"Mumu, is there any way to replace this white frost? The team has looked for it, but they are too crazy. Every household has shaved it clean."
"Yes, it's called saltpeter. It can be found in the mountains, but it's a transparent crystalline ore that has to be ground into powder before it can be used. It's not like the white frost we scrape off, which can be used directly after scraping it off."
Yang Mumu happened to see a piece of saltpeter among a pile of stones on the side of the road. He picked it up and handed it to his aunt to see.
"This is it. If you really want to play with it, Auntie, go to the mountain and find this and grind it into powder and play with it."
"As for this stone, I know where I can find it." Auntie returned the stone to Yang Mumu and left with the dustpan. "Okay, thank you, Mumu. I'll go back first. I'll go to the mountain to get some more. We can have a good time tonight."
"Okay, Auntie, take care."
Yang Mumu waved her hand and tossed her hair towards Gu Xingzhou and Xia Zhizhi, "Let's go, we're going back too."
"Okay, my back is bent so hard, I'm going to go back and take a rest."
Xia Zhizhi propped herself up, picked up her full basin and followed Yang Mumu. She looked at the results of her afternoon work and felt very satisfied.
Gu Xingzhou followed closely behind with a large basin in his hand.
The children on the roadside were so envious of their three pots of white crystals.
With so much hoarfrost, how long will it take to play?
Then the children asked for the saltpeter that Yang Mumu had picked up, and imitated him to look for stones everywhere.
Yang Mumu didn't fight with them anymore. The three of them returned to their little house in high spirits.
Just after arriving home for a while, the two couples, Liu Qingwan and He Yuan, came running back happily.
"We have something fun tonight. We brought back a lot of saltpeter." Liu Qingwan pointed at the backpack that Song Yan put down, "Come and take a look. Most of the backpack is gone."
Yang Mumu stretched his head to look, gave them a thumbs up, pointed behind him and said with a smile:
"Hehe, we also gained a lot."
Xia Zhizhi immediately opened the lids of the three large basins covered with wooden boards and laughed triumphantly.
"Ding ding ding, look, this is the result of the hard work of the three of us."
He Yuan exclaimed, "Wow, you made so many, that's amazing."
"And I also got something here. I can add two more dishes tonight, one spicy diced rabbit and one spicy chicken."
Shen Xingci moved the firewood on the surface and took out the chickens and rabbits hidden underneath. They had all been gutted, the chickens plucked and the rabbits skinned. He walked around and handed them to Gu Xingzhou.
"Huo, it's quite fat. Okay, I'll prepare spicy diced rabbit and spicy chicken for you."
Gu Xingzhou took the chicken and rabbit and walked towards the kitchen. As he walked, he turned back and said to them:
"First, you guys should grind the saltpeter into powder, and also prepare the charcoal. Old Shen, there's a sack of charcoal behind my door that I saved for warming up in the summer. Go get it. I'll leave the fireworks to you, and I'll take care of the kitchen."
Shen Xingci patted his chest and promised, "Okay, leave this to me. I will make sure the fireworks are ready before dinner, so we can play after dinner."
It was indeed getting late, so everyone consciously split into two groups.
Shen Xingci, He Yuan and Xia Zhizhi were making fireworks.
Yang Mumu, Liu Qingwan and Song Yan went to the kitchen to work with Gu Xingzhou.
Together they had three stoves, five small stoves, and a lot of pots, which made cooking very convenient. The small stoves were placed side by side outside Yang Mumu's kitchen, leaving no pot empty and no stove unused.
Cooking rice, stewing soup, steaming fish, stir-frying vegetables, frying meat, the benefits of having more stoves, more pots and more people cooking are perfectly reflected when preparing the New Year's Eve dinner. One pot is responsible for one dish, and one person looks after two pots, which is definitely enough.
Some dishes are pre-prepared at noon, and for some dishes, all the necessary ingredients are prepared and put directly into the pot in the evening, which is quite fast.
After the meal was ready, the fireworks they were making were not finished yet.
In the end, they put the food in the pot to steam for a while, and Yang Mumu and Gu Xingzhou went to light and hang up the lanterns. Then they went over to help and it took about ten minutes to get the fireworks ready for the evening.
"Eat, eat."
Yang Mumu clapped his hands and asked everyone to wash their hands and eat.
"You guys wash first, I'll go light the firecrackers."
"Okay, go ahead and be safe."
Gu Xingzhou nodded, ran into the house, took out a pack of firecrackers, walked to the edge of the yard, and tore open the red paper wrapping them.
He took out a match and held the fuse of the firecracker but didn't light it first. Instead, he looked at Yang Mumu and reminded her loudly:
"I'll order it."
"Okay, order it!"
Yang Mumu covered one ear and looked at him and replied. The friends around him who were afraid of the sound of firecrackers covered their ears and nodded.
After getting a response, Gu Xingzhou struck a match, lit it, threw down the firecrackers and ran towards them.
A few seconds later, the sound of firecrackers popped behind us, and the New Year atmosphere immediately came into being.
The sound of firecrackers here seemed to have turned on the switch for the New Year. Many families in the brigade began to sound firecrackers one after another. When one family stopped, another one started. Hearing the sound made the New Year atmosphere even more festive.
After the firecrackers were set off, Yang Mumu clapped her hands and shouted, "It's time to eat!"
Yang Mumu’s house is big, so we chose Yang Mumu’s house as the place for the reunion.
Everyone happily ran into the kitchen, and dishes from the pot were brought to the table one by one.
Gu Xingzhou also moved the stove under the table and closed the door, isolating the cold world outside. Everyone sat down in the room to eat in a lively atmosphere.
On such a lively day, of course we have to say some auspicious words. Yang Mumu raised his cup, stood up, looked at his friends at the table and said:
"We don't have many friends, and they are all at this table. We became friends because of fate, and we are all gathered together again. I am very happy to have you all to celebrate the New Year together."
"First of all, I wish our friendship will last forever. Secondly, I wish all of us a prosperous new year and even greater success. Finally, I wish us all good health and happiness every day. Cheers!"
"good!"
Everyone stood up and clapped, raising their glasses and clinking them happily.
"cheers!"
"Eat, eat!"
No one can resist a table full of delicious food. They just bury their heads in the food and cannot stop once they pick up their chopsticks.
Originally everyone wanted to stand up and say a few words, but they were conquered by the food. In addition, it was too cold in winter and the food cooled down quickly, so no one said anything and just focused on eating.
They ate faster and happier than each other. Nothing was wasted and everything had to be eaten up. It was a real CD action.
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