Chapter 281 New Year’s Eve

New Year's Eve is the last night at the end of the year. The last day at the end of the year is called "Sui Chu", which means that the old year is eliminated and a new year is replaced.

Early in the morning, Ye Yaodong got up to put up New Year reds, and he and Lin Xiuqing swept the door, and then started preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner. Although there was only a family of four celebrating the New Year this year, they still had to have what they should have.

"Ah Dong, there are only three people in the old house now. You can either ask your parents not to prepare anything today and come to our place for the New Year's Eve dinner? We have bought quite a lot of food at home."

"I gonna go see."

His mother had said before that this was the first year they moved to a new home, so they could not sit back and celebrate the New Year in their new home. Otherwise, they would ask everyone to go to their old home to eat, which would be more lively.

His eldest brother and his second brother's family are not having a good time this year. The two couples have no intention of celebrating the New Year. Fighting and scolding can be heard from time to time in the house, and they probably don't think of going to the old house to invite people to celebrate the New Year.

It just so happened that he arrived just in time. The old house had just finished putting up New Year's red cards, and his mother hadn't started preparing meals yet.

He opened his mouth to say that he would go to their new home to celebrate the New Year, and the old lady happily agreed. Seeing this, his father and mother also agreed. Otherwise, how could the two of them cook?

Immediately, he helped the old lady back to the new house and let her sit at the door to bask in the sun. It would also make her happy to watch the children making noise.

As people get older, they like to have a lively and lively home. Since they all moved away, the old house has been deserted and not popular. Even after Ye Huimei got married, there was no junior around the old lady.

While Ye Yaodong was helping to light the fire in the house, he could hear the old lady shouting outside to slow down this, slow down that, and don't drop anything. Listening to the loud voice, he could tell that the old lady was very happy.

After his parents came over with the slaughtered chickens, it was no longer his turn to do anything, so he went out and wandered around.

The village is full of New Year flavor, every household is decorated with lanterns, couplets are posted everywhere, new lanterns are hung, and chickens and ducks are killed.

Everyone on the road had a bright smile on their face, and the children chased each other with firecrackers, playing, making trouble, and laughing.

Every few steps he walked, he could see a small table, where a group of men gathered around to play cards or gamble money, a pile here and a pile there.

It’s the New Year, and the villagers are taking advantage of the New Year to relax. At the end of the year, they can have a good rest during the New Year. At this time, the women at home won’t care. It’s not like the New Year if they don’t gamble during the New Year.

Ye Yaodong looked at this stall and that stall. There were people betting on the size of the dice, some betting on the points by opening the lids, and there were also people playing cards together in twos and threes. What's more, there were even people gambling on Pai Gow directly at the canteen.

Women are basically preparing New Year's Eve dinner at home. The chimneys of every house have been smoking since the morning, and the fragrance is everywhere.

Wandering around all the way, I met Azheng and the others. We were all bored and hit it off immediately. We went directly to Fatty’s house to play cards. It happened that his wife had just braised large intestine, small intestine, pork belly and pig ears, and she brought it out to greet them. It was grand. !

People were playing cards and eating melon seeds, but they got into the hard stuff, playing cards and eating marinated food.

"No wonder you two parents-in-law are getting fatter than the other. The food is so good. It's not like we can only eat shelled seafood every day and can't grow any meat."

"This is the importance of having a good wife. You can't envy her." The fat man was a little proud. It's not easy to be a fat man these days, and it's not possible without a little wealth.

It wasn't until dinner was served that the group of people dispersed, making an appointment to fight again in the afternoon.

Ye Yaodong touched the few dollars he had won in his pocket and saw the children on the street playing with firecrackers. When passing by a small shop, he also bought a few boxes of firecrackers with lines.

As soon as he took it back, everyone at the door screamed excitedly. Ye Yaodong didn't favor one over the other. Everyone among the eight children had a share.

"Be careful not to blow it up."

"Wow...Uncle San, I like you the most..."

"There are firecrackers to play with..."

"Uncle San is so kind. When he asked my mother for money to buy firecrackers this morning, he even cursed me."

"It doesn't matter. After today, your mother won't be able to scold you tomorrow on New Year's Day!"

The children all nodded, "Fortunately, the new clothes were made in advance, otherwise we wouldn't even have new clothes."

"Hurry back to the house to eat, and then come out to play after eating."

At noon, they simply fried sweet potato vermicelli with fish ball soup. The family was enjoying the meal, but soon they heard scolding coming from next door.

Mother Ye immediately frowned and stood up, ready to go over and take a look. She was still muttering: "It's a sin that I have done. I still scold the children all day long. After so many days, I haven't stopped. Every one of them will be scolded." Like a quail, you will be scolded for being stupid, and you will be scolded even if you eat..."

The old lady also sighed, and then called to the two children who stopped, "Eat, eat, you eat yours, don't worry about the next door."

After a while, the noise next door stopped, and Mother Ye came back chattering.

With Ye Mu's help all day long, Lin Xiuqing felt much more relaxed. At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, they lit incense for the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God, and then set off firecrackers to start the meal.

The sound of firecrackers for dinner was also heard in the village.

As long as the New Year is celebrated, meals are usually served early. Fish is a must for the New Year's Eve dinner, and the head and tail must be left on when eating. This is called having more than enough every year.

There were more than a dozen hard dishes on the table, and everyone's mouths were full of food. After the meal, Mother Ye helped clean up, while Lin Xiuqing went to give the two children a bath and change into new clothes. She also prepared New Year's money and put it in red envelopes.

Not only the two children at home have it, but also the six children of the family next door. Each red envelope has a dollar in it.

When Ye Chenghai got the New Year's money and saw the amount inside, his face suddenly fell and he whispered: "Third Aunt, Third Uncle didn't tell you, so I just asked you to give half of it?"

Lin Xiuqing was surprised, "What do you mean by giving half? Isn't that too much for you?"

"No... you can't get this into my pocket." He pouted towards the house, "You know..."

Ye Chengjiang also echoed, "Yes, third aunt, can you only give us 8 cents and secretly give us the remaining 2 cents? Don't tell my mother and the others."

This proposal was approved by many children.

Lin Xiuqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "That's no good, the payment is too little. What if your mother thinks that I, as an aunt, am too stingy? In the past years, I was given one piece."

Several children suddenly became dejected.

Ye Yaodong came out after taking a shower and saw it, and asked hurriedly: "What are you doing? Are you not happy about setting off firecrackers? You, you have the new year's money and you took it..."

"Alas~ There is nothing left to hand over..."

So that's it. Thinking that this kid had secretly pulled him away yesterday and asked him to give him half of the new year's money and give him the rest separately. He laughed and flicked his forehead.

"What a big deal. Wait, when I come back later and win a little bit from playing cards, I will give each of you a few cents to buy firecrackers."

"Hey, uncle, bless you and you will win a lot. I will go with you and be your bodyguard..."

"Stay out of the way!"

"If you go out now, you will definitely have to go to sleep before you come back..."

That was the original idea.

"Go, go, the few boxes I just bought before dinner are enough for you to play for a while. What should I do if the money is running out now? Don't get in the way. I'll give it to you when I get back."

At this time, Sister-in-law Ye also finished cleaning up and came out to call some children to take a bath. They stopped and stopped surrounding him. Ye Yaodong also took the opportunity to escape.

It was rare to have a leisurely time during the New Year. As soon as he walked out of the house, he saw small tables set up everywhere in the village. After the meal, the men left the table and started gambling again.

He also saw his cousin-in-law, a gambler, blatantly teaming up with a few people from the next village to set up a pai gow stall on the roadside.

Is this the Chinese New Year so there’s no need to restrain yourself?

I don’t know where I got the capital from, but I have a good wife.

Small gambling brings pleasure, but big gambling harms the body. He also has a strong sense in his heart, so he just wants to play cards occasionally.

But he played this game until midnight. He wanted to go home early, but a few friends dragged him to drink. After 12 o'clock, they said that they would go to burn incense together when the Mazu Temple bell rang.

It is their custom here to go to Mazu Temple to offer incense on the first day of the Lunar New Year. You don’t have to think about the incense on the first pillar. You will be the first to light it when the temple blessing time comes.

But there were still a lot of people waiting to burn incense at night, and there was an endless stream of people in the Mazu temple. Ye Yaodong came back from burning incense and started setting off firecrackers again, and the sound of firecrackers continued to sound in the village.

It is rare that the whole village is brightly lit tonight, and it is not certain whether it will keep the New Year's Eve or not, but every household must keep the lights on until dawn on New Year's Eve.

The children in the room were still asleep, but Lin Xiuqing was awake.

"Come back so late?"

"I'm waiting for the incense to be lit at 12 o'clock. I set off firecrackers when I came back." He took off his clothes and went to bed as he spoke. "Why aren't you sleeping yet? Wait for me."

"Woke up."

"Tough talk."

After he lay down, he took her into his arms and touched her belly, "Are you tired today?"

"I'm not tired. I have my mother to help me, so I didn't do anything." She twisted a little and found a comfortable position in his arms.

"There seems to be no time left in the second year of junior high school. Do you want to go back to your parents' home a few days later?"

"Should we go back after the 13th or 4th? There is a custom of holding Lantern Festival in my natal village. It is very lively. I just want to go back and watch the excitement."

"Okay." He said that his hands were not idle.

"It's a bit far away, otherwise we can go back on the second day of the Lunar New Year and then go back for the Lantern Festival."

"It's too much trouble for you to go back and forth now. If you want to go back next year, go back a few more times."

"Well, let's talk about it. My parents are too busy when I go back." Lin Xiuqing grabbed his hand, "Why do you always like to mess around in the middle of the night?"

"It's not convenient during the day. It's the New Year. How about a New Year's Eve party? To get rid of the old and welcome the new?"

"What? You talk about some weird stuff every three days..."

Ye Yaodong rolled over and covered his ears, biting his ears, saying flirty words, "Hey... New Year's Eve fireworks are just like that... When the firecrackers go off, there are thousands of gold coins, and when the fireworks go off, the whole house is filled with descendants... That's what it means... Understand... Hehe ...Come on...celebrate the New Year..."

Lin Xiuqing was angry and funny, and any serious words he said became inappropriate.

"Stop pressing your belly."

"I should be more careful. Why don't you turn to the side? It will save you effort and stress on your stomach?"...