Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 147 It's New Year's Eve

Mrs. Chen and her daughters-in-law are busy cooking in the kitchen.This year Zhixiang's family came back to celebrate the New Year, the old lady is so beautiful in her heart, she always has a smile on her face.Zhide's family and Huixin's family are all back. This is the old man saying that this year will be a reunion year.

It stands to reason that girls who go out don't go home for the New Year.But the Tao family didn't know what was going on, they just refused to ease the relationship, every time Qingnian went there, he was lukewarm.It made Qingnian disheartened, and now, apart from sending people to deliver things during the New Year and holidays, I rarely visit the door.As soon as Xu Chengkuan asked them to come to the house to be lively, Qingnian agreed, otherwise it would be boring if there were only a few people in his own family.People who have been hurt by their biological parents don't care about the rules or irregularities, as long as they are happy.

Now, the yard is full of children, Wen Xuan, Wen Chang, Wen Xing, Jing Hui, Wen Rui, these boys are running around everywhere.Regardless of Wen Rui's young age, he couldn't hold him back at all. He followed behind his brothers and ran quite slickly.The family bought a lot of firecrackers this year, and Wenchang took out two from time to time and lit them, adding a touch of Chinese New Year atmosphere to the small courtyard.

Lantern poles had long been erected in the yard, and a string of bright red lanterns was hung. It was still daytime and no lights were needed.I saw the red lanterns swaying slowly with the wind, declaring that the new year is coming.

The gate has long pasted a pair, and also posted a door god, above the gate, there are also colorful hanging coins, and on the windows of each house, there are also window grilles.These hanging money and window grilles were cut by sisters Jinghan and Chen Shi. They are all ingenious, and the hanging money and window grilles they cut out are all very delicate and special.The red blessing characters were also plastered all over the yard, the barn was pasted with a sign full of grain, and the barn was also pasted with a sign of "Liu Animals Prosperous".What else is going out to see the joy, looking up to see the joy, etc., the whole yard shows a strong New Year flavor.

In the middle of the front yard, the genealogy was hung in the north, and an incense table was placed in front of the genealogy, on which were various sacrifices.Whole chicken, whole fish, and a big pig's head. What's more interesting is that there is a pig's tail on top of the pig's head, which is called having a head and a tail.The snow-white steamed buns are stuffed with big red dates, which looks very happy.There are also two very thick red candles on both sides, which are not lit yet, and the old man will have to light them himself when it gets dark.

When the old man led his children and grandchildren back home, it was already late, everyone sat down and had a rest.Seeing that the men had all come back, Mrs. Chen said, "Take a rest for a while, let the cool breeze fill your belly, let's have dinner later, it's almost done."

The old man chatted with his children and grandchildren, and it was inevitable that he would talk about these juniors, so Zhixiang suggested that Wenchang and Wenxuan take the county examination this year, "Father, brother, I think Wenchang and Wenxuan have good homework. , it’s better to let them try, if they fail the exam, the key is to practice and practice.”

The old man thought for a while before saying, "Wenchang has passed the fifteenth year of the new year, and Wenxuan is only fourteen years old. It's time to take the exam. Back then, Wenhan and the others took the county exam at about the same age. Okay, boss, just wait. After the new year, go discuss it with the master and see what the master says. We don't ask them to pass the exam right away, just try it."

Zhixiang looked at Zhide, "Fourth brother, if you say that Wen Xing will be thirteen after the Chinese New Year, you have to hurry up. I looked at Wen Xing's homework, and it was worse than these two. This child is in front of you, maybe you don’t want to take care of it, so it’s not okay.” Zhixiang once called several children together to test their homework, Wenchang and Wenxuan were both okay, but Wenxing was a little worse .

Zhide nodded, "Oh, it's my fault too. From the very beginning, your sister-in-law didn't let me take care of the child, so I just listened to her. Now, when the child grows up, it's a bit difficult to manage. I have to take my time, child. It's too big, and it's a bit qualitative." Speaking of this, Zhide also felt a little regretful.

"Okay, the children and grandchildren have their own blessings, maybe which one will be able to make a fortune. There are five of you brothers, isn't the fifth one admitted to Juren? If there are one or two of the juniors who pass the exam, we The family can be regarded as the blessing of the ancestors." The old man is quite contented, the Xu family's ancestors have been farmers for generations, and it is already very good to have a scholar in their generation.

Zhixiang nodded, "Yeah, our family's foundation is too shallow after all. If Wenhan's generation can get another Juren in the exam, it would be really good. With me and the Lu family, as long as he is admitted to Juren, Then you can start your official career. Our Xu family can be regarded as a glorious family."

The father and son were talking here, and the old lady just entered the room, "The food is ready, let's eat first, and chat while eating."

So everyone worked together to set the table, and all the food was served on the table.Now, there are sixteen dishes in total, and the table is full.Wen Han came in with two jars of wine and poured them all for everyone. "Grandpa, this is the wine from Uncle Lin's house. It's selling well in the county now. Let's try it and see how it goes."

The people sitting in the room, of course, were all my family members, and there were three tables in total. The rest of the servants were eating in another room, and three tables were also set up.

When the old man saw that the big guys had sat down, he raised his glass, "Come on, let's have a drink first. This year is the reunion year, and the fifth and the Qingnian are here. This is a rare encounter, old woman , you and the daughters-in-law should also drink some, don’t be afraid, they are all our own family members. Besides, don’t these people still work? It doesn’t matter if you drink too much.” Then, the old man started Just drink it.

The people in the room, except for Jing Han and the others, drank a glass of wine together.The old man put down his wine glass and nodded, "Don't tell me, this wine from the Lin family is really good. It's soft and mellow, not bad."

Zhixiang next to him also nodded, he is a person who has seen all kinds of good wine, if he can make him feel that it is okay, then this wine is indeed okay. "Brother, I heard that you also have shares in this winery?"

"Well, Xingjia couldn't come up with that much money for a while, so I said I wanted to buy shares, and gave him 500 taels of silver, which took up [-]% of the winery. Years ago, the wine sold well, and Xingjia said that I would give me a dividend. , I mean, it’s better to put the money in it first, or to save more food and make more wine. Wine is not afraid of aging, and the older it gets, the better it tastes. Lost it. I told Xingjia to let him store some good wine every time he makes wine, and then sell it out in a few years, it will be better." Zhixin now has some knowledge in the business, saying It also makes sense.

"Brother, it is best to think like this. No matter what line of business you are in, you have to take a long view. It is useless to just look at the front. How much money can you have in front of you? Stay in it and develop well. , it will be very good in the future." Zhixiang also agrees with Zhixin's views.

"I don't understand these things very well. However, the Lin family is a good person, and our two families are about to get married. With this kind of relationship here, no matter how much money the wine shop makes, we have to support the Xing family and keep the wine The bigger the workshop, the bigger it will be." The old man said with a smile on his face flushed.

"Yes, dad, don't worry, my son understands this. It's okay, let's not talk about it today. We'll drink and eat food. Today is a rare reunion. Our family is reunited, so we have to drink well." Zhixin said The eldest son, who happened to take the lead, toasted his parents with a glass of wine.

The rest of the brothers also stood up, "Father, mother, it's Chinese New Year, and the sons have nothing else to say. Thank you parents for working so hard to bring us up. Now that parents are older, let's take care of each other." Let's live happily ever after. The sons will definitely be filial to the elders."

The old man and the old lady were also full of excitement, and kept saying yes.Everyone drank the wine together, and Brother Zhixin sat down.

It took a long time to eat this meal, from never to the end of the time, the men all drank too much, and they were stumbling around.The women looked at these thoroughly drunk men, shook their heads one by one, and smiled helplessly.Although Wen Han and Wen Cheng drank some wine, they were children and the old man would not let them drink too much, so they were not drunk.So the two brothers called the two boys outside, and helped these people to their respective rooms one by one, so that they could have a good sleep.

After Wen Han and the others helped him away, the women began to clean up the table.Seeing that it was still early, the old lady said that there is no need to worry, and that it will be ready to make dumplings for the evening later, and let everyone go to rest for a while.

Jinghan and the others didn't drink, so they volunteered to fry melon seeds, peanuts, pine nuts and other things.

After all, Mrs. Lu was pregnant, so she also felt tired and flustered at the moment, so the girl supported her and went back to rest.Mrs. Xue, Mrs. Zhu, and Mrs. Han chatted and packed out the meat and vegetables for making dumplings in the evening.

"Sister-in-law, let's make dumplings stuffed with cabbage and radish tonight." Han asked.

"Hey, this is an old rule in our family. Cabbage is a hundred fortunes, and radish is a blessing. It's just an auspicious word. Besides, it's just cabbage. The stuffing is too watery, so it's not easy to wrap it. Add some radishes, it’s easy to wrap, and it tastes juicy.” Xue lowered her head and packed the cabbage in her hand.

These cabbages were all hidden in the cellar and were brought back yesterday.The radishes have been shredded long ago, boiled in hot water and frozen out, and brought back in advance to wait.

There are a lot of people in the family this year, so we have to prepare more stuffing for the dumplings. Fortunately, there is plenty of meat at home. Mrs. Xue brought back several pieces of meat, estimated to weigh about twenty catties.

"Sister-in-law, don't you have too much meat? How can you use this old meat?" Zhu said when she saw it.

"There are a lot of people, so prepare more. For the New Year's Eve, it's not easy to be stingy and make people laugh. Those people who followed Zhixiang to our house can't let them have nothing to do with their [-]-year-old dumplings. Eat?" Mrs. Xue was referring to the servants at home.

(End of this chapter)