Chapter 513 Reunion and Celebrate the New Year
Because Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo smoked bacon every day, after spending less than half a month, they finally made it to the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month before the New Year. The freshly baked mountain pork is all smoked into bacon.
Other people may not care, but Zhang An feels that they have put so much thought into this year, and they need to eat something good during the Chinese New Year.
And their family has finished the bacon from previous years, so they rush to smoke the bacon before the Chinese New Year.
On the twenty-ninth day of the lunar calendar, Zhang An sent over all the bacon that several families had smoked at his home, and came back in the afternoon to prepare for the New Year with his family tomorrow.
Although New Year’s Eve only lasts for one day, rural people have always paid most attention to celebrating the New Year.
Although the pigs have been killed, the chickens, fish and some more troublesome dishes must be prepared in advance.
Because these things take a lot of time, it is simply too late to squeeze them all into the New Year’s Eve.
After returning, Zhang Jianguo was already handling other things besides the big cock with a knife.
Because in the hearts of rural people, big roosters are completely different from other ducks and fish. Chickens are sacrifices and should be kept until the New Year's Eve to be killed first to worship gods and ancestors.
Wang Fang is also busy in the kitchen stewing bones, braised pork, braised beef, etc.
Even Su Ying was peeling peas and corn while holding little Siqi in her arms.
These are not in season vegetables now, but not long ago Zhang An discovered that someone seems to have developed out-of-season vegetables.
So I planted a batch in my space and took it out just in time for the Chinese New Year.
When the family asked, Zhang An replied, saying that they bought greenhouse vegetables.
Su Ying is a young person after all, so she can easily accept this.
But Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo can't. They have always lamented the development of science and technology, and they can actually eat summer vegetables in winter.
In the afternoon, Zhang An went to Hongyan Town Railway Station and picked up Xiao Siqi's grandparents.
The eldest daughter’s family is far away in the provincial capital and has no plans to come back, so there are only two people at home, Wu Qiuping and Su Shaowen, and it will definitely be deserted during the Chinese New Year.
So since last year, Zhang An has said directly that as long as his sister-in-law's family doesn't come to pick them up to celebrate the New Year together, then he will come to Changqing and his family to unite.
Wu Qiuping and Su Shaowen did not refuse this. Ever since Su Ying and Zhang An fell in love, they treated Zhang An as their own son. Now the two families are just like one family, there is no difference.
When Zhang An went to deliver bacon to Zhu Yuliang's house in the morning, he wanted to pick them up together.
But this year they still have to go to work when they are 29, and they don’t start taking annual leave until New Year’s Eve.
But this is much better than last year, when I had to go to work on New Year’s Eve last year.
So when Zhang An went to pick them up, the two elders asked Zhang An to come back first, and they would take the train over after get off work in the afternoon.
After Wu Qiuping arrived, she worked with Wang Fang and her parents. Together with Su Ying, the kitchen was only occupied by mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter. This time, Zhang An was freed. .
On New Year's Eve, after Zhang and his party packed up the Sanqing Temple, they went down the mountain by themselves.
He has no children and has always celebrated the New Year by himself in the temple, but it is different now. Zhang An will not leave him alone. He said that he must be the same as his father-in-law and mother-in-law every year. Pick him up and go down the mountain to reunite with him.
Zhang Yi Xing couldn't resist Zhang An, so he stopped refusing, but he said that Zhang An didn't need to pick him up, because there were only a few steps in total, and he would go down the mountain after packing up.
No, he was afraid that Zhang An would go up the mountain to pick him up, so he came by himself in the early morning of his thirties.
Coming so early, naturally I am not idle, it is the time of year to write Spring Festival couplets to everyone in the village.
In the past, when Zhang Yixing was away, Zhang An had to write for most of the day before he could finish it for everyone.
Now with Zhang Yixin together, we can save a lot of time.
There are not many tenants staying in Dongli Courtyard to celebrate the New Year. Only one or two choose to return to the city, and Wang Hua is one of them.
Many old men among the tenants can write their own couplets. After all, there are still many people who can hold a writing brush these days.
But when they stood in the yard and saw so many people in the village crowded around Zhang An's house, they were very curious about what everyone was doing.
Because of the indelible genes engraved in the bones of Chinese people, they all made an appointment to see it.
After arriving in Zhang An’s yard, I realized that so many people were gathered around, asking Zhang Yi Xing and Zhang An to help write Spring Festival couplets.
So I followed everyone around and watched for a long time, and found that Zhang Yixing, the Taoist priest, was not only a fairy-like person, but his calligraphy was even more amazing.
As soon as anyone who knows how to do calligraphy sees Zhang Yixing's calligraphy, he will know how good it is.
Zhang An next to them also surprised them. They did not expect that Zhang An, such a young man, would be so sharp and unique in his writing.
Ever since, after watching their performance for a long time, they had given up on writing Spring Festival couplets.
Hurry home and get all the red paper that has been cut, and like everyone else in the village, ask Zhang An and Zhang to help write.
However, they felt that something was missing, so they brought some gifts from home as payment for hiring ghostwriters.
Because they feel that on this New Year’s Eve, they must not go to someone’s house empty-handed.
Zhang An looked at the things that the old men brought, with a bit of a smile on his face. He wanted to refuse them, but they had already taken them home and put them down.
So I can only tell everyone that it is just this once and I will not take it with me again.
Zhang Yixing has always responded to such requests, so he was happy to write them together.
Because there are not many people in Dongli Courtyard in total, it doesn’t take much time for Zhang An and Zhang An to share it.
After writing Spring Festival couplets for everyone, Wang Fang steamed the glutinous rice on the stove and it was time to make rice cakes.
This is an indispensable part every year. Zhang An’s family is very lively every year during the rice cake festival. Many people like to bring over and borrow their family’s stone pei.
It’s not that there are no pebbles at home, nor that there’s no one at home to beat them.
It’s just that there are a lot of people here in Zhang An’s family, so everyone comes to join in the fun, and they can also get closer to Zhang An’s family.
And this year is different from previous years. In addition to the neighbors of Zhang An's family, there are also the tenants of Dongli Courtyard.
Most of them did not have the habit of eating rice cakes during the New Year when they lived in the city.
This year, when they heard that every household in the village was preparing to make rice cakes, their curiosity aroused, so they wanted to make rice cakes just like the other villagers, and they thought of following the local customs.
The work of making rice cakes is very tiring, but every family who comes to borrow stone pei will bring their own labor. On the one hand, it is for their own family, and on the other hand, it can also help others. However, many people need to take a break after playing for a while.
Zhang An is not in a hurry to help. He will only take action when the neighbors whose young people have not returned are playing rice cakes.
Among the tenants in Dongli Courtyard, many young or middle-aged people came with their elders carrying steamers.
I saw everyone in the village making rice cakes very happily, so I felt a little itchy and wanted to try it myself.
Li Mingwu’s family must be there too. Zhang An was afraid that they would not get used to it, so he tried to help with a pestle and stick.
Unexpectedly, brothers Li Weihong and Li Weiguo were the first to get the two pestle sticks for beating rice cakes before Zhang An.
"Zhang An, this is quite fun to beat rice cakes. We have never done it before, let's try it first."
Don't look at the two brothers who are already in their thirties and forties. , but I have never made rice cakes before, so like others, I want to experience it myself.
"Okay, then you guys give it a try, and call me when you are tired."
Zhang An did not insist, and was thinking about whether the village could hold a rice cake making experience activity in the future. Let all the people in the city who come to play experience it.
Although the two brothers Li Weiguo followed the example of everyone just now, they were still making eggs after all. They were not skillful and unsure every time, and soon they were exhausted and out of breath.
But it seemed that neither of them had any intention of giving up, so Zhang An stood by and told them where to hold the pestle stick and how to exert force to make it easier.
After all, this thing is really tiring, especially for those who have not mastered the skills, it will be even more tiring.
Many people in the village have been under the guidance of their elders since childhood and have practiced for several years before they mastered how to save effort, let alone them.
“I can’t do it anymore, I can’t stand it anymore. Zhang An, please come and help me.”
Despite Zhang An’s step-by-step teaching, within a few minutes, Li Weiguo took the lead. Unable to stand it any longer, he quickly asked Zhang An for help.
At this time, his face was flushed, he was sweating profusely, and he was out of breath when talking. It seemed that he was very tired. This was probably the most tiring thing he had ever done in his life.
Li Weihong next to him was not much different from him, so Zhang Yi Xing and Zhang An took their pestles and sticks and poured them into the unbroken glutinous rice in the stone pot.
You can’t wait too long when making rice cakes. You must make them quickly while the glutinous rice is still hot.
Otherwise, after the glutinous rice in the stone bucket has cooled down, it will not be able to be washed away no matter how hard you try.
I just finished making rice cakes from Li Mingwu’s family, and another family came right away. Zhang An’s family can be said to be full of guests.
There is no other way. Coming from Dongli Courtyard, the closest home to the village is Zhang An's home.
And on weekdays, the tenants in Dongli Courtyard buy various daily necessities from Zhang An's house, so they are more familiar with their home than other homes in the village.
This kind of troublesome matter must be discussed with someone who is relatively familiar with it, so they all came over as if it was an appointment.
As for the remaining few, although they just saw the Li Weiguo brothers being as tired as dogs, they have never experienced it themselves and are still unconvinced and want to experience it.
So, everyone went up and played for a few minutes. Finally, they were so tired that they had to ask for help.
There were too many people and too much movement in Zhang An’s house, which attracted Zhang Jianwen and many villagers.
So there were very few opportunities for Zhang An to take action later. Everyone in the village had already taken the initiative to help before he could.
Everyone is very happy about this. First of all, they can show their faces in front of these tenants, and they can buy whatever they need in the future, and it is all money.
On the other hand, it is because of everyone’s psychological reasons. Everyone wants to show themselves in front of the city people and see, what you can’t do, we can do.
It wasn’t until two o’clock in the afternoon that everyone who was making rice cakes was sent away.
Although many people come to borrow this stone pestle at Zhang An's house every year, this year the number of people borrowing it is simply unprecedented.
After everyone left, Zhang Jianguo grabbed the big rooster that had been selected at home and prepared to go under the knife.
As the only heir in the family, Zhang An washed his hands before taking out the incense sticks and preparing to burn incense.
Soon, Zhang Jianwen saw the blood with his sword. After making the big rooster, he carried it to the shrine in the main room. He held two chicken wings with one hand and the big red rooster comb with the other hand and began to bow. , this is worshiping God.
After finishing this step, I poured in hot water that was not too hot, scalded the big cock, and started plucking the hair.
The water for killing the chicken should not be boiled too high, because if it is too hot, the chicken skin will burn easily.
After everything was ready, Zhang Ancai took a bunch of dustpan-sized firecrackers and set them off in the yard.
At this point, the worship ceremony has ended, and the family can start preparing for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Because many dishes were prepared in advance, and with two mothers, Wang Fang and Wu Qiuping, there, the New Year’s Eve dinner was ready quickly.
This year, a total of seven people in my family sat together to have New Year’s Eve dinner, which was much more lively than before.
Originally, Zhang An planned to bring his second grandfather, second grandmother, and fourth grandfather over to celebrate the New Year together, which would make it even more lively.
But this year, Zhang Jianzhong’s family took Mr. Zhang and his second wife Zhang over in advance to celebrate the New Year together, and Mr. Zhang has been living with his son, so this idea completely failed.
This year, everyone at home is happier than before.
Because this year there is one more important person in the family, and that is Xiao Siqi, the grandson of several elders.
While eating, Zhang An added a partition to the walker he had prepared before and put Xiao Siqi in, so that everyone could sit and eat without anyone having to hold him free.
Little Siqi is also very well-behaved and stays very well-behaved in the walker. I don’t know if he knows that today is the Chinese New Year, so he always has a happy smile on his face.
Wang Fang and Wu Qiuping sat next to each other. They were the two people who doted on their grandson the most, so they pulled Xiao Siqi between them.
While eating, I often fed the little guy some food.
Because the two middle and lower incisors have completely grown out, Wang Fang has started feeding her grandson rice in recent days.
I don’t know if it was because the rice at home was so fragrant or for some other reason, but after two meals, Xiao Siqi completely fell in love with it.
Every time we eat at home, if we don’t feed him a few mouthfuls, he will be unhappy and act arrogant.
So every time he eats, Wang Fang will feed him some, so that he can feel a sense of participation in the meal.
(End of this chapter)