Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 76 Chapter 075
There were not many letters. After the first round of delivery, Tang Zhitong returned to the business hall. Qian Zhongping told Tang Zhitong: "Xiao Tang, is the delivery over? Then you can go home. There was a call from the transfer station just now, saying that there was no second round of letters. "

"The relationship is so good, we can finally take a break." Tang Zhitong put down his things smoothly and handed over to Qian Zhongping: "Sister Qian, I wish you a happy New Year in advance. I wish you a happy New Year and a happy and healthy family!"

"Oh, your little mouth is quite sweet. I also wish you a happy New Year and wish you a beautiful girl as soon as possible." Qian Zhongping sat at the counter and covered her mouth with a smile.

"Thanks to your good advice, I'll withdraw first." After Tang Zhitong said that, he stood up. It was a bit cloudy outside, as if it was going to snow.

The Spring Festival holiday actually only lasts for the first day of the Lunar New Year, but according to the current level of emphasis on the year-end and interpersonal communication, the holiday will not be too strict after the holiday. Take the postal workers as an example. If there are not many letters, they can definitely help each other. Delivery.

On New Year's Eve, many stores are only open for half a day and close in the afternoon in preparation for the New Year. There is only one exception - barber shops.

Barber shops are usually open until [-] nights.

I don’t know when the saying “Uncle will die if he gets a haircut in the first month” came out, and then most people chose to get together to get haircuts in Niangengen, so that their hair can grow safely for a month, and then wait until February [-]nd to queue up for haircuts...

Tang Zhitong never joined in the fun and always got his hair cut during the first month of the year. Zhang Guifang was not unhappy at all and never said anything about it.

After arriving at the gate, Tang Zhitong took out two kilograms of pork belly and several kilograms of suet from the space, took them into the house, and told Zhang Guifang that these were given by the construction site leader, and the fee would be deducted from the 400 yuan.

Zhang Guifang is very happy. This year's New Year is not easy for everyone, and the supply is less than before.

With the half-pound meat coupons issued by the street, plus four meat coupons for the whole family, Zhang Guifang bought less than one and a half kilograms of meat in total.

Together with the meat and oil base that Tang Zhitong brought back, the family will be able to have a prosperous year this year.

During the Chinese New Year in the north, the most important part is making dumplings. Every household makes dumplings and wishes they could eat dumplings for three days in a row.

How to arrange the meat depends on Zhang Guifang's instructions. The suet must be refined and eaten.

Tang Zhitong washed his hands, cut the suet into cubes, and prepared to boil the oil in the pot.

There are roughly two methods of boiling suet. In the north, oil is used to boil suet, while in the south, suet is boiled with water.

Tang Zhitong chose to use peanut oil, pour a little into the iron pot, move the pot a little to let the oil cover the bottom of the pot, then add the cut suet and stir-fry. If it is stirred slowly, it will easily stick to the pan.

The two sisters stopped playing and stood in front of the pot swallowing saliva, waiting to be fed.

After the suet boils out the oil, what remains is the oil residue.

Oil residue is a delicious snack in Sijiu City. There used to be a store selling this food, and there was an endless stream of people buying it.

After boiling out the oil, control the oil residue and put it into a plate for later use.

Tang Zhitong pinched two pieces, and each of the two sisters took one piece. It was crispy and caramelized, with the aroma of meat and oil, and it was twice as fragrant!

If dipped in some salt, it can be used directly with rice.

"Don't let them eat it. It will have to be chopped into pieces and mixed with dumpling fillings later." Zhang Guifang cut the meat into clear parts, and used part of the meat to mix with the filling, while the other part was stir-fried with heavy salt and soy sauce and saved for later eating.

"Go, give a piece to our mother, plug her mouth, and stop talking about us." Tang Zhitong pinched a piece and gave it to Fengzhen, encouraging her to give it to her mother, and then he also pinched a piece and stuffed it in her mouth.

Zhang Guifang caught her eldest daughter's feeding with her mouth, touched her daughter's head, and said nothing.It’s not a good time to talk about children during the Chinese New Year, not to mention that children are sensible, so just eat what you have.

It is impossible for the three brothers and sisters to eat all the oil residue. If each of the sisters is given three pieces, they have to put them away and write Spring Festival couplets to avoid being greedy.

Spring couplets were formerly called Taofu, as everyone knows.

Nowadays, all Spring Festival couplets are handwritten, not printed ones.

The Spring Festival couplets were written by Tang Zhitong. Because Tang's father passed away last year, there will be no "blessing" this year. There are only two Spring couplets, one for the door and one for the door, and the paper is purple.

In the past, officials were particular about how many months they needed to observe filial piety. Folks also had similar opinions, but the time would not be that long. After all, if you don’t work, you won’t have food to eat. Rules are important, but filling your stomach is even more important.

It is precisely because people do not have that long, and it is usually time to eat, drink, and get married after three months, so Tang Zhitong dared to agree to Wang Jingwen to get the certificate after the year.

The couplets were posted with the help of two younger sisters. Although the efficiency was a bit low, the children liked this sense of participation very much.

In the afternoon, a neighbor came to Tang Zhitong to write couplets. For such a small job, Tang Zhitong couldn't open his mouth to ask for something.

The neighbor would bring his own paper, Tang Zhitong would come up with pen and ink, chat for a while, and then wait for the ink to dry and take him away. This was usually the process.Zhang Guifang was very happy that someone came to Tang Zhitong to write Spring Festival couplets. This showed that her neighbors regarded her son as a cultural person, and this sense of recognition was more valuable than three melons and two dates.

In fact, you can’t make much money by writing couplets. Tang Zhitong once had an elder brother who had a sudden idea on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month of one year to start a business and set up a stall in the market to write couplets.

I didn't talk about being a grandson at the end of the morning. I only made a few cents to polish my pen. Since then, I have never mentioned starting a business again.

Tang Zhitong was busy happily. Snowflakes started to fall in the sky in the evening. The spirit of the new year was really getting more and more...

Zhang Guifang respects her mother-in-law very much. In her words, her mother-in-law is closer to me than my own mother.

Therefore, Zhang Guifang followed her mother-in-law's rules for celebrating the Spring Festival. On the thirtieth night, she ate stir-fried vegetables, cooked for the fifth night, and made sacrifices to her ancestors in the early morning and cabbage and tofu dumplings for breakfast the next morning.

The dumplings said to be stuffed with cabbage and tofu are actually not vegan. In Tang Zhitong's impression, if there was any oil residue, grandma would chop it up and mix it in some.

The four dishes for dinner were cooked by Tang Zhitong, each with shredded pork. For the Tang family, this improved their lives.

After each one is made, a small bowl is taken out and placed on the Eight Immortals table. Above the Eight Immortals table are photos of Grandma Tang and Father Tang, as well as a tablet with the name of Grandpa Tang. The names of other ancestors have been lost to memory after the death of Grandpa Tang.

Tang Zhitong has always followed this procedure every Spring Festival and Zhongyuan Festival since he was a child. There is no such procedure in Sijiu City on these two days. Instead, he would do it on Qingming Festival, death anniversary or other important days, so he would think of it in Wang Jingwen's house. Then let Wang Jingmin serve the dishes to pay homage.

After dinner, the family chatted around the fire. There was no TV or radio, so we could only listen to my mother telling stories about the past.

The two sisters yawned as they listened, and Tang Zhitong played with the sisters with a goat stick. His clumsy tricks made the whole family laugh, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Perhaps because of the Chinese New Year, there was no power outage tonight.

At ten o'clock at night, Tang Zhitong began to chop cabbage and oil residue, cut tofu, mix the stuffing, and Zhang Guifang kneaded the noodles.

The next step was to make dumplings, and the two sisters also participated. Fengzhen made the dumplings better, while Fengzhi made the dumplings horribly. Not to mention they were crooked, and some were not even wrapped properly, so the fillings would definitely be exposed when the pot was cooked.

Zhang Guifang couldn't help but said something to her little daughter, hoping that she would watch from the sidelines and not waste the food.

"Mom, you have to learn sooner or later. Grandma and Dad are watching, and they are also happy that my sister has made progress." Tang Zhitong advised tactfully. He encouraged the two sisters to do more.

When Zhang Guifang heard what Tang Zhitong said, she stopped talking.

Grandma Tang told her in the early years that staying up until the fifth watch, also called staying up late on the New Year's Eve, is the transition between the old year and the new year. It is a very important and sacred node.There are deceased relatives and ancestors watching, and they are looking after the living people. The living people must also show their good side and not worry the ancestors.

If Grandma Tang and Father Tang are here, they must also want this family to be well, right?

"Mom, I seem to have forgotten to tell you something." While making dumplings, Tang Zhitong suddenly remembered something.

"What's the matter?" Zhang Guifang kept busy. Although she no longer objected to Fengzhen's participation, she would save her daughter from being ruined by doing more.

"Xiao Wang's mother said that our yard is big and she wants me to build two side rooms so that we can pick a day in the new year to get the certificate." Tang Zhitong was tired and cheated on both sides of the New Year.

"It costs a lot of money to build a house, but our family doesn't have enough." Zhang Guifang felt worried after hearing this.

"You don't have to worry about money. Xiao Wang has it, and her mother agrees. Even the furniture can be paid for by her family." You can't get around Zhang Guifang when building a house, but you can get around both sides by spending money. Tang Zhitong still has some money in his pocket. As for whether It will be exposed. Soldiers will come to cover it up with water and earth. Let's use it as soon as possible.

"How can we use the woman's money?" Zhang Guifang was not very happy, but she had no better way, so she finally said: "You have found a good wife."

"Hey, I found you a good daughter-in-law." The meaning has not changed, but when the subject of the expression changes, the meaning seems to have changed again.

"She found a good sister-in-law for me and Fengzhi." Fengzhen was much more cheerful than before, with a smile on her face, and she looked a bit like a 12-year-old girl who was youthful and lively.

The wall clock struck 12, and Zhang Guifang started cooking dumplings, really counting them, as if they were about twenty.

After cooking, three teacups were placed in each teacup and brought to the Eight Immortals table for offerings.

The remaining people tasted it, then set off firecrackers and went to bed...

　Many book friends say that updates are slow and they write in their spare time, but there is nothing they can do about it.

　　When I get Wanjun, I can rest assured that I can write full-time. Well, the ambition of a transparent little fool is far away.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)