Chapter 287 New Year (Part 1)
New Year's Eve.
Early in the morning, people in the town came out of their homes to get busy.
The old town mayor had notified everyone a few days ago.
This is the first New Year that Qingshan Town has spent at the base, symbolizing their new life and making it exceptionally meaningful.
So this year, the whole town celebrated the New Year together.
Except for the elderly and children, everyone else in each household pays points per person to contribute to the banquet.
For households without points, contributing grain is also acceptable.
The town always had a public granary as a last resort for food supplies.
Even during the most difficult time after moving to the base, the old town mayor did not agree to distribute grain. However, he ordered the distribution of grain during the Spring Festival, hoping that every household could have a good New Year.
After spring arrives and the crops on the two plots of land behind the mountain ripen, everyone's lives will get better and better.
Last night, the search team's sentries ran to the parking lot behind the residential area and set up a stove and a tent that could accommodate more than a hundred people for a meal.
They are the only ones in the neighborhood who own a car.
The parking lot is almost deserted on weekdays.
However, because of his previous experience of having his stall vandalized, Uncle He was a bit cautious. Fearing that other residents might be unhappy, he went to ask them one by one and then went to the street office to report the incident.
They didn't want anything unpleasant to happen during the Lunar New Year.
Fortunately, the residents of the other buildings were quite understanding and cheerfully said it was fine; they just liked it lively.
You can see more than a hundred people downstairs having their reunion dinner together.
This is an extremely rare thing in this world.
In the morning, all the adults in the town turned out.
Every household carried tables and ingredients, and each family reported the number of their own bowls and chopsticks to take with them...
The children, dressed in new clothes and carrying pots and pans, excitedly followed the adults downstairs.
People are constantly entering and exiting the elevators and staircases.
Zhao Yan got up early to prepare as well.
Zhao Zhao said a few days ago that she would bring three friends to her home for the Chinese New Year today. She was worried that she would not be able to entertain them well, so she started preparing last night.
First, I cleaned Zhao Zhao's room, wiping every corner clean and clearing away the clutter on the coffee table, making the whole living room look brand new.
Then Zhao Yan washed the fruit that Zhao Zhao had bought and arranged it on a fruit plate and a snack plate.
She also made a lot of dumplings and put them in Yun Zhao's refrigerator.
After confirming that everything was in order, he carried the ingredients Zhaozhao had bought downstairs and handed them over to the people in charge of cooking that day.
*
The highlight of the New Year's Eve dinner is still in the evening.
Therefore, Yun Zhao did not get up too early.
The little bluebird stood on the windowsill, tilting its head curiously to stare downstairs.
Its playroom windows face the parking lot at the back, and the sheds occupy two-thirds of the space.
The aunties were all downstairs preparing the ingredients.
Water was boiling in a large pot, and wisps of smoke rose up, adding warmth and a touch of home cooking to the cold winter day.
The children ran around having a snowball fight, and some of the slightly older children were building snowmen with small shovels.
It was noisy and very lively downstairs.
Yun Zhao opened his communicator and saw over 99 group messages and more than ten private messages, all of them New Year's greetings.
There were private messages of blessing from teammates, as well as Bai Yu, several ministers, and Base Chief Shen.
The Zero Team's group chat is buzzing with excitement.
Yun Zhao didn't scroll up to look at the messages. He replied to each blessing one by one, then changed into new clothes, picked up his handbag, and called the little bluebird downstairs.
The handbag was bulging, filled with red envelopes.
The red envelope was a piece of red cloth she tore herself when she passed a shop while getting her hair cut yesterday.
When she returned, she asked Zhao Yan to help sew some, filled with colorful candies, just for a treat, for all children, everyone who saw them could have a share.
She also took the candy from the warehouse; it was the kind of bulk hard candy sold by weight in supermarkets.
Having too many snacks is also a problem; you can't finish them all, and many unsealed snacks can't be kept for long.
Yesterday, Yun Zhao also gave a lot to Bai Yu.
The teammates also carried a huge pile back, and when they turned around, it seemed that the huge pile of candy in the warehouse was still there.
Yun Zhao, thinking about the New Year, decided to take more and distribute some to each household later.
They could sell the food at the market instead of eating it and exchange it for points.
Yun Zhao took the elevator downstairs. As she stepped out of the elevator, she looked up and saw a sloth lying motionless in the middle of the corridor.
Ordinary passersby can't see it, and people often trip over it for no reason.
Even so, the sloth did not move its position.
It is indeed only suitable as a roadblock.
Yun Zhao was speechless for a moment, then stepped forward and told the little guy to lie down on the side.
"Why isn't your training working?" Yun Zhao asked. "Where's He Xiangren?"
Because it's Chinese New Year today, the sentry training camp is also closed for a day.
Yun Zhao heard their voices when the two came upstairs to help Zhao Yan get the ingredients in the morning.
The sloth had its eyes half-closed and remained motionless, like a statue.
There was no response at all.
Yun Zhao thought it might take ten or twenty minutes for it to respond.
How does He Xiang usually communicate with it?
Never mind, let her go out and see for herself.
"You just stay put over there. If you hurt someone, I won't let you off the hook." Yun Zhao gently patted the sloth's head.
Although she knew that the guy would most likely not react, she still gave him a warning out of habit.
The little bluebird had probably never seen such a dull spirit before, as it didn't react when she touched other spirits.
Outside the building, the New Year atmosphere was strong.
Red lanterns were hung everywhere, and the occasional sound of firecrackers and children's laughter could be heard in the distance, filling the entire community with a festive atmosphere.
Yun Zhao followed the cleaned path to the back parking lot.
On the way, I encountered people from the town running in and out, carrying several buckets of water.
Everyone greeted her warmly when they saw her.
"Zhao Zhao is here."
Happy New Year, Zhao Zhao!
"It's cold outside. What are you doing out so early? Go back and rest. Come down when it's time to eat."
Clearly, everyone in town knew how capable she was at her jobs.
"I was bored staying at home, so I came down for a walk."
Yun Zhao took out several red envelopes from his bag and handed them out one by one, saying, "Happy New Year, everyone."
The person who received the red envelope was overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly.
"We're sorry to have troubled you, we haven't prepared anything." Someone said apologetically.
Yun Zhao: "It's nothing valuable, just a few candies, for good luck."
Yun Zhao didn't want to delay their work, so he followed the path to the shed at the back.
The temporary shed, made of plastic sheeting, provides shelter from the wind and snow, and rows of neat tables and chairs have already been set up inside.
In the stove area, several large pots were lined up side by side, with fire burning on the stove, the flames licking the bottom of the pots.
The cutting board was covered with a dazzling array of ingredients.
The aunties started preparing ingredients yesterday to make a New Year's Eve dinner for more than 100 people.
There were many people gathered around, helping to prepare food, start the fire, and do odd jobs.
The children were building snowmen outside the shed, their hands red from playing. They ran over to her one by one when they saw her.
"Sister Yunzhao, what does your spirit form look like? We want to build a snowman for it," Qin Xiaoxiao asked eagerly.
Upon hearing this, the little bluebird tilted its head and thought for a while before flapping its wings and flying onto the snowman.
One step and you'll leave a claw mark.
Yun Zhao lowered his head, took out a handful of red envelopes, and handed them out to the children one by one, saying, "You can pile them up however you like. Once they're done, I'll let them come over and play with them."
Not far away, a snowman built by the children stood crookedly in a pile.
If you were to actually build a little bluebird that doesn't resemble anything else, it would probably get angry.
It's better to let them do whatever they want.
The children who received the red envelopes were very happy, jumping and shouting around Yun Zhao.
"Sister Yunzhao, would you like to build a snowman with us?"
"Let's build a town mayor, and then a castle..."
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