Undoubtedly, because no one expected three people to get married this year, and it's not even the New Year yet, more than half of the preserved vegetables Liu Yun prepared are already gone. Fortunately, the weather is still cold, so she can still make more, otherwise next year it will be the same – all gone before half the year is even over.
Every day, Liu Yun had to secretly move things home. A few days ago, her mother wanted to help her deal with the New Year's goods, so she came to stay at the courtyard by the river. This exhausted her. Since there were people at home, she couldn't take everything out at once. She could only move a little at a time. Last time, she caught ten rabbits at once, put them in a sack, and tied them to her bicycle. They were jumping around in the sack, and the bicycle almost tipped over on the way back.
There was no other way but to get Yu's mother and the others to the old house.
After get off work, Liu Yun went back to the old house by herself. Anyway, she had the key and prepared the New Year's goods in advance. There was only one week left until the New Year, and it had already snowed, so she wasn't worried about them spoiling.
Since I'll be staying here after the Lunar New Year and the start of the new semester, I've prepared a lot of snacks. Also, a new bride will be coming back for the Lunar New Year this year, so I definitely can't skimp on the food.
I secretly bought a lot of rice, vermicelli, and noodles when I went to the market a while ago. These can be stored for a while, so I filled the rice container and stored enough vermicelli and noodles for more than a month.
The cupboard was crammed full of dried vegetables, dried mushrooms, rapeseed oil, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, longan, and red dates. There were also a basket of chicken and duck eggs, two roosters, two hens, four ducks, four rabbits, two geese, four grass carp, a bucket of small crucian carp, and ten quails for the twins. They told Yu's mother to come over tomorrow to kill them.
"Mom, I've delivered this year's New Year's goods to the old house. Tomorrow's Sunday, so I'll ask my sister-in-law and the others to come and help out. I'll go and check on the things for them. Is that alright?" Liu Yun suggested to her mother as soon as she got home. Since everyone was trying to get her to do the New Year's goods for them, they could go back to the old house to pack! She wouldn't go; she would continue to be lazy this year.
"Okay, I'll talk to them tomorrow. There's a lot of ice on the roads now, so please be careful. Also, try to come back as early as possible tomorrow. Aren't you going to make preserved vegetables? Let's buy them together tomorrow." Yu's mother agreed without hesitation. Since they wanted Liu Yun to help them with the New Year's goods, they should help with her things too, instead of always trying to take advantage of her.
Liu Yun immediately understood what Yu's mother meant: a meal in exchange for several laborers, and such a good deal! She nodded in agreement. She would help them prepare for the New Year, and they would help her with her New Year's goods—it was fair, even though she might get a little more.
The next morning, everyone went out early. Yu Qianhe and Xiao Zhihua had other things to do, and they had been leaving early and returning late every day for the past few days. Yu's parents took the children to take the bus back to the old house, and also called Yu's second and third sisters-in-law to ask them to come back to the old house to help.
A few years ago, if he had made two phone calls about this, his father would have thought it was a waste, but he wouldn't have said anything. After all, he earned his money to spend on his wife. But in the past two years, under the influence of his mother and Liu Yun, he has become very accepting of this kind of thing and doesn't think there's anything wrong with it at all.
But Yu's second and third sisters-in-law, who received the call, couldn't think that way. They were speechless that their mother-in-law would call over such a small matter. It was too wasteful. In the past, they would only go back on New Year's Day. Liu Yun and Yu's parents had prepared all these things.
But this year is different. Both families are getting married, and Liu Yun has been buying most of the things. Now everything that needs to be bought has been bought, and only the dishes for the banquet are left. Liu Yun must have gone out to take care of that, so she didn't have time. That's why Yu's mother came here. So both families went back to the old house in a big group to help.
Everyone here quickly put on their cotton-padded coats and shoes, and put on scarves and gloves before riding their bicycles out.
There's a market at the border between Xinshi and the neighboring city today. This is the closest one to her, and it's the last one before the New Year. She had a lot of noodles and rice stored at the old house yesterday, and Liu Jing also took a lot. She needs to replenish her supplies at home, as she doesn't have much space left and needs to store some goods.
This market isn't too far; if you ride your bike quickly, it won't take more than an hour.
The market before the New Year was very lively. The usually spacious streets were now crowded with people. Because I was in a hurry, I went to a stall I knew well. Since they could only sell agricultural products, I only bought mixed grain flour. However, I also bought a lot of dried sweet potatoes. My family loves them. They are soft and chewy. Although I can make them myself, I am too lazy.
As for the rice, they found a secluded spot to wait for the delivery, since it was a rare occasion, so they bought a lot at once.
At the market, there were rice sieves, ash sieves, four-corner sieves, and bran sieves. Because we were making preserved vegetables, we took a lot of them to the old house. We really needed them at home, since we would definitely have a lot of things to deal with today. Although Uncle Wu could also buy them, we needed a lot, so we took one of each and tied it to the back of the bicycle to use for now. We would buy the rest from Uncle Wu.
While strolling through the market, I ran into quite a few acquaintances. After all, it was the last big market before the New Year, and the goods at this kind of market were cheaper than at the supply and marketing cooperative or food station. Almost every household had someone there, so it was normal to run into acquaintances.
Although I've put all the rice, a lot of noodles, and a good amount of chicken coop stock into my storage space, I still have quite a lot of other miscellaneous items. It's not convenient to put them all in my space, since I still need some things to cover it up. So I just wandered around for a bit and then went back with bags and bags of things.
I didn't run into any acquaintances when I got back. All the neighbors' doors were tightly shut; they must have all gone to the market. All that carrying back so many bags and bundles was for nothing.
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