteady legs and feet beat a group of children until they begged for mercy.
This is really discordant, isn't it?
Bullying kids sounds ridiculous, but if you think about it carefully, these kids may be able to beat Xu Yonghe, they just let him go!
Looking at Xu Yonghe again, although he appeared calm on the surface, he was actually very panicked inside.
He pretended to be calm, but he didn't know that his panic had already been exposed.
He has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. On the surface, he dislikes Qiao An for not being Haizhou's biological child, but he can't resist this adorable little girl.
Xu Haizhou's father is quite interesting.
Qiao Lu smiled.
…
On the 28th of Ramadan, a major cleaning was carried out, and every nook and cranny in the house was cleaned up without leaving any dead ends. Xu Haiping and his wife cleaned their home, while Xu Haizhou brought his wife and children to help at his parents' home.
We stocked up a lot of meat at home, but because we didn’t have a refrigerator, all of it was frozen on the balcony.
There are no windows on the balcony, so snow fluttered in. The snow kept piling up, filling up the entire balcony. The balcony became a natural refrigerator; if you wanted to freeze something, you could just put it in the snow.
Qiao Lu just watched Yu Zhilan as she magically pulled out all kinds of New Year goods from the snow pile, like a treasure chest.
Chicken, duck, fish, frozen pears, frozen persimmons, frozen tofu... Other things are fine, but the meat is simply impossible to cut. The man in the family has to chop it with a machete.
Qiaolu likes the sticky rice dumplings made at home the most. She loves the soft and glutinous texture!
"Mom, sticky rice dumplings are delicious. Do you know how to make them?" Qiao An also likes them. She must eat one for breakfast every day, otherwise she will keep complaining about them all day long.
Qiao Lu shook her head: "Mom can't, but grandma can."
"Then let grandma teach us, and then we can do it ourselves when we go home." Qiao An said naively.
"Mom can't learn it, so you learn it." Qiao Lu teased him.
The young man knitted his eyebrows together and thought for a long time: "Okay then."
After eating quickly, he walked in small steps to the corridor to find Yu Zhilan.
"Grandma, grandma." Pulling her clothes.
Yu Zhilan was frying tofu cubes by the stove. She paused when she heard this and asked, "What's wrong, Dabao?"
"Grandma, can you teach me how to make sticky rice dumplings?" The little guy raised his head and asked softly.
Yu Zhilan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and tapped his nose: "You little kid, you still want to learn how to make sticky rice dumplings?"
"Yeah! Mom said she doesn't know how to do it, so she asked An An to learn~"
The adults in the corridor laughed out loud.
Yu Zhilan pinched her grandson's cheek and said, "Your mother is lying to you. Let her learn from you."
Scratching his face, Qiao An went back to the room and pulled Qiao Lu out.
Of course it was impossible to let Qiao An learn in the end, so Qiao Lu, the mother, had to do it. It wasn't difficult, and you would learn it after watching it a few times.
…
This year's Spring Festival for the Xu family is the most lively one.
New Year’s Eve is even more interesting. I’m busy from the moment I wake up.
Stew pork, cut sauerkraut, eat dumplings as the first meal in the morning. The dumplings are specially wrapped to look like gold ingots, symbolizing the coming of wealth. The first meal should be vegetarian, and meat fillings should be eaten at night.
Yu Zhilan picked out three dumplings and stuffed them with coins worth ten cents each.
The dumplings were served by Xu Yonghe, one bowl for each person. Whether it was a coincidence or good luck, the three coin dumplings were eaten by Qiao An, Qiao Lu and Xu Yimian.
The coin got stuck in Qiaoan's teeth, and he almost burst into tears. Xu Haizhou quickly explained the meaning of the coin.
After a while, she stopped crying and became excited: "Mom, Mianmian and I are the luckiest people!"
This child is really easy to coax.
In addition to dumplings, steamed buns are also an indispensable food during the Chinese New Year. The steamed buns during the Spring Festival must be well fermented. The better the fermentation, the more prosperous the coming year will be.
Then there are steamed meat and stir-fried vegetables...
"When I was a child, my family was very poor. Even during the Chinese New Year, we only had one or two plates of meat. Now life is better and we can have a table full of meat. Children today are so blessed," Song Wenmin sighed.
If she knew that in twenty or thirty years, most people would be able to eat meat for every meal, I wonder how she would sigh.
On New Year's Eve, after eating the New Year's Eve dinner, the entire Xu family went to Xu Haiping's unit's house to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
This year's Spring Festival Gala is the second one. After last year's gala, Xu Haiping had the idea of buying a TV.
I saved money for half a year, queued for a whole night, and finally got the TV back. This year, I must let my wife, daughter, and parents watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Fortunately, I bought it back.
Now, Xu Haizhou and his family of three have also caught up with the good times. If they had returned last year, the family would have had to stay at home and listen to the radio.
"Hurry up, it's time to start."
"Don't eat yet, An An, come here quickly, we're about to start."
They sat on the bed in a row. Qiao An sat with her mother. Next to Qiao Lu was Xu Haizhou, and on the other side was her son. On the other side of Qiao An was Xu Yonghe, and next to Xu Yonghe was Yu Zhilan...
On New Year's Eve, the whole family crowded together on the big bed, eating melon seeds, drinks and snacks, and eagerly waited for the Spring Festival Gala to begin.
Compared with the first, the second Spring Festival Gala is obviously more experienced, more refined and more exciting than the previous year.
This was a real live evening party. Although there were few audiences, the stage was not as big as in later generations, and the props were not as rich, it made people feel extremely warm and happy.
In the 1984 Spring Festival Gala, the language programs shined brightly, and several programs have become must-see classics for later generations.
Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao performed "Eating Noodles", Ma Ji performed a stand-up comedy "Cosmic Incense", and there were also magic shows, fun table tennis performances, singing performances...
Finally, the song "Unforgettable Tonight" sung by Li Guyi has become the fixed ending song of the Spring Festival Gala every year since then.
It’s true, although Qiao Lu couldn’t get into most old TV dramas, she actually enjoyed watching the 1984 Spring Festival Gala, even though it was in black and white!
Unconsciously, she joined everyone in this happy family atmosphere, and a strong sense of satisfaction surrounded her.
Occasionally, his eyes glanced at the corner of the bed. He saw Qiao An lying in Xu Yonghe's arms and snoring at some point. One of her little hands was tightly grasping the button of her grandfather's cotton shirt, and the other hand was curled up on her chest. Her red mouth was slightly pouting, and she was sleeping soundly.
Looking at Xu Yonghe again, although his eyes were on the TV, his big hand was gently patting Qiao An's arm, as if coaxing a child to sleep.
Qiao Lu admitted that Xu Haizhou was right and his family were all very nice.
After the misunderstanding was resolved, the clouds finally parted and the blue sky appeared.
The author has something to say:
I will go home for the next chapter. I haven't finished coding yet. There will be another chapter during the day.