Tomorrow is Chinese New Year. I had bought New Year's goods, but something unexpected happened the night before. Who is in the mood to celebrate the New Year?
Just now, Bai Ziqian distributed a lot of candy, pastries, and brightly colored fabrics. Doesn't that bring out the New Year's atmosphere?
Especially since the candy was rock candy, which the maid mentioned was extremely rare. It was indeed crystal clear and looked like little ice cubes, and it tasted incredibly sweet.
Bai Ziqian gave them all the precious candy, not keeping a single piece for himself!
They also saw that the pastries were made from several hundred taels of yam powder. Oh my, after eating them, they felt unworthy of them!
The fabrics, too, were bright red, green, and deep blue—the colors were incredibly vibrant.
Brightly colored fabrics cost tens of coins more per bolt at the cloth shop. This child always picks the best for gifts!
They returned home with food and supplies, each family expressing their gratitude to Bai Ziqian, and the children's joy was palpable.
Wang Guifen and Zhang Hui carried a lot of things home. Their father, Zhang Lin, wasn't a lively person, and there were several very young children under him. Regardless of age, Bai Ziqian distributed everything to them without discrimination.
This seriousness and attention warmed everyone's hearts.
There wasn't much fabric, not enough to make clothes, and even more wasteful to use it for shoe uppers, since it was all silk!
Zhao Lan touched the smooth silk fabric and carefully allocated the items: "Make two hair flowers for each of the girls and two hairbands for each of the boys. They should all be bright colors, just right for the New Year, for a festive occasion."
Zhang Hui's eyes lit up at the news, and she couldn't wait to start cutting: "Let's hurry up and finish it this afternoon, so we can use it for the New Year tomorrow!"
After speaking, she looked expectantly at Wang Guifen, whose needlework skills were among the best in the three of them and even in the entire village!
Just as he was about to ask his sister-in-law to do the cooking, since she had taken over all the cooking duties, he heard Wang Guifen ask hesitantly, "This year is different from previous years. Should we have a special New Year?"
Zhang Hui was completely bewildered. What does "special year" mean?
Zhao Lan knew that this year was different from previous years, not only because the outside world was in chaos, but also because a major change had occurred in the village.
How else can we spend the New Year?
Wang Guifen explained in detail: "After buying New Year's goods, each household only celebrates their own New Year. Even if things are chaotic outside, it won't affect the village. When the time comes, we'll kill a chicken, slaughter a duck, and stew a rabbit, which will make for an incredibly lavish feast."
However, firstly, no one is in the mood right now; secondly, how will the Zhao and Sun families manage?
Fan Qianjia was not within their concern; whether he lived a good or bad life was none of their business!
Upon hearing the mention of the Zhao and Sun families, Zhang Hui and Zhao Lan also looked worried.
Yes, the oldest able-bodied children in these two families are only thirteen or fourteen years old. In farming families, thirteen or fourteen-year-old children can be used as adults, but with all the elders in the family suddenly injured and unable to move, and with chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and piglets and lambs brought back from Shuiqing and raised in the back mountain, so many responsibilities fell on the shoulders of a few children at the same time. It was already remarkable that they could manage to do it all, let alone do it well.
Villagers will lend a hand when they have free time, but they will never help with cooking the New Year's Eve dinner.
There were also other families where many women were injured.
The men usually do a lot of farm work, so they're not very good at cooking, and they have to make do with whatever they can find for the New Year's Eve dinner.
"How about we live together?"
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