New Year's Eve 1985
From now until the sixth day of the first lunar month, the workers of the Hua family will have their annual holiday.
All the work in the greenhouse has been arranged. During the New Year holidays, the people in the family are responsible for the straw mats in the morning and evening. If the temperature is low, they can just burn coal and they don’t have to do any other work.
When it comes to feeding pigs, Uncle Zhang only needs to feed them and he doesn’t have to do any other work.
It is easy to cook for more than ten people, and it is mainly Hua Fangfang, Jiang Pangpang and Zhang Liang who are responsible for it.
Hua Yuanyuan was the one cooking, and she was afraid that the food would be too unpalatable, so she came over to keep an eye on it.
Enough steamed buns were prepared and the vegetables were picked and eaten right away.
For breakfast, just boiled eggs and salted duck eggs, a side dish, some sweet potato porridge and hot steamed buns.
Hua Yuanyuan specifically requested sweet potato porridge, which is not rice porridge but millet and sweet potato porridge.
For lunch and dinner, in addition to eating dumplings, a main dish is fried food, a dish stewed with pork, and a stir-fried green leafy vegetable.
The main task on the morning of New Year's Eve is to make dumplings. Hua Yuanyuan prepared the stuffing and went out to look around on the street. She didn't know how many times she went out to look around in a day.
She was not the only one who was looking forward to Hao Li's return. Although the men of the military wives had not returned yet, they were all preparing meals for them.
Li Chunlan and her other children have grown up and can handle the busy work and have gotten used to it.
Yang Jing can't do that. The new mother can only look after Xiao Huasheng.
If you want to do things like pasting couplets, blessing characters, and making dumplings yourself, you will only focus on the beginning and not the end.
Hua Yuanyuan had already told her that the two families would make dumplings together and she didn't have to prepare anything.
Let Xiao Fang and the others put up the couplets. They have to put one up on all the greenhouses in the Hua family.
I arrived at Yang Jing's house a little disappointed, sealed the stove and made sure it wasn't extinguished, and then the mother and daughter went to Hua's house to make dumplings together.
Hua Youzhi boiled a big pot of paste, and Hua Fangfang, Jiang Pangpang and Zhang Liang started pasting the couplets in the morning. It was a bit cloudy that day, and there was no wind, so the sooner they finished pasting, the sooner they would be done.
Others were good at making dumplings, but Yang Jing was not very good at making them, but she was okay at rolling out the dough.
Little Peanut was sleeping soundly in his little car.
Two meals need to be prepared, one on New Year’s Eve and one on the morning of the first day of the New Year.
Money and dates are put into the dumplings on the morning of the first day of the New Year.
The money has been sterilized by boiling water and is all new. It will be wrapped up and put away this year and used next year.
Hua Yuanyuan took some special observation and found that her father, uncle, fourth uncle, and Uncle Zhang were all making dumplings quite well.
When you pinch it with both hands, it looks like a small ingot. The only drawback is that it seems like the author is reluctant to put stuffing in it.
"Put more stuffing in it. It tastes better with more stuffing."
The dough rolled by Yang Jing and Hua Qingguo was not enough to meet the needs of these people.
I cooked dumplings directly at noon, so I didn’t have to cook anything else.
At this time, even for people like the Hua family who had a rich meal, eating dumplings was considered a very important ritual.
The most representative food for important festivals is dumplings.
Eat dumplings on birthdays, eat dumplings when something good happens at home, eat dumplings when Hao Li comes home...
I finished all my work in the morning and cleaned myself up in the afternoon.
Hua Yuanyuan was the fastest to boil water, take a bath and change into new clothes because she took a bath every day.
After cleaning herself up, she went to Yang Jing's house to help look after Xiao Huasheng while Yang Jing boiled water for her to take a good bath.
Along the way, couplets were posted on the doors of every household and red lanterns were hung, creating a New Year atmosphere.
In the alleys and on the main streets, children started setting off small firecrackers.
Hua Yuanyuan was a little worried about their new clothes. If they burned a hole in them, would they get beaten during the Chinese New Year?
It's only been three months since she was pregnant, and she hasn't made a big announcement about it, but anyone with a discerning eye should have noticed it.
First of all, she gained weight visibly and had a double chin. When she was not in charge of things, many people made all kinds of speculations.
Some people with quick minds guessed in this direction, and also thought that it was because the baby was still young and it was not easy to tell others.
Although no one said it explicitly, the way people looked at her was very intriguing, as if to say, "I know your secret, what's going on with you?"
If you don't want to say anything, don't say anything. If no one wants to say anything, you have to say something ambiguous.
"Yuanyuan, is there anything you want to eat?"
"Yuanyuan, do you want something sour or spicy?"
…
On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, all the villagers went to visit the graves, but the Hua family did not need to do so.
At around five o'clock, the dumplings were ready, firecrackers were set off, and we had the New Year's Eve dinner.
The Hua family’s New Year’s Eve dinner is very simple, with just dumplings.
Hua Yuanyuan asked everyone's opinion whether they should prepare a big table of dishes. Everyone said no, and just eat dumplings.
Hua Youcai didn't want to tire his daughter. He had discovered a long time ago that his daughter really didn't want to move after having a baby. She was lazy and would not do anything if she could avoid it.
At this time, he was thinking that this was the good thing about his daughter not living with her husband's family.
No matter how good the husband's family is, the daughter-in-law will never be so comfortable.
After eating dumplings, there were melon seeds, peanuts, candies, apples, pears, strawberries, and a teapot and cups on the table. We sat on the kang, eating and drinking while waiting to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Peanut's daily routine was disrupted today. He didn't sleep even when it was time to go to bed. Sometimes he was even frightened by the sound of firecrackers outside.
Li Chunlan and her friends came over after eating dumplings at home, and agreed to watch the evening show together.
Hua Fangfang took two friends, holding flashlights, and went to walk around the greenhouse.
There are no night guards arranged during the New Year, so the bad guys have to celebrate the New Year too.
Television was a rare thing, and not only Hua Yuanyuan, but even Xiao Huasheng turned his head to watch it.
·
Hao Li just returned to the base on New Year's Eve. It was not easy for him to finally get back after rushing back.
Before returning, a group of brothers had already returned home to celebrate the New Year.
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