In later generations, New Year's Eve dinner was usually finished at four or five o'clock, and then the whole family would make dumplings together, and a few coins must be placed in the dumplings. Whoever eats them will have good luck in the coming year.
After making the dumplings, the Spring Festival party begins. When the countdown to the New Year begins, every household will set off firecrackers and cook dumplings.
But the first CCTV Spring Festival Gala only officially debuted in 1983.
At this time of year, people don’t have much entertainment, but New Year’s Eve won’t be too boring either.
The family sat on the kang and kept vigil around the brazier, listening to the elders telling legendary myths that they could never tire of hearing. The content was more exciting than "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio".
Yun Shu also heard these stories from her grandmother when she was young.
For example, at my grandma’s grandfather’s house, there was always a gray-haired old lady hiding under the loom. She was a Huangxian;
Grandma's grandmother had a tumor in her belly, which was cured by a beautiful snake fairy.
I heard that this snake fairy had two big black braids, a white skirt, and a nice name, Chang Saihua.
When Yun Shu was a child, she had some fantasies. It would be great if one day she could meet this snake fairy sister. She must ask her why Bai Suzhen has the last name Bai. Is it because she is a white snake?
Well, when I grow up and look back on myself as a child, I realize that I was quite cute when I was silly!
But now, Yun Shu discovered that maybe those stories grandma told in her previous life were not stories.
Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang were obviously not too interested in these stories. After all, they had actually met the protagonists in the stories.
Unfortunately, not all snake fairies are beauties like Bai Suzhen. They may be muscular men. Well, this is still a fantasy, because without Yun Shu's help, Chang Zhuang would never be able to transform into another shape even if he practiced for five hundred years. .
There is also the legendary vixen, Hu Li, too. Maybe after transforming, he may have a face like Deng Lun, but his figure will definitely be twice his, horizontally.
Huang Jifeng's dream is to open a chicken farm, where chickens lay eggs, eggs lay chickens... and the cycle repeats, so that he will have endless chickens to eat. And cultivation is just a means for him to realize his dream.
There are also Hui Fugui, Lu Lu...
Such a fairy family simply shatters all illusions!
However, as this is the first New Year without his parents, Yun Shu wants his brothers to forget their sorrow and be happy.
So with a pair of scissors and a lot of red paper, no witchcraft was needed. Numerous paper-cuts were born in Yun Shu's hands. On these paper-cuts, pieces of wood were attached, and a simple version of shadow puppets was born.
Today, four red candles were extravagantly lit at home, so the windows covered with snow-white Korean paper became Yun Shu's best platform for performance.
"Dang Dang Dang, please enjoy the show "Cat and Mouse" performed by our heroine Yun Shu."
"Once upon a time, a family had a cat named Da Zhuang...and a little mouse named Xiao Zhuang..."
The names Tom and Jerry were so advanced that Yun Shu had to adapt them on the spot.
"Dazhuang stole the food at home, which made Dazhuang very angry, so..."
The plot of the story about "catching a cat and painting a tiger" makes Yun Shu suffer from embarrassment, but he has only watched a few movies that he can count on five fingers and has never even read a novel. But he looked attentively.
Even Ah Hui, Baiyun, Black Earth, Pickled Cabbage, and Cuihua, who were celebrating the festival with their master, stretched out their ears...
At 10:30 in the evening, I saw Da Zhuang snoring next to Xiao Zhuang who had already fallen asleep. The four dogs were also sleepy. Only Ah Hui's eyes were wide open as he waited for Yun Shu to start sleeping. One episode.
Yun Shu couldn't help but kicked it gently with his foot, "If you want to know what happened next, please listen to the next episode!"
Ah Hui blinked his big watery eyes, "Master, happy New Year!"
Yun Shu looked at Ah Hui who was so cute that he could only surrender, "Okay, let's talk about an episode."
Episode after episode, until half past eleven, Ah Hui realized that there was no point in being cute, so he gave up.
Yun Shu took a sip of hot water that was warm on the small clay stove. Ah Hui was so coquettish that his throat started to smoke.
Okay, she had to admit that she had a lot of fun entertaining herself in one episode. Maybe being funny is contagious!
Yun Shu cooks dumplings with gentle hands and feet, including six kinds of fillings: carrot and mutton, pork and pickled cabbage, beef and green onions, fungus, cucumber and shrimp, spinach and egg.
After cooking the dumplings, serve a large bowl of dumpling soup, which is called the original soup and the original food.
At this time, the countdown to the New Year has begun.
"Big Zhuang, Xiao Zhuang, wake up, it's time to set off firecrackers."
There is a folk saying in the Northeast, "The girl wants flowers, the boy wants cannons, the old man wants a new cigarette pouch, and the wife wants foot bindings."
Anyway, as far as Yun Shu knew, there was no kid who didn't like setting off firecrackers.
These days, unlike later generations, fireworks are banned everywhere.
At this time, even the poorest families will buy a small firecracker.
And this year, because wild products and fat pigs were sold at a good price, every household had a little extra money, but they were willing to spend a dime or two to let the kids have fun.
Yun Shu not only bought Da Zhuang five small firecrackers, but also a firecracker, a flying monkey, and a fairy stick.
After hearing Yun Shu's words, Da Zhuang immediately sat up energetically, put on his clothes with a click of Qi Chi, took the firecrackers from the main room and ran out.
Yun Shu also picked up the sleepy Xiao Zhuang, fearing that the sound of firecrackers would scare him later.
Nowadays, few households have watches. Everyone listens. Almost one household sets off firecrackers, and other households follow suit and light up the firecrackers.
"Crackling..." This is a small firecracker.
"Bang!" This was the second kick.
"Chirp... bang!" This is the Sky Monkey.
Although Yun Shu covered Xiao Zhuang's ears with his hands, the little guy was still startled at first.
But probably it was a boy's nature, and soon he was no longer afraid. He even took off Yun Shu's hand and stood on the edge of the window sill trying to look out.
The red candles in the house, the red lanterns outside the door, and the fleeting light of the flying monkeys made this quiet village completely lively.
Da Zhuang set off firecrackers outside, smiled and said hello to the militiamen who came here to patrol the mountains and forest to prevent fires, then entered the house, and then put fairy sticks outside the window, which made Xiao Zhuang feel addicted. .
When the sound of firecrackers in the village gradually dissipated, Da Zhuang, whose hands were red from the cold, entered the house, baring his white teeth and said, "Sister, it's a good New Year."
Xiao Zhuang also clasped his hands and said, "Sister, okay!"
Yun Shu showed a big smile and said, "Big Zhuang, Xiao Zhuang, Happy New Year!" As she said that, she took out two strings of eight money woven with colorful threads, which were round on the outside and square on the inside, and pressed them on her two younger brothers. Under the pillow, the so-called "pressing money".
Looking at Da Zhuang's ignorant eyes, if it weren't for the fact that there were no big children during the Chinese New Year, Yun Shu would have given him a chestnut, which was pure gold, okay?
. m.
