The Ying family’s New Year’s Eve banquet was not luxurious.
It was just like the day we welcomed her, with eight dishes and one soup, mostly home-cooked meals. The only exception was that all eight dishes were cooked by her grandparents.
Braised pork, sweet and sour spare ribs, crystal shrimp, braised catfish, four-happiness roasted gluten, and even the particularly elaborate eight-treasure duck, all of them are local dishes at a glance.
"Hey, I still have to eat this during the New Year." Grandpa Ying took off his apron, took the towel handed to him by Aunt Da Chu, wiped his face, and picked up a bottle of champagne with great interest. He looked at Mu Huaixi, "Xiao Xi, can I have some?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Wu Hui hasn't even been weaned yet!" Grandma frowned, pushed the insane old man aside, turned around and handed a piece of short ribs to Mu Huaixi, "Try it now. It's one of the few cooking skills your grandfather can bring out."
"Delicious," Mu Huaixi just praised the spareribs, and her grandmother gave her braised pork and eight-treasure duck. It seemed that she wanted her to try them all.
Mu Huaixi praised all the dishes earnestly. Seeing that the two elders were very happy, she pretended to be angry and said, "Grandpa and grandma really gave us such a big surprise. Why didn't they ask us to help? Even a helping hand would be fine!"
Earlier, when grandma was busy in the kitchen with Aunt Da Chu and Aunt Xiao Luo, she also ran to help, but grandma just asked her to take care of Wu Hui. She didn't expect that grandpa and grandma would be the ones cooking for the New Year's Eve dinner.
"You've been busy for a year, it's time to take a break," Grandma patted her shoulder with a smile, "Besides, your Aunt Chu and Aunt Luo have prepared the dishes, we just need to use the spatula to season them."
Ying Mingcheng also helped her with some food. "We are all blessed by grandma. Otherwise, how could we eat the food cooked by grandpa?"
"That's right," grandma smiled sweetly, "This old man only comes into the kitchen once a year, so we should really enjoy the chef's cooking."
"Then you have to eat more," Grandpa also smiled and helped Grandma pick up some food.
Mu Huaixi looked around and knew that there might be a story behind this. Sure enough, Ying Mingcheng told her about it when they were walking in the yard after dinner.
"As far as I can remember, my grandfather has always cooked the New Year's Eve dinner, and it's all local Shanghai dishes," Ying Mingcheng said, putting a fur cape on her. "When my dad comes home, he'll also cook. The men in our family may not be good at other things, but they're all experts at braised pork."
Mu Huaixi thought about the braised pork made by Ying Mingcheng. The rich sauce was indeed a local dish. "But, how come you learned this from Auntie?"
"Grandpa won't accept me as his disciple," Ying Mingcheng complained a few times, and Mu Huaixi realized that his grandfather had specially found a chef to learn the cooking methods of Shanghai cuisine for his grandmother, and there was also a recipe book that was said to be able to beat most of the time-honored brands in Shanghai. This recipe would only be passed on to his favorite disciple.
Mu Huaixi was touched. In fact, it was obvious that his grandfather was from a wealthy family, so how could he cook? Even after so many years in the army, he probably only learned how to fill his stomach perfunctorily. Now that he could make such a large table of delicious food, it was obvious that he had put in a lot of effort.
Later she found out that her grandfather went to learn local cuisine because her grandmother was already old when she was pregnant. She had morning sickness so much that she couldn't eat anything. She just wanted to have a bite of the pickled fish from her hometown. However, the local dishes made by chefs outside were either not to her taste or made her feel uncomfortable. Her grandfather had no choice but to learn from the chefs, and then come back to adjust the recipe little by little until her grandmother was satisfied.
Mu Huaixi didn't know about this at the moment, and was just curious about who the old man would choose as his disciple.
"He said he would pass it on to Mingxin, but Mingxin isn't married yet and isn't particularly interested in his recipes," Ying Mingcheng pursed his lips. "Actually, I think the old man just wants us to learn how to cook. It's hard to say whether the recipes even exist."
Mu Huaixi understood what he meant immediately and felt that the old man was really cute and respectable. Grandpa never thought that men had to work outside and women had to work inside. He would take the initiative to do housework. Even though there were two aunts helping in the old house, he would clean the yard and the front door every day, and he also took care of the hygiene of his bedroom himself.
The old man believed in self-reliance. Under his personal influence, Ying Mingcheng did a good job in housework, even doing more than she did.
Mu Huaixi secretly raised her eyes and looked at Ying Mingcheng, who was walking slightly in front of her and blocking most of the cold wind for her. She raised the corners of her mouth slightly. She really married a good man and married into an excellent family.
The Ying family did not have the habit of staying up all night to celebrate the New Year. When they returned from their walk, they found that the TV in the main living room was turned on and grandpa was changing the channel.
On the first day she arrived, she saw this Shengjing brand 15-inch color TV, which was said to be the latest model from the Shengjing Electronics Factory. However, there were not many TV stations nowadays, and her grandfather was more accustomed to listening to the news on the radio, so he seldom turned on the TV.
"Come on, come on, your grandpa said there will be a Spring Festival Gala tonight!" Grandma put the fruit plate and melon seeds on the coffee table and waved to them with a smile.
Mu Huaixi was a little dazed, but the familiar deep voice of Teacher Zhao came from the TV, and he was delivering the opening speech. One by one, literary and art masters that she was familiar with or unfamiliar with appeared on the small screen, some were sharp and some were funny, making the audience at home laugh.
"Ma Ling'er sings and the jade bird sings, I accompany Ashima back to her hometown." When the beautiful song sounded, grandma couldn't help but stand up, singing and dancing, dancing better than the actors on the screen.
Ying Mingcheng came over and whispered in her ear, "Grandma was also the most dazzling Ashima in the dance troupe when she was young!"
"Grandma dances so well," Mu Huaixi clapped her hands vigorously. She noticed the look in her grandfather's eyes when he looked at her grandmother, which was full of admiration.
When it came to the Peking Opera segment, Grandpa Ying also stood up and sang along, and the whole family applauded again. Even Ying Mingcheng was persuaded by his grandmother to pick up the accordion, which he had not practiced for a long time, and played a song "Young Friends" along with Li Guyi's singing on TV.
Mu Huaixi leaned on the sofa, looking at his tall and straight figure like a poplar, and couldn't help thinking in her heart that after she officially went to medical school, she would also develop a hobby, otherwise, next time they celebrated the New Year together, she would have nothing to show!
Although we didn't stay up all night, the Spring Festival Gala programs went on one after another and everyone was in high spirits. It wasn't until the New Year's bell rang that someone couldn't help but yawn.
Ying Wuhui fell asleep early and was placed by his grandmother in a small room next to the main hall. When the bell rang, he started crying. Mu Huaixi hurried over, but saw him staring at her with his big, round eyes and crying out "ah" twice.
"Happy New Year, Little Huihui," Mu Huaixi smiled as he picked him up, stuffed a small red envelope into his swaddling clothes, and tapped his nose. "Our little Huihui really has a sense of ritual. He woke up specially to wish everyone a happy new year, didn't he?"
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