After returning from the town, Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi rested at home for two days. After they recovered, they started the busiest days of the year - taking sewing machines from one village to another, making new clothes for people.
After the busy period before the New Year, the two took a break two days before New Year's Eve, closed the door of the tailor shop and stopped taking work. They stayed at home to help Liu Xinghua fry meatballs, steamed buns, fried peanuts, and make many delicious foods to eat for the New Year, preparing for the New Year.
On New Year's Eve, they got up in the morning to do a big cleaning, cleaned the house inside and outside, and then lit a fire to boil some batter, pasted couplets on the door, and pasted window flowers on the windows, and the atmosphere of the New Year became stronger.
In this poor era, there was nothing to look forward to except wearing new clothes and eating delicious food, so everyone looked forward to the Chinese New Year. Because only during the Chinese New Year would the family be willing to spend money and eat things that they could not eat at other times.
Many families worked hard to save money for a year just to have a comfortable Chinese New Year.
It is precisely because of this that everyone is full of expectations, happy, and has a strong sense of ceremony, so the flavor of the Chinese New Year in this era is particularly strong.
The family happily worked hard all day, tidying up the house inside and outside, and started to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner in the evening.
Ruan Xi made dry-fried green beans and fish-flavored eggplant, Ruan Cuizhi made dry-fried pork intestines and twice-cooked pork, Ruan Jie made fried pork with peppers, and Liu Xinghua made mapo tofu and boiled fish.
Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng washed a basin of vegetables, took out the hot pot ingredients, and heated a small hot pot on the charcoal stove.
The New Year's Eve dinner is the time when the New Year's atmosphere is the strongest. The happiness and unhappiness of the whole year are no longer important in front of the table full of fish and meat. If you are happy and satisfied at this moment, you will be happy and satisfied for the whole year.
Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng happily drank two cups of wine. Under the reflection of the oil lamp flame, their faces are more red than peppers.
Ruan Changsheng boiled a spoonful of vegetables, ate it, then picked up the wine bowl and said: "Unconsciously, this year has passed, and the new year is about to come. I wish everyone in our family will get better and better in the new year!"
Ruan Xi smiled and picked up the small bowl in front of her, which was filled with boiled water. She, Ruan Xi, Ruan Cuizhi and Liu Xinghua did not drink any alcohol.
Holding the bowl, she said to Ruan Changsheng, "Congratulations to your fifth uncle for finding the person he loves this year and solving the issue of marriage. I wish you a happy life and all the best in the new year!"
Seeing Ruan Xi say this, Ruan Jie also followed suit and held up the bowl of water, saying with a smile, "Then I wish grandpa, grandma, aunt, fifth uncle, and sister good health, success in everything, happiness, and all their wishes come true in the new year!" After
Ruan Jie finished speaking, Ruan Zhigao, Liu Xinghua, and Ruan Cuizhi laughed happily, and the atmosphere in the room was very good.
After laughing, Ruan Zhigao, in the relaxed and lively atmosphere, looked at Ruan Changsheng and said, "Look at what your two nieces said, and then look at what you said, whether you are cultured or not is obvious at a glance."
Ruan Changsheng did not compete with his nieces, but only said, "Don't look down on me, I am more or less cultured."
Ruan Zhigao looked at him, "Then say two idioms for us to hear."
Ruan Changsheng thought for a while and said, "Congratulations on making a fortune, make a fortune!"
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie were stunned for a moment, and then they both laughed out loud.
Liu Xinghua smiled and glared at him, "You only have money in your mind."
Ruan Changsheng replied, "That's not right, there are also you and the old man, sister, and niece."
Liu Xinghua was coaxed by him and couldn't help laughing.
…
The family chatted and laughed together after finishing the New Year’s Eve dinner. After washing the pots and bowls, they stayed in the house to chat. They stayed until midnight when they heard firecrackers. Ruan Changsheng picked up the firecrackers and rushed outside. Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie got up and followed him out.
When the firecrackers exploded outside, Ruan Xi covered her ears, and the smile on her face was as bright as the festival.
The New Year is also related to the New Year’s money, and wearing new clothes to go out to pay New Year’s greetings on the first day of the New Year.
Although they slept late on the New Year’s Eve, everyone got up very early on the first day of the New Year. Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie went to the hanging building after dinner in the morning, and the first one to pay New Year’s greetings was Ling Zhiyuan and Zhou Xueyun.
After paying New Year’s greetings, they received peanuts, melon seeds and colorful candies. The two took Ling Yao out again and went to pay New Year’s greetings to other families together.
After spending half a day paying New Year's greetings and finishing lunch, the three of them went to the old tailor's grave.
Ruan Xi put paper money in her schoolbag and brought a box of matches. She squatted down in front of the grave to burn the paper money, and the paper money rolled into the flames. After
burning the paper money and extinguishing the sparks, she stood silently in front of the old tailor's grave for a while, and then went home with Ruan Jielingyao.
The next few days were all about visiting relatives and friends.
Fourth aunt Ruan Cuilan returned to her parents' home on the second day of the New Year, bringing her husband and children to liven up the party.
It was not until the fifth day of the New Year that the New Year atmosphere gradually faded.
After the Spring Festival, Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi naturally returned to the tailor shop to start taking on jobs. But because the Chinese New Year had just passed, there were not many people who wanted to make clothes or alter clothes, so every day was very quiet and no one came.
Ruan Xi's daily routine was still the same. In addition to doing the work in the tailor shop, the rest of the time was spent reading books and memorizing literature. He memorized those simple elementary school knowledge over and over again in his heart.
The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month was lively again for a day, and then life went on as usual.
In the evening, looking at the height of the sun, Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi packed up the tailor shop, took Ling Yao and Ruan Jie to close the door and go home. When the four of them were walking on the mountain road, they saw a postman in the mountain and called out, "Are you delivering a letter?"
There was only one postman in the entire Fengming Mountain. Whether it was sending or receiving a letter, they could only rely on him, so whether it was a letter or not, it would take a long time. Some people couldn't wait and would go to the town themselves.
Slowness is the main theme of this era.
The sun was slow, the cars were slow, and the days were also slow.
The postman turned around and replied, "Yes, delivering a letter."
Ruan Jie asked again, "Whose family is it delivering the letter to?"
Ruan Zhigao wrote a letter to her uncle a few years ago, and it might be a reply letter from her uncle.
Then the postman really said, "It's a family named Ruan."
Hearing this, Ruan Jie's eyes lit up, and he looked at the postman and said, "That must be our family." Then he
looked at Ruan Cuizhi and said, "Did your uncle reply to your letter? Or did he send money back again?"
Before Ruan Cuizhi could say anything, the postman stopped.
He was obviously too tired to walk anymore. After stopping, he took a breath and looked at the only adult, Ruan Cuizhi, and said, "This is the only letter I want to deliver. If it's yours, I won't go up. I'll give it to you here."
As he said this, he opened the green mail bag on his body and pulled out a brown envelope from it.
He handed the envelope to Ruan Cuizhi and asked her, "Is it from your family?"
Ruan Xi came to Ruan Cuizhi's side and looked at the envelope together. They saw that the recipient on the envelope was not Ruan Zhigao, but Ruan Cuizhi. Looking at the sender's line, it was not Ruan Changfu, but Liu Xiong. After
reading the envelope, Ruan Cuizhi turned around and met Ruan Xi's eyes. Neither of them said anything. Ruan Cuizhi took the envelope and said to the postman, "I am Ruan Cuizhi. This is a letter written to me. Thank you for your help."
In this case, the postman delivered the letter and did not go upstairs anymore. He turned around and walked downstairs.
Ruan Cuizhi put the letter in her pocket without reading it. She and Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie Lingyao continued to return to Fengyan Village.
When she got home and sat down in her room, she took out the letter, tore open the envelope and poured out the letter paper.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie sat next to her, both wanting to see what Liu Xiong wrote.
Then they opened the letter paper and saw that there was no format on it, only four words - agreed to divorce.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie smiled when they saw these four words. Ruan Jie said, "Third aunt, he finally agreed."
Ruan Cuizhi was relieved when she saw the words on the letter paper, and said without hesitation, "I will go to the town to find him tomorrow."
At dinner in the evening, she told Ruan Zhigao and Liu Xinghua about this. Ruan Zhigao and Liu Xinghua were also greatly relieved, and they wanted Ruan Cuizhi to go through the procedures with Liu Xiong immediately and completely sever their relationship.
Ruan Zhigao said, "Let Xiao Wuzi go with you. We can rest assured that he will take care of us. It just so happens that he still needs to buy a lot of things. He should buy cloth for the girl to make clothes, and he also needs to buy things to decorate the new house."
Ruan Cuizhi nodded and said, "Then let's go down together."
The next day, after Ruan Cuizhi and Ruan Changsheng went down the mountain, Ruan Xi was the only one in the tailoring shop in the morning. In the afternoon, Ruan Jie and Ling Yao came as usual and continued to read and study with her. Ruan Xi
was absent-minded while studying, looking at the grape trellis and thinking - Ruan Changsheng was going to get married in a few months, and the family had to vacate a room for him to make a new room. If Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua's room was used, they were afraid that Sun Xiaohui would make a fuss again.
After thinking for a while, Ruan Xi came back to her senses and looked at Ruan Jie and said, "Xiao Jie, Uncle Wu should be ready to decorate the new house. Why don't you and Aunt San move out and live here from now on, and let Uncle Wu live in the new house."
Ruan Jie was still writing, and she stopped writing when she heard it.
After Ruan Xi finished speaking, she naturally had no objection and nodded directly, saying, "Okay."
So the next day, Ruan Xi asked Ruan Zhigao to ask someone to come to her house to help, and move all the beds, boxes, cabinets, and everything in her, Ruan Jie, and Ruan Cuizhi's rooms to the tailor shop.
After moving in, the room in the house was vacated, and the next step was to repaint the walls, buy new beds, quilts, pillow boxes, wardrobes, and other things. Decorating the house into a new one was a big project.
Ruan Xi and her friends helped in whatever way they could, but the bulk of the work was done by Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng. Ruan Changsheng asked carpenters in the mountains to make furniture, while he ran back and forth between the village and the commune to buy all kinds of things he needed.
Four or five days later, Ruan Changsheng and Ruan Cuizhi came back from the town after buying things, both of them with big bags in their hands.
Ruan Changsheng gave Qianchuan the cloth he had pulled in the town, and paid her the wages for making clothes, so that she could find a tailor in the town to make them. After all, they were not married yet, and he was afraid that others would gossip if he asked her to come to the mountains to make clothes and live here.
But Ruan Zhigao, Liu Xinghua, Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie were not particularly concerned about his arrangements. When they saw him and Ruan Cuizhi coming back, they ignored him, held Ruan Cuizhi's hand and asked, "What's going on? What about the divorce?"
Ruan Cuizhi looked relieved and smiled, "It's done, we're divorced."
Hearing this, Liu Xinghua breathed a sigh of relief, "Divorce is good, you can live the way you want after the divorce. This time I won't urge you to find another one. If you can't live well, it's useless to marry a hundred people."
Ruan Cuizhi nodded, "Well, I don't have that idea for the time being."
Ruan Cuizhi had been clamoring for a divorce for a year and a half, and now it finally came to an end. Liu Xinghua felt so relieved that she cooked two more dishes in the evening, as if Ruan Cuizhi's divorce was a big happy event.
Of course, Sun Xiaohui didn't know about this, otherwise she would have to gossip privately that Liu Xinghua had a problem with her brain. Her daughter was divorced, but she treated it as if she was married.
After dinner, when Ruan Cuizhi entered the room, she found that all the things in the room had been moved away, including her clothes, so she had to follow Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie to the tailor shop and sleep there.
Although there were two beds in the tailor shop, the three of them still slept together that night.
Ruan Cuizhi was lying on the bed, relaxing her whole body and said, "Finally, we are divorced. The stone in my heart has fallen, and I feel completely at ease. From now on, I, Ruan Cuizhi, will have no relationship with the Liu family anymore."
Ruan Jie asked curiously, "Third aunt, why did Liu Xiong suddenly want to divorce?" Didn't he say before that he would never divorce me?
Ruan Cuizhi smiled and said, "He really told me that he didn't want to waste time with me. It's not difficult for him to find a second marriage with his conditions. He said that if I stay in this deep mountain forest, I will never find a good man in my life. He also said that I am restless, unsteady, and unfaithful to my wife, and no decent man will want me. I was beaten up by your fifth uncle again."
Ruan Xi couldn't help laughing and was speechless.
Ruan Jie continued, "Then Third Aunt, find a better one for Liu Xiong."
Ruan Cuizhi was in a very good mood, and her words were like notes jumping, "Let's talk about it later. I feel more comfortable alone now."
Ruan Jie hummed, "Then let's talk about it later."
The night deepened, flowing, slowly lazy, and the spring in the mountains and forests was sprouting.
From spring to summer, the Ruan family has been busy preparing for Ruan Changsheng's wedding.
When the wedding date was approaching, the new house had been cleaned up and decorated, full of red and festive.
The banquet was prepared, and the guests were invited. They were just waiting to pick up the bride on the day and start the banquet.
Because the mountain road is long, it is not easy to pick up the bride, so Ruan Changsheng and several of his childhood friends set out to the town a few days in advance, bringing the matchmaker hired by the family, carrying a festively decorated sedan chair with red silk and big red flowers on it.
Because Ruan Changsheng was getting married, there were many things to do at home, so Ruan Xi naturally closed the sewing shop. These days she helped with housework and welcoming guests during the day, and went to the sewing shop with Ruan Cuizhi and Ruan Jie to sleep at night. After being busy for
most of the day today, I don’t know what I did but I feel a little tired, so Ruan Xi grabbed a handful of melon seeds and a small stool and sat down in the corner of the wall, sitting alone to relax and eat melon seeds.
After eating for a while, Ling Yao also brought a small stool over and sat down next to her.
Ruan Xi looked at him and smiled, then reached out and put a handful of melon seeds in his hand.
The two sat side by side and ate melon seeds together. Ling Yao asked her: "Almost, they should be back tomorrow."
Ruan Xi knew that he was talking about Ruan Changsheng picking up the bride, so she nodded and wanted to respond, but before she could make a sound, she suddenly heard someone shouting: "Back! Back!"
Ruan Xi was a little surprised, and turned to mutter: "Back so soon?"
Then, as soon as she finished speaking, she saw the girl who was about the same age as her, who was shouting that she was back, ran directly to her, panted for a long time and said to her: "Xiao Xi...you...your parents are back..."
Ruan Xi had just put the melon seeds between her lips when she suddenly stopped.
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