Chapter 18
When Jiang Jiang went out, the children in the village were picking up leftover firecrackers to set off. Fengzhen and Shuanzhu were there. During every New Year, picking up firecrackers was an "adventure" for the boys. Two little girls were covering their ears in fear. With a bang, the firecrackers exploded, and red debris spread all over the ground.
Zhang Yueju's eldest son Shuanzhu is eight years old this year and attends primary school in the village. He is handsome and dressed neatly and appropriately. Her youngest son Tiezhu is six years old this year and has just entered the first grade.
They are at an age when they are lively and active. During the Chinese New Year, adults try not to assign work to the children or beat or scold them. The New Year days are the happiest days for them, and they run around and play with the older children every day.
Jiang Jiang didn't get involved and just watched them play from the side.
There were few orphaned children like her in the village. She had to try her best to survive every day and had little time to play freely. In addition, she wore tattered clothes. Yinhua and Jinbao said bad things about her in front of the children in the village every day, so the children in the village were unwilling to play with her.
"Jiang Jiang, are you up?" Feng Zhen saw her at a glance.
"Yeah." Jiang Jiang felt a little embarrassed that she was the only one who had slept until this hour.
"Come and play with us."
"Sister Jiang Jiang, let me light one for you." Shuanzhu handed her an incense stick.
Jiang Jiang was holding the incense stick. She had just been watching from the side and knew how to play. She squatted and got close to it. After lighting it, she quickly covered her ears and ran to a distance and squatted down.
With a "bang", the firecrackers exploded. Listening to the cheers of the children around, Jiang Jiang couldn't help but be infected and smiled.
"Let's go and cut ice fish, Sister Jiang Jiang, will you come with us?"
"Okay, this is the candy my grandma just gave me. Let's share it with everyone." Jiang Jiang shared the candy in his hand with everyone.
Although fruit candy is not as delicious as milk candy, it is still candy and tastes sweet in the mouth. In that era of material scarcity, everyone liked candy. After the group of children happily shared the candy, they pulled Jiang Jiang to play together.
In the afternoon, the adults in the village came one after another to call their children back to eat.
On the day of New Year's Eve, commonly known as the 30th day of the lunar year, the whole family gets up early and starts to get busy, picking vegetables, washing vegetables, cutting meat, cooking meat, and frying things, and they are very busy and happy.
It is a bit busy, but everyone is busy and happy. They are busy with family reunions and hope for the future.
On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, the family began to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner. New Year’s Eve dinner is not just a meal, but also a solemn ceremony. After this meal, we need to say goodbye to the old year and enter the new year.
When Jiang Jiang and the others returned, the dishes had almost been cooked, and there were ready-made dumplings on the stove. There were ten dishes in total, including cabbage with vinegar, pork ribs and lotus root soup, cured pork ribs stewed with radish, stir-fried celery, stir-fried cabbage, roast chicken with potatoes, fried meatballs, braised cured fish, fried cakes, and dumplings, symbolizing peace and perfection.
The pork ribs and lotus root soup is clear and sweet. The fried cake is filled with brown sugar, which is sweet and soft when you bite it. The braised cabbage with vinegar is sour and spicy and appetizing. The fried meatballs are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It is the favorite of the children in the family, while the adults’ favorite is the roast chicken with potatoes. The potatoes are stewed until soft, the chicken is fragrant and tender, and the potatoes absorb the rich chicken soup. The fragrant cured pork ribs are stewed with radish, and the cabbage fried with the skimmed chicken fat is fresh and sweet and goes well with rice.
During every Chinese New Year, there is always a fish dish on the table, which means abundance every year. However, it is difficult to buy fresh fish in the north in winter, so cured fish is used instead. The fish meat is also delicious, and it is simply a unique dish to dip steamed buns in the soup of the braised cured fish. There is also stir-fried celery, which symbolizes hard work and wealth, and is sweet and crispy.
Everyone ate to their heart's content and consumed at least two more bowls of rice than usual. It is impossible to get such a sumptuous meal on a normal day.
The dumplings were eaten after the first nine dishes were finished. Jiang Jiang sat next to her parents. This was her first time to have such a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner. The adults drank wine and they, the children, drank orange juice. Under the supervision of He Guijuan, Jiang Jiang drank half a bowl of soup and ate many dishes. Only after warming up her stomach did she drink a small cup of orange juice.
The orange juice tasted sour and sweet. Jiang Jiang was reluctant to drink it all at once, so he held the cup and sipped it in small sips.
After dinner, the adults sat and drank tea and chatted, while the children played their own games in the yard. Fengzhen taught Jiang Jiang how to play cat's cradle. Jiang Jiang had never played it before, but she had a good memory, and she basically learned it after Fengzhen did it once.
At first, only Fengzhen and Jiangjiang were playing, then Tiezhu and the others joined in. Shuanzhu came up with an idea: they lined up in a row and passed the flower rope from one person to the other, so that everyone could participate in the game.
At about eight o'clock, He Guijuan came out with a smile and called them.
“Time to eat dumplings!”
The children all rushed in and waited around the pot. The plump white dumplings floated on the surface, and each one looked very tempting.
The dumplings were filled with pork and cabbage or leeks and eggs. The dumpling skin was soft and chewy, and the dumpling filling was fresh and juicy. Because they had already eaten dinner, He Guijuan was worried that the children would not be able to finish them, so she only put a few dumplings in each bowl. But she was obviously worrying too much, because after a few minutes, one by one they came over with empty bowls.
"Bite slowly, be careful not to knock your teeth. Let's see who is lucky enough to get the dumpling with a coin in it." Zhang Yueju reminded with a smile.
Jiang Jiang likes eating dumplings very much. Feeling the steaming atmosphere, her face is full of a happy smile.
Jiang Jiang just picked up a dumpling and was about to take a bite when she saw her mother pass another dumpling to her. Jiang Jiang looked at the extra dumpling in the bowl and suddenly had a premonition.
She picked up the chopsticks and bit it gently, and sure enough, she bit into the coin.
"Coin, Jiang Jiang ate the coin!" Tiezhu next to her immediately discovered the coin in her bowl.
"Look at the coin!"
After confirming that it was indeed Jiang Jiang who ate the coin dumpling, the children looked at Jiang Jiang with envy. It was a blessing to eat the coin dumpling, and maybe it would bring good luck in the coming year.
Feng Yin's eyes darkened, and she couldn't help but use too much force with her chopsticks, poking the dumplings in the bowl to pieces.
"What a pity! I didn't get to eat coin dumplings again today."
Jiang Jiang smiled and said in a sweet and crisp voice, "Then it's for you, Brother Tiezhu."
"I don't want it. This is what you get to eat. I want it to count as what I get to eat myself."
"Tomorrow morning is the first day of the Chinese New Year, and we will still eat dumplings. I will make a few more coin-shaped dumplings so that everyone can have some."
When He Guijuan said this, the children were all happy.
Jiang Jiang washed the coins and put them in his pocket, feeling as sweet as if he had eaten honey.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com