Zhou Huaian carried the firewood and walked to the kitchen, "Let's cook glutinous rice balls for breakfast!"
"Okay!" After Yang Chunyan poured hot water to wash up, she saw that he had already kneaded the glutinous rice balls and the pot inside was heating up pig food. "Huaian, it's past eight o'clock. Your brother will come to call you to go to the grave and hang paper!"
The custom of visiting the ancestors' graves on the first day of the Lunar New Year is still preserved here. However, visiting the graves on the first day of the Lunar New Year is different from worshipping ancestors on Qingming Festival. To be more precise, it is called ancestor worship. The meaning is to remember the kindness of ancestors and spend the holiday together on the most festive day of the year.
Zhou Huaian rolled the glutinous rice flour into long strips, broke off a section and rolled it into a ball, then began to wrap the glutinous rice balls. "A dozen glutinous rice balls will be ready in a short while."
Seeing that he was doing a good job, Yang Chunyan went to the backyard to mix some chicken feed to feed the chickens. Wangcai and Lai Fu stood there wagging their tails, waiting for the chickens to eat their fill, and then she drove them into the woods.
The pigs in the pen heard the noise and started to squeal. They had already eaten and drunk their fill by now, but their two owners had slept in and made them hungry too.
Yang Chunyan felt that pigs were not stupid at all and could even recognize the footsteps of their owners. They would not bark when there was no one in the yard early in the morning, but would cry out as soon as they heard footsteps.
She took some pig grass from the basket at the entrance of the pig pen and put it in the two pig troughs, and scolded them: "Don't make noises, I'll give it to you later!"
A few pigs crowded in front of the trough and started eating with grunts.
Yang Chunyan waited for them to eat for a while, then added some more food in. When she went out, she saw that the chickens in the alley had already finished eating the food and were driven out by Wangcai and Lai Fu.
She went to take a look, closed the fence gate, went back to the backyard and closed the gate, then heard Zhou Huaian calling her to eat.
"I'm here!" Yang Chunyan responded, washed her hands and went into the kitchen, "So fast, have you cooked it?"
"Don't worry, I'll wait until all the dumplings float up and roll three times before serving them." Zhou Huaian handed her the spoon, "Brother is here to call me, I'll eat and leave."
Yang Chunyan suddenly remembered that Li Qiuyue couldn't go to the grave even though she was pregnant. Some people in the village were jealous. "Huaian, if Third Sister-in-law doesn't go, the villagers will be suspicious, right?"
"Don't worry, Mom will find a way to cover it up for her!"
"That's good!"
After the two of them finished eating, Zhou Huaian went out with firecrackers, incense, candles, paper money and money for Wangshan. Yang Chunyan heated up some cold rice for the dog and started feeding the pigs.
After a while, Zhang Xiuxiang came and said, "Mom asked me and my sister-in-law to stay at home so that Qiuyue wouldn't go to the village and ask questions."
Yang Chunyan nodded. "You and your sister-in-law are going back to your parents' home tomorrow. How many days do you plan to spend?"
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "We have livestock at home, so we can't go back for a few days. We go in the morning and come back in the afternoon. How about you?"
"Huaian and Yiding are going up the mountain to check on the wild beehives they planted before, so I have no choice but to come back with him."
"In the past, people said that the youngest was not doing his job properly. Now it seems that the job he did before was only enough to fill his stomach. It was difficult to make a fortune!"
"As the old saying goes, a man cannot be rich without external wealth, and a horse cannot grow fat without night grass. It is indeed necessary to have a side business."
"That's right! Last year during the Spring Festival, there were only a few sporadic firecrackers in the village. This year, the firecrackers lasted for a long time before they stopped."
"Aunt Yang, Happy New Year!" Zhao Meina and her brother, dressed in new clothes, walked in.
Zhang Xiuxiang looked at her siblings and smiled, "Mina, Xiuna, and Xiaochuan are dressed up so beautifully today!"
Zhao Meina was a little shy, and Xiu Na and Xiao Chuan both grinned, "Aunt Zhang, Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year to you too!" Yang Chunyan and Zhang Xiuxiang took out red envelopes and handed them over, and also grabbed some candies and melon seeds and peanuts for a few people, "Sit and play for a while, and when Xiaoqian and Jiakang come back, you can go to the village to play together."
Zhao Meina smiled and said, "No, auntie, we want to go to Uncle Xu's house to see little brother."
"Is Uncle Xu's little brother back?" Yang Chunyan thought that Xu Hongbing's son had just undergone surgery the day before yesterday, and it has only been two days!
Zhao Meina nodded and said, "They are back. We saw Uncle Xu and the others coming back when we came here."
"Oh! Then you guys go and have a look and come over for lunch."
"No, Auntie. We still have a lot of leftovers at home. They will go bad if we don't eat them."
Yang Chunyan didn't keep her for long. Not long after she and Zhang Xiuxiang sent the three siblings away, Li Qiuyue also came out with Zhou Xiaolin. The sisters-in-law sat together and chatted for a while, and then Zhou Huaian and the others also came back.
After a while, Zhou Yiding and Xu Erchun also came. There was nothing to do on New Year's Day, and everyone was lazy under the sun, so they moved the tables outside and played cards in the yard.
Zhou Jiaming and a few others took out the firecrackers, friction firecrackers, and rocket launchers that Zhou Huaian had bought and set them off at the gate of the yard. They also searched for the unused firecrackers among the slag at the gate.
Zhou Jiaming recited as he searched, "It's easy to set off firecrackers this year. Last year, it was hard to even find firecracker dregs like this..."
The old man was worried, so he went out to check on them from time to time, reminding them from time to time, "Jia Ming, look after your sister-in-law, be careful not to blow anyone up."
"Grandfather, we know that the kid from Fangtian Brigade lost one of his eyes when he was firing a cannon, and he has become a one-eyed dragon."
"Also, in my grandmother's team, there was a kid whose hand was blown through by firecrackers. The doctor sawed off his hand at the wrist."
"That's good to know. Be careful. Once the fuse is lit, run away..."
The first day of the New Year passed leisurely, and on the second day, married women would go home to pay New Year's greetings.
…
The next morning, Yang Chunyan and her friend went to Yangjiapingzi with the New Year gifts.
Before they arrived, they saw Yang's mother and Yang Dongmei coming with their two little nephews to pick them up.
The two nephews held two red balloons in their hands and waved happily at the two of them, "Auntie, Uncle, we are here to pick you up."
"Run slower, don't fall." Yang Chunyan hurried forward to hold the two of them, and put the red envelopes that had been prepared long ago into their pockets, "This is from my uncle, use it to buy candy."
Xiao Shuang took out the red envelope and said, "Auntie, this is a red envelope. My grandma also gave it to us last night, but mom took it away."
Da Shuang quickly corrected him, "Mom helped us save it so that we can buy textbooks for our future studies."
Yang Chunyan happily rubbed their furry heads, "So smart!"
At this time, Yang's mother and Yang Dongmei also came over. Zhou Huaian greeted Yang's mother with a smile, "Mom, Dongmei, why are you here?"
Mother Yang said cheerfully, "I thought you would come later! Someone in the village saw you and told us, and Dashuang and Xiaoshuang clamored to come pick you up." Then she added, "We have everything at home, why bring so many things?"
"Not much, not much, just a little New Year gift!" Zhou Huaian said hurriedly.
Yang Dongmei smiled and held Yang Chunyan's hand, "Mom, it's windy here, let's talk about it when we get back."
Mother Yang also nodded with a smile, "Yes, the wind here is very strong, let's talk about it when we get back."
Yang Chunyan held Dashuang and Xiaoshuang by the hand and said, "Mom, didn't my elder brother and sister-in-law go back to pay New Year's greetings?"
Mother Yang smiled and said, "Your sister-in-law said that you guys are so busy that it's hard for you to get together. It's the same if you go back tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings."
When they arrived at the door of Yang's house, Yang's father, eldest brother Yang and eldest sister-in-law Yang came out to greet them. After exchanging greetings, they entered the yard.
Father Yang happily helped Zhou Huaian take the backpack off the bicycle. "You've become thinner and darker, and look stronger than before."
When I looked in the mirror this morning, I didn’t look dark.
Zhou Huaian turned his head to look at Yang Chunyan and smiled, "No, I haven't lost weight. It's mainly because I have to carry a lot of truffles to the tractor every day, so my muscles have become firmer."
Brother Yang helped put the bag in the main hall, "Huaian, Chunyan, you sit in the main hall for a while, let's go check out what's on the stove."
Yang Chunyan hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, don't do too much, just do a little."
"Just the ones for the New Year!" Mrs. Yang smiled and went with Brother Yang to prepare wine and food for the guests. The old couple welcomed their daughter and son-in-law to the main room.
After entering the main hall, Yang's mother said happily: "Thanks to you this year, the family has saved a lot of money. After the New Year, we plan to renovate the house and start harvesting red mushrooms when the mushrooms are ready..."
Yang Chunyan was also happy for them, "Are you planning to buy bricks and tiles to repair the house?"
Yang Dongmei said with a smile: "Sister, my elder brother and sister-in-law are preparing to do something big this year!"
Mother Yang: "Your eldest brother said that we should take advantage of the good opportunity now to earn more money so that he can prepare more dowry for you in the future."
Yang Dongmei: "Don't do that. I can get married even without a dowry. If I prepare too much, I will get into trouble if someone covets the dowry."
Mother Yang glared at her unhappily and said, "Go, go, go and help your sister-in-law prepare food!"
"My elder brother is helping over there, I'll stay to accompany my sister!" Yang Dongmei helped Yang Chunyan take the gift out of her backpack.
After taking out the wine, bacon, noodles, cakes, and candies, he took out some cloth and said, "Mom, there are no suitable ready-made clothes, so I bought a few meters of cloth. You can go to the tailor shop and choose the style you like."
Yang's mother said angrily: "Why buy so many things again? We already have clothes to wear, how can we wear all these..."
Yang Dongmei said, "Mom, you too, your daughter and son-in-law are honoring you, why don't you just accept it happily? You always say this!"
Zhou Huaian nodded after hearing this, and felt that this was the downside of buying things for the elderly. The younger generation would have to say a lot every time. It would be much better if they could just accept the things happily as his sister-in-law said!
"Mom, old man, there are more!" Yang Chunyan smiled and took out the velvet bag and put it in Yang's mother's hand, "Huai'an bought gold jewelry for the elderly at home, and also for you and old man!"
Before Brother Yang left, she told him not to tell the two elders first, and prepared to give them a surprise.
"Ah!" Mother Yang looked at the velvet bag in her hand, untied it and took it out to look at it. She felt happy and distressed at the same time. She looked up and glared at Yang Chunyan.
"Yan'er, why are you wasting so much money? Why don't you talk to Huai'an? It's not easy to make money! Fabrics and this stuff... It takes a lot of money to buy them, right?... How can you bear to spend so much money like this?"
After seeing it, Yang's father also said: "Take it back and return it quickly. Your mother and I are old farmers. Who would wear this thing? Besides, it is not convenient to wear it while working, and you have to worry about it falling off... I know you have made some money this year, but you shouldn't spend it like this! It is better to use it to buy food or land instead of buying this thing. It is neither edible nor useful." (End of this chapter)
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