Chapter 260 Five-Up Dumplings
Looking at the surprised look on the elder’s face, the younger sister said with a smile.
"Uncle and aunt, don't be surprised. My brother was driving on the way back. My second brother and I ate in the car. He is still hungry after breakfast."< br>
Zhu Xuefeng gave his little sister a thumbs up in his heart, seeming a little embarrassed.
"No, there are too many delicious foods. I'm greedy just looking at them. No, I have to drink some soup. I'm so stuffed that I have to slip away."
Uncle Zou Her face suddenly bloomed like a chrysanthemum, and Aunt Zou was so happy to see that Zhu Xuefeng loved to drink the bone soup she made.
"If you like to drink, aunt will often cook it for you. It doesn't take much effort. The bones are much easier to buy than meat."
A plate of rice cakes after the meal, this Everyone understands, it happens every year after meals, and in some homes it’s a dessert, which is like caramelized apples, that’s what it means anyway.
Looking at the remaining dishes, I asked the two elders to take away half of them, but there was still a lot left. In the next few days, it will basically be leftovers with some green vegetables, no need to use a knife.
“Xue Feng, we are just an old couple, we really can’t eat so much, so stop pretending.”
Seeing that Zhu Xuefeng was still loading the dishes, Uncle Zou quickly stopped him. It was too much, and there were a few spare ones at home that were not used. There was so much that he could not finish it before the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
"Uncle, I forgot to tell you. You have to come and change the fire tomorrow. We are not at home in the afternoon and evening, and we can't keep this dish forever. You, just have a good New Year. . ”
The younger sister and the younger brother went to feed the chickens. It’s time to give the chickens something good to eat during the Chinese New Year. As for Xiao Hei, the younger sister was nowhere to be found and was eating fish.
"Hey, Yan Lao'er, it's a bit early this year."
This is Yan Lao'er taking his younger brothers and sisters to send the God of Wealth door to door. He is very particular, early in the afternoon, five or six After a while, the children would take the purchased God of Wealth and deliver it door to door.
The courtyard is relatively closed, and few outsiders come in. They all think it is not good to disturb others in preparing the New Year's dinner. It is a convention to send the God of Wealth after the New Year's dinner. Not only after finishing the meal, someone comes to the door.
No one can refuse this kind of thing. They all pay several times the price to invite them in. Everyone wants to be lucky, and the children want some pocket money. Sometimes I can pick up five or six in a night, but I can’t say no. If you really don’t want to give it, you have to say yes.
But this is all a child's business. It's quite strange that Yan Lao Er is still sending the God of Wealth to the yard at such an old age. Zhu Xuefeng happily took out two cents. By coincidence, today, he had the money in his pocket. Forgot to prepare change, this kid is cheap.
“Thank you, Brother Feng!”
The three Yan family members happily ran away when they saw the big deal. There are still many houses in the yard, so they have to hurry up, otherwise they will lose money. Big.
"Brother, I have zero here. I'll pick it up later. What you gave is too much. I won't even give it away now."
The younger sister saw that the elder brother paid two cents, which is too much , most of them don't cost more than 10 cents, and there are quite a few who don't chip in and give 5 cents. A God of Wealth card costs less than a penny.
Sure enough, several more waves came after a while, all of them were little kids in the yard. From a distance, I saw Banggeng taking his sister from house to house, but they didn't come to Lao Zhu's house.
Seeing that the two elders were a little tired, they had to let them rest first. Seeing his younger brother and sister coming back, Zhu Xuefeng pointed to the north room.
"We will put away all the vegetables later, and some of them have to be put in the refrigerator. Then we go outside to set off firecrackers and play for a while. When the time comes, we will make dumplings."
Who doesn't like to set off firecrackers? Even the little girl couldn't stop them. After a while, the two of them ran away happily with firecrackers, and even the Sky Monkey took one.
"Uncle, please continue listening to the radio and take a rest for a while. We have been tired for so long, let's take a breather and make dumplings."
"Okay, it's still early anyway." Uncle Zou and his wife went back to lie down and rest for a while. Later they had to make dumplings and had to stand. It was really hard not to take a rest.
The two elders must have been busy for most of the day, and they agreed to invite people over for dinner. They were so tired that Zhu Xuefeng felt a little embarrassed.
According to custom, the whole family would gather together to crack melon seeds, talk about homely things, eat together, and then make dumplings together. However, the energy of the two elders was obviously low, so they didn’t force it.
Take the time to put away the dishes and pots. This day is really very tight. Fortunately, we don’t have to run like this every year, otherwise the New Year would be really tiring.
After cleaning up, the two elders were still resting. They looked at the time and saw that it was still a little early. The dumplings were made too early and had been left for a long time. The dough underneath was easy to stick to each other. They usually start after ten o'clock. .
After a while, the younger brothers and sisters came back from setting off firecrackers and stamped their feet as soon as they entered the door.
"The snow is almost gone. It's still so cold outside at night. No wonder the eldest brother doesn't set it off."
Zhu Xuefeng helped pat the firecracker shavings off the second child's body.
“I’ve never heard that it’s not cold when it snows. I asked you to bring a scarf to wrap around it. You both find it troublesome. Your ears are completely frozen now. Go and warm yourself up.”
< br>Maybe I heard the news that the two children came home. Uncle Zou and his wife also came over. I didn’t say anything, let’s prepare dumplings.
Look at the vegetarian stuffing ingredients on the table. There are quite a lot of them. Zhu Xuefeng prepared them according to the old rules.
"Wait a minute, listen to this first. This vegetarian stuffing Auntie will adjust it, and you three will help with the bagging in a while."
Uncle Zou turned on the radio, and the radio was playing cross talk. When he heard it, he knew that this was Teacher Jin Haima.
On New Year's Eve, the radio station held a "National Broadcasting Gala" with rich and colorful content, including music, Peking opera, and cross talk. It was comparable to the TV Spring Festival Gala in later generations.
I didn’t have a radio at home before, so I couldn’t listen to it even if I wanted to, but I forgot about it.
"Little sister, turn up your voice louder, don't be drowned out by the sound of chopping stuffing."
It's a pity that I only listened to one part of Teacher Ma's cross talk, this voice is so recognizable It’s so exciting that I can’t forget it after listening to it once, but everyone was very happy to listen to this short paragraph. Not to mention, Teacher Ma’s trick is slipping, and the baggage comes one after another, coupled with his calmness. A casual tone, even if you are not happy. .
“Now it’s time to guess the quiz with prizes again. Please pick up the pen and paper in your hands and do it well...”
The radio Spring Festival Gala at this time is also very interesting. In addition to music, Peking opera, cross talk and other programs, there is also a "quiz quiz" program with prizes.
The radio station will insert more than a dozen riddles or intelligence test questions in the middle of the program, allowing people across the country to guess together, and there will be prizes!
"Come on, come on, where are your pens? Second brother, where do you keep your pens?"
The younger sister was a little anxious, so Zhu Xuefeng had to take some pens and paper from the space and handed them over.
"Okay, don't say anything, it's time to start..."
One question came up at once, and this question obviously stumped the two children, and the two elders were even more clueless. Seeing that Zhu Xuefeng was not anxious at all, the younger sister couldn't help but ask.
"Brother, do you know the answer? Why did the penguin get lost in Antarctica with the compass? Tell me!"
These future generations of primary school students all know, but at this time How many people know?
“Of course it’s because in Antarctica, every other direction is north, so of course the compass can’t find north.”
“That’s it”! The two children were thoughtful and seemed to understand.
The little girl jumped up all of a sudden!
"Yeah, that must be the case." He quickly found the envelope, cut off a small corner, and began to write the address of the radio station.
You have to put the answers in a letter and send it to the radio station early the next morning. There is no charge for sending this kind of letter. You just need to cut off a corner of the envelope and write the words "Answering questions at the evening party" That's it.
If you answer correctly, the radio station will send you a beautiful little bookmark. Although the gift is light, it is very commemorative and everyone likes it.
Zhu Xuefeng has never thought about it. Without the help of electronic equipment at this time, how did the staff of the radio station deal with the answers sent by people across the country on various papers and various fonts? That's a lot of work.
"Okay, put away the pen and paper. There will be prizes for quizzes later. Now while there are no answers, listen to the show and prepare to make dumplings."
There are two types of dumplings to prepare, one is Vegan fillings are meant to be served to worshipers. They have to be cooked first and then eaten by yourself. It can be meat or meat. I guess not many people know these details now.
Vegetarian stuffing is not simple. Grate the carrots into shreds, blanch them and then chop them dry. Chop the Chinese cabbage and squeeze out the water.
Then dry goods such as mushrooms, fungus, yellow flowers, vermicelli, etc. are distributed and finely chopped. You can also add winter bamboo shoots, gluten, etc.
According to the old rules, you can put ginger in the stuffing, but not onions, garlic and leeks, because these are considered "meat".
There is a lot of emphasis on the vegetarian stuffing. In fact, you only need a small amount of vegetarian stuffing. You only need to prepare a plate of vegetarian stuffing.
At ten o'clock, you can clearly hear the sound of "dang, dang, dang, dang, dang" fillings being chopped in the yard. The dumpling fillings need to be prepared before midnight, because it is past midnight. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, no surgery is allowed.
Dumplings are made together by the whole family during the Chinese New Year, and this is also true for rich families. This is to show the unity, harmony and joint efforts of the family. Not only are there fillings in the dumplings, but some washed coins and dates are also placed in them for good luck.
"Xue Feng, this stuffing is just on the cabinet. There should be enough noodles." "Don't worry, one plate of vegetarian stuffing, pork and cabbage should be enough for fifty, and there will be enough noodles as well. You can Show me.”
Now Mrs. Zou has prepared the vegetarian stuffing. There are more than fifty pork and cabbage fillings, which is enough for five people. After all, they have eaten dinner, and they are not in a hurry. They are preparing while listening to the show.
Look it’s almost time, let’s start making dumplings together. This northerner makes dumplings every year and basically knows how to make dumplings, but the appearance is different.
At this moment, shouts of "Buying water chestnuts! Buying water chestnuts" came from the alley. Because the surroundings were quiet, the sound seemed particularly clear, with melodious echoes rippling in the wind.
“Second brother, hurry up and buy some.”
The old second hand didn’t even wash it, so he put on his cotton-padded jacket, put on his hat and ran away. I don’t know when it started. Before midnight, when every household is busy making dumplings, the cry of "selling water chestnuts" will always be heard in the alley.
Amidst the bursts of chopping sounds, the cry of "Buy water chestnuts!" coming from the cold wind was like a variation inserted in the middle, like a burst of percussion music. The folk songs of northern Shaanxi are as melodious and harmonious as ever.
At the fifth watch, the dumplings are cooked. The first pot of vegetarian stuffing is cooked and served first. Three small bowls of five in each bowl are placed together with other tributes.
There was already a dense sound of firecrackers in the yard, the second child was also lit, and the sound of firecrackers started.
There were several loud noises in the distance.
"Big brother, big brother, aunt and uncle, come out quickly!"
The little girl was jumping and shouting in the yard, and several people hurriedly came out. Not far away, a dozen huge fireworks bloomed in the southwest. After one round, there was another loud bang, and then another huge firework exploded in the air. Yes, this must be from Liuyang.
“It’s so beautiful. I really want to see it live.”
A few people clicked four more kicks and watched a bright light flash in the night sky and a roar. Although there was no southwest It's so spectacular and beautiful, but it also has its own voice and light.
"Don't worry, there are still more." Zhu Xuefeng went back and took two big clay figures without any hurry, and placed them in the center of the yard more than one meter apart. They looked like two old men, and the leads were On the top of the head, I took a few half bricks and fixed them.
The third child of the Yan family also saw the movement and came out to watch.
"Old Man's Flower, you can also buy this, I haven't seen it."
This thing is not easy to buy, it is rare to find it. It was made with the help of Qian Chuanzi, only Four, ninety-eight cents each, super expensive, but with enough gunpowder, one can be set off for half an hour, making it an older generation of fireworks.
"Come on, one for each of you, and light it yourself."
Zhu Xuefeng relit two incense sticks and handed them to his younger brother and sister. Carefully, he stretched out one leg, leaned back as much as possible, and stretched out the incense tremblingly.
"Pa", there was a soft sound in Zhu Xuefeng's mouth. The little girl was frightened to drop the incense in her hand, but the second brother was only nervous for a moment. It was okay, a little better than the little sister.
The little girl picked up the incense in her hand and put it out. The ground was a little damp.
"Brother, you are so mean. Second brother, wait for me for a while. I..."
Zhu Xuefeng took the incense, broke off the front end, lit it again, and handed it to the younger sister.
The two fireworks rose higher and higher, slowly blooming, colorful and beautiful, illuminating the front yard brightly. After a while, children from several yards gathered around the two plants. The fireworks were screaming and jumping around.
Colorful fireworks illuminated the men and women, young and old, in the front yard. Everyone was full of joy...
…
Back in the house, the three of them kowtowed to the two elders. , Uncle Zou and his wife happily gave the three people lucky money, and Zhu Xuefeng did not blush and accepted it happily.
Looking at the dumplings on the table, I cut some stewed vegetables, took out Laba garlic, and poured some white wine for the two old people. Now it's time to get together and eat the steaming "first bite of the new year."
It was just a coin, and luckily the second one got it. The second one was so happy that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear. The two elders also looked at the three brothers and sisters with amusement.
The younger sister mumbled, she had suffered a big loss, she said she couldn’t eat so much, so she gave it to her second brother and gave away her luck.
"Okay, our family is the luckiest if you don't use this."
Zhu Xuefeng touched the little sister's head, and the little sister became happy. She drank some wine with the old couple, and the old couple were also happy. My heart has not been so lively for several years. Watching the younger generation grow up makes me sincerely happy.
It is now a night vigil, and the old couple cannot keep it. After chatting with the three brothers and sisters for a while, they went to rest. The table was also cleared, and the lights in all the rooms were on.
The two little ones were munching on melon seeds and waiting for their elder brother. The elder brother was washing the dishes and said he would teach them some new games later, but he didn’t tell them what they were playing. The two little ones were scratching their heads like a cat’s claws. , restless.
After finally waiting for the elder brother to finish cleaning up, Zhu Xuefeng wiped his hands and walked out with a smile.
"Don't worry, let's start now. Brother, go and make the fire hotter. It's very cold in the middle of the night. Let's not stay up all night. Go to bed when we feel sleepy."
After saying that, he entered the north room and came out with a pair of playing cards. The one he bought years ago has not yet been opened. I took it apart several times and cleaned it up a few times.
"Brother, are you just teaching us how to play cards? We all know how to do this."
The younger sister was a little surprised. Isn't poker very simple? What new games can there be.
“Don’t worry, let’s do a few magic tricks first and then play a new game later.”
"Little sister, please check the cards first, shuffle them three times, and then give them to me."
Zhu Xuemei and the second child checked them carefully together. There is no problem. The new cards are not bad. Zhu Xuefeng unfolded the cards casually.
"Look carefully, don't blink your eyes, take out one card yourself, and then remember it..."
Zhu Xuefeng performed several card magic tricks, which have been deciphered many times in later generations. , but it is still very magical now. Both the two children were confused by the card magic. The eldest brother is so amazing.
I finally performed a few magic tricks in my stomach several times.
"Do you want to learn..."
Both of them opened their eyes wide and nodded enthusiastically...
It turns out it’s so simple, I’ll try it too.
…
The three brothers and sisters played with a few simple card magic tricks for more than an hour, and then started to fight the landlord. The little sister's card is wrong, and the little sister is not a fuel-efficient lamp...
It was past four o'clock in the noisy time. The two children were getting more and more energetic as they played. It was not obvious that they had run a long distance during the day. After thinking about it, they would stay up all night. Once in a while, they would definitely be fine.
The sky gradually dawned, and it took two hours to wake up.
"Brother, we really stayed all night, but this Landlord game is so fun, but the second brother is too bad at playing, always making mistakes..."
Looking at the two little ones Want to fight.
“Second brother, go and heat some soup and some steamed buns, eat and rest for a while. You guys have a rest. You don’t have to wait for me at noon. If I come back late, you can go directly there in the afternoon. I have to go to my godmother’s house. One trip."
I had to go to an appointment soon, so I changed into loose clothes, brought a pair of sneakers, and went out carrying the gift box and the local goods I brought back.
The New Year's greeting gift box is also very particular. It is usually four, six or eight, which must be an even number. It means peace in the four seasons and good luck in the six and six seasons.
It was quiet in the yard. They were probably all keeping watch on the New Year's Eve. They couldn't get up, but it was fine. Everyone clasped their fists and said, "Congratulations on getting rich, good luck to you."
Lao Zhu’s family sent someone away last year. Logically speaking, there will be no reception at home this year. No one will come to the door, which will save some trouble. You can go out in a down-to-earth manner. I plan to finish all the running today. Logically speaking. Today we only visit the elders of the clan, but Godmother and Coach Gao’s family have no such scruples, and no one comes to the No. 2 Courtyard.
There is still a faint smell of firecrackers in the air. There may be children who have gotten up early or are not sleeping yet, and there are a few sounds from time to time.
"Comrade Liu, I'm on duty. I'm here to visit Director Wang. You see..."
(End of Chapter)