Chapter 212 New Year Greetings
As soon as Xu Zhiyi got up and washed up, Mu, Ma and Wu came over to wish him a happy new year.
Su took their baskets and said, "Just come over here, why are you carrying so many things?"
Mu: "Let alone the New Year, even on ordinary days, we can't visit the host empty-handed."
Ma: "That's right! The boss gave me the opportunity to make money, we should be very grateful, these gifts are what we deserve."
Mrs. Wu: "Hehe, now that I think about the half tael of silver I will earn a month, I can't wait to go to the shop to work."
"Boss, congratulations on the New Year!"
Xu Zhiyi combed her hair quickly in the room and came out. She was almost startled by the three people's loud New Year greetings, but then she realized that these four words were similar to the modern saying "Happy New Year", so she nodded and responded: "Happy New Year to you all."
Then we moved chairs to the yard and sat down to chat with everyone. There was some sunshine now, and it was warmer to bask in the sun in the yard than in the house.
Shen Changan brought over a wooden plate with some melon seeds and sugar, while Shen Wuyou went to make tea, which was bought on the day he moved into the house.
“Congratulations on the New Year!!!”
A group of children in the village got up early in the morning and went door to door to wish everyone a happy new year. Now it was Xu Zhiyi's turn.
Su looked at the group of children, quickly brought over the candy she had prepared earlier, and gave each of them a handful of candy with a smile.
When the children saw this, they were actually given candies, and handfuls at that. They kept saying auspicious words to wish a happy new year. They visited nearly twenty families in front of them, and gave red envelopes with a copper coin in two of them. Two others gave three candies each, and the others each took a handful of melon seeds.
Xu Zhiyi went back to the room and took out the red envelope he had prepared. He gave each child a red envelope with two copper coins inside.
The child jumped for joy. Wow, after being given candy, he was also given a red envelope. His mouth was sweet, and the others followed suit and gave him blessings:
"Thank you for the red envelope, sister. I wish you happiness every year."
“I wish my sister all the best.”
“I wish my sister peace.”
"I wish my sister a long life"
"I wish my sister a long life"
Xu Zhiyi was listening to the blessings from these children. They must have been taught by the adults at home, but suddenly the tone changed and he went off topic to an unknown extent!
"I wish my sister to be a wife"
"I wish my sister a happy marriage"
"I wish my sister... um? Uh..." A six-year-old child suddenly didn't know what to say. The older one beside him quickly leaned over to remind him, and he finally said: "I wish my sister... to have a baby soon."
Su, who was standing by, was very happy to hear these words. She loved hearing these words and casually grabbed another handful of candy and gave it to him.
A group of children returned home with their hands, pockets and clothes filled with melon seeds and candies wrapped in oil paper.
The Mu, Ma and Wu families sat for a while and then said goodbye. They were still busy waiting to go to the village chief's house to pay New Year's greetings.
After the three of them left, the village head brought everyone over and sat together to drink tea and chat. He suggested that they go to the village chief's house to pay New Year's greetings later.
Upon hearing this, Su went back to the kitchen to prepare New Year gifts for the village chief's house, including two pounds of meat, a bag of candy and a bag of melon seeds.
When everyone arrived at the village chief's house, it happened to be the time when most of the villagers were there, so the village chief's yard was suddenly crowded!
The village chief's daughter-in-law brought out all the chairs and stools in the house, and the village chief's wife was busy pouring tea for everyone.
The village chief looked at everyone. The house suddenly became very lively. Since everyone came over, the smile on his face never stopped.
After sitting for about half an hour, everyone was ready to go back, but the village chief stopped them from leaving, saying that they had to stay for dinner. Everyone knew the rules: when visiting neighbors on the first day of the new year, one never stayed at someone else's house for dinner.
It would only happen on the second day of the Chinese New Year, when a married daughter would come back, or when one would go back to visit his parents. Only then would they eat and then come back.
Xu Zhiyi gave each of the three grandsons of the village chief a red envelope.
Su came out to the roadside and secretly opened the basket to look, only to find that the village chief only took a bag of melon seeds and half a bag of sugar, no meat at all, and even put five more eggs into the basket.
When he got back home, he saw Yan Yue standing at the gate of the yard with a basket in her hand. Seeing Xu Zhiyi and the others coming back from New Year's greetings, he happily wished them a happy new year: "Boss, congratulations on the New Year. I wish your shop will open well after the New Year and you will make a lot of money."
Xu Zhiyi took the basket from her hand and said, "Thank you. Come in and have a cup of tea."
After the two sat down, they chatted about some things to pay attention to in terms of clothing styles, as well as the three sets of dresses that the shop had just made. The two were too engrossed in the conversation.
When Yan Yue returned, it was already afternoon! Today's New Year's greetings were over! As those of us who had fled from famine, there were no relatives to visit on the second day of the New Year. We would just go to our grandmother Su's house next door for dinner, so that Su could be considered to be returning to her mother's home.
At this time, under the leadership of the constable, the Liuhe village finally arrived at Shoutian Village where they were going to settle down. The constable talked with the village chief for a few words and then left!
After the constable handed them over to the village chief, the village chief took everyone to a desolate hillside after the constable left.
The head of Shoutian Village pointed to the barren land and said: "Your homesteads are two mu each. Each household will come and report the number of people to get the land."
Everyone looked at the overgrown weeds, some of which were almost taller than people. And since entering the village, they had observed that this village was much poorer than their Liuhe Village.
There was not a single brick house in the whole village, but there were still quite a few brick houses in Liuhe.
Gu Yun: "Village Chief, this residential land is so desolate, it will take time for us to build a thatched house. I wonder... is there a place in the village where we can stay temporarily?"
The head of Shoutian Village shook his head when he heard this: "No, you probably saw it too, every household has only a few thatched houses, there really is no vacant house!"
"Alas, you are unlucky. If you had come earlier, you might have been assigned to the deserted mountain village next door. Although it is also poor, it has many caves!"
"I have shown you the land. You can build whatever house you want. I will go back first. Today is the first day of the new year and we have guests coming to visit us."
Everyone was very angry when they saw the village chief leave like this:
"Is the village chief just going to ignore us?"
"That's right! We don't even have a house. Do we have to continue sleeping on the floor during the New Year?"
"No, didn't Gu Yun make arrangements with the inspector? Why were we assigned to such a poor village? Not only is it poor, but it's so far from the town that we can't even go back and forth in a day!"
"I don't know! But I did see the inspector look at Gu Yun a few more times after seeing his scholar's document."
"Alas, it's useless to talk now. The village chief didn't arrange anything for us and just left like that. What should we do?"
"Huh, what kind of village chief is this? So irresponsible. If the head of our Liuhe Village was here, he would definitely help us arrange everything well."
When the others heard this, they couldn't help but ask curiously, "What do you think, which village will the headman and his men be assigned to now? Will it be much better than ours?"
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