Chapter 621: Storytelling

Throughout the year, only in winter can we eat sausages and bacon.

It will go bad easily in the summer, and unless it is stored in ice, it will only be good until spring at the latest.

Bacon and sausage are not smoked and do not last long.

Jiang Fubao is not good at cooking.

The maids brought a pot of hot fruit drink and then went to the backyard to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.

When the Jiang family has a meal together, they don't like to be served, so the main room is filled with family members.

As the sound of firecrackers outside rang out one after another.

The oldest ones, Jiang Shoujia and Zhang Jinlan, started picking up their chopsticks before the younger ones began to pick up their food.

The first thing Jiang Fubao picked up with his chopsticks was sausage.

It is salty, sweet and delicious, with the oil bursting in your mouth, it is so fragrant.

This year's sausages are flavored with a little bit of wine, and it really makes the taste even better.

No rice is eaten for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

If you can't finish the vegetables, and then fill your stomach with ordinary rice, it's really a waste of space in your stomach.

Jiang Fubao then picked up another piece of meatball.

These meatballs are not as crispy as when they were fried yesterday. They are cooked with pickled vegetables, but they are also delicious.

It goes well with rice, but unfortunately there is no rice today, so few people eat the salted vegetable meatballs. On the contrary, many people like the sweet and sour egg dumplings.

In a short while, half the plate was empty.

The first thing to go was the crispy fried, sweet and sour pork.

Young people love to eat this.

Jiang Fubao only took two pieces and the plate was empty.

After taking a few bites of food, her mouth felt choked, so she drank a sip of hot fruit drink to get rid of the taste. The refreshing feeling came over her and her appetite returned instantly.

"Come, it's cold, have a bowl of chicken soup. I put a few slices of ginseng in it so it won't be too much. I also put a lot of mushrooms in it, which are very fresh. The mushrooms were sent by Ma Chunxia from next door, and I put them all in here." Zhang Jinlan stood up and took a spoon to scoop soup for her grandchildren one by one.

Of course, the first one to scoop was her most beloved granddaughter Jiang Fubao.

There was half a bowl of golden chicken soup in Jiang Fubao's bowl.

The chicken was raised at home, and the stewed soup was covered with a layer of yellow oil.

I blew off the oil on the surface and took a sip of the soup.

All the bright eyebrows were stretched out.

Jiang Fubao let out a sigh and felt a warm feeling in his stomach.

"It's so hot, I want to take off my coat." Jiang Fubao's forehead was already covered with sweat.

There was a charcoal stove in the room, and the door was closed, and with so many people sitting there, it was quite warm.

Even a little hot.

The other children followed Jiang Fubao's example and took off their coats.

The adults didn't stop because they were hot too.

The whole family was wearing thin clothes and eating enthusiastically.

The adults drank wine, the children drank hot fruit drinks, and even Qian Xile drank two glasses of wine, and his cheeks turned red.

The meal took a long time. In the afternoon, Jiang Wangyou and Kong Mingxue got on the carriage and left Jiangjia Village.

The two of them were going back to town to have another New Year's Eve dinner at the Kong family's house.

Jiang Fubao put on his clothes, stood at the door with his family, watched them leave, and then returned to the main room.

The food on the table has been cleared away by the servants.

A new pot of tea was placed on the charcoal stove, surrounded by a lot of peanuts and dried fruits.

Jiang Fubao picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and his greasy mouth felt less uncomfortable.

She ate a lot of meat today, and her flat belly suddenly swelled up, as if she had a small watermelon in her arms.

Jiang Fubao stopped eating fruits and vegetables while sitting around the fire with his family to rest.

She leaned on her mother and listened to her second uncle Jiang Eryong talking about the strange and bizarre things happening among the people.

"In the eleventh year of Tianling Kingdom, a strange thing happened in Yingnan Prefecture. Every night, people living near the river could always hear the sound of babies crying. However, no matter how hard the officials searched, they could not find any trace of the children. But the crying sounded every day and was very pervasive at night. Many children were frightened and fell ill. Since then, the news of the haunted river has spread like wildfire..."

The horror story was accompanied by Jiang Eryong's deliberately ethereal voice.

That sounds scary.

The least courageous one quickly shrank into the arms of his biological father Jiang Tongmu, trembling.

But my ears were erected, wanting to continue listening.

Looks terrified.

"Sudden--"

Jiang Eryong's voice suddenly rose.

Several children screamed in fear.

Zhang Jinlan slapped her second son on the back.

Jiang Eryong grimaced in pain.

"Hey, Mom, why are you hitting me?"

"I'm going to hit you. Why are you saying something so scary on New Year's Day? If you scare the children, change your words."

Zhang Jinlan rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay, okay, then I'll change it. A long, long time ago, a strange thing happened in Chang'an Town..."

After all, it's scary.

Zhang Jinlan didn't want to listen anymore, so she simply called her family members to play cards at the table next to her.

Only Jiang Eryong was left, sitting among the children, telling them stories like a storyteller.

After listening to three stories in a row, Jiang Fubao was called away by his fellow villagers who knocked on the door.

Jiang Kang and Jiang Ning were also among them.

This year, most of the families in the village bought firecrackers, so that the ground was littered with unexploded fireworks.

Even though it was buried in the snow, it could be dug out and ignited if it was only slightly wet.

A group of children set them off in the fields, by the river, at the foot of the mountain, at the entrance of the village, and in the manure pit.

The sound of firecrackers rang out everywhere.

Until the snow stopped and it got dark.

Jiang Fubao and his nephews returned home.

Celebrate the New Year together.

The New Year's money had already been distributed during dinner, and there was nothing to do in the evening. Jiang Eryong was tired of telling stories, so he ran to the next table to play bamboo cards. Jiang Fubao simply took his place.

I told my brothers, sisters and nephews some modern stories.

"Once upon a time there was a young lady. Her father and mother loved each other very much, but they only had this one daughter. Because her skin was as white as snow and her lips were as red as pigeon blood, she was named Hongxue. She was very beautiful, even more beautiful than her mother. But unfortunately, her mother caught a cold on a snowy day and passed away.

Hongxue's father was sad for many years, and finally met a beautiful woman. He married her, hoping that she would treat Hongxue well. However, this woman was beautiful but had a heart as vicious as a snake. She bribed the servants to ask him to kill Hongxue, just because she was jealous that Hongxue was prettier than her..."

If a modern person were here, he would probably immediately understand what story Jiang Fubao was telling.

Unfortunately, it's not here.

Several children couldn't take their eyes off the topic.

This story is even better than the one told by Jiang Eryong.

It was not until two quarters of an hour later that Jiang Fubao closed her mouth. Her mouth was dry from talking, and she drank the tea in the cup in one gulp.

"This stepmother is so mean. She treated Hongxue like this just because she was jealous that she was prettier than her. Poor Hongxue, luckily she had seven people to protect her and was even taken home by the prince to be pampered. I'm so jealous..."