Chapter 017 Chapter 17 New Year

On the 23rd day of the 11th lunar month, Lin Yue got up early. This day was the Little New Year, which meant that from today on, every household had to prepare for the New Year.

In her previous life, Lin Yue's impression of Xiaonian came entirely from her mother calling her to remind her to eat dumplings. On this day, she would occasionally come across people selling sugar melons on the street, and she would buy some to show her the occasion. However, the sugar melons at that time were no longer the same as when she was a child, and were not crispy at all.

The festive atmosphere at that time was actually very weak. In the eyes of young people, Little New Year's Day was not as important as National Day and New Year's Day. After all, there was no holiday for Little New Year's Day.

Things are different now than in later times. Aunt Zhang came early in the morning and supervised Lin Yue to wash all the pots, pans, and utensils in the house, wipe the stove clean, and put up a picture of the Stove King.

After watching Lin Yue finish her work, Aunt Zhang left. Before leaving, she repeatedly told her to place sugar melons and dumplings to worship the stove king in the evening.

The statue of Prince Lan and the sugar melons were bought when they were rushing to buy food a few days ago, and more than half of them had already been secretly eaten by Lin Yue.

When they went to the market that day, she followed Aunt Luo to a house and bought a lot of shrimps and dried fish.

That family also sells melon seeds and peanuts. Aunt Luo came here just for their five-spice peanuts. Lin Yue tasted it and it tasted very similar to what she had sold last time. She didn't say anything, but asked the price and bought half a pound.

She sells raw peanuts for 60 cents per pound, and the five-spice peanuts here are sold for 90 cents per pound. Even though they are so expensive, there are still many people who come to buy them. Each person will buy at least half a pound, and they will all be sold out in a short time.

No wonder the fat aunt laughed like that that day.

Lin Yue also bought some leeks at the market, which was just right for making leek and egg dumplings today.

She had basically never been willing to use the white flour at home before, but today, on the holiday, she was extravagant and made dumplings with all white flour.

In order to eat dumplings in the evening, Lin Yue just ate a few bites at noon.

Before the dumplings were out of the pot, Jin's little son Liu Shiliang came running in wearing his father's big cotton-padded jacket, saying that his mother asked him to help Lin Yue set off firecrackers.

Lin Yue was overjoyed and quickly let him in. It was time for the dumplings to be cooked. She took out the dumplings and worshipped the stove king first, then she and Xiao Shiliang held the pole and lit the firecrackers. The firecrackers crackled and Lin Yue almost threw the pole out.

After setting off the firecrackers, Lin Yue gave Xiao Shiliang a small bowl of dumplings and asked him to take it home. Xiao Shiliang couldn't refuse, so he happily took the dumplings and went home.

The two kids were not afraid of the sound of firecrackers at all. They just slept and played as if they could not hear anything. But the three sheep were quite scared and were restless. She saw that it was getting dark and no one would come, so she put the sheep into the room.

The dumplings were cooked in the same earthenware pot. Aunt Su said that the new iron pot had to be heated before use, and she didn't have that much oil at home to waste. She had bought the pot many days ago, but she hadn't used it yet.

The dumplings were delicious and Lin Yue ate more than thirty of them before stopping.

It was snowing outside again. Lin Yue held the two chubby kids in her arms and sat by the window, staring at the vast snow outside. She didn't know much about this period of history. She only knew that the three-year famine had already passed two years ago, and it was not certain that the situation would improve next year.

The village slaughtered the New Year pig on the 26th day of the lunar year, and the meat was still divided according to the ratio of 60% labor and 40% labor per person. Lin Yue's family had two more children, so this year she got meat for three people. She wanted mostly lean meat, and only asked for a little fat to keep for the newly bought iron pot when she got home.

Everyone was short of oil and water, and fat meat was a good thing. Sun Hongmei's eyes turned red in the crowd, and she was so angry that she shouted and mocked: "It's different now that you have a backer. If you are hungry, you can go to the captain's house for a good meal. Pork meat is not so rare during the Chinese New Year. Look at how proud you are, you don't even want fat meat!"

Except for sending 8 yuan and a small bag of sorghum flour to the old house a few days ago, Lin Yue and her husband's family had hardly visited each other. Hearing Sun Hongmei say this, she was not angry, but smiled and said: "Yes, mother-in-law, you don't have to worry about me now. I can at least eat some meat now. You can keep the ones you share for yourself. If you really care about me and your two big fat grandsons, you should send less, don't send too much, and leave more for my brother and sister-in-law."

Sun Hongmei was so angry that her mouth twisted: "Bah! As a daughter-in-law, you don't send food to your parents-in-law, but you always think about these little things of your parents-in-law. You are really shameless and don't know filial piety!"

Lin Yue was not angry at all. Instead, he said with concern: "Mother-in-law, I just sent you food and money two days ago. You won't forget it, right? I went to the county town some time ago and heard that some old ladies tend to forget things when they get older. It's called Alzheimer's disease or something. Is your case serious? Otherwise, let's go to the hospital!"

Although people didn't know what "Alzheimer's disease" was, they knew it was an insult and immediately burst into laughter.

Sun Hongmei was about to scold again, but the people around her were not happy: "Zhang Laosan's family, that's enough, you can talk about your family's trivial matters after you get home and close the door. We are still dividing the meat, don't waste everyone's time. You are dithering, are you really senile?"

Sun Hongmei was so angry that she fell backwards, not caring about Lin Yue anymore, and rushed forward to tear the man's mouth.

The village only distributes meat twice a year. The distribution of the annual pig is a very important event in the countryside. Many people come to wait before dawn. Now everyone is wrapped in thick cotton jackets and is jumping up and down in the snow. The villagers may usually be happy to watch the gossip between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, but now, no one is interested in that. Everyone wants to go home and have a good meal after the pork is distributed.

Zhang Zhiqiang scolded, "Whoever makes a fuss again can go back. Come back after everything is divided!"

Everyone fell silent instantly. Even Sun Hongmei didn't dare to make any more noise. She just stood in the crowd swallowing her anger. If she heard anyone laughing, she would glare at them, regardless of whether they were laughing at her or not.

Lin Yue decided to call it a day, said hello to the people he knew, and went home with the meat.

On the way, Lin Yue met Widow Liu again. She greeted Lin Yue warmly and wanted to go back together. Lin Yue did not dare to agree and walked away quickly.

It’s no wonder that Lin Yue avoided her. It wasn’t because of her reputation, but because Lin Yue discovered Widow Liu’s secret when they were rushing together a few days ago.

Of course, they may not think this is a shameful secret and may even wish everyone knew about it.

When he went to the gathering that day, Lin Yue went to the deserted alley as usual, but unexpectedly ran into Widow Liu having a secret meeting with a man there.

Lin Yue was so scared that he quickly entered the space. He secretly looked out from the space, but he saw that the two men were not worried at all that someone would come here. After a fierce fight, he heard Widow Liu say to the man: "Let's break up. Don't come to see me in the future."

The man was tidying up his clothes while nonchalantly asking, "Why, do you still want to keep your name clean for that Principal Xu? You've been around him for so long, has he ever looked you in the eye once?"

Widow Sun was not angry either. She lay in the man's arms and said softly, "Yes, he has a female disciple in our village. Last time I helped that disciple, I went to him to ask for credit and he thanked me."

When the man heard that he was excited, he said in a naughty tone: "Oh, a female disciple, you have so much fun with her. What, is that female disciple very pretty? How does she compare to you?" As he said that, his hands started to get naughty.

Lin Yue quickly closed the space, not daring to look at it anymore. She felt speechless, there were so many things to complain about, she didn't know which one to complain about first.

After what happened that day, when Lin Yue saw Widow Sun again, it was like seeing a scourge. No matter how she looked at her, she looked like a stepmother, the kind who would cheat on her father every minute. How could she dare to say another word to her?

However, Widow Liu was obviously not someone who could read other people's faces. Every time she saw Lin Yue, she was very attentive and often created chance encounters with her. Lin Yue had to hide from her in great pain.

On the 27th, Aunt Su sent her second son Zhang Shoucang to help her kill the old hen and two rabbits. He also enthusiastically helped her to deal with them and cut them into pieces. Lin Yue kept more than half for herself, divided the remaining rabbit meat into several portions, and gave some to several acquaintances.

During the Chinese New Year, she finally had enough meat to eat, and the remaining meat could be made into bacon to be eaten later.

Last time, after the meat was divided, Sun Hongmei wanted to ask her for more meat. Since Lin Yue was not in front of outsiders, she didn’t hold back and pushed the person out. She also threatened: “If you dare to make trouble again, I will go out and say that you hit me and wanted to take away all the food in my house! You will see whether everyone believes me when you see it!”

Sun Hongmei was so angry that she went forward to fight with Lin Yue, but her strength was no match for Lin Yue, and she was subdued by Lin Yue in a few moves. Sun Hongmei was frightened by Lin Yue's great strength and dared not make trouble anymore. She left after saying a few harsh words.

After this incident, Lin Yue and her husband's family had completely broken up. The two families didn't visit each other often, and now Sun Hongmei and her husband would avoid her when they saw her on the street.

Her sister-in-law Zhang Xiaoxi would often come to her house and ask her for food and drinks. However, everyone was busy before the New Year, and Lin Yue had no time to deal with her. Seeing that crying and making a fuss were useless, she left on her own.

Early in the morning on New Year's Day, Lin Yue, holding her two little ones, walked into her husband's house under the gazes of the neighbors to pay New Year's greetings to her parents-in-law.

In rural areas, New Year's greetings on the first day of the new year are the job of men, and married women are not allowed to go around to pay New Year's greetings. They can only visit their husband's family and the homes of their relatives and elders.

Lin Yue had already visited several familiar families to pay New Year's greetings years ago. She only needed to visit her parents-in-law's house to pay New Year's greetings again, and she had nothing to do today.

Sun Hongmei didn't let her in and chased her away in the yard. But the twin brothers secretly caught up with her and stuffed a piece of candy into the hands of each of her two little nephews and nieces. She looked at these two children who were less than ten years old and smiled sincerely.

The Zhang family has a good family. Except for Zhang Xiaoxi who was raised a little crooked, the rest are all good children.