Chapter 207 New Year's Eve
Lu Jingshen bought a few large fireworks, the kind that came in big buckets, with very festive names like "Spring Fills the Garden" and "Flowers Bloom and Wealth Prospers".
They bought a lot, so the salesperson at the supply and marketing cooperative packed two boxes for them in cardboard boxes.
After paying the money, the three of them finally went home happily.
When she got home, Ai Xiaoxia played with firecrackers in the yard. She was brave in other things, but she was afraid of firecrackers. She was also afraid of heights. She only dared to ride the carousel in the amusement park and only throw firecrackers when setting off firecrackers.
Lu Jingyuan took the firecrackers and threw them outside the yard. The yard was filled with crackling sounds, and before he knew it, the atmosphere of the New Year was getting more and more festive.
This year, their family partnered with someone else to slaughter a pig. Each family couldn't finish eating one, so they partnered with two other families to slaughter the meat. There was enough meat, so they didn't have to buy any more.
In the past, if Wang Jinfeng came before the New Year, they would have to go and see her. However, this year Lu Jingxin had heard through the grapevine that Wang Jinfeng and the others would not be coming back for the New Year, so there was no need to go to their uncle's place.
In the evening, I received a call from Li Wensong, saying that he had arrived home safely and asked my aunt not to worry.
We didn’t go to bed early tonight because there was TV, so we stayed up late chatting and watching TV.
The next day is New Year’s Eve.
I got up late this morning because I have to stay up late to welcome the God of Wealth tonight and go to bed in the second half of the night.
After breakfast, Ai Xiaoxia and Lu Jingshen began to paste couplets. They would paste hanging money under the horizontal scroll of each couplet, in various colors with various good meanings.
Li Shaofen spread the paste, Lu Jingyuan passed it in the middle, Lu Jingshen pasted it, and Ai Xiaoxia helped to check whether it was neat.
Lu Guojiu swept the yard again. It was a custom here that the floor could not be swept on the first and second days of the New Year, so as not to sweep away the blessings and fortune. Even if one set off firecrackers and made a lot of paper, one had to wait until the third day to sweep the floor.
After pasting the couplets and the word "Fu", the more you paste, the more festive it will appear.
Everything is pasted, and we start to hang lanterns. The lanterns were bought by Lu Guojiu at the market before the New Year. It is also the custom here. From the 30th to the 15th of the first lunar month, the lights must be lit every night and kept bright all night long, representing longevity and the eternal continuation of the incense.
Not all families are willing to hang this kind of lanterns. Some people's door lights are red and they are on all night, which means that it is enough. Some poor families deliberately buy the red light bulbs with the smallest wattage and light them on the windowsill. Some families light candles or something. Anyway, the meaning is the same.
Lu Guojiu had already fixed the wooden stakes for hanging lanterns on both sides of the gate. Now he just had to hang the lanterns up and connect the electrical wires.
This is the first year that their family has lit such a large lantern. The plastic lantern has yellow tassels and looks very impressive.
Lu Jingshen connected the wires and the lanterns, then lit up both lanterns. Although it was daytime, the red light was still very festive.
After all these are done, we start preparing lunch. It’s called lunch, but it’s more accurate to say it’s lunch, because we get up late in the morning and eat late, so we eat this meal around two or three in the afternoon, and then it’s the New Year’s Eve dinner.
During the Chinese New Year, there are more things at home than usual. We can eat a little bit of this and a little bit of that and still not feel hungry.
For the afternoon meal, they usually stew big fish. There are many river fish here, usually salmon or carp.
This year, Lu Jingshen and his friends bought a salmon and brought it back. After it was thawed, Li Shaofen was cleaning it in the kitchen.
Collect it, chop it into small pieces with an axe, and then stew it in a big pot.
Ai Xiaoxia has a secret recipe for stewing fish, so she made today's main dish, fish. The fish is fried first and then stewed. When stewing the fish, she poured a can of beer into it, and the smell came up all at once.
Ai Xiaoxia was stewing fish, while Li Shaofen was stir-frying a few dishes on the stove.
They are not the eldest in the family and do not live with the elderly, so there is no need to set up an altar or anything. They just need to focus on the three meals during the New Year.
Of course, they didn't know how miserable Wang Jinfeng in the city was at that moment. It was the first time she felt so miserable during the New Year. In the past, she would return to the countryside two days before the New Year. What kind of treatment was there? She was treated like an empress dowager.
But at this time, she knew that her youngest son and his wife would divorce after the New Year. This was a foregone conclusion. Her youngest son would lose his job and his money. If they divorced, half of the house would have to be given to Jiang Zhi, and there would be no one to wash his clothes and cook for him in the future. She was so old, and her life was getting worse and worse. She could not accept the gap in this store.
She agreed with Lu Guosheng and Jiang Zhi that they must not mention their divorce when they returned to the village, nor could they mention the fact that Lu Guosheng was unemployed. They couldn't say anything.
But Wang Jinfeng was a little worried that her second son would get to know the situation and would retaliate against her by spreading the news. Wouldn't she be laughed at when she returned home?
So after thinking it over for a while, Wang Jinfeng couldn't help but call her second son Lu Guojiu's home.
Unfortunately, it was Ai Xiaoxia who answered the phone. When Wang Jinfeng heard Ai Xiaoxia's voice, she felt unwell. She said to Ai Xiaoxia, "Ask your father-in-law to answer the phone."
Ai Xiaoxia guessed some of Wang Jinfeng's thoughts. She wanted to save face and was probably afraid that they would say that Lu Guosheng had lost his job.
In fact, if Wang Jinfeng hadn't called, Ai Xiaoxia wouldn't have thought about it at all, because it had nothing to do with her and she didn't have time to worry about it.
However, after hearing Wang Jinfeng's voice, Ai Xiaoxia wanted to upset her, so she said to Wang Jinfeng, "Grandma, are you afraid that we will tell others that my uncle has lost his job?"
Wang Jinfeng covered her chest with one hand, she was so angry that she almost fainted. How could this damn girl guess what was in people's mind? What's more, she asked even though she knew it. Wasn't this intentional?
But she was really afraid that they would tell others, even if it spread after the New Year. It didn't matter. After a while, when her youngest son found a job, it would be easy to talk about it.
She could only lower her posture and say to Ai Xiaoxia, "Xiaoxia, it's New Year's Day, so please don't talk about your uncle's affairs. It won't be good for the health of the elders at home if they know about it."
Ai Xiaoxia wondered, what elder would be so concerned about other people's affairs? How idle would they be? Besides, Wang Jinfeng always boasted every time she came back to her hometown, her eyes almost looking like they were on top of her head. She was always annoying others.
She said to Wang Jinfeng, "Grandma, you're too late to talk about this. When Jing Shen and I came back, we talked about it with my parents while we were chatting. We talked about it while standing in the yard. I don't know if they heard it."
In fact, they were not in the yard. To be honest, their family was not the kind of people who would gossip, but Wang Jinfeng asked so worriedly that Ai Xiaoxia seemed to want to tease her.
Wang Jinfeng's heart skipped a beat when she heard this: "No, why didn't you talk about this in the house?"
Ai Xiaoxia said, "We didn't think too much about it. We were just concerned about my uncle's affairs. You don't know that my parents know about my uncle's affairs and are very worried."
Wang Jinfeng was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with her at this moment. She said angrily, "Sure, I won't say anymore. You're going to piss me off to death sooner or later." Then she hung up the phone with a bang.
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