Chapter 44: New Year's Eve (Part 1)
"There is no New Year's Eve this year, only New Year's Eve. Today is New Year's Eve." The second sister-in-law said as she uncovered the calendar card.
"Got it." The old lady was arranging the candy and snack boxes on the sofa.
At this time, Xingzi walked out of the room, took out a red envelope and handed it to the old woman, "Mom, here are 800 yuan. Qiyao and I gave it to you two elders to celebrate the New Year."
< br>"Thank you, be good." The old lady was not polite and put it away directly. During festivals, children give themselves money as a sign of filial piety and to hope that their elders will be healthy and safe in the coming year. Of course you have to collect it directly.
The second sister-in-law, who was soaking in the water at the back, saw Sachiko giving the money, and took out a wad of money from her pocket and handed it to the old lady, "Grandma, here are two thousand yuan. Azong and I gave it to you and the master."
Kang Qirui, who had just woken up, came out of the living room after breakfast and was shocked when he saw his second sister-in-law giving money to the old woman. He remembered that the second sister-in-law in later generations seemed to have only given one thousand. It seems that at this time in this life, the second sister-in-law and the second brother were really more profitable than in later generations, and they were twice as generous to the family, hahaha. This makes Kang Qirui very satisfied, at least he has truly begun to change his family's destiny.
However, Sachiko was not very happy. The second sister-in-law gave the second elder so much money in front of him. This was not a loss of face for him. The old woman didn't think so much. She was very happy that her son and daughter-in-law were filial. She took out two red envelopes and handed them to the second sister-in-law: "I have two red envelopes here for Tianxiu. Remember to put them under his pillow tonight."
The original purpose of lucky money was to suppress evil and drive away evil spirits. People think that children are susceptible to sneaky attacks, so they use lucky money to ward off evil spirits, help children celebrate the New Year safely, and wish them good health and good luck in the new year. This is why red envelopes for children should be placed under the pillow.
“Speaking of it, the customs in Guangfu are a bit similar to ours in Shanghai. On New Year’s Eve in Shanghai, we also put red envelopes next to the children’s pillows so that they can eat them early the next morning. See." Xingzi stopped being angry when she talked about her hometown, and said happily to her second sister-in-law: "Big cities are different, even the customs are the same. I don't know what weird customs my sister-in-law and others have there."
"How can it be weird? They are all Chinese." The old woman didn't like their behavior and defended them directly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Pandan came back from outside, holding a plate of daffodils in her hand, "Mom, I bought a pot of daffodils at Flower Street." My sister-in-law fried the daffodils in the refrigerator last time. She has been thinking about this, so she went out early in the morning to buy some at Flower Street during the holiday today. The clothing store has arranged shifts today, and Xianglan has her turn to rest. Everyone will work on the first day of the new year tomorrow, because most people spend New Year's Eve at home, and it is the first day of the new year that they go out to go shopping.
“It’s very beautiful.” The old woman took the narcissus and smelled the flowers, feeling very beautiful.
Kang Qirui walked into the dining room while they were watching daffodils, thinking about cooking some paste and posting couplets later. As soon as I entered the dining room, I saw the second brother secretly eating a fried rice cake. "Wow, second brother, you are still young? You actually eat it secretly?"
"Do you want it?" The second brother asked when he saw Kang Qirui. He picked up an oil corner and handed it over, "No, mommy has packed these to worship God later. If you want to eat, you can go to the living room." Kang Suorui shook his head.
"The ones in the living room are from before. These were fried in the frying pan. These are delicious, huh? Why is this one so big? Try it first." The second guy picked up a larger fried horn.
Kang Qirui thought of something when he saw this oil horn, "Second Brother, wait a minute." Kang Qirui was about to call out to the Second Brother, but the Second Brother was so quick in his mouth that he took a bite directly. , and then I saw the second guy trembled, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and then screamed like a slaughtering pig.
"What's wrong?" The old woman, her eldest sister-in-law, her second sister-in-law, and Sachiko all came in when they heard the sound outside.
"Husband, what's wrong with you?" the second sister-in-law asked anxiously.
The second guy took out a coin from the oil corner and said through gritted teeth: "I don't know who is playing tricks on me. It hurts me to death."
"I put this in." The sister-in-law admitted sheepishly.
"Did you put it in?" Everyone looked at the sister-in-law in surprise, and they didn't understand why they put the coins in.
"Second uncle, you will definitely go far this year." The sister-in-law pointed at the coin and nodded after speaking.
"Lucky? Sister-in-law, I am very lucky, and I was lucky enough to have nose surgery." The second brother said painfully.
“What is Bi Gelong?” My sister-in-law asked because she didn’t understand.
"Why is it you again?" The second sister-in-law was still a little concerned about Narcissus before, but now she is even more angry when it happens again.
“I saw that this fried dumpling looks similar to a dumpling, so I specially made the biggest one for Qi Guang, and even made a mark. Look.” The sister-in-law took the second dumpling and vomited it on the table. The oil horn on it points to the mark on it.
"What marks did you make? Why don't I feel anything at all?" The second guy was still in pain.
"So are you. You are still eating secretly at such an old age. Even your son is not as good as you." After the old lady scolded the second brother, she slapped her hand, which happened to hit the painful tooth. The pained expression made everyone laugh.
"How can you still laugh? Don't you have any sympathy at all?" The second man cried miserably while holding the coin, "Don't you have any sympathy at all?"
"Second brother, are you a fragrance or a jade?" Kang Qirui also teased the second brother, who fell directly on the table to express his resistance.
“I’m too lazy to pay attention to you, Pandan.” The old lady originally wanted to tell Pandan to do something, but after thinking about it, she changed her mind and said, “No, Sachiko, go and fry those two dace fish for me. , take it to the living room later."
Sachiko agreed, then walked into the kitchen and started washing the fish. Kang Qirui saw that the two men had gone back to rest, and there was no excitement. Then he also went into the kitchen to make paste.
Just in time to see Sachiko picking up the knife and about to chop off the fish head, Kang Qirui quickly called out to her, "Wait a minute, Sister-in-law, you can't chop the fish head."
Sachiko heard the sound Then she stopped, but she didn't understand, "Why?" "When eating fish during the New Year, you should leave the head and tail, which means having a head and a tail, and having more than enough every year. Mrs. Dou is very fond of these meanings." Kang Qirui explained.
"So that's it. Thank you Ari. Fortunately, you told me, otherwise I would have been scolded by my parents." Sachiko breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Kang Qirui's explanation. Got into trouble. Looking back, he saw Kang Qirui putting starch and water into the pot to boil, and asked curiously: "What are you cooking?"
"This is paste, wasn't I assigned to post couplets?" "Just make some paste," Kang Qirui said while stirring.
Sachiko nodded, seeming to understand.
Kang Qirui was teaching Sachiko the meaning of Chinese New Year in the kitchen, and the old woman outside was also teaching her sister-in-law the meaning of Chinese New Year in Guangfu. Celery means children are diligent in studying, and lettuce means making money."
"Mom, what is this?" Xianglan asked as she picked up an object she didn't recognize.
“You haven’t seen it?”
“No.”
“Tzu Aunt.”
“Tzu Aunt? What does that mean? ”
"What does it look like to you?"
Pianlan looked at the arrowhead in her hand. The bulb was round with a sharp point on it, a bit like Pandan blushing after thinking about it. There is a word in Cantonese called "Tzu Gu Ding". The original meaning of "Ding" is something like a bud stalk. Cantonese people use it to refer to boys and symbolize the birth of a child.
After Kang Qirui cooked the paste, he went to move the table. He put the table at the door, and then went to prepare red paper and pen and ink. He planned to write the couplet on the table and stick it up. It was simple and quick. As soon as I moved the table to the door, I saw Diana walking towards Kang's house, "Diana is here, come home and sit down."
There are guests at home, everyone stopped what they were doing and came over one after another. Diana was also very polite when saying hello, "Hello everyone, do you welcome me here?"
"Of course you are welcome, we can't even invite you." Pandan poured a cup of tea.
"Mike said you were so enthusiastic and said it was so lively here, so I wanted to come over and spend the Spring Festival with you." Diana took a sip of tea.
"Welcome, welcome." The old lady knew that Diana and Azu were in a relationship.
"You came just in time. Our mother is a book of customs and culture." Sachiko said with a smile.
But the old lady waved her hand, "People think I'm an antique."
"No way, I don't think so. Is there anything I can do to help?" Diana knew how to talk. Yes, it made the old lady very happy. Hearing that she wanted to help, Kang Qirui quickly said: "Just in time, I want to write a couplet. Can Diana help me hold the paper?" The couplets are vertical. If you don't hold the paper, you have to finish writing the first few words. Wait for the ink to dry before you can continue writing. This is too slow.
"Okay, okay."
Kang Qirui and Diana came outside. After Kang Qirui and Diana agreed on how to do it, he started writing, and he finished it in a short while. Diana looked at the couplet and recited it, "The chunxuan blooms side by side with the trees, the sun and the moon shine together, and the Yaodao spring shines with joy." However, she didn't understand the meaning, "Teacher Kang, what does this mean?"
"Both parents are present, which means that the flowers and blossoms are both prosperous. The sun and the moon refer to men and women. The meaning of this couplet is that the parents in this family are happy and happy, and both men and women in the family have careers. What it means." Kang Qirui explained. He believes that this couplet is most suitable for the current state of the Kang family. The two elders respect each other and are in good health, and the five brothers have achieved their own achievements.
"So that's it." Diana suddenly realized. Then she saw Kang Qirui wrote the word "福" again, so she posted it on the door. Kang Qirui quickly corrected her, "The word "福" must be It’s better to post it upside down.”
“Why?”
"Futui, Fudai means blessing has arrived." After hearing Kang Qirui's explanation, Diana said that this trip was not in vain.
After posting the couplets on the Kang family, Kang Qirui asked Diana to help post the couplets on the Zhu family. Zhu Wanling was on duty today, and Mrs. Zhu couldn’t do it alone. Yesterday, Zhu Wanling asked her boyfriend to post couplets on her home. Yes, of course it was written by Kang Qirui himself.
"Golden spring and jade come flying to bring joy, it is good to return in midsummer, and a hundred years of good union. What does this mean?" Diana asked, looking at the newly written couplet written by Kang Qirui.
“This is a happy event coming, and we ladies have found a good son-in-law. Hahahahaha.” Wang Po Kang Qirui boasted about selling melons, “By the way, my fourth brother should have told you, right? Wan and I Ling is getting married on the 21st of the first lunar month, so remember to come for the wedding banquet."
"Congratulations, I will come." Diana nodded with a smile.
(End of this chapter)