Chapter 17 Chinese New Year
On New Year's Eve, the whole family is busy.
Old Master Xia directed his sons to climb onto the roof, sweep the snow, and replace the roof with new tiles and thatch.
The old Spring Festival couplets on the door were taken down and new ones were pasted on.
Similar to "Look up and see happiness", "Livestock is prosperous", "Auspicious snow and a good harvest", and the word "Fu" window decorations, they were all pasted up. These things must be pasted neatly before noon, without missing a single spot.
Zhou brought all the female members of the family, big and small, together to make dumplings.
Zhou assigned tasks to several daughters-in-law.
Liu was in charge of kneading the flour with fine white flour. After kneading, she placed it in the basin to wake up. Kneading dough was a strenuous job. Liu didn't want to sweat, but she didn't dare to refuse. When she heard her mother-in-law's instructions, her smile froze.
Sun was responsible for chopping ten pounds of meat filling. The meat was selected by Zhou herself, and it was all pork belly with both fat and lean meat.
Zhou also carefully selected two cabbages, two sauerkrauts, and two radishes, and asked Wu and Jiang to work together to wash them first and then chop them into fine pieces in preparation for mixing them into the stuffing.
The fifth son's wife, Cheng, was responsible for taking care of the pregnant eldest son's wife, Zhu, and also looked after a few younger children, such as Meihua, Linghua, Liulang, and Zaohua.
Zhou did it herself, spreading twenty eggs and mixing in two pieces of tofu.
Xia Yujiao was responsible for peeling onions and garlic, and mixing the dumpling fillings.
The older girls, Jinhua, Taohua, Xinghua and Lihua, were all assigned tasks by Zhou.
Jinhua is responsible for picking leeks, Taohua is responsible for lighting the fire and boiling water, and Xinghua is responsible for cleaning the chopping board and knives, and scrubbing the pots and pans.
Lihua was in charge of soaking mushrooms, black fungus, and dried vegetables, and she also had to check for omissions and fill in the gaps. If she saw a shortage of people or a need for help, she would rush in.
The other children were also very sensible. The boys took three or five small firecrackers and ran to the village, calling their friends. They buried the firecrackers in the snow, lit the seal with half a piece of broken incense, and then covered their ears and retreated to a safe distance.
The boys love firecrackers, and the sporadic "bang", "bang" and "bang" sounds come one after another continuously.
The girls all followed their elder sister obediently, and were very attentive and ready to lend a hand at any time.
Of course, there are also those who are not so self-conscious, such as Yinhua.
At first, she stayed in the room and didn't want to come out. Later, although she came out, she didn't go to Jinhua, but to her sister-in-law Zhu, and chatted with Zhu to relieve her boredom.
Whenever Xia Daohua glanced over, Yinhua's eyes would show some panic and evasion.
I don't know what she is afraid of. Is she afraid that Xia Daohua will hold her responsible for not informing her family in time? Or is she worried that Xia Daohua will remember something unfavorable to her?
After working for a while, the dough was soon ready and several kinds of dumpling fillings were mixed evenly. Zhou then sat down with her wives and granddaughters and happily started making dumplings.
With more people, work will naturally be done much faster.
Around two or three o'clock in the afternoon, the setting sun shone warmly into the room, and the table was already filled with curtains.
Each curtain was filled with plump white dumplings, arranged in circles, close to each other, and in rows and lines.
Take all the curtains outside to freeze, and then start stewing meat, tofu, and sauerkraut blood sausage.
The Xia family worked until dark, and every household in Beiguan Village lit up a lamp.
On weekdays, anyone who dares to light a lamp and stay up late at night will be scolded by the old man in the family who is very careful with money.
But it’s Chinese New Year now!
Every household pays attention to a bright and spacious home.
Even the poorest families in the village had to light up the lights and they were not allowed to turn them off until dawn.
After dinner, the Xia family first went to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors and kowtowed to them. Then they returned home, gathered together, and had a very sumptuous dinner. Except for the children, everyone drank some wine.
At the table, everyone was talking and chatting, not as quiet as usual.
After eating and drinking, there was another round of busy cleaning up.
After that, he kowtowed to old man Xia Pingan and old lady Zhou to wish them a happy new year.
Follow the directions from the main room to Xia Yujiao.
Then came Dalang’s generation.
The rule in the Xia family is that anyone who has not married is considered a child.
Therefore, in Daohua's generation, only Xia Dalang and Zhu did not receive lucky money. However, Xia Yujiao, who was from the previous generation, received lucky money even though she was older.
The New Year’s money was wrapped in red paper, but everyone knew how much each person got - ten copper coins for each boy and five copper coins for each girl.
Then the old couple took out the treasure they had been hiding - a large basin of frozen pears, frozen persimmons, and frozen red apples.
The children rushed over cheering, and Xia Daohua couldn't help but smile.
Old Mrs. Zhou hurriedly said, "Don't worry, each person can only eat one frozen persimmon or one frozen pear. If you eat more, you might catch a cold. Huahong can eat a handful, but don't let it cool your appetite. Save some space for dumplings later!"
The children cheered, agreed, and stretched out their hands to pick out their favorite food from the big bowl.
As soon as he got it, he turned and ran.
Xia Daohua also stretched out her little hand and took a frozen persimmon. She took a bite of the persimmon skin and it was so cool that she instantly became refreshed.
The persimmon skin was a little astringent, but the sweetness was even stronger. She took a big sip from the small bite. The thick, sweet persimmon juice flowed into her mouth.
“Comfortable!”
Xia Daohua narrowed her eyes and smiled.
I don’t know if it’s because the variety is relatively primitive, but these persimmons are not very big, but they taste so delicious!
Not only did the children happily eat these frozen fruits that were a specialty of Beiguan Town, but the adults also picked out their favorites and ate them happily.
Zhou had pretty good teeth. She held a black frozen pear in her hand and ate it while talking to Grandpa Xia.
After everyone chatted and laughed for a while, they heard a melodious bell ringing, followed by a "bang!" and a ball of fireworks exploded in the sky, illuminating half of the night sky.
The light shone through two thick layers of window paper and into the house.
It turned out that the county government rang the bell, announced the time, and set off fireworks.
The fireworks set off by the county government were like a signal. Soon after, the sound of firecrackers rang out in many places in the county, and many wealthy families also set off fireworks.
For a moment, the night sky was full of beautiful scenery.
The scenery is colorful, glittering, and full of fireworks, which is a breathtaking beauty.
This attracted many people to run out of their homes and stand in an open space with a good view. They stretched their necks, stood on tiptoe, looked around, and their heads kept turning around following the light of the fireworks and the sound of firecrackers. They didn't know where to stare at.
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(End of this chapter)
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