CH 101

On the first day of the New Year, it was five o’clock in the morning when Mrs. Liang woke them up outside. Mo Yan rubbed her eyes blearily and sat up, “Why are we waking up so early?”

Mo Ling helped dress her, “It’s the New Year, remember? Get up quickly.”

Mo Yan got up to wash up and was surprised to find Mo Zenian serving dumplings. Seeing her surprised gaze, Mo Ling said, “On the morning of the New Year, dumplings are cooked by the head of the family, but in reality, mother cooks them. Father just scoops and serves them up.”

She didn’t have the appetite to eat dumplings this early in the morning, and only ate two before drinking a bowl of dumpling soup.

After eating the dumplings, the men went out to pay New Year’s greetings, and Lu Junming was the first to come to the Mo family. He was technically of the same generation as Mo Zenian, so he could choose whether or not to come. However, he wanted to pay New Year’s greetings to the Mo family and only the Mo family.

Mo Zenian took Mo Feng out to pay New Year’s greetings, so only the women were left at home. Lu Junming bowed to Mrs. Liang and paid his New Year’s greetings. As soon as she let him sit, he took advantage of the opportunity to sit in the main room, eating and drinking tea.

She was too busy to sit still, so the children were left on their own. If someone came to pay New Year’s greetings, they’d call loudly and they’d definitely hear them anyways.

Lu Junming had high seniority, so people who came to pay New Year’s greetings to them also paid him a visit, and he accepted them all. Mo Yan threw some eaten melon seeds at him, “Why are you in my house, sitting there and pretending to be a Buddha!”

He pointed to the altar and said, “Don’t talk about the gods so casually, the real Buddha is watching us here!”

Seeing his serious look, Mo Yan wanted to laugh, so she grabbed two melon seeds and threw them, hitting Lu Junming in the face. He closed his eyes, suppressed a smile and said: “This child, he is harming things!”

She took a piece of dried fruit and stuffed it into his mouth, “Young sir, please eat some sweets. Say good things to the heavens, and you will accumulate virtue.”

Lu Junming ate the dried fruit into his mouth and praised her jokingly. Then, Mo Yan poured a cup of tea and put it to his mouth, “Young sir, please drink some tea, it’s good for your throat.”

He took a sip, but before he could swallow it, he couldn’t help laughing and spat out the tea.

Mu Yan put the teacup on the table, “How dare you spit out the tea!”

Lu Junming stopped laughing and then sullenly said, “Child, why haven’t you paid your elders a New Year’s greeting yet?”

Mu Yan took a step back and knelt down respectfully to salute him, “Young sir, Yan’er wishes you a happy New Year.”

“Forget it, get up quickly.”

Mo Yan stretched out her hand in front of his eyes, “Give me a red envelope!”

Lu Junming pretended to look around for a long time, “This elder didn’t bring any money today, I’ll make up for it another day.”

When mentioning money, Mo Yan remembered something, “The accounts for our business should’ve been settled by the end of the year, but I was too busy and didn’t take care of it.”

Lu Junming brushed off the melon seeds from his body and stood up, “Why do you need to calculate so clearly, isn’t it tiring?”

“Brothers still have to settle accounts clearly. In business, muddled accounts is the biggest taboo. We’re just a small business right now, and I can handle it. When the business grows bigger, we’ll need to hire an accountant.”

After Mo Zenian and Mo Feng came back, Lu Junming paid him New Year’s greetings and wanted to go home.

At this time, Er Dan ran in, knelt down and kowtowed at the door to pay his New Year’s greetings.

Mo Feng wanted to go out to chase him away, but Mrs. Liang said, “No need, it’s the New Year, there’s no need to chase away people who come to pay New Year’s greetings.”

Mrs. Liang took out a fried sanzi from a plate on the table and gave it to him. It was so crispy it could be shattered with a light touch, and over half of it broke off and fell with Er Dan bit into it. Everyone thought it’d fall to the ground, but he reacted so quickly that he caught it with his other hand and then ate it with both hands, chewing it loudly.

Mo Zenian didn’t know Lu Junming, and Mu Yan introduced him from the side, “He’s Sir Lu’s grandson, and he came back from the Upper Valley.”

“So he’s the one……”

Before he could finish the rest of the sentence, Lu Junming finished it with a calm expression, “The bastard, yes.”

Mo Zenian didn’t show any disrespect to Lu Junming, but instead kindly asked him to sit down for a while.

“I heard from Yan’er that the things they sell are all brought back by you from the Upper Valley?”

“We bring it back together.”

“You’re a good kid. How is your father? What official position does he have now?”

“He’s doing well! Now he’s the general of the Upper Valley.”

“I just went to your house to pay New Year’s greetings, and saw that your grandfather is also in good health. It’s thanks to you taking care of him!”

“It’s my father who’s in the wrong, it has nothing to do with my grandpa.”

“Does the head wife still not allow you in the family?”

Mrs. Liang interrupted Mo Zenian’s attempts at gossip, “You are an adult, and you’re inquiring about children’s private affairs? Junming, please ignore him.”

Mrs. Liang packed some fried sanzi, melon seeds and peanuts in a small bamboo basket, and asked Lu Junming to take them home to eat. He wasn’t as embarrassed as Cao Zhang. He took the basket, thanked them and left.

Possibly due to curiosity, after Lu Junming left, Mo Zenian inquired about the affairs of the Lu family again. Hearing that Sir Lu had added Lu Junming to his family tree, he nodded repeatedly and said, “That’s good.”

Next, they had to pay respects to their ancestors before noon. Mrs. Liang put the prepared offerings and paper money into a basket and asked Mo Feng to carry it. Women didn’t have to participate in this, so Mrs. Liang stayed home to prepare lunch.

The next few days would be when relatives pay New Year’s greetings. On the second day of the New Year, Mo Yan’s aunt brought her family over. She also had two daughters and a son, all of whom are married, and their grandchildren are no longer toddlers.

Normally, she just went to the back courtyard, so could be ignored, but this time Mo Zenian was here. As the head of the family, he had to welcome the married daughter who came home to pay New Year’s greetings.

The whole family went to the back courtyard and waited for Mrs. Liang to prepare a banquet for them to eat.

Mrs. Liang changed out of her new clothes, and started cooking. Mo Ling helped chop and wash the vegetables, Mo Yan tended to the stove, and Mo Feng served the dishes. A table of dishes is ready by noon, no worse than the New Year’s Eve dinner.

For every newly cooked dish, Mo Ling set aside a little on an empty plate before letting Mo Feng take it away. Mo Yan was puzzled and said, “Sis, what are you doing?”

She replied, “This is for us to eat!”

“Why, can’t we even eat at the table now they’re here?”

“There are too many people and it’s too crowded. Besides, are you willing to sit with them?”

Mo Zenian was the one who invited them. At noon, they heard voices from the gate, and he called Mo Feng loudly, “Feng’er, your aunt is here, come out and pay New Year greetings to aunt and uncle.”

Mo Feng didn’t dare be negligent, and ran out to greet them, “Aunt, Uncle, you’re here, please come to the room.”

Mo Zenian led his mother into the house, followed by his aunt and uncle. A man in his twenties, with slender shoulders and a wasp waist, said with his lips curled up, “Cousin Feng, don’t you welcome us?”

Mo Feng hurriedly greeted him, “Hello, cousin, hello, sister-in-law.”

They didn’t even look at him and went inside. Their two children didn’t greet anyone and ran in after them.

Post-translation notes: Truly despicable, but that’s the intention. As always, thank you for reading!