Chapter 46 The first day of the new year
The first day of the new year
Early in the morning, the old lady went to each room to wake everyone up and have breakfast. Last night on New Year's Eve, everyone played very late, and they were very sleepy at this time. No, the second brother yawned and said a little tiredly: "Mom, do you want to eat so early?"
"This is how the New Year is, hurry up, wash your face and eat." The old woman urged everyone again.
"Wow, why are they all vegetarian?" Sachiko asked curiously after washing her face and seeing the table full of vegetarian dishes.
"On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat fast." The old woman explained, and then said: "Come and eat quickly, otherwise people will come to pay New Year's greetings soon. It would be rude for the host to still eat when the guests are here."
According to the custom in Guangfu or Guangdong Province, on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, there are "four no-eats", namely no meat, no porridge, no bitterness, and no eating all.
There are several sayings about not eating meat: one is that if you eat a vegetarian meal, its function is equal to one year; the other is a metaphor that refers to managing the family diligently and frugally, and not to be extravagant and wasteful.
Do not eat porridge. In the past, only poor families traditionally ate porridge. Therefore, you must eat dry rice on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, which means that the family will be rich throughout the next year and have more than enough every year.
Don’t eat bitterness. The first day of the first lunar month is the first day of the year. It is best not to eat foods with bitter taste or with the word "bitter" in them, such as bitter chrysanthemum, bitter melon, bitter coffee, dark chocolate, etc. People don’t want to live a hard life and suffer hardships. Not eating bitter food on this day means that they can live a sweet life in the new year. Cantonese people like this idea the most.
Not eating it all, simply understood is that it is not allowed to eat it all, to show "surplus", and the meaning of having more than enough every year is also the intention.
The Records of the Years of Jingchu by Liang Zongmao of the Southern Dynasties records: "When the rooster crows, firecrackers are fired in front of the court to ward off the evil spirits. The elders and the young are all dressed up, and they pay their respects." People are in the rooster. Get up after the song and set off firecrackers in front of the court to drive away evil spirits. Afterwards, everyone, young and old, all dressed neatly, paid New Year greetings to each other.
Every year on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, people get up, put on new clothes, and after washing, they first pay New Year greetings within their families. As a junior, I want to pay New Year greetings to my elders. In the past, juniors had to kneel down and kowtow to their elders, and the louder the kowtow was, the better. Nowadays, juniors no longer need to kowtow to their elders, but instead bow to their elders, which reduces the procedure a lot. After the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, the elders will bless and encourage the younger generation, saying auspicious words such as "study progress", "success in work", "good health", "business is prosperous" and "congratulations on getting rich". For the younger generation who are not married, the elders will also give them gifts. The last lucky money.
After breakfast, people set out from home to pay New Year greetings to their relatives and friends. If there are many relatives and friends, the closest relatives and friends are often ranked first and are arranged to go to New Year greetings on the morning or afternoon of the first day of the first lunar month; slightly distant relatives and friends are often ranked second or third. Even the fourth order, in order. Relatives and friends who are behind in the queue may have to wait until the third or fourth day of the Lunar New Year to pay New Year greetings.
As a result, the saying "If you intend to pay homage to the first and second day of the lunar month, but not to the third and fourth day of the lunar month", the saying came into being. The meaning of this sentence is that the earlier the New Year greetings are, the more sincere the New Year greetings can be seen. It was also because of this that the old lady woke everyone up so early for breakfast.
During breakfast, Guang and Xianglan took the lead in giving New Year greetings to Lao Dou and his mother. Lao Dou smiled and took out two red envelopes and handed them to them, "Aguang Xianglan, these are the red envelopes that your mother and I give you. Madam Dou has no other wishes, so I wish you to have a son soon.”
“Thank you, Mom and Dad, we will work hard.” Both Da Lao Guang and Xiang Lan shyly accepted the red envelopes. They are both forty years old this year, and their desire for children is much stronger than that of Mrs. Dou. After all, Mrs. Dou already has a grandson named Tianxiu. Then everyone organized New Year greetings to Lao Dou's mother in groups according to family. Lao Dou also gave a red envelope to each other. His blessing to the second brother was "Prosperous business and harmony between husband and wife." To Tianxiu, "Study hard and make progress every day." For Ayao Xingzi, "The work will go well, and a precious son will be born soon." For Azu, it is "Born by nature, wake up and be determined."
When it comes to Kang Qirui, the old man Mother Dou also gave her blessing to "have a son soon." The reason was because Kang Qirui was getting married, which caused everyone to make fun of Kang Qirui.
After breakfast, Azu ran away without knowing where he was. Lao Dou's mother stayed at home to avoid being unable to come in to pay New Year's greetings. The second brother, second sister-in-law, eldest sister-in-law and Kang Qirui are all going to the clothing store to help. Business will definitely be booming today on the first day of the new year. The boss went to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends on behalf of the Kang family, while Ayao and Sachiko went to the leader's house to show their courtesy. It can be said that everyone is busy in his own way.
Today is also the day for the opening of the second Metersbonwe store. This store was taken down before New Year’s Day and started to be renovated after New Year’s Day. In fact, it has not been completely renovated yet. However, Kang Qirui defied all opinions and decided to open the store on the first day of the new year. Opened today. Because of the heavy flow of people during the Chinese New Year and people’s strong desire to buy new clothes before and after New Year’s Eve, how much money would be lost if this store were not opened?
And this store also makes clothes, so even if it is not completely decorated, it will not look bad. You still have to make money first. It won’t be a problem to wait until after the holiday when everyone goes to work and the flow of people decreases to continue the decoration. The second brother and second sister-in-law and Zhang Yongfang thought it made sense and agreed.
Kang Qirui and Erlao Ersao are helping at the second store today. Zhang Yongfang is enough at the first store. The first thing you do when you enter the store is give out red envelopes. On the first day of work during the Spring Festival in Guangdong Province, bosses will give red envelopes to employees, symbolizing a good start, harmony, and prosperous business. The amount of the red envelope for starting work is generally not large, it is just a sign of good luck. However, after discussing with the second brother and second sister-in-law, Kang Qirui decided to settle on 168 yuan for one letter and 88 yuan for one letter. The total is almost a week's basic salary (the sales basic salary is not high, it is mainly commission. Kang Qirui does not have the Holy Mother to offer everyone a high basic salary.)
Before noon, Kang Qirui still has The only thing to do is to take inventory of the store's inventory with the second guy, and then go to Baima to bring the goods back. Finally, after the goods are loaded, Kang Qirui has nothing to do. He is not needed to introduce sales to people in the store, nor is he needed to pay the bills. After waiting for another hour, when he was sure that he was not needed, he slipped away. I have been so busy these past two days that I haven’t gone to wish my family a happy New Year. So he first went to the mall and bought two vacuum cleaners, which were New Year gifts he had decided on yesterday.
I went back to Kang's house first, and together with the old lady, I moved one of them to the patio and put it together with the broom and mop. This thing is very simple, and the old lady will be able to use it after a demonstration. Just when he was about to go out to Zhu's house, Uncle Liang came to visit with his two grandsons to pay New Year greetings. They were good friends of Lao Dou. Kang Qirui didn't want to neglect them, so he and Lao Dou chatted with Uncle Liang in the living room.
It wasn't until Uncle Liang left that Kang Qirui went out to Zhu's house. This is the way of hospitality. It is not polite to go out when a visitor comes to visit you.
"Aunt Zhu, I'm here to wish you New Year's greetings. I wish you good health and all the best." As soon as Kang Qirui entered Zhu's house, he quickly put down the vacuum cleaner and a bag of fruit and said to Master Zhu.
Zhu Shinai didn’t go anywhere today, just waiting for her future son-in-law to come to her door. As a result, she waited all morning and saw no one. Now sulking, he ignored Kang Qirui and just watched the replay of the Spring Festival Gala. Cantonese people may not watch the Spring Festival Gala live, but they will still watch the replay.
Kang Qirui was not embarrassed and poured himself a cup of tea. "The second store opened today, and it was very busy. I finished everything and went to buy you a New Year gift as soon as possible," Kang Qirui pointed at the vacuum cleaner. "As soon as I got home, I met Uncle Liang coming to pay New Year's greetings. I just chatted with him for a while, and then I came to you as soon as possible.”
Master Zhu calmed down when she saw the gift, and Kang Qirui’s explanation was also very reasonable. Zhu Shinai stopped being angry and returned to the persona she was who cared very much about her future son-in-law.
(End of this chapter)