Chapter 430 Spring of 60
Chapter 430: Spring Festival of
No matter how chaotic the outside world was, the yard was very peaceful, and every household was preparing for the New Year tomorrow.
It’s the last day before the New Year and there are a lot of trivial things to do.
There are so many things to do, such as pasting Spring Festival couplets, pasting window flowers, cleaning, and there is no moment to rest.
Early in the morning, Yan Bugui set up a large table in the middle of the front yard and wrote couplets for everyone.
However, not many people want to write couplets, much less than last year.
Seeing this, Yan Bugui could not help but shout, "Write couplets, write couplets, no money, no money, just some peanuts and sunflower seeds will do."
After hearing this, everyone came over and asked tentatively, "Uncle, you really don't want money?"
"I really don't want any money, just give me some fruits."
"Okay, write one for me." Someone took out a handful of melon seeds and peanuts and put them on the table.
Yan Bugui shouted happily: "Okay, you are the first one, I promise to give you some beautiful ones."
He picked up the pen and wrote down a couplet neatly.
"Thank you, Uncle Three!"
“You’re welcome.” Yan Bugui smiled happily. The business was finally open.
"Uncle, please write one for me too!" Seeing this, everyone asked for couplets.
"Sure, sure." Seeing everyone signing up enthusiastically, Yan Bugui couldn't stop smiling.
After finishing a painting, someone put down a handful of fruits.
Soon, the table was piled high with melon seeds and peanuts.
"Hehe." Yan Bugui laughed happily, "Anyone else who wants to write couplets? Come quickly, we'll be done in a moment."
Those who hadn't put up the couplets yet hurried over, took out a handful of melon seeds and put them down.
Not long after, several couplets were finished. Yan Bugui shouted again, but no one came to the yard.
"Okay, clear the table."
Yan Bugui carefully collected the pile of melon seeds and peanuts.
Yan Jiecheng signaled to Yan Jiefang with his eyes, but he himself reached out to the pile of fruits and vegetables.
"Pah!" Yan Bugui slapped him away.
"I'll just take a little."
"What are you taking? This is for Chinese New Year. Take a handful from the left, a handful from the right. What are you going to do after you finish eating?"
"Isn't it just a little bit of food? Is it that serious?"
Yan Bugui shouted back, "It's true! Of course it's true. If you can't eat or drink, you won't be poor. If you can't plan well, you will be poor."
"What season is it now? If you don't eat sparingly, you will eat it all sooner or later."
Yan Bugui held it carefully in his arms and said, "We'll divide it up in the evening. Everyone will have one. Don't think about it now."
Yan Bugui's stingy and calculating character might have started from this moment.
This year, every household has not prepared any New Year's goods. In the past, there were chickens, ducks, fish, candies, etc., but now there are none.
Yan Bugui was naturally extremely careful with these hard-earned fruits and vegetables.
"Come on, everyone come to the Intermediate Court for the meeting!" Sha Zhu suddenly shouted.
"Oh, another meeting."
"It's the same old rule. There's always a meeting before the New Year."
Everyone went to the middle courtyard.
An octagonal table and stools had already been placed in the center of the courtyard, waiting for the three gentlemen to take their seats.
Soon, everyone arrived.
Yi Zhonghai was the first to step forward and said, "Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year. I would like to wish you all a happy breakfast."
"Happy New Year to everyone!" After saying that, Yi Zhonghai clasped his fists to congratulate everyone, and everyone also clasped their fists in return.
"Okay, let's talk business. Things are a bit bad this year, and I think for today's New Year's Eve dinner, how about we all get together and celebrate it together?"
"How about if every household contributes some vegetables and a little effort, and the meat is combined to make a big meat dish so that every household can have some?"
"Oh, don't." Xu Damao was the first to speak, "Uncle, I won't get involved. I'm going to stay at home by myself this year, so I won't get involved."
Xu Damao has prepared a lot of New Year's goods, and he has a beautiful wife at home, so he doesn't want to spend the New Year with others.
Sha Zhu said, "Xu Damao! Do you have any sense of unity with your neighbors? This is a collective activity in our yard. What reason do you have not to participate?"
Xu Damao retorted: "Hey, idiot, you are asking me to do something. It's none of your business whether I love or not. You can participate if you want. Why should I participate?"
"Besides, there's not even enough meat to fill the gaps between our teeth. If we eat them together, how much will be left for me?"
Everyone nodded after hearing this.
"Xu Damao is right. With that little bit of meat, I can still make some dumplings and have some at home. But if we put it together, we may not even be able to eat it."
"Uncle, our family will not participate in the New Year's Eve dinner. We will celebrate it on our own."
Seeing that everyone spoke up and continued to live their own lives, Yi Zhonghai did not say anything as he had already expected this result.
The residents who originally wanted to live together stopped talking when they saw that everyone else refused.
Soon, everyone united as one and lived their own lives.
Yi Zhonghai: "Okay, since everyone wants to live their own life, I won't force them. Let's live our own lives."
After saying that, Yi Zhonghai looked at Liu Haizhong and signaled him to speak if he had anything to say.
But before he could say anything, someone in the crowd said, "If we could win the Excellent Siheyuan Award this year, we could also receive benefits from the Street Office."
"Now, I can't get anything, and it's the right time of year. What a shitty New Year."
When everyone heard this, they immediately looked at the Jia family with unfriendly eyes.
If it weren't for Jia Zhang's mischief and the destruction of the silk banner of the excellent courtyard house, everyone would not have had a bad New Year.
"It's all Jia Zhang's fault. If it weren't for her, we would have at least received something. I heard that those outstanding courtyards all received eggs, a pound of oil, etc."
"People like us have nothing. It's all Jia Zhang's fault, that damn old woman."
Comparing their situation with other courtyards and then comparing it with their own miserable situation, everyone looked at the Jia family and Jia Dongxu viciously.
Although last year was not easy, at least I could spend money to buy New Year's goods. This year, it's useless to spend money because there is nothing on the black market.
Fortunately, Jia Zhang was not here, otherwise everyone would have spit on her and drowned her.
Yi Zhonghai had to stand up and said, "What happened in the past is in the past. It's useless to talk about it now. It's not just our courtyard that is having a hard time. Every courtyard is like this."
Yi Zhonghai had to change the subject: "Second Uncle, don't you have something to say? Say it quickly."
"Yeah, that's right." Liu Haizhong immediately stood up. "The day after tomorrow, which is the second day of the Chinese New Year, my son Liu Guangqi is getting married, and I want everyone to come and join in the fun."
"Everyone come to the wedding banquet. No gift money is needed, just come."
"Oh? Really? Uncle, can we just bring our mouths?" someone asked excitedly.
Liu Haizhong said happily: "Really? Just bring an open mouth and eat as much as you want. You can even come on an empty stomach. I guarantee you'll be full!"
"Really? Uncle, I might not eat tomorrow and will just eat this meal of yours."
"It's okay, it's okay. I promise to make sure you're full. But you can only eat by yourself. I don't have much food. If everyone does this, I'll go bankrupt."
"That's impossible. I'm going to attend the day after tomorrow!"
Upon seeing this, everyone spoke up to attend Liu Guangqi's wedding the day after tomorrow.
Liu Haizhong would do it with such a grand fanfare because, on the one hand, it was the wedding of his beloved Liu Guangqi, and he had to make it grand and beautiful.
On the other hand, his family did have food, which was obtained by Zhang Lan's father. Several hundred kilograms of food were enough for everyone to eat.
Liu Haizhong sat down happily and looked at Yan Bugui: "Alright, I have nothing more to say, Third Uncle, you go ahead and speak."
At this time, everyone was still excited. It was a rare opportunity to have a full meal for free during the Chinese New Year. It was a pity that the whole family could not go to eat together, otherwise they would not have to eat tomorrow. The whole family was hungry and waiting to eat a lot at Liu Guangqi's wedding banquet.
"Uncle, is there any happy event in your family?"
Seeing Yan Bugui standing up, everyone still wished that Yan Bugui would be as heroic as Liu Haizhong.
Yan Bugui guessed what everyone was thinking and smiled, "There's no big happy event in my family, so please don't criticize me."
"What a pity." Everyone couldn't help but feel sorry.
Yan Bugui continued: "I have nothing to say. If you want me to write couplets for you, please hurry up. I don't charge you."
"No charge? Really?" There were still a few residents who had not put up the couplets.
Yan Bugui nodded: "Really? Just collect some fruits and vegetables. How can we collect money at this time of year?"
"If they don't even collect money, why would they collect fruits? They might as well just give up."
"That won't do. I have pens, ink, and paper, all of which cost money. If this is free, I'll be at a disadvantage."
"This is the fruit of my labor, so I have to respect it no matter what."
Seeing that they couldn't gain any advantage, the residents stopped talking.
Yan Bugui had finished explaining what he had said and had nothing more to say, so he looked at Yi Zhonghai.
Yi Zhonghai concluded: "Okay, this general meeting ends here, everyone should do what they need to do."
After saying that, Yi Zhonghai left first, and everyone went back home.
After returning home, Yi Zhonghai was thinking about how to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.
The deaf old lady and the silly Zhu family had to be invited over for dinner, it had always been like this before, only the Jia family made him ponder.
He was very dissatisfied with what the Jia family had done this year, especially Jia Dongxu, who couldn't tell the difference between the big king and the small king, and did a lot of bad things under his name.
"Forget it, let's just live together. It doesn't matter if we have one family." Thinking of this, Yi Zhonghai sighed.
"Uncle, what's wrong with you?" Sha Zhu appeared at the door at the right time.
"Silly, what's the matter?"
"Uncle, how are we going to celebrate the New Year's Eve dinner today? Or should we celebrate it together as before?"
"It's the same as before. Tell Jia Dongxu and the old lady."
"Okay, I'll go right away." Sha Zhu went to report happily.
Yi Zhonghai suddenly thought: "Could it be that this old lady admitted her mistake and this will happen again?"
It was New Year's Day and the old lady was spending the holiday alone. She definitely wouldn't cook if she was asked to do it. Maybe she had this in mind when she admitted her mistake.
After all, the elderly are most afraid of being lonely and isolated. If they live like this for a long time, the good days will not be far away.
At noon, I saw every household preparing for today's New Year's Eve dinner, packing up ingredients and preparing for the evening's dinner.
It’s called a big meal, but in fact it’s just making dumplings, that’s about it.
Upon learning that they would celebrate the New Year together, Qin Huairu ran to the Yi family early to help the aunt prepare the food.
This old lady is a five-guarantee household. In addition to the benefits she deserves during the Chinese New Year, she also enjoys the benefits of a five-guarantee household. She gets more meat, vegetables, and oil than many people in the yard.
The time is approaching evening.
"Bang bang~" Outside the courtyard gate, there was a sudden crackling sound of firecrackers, making the scene very lively.
The Yi family, Shazhu's family, Jia family, the old lady, a total of more than a dozen people celebrated the New Year together at the Yi family.
"Happy New Year!" A group of people raised their glasses to celebrate the New Year.
After saying that, Banggeng couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks and prepare to eat, and stretched out the pair of chopsticks to the only meat dish.
"Cough cough~" Seeing this, Jia Dongxu pretended to cough twice.
Banggeng looked up and saw Jia Dongxu's unfriendly eyes. He felt a little scared, so he took back the chopsticks he had stretched out and sat down obediently.
Jia Dongxu can still control the stick jokes, he just doesn't want to.
"It's okay, eat it. You haven't eaten meat for a while. It's normal for children to be greedy. Eat it quickly." Yi Zhonghai said kindly.
Although Grandpa Gan had spoken, Bang Geng still didn't dare and looked up at Jia Dongxu.
"Since grandpa said so, then eat it, but you have to understand the rules. Who should I give it to first?"
Jia Dongxu's meaning was self-evident. How could Bang Geng not understand it? He picked up a piece of meat and put it into Yi Zhonghai's bowl.
"Grandpa, eat meat!"
"Oh, Banggeng is so good. He always thinks about grandpa's goodness." Yi Zhonghai smiled with relief, but did not eat it. Instead, he put the meat back to Banggeng.
"Bang Geng, you can eat it. Grandpa doesn't like to eat meat."
Bang Geng was greedy and didn't care about anything else. Since Yi Zhonghai gave it to him, he would eat it.
"Thank you grandpa!"
Without Jia Zhang's presence, today's New Year's Eve dinner was finally normal and nothing was so bad.
Yi Zhonghai raised his glass again: "Today we are together again. What happened last year is over. Don't worry about it."
"Tomorrow is New Year's Day. Cheers to a better year!"
Jia Dongxu, Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai clinked their glasses and took a sip of wine.
Jia Dongxu quickly congratulated them: "Master, Master's Wife, I wish you two a happy New Year! Good health and all the best!"
"All the best! All the best!" Yi Zhonghai and the aunt replied.
Seeing this, Sha Zhu also hurriedly congratulated Yi Zhonghai and the aunt.
The old lady in the corner is the supporting role this time. It is her turn only after the two people have celebrated.
"Okay, okay, Happy New Year, Happy New Year!" After the two children had celebrated, the New Year's Eve dinner officially began.
Banggeng and Xiaodang had already started eating, but since they were both kids, they couldn't eat much, so no one paid attention.
"Finally I can eat." Jia Dongxu thought to himself. He couldn't resist the desire for meat, so he quickly took out his chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth, chewing it carefully.
It was a rare feast, and everyone started eating without any nonsense.
The sumptuous meal was quickly devoured by the crowd at a speed that was like a whirlwind.
Looking at the plates that could be used as mirrors, everyone touched their bulging stomachs and finally felt satisfied.
After finishing eating the glutinous rice cakes, I went back early.
Yi Zhonghai watched Bang Geng leave and suddenly thought of something, "Xiao Jia, Bang Geng should be seven or eight years old, right?"
Jia Dongxu didn't understand what Yi Zhonghai meant by asking this, but he nodded anyway: "Yes, he was born in 53, so he is about seven or eight years old."
Yi Zhonghai nodded: "He is old enough to go to school. I will find some time after the New Year to talk to Uncle San and then arrange for Banggeng to go to school."
Jia Dongxu agreed: "That's fine. It's useless for the child to stay at home when he grows up."
Banggeng's schooling was arranged, but if he wanted to go to school, he had to wait until August or September.
After dinner, Jia Dongxu, Sha Zhu and the old lady left the Yi family, and Qin Huairu stayed to help the aunt clean up the table.
Everyone in the yard had almost finished their meal and came out for a walk to help digest the food.
Li Kailang stayed at home and didn't make any noise.
He spent the holiday alone last year, and he is spending the holiday alone again this year.
Originally, Zhang Fen invited him to spend the night together, after all, the Li family lived very close now, but Li Kailang did not go.
Other people celebrated the housewarming party and the New Year together, with three families celebrating together in the new house. Li Kailang did not join in the fun for fear of making himself uncomfortable.
"This year's New Year is not as lively as last year."
Of course the most important thing is that the system didn’t send him a big gift package this year, which made it less fun.
(End of this chapter)