Chapter 155： new year

Looking at the cake in front of him and his grandma's hopeful eyes, Chen Yang blinked, bent down and smiled at the old lady, "The weather is so cold, the cake must be good and can be eaten, but, grandma, such a big I can't finish eating a cake at once, why don't you take it back for me to eat slowly."

It is definitely not edible. He remembers very clearly that when he turned the cake over to look at it in his previous life, the bottom was covered with black mold spots, but the top was covered with cream and it was invisible. This kind of moldy cake could not even be fed to pigs. No, it was thrown into the garbage dump at that time, and the old lady still felt distressed for a long time,

As a human being, it is of course impossible to do this now, at worst, take it back and throw it away.

"Hey, good, good," the old lady heard right, immediately wrapped the cake in a cloth again, and found a black plastic bag to put it in, then opened the iron box on the table, grabbed the loose candies inside Half of it was put into the bag, and then I tied the bag tightly and handed it to Chen Yang, and whispered, "Hold it, don't let anyone see it."

Chen Yang nodded solemnly, "Okay, I'll hide it in the car later, no one will know."

The old lady's eyes lit up, and her eye sockets narrowed into a slit when she smiled, "This is good,"

Then there was another long sigh, "Oh, Yang Yang knows how to drive a car now, his skills have improved."

Chen Yang held the plastic bag in one hand, and put his arms around grandma's shoulders in the other, and said with a smile, "Grandma, let's go to the third aunt's house to eat pork dishes later, and I'll take you there by car, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, okay," the old lady heard that there was a car, and it was her grandson who was driving, she immediately patted off the dust that didn't exist on her body, and was about to go out.

The others were sitting and drinking tea in the living room. When they saw the two coming out of the room, they ignored the bag in Chen Yang's hand.

Father Chen got up immediately, bent over and smiled, "Mom, let's go to the third child's house for dinner, shall we go there together?"

The old lady nodded with a smile, "Go, go, go, go."

"Oh," said the uncle pretending to be surprised, "Didn't you just say you were too lazy to run, Mom? I was going to bring you food back."

"It's so cold to ride on your motorcycle, I don't want to sit on it," the old lady shook her face first, and then said triumphantly, "Yangyang drives, and I don't need to go by myself, and the wind can't blow, why? Why don't you go?"

As he spoke, he looked at Father Chen twice, and said, "My family, you seem to be growing better."

Well, the old lady only paid attention to Father Chen now.

"That's it," said the great uncle with a laugh, "every day there is good wine and good meat, why don't you grow well?"

Then he also stood up, "Then let's go, Xiao Liang was still calling to ask just now, don't make them wait in a hurry."

A group of people went out laughing and laughing.

…

February 17th, the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, New Year's Eve,

This morning, there was a light snowfall in Nanjiang Town, which added a bit of auspiciousness to this Spring Festival.

Chen's mother has been busy at home all morning, and the table is full of hot dishes. The family of three got together and started to have a reunion dinner.

Before eating, Father Chen placed half a glass of white wine on each of the four directions of the round table, east, west, and north. Two minutes later, he poured the white wine under the table, served four bowls of rice, and put the chopsticks on the table. On the rim of the bowl, muttering words, inviting the ancestors to drink and eat,

Another two minutes, while muttering in his mouth, good, good, the ancestors are full, get the money and go to drink tea and play cards, put down the chopsticks with both hands, then hold the teapot, and pour some water on the ground in front of the chair ,

At the same time, in the kitchen, Chen Ma used a dustpan as a basin, lit a fire, and threw stacks of paper money and ingots into it. When the paper money was thrown away, Chen Dad also poured the tea, which was perfect.

After finishing all this work, Dad Chen greeted Chen Yang to come to the table.

The four bowls of rice that were sacrificed to the ancestors would not be given to Chen Yang. Chen's father and Chen mother combined the two bowls into one bowl, half of each person. As for Chen Yang, let alone the rice, even the bowls were cleaned again. It's not at all related to the set just now,

In the words of Father Chen, only after Chen Yang gets married and has children can he be eligible to eat this bowl of rice.

When he was a child, Chen Yang really thought that he was not qualified to eat it. It was not until he grew up that he realized that this is actually the love of adults. Fruits that are sacrificed to the gods are fine for children to eat, but children should not touch this kind of thing Alright, otherwise this article tends to be biased toward supernatural beings.

There are three people, but there are nine dishes on the table, such as croquettes, fried lotus root clips, fried fish, steamed meatballs, steamed meatballs, steamed assorted dishes, out of the nine, six are pre-made dishes, all made by grandma It’s easy to bring it back, just heat it up when you want to eat it, then add two freshly fried hot dishes, and put a plate of braised fish in the middle, this is the reunion dinner,

It's just that the fish can only be seen but not eaten, and in order to prevent children from stealing it, when almost every household here cooks the fish, they only cook the surface and the inside is still raw.

This fish is called Nianyu, and it is usually made of carp, which means that every year is more than enough. It must be placed on the table for fifteen days until the Lantern Festival, when it will be re-cooked and eaten at that time. You have to eat it all, nothing left,

With the sub-zero temperature in Jiangbei Province in the past, there is almost no need to worry about the fish being spoiled. However, since a few years ago, the temperature has risen every year, and many customs have been lost. This practice has become less and less. Most of them are directly burned It was cooked, and when it was on the table, it was poked clean by one person and one chopstick. I will make another one after the Lantern Festival.

The reunion dinner is more important than eating. Even Father Chen didn't drink much today. After drinking half a glass of wine and finishing the rice in the bowl, the reunion dinner is over.

Then, they will go to the countryside together and have another family reunion dinner.

In the past, when grandparents were here, the reunion dinner of the Chen family was extremely lively every year, including the uncle who worked in the city, and he had to come back on this day to have a reunion dinner with everyone.

Chen Yang remembered that when all the Chen family gathered together, there were fifteen people, four from the uncle's family, three from his own family, three from the aunt's family, three from the sister-in-law's family, plus grandparents, they had to be divided into two tables for meals. ,

At that time, the Chen family was not as big as it is now, and there were only two single rooms, so we ate in the room of my grandparents, prepared dishes at Chen Yang’s house, and cooked in the corridor at the door. Although it was crowded, it was also very warm.

But since grandparents passed away successively, the Chen family no longer had that kind of excitement. Every Chinese New Year is celebrated separately, and they hardly get together again.

On the other hand, in Wangjiacun, because grandma was still there, the annual reunion dinner project on Chinese New Year's Eve was still kept, and it didn't disappear until grandma passed away fourteen years later.

Coming out of Hongxing Community, the snow is getting heavier and heavier, so it’s better to drive, otherwise it will inevitably be covered with snow like in previous years.

Today is different from yesterday. The bustling crowds on the street disappeared yesterday, replaced by today's deserted street. Except for the occasional few people rushing to turn around like Chen Yang and the others, there are no other passers-by, but the sound of firecrackers can be heard one after another ,

Although there was a ban on whipping ten years ago, but in such a small town, no one cares about the New Year's Eve.

At the intersection before entering the village, Chen Yang stopped the car without his mother's instructions.

Chen Ma went down for a while, and when she got back to the car, she had two more plastic bags in her hand. Inside were two hanging firecrackers, one large and one small, as well as joss stick paper money and three lotus lanterns.

In Nanjiang Town, there is a custom of sending lights to the graves of elders on the night of New Year's Eve. Chen Yang still remembers that when he was a child, every time his mother had to cut a bundle of bamboo sticks, prepare a few plastic bags, and place the bamboo sticks on the graves. Once inserted, the plastic bag tore off the bottom, turned it upside down and propped it on the bamboo stick, and it became a decent lantern, with a white candle inserted into the soil As long as the wind is not too strong, Or it rains and snows, and the lights won't go out until the candle burns out,

However, since the past two years, there have been fewer and fewer lanterns made of bamboo sticks and plastic bags. The store has launched a new type of electronic lantern. In fact, it uses a button battery to drive a small light bulb. Almost all junior high school students and even primary school students make lanterns. Through this kind of physical experiment, the principle is very simple,

This kind of electronic lantern looks more complex and looks like a lotus flower. The simpler one is to add a light bulb on a pole. The most important thing is to build a nine-story lotus platform, or a palace lantern with a beautiful surface but a rough and poor construction. Look at it. It looks very grand, and people can tell at a glance that there are local tyrants in this descendant.

Just such a lantern, ranging from a dozen yuan to a few hundred yuan, can be said to have at least ten times the profit compared to the cost. It's not too much money, and it only happens once a year, so now every grave in the countryside is basically this new type of lantern.

The car drove forward and soon arrived at the aunt's house. At this time, the third aunt and the aunt's family had already arrived. Wang Hong also came back with his wife and children.

This time is when the Wang family gathers the most.