Yu Sheng said, "Ten or eight catties isn't enough! But eating chestnuts has its benefits. They're filling. When guests come over, a few handfuls of chestnuts can save a lot of food!"
"Ha, ha, ha," Aunt Guo scolded Yu Sheng, "You little rascal, are you trying to make fun of your aunt? Do you think I'm that stingy?"
Since we're hosting a dinner party, we're not afraid of having a big-bellied guest!
Uncle Erhu chuckled as he prepared the mutton, and Chen Hong and Xiao Feng were amused by their conversation.
At 2 a.m. on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the villagers who had brought out the vegetables finally returned home under the leadership of the village chief.
Aunt Guo, along with Aunt Erhu and the other two, prepared a late-night snack for everyone: a bowl of mutton offal soup and two steamed buns for each person.
After finishing their late-night snack and receiving their wages, each person also received four extra bundles of green vegetables as a thank-you gift from the various hotels.
Ten hours of intense work earned me two meals, 260 yuan, plus fresh vegetables worth more than 20 yuan.
In particular, there were two bundles of tender chives, so the rice filling for New Year's Eve dinner included not only cabbage (symbolizing wealth) but also chives (symbolizing longevity).
This is a good omen. Besides, the village chief and his family are kind-hearted. They gave them an extra ten yuan, making it two hundred and sixty, since the original wage was two hundred and fifty.
When I finally got to rest at night, it was already 2:40 a.m.
Although everyone was quite tired, they were very happy. All the vegetables were sold, 35,000 jin, for a total of over 147,000 jin.
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, which was also New Year's Eve, everyone gathered at the hotel in the morning and shared steamed buns, fried snacks, tofu, fried peanuts, fried chestnuts, and mutton.
They then pooled the money for the vegetables and divided it among themselves. Forty-seven thousand yuan was left in the public account, and of the remaining one hundred thousand yuan, ten thousand yuan was given to each of Xiaofeng, Yusheng, and Yuyong's families.
Chen Hong received 35,000 yuan, while the village chief and Uncle Erhu each received 17,500 yuan.
Everyone was happy to receive their share of the money. They gave the restaurant kitchen a thorough cleaning, put up couplets and hung lanterns, then locked the door and went home.
Back home, they killed fish, chopped meat, and prepared offerings, while Yu Yang helped them put up Spring Festival couplets and hang lanterns.
This morning, Wang Guoqing and his family of three also came back from their holiday. As soon as they entered the door, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work; there was just too much chores to do around the house.
When his son's family returned, the village chief led Yu Yang to the dock to put up red banners with the words "Safe Sailing" and "Safe Journey" on the two boats.
In the afternoon, he took Yu Yang and his children and grandchildren to the ancestral graves to burn paper money and invite it back to the family shrine.
After returning home, Yu Yang went into the kitchen in a sullen mood. "Mom, we don't invite the family shrine, and Grandpa didn't come back to the village for the New Year. So Grandma will be all alone and have nowhere to spend the New Year."
I see that everyone in the village has set up ancestral shrines; shouldn't our family make offerings?
While preparing the offerings, Chen Hong said to him, "Our family makes offerings, but we only worship Heaven and Earth, the God of Wealth, and the Kitchen God."
You don't need to worry about your grandma; your grandpa and dad will definitely hold a family ancestral shrine ceremony in Jinan.
Your grandmother and all the ancestors of your Yu family have become ghosts. In the blink of an eye, they will be at your father's house in Jinan, faster than an airplane.
Don't worry, your grandma won't go hungry, and she has a place to stay. We don't need to worry about her.
Yu Yang thought for a moment and nodded: "That's good, as long as someone is in charge."
Mom, why isn't Uncle Zhou back yet? Didn't he say he would come back for the New Year?
"I hope he won't be able to come back again! Their army is so inhumane, they won't even let people go home for the New Year!"
Chen Hong was silent for a moment, then forced a smile: "I haven't been able to contact your Uncle Zhou, he must have gone on a mission."
Yu Yang, soldiers are often forced into their own circumstances. Don't blame him for breaking his promise; he also wanted to go home and celebrate the New Year with us!
Okay, let's not talk about him anymore. Now that we've accepted his military service, we need to get used to this situation and celebrate the New Year as usual.
Chen Hong led Yu Yang to set up an incense table in the courtyard, placed the memorial tablet for heaven and earth written by someone else, and arranged chicken, fish, tofu, three kinds of fresh fruits: bananas, apples, and oranges. They also placed a plate of jujube cakes, a plate of rice cakes, and a plate of candy.
Then they set up an incense burner, lit incense, poured in good wine, and began to kowtow and burn paper money with their son.
He kept muttering, "Grandpa Heaven has come to our house for the New Year! We offer fine wine, delicious food, fresh fruit, and snacks. Please, Grandpa Heaven, bless our family with peace and good fortune!"
Yu Yang followed behind his mother, silently praying, "May God bless Mom's fishing trip, may she have a smooth journey and be safe!"
After making offerings to Heaven and Earth, the mother and daughter offered sacrifices and burned paper money to the God of Wealth and the Kitchen God, thus completing their New Year's Eve ritual of inviting the gods home.
They didn't follow the usual steps of setting off firecrackers and placing door-blocking sticks to invite the ancestral spirits; they completed it quite quickly.
This year, Chen Hong bought a box of Dadihong firecrackers and twenty boxes of large fireworks at the village supermarket.
The mother and daughter made two large trays of dumplings in the afternoon, and cooked a sumptuous dinner in the evening:
Ginseng stewed chicken, steamed fish, braised pork, steamed snow crab, braised prawns, cod stewed with tofu, stir-fried bok choy with dried shrimp, and cold pea sprout salad.
There was also a seafood soup with all the ingredients. In total, there were eight dishes and one soup, filling the whole table.
When we started eating, it was already eight o'clock, just in time for the Spring Festival Gala to begin.
Looking at the family-themed soup bowl, Chen Hong seemed a little lost in thought; perhaps she was still waiting for Zhou Yi to come home!
At this hour, when everyone in the country should be home, no one was coming into her house.
She kept her phone with her all day, but didn't receive a single reply.
She was trying to keep herself busy and distract herself, but she was feeling physically and mentally exhausted.
The mental exhaustion was even greater than the physical exhaustion; it was the first time she had experienced the agonizing wait that comes with being a military dependent.
Chen Hong suppressed all her bitterness and happily watched TV and ate New Year's Eve dinner with her son.
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