With a big belly, and not being given the warmth of any important responsibility, I just sat on the kang and was responsible for choosing vegetables, making dumplings and so on.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were chatting and laughing, and even Li Dani, who was always a spoiler, didn't act like a monster.
Maybe it's because of the Chinese New Year, but the atmosphere is relatively harmonious and time flies by very quickly.
While joking, they did the work.
Not long after, the men in the family came back.
Just in time, lunch is also cooked.
There aren’t many options for lunch on New Year’s Eve, just dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut!
There were no more than fifteen people in the family, and one pot of dumplings was not enough. They cooked two whole pots.
Even when eating, there is a table for men, and a table for women and children.
This is not because of patriarchal preference, there really is no desk for such a boss.
I ate a dumpling warm and dipped in garlic sauce, emmmm, the saltiness was just right, but there were too many sauerkraut, and there was just a little bit of meat, and I couldn't eat it at all!
It's not as delicious as the dumplings we ate at their little home!
But it's understandable that there are so many old people in the family, and there are quite a few pot-bellied people.
In addition, everyone is short of fuel and water these days, so if you open your belly and eat, you can eat a lot.
It would be unrealistic to make dumplings with more meat and less vegetables!
No matter how much meat we have at home, it’s not enough!
After all, we still have to cook for dinner and New Year’s Day meals, so we can’t use up all the meat at home in just one meal!
After finishing lunch, I didn't go to bed.
The whole family continues to work, and the men are responsible for some tasks that require strength:
For example, if you need to fetch water, whether you are cooking, washing or washing, you need water!
For example, chop the frozen chicken into pieces for cooking later.
This chicken is a little stupid chicken raised in the family. When the family was separated, they didn't divide it among the sons. They just planned to eat it during the Chinese New Year!
For another example, if you bring firewood into the house, you will not be stingy with firewood today. The fire in the stove will basically not stop, either to heat hot water or to steam, cook, and stir-fry things.
You still have to post couplets. The couplets to warm their little home have been posted a long time ago. The couplets in the old house were written by an old man in the village who had gone to private school. Thirty-year-old posted them in the afternoon.
This matter can be handled by a tough guy, just boil some paste for them, and then the two of them can stick it!
Women cook, some roll dough, some make dumplings, some cut vegetables, and some wash vegetables.
Wen Nuan was stuffing the dumpling wrappers when she saw her mother-in-law bringing in a lot of steamed buns from the big vat outside. Some of the steamed buns had a red dot on them.
You don’t need anyone else to explain this. You already know what warmth means. In my memory:
This kind of special steamed buns with red dots is used by ancestors on the New Year's Eve. This is called the purpose of offering.
Offering the main message means that after the dumplings are wrapped and the dishes are ready, before eating, the main service should be offered to the ancestors on the east side of the house.
Place a family tree on the top of a board, open the family tree, place incense and steamed buns with red dots.
It's winter now, and it gets dark early in the Northeast, so dinner is also eaten early.
Early on, Mother Yang took the eldest daughter-in-law, who was not pregnant, and the second daughter-in-law to lay out the meals.
As the head of this large family, Father Yang took his family to kowtow to their ancestors.
Then it’s time to set off firecrackers and eat.
Before eating, Father Yang also made an opening speech. Perhaps because he had been the captain for more than ten years, this opening speech had a bit of an official tone:
"Ahem, let me tell you something!" He cleared his throat first.
The text continues below: "This year is the first year our family has lived since we separated.
It’s lively and festive, and the brothers are not separated anymore. This is a good thing, and it will continue to be like this in the future. They say that we were destined to be brothers in this life!
Your mother and I are both old. From now on, you brothers will have to take care of each other, breaking bones and connecting tendons!
Well, since it’s the Chinese New Year, I won’t say more about these sermons. Let’s talk about the good things our family has done this year! "
When talking about good things, the smile lines on Father Yang's face stretched out: "This year, our family has been doing a lot of good things!
My dear boss, I heard that your mother has already started looking for a partner for him? This is great, it will allow you and me to have a great-grandson as soon as possible!
The second son's stone is also feeling much better physically, and his face is red when he looks at it!
And the third child, after all these years, he now has a baby. You two will live well in the future!
The youngest, the fourth child, has also started a family, and is doing more serious work (working hard, working hard). He even has a baby, and he has two of them at once, so he is blessed!
This is really a good thing coming one after another. By this time next year, our family will be able to import more! Better add some dices!
Come, let’s have a drink together as a family! "
Although it is said to be clinking glasses, it is actually clinking bowls.
The bowls for adults are home-brewed sorghum wine, and the bowls for children and women who cannot drink are boiled hawthorn juice!
After touching the bowls, Yang's father said, "Let's start cooking!" Then he took the first step to put a chopstick into his mouth, and the whole family got started.
It was a sumptuous meal tonight:
Even the sticky bean buns brought by each family are of various kinds, some are yellow, some are white, some are big, some are small;
There are two small pots of chicken stewed with mushrooms. In addition to the mushrooms, there are also a lot of vermicelli. When the vermicelli is trembling when you pick it up, it will go into your mouth. It's hopeless. It's so delicious. ;
Pickled cabbage stuffed dumplings are a must! Nothing is more delicious than dumplings, and dumplings are a must-have for Northeastern people’s New Year’s Eve dinner!
There is also a fish stewed with tofu, which is said to be more than enough every year, so this New Year’s Eve dinner must have fish.
Qiangun Tofu and Wangun Fish, stewed fish with farm sauce and tofu, it is really delicious!
In addition, there are cold dishes made from various small pickles;
Sweet potatoes, steamed cornstarch, and a hodgepodge.
This hodgepodge is fried in meat oil, with a variety of dried vegetables and some meat added. Anyway, it is quite delicious together.
The room was warm and lively.
There were the voices of adults and the laughter of children.
After dinner, no one left, but talked around the brazier.
Of course, at this time there are some things suitable for chatting, such as melon seeds, pine nuts, fried peanuts, and walnuts.
If you feel thirsty, you can eat two frozen pears that have been softened. They are sweet, cold, and very comfortable to eat!
Mother Yang told Yang Zhi and Yang Rui: "Third child, fourth child, both of your wives are pregnant!
The third daughter-in-law has been here for so many years, and it’s not easy to get this one. If she is less than three months old, she is not considered to be pregnant;
The fourth daughter-in-law is pregnant with two children, and her belly is not small.
Don't let them go to pay New Year's greetings tomorrow and bump into each other again! "
Yang Rui nodded, that's what he originally thought. After all, there were many people during the New Year greetings. What if a bastard ran out of nowhere and bumped into his wife?
Besides, Yang Rui couldn't bear to tire her daughter-in-law from wandering around the village to pay New Year greetings because she was pregnant.
"That's what I think too. My wife's belly really can't run around the whole village!"
Father Yang also agreed. With the clinginess of the fourth child and the fourth daughter-in-law, if something happens to the fourth daughter-in-law, the fourth child may go crazy:
"Well, don't go if you don't want to go. You can explain it to your uncles then, and the elders will understand!"
Yang Zhi also nodded in agreement.
Li Dani curled her lips and wanted to mutter, why didn't I get such treatment in the first place?
When she arrived, she still held it in. After all, she was not a person who didn't know how to wink at all. After all, she was in her thirties or forties and was about to become a mother-in-law.
But luckily she held it in, otherwise Mother Yang would have scolded her.
I remember back then, Li Dani was pregnant and she was not allowed to go to pay New Year greetings, so she had to go.
Forget it, just eat and drink stupidly, stuffing a little bit here and there, stuffing all kinds of things, I don’t know what I stuffed.
When I got home, I started to have diarrhea and diarrhea. It was so troublesome that the whole family didn't have a good year!
Back to the topic, in fact, Wen Nuan almost forgot that she had to go to pay New Year greetings.
Because she was a daughter in previous years, not a new wife.
In their area, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, their fathers, brothers and uncles all go to the homes of their elders to pay New Year greetings, but Wen Nuan does not have to go because girls are not allowed to go to the homes of their elders to pay New Year greetings.
Of course, there are exceptions like going to a relative's house like my aunt a year ago or going to my grandma's house with my parents on the second day of the new year.
Anyway, it’s the first day of the Lunar New Year. Either stay at home or go out to play.
When Nuan Nuan was young, she went out to play with her friends, but when she grew up, she basically stayed at home.
So, when her mother-in-law mentioned that she didn't have to go to New Year's greetings, she remembered, oh, she is no longer the daughter of the family, she is already someone else's daughter-in-law!
It’s better not to go, it saves some trouble and you don’t have to be so tired!
Yang San's sister-in-law Shi Wanya also meant the same thing. She finally got pregnant with a baby and was careful about everything she did now. Of course it would be best if she didn't go.
Of course, she knew more than Wen Nuan. Some people in Yangjiatun thought it was unlucky for pregnant women to visit for New Year greetings.
Regardless of whether it is auspicious or not, she feels that the most important thing is the baby in her belly! ! !
