Chapter 66: Leaf·Nian Beast·Elm
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Ye Yu first suggested that Ye Hongjun and his wife sit down and rest, and she would direct, no, she would lead Ye Baoguo and Ye Weiguo to wash the pots and dishes.
Ye Yu sat in front of the stove, dropping firewood into the oven one by one, raising his eyelids from time to time and giving instructions: "There's a bit too much cooking oil tonight, so add a few more simmers. Don't be lazy. Look at me, what are you doing? Hurry up."
If you dare to whisper and call her the big devil behind her back, wouldn’t that make her a loser?
Ye Baoguo and Ye Weiguo: "..."
According to the traditional customs of the Spring Festival, people need to stay up all night on New Year's Eve, that is, oil lamps are lit in all the rooms, and the whole family gathers together to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
When the three siblings came out of the kitchen, Wang Lai Di had already taken out snacks such as melon seeds, peanuts, biscuits, candies, dried fruits, etc. from the cupboard and placed them on the eight-immortals table in the main hall.
Televisions are a scarce commodity nowadays, and not many families own a tape recorder with three turns and a ring. There is no background music for the Spring Festival Gala, and gambling games such as chess and cards are prohibited. There is very little entertainment.
But people are still quite happy. Staying up all night to eat and drink is already a happy thing, and they can also chat.
Gossip is probably human nature.
The atmosphere at this moment is there, and it is possible to bring up and talk about friends and relatives, whether known or not, as well as ideas and plans for next year.
Ye Yu ate happily tonight and felt a little full, but she was not too picky about food. She listened to her mother's chatter from time to time, and sometimes even listened to what the neighbors were saying. Most of the time, they talked about happy things.
The next thing is playing. Usually, it is the children who play, so the New Year celebrations will be more lively in families with children. Of course, it may also be bad.
The youngest child in the Ye family is Ye Weiguo, but it is boring for him to play alone, so he tries to call Ye Yu and Ye Baoguo to join him. Ye Yu also asks Ye Hongjun and Wang Laidie to join him.
Ye Hongjun waved his hands awkwardly: "We are all adults, how can we mess around with you?"
"Why not?" In a few decades, the physical strength of old men and women may be more energetic than young people, and they may be able to do square dancing on the horizontal bar without any problem.
Ye Yu felt that when his father saw them playing games, there was light in his eyes. Sometimes, he couldn't help but secretly wave his fist, looking very excited.
Cockfighting is also called "zhuangguaizi", which means standing on one foot and using the hand to bend the other foot into a triangle shape, with the knee facing outward, a bit like the standing one-legged golden rooster. The players attack each other with their knees, and those who land on both feet are eliminated. No props are needed.
Generally speaking, playing the game of bumping crutches requires jumping around to maintain balance, but Ye Yu just stood there motionless, without even using his hands to bend his knees.
Ye Weiguo and Ye Baoguo together could not get her feet to the ground. Instead, they were so exhausted that Ye Baoguo surrendered first. Ye Weiguo persisted until his face turned red, but in the end he could not hold on any longer and was so tired that he stuck out his tongue like some kind of rhubarb.
Ye Yu:
"There's not a single one who can fight."
What a joke! This posture is too simple compared to martial arts. She can maintain it for a year without any problem. The magic carpet chassis of a Rolls-Royce is nothing compared to it.
Maybe because he drank some wine, Ye Hongjun was more lively than usual. Finally, I felt that he could do it, so I did it.
But theory is full and reality is skinny. Adults' center of gravity is inherently high. Not to mention Ye Weiguo, he couldn't even maintain the time of Ye Zhongguo standing on one leg.
The two brothers laughed out loud.
This actually aroused Ye Hongjun's desire to win. Although he was not good at cockfighting, he was an expert at rolling hoops and spinning tops.
Ye Weiguo has a spinning top in his room, and he also has several rolling hoops. After all, Ye Hongjun is an employee of the steel plant, and their family compound at the steel plant will have everything they need.
It can be seen that Ye Hongjun is indeed very good at this. Even though he hasn't played for many years, he can master the skills again in just a few moves. He can only defeat Ye Baoguo, but compared with Ye Yu and Ye Weiguo, one has to admit that he is old.
Ye Baoguo:
“…”
Ye Hongjun and his children were having fun. Wang Lai Di was not being reserved and not joining in, but she was really not that interested in these things. She was tired enough from work on weekdays, and she was not running around anymore. She was very happy to watch the fun.
However, even if I don’t like kicking shuttlecock, throwing sandbags, and jumping rubber balls, there are still some less moving ones, such as playing with flower ropes and throwing corn seeds.
Ye Yu can also bring over the shells of the future werewolves, soldiers and ghosts to kill. You don’t need to go to the yard to play, you can just sit around the fire and play.
Moreover, when playing this game, Ye Yu is finally no longer the game king. After several routines, no matter whether she is a soldier, a ghost or a villager, she is eliminated in the first round. Even if she takes the role of an officer, she can only save herself for one night.
“…”
It would be fun if there were more of them, but no one else cared. It was just a simple little game, and they could play it for a long time, and their sense of humour was low enough.
Before I knew it, it was almost 12 o'clock.
Ye Hongjun quickly took out the 100-shot red cannon and placed it in the yard. Not only their family, but other households in the yard also took action.
Around 12 o'clock, light it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The entire city was shrouded in the sound of firecrackers, with gongs and drums beating and firecrackers blasting.
Ye Yu: “…”
At this time, it was quite shocking for a person with keen hearing. Ye Yu even suspected that the Nian beast that was driven away by firecrackers during the Spring Festival seemed to be himself.
Indeed, no custom is completely without reason.
Even though you need to plug your ears with cotton, it's really fun to spend the Spring Festival like this. It would be a bit of a pity if the Spring Festival is really cancelled next year.
Ten years later, many old customs have disappeared in the long river of history, and some have become intangible cultural heritage and are protected.
Ye Yu cannot influence the policies of Ye State, mainly because it takes too much energy. A small prank is still possible, but whether it will succeed depends on God's will, and God's will cannot be forced.
While Ye Hongjun, Wang Laidie and others were not paying attention, Ye Yu slipped back to the room, teleported three times in a row, and began to physically broadcast the roar of beasts, which was a small sound wave device invented by the doomsday base. Its purpose was to replenish the low- and medium-level alien beasts. What was being played now was the most unpleasant alien beast sound in the future.
Each teleportation broadcast was broadcast once, so on that day, many blocks in the city heard the faint roar of the "Nian Beast" around 12 o'clock? Oh my god, there really is a Nian Beast? Some people even said it was the roar of a dragon?
Cough cough cough, no matter what——
"Happy New Year!"
When Ye Yu teleported back, Wang Lai Di had already heated up the dumplings again.
There's something delicious! It can also soothe Ye·Nian Beast·Yu's injured ears.
Everyone has half a bowl, which means good luck and prosperity in the coming year. What makes children happier than dumplings is the New Year's money.
To give New Year’s gifts and ward off evil spirits, red envelopes have to be placed under the pillow all night. Sometimes they are taken back, sometimes not. This year, Ye Hongjun and his wife promised not to take theirs back.
Ye Baoguo and Ye Weiguo cheered for this.
Ye Yu also had one. According to calculations, even if she turned 18 after the Chinese New Year, Ye Hongjun and Wang Laidi would still prepare a red envelope for her. And because she was about to become an adult and this was her last year to receive it, they prepared the biggest red envelope for her.
Ye Baoguo and Ye Weiguo cost 50 cents, and Ye Yu has 10 yuan. That’s the price difference.
After showing off enough, Ye Yu also gave Ye Baoguo and Ye Weiguo a small red envelope of fifty cents.
Everyone is happy.
After finishing the dumplings, Ye Weiguo hurriedly pulled his friends to pick up the unburned duds in the yard. The friends in the yard thought the same thing and picked them up and piled them up. They would not throw them away tonight as there was still a long time before the Spring Festival.
There are too many people picking up firecrackers and too little porridge. If you go too late, they will be gone. You have to be anxious.
Sometimes, children will cause disputes because of picking up firecrackers. Unless they really fight, adults generally will not intervene in such disputes. Even if they really fight, each child will be spanked thirty times.
Ye Weiguo was not short of those duds, as there were still quite a few left from the other hundred rounds that Ye Yu had bought, but he didn't want to lose. It seemed that the children still had one last entertainment item, and the fierce battle for territory had just begun.
Anyway, I don’t know when I fell asleep in the end.
The moon is very bright tonight, and together with the twinkling stars, it illuminates the joy of the city clearly.
The next day, just after dawn, Ye Hongjun and Wang Laidi were already outside the room calling for help.
Today is New Year's Day, the first day of the year. No matter what time you went to bed last night, you are not allowed to stay in bed. Getting up early and diligently is a good start.
First sentence when meeting:
"Happy New Year."
Today's breakfast is also dumplings, with a variety of fillings, each of which has an auspicious meaning. Cabbage is homophonic to "wealth", celery is homophonic to "diligent", green onion is homophonic to "intelligent", and carrots are homophonic to "prosperous".
The most special dumpling is the one with money in it, which used to be copper coins but now are coins.
Wang Lai Di kept staring at Ye Yu, asking him to eat slowly and not swallow the coin. She kept nagging him, and finally Ye Yu actually got to eat the coin dumpling.
"Yeah, you're the luckiest this year. I remember it was Arya who ate it last year, right?"
Ye Weiguo:
"Mom, you are being superstitious."
"Go away! Don't talk nonsense during the New Year." Wang Lai Di stuffed a dumpling into her youngest son's bowl and recited a few innocent words.
The Spring Festival is originally a kind of hope and expectation. Whether it is science or metaphysics, people live with more or less faith, which is also a spiritual pillar.
After breakfast, I won’t clean up the garbage or do anything else today. I just want to relax.
The two brothers Ye Weiguo did run away, but Ye Baoguo, who was not young anymore, was dragged out by Ye Weiguo. They and their friends went from house to house in the alley to wish each other a happy new year, exchanging a few auspicious words for a variety of snacks.
The richer ones have sugar and biscuits, the more ordinary ones have melon seeds and peanuts, and the poorest ones often have homemade dried sweet potatoes and popcorn.
Except for the three years of famine, people would not be stingy with these little things. Moreover, this was also for a smoother and better year ahead. Many Chinese people believe in this.
The children's pockets were stuffed full, with happy and pure smiles on their faces, and those who were quick to speak were spouting auspicious words over and over again.
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