Chapter 363: Celebrate the New Year with great excitement
Yuan Heng's family and Yuan Fang's family each had four people. They all arrived in Qingyang City on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. They stayed at Yuan Rui's home for one night and prepared to go to the Sun family to pay New Year's greetings together the next day.
In addition to these families, Yuan Rui also plans to bring her parents-in-law along.
Yuan Rui has two sisters-in-law, both of whom live in Qingyang City. They go back to their parents' home on the second day of the Chinese New Year every year, and stay at their husband's home on New Year's Eve and the first day of the New Year.
If their son’s family doesn’t spend the New Year at home, the old couple will have to celebrate it alone.
The old couple of the Sun family thought that Yuan Rui's in-laws had also helped when their youngest son encountered difficulties, so they asked Sun Aimin to discuss with them in advance and invite them all over.
This large group of people also rented a minibus and set off early in the morning so as not to delay the driver's return home to have the New Year's Eve dinner with his family.
It was just after nine o'clock when the group arrived at Liuwangzhuang. The Sun family was very lively at this time, and everyone in the family came to the yard of the old couple to help prepare lunch.
There were many people in the family, but they didn't need so many people to help. In the end, the eldest and second wives of Sun were responsible for selecting, washing and cutting vegetables. The two stoves and furnaces in the outer room were used, and the three brothers of the Sun family were responsible for different dishes. Sun Min was responsible for adding firewood to the two stoves.
Yuan Jie wanted to help her two sisters-in-law with some chores, but was stopped by them and asked to be solely responsible for coaxing the children.
The elders from both families were not allowed to get involved, so they were allowed to chat on the warm kang.
The rest of the children went out to set off firecrackers under the leadership of their eldest brother Sun Qi.
When the Yuan family arrived at the Sun family, this was the lively scene they saw.
Speaking of liveliness, every household is more lively during the Chinese New Year than usual, but it is rare to see a scene as lively as the one at the Sun family today.
In the past, the Sun family only had family members together during the New Year, and it had never been as lively as it is now.
As soon as the Yuan family arrived, the scene became even more lively.
A few elderly people who were originally chatting on the kang saw the car parked at the door, so they got off the kang and went out to greet it, and pulled Yuan Rui's parents-in-law, who had just got off the car, into the house.
It is not easy for these elderly people to get together. Yuan Rui's parents-in-law were born and raised in Jiangjin City. They have no relatives or friends in the countryside. This is their first time to celebrate the New Year in the countryside. They feel fresh and familiar everywhere.
I walked through the outhouse and entered the house, and found that it was very warm, just as warm as the heated houses in the city.
Sitting on the warm kang, it feels even more novel and comfortable.
Once this family arrived, there were more children. As the eldest among the families, Sun Qi felt the pressure of taking care of the children was quite great.
This large group of children, big and small, soon split into several groups.
For example, several members of the Sun family have already gone to college, and there is Yuan Siyi who is in her senior year of high school, and Sun Yao who is in her freshman year. These children have a lot of common topics.
The two high school students were full of curiosity about college life and often asked their older brothers and sisters about their studies and life in college.
When it comes to college life, college students have a lot to talk about. They talk about things related to their majors, interesting things they have seen and heard in school, the local conditions and customs of the city where their school is located, and various club activities, etc.
This makes high school students envious and more eager for college life. Of course, they can also give high school students some study advice from the perspective of experienced people.
However, Yuan Siyi and Sun Yao are both top students. They are not too worried about their studies. They are more concerned about which university to set as their goal and what major to choose in the future.
The activities for the younger children were more pure, just playing, and Sun Qi suddenly became the king of the children here.
Setting off firecrackers is one of their essential activities, but for safety reasons, the firecrackers they set off are of low power and have a high safety factor.
In the past two days since he came back, Sun Qi has bought a thousand yuan worth of fireworks and brought them home, ready to set them off in the evening.
The only regret is that there was no snow around New Year’s Eve this year. In the past, setting off firecrackers after the snow on New Year’s Eve was a special kind of fun.
The children were playing, talking and laughing, and time passed quickly.
Since there were many people at home today, four large round tables were set up, one on the kang and one on the floor in the east and west rooms respectively.
The men drank and chatted at one table, while those who didn't drink sat around another table with a few older children. The women and children ate at the kang table.
All dishes were served in four plates, and several older children were responsible for delivering the dishes to each table.
Everyone enjoyed the meal very much. After all, it was the masterpieces of several master chefs. And because there were so many people, the variety of dishes was richer than when the families were separated during the Chinese New Year.
At night, we prepared several different dumpling fillings in advance, including leeks and eggs, mutton and green onions, pork and celery, and pickled cabbage and oil. We put several pots of fillings in the seasonings and mixed them well, then kneaded the dough and let it rest for more than half an hour.
From about five o'clock, everyone gathered together to make dumplings, cooking the dumplings with different fillings separately. In order to have a good start, a clean coin was randomly placed in each dumpling with each filling.
At around six o'clock, plates of plump white dumplings were served on the table, along with a few fried home-cooked dishes and two plates of cooked food with cucumber as a base as side dishes.
The dumplings of various flavors were all moderately salty and fragrant. Everyone was very satisfied while eating the dumplings and drinking wine or beverages.
When someone eats the coin hidden in the dumpling, they are even more surprised. This is a sign of being a "lucky person".
After dinner, the women worked together to clean the table, put snacks such as peanuts, melon seeds, and candies on the table, chatted, and waited for the Spring Festival Gala to begin.
The children couldn't wait to go to the gate to set off fireworks. This year, Sun Qi bought a lot of beautiful fireworks. When they were lit, the whole night sky of the village was illuminated. Villagers also took their children out to enjoy the fireworks and feel the unique atmosphere of the New Year.
The sound of fireworks and the cheers of children intertwined together to play the most beautiful music of the New Year.
The elderly usually go to bed early, but on New Year’s Eve they didn’t go to bed until after ten o’clock.
The three elderly couples were arranged to stay with the Sun family, along with Sun Aimin's family of four. The men stayed in one room, and the women stayed in another. It was no problem for six or seven people to sleep on a large kang, so they didn't seem crowded.
The rest of the adults and children were arranged to live in Sun Aiguo's and Sun Aijun's homes respectively.
Each of these two families has four rooms for living, and all of them have very long kangs.
Except for Yuan Heng who lived in it when he went to the countryside, other members of the Yuan family had no chance to come into contact with a kang like this one.
Lying in the warm quilt on the kang, my whole body started to warm up. The only downside was that it was too hot and it was easy to get angry.
In Qingyang, it is a popular custom to eat steamed dumplings on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which means "prosperity". So, at noon on the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone had a lively meal of steamed dumplings with thin skin and large fillings.
The days of reunion are always short. Yuan Rui and her group had already made an appointment with a minibus to pick them up in the afternoon and take them back to the city.
At around two o'clock, Yuan Rui and Yuan Fang's families left first. Yuan Heng, who had come here with his family after great difficulty, decided to stay for two more days.
It just so happened that the minibus that Sun Aimin had contacted for the return trip arrived on the morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and Yuan Heng planned to take this bus to the city. They bought a return ticket for the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, so they could stay at Yuan Rui's house for a day and take the bus back home the next day.