Chapter 148 A Happy New Year with Family Reunion!
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When Li Shiyue and Shitou returned home, snowflakes were already falling from the sky again.
Li's mother made an egg drop soup by boiling water with an egg and served it to the two of them to warm them up.
Looking at the poached eggs in the bowl, Li Shiyue looked up at her mother and said, "How about we adopt a few hens next year and keep them just to eat chickens?"
"Do you really need to think about this?"
Your aunt and I already asked around. Aunt Liu said that there's a market on the 8th and 18th of each lunar month on the main road outside Qingshan Town. We can go and buy three or five to keep in the yard then.”
Over the next few days, the kitchen in Li Shiyue's house was always busy. The fire in the stove never stopped, making Li Shiyue feel unbearably hot even when sleeping on the kang at night. He would often wake up in the middle of the night feeling hot and thirsty, and had to get up to pour himself a bowl of water.
Fortunately, in just two or three days, Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang used up the half bag of coarse flour that Li Shiyue had bought, steaming, baking, frying, and making all sorts of dishes.
I went to Zhao You's house to buy soybean cakes, and also bought two buckets of oil, of which I used up about half of them.
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Dog Lao San arrived at the door carrying a bunch of meat.
Dog Lao San said somewhat embarrassedly to Li's mother and the others, "It's just me and my aunt at home. I'm going to ask if I can come and stay up with you tomorrow to celebrate the New Year."
We'll leave after midnight!
Li's mother would naturally not refuse Gou Lao San's request, and since it was the first year of settling down for the New Year, the more people there were, the more lively it would be.
After the third dog left, Li Shiyue heard her mother say to her, "Since we invited the third dog to come home to celebrate the New Year together, how can we not invite other people?"
Li Shiyue was somewhat reluctant to invite others to her home, but then she heard her mother say, "You just said you wanted to lead everyone to make paper and do business together so that we could live a better life in the future. Now you're not happy about it anymore?"
"Mother, what if they just want to spend the New Year at their own home? Would it be a bad idea for me to invite them to our house to celebrate the New Year?"
After thinking about it, Li's mother agreed. In the end, Zheng Meiniang said, "You should go and ask Erdan's mother and Wang Shisan's family. There are only two people at home in those two families. It's not easy for orphans and widows."
As for other people's homes, go and see for yourself, explain the situation clearly, and if they don't want to come, they won't come.
With both his aunt and mother speaking, Li Shiyue had no choice but to resign himself to his fate, put on his leather hat, and brave the wind and snow to go outside.
First, they went to Erdan's mother's house. When Erdan's mother heard Li Shiyue ask this, she immediately agreed. However, for some reason, she was about to burst into tears in the wind.
Li Shiyue was a little overwhelmed, so she quickly said something and went to Li Wangshui's house next door.
"...That's why my third brother came over to ask, and I felt it wouldn't be right if I didn't ask you all; "
But I'm afraid that if I ask you, you've already planned to enjoy yourselves at home, and you'd have to go through the trouble of agreeing to this, which isn't what I intended.
So, Uncle Wangshui, Aunt Lanhua, it's fine if you want to come, and it's also fine if you don't. I was just asking out of curiosity.
"Oh, that's great!"
Dazhuang and Xiaozhuang also said they wanted to play with Erdan and Shisan!
This is great news! Our family will definitely go!
Don't worry, all four of us will go in October!
Upon hearing Li Shiyue's words, Wang Shisan happily agreed, saying he would go over that very day to stay up all night together.
As for the families of Ma Zi, Wei Zi, and Yang Zai, Li Shiyue did not go there. After all, these families had quite a few people, and there was no need for her to live with them.
On New Year's Eve, the wind and snow became even heavier, and it snowed all night long. The snow was so deep that it reached up to people's calves. If a short child was in the snow, it would probably be submerged.
As soon as Shi Tou got up, he was assigned a task: to quickly sweep the snow in the yard and on the road outside.
Li Shiyue, Li Qiutian, and Li Xiatian, sisters, listened to Li Wangming's instructions from below. The three sisters climbed the wooden ladder and used tools to clear the snow from the roof.
The house is made of mud and straw, and if the snow piles up too deep, there is a risk of it collapsing.
I haven't swept the roof for the past few days, and there's already a really thick layer of dirt on it.
Sweeping the roof wasn't enough; I also had to clean the stables and donkey sheds, feed the three precious livestock, and do all the washing and scrubbing before it was almost noon.
People from the Li family also gradually entered.
First to arrive was Third Aunt's dog, Third Brother Dog. Third Brother Dog also brought quite a few things, including a small bag of flour.
"Oh, you're here, what did you bring? Put it down quickly, and you can take it back when you leave, Third Brother."
While Dog Lao San and his third aunt were being polite with Li's mother, there was movement again at the courtyard gate.
When Li Shiyue opened the door, she saw Li Wangshui's family, Erdan's mother carrying Erdan on her back, and Wang Shisan and his grandmother walking slower behind them.
None of the three families arrived empty-handed; Li Wangshui even brought a basket on his back.
As soon as he put down the basket, Li Shiyue heard a sound, indicating that there must be something alive inside!
Sure enough, when Li Wangshui opened the lid, he saw two pheasants inside!
"Uncle Wangshui!"
Did you hunt this on the mountain?
"No, no, I don't have that skill. I just learned how to make a trap and got lucky and caught these two."
"Let's stew this today!"
With more people around, Li Shiyue's courtyard suddenly became lively. Dazhuang, Xiaozhuang, and Erdan followed behind Wang Shisan, looking at the horses and donkeys in the yard, and listened to Wang Shisan tell the three of them the story of the time he went with Li Shiyue to the grassland to find the barbarians' horses.
Wang Shisan's exaggerated and startling remarks amused Li Shiyue, who was listening nearby.
The women were busy in the kitchen, and Li Wangshui and Gou Laosan were not idle either. They had to do everything, such as boiling water, killing chickens, and plucking feathers.
However, these two pheasants must have been starving in the winter, as they didn't have much meat on them; they were only good for adding flavor to stews.
As darkness fell, two tables were placed side by side on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room.
There was also a table on the ground, with the same dishes on it.
A large group of people, making a lot of noise, sat down in their seats. Li's mother even brought out the liquor that Li Shiyue and the others had bought in Sanshan County earlier.
Everyone except the children had a bowl poured, including the women.
There was a bowl in front of Li Shiyue. Actually, she didn't like drinking this kind of thing, but since it was the New Year and she didn't want to spoil the atmosphere, Li Shiyue still asked for a bowl.
Li's mother stood up and faced the large circle of people. Just as she was about to speak, her nose tingled and she felt like crying. She opened her mouth and waited for two breaths before finally saying, "May we have a prosperous and happy year ahead!"
Li's mother downed the bowl of wine in one gulp, and the others followed suit, downing their own bowls in one go!
Li Shiyue had no choice but to comply and downed the drink in one gulp.
The spiciness brought tears to her eyes.
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