Haizi knew that it had been more than three years since his father passed away. In order to observe filial piety, couplets were not posted at home in those years. This year, the filial piety period has passed. So Aunt Xiao San bought these festive items, and Haizi didn't stop them.
With these festive decorations, it adds to the joy and family affection after a long separation. Here Haizi leads Sanyang to post couplets, hang money, blessing characters, and New Year pictures. Over there, her mother, third aunt, and younger sister are still busy making dumplings.
"Haizi is a very careful kid. If you choose this New Year picture well, your third aunt will definitely give birth to a big fat boy.
Go quickly and see that there is an old lantern on the beam of the lower house. I see you have red paper in your bags. Paste the lantern, light a candle and hang it out. "
Haizi's mother was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth. It was the greatest joy for her son to come back and reunite with his family. Besides, he was doing well, so he should be even more happy.
With these festive items, the family is busy together in a joyful atmosphere, and they are happily waiting for the beautiful moment of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
The atmosphere of the New Year is getting stronger and stronger in the countryside, and even the air is filled with joyful celebrations. With the sound of firecrackers, the annual reunion between the old and the new is coming!
Younger brother Sanyang brought a large pile of mugwort and sorghum stalks and placed them in the middle of the yard. Mother also took out a bundle of paper and handed it to Haizi, saying that the watch had been printed and asked Haizi to burn the paper for his father.
Haizi followed Grandpa Xiao's example and drew a circle on the ground, placed the paper in the center, took out a few more and placed them outside the circle, then lit them and then lit the ghost papers in the circle, and together with Sanyang Kneel down and kowtow in prayer.
After all this was done, the pile of wormwood stalks in the courtyard was lit. Suddenly, the fire was blazing, brightening the smiles on everyone's faces, and igniting the joy and hope in everyone's hearts.
The younger brother Sanyang lit the long firecrackers and ran to his brother's side, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. Aunt Xiao and her sister stood outside the door holding each other, giggling.
Even my mother, who was busy cooking dumplings, poked her head out of the open door from time to time and looked at it with a smile. The whole family was in a state of extreme excitement and joy.
After setting off the firecrackers, set off the fireworks again. It wasn't until mother cooked the dumplings and the fire went out that the family walked into the house and sat around happily eating dumplings.
It is customary for Haizi and Sanyang to kowtow to their mother and Aunt Xiao. Third Aunt also took out a silver dollar and put it on Sanyang's waist, which made Sanyang so happy that she didn't know what to say.
"Third aunt, our family has the most cannons, which are louder than theirs. They don't have two kickers or fireworks. They don't have them. This year's Chinese New Year is the best, and our family is even better!"
Looking at Sanyang's triumphant expression, Aunt Xiao said: "We will let it go tomorrow, and we will buy more next year, so that you can put it away enough, let you have enough fun, and let you be happy year after year. Grow up quickly."
"Will my brother and third aunt come back next year for the Chinese New Year?"
Sanyang suddenly asked such a topic, which made everyone choke for a moment and even had tears in their eyes. Neither Xiao Sanyi nor Haizi could answer immediately because they were not sure at all.
"Hurry up and eat the dumplings. They will cool down after a while and are filled with meat. They are so delicious! Eat them quickly and see who gets the money first."
It was my mother who finally broke the silence and advised everyone to eat dumplings quickly. Mom knows this is a difficult question to answer. People are in difficult situations and cannot help themselves!
Everyone is really hungry, especially Haizi and Xiao Sanyi. They haven't eaten since they had a bite at lunch.
So everyone picked up their chopsticks one after another and started eating with big mouthfuls at the urging of their mother. Of course, Sanyang was the most serious, almost swallowing it before chewing it thoroughly.
Seeing Sanyang gobbling up the food, everyone felt happy. But suddenly Sanyang shouted: "I got the money! Here..." Before he finished speaking, he raised his neck and swallowed, holding back tears in his eyes.
Everyone was immediately amused and laughed, and the third aunt laughed so hard that she couldn't even breathe, but she couldn't help but joke about Sanyang.
"Sanyang, you are really blessed this year. All the money goes into your stomach. But in the future, you will be stingy if you have money. You can save money."
Sanyang was a little embarrassed by the laughter. He raised his head and asked his mother, "Can you pierce your intestines?"
"It's okay, just eat more slowly, you won't be afraid." Mother patted Sanyang on the back to comfort him. So everyone stopped laughing and continued eating dumplings.
Aunt Xiao San took out a pack of poker cards from her arms and said, "Let's play poker and eat and play at the same time."
Upon seeing the poker, Sanyang became energetic again. He took the poker from Aunt Xiao's hand, turned it over and looked at it, and found it very strange.
"Let's see, this is poker! It's so beautiful, much better than playing cards. But how do you play it?"
"There are many ways to play poker, but we don't know how to do it, and it's not easy to learn. Let's play big today. It's easy to learn, and everyone can play together.
The rule is that the cards with people in the poker cards are counted as one point, and the tip is also counted as one point, and then the number is counted as the number of points, and the point is full when twenty points are touched.
But if you have more than twenty points, you will lose, and whoever has more points below twenty points will win. If two people have the same number of points, the banker will win.
It is necessary to take turns to be the banker, one person at a time, one person at a time, and everyone is settling accounts with the banker, so the banker wins and loses the most.
Come on, you all know the card points. Haizi, didn't you change some change? Give some to everyone. Let's play together. Sister, you have to play too. "
Aunt Xiao patiently taught everyone how to play cards, and demonstrated to everyone while talking, so that everyone could learn it quickly and have fun playing cards together.
Sanyang took the cards, laid them out one by one, and asked questions one by one. After a while, he learned almost everything.
My mother and sister also looked at it carefully, and from time to time they took a card and asked again, very attentively, just because my mother was slow in settling the accounts and needed help from others.
In the end, everyone agreed that Mom should not be the banker and just play along. This makes it easier to help mom settle accounts, and the win or loss is not big.
So the girls had fun, eating and playing, until the east turned white, then reluctantly put down the cards in their hands, and slept in their clothes for a while without taking off their clothes.
After dinner on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Sanyang also set off some firecrackers. The family sat together and chatted together again, but Sanyang still wanted to play poker.
At this time, the sound of someone entering the hospital was heard outside the hospital, and my mother hurriedly got up and went out to greet them. She was afraid that a stranger would suddenly break in, so she decided to go out and have a look first.
"It really looks like celebrating the New Year. Couplets have been posted, lanterns have been hung up, and cannons have been set off. That's how it should be. No matter how tight your life is, whether it's the New Year or not, you have to look presentable. People are poor and have no ambition. Is it short?"
The visitor was Uncle Xu, carrying a small bag of sticky bean buns in his hand. He was thinking about Haizi's mother, a family of orphans and widowers, and came to visit during the Chinese New Year to give him some comfort.
"Oh, Uncle Xu is here. Happy New Year to you. My nephew and wife wish you a happy New Year! Thanks to you, I didn't forget to take care of you during the New Year. Thank you!
I was also thinking of sending my children to pay New Year greetings to you, the old man. Now, you, the old man, are here. Come in and sit down. "
Haizi's mother enthusiastically let Uncle Xu into the room and casually took the sticky bean buns from Uncle Xu's hand, but she said that Uncle Xu shouldn't bring anything with him and that he was very grateful to come and take a look.
"There's nothing to take, just a few sticky bean buns for the kids to try. I know you don't have any at home."
Uncle Xu walked into the house and looked up to see Haizi coming up to him. He was surprised!
"Oh! It's Haizi who's back. I really don't know. Your mother misses you terribly. She hasn't heard from you for more than a year. She cries when she thinks about it.
Now it's great. I said, why is your mother so happy today? Just come back, just come back. Come back and see her during the Chinese New Year, so that your mother won't have to worry about it!
I see that you have grown taller and stronger, like a young man. It seems that you have done well in the past year. Is this how it should be? "
"Happy New Year, Uncle Xu. I'd like to send you my best regards!"
Haizi knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Uncle Xu. Sanyang also knelt down sensibly and kowtowed with his brother. This is the custom of farmers. Men have to kowtow to their close elders.
"Get up quickly, these two kids are not interested in this anymore." Uncle Xu patted Sanyang's head, sat down on the kang, looked back at Aunt Xiao and asked, "This girl looks familiar." ?”
"This is my cousin. Her home is more than twenty miles away from here. Isn't it? She's about to give birth, and their little village doesn't even have a midwife.
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, I couldn't bear the trouble anymore. I had no choice but to send her to my place. Although it was the Chinese New Year, we couldn't be careless about it.
I went to see the old lady in our village and she said she was tired from working during the Chinese New Year and she still had to wait a few days before giving birth, so I left her behind. Why would she be tossing her around all the time? Something would happen if she stumbled while walking.
My cousin refused to work with me, so I insisted on staying. I sent her son-in-law back overnight so that we could live together as a couple. We also raised a lot of chickens, ducks, geese, etc. at home, and we couldn’t throw them away.
This is Uncle Xu, the leading figure in our village. He is a very kind person. He usually helps me a lot when there are big things at home, but he didn't forget to come and see me even though it's just the New Year. "
Haizi's mother was the first to answer, introduced enthusiastically, and poured a glass of water for Uncle Xu.
"Happy New Year to Uncle Xu. I wish you good health and longevity, and good luck in getting rich!"
Aunt Xiao San also greeted warmly. Uncle Xu also smiled and nodded, and stopped asking. He picked up the water bowl and took a sip. He looked up at Haizi and then at Haizi's mother, showing concern.
"When do you plan to let Haizi leave?"
"I haven't thought about this yet, and I don't know what Haizi means."
Haizi's mother looked at her son. Of course, she hoped that her son could stay for a few more days and never leave. But he was also afraid that Master Yun would know that Haizi was back and bring trouble to Haizi again.
