On New Year's Eve, the Bi family had breakfast with leftovers from the previous day.
Even though there weren't any orders, Liu Yafang was still busy and sweating. Their family was still missing something this year: they couldn't put up couplets or make sauce until three years had passed since their father passed away. Otherwise, they would have to work even harder.
There was a live fish swimming in the big washbasin in the Bi family's kitchen, splashing water out.
It is not easy to buy live fish at this time. Xiaokang from the club delivered it early in the morning, along with a bunch of other ingredients such as sea cucumbers.
Liu Yafang has been busy since around seven in the morning, running inside and outside, opening and closing doors, heating up breakfast and serving it. After eating a few bites, she still has to wash the dishes and clean up.
After finishing all these, I have to start preparing the big dinner at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
She pounded her hips with exhaustion, feeling like she still hadn't figured it out. She mixed the batter, fried this and that. The sheer number of different dishes was overwhelming; she didn't know what to make.
Bi Tielin put down his New Year's call, sat on the sofa, turned around and glanced at the yard. His brother was sweeping the yard. He said to Bi Cheng, who was chatting happily with Bi Yue, in a stern tone: "Go, help your mother with the work. And you, Goudan."
After saying this, he went to the kitchen.
Liu Yafang quit. In Northeast China, men don't work, especially on New Year's Eve. Wouldn't that make them exhausted for the whole year?
"No need for that. Tielin, all of you come inside. Write me a list of all the sixteen dishes. I'm getting more and more confused the more I cook. Write it down and bring it out to me."
Bi Yue came out again. She leaned against the door frame and asked in surprise, "What? Sixteen dishes, Mom, do you have to be so exaggerated?"
The phone rang.
Bi Yue was not modest either. She answered every phone call. Even though she and her uncle shared half of the calls, she still had to answer them. What if it was Chu Yifeng?
As soon as I picked up the phone, I heard Mrs. Chu shout, "Girl!"
"Oh grandma, I just called you and told you that you went upstairs to sleep."
"Well then. I'm not going to answer you now, am I?"
"Have you cooked? What did you have for breakfast? Grandma, are you okay? Why did you only come back the day before yesterday? Didn't my aunt start work on the 21st? Why are you back so late?"
A series of questions made Mrs. Chu slap her thigh immediately:
"Oh my god, don't mention it."
Old Madam Chu didn't care whether Grandpa Chu Ci and her daughter-in-law could hear her or not. There were a bunch of people in her family in the living room. She held the phone tightly and shouted loudly, as if she was afraid that the phone was too quiet:
"You've been giving me so much trouble, I didn't even make it to your pregnancy checkup.
Look at what this is all about.
Huh? You ask me if it's interesting? It's not!
It's a shabby place, with only one traffic light in the entire city. There are buildings everywhere or the land is vacant.
It's a hot day, there's the sea, and you put a sun hat on me and throw me to the beach. I get tanned and the heat makes me feel uncomfortable.
You said your body is in such a bad shape, your aunt is just being so naughty."
Liang Yinqiu was also mixing the batter. She hurried from the kitchen into the living room, smiling at Zhang Jingan and Old Man Zhang, and whispered, "No matter how good I treat her, she still finds fault with me. Haha."
Zhang Jingan didn't care, with a smile on her face. She had long been numb to hearing this, especially when she didn't have a train ticket and was often scolded by her mother-in-law in the south. Her mother-in-law could talk whatever she wanted, and she would do whatever she wanted.
Grandpa Chuci, on the other hand, laughed and said, "Old children are just like little children. Jing'an was not well prepared this time and should be criticized."
Bi Yue was puzzled, aren’t they going to Hainan?
From what grandma said, it's a very dilapidated place now.
Ah, that’s right. If I remember correctly, the preparatory work for the establishment of Hainan Province will start either this year or next year. Wouldn’t there be a traffic light in the whole city?
She asked a few more questions to find out what was going on over there.
Old Mrs. Chu chatted with Bi Yue happily, telling her what she ate and drank. She also emphasized that coconut water was not a good drink and she didn't like it. She actually ate ice cream instead.
Finally, Bi Yue asked her, "Will our family have a fun New Year this year? My aunt is back, and Grandpa Zhang is also there for the New Year."
The old lady was not afraid of offending anyone: "What's the point? It's like this every year. I don't like celebrating the New Year anymore. Just wait and see next year. After you give birth, the children will run around the house and it will be fun. Next year we must celebrate the New Year here. If you don't come, I will go!"
Unable to bear it any longer, the old lady emphasized before hanging up the phone, "I'll come find you tomorrow. Your mom and dad have to go to the grassroots tomorrow. It's all a mission. I don't have much fun on my own. Let's go to the hospital together?"
"Grandma, aren't you afraid of bad luck going to the hospital on the first day of the new year?"
"It's okay, it's a happy occasion. Okay? It's settled. You can go to your family tomorrow and tell them..."
"Complete."
"Yes, let the boy come to pick me up. Girl, grandma wishes you to give birth to ten or eight boys in the new year."
Bi Yue hung up the phone and looked at her father, her face slightly red. Ten or eight? Making dumplings? She was speechless to the old lady.
Sixteen dishes were served, and reminiscing about the past became the process.
Thinking back to everything that happened in 1986, Bi Tiegang's eyes turned red. Especially when he was picking up the fish with his chopsticks, his aunt Bi Jinzhi called and his father opened his mouth and said:
"Jinzhi, you're the only one left over there..."
The whole family fell silent after hearing this. Thinking about my aunt's divorce, there was no other way. The New Year was the time to sell sheep, cattle, and pigs, so my aunt couldn't come to Kyoto.
Paipaier wished his aunt a happy new year and also said a few words to Fu Juan.
When everyone sat down to eat and talk about the new year again, the topics changed and the atmosphere naturally became lively again.
The phrase her father said most often was: "I never dared to imagine, I never dared to imagine this day would come."
As for the exact time of the 3pm meal, Bi Yue had no idea. She couldn't sit still while eating, so she simply left the table. She didn't return to her own room, but went to her uncle's room, which was closest to the living room, and lay down to sleep.
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