Chapter 344 Unlucky Things
In Xinjiang Province, it gets dark late. Back in my hometown, around five or six o'clock on New Year's Day, every household would start setting off firecrackers.
In the 16th Regiment today, a few families set off firecrackers during the day, but most families did so just as it got dark.
Wei Yang insisted on waiting until midnight before setting off the cannon.
The children had already run back, dozing off in front of the stove, their heads constantly falling.
It was almost one o'clock when Wei Zhao finally told the children to go to sleep.
The next morning, people started coming to Song Lubai's house.
Although she doesn't have many relatives here, people who are on good terms with her will come to visit.
He refused to accept the gifts, but if the amount of New Year's money given to Chen Shaohua and his siblings was not large, Wei Yang would allow them to accept it.
When it was lunchtime, no one came. Before the food was even ready, Zhao Dongmei brought over a bowl of white noodles and a bowl of pickled radish strips.
Song Lubai took the bowl, poured the noodles into her own flour bag, and turned around to see the bowl of radish strips. Just as she was about to refuse, she heard Zhao Dongmei say, "My family doesn't have anything good, so please don't mind this bowl of radish strips."
Song Lubai took the bowl, poured the radish strips into her own bowl, and then picked out a piece of cabbage from the jar.
"These are also homemade. Try them when you get home."
Zhao Dongmei had some pickled cabbage at home. Seeing the cabbage in the bowl, she didn't say anything, just nodded and took the bowl away.
Song Lubai closed the door and went back inside. Wei Zhao said, "Why didn't you come to return the flour before the New Year? Why did you have to come today?"
The feeling I got today was strange.
Song Lubai didn't know what was going on with Zhao Dongmei either.
In that situation, it wouldn't be appropriate to refuse the radish strips, so she could only return some cabbage, so that her family wouldn't owe Zhao Dongmei's family anything.
Zhao Dongmei carried the bowl home. When Feng Xiaolong saw the cabbage in the bowl, he frowned and said, "Why did you give me cabbage? We have our own cabbage."
Zhao Dongmei lowered her eyes and said, "It's already quite kind of them to accept the radishes."
Feng Xiaolong pursed his lips.
The child was lying peacefully in bed when he suddenly started crying again. Feng Xiaolong irritably went over and patted the child's face.
He used quite a bit of force, and the child cried even louder.
Zhao Dongmei felt sorry for him and couldn't help but say, "He's so young, why did you hit him?"
Feng Xiaolong argued vehemently: "You hug him every time he cries. If you don't hug him, he cries even louder. He just wants to be held. He cries every day because you spoil him. From now on, you are not allowed to hug him even if he cries again."
"Crying during the Lunar New Year, can that be a good omen?"
The child's cries echoed through the room, and Feng Xiaolong slapped the child's face a few more times.
"You cry, cry, cry! All you do is cry all day long! You've cried away all your good fortune! You're such a bad omen!"
Zhao Dongmei, who had been wringing her hands, couldn't hold back any longer. She stepped forward and shoved Feng Xiaolong hard, saying with a stern face, "You can't hit my child from now on. You're being biased. You're good to your own child, but you don't treat my child as your own at all. You said such nice things before."
This was the first time Zhao Dongmei had shown her true colors in this family.
Pushed aside, Feng Xiaolong felt that she had grown too big for her britches and dared to lose her temper with him.
He slapped Zhao Dongmei on the back and cursed, "If I hadn't taken you and your son in, could you have raised your child on your own? Don't be ungrateful! His crying during the New Year is bad luck. If he hadn't cried, would you have argued with me? Am I wrong to say your son is bad luck?"
Zhao Dongmei picked up the child and comforted him.
The child, who had been slapped several times, was held in his mother's arms and comforted, venting his grievances and crying even louder.
Feng Xiaolong tried to snatch the child from Zhao Dongmei's arms, and the two began to push and argue. In the end, Feng Xiaolong took the child and threw it onto the bed, while Zhao Dongmei was pushed to the ground.
"He cries all day long. You have to comfort him when he cries, and you don't have to do anything else all day but comfort him! And you say I'm biased towards my own son? Is my son as troublesome as yours? Does my son cry every day like yours? He cries during the day and at night. Since he was born, has anyone in the family had a good night's sleep?"
The baby was crying loudly. Zhao Dongmei got up and went to hug the baby, but Feng Xiaolong pushed her aside again.
"I told him not to hold me, let him cry as much as he wants! He's spoiled! You just keep spoiling him!"
Zhao Dongmei cried, her face covered in snot and tears. She said in a hoarse voice, "You said you wouldn't hit people before we got married!"
Feng Xiaolong, hands on his hips, said defiantly, "When did I hit you? Didn't you push me first? Did I lay a finger on you?"
Zhao Dongmei wiped away her tears and said, "You hit my son, he's so young!"
Feng Xiaolong sneered, "Is that what you call hitting? If you hugged him every time he cried like that, he'd cry every day! I'm teaching him a lesson! If he cries for no reason again, you'd better try hugging him!"
Zhao Dongmei glared at him and said, "He's still young! What does he know!"
Feng Xiaolong pointed at Feng Yaozu, who dared not make a sound or move because of their argument, and said, "He never cried when he was a child because no one spoiled his bad habits!"
"No wonder that guy in front of you hit you. You wouldn't listen to anything I said and thought you were right. You're just spoiling her. Let's see what kind of person she'll become!"
Zhao Dongmei fell silent.
Under the pressure of Feng Xiaolong's words, she began to doubt whether she had really done something wrong.
Zhao Dongmei fell silent, but Feng Xiaolong hadn't finished complaining.
"I've never seen a child like this before. He cries every day, every night, even during the Lunar New Year. What else could he be but a curse? Since he was born, has anyone in our family ever had a good night's sleep? Why doesn't he just cry himself to death..."
Zhao Dongmei didn't dare to utter a sound, and a slight feeling of dislike for her child began to grow in her heart.
The neighbors, Bai Lixia and her family, could hear everything that was happening at Zhao Dongmei's house.
After Zhao Dongmei's child was born, he cried day and night. At night, when it was quiet, her family could hear the baby crying clearly.
It's impossible not to feel annoyed, but it's normal for children to cry. Zhao Dongmei's child just cries for a longer time than other children.
But a baby isn't a sensible teenager, so what could he possibly understand?
Hearing Feng Xiaolong next door throwing a tantrum, Wang Fu picked his teeth and said, "Why are you getting angry with a kid? He's so small, he can't understand anything you say. What's going on with this during the New Year?"
Bai Lixia, cracking sunflower seeds, said, "So you can't stand it if it's not your own child? Before, Feng Xiaolong even went to a villager's place to get goat milk to feed that kid, and I said he was a good person. Now look at him..."
Bai Lixia shook her head and sighed.
Most people who come to Xinjiang Province do not bring their families. Back in their hometowns, relatives would visit each other, but here, after the New Year, it's usually just close friends who visit each other.
No need to mention any gifts, just give the children some lucky money when you visit their homes.
Wei Zhao's three children receive New Year's money, while Song Lubai and Wei Yang go to other people's homes to give out New Year's money.
The festive atmosphere of the New Year only began to dissipate slowly by the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
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