Sweeping the beams, wiping the door frames, frying fruits, cutting window flowers, pasting couplets, making Laba porridge, etc., with the arrival of one lively event after another, the new year is finally ushered in.
Rich families would buy a string of firecrackers, while less wealthy families could still enjoy the noise and knock on their copper basins a few times to suit the occasion.
The educated youth site also prepared firecrackers. After all, there were many boys there, and although they had grown up, they still had young minds.
There were crackling sounds everywhere outside the window, as well as the sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking, which were particularly loud on the night of the 30th.
Du Jiang stayed in her room alone to keep watch. With nothing to do, she found the letters exchanged with the Du family, read through them one by one, and then stacked them together according to the date. Du Jiang thought that she now had a family, although not very close. But looking at the withdrawal slips sent every two or three months, no matter how hard-hearted she was, she would inevitably feel a little soft-hearted.
After keeping watch until the second half of the night, Du Jiang finally couldn't help but fall asleep, perhaps because his eyes were too sleepy. The next day, he was woken up again by the sound of firecrackers outside the door before dawn.
Although his mind was still not clear, his limbs were already awake. He washed and dressed, then Du Jiang placed the candies and melon seeds he had prepared in advance on the stove, opened the door and walked out.
She had thought she was the first one to arrive, but Xu Zhizhou arrived even earlier than her. "Happy New Year, Du Jiang."
Looking at Xu Zhizhou walking in from outside, the red scarf around his neck was very conspicuous. It was hard for Du Jiang not to notice it. Thinking of what Du Yingying said before the New Year, he put his hands together and clasped his fists, "Brother Xu, congratulations, double happiness."
"Haha, I'm taking your good words for granted," Xu Zhizhou did not deny it. The joy on his brows was obvious, and his narrow eyes were almost narrowed into small crescents. "Let's have a drink when the time comes."
"Okay, no problem," Du Jiang nodded with a smile, looked at the open door, turned around and knocked on Luo Yue and the others' window.
After Luo Yue and the others got up, the four of them went to the village chief's house to pay New Year's greetings. Maybe it was Du Jiang's illusion, but she felt that Aunt Cui was particularly enthusiastic this time, "Happy New Year, Happy New Year, come in, I have fried some candies, come and try them."
Ah, Du Jiang was shocked by Aunt Cui's enthusiasm and was still a little uncomfortable. It was not until two or three candies were stuffed into his hands that he sat down peacefully.
After everyone was seated, the village chief leisurely walked out of the house, "Comrade Xiao Du, Comrade Luo, you are all here, please sit down, and enjoy the candies made by your aunt." Looking at the fruits in everyone's hands, the village chief turned his head to look at Aunt Cui, "Yingying's mother, go get some melon seeds and peanuts, girls all like those, and also the fruit candies."
"Okay, I'll go right away," Aunt Cui agreed with a smile, without any reluctance on her face.
As the table was filled with peanuts and melon seeds, Du Jiang and the others felt that their biscuits were not good enough. They quickly waved their hands and said thank you, "Auntie, that's enough. We'll be leaving soon."
"Why are you leaving? We're neighbors. Just sit here." Aunt Cui was unhappy when she heard that they wanted to leave. "I'll show you my cooking skills later. My braised pork head is a local specialty. You should try it."
"Yes, you are the same age as Yingying, and in our eyes you are like our children," the village chief also agreed.
Seeing the warmth of the village head and his wife, Du Jiang and the others felt a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, Du Yingying came out in time and said, "Dad, Mom, let me entertain them."
What is called a heaven-sent emergency? This is it. Looking at the beauty who was slowly approaching, Du Jiang and his group looked at her with stars in their eyes. Du Yingying covered her mouth and laughed sweetly, "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year!" Du Jiang and others congratulated each other in unison.
Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Village Chief Du stopped participating and said, "Okay, Yingying, you entertain me. I'll go to your Uncle Du's house."
"I'll go too," Aunt Cui took off her apron and followed.
Without Village Chief Du and Aunt Cui around, everyone felt much more at ease. Du Yingying took everyone's reaction in her eyes and immediately sat down with a smile. "My dad doesn't eat people, so is he that scary?"
Luo Yue touched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, "Isn't it because Uncle Du's pressure is too strong?"
"Yeah," Duan Yin said, childishly, speaking in a student-like tone, "Just like the dean of studies, I don't even dare to breathe when I speak."
Looking at their nervous faces, Du Yingying finally laughed out loud, "Are you that scared? Well, they're not here now, so try some of my mom's fried fruit. It's got a sweet center."
Du Jiang took a bite of the crescent-shaped fruit, and the crispy core was reached in one bite. Crystal clear sugar water slowly overflowed from the opening. Du Jiang quickly lowered his head and stuffed the remaining half into his mouth. Seeing this, others also followed suit and began to taste it.
The crispy and sweet taste in their mouths made the girls smile, but no one moved after eating one. Only Du Jiang, who had three stuffed into her hands, looked at the remaining two and didn't know whether to eat them or not.
Perhaps noticing Du Jiang's hesitation, Du Yingying pushed the plate of fried fruits toward Luo Yue and said, "Each of you take two, otherwise Du Jiang might feel embarrassed to eat them."
Hearing this, all the girls smiled sheepishly, but they also took two.
Seeing this, Du Yingying smiled even more happily, "We are all friends, why should we be so formal? The 15th will be the wedding for the prefect and I, so let's all come together then."
"Ah!" Luo Yue's mouth widened in delight. Gu Ruomei and Duan Yin were no less impressed. Only Du Jiang, who had some prior knowledge of the matter, was delighted and bowed again, saying, "Congratulations on your marriage. Sister Yingying and Brother Xu are truly a match made in heaven."
"Thanks. I was thinking of waiting until March, but the prefect said he had to go home after the wedding. I wanted to be back before the elementary school starts, so time is a bit tight."
This is showing off, Du Jiang and Luo Yue looked at each other and continued to speak sweet words. Gu Ruomei and Duan Yin were not stupid either. Looking at Du Yingying who was smiling like a flower because of what Du Jiang and Luo Yue said, they were not stingy and praised Du Yingying without hesitation, making her very happy.
Fortunately, although Du Jiang and the others praised her, they also knew that it was inappropriate to keep her for dinner. After a conversation, they got up and left despite Du Yingying's attempts to keep her.
After walking out of the Du family's gate, Du Jiang stuffed the last fruit in his hand into his mouth, smacked a few times and swallowed it, sighing, "No wonder Aunt Cui is so happy today. She is really in high spirits when she is happy."
"I guess you're not far away either." Du Jiang was suddenly elbowed on the arm. Before she could come to her senses, she heard Luo Yue's words. When she looked up to ask, Luo Yue, Duan Ruomei and the other two seemed to have communicated in advance. They ran towards Aunt Du's house hand in hand, leaving Du Jiang standing there in a daze.
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