After dinner, everyone drank some wine because they were in a bad mood, even Wang Xiaolan had a few drinks.
Originally, I wanted her to share a room with Chen Yuqing, but Chen Yuqing didn't mind at all and wanted to sleep with Ye Bailu.
"It's not that complicated. Lao Feng and I used to sleep in the same room. Now that he's gone, should I stop sleeping there?"
Everyone's worries were dispelled by her words, so she and Ye Bailu slept in the west wing.
The two young people hadn't slept well these days, so tonight they hugged each other and slept especially soundly.
But the next day, Ye Tianya woke everyone up very early because it was New Year's Eve and everyone who had a job needed to go back to the factory to collect their salary and year-end benefits, so they started their holiday in the afternoon.
Today's annual leave isn't as long as it is in later generations, lasting only three days. In fact, some factories don't even give holidays at all, only giving half a day off on New Year's Eve, and then people have to work on the first day of the new year.
The brewery didn’t have any, because the brewery needed to transport materials, so they stopped working for three days to take inventory of the material data, otherwise Ye Zhiqiu would not have any annual leave to take.
Chen Yuqing was allowed to take a break these days to deal with Feng Yuanzheng's funeral. She went to the factory today to report for leave, but she plans to return to work as normal after the New Year.
After breakfast, everyone went off to their own business. Feng Xiaomei stayed at home with Ye Bailu, who had become much quieter. She seemed to vaguely see herself, such a pitiful girl.
When Ye Zhiqiu returned to the factory, everyone was enthusiastically discussing how much pork they could get.
It turned out that there were three pigs left in the factory. At this time, the kitchen was sharpening knives and boiling water, preparing to slaughter the pigs and divide the meat.
Ye Zhiqiu received a notice asking him to attend a meeting. When he arrived, he was comforted by everyone. They all knew that someone in his family had died.
The meeting began with the intention of commending Wu Shengli for his achievements. This was something they had agreed on in advance. This time, the credit would go to Wu Shengli, and they would then apply to higher authorities to make him deputy factory director.
Since no one could accuse him of not having made enough contributions, the resolution was passed smoothly. Of course, it didn't mean that anyone could become deputy director simply by applying for the position; the Ministry of Light Industry had to review and approve it.
This requires their old leaders to make an effort, and there will basically be no problem.
After this resolution is passed, the year-end benefits will be distributed. This requires the supervisors of each unit to arrange for employees to collect the allocated supplies and then distribute them to the employees. Finally, everyone enthusiastically collects the pork, and after collecting the pork, a factory-wide meeting is held before everyone disperses and goes home to prepare for New Year's Eve.
After the meeting, Ye Zhiqiu went back to the transport brigade and ordered the soldiers to carry the year-end benefits for distribution. Everything went on in an orderly manner.
The three members of the Ye family were also very busy. As they had been busy with Wang Fugui's funeral these days, they had not yet purchased supplies for the New Year.
So the three of them went out to queue up to buy supplies. This year, each household can buy one kilogram of pork according to their household registration book, as well as a certain amount of fruit, cakes, peanuts, melon seeds, candies and biscuits. Feng Xiaomei and her friends queued up to buy their supplies yesterday.
There were huge queues of people everywhere, and the three of them were busy for a long time before they bought everything.
When Ye Zhiqiu and his father returned home with their year-end benefits, they were already busy with things like pasting couplets, window decorations, and hanging lanterns.
After putting the things away, Ye Tianya went to help hang the lanterns, while Ye Zhiqiu said hello and went out, bringing back dozens of kilograms of pork, beef, mutton, and a lot of chickens, ducks, fish and shrimps.
When he returned home, Chen Yuqing also came back. Everyone was a little surprised to see so many things.
Ye Zhiqiu said to Chen Yuqing naturally, "Mom, I was thinking that we'd need ingredients to entertain guests on the first and second days of the new year, so I had someone leave some food for me. Leave some here for us to eat tonight and give as gifts, and prepare some for you to take back tomorrow. I'll come over on the second day to help cook and entertain my uncle and the others."
The sudden sound of "Mom" made Chen Yuqing stunned for a moment, then she smiled and nodded, "Okay, okay, I'll do as you say."
Ye Zhiqiu didn't think too much about it. He and Feng Xiaomei were already husband and wife, and they just hadn't gotten the certificate yet. It would be awkward to call her Aunt Chen anymore, so it would be better for him to just change his words.
Anyway, there is no such thing as a fee for changing one's words in this era. Sooner or later, I will have to call her mother, so it is better to be open and honest.
Feng Xiaomei blushed a little, but she felt it was quite appropriate.
The neighborhood office was a bit busy, helping to maintain order in the supply queue. Many people had the afternoon off, so they were free to line up for New Year's supplies. So, when the four members of the Qian family arrived, Wang Xiaolan hadn't even gotten home from get off work yet.
Everyone started to get busy in the kitchen. Those who were kneading the dough were in the living room, while those who were washing vegetables and chopping stuffing were in the kitchen. The place became lively with more people around, which diluted the sadness of the two families, and everything gradually got better.
At least Ye Bailu followed Qian Xiaofang to help wash the cabbage. It was good to have something to do so that she wouldn't have time to think about random things.
Of course, you can't just eat dumplings on New Year's Eve. It's not like Ye Zhiqiu can't get the ingredients. He doesn't say that he can only make pork dumplings if he doesn't have the ingredients.
He first processed the chicken and duck, stewed them in old duck soup, and of course made roast chicken for the chicken. He also braised a large carp, made a portion of braised pork, four-happiness meatballs, fried hairtail slices, roasted prawns, and stir-fried lamb with green onions. Not to mention the cold dishes, as the ingredients were limited, so he just had a cold beef salad, plus other vegetables such as kelp shreds, making four cold dishes.
After Ye Tianya and the others had kneaded the dough, they began to put the two tables together. Tonight's reunion dinner would seat eleven people. They also had to leave two seats empty, set up the bowls and chopsticks, and serve the dishes and wine.
It’s not superstition, it’s just to comfort the living, to comfort myself. Feng Yuanzheng and Wang Fugui also accompanied me to have this reunion dinner.
By the time Wang Xiaolan returned home with her year-end bonus, the dough had almost risen. She quickly put everything away, washed her hands, and returned to the living room to prepare dumplings.
Ye Zhiqiu was busy, so they made dumplings while he patiently cooked in the kitchen. For New Year's Eve dinner, they would eat first, then slowly drink and chat until midnight before cooking the dumplings, symbolizing the arrival of a new year.
This meal is destined to be eaten very late, after all, it will last until the early morning, because we have to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year!
In fact, the sound of firecrackers had been heard from time to time, and the reinforcements who were making dumplings suggested setting off firecrackers as well, so the four little guys ran to set off firecrackers.
The deafening sound of firecrackers diluted the sadness. Laughter and exclamations were heard from the yard from time to time. Ye Zhiqiu listened to these sounds and a faint smile appeared on his face.
We were busy until half past eight when the reunion dinner was finally ready. Everyone started helping to carry the dishes back to the living room.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com