On New Year's Eve, no matter how eagerly the whole family waited, He Gang still did not show up at the door.
Today, even He Xiaogu came. In fact, the old lady gave birth to a daughter named He Yu before He Xiaogu.
However, He Yu died of illness when he was 9 years old, leaving behind only a daughter, who is now He Xiaogu, Helan!
Helan joined the army when she was young and became a doctor in the army. Later, she married Chen Daming, who was also a soldier.
He had two sons. The eldest son, Chen Yuanchao, married Huang Xiaoying and had a three-year-old son, Chen Shengli, nicknamed Doudou.
The youngest son, Chen Jianjun, married Liang Hongyu and has a one-year-old son named Chen Shengmei, nicknamed Yuanyuan. He has just learned to walk and always likes to imitate adults' speech. He is so cute.
My aunt's family lives in Kyoto all year round and is busy with work, so they haven't been back to visit the old lady and grandfather for many years.
It's a rare occasion that the old man and his family moved to Kyoto this year.
My aunt and uncle decided to move all the New Year's goods here.
Bring the whole family to spend a reunion with the He family.
He Xiaogu was originally worried that her parents would feel uncomfortable living in her niece's house.
I didn't expect that when I came over before the New Year, I realized that my worries were in vain. This nephew's wife is like a child who has not grown up. She has no idea of protecting her food at all.
I'm afraid he would like to have as many people as possible, so that he can bring a few children and have a lot of fun.
The eldest nephew has now been transferred to the Kyoto Military Region, and their family can finally be reunited here.
The most regrettable thing now is that the little nephew has not returned yet because he is out on a mission. If He Gang could also come back, this year would be the most complete reunion year for the He family.
It's a pity for my eldest brother's family as well. In this era when you need a letter of introduction to go out, he and his family can only stay in the village.
But now that my parents and my second brother's family are all around me, I can't ask for too much.
Old Mrs. Wen sat under the eaves, looking at the three little children running around the yard, and she was extremely happy.
It seemed as if God wanted to give people a good New Year. Even Kyoto, which had been snowing heavily for several days, has been sunny these days.
Especially on New Year’s Eve, it was a rare sunny day.
Accompanied by Aunt He, Old Mrs. Wen and Old Man sat on rattan chairs under the eaves to bask in the sun.
Little Tiger, Little Doudou and Little Yuanyuan, three little people are playing in the courtyard.
Uncle He, my uncle-in-law, He Lin, Chen Yuanchao and Chen Jianjun, a few grown men, went to put up Spring Festival couplets.
Bai Guoguo's yard is large with many rooms, so pasting Spring Festival couplets is a big project.
Aunt Wang, Bai Guoguo, Mrs. Zhang, and the two daughters-in-law of the Chen family were cooking the New Year's Eve dinner in the big kitchen.
The big kitchen has a long row of stoves, eight burners, and many small stoves, enough for several people to show off their cooking skills.
The long wooden table opposite the stove was piled high with food ingredients, including chicken, duck, fish, meat, as well as some dried seafood, and wild delicacies such as dried mushrooms and vegetables.
Bai Guoguo is going to make a big dish today, and she started preparing it yesterday.
She fried what needed to be fried and soaked what needed to be soaked the day before. She even started soaking the sea cucumber, abalone and fish maw 7 days in advance.
I also cooked a pot of broth with old hen, ham, fried pork feet, scallops, and spare ribs.
I also specially looked for a large wine jar that had been filled with rice wine for decades.
This dish has to be stewed early in the morning, and Bai Guoguo is now putting the ingredients in layer by layer.
There is a layer of winter bamboo shoots at the bottom, and on top of the bamboo shoots are shiitake mushrooms, and then abalone, scallops, beef tendons, fish maw, ham, pigeon, scallops, pork tripe, duck gizzards, lamb elbows, pig trotter tips, pigeon eggs, sea cucumbers, local chickens, local ducks, and spare ribs.
Then add a little spices, rice wine and broth that has been simmered for a day and a night, and seal the wine jar with layers of soaked dry lotus leaves, oil paper, and yellow mud.
Put the sealed jar on the stove, bring it to a boil over high heat and then simmer it over low heat. Simmer from morning until dinner in the evening, which takes about 10 hours.
This dish can be said to be extremely complicated. It takes more than a week from the preparation of ingredients to the production.
But the taste is beyond words.
There is a saying that describes the dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall:
"When the altar is opened, the aroma of meat fills the air, and the Buddha hears it, abandoning his meditation and jumping over the wall to come!"
This shows how delicious this dish is. Even Buddha gave up his Zen mind to jump over the wall to taste it. You can imagine how delicious it is. Therefore, the name of the dish "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" comes from this!
Aunt Wang and Mrs. Zhang were used to Bai Guoguo's generosity, but the two daughters-in-law of the Chen family had never seen such a big fuss when cooking a dish.
They had seen chicken, duck, and spare ribs, but they had only heard of other things like sea cucumber, fish maw, abalone, scallops, and dried scallops, and had never seen them.
Not to mention that they also put pigeons, pigeon eggs, pig tripe, ribs, pig trotters, tendons and other things in it.
They couldn't even imagine how much this jar of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall would cost.
"Little cousin, I didn't expect that making a dish involves so many steps and all these things. Just finding all the ingredients must be a lot of work, right?"
Huang Xiaoying kneaded the dough while making clicking sounds. How rich is her cousin's family?
There are many things here that cannot be bought even with money or tickets.
Liang Hongyu was also muttering to herself while working that this little cousin's wife was probably living a more comfortable and luxurious life than the capitalists.
Their father-in-law works as the head of the logistics section. They are supposed to be worldly-wise people, but many of the things here at my cousin's place are things they have only heard of in legends.
"It's nothing. I travel around all the time. I scrape together some stuff here and there, plus some gifts from friends, and I have enough ingredients for this dish. It's New Year's Day, and it's a rare occasion for the family to get together, so I have to treat you well, right?" Bai Guoguo said with a smile.
"That's right, our Guoguo is just popular. A few days ago, all her disciples came to give her gifts. They brought local specialties from all over the world. It's also because Guoguo is so generous, so we should just take advantage of her!"
Mrs. Zhang laughed out loud and helped Bai Guoguo change the subject.
Aunt Wang also agreed with a smile and started talking about other topics.
They lived here for a while and vaguely realized that Bai Guoguo must have done something extraordinary to receive such good treatment.
Both brothers of the He family went to serve in the army, so they naturally knew that some things should be kept secret.
So when the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law go out to buy groceries, they never mention anything about Bai Guoguo.
It is still morning now. Several female comrades are making something for the morning meal in the kitchen, and the rest are being prepared for the New Year's Eve dinner in the evening.
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