Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 254 The Chinese New Year is so lively and the days are getting better and better
While Liu Lizhen and Yang Shuhua were preparing the dishes, Wang Shujuan came to the east wing, took out the dog food and swill from the big pot, washed the big pot twice with the cooking broom, that is, the pot brush, and then poured it into the pot. Noodles and water are cooked into a paste...

After Wang Hu took the lantern stand from home, Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang, Wang Biao and others sat on the edge of the kang in the east wing, or on the pillars on the ground. They divided their work, including cutting red paper and twisting lanyards. , some holding the lantern stand, and some using glue to paste paper on it.

The sound of cooking could be heard from the outer room. Yang Shuhua was holding a long-handled spoon and frying the big pot until it started to smoke. Liu Lizhen hurriedly opened the door to let out the crowd of people who were piled up in the outer room.

Han Fengjiao was mixing cold vegetables in front of the cutting board, while Wu Qiuxia was cutting deer liver with a kitchen knife. Xu Long carried a large table into the room, first placed the floor table and the Kang table, and then stacked the large table on the Kang table, urging Xu Feng , Li Jinyu went to pick up the dishes and set up the stools.

Since there was really no room in the outhouse to put the large aluminum basin with stew in it, Liu Lizhen and Wang Shujuan took it to the west room, where they put the stew on plates and then Xu Feng and Li Jinyu served it to the table.

No one at home is idle, everyone is busy, just for the lunch at noon on New Year’s Eve!
Not long after, Xu Laowen and Wang Erli walked into the courtyard and happened to meet Xu Ning holding a lantern.

Xu Laowen was surprised and said, "Hey, why are you so diligent in pinching?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Originally, my mother wanted to point fingers at you, but you ran away, so the job fell on me."

"Get out of here. Are you going to Dongshan in the early afternoon and pretending I don't know about it? Hurry up and hang up the lanterns to attract people's attention."

Li Fuqiang took two ash wood poles more than two meters long and thick as arms from the wall of the woodshed. Wang Hu and Wang Biao also went to hang lanterns at home.

Xu Feng, Li Jinyu, and Li Mantang are all 13 years old, and will go to junior high school in the next half year. They look like they are one year older, but Xu Feng has no awareness of growing up. She still feels that she is the little girl of the old Xu family. The princess is still a grinder in Liu Lizhen's heart.

Xu Laowen said: "Then let's take a look at the medicinal wine that your second uncle brewed himself. This wine is not very strong. Just drink two cups."

Han Fengjiao persuaded: "It's not good, let's drink less."

Liu Lizhen came into the room and said, "If Qiangzi doesn't want to drink, don't drink. You and Er Ning drink soda together."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Hurry up and pour the wine. My uncle is waiting aside."

Wang Erli picked up some medicinal wine at home, carried the tea jar into the house, and sat down near the inside. He turned around and watched Xu Laowen pour the powder that Chai Bing had brought into the tea jar. This powder was white and yellow. Yingying, looking quite translucent.

Liu Lizhen said: "That's enough for the whole bottle. We have to make dumplings later. You think everyone is like you. Your eyes light up when you see wine. You are so drunk!"

After hearing the order, Xu Feng rushed to the ground and pulled on her shoes, "Mom, you don't want to drink?"

Xu Feng sat at the table next to the kang, and said with a small mouth: "My mother didn't say anything, how could I dare to move?"

Yang Shuhua, Wang Shujuan and others washed their hands in the outer room and entered the house. Wu Qiuxia brought the rice bowl to the edge of the kang, turned around and asked who was eating. Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang and others all said that they would like to eat for themselves later, can they let their uncle do it? Get on the bed quickly.

But Wang Biao and Liu Tianen could only sit at the Kang table because they were only 15 during the New Year. According to Xu Laowen's rules, they had to wait until 18 before they could sit at the wine table and drink with their uncle and uncle.

"Feng'er, why didn't you go get some soda? Let's drink some with Jin Yu." Xu Laowen said in a gentle voice.

"Hey, it's okay. It's about 40 degrees Celsius on the hour. Lao Xu, go get the bottle of Beidacang hidden for you in the cabinet."

"Ah, I can't drink much..."

"I'll go to your house after dinner later. Do you have any bacon?"

Xu Laowen smiled and said, "You two can go to the old ladies' table."

Through some teasing and laughter, the festive atmosphere in the room has been ignited. Feeling the strong New Year atmosphere, Xu Ning felt a sense of comfort in his heart.

Han Fengjiao smiled and said, "You can't hide it. My sister-in-law knows how much money you have in your pocket."

Since the east room was crowded with people, Liu Lizhen urged the children to get on the kang quickly and not take up space to block the harm. Xu Ning was very discerning and hid directly at the edge of the kang. Liu Tianen and Wang Biao also followed suit and relied on their second brother to stand. In front of the base cabinet.

Li Fuqiang smiled and waved his hand, "Put it down, second uncle, I get drunk when I drink. Don't make it a joke during the Chinese New Year. You can drink."

Xu Ning seemed to have thought of something and grinned. Li Fuqiang stood next to him and also smiled.

Wang Erli said: "Come on, my sister-in-law and my wife-in-law both need to drink. Let them sit next to the child."

After hanging up the lanterns, Xu Ning stood at the door of the courtyard and looked at his home. The courtyard was quite clean, with neat stacks of firewood and various agricultural tools hanging upside down on the eaves of the lower room. Carts and small sledges were piled under the eaves of the lower room. There are corn tassels hanging on the wall of the east wing.

Liu Lizhen came into the house carrying the sauced pig's trotters. She rolled her eyes when she heard this and said, "Hurry up and drink less. Did you drink less in the first half of the day? Take it quickly and get a few more bottles. Brother You and your strong brother also need to drink."

"You just have a mouth to eat, so what? Your mother has been tired for a year, what can you do if you drink more during the New Year?" Xu Laowen seized the opportunity and started to argue.

Xu Feng, Li Jinyu and Li Mantang came back from the west room with more than ten bottles of soda. They put the soda on the edge of the kang and handed it to the table first. They asked Wang Hu what he drank. He must have been drinking. After all, he knew it At 20 years old, he is already an adult.

Xu Laowen took out two bottles of wine from the cabinet and said, "Then just grab these two bottles. If there is one left, I'll still think about it."

Li Fuqiang tied the wire and nodded: "Yes, my aunt brought a bundle last time."

Although he is no longer greedy for alcohol, it is like smoking, playing mahjong, or fishing. Once he tastes the sweetness again, it will not be easy to quit in the future.

Xu Laowen was stunned when he heard this and rubbed his face, "Oh shit, I really can't hide anything."

Wang Hu and Wang Biao climbed over the wall. When they heard Liu Lizhen's greeting from the outer room, they waved to Xu Ning and shouted to them to come in and have dinner.

"Hahaha……"

This lantern is not for connecting wires and lighting yellow bulbs. We don't have that condition yet. Don't look at the fact that there is no power outage now. That's because it's daytime and not many people light up the lanterns. If at night, every household lights up, then the people in the village will The transformer is likely to fail, and power outages are common.

"Stop dripping, I've stopped drinking wine for three months now..." Li Fuqiang still shook his head.

Liu Lizhen said with a smile: "Your second aunt and I will drink two less glasses of wine."

Although Xu Laowei said so, he did not stop moving. The main thing during the Chinese New Year is to amuse Mengzi. It is better to gather a group of people together and be happy and cheerful than anything else, even if Xu Laowen's heart is swollen and painful. , he still had to face it with a smile.

"Haha..." Everyone in the room laughed.

Xu Laowang glanced at him and lowered his head to pour wine into Liu Daming's wine glass. Wang Erli said to Li Fuqiang: "Qiangzi, it's okay to drink less during the Chinese New Year! This is a serious ginseng wine. Did your third brother bring it to you? You haven’t tasted anything yet, so let’s try it now.”

Xu Ning interrupted: "Drink less, don't drink too much, or you won't be able to eat dumplings for midnight dinner."

Xu Ning used his chopsticks to open the soda bottle cap and heard Liu Lizhen laugh and say: "Shuhua, let's have some drinks."

There are red window grilles on the windows, a colored paper curtain on the door, and couplets and blessing characters on both sides. It looks quite festive.

Xu Ning continued: "Mom, aren't you talking about my eldest brother?"

"Hahaha……"

Liu Daming smiled and said: "Qiangzi, if you feel itchy, just take a bite or two, and you'll look pitiful."

Li Fuqiang waved his hand hurriedly: "Uncle, don't be embarrassed. It's hard for me to pretend for three months."

Everyone was busy with their tasks while having fun. At this time, everyone in the room sat down, but no one moved their chopsticks first.

Why? Because this is the old Xu family, we have to let the apparent head of the family, Mr. Xu, say a few words to show respect.

After pouring the wine, Xu Laowen held the wine glass and said: "Well, let me just say a few words. To be honest, our family's life has indeed become much better since this little bastard of mine learned the lesson. First, it's nothing. It’s a troubling thing. Secondly, I don’t know where this little kid learned how to fight sieges. He knows all the rules of running on the mountain, and his skills are a little better than mine..."

This was the first time that Xu Laowen praised Xu Ning in front of so many people. Not only did it make Xu Ning a little embarrassed, but Xu Laowen himself was also embarrassed.

But this is the Northeast region. The most successful place for a son is to gain the approval of his father. Some people may wonder why the old Xu family and his son get along so awkwardly. The father is not like the father, and the son is not like the son. Sometimes they are like buddies, sometimes they are like enemies, and sometimes they are just like each other. It's a love rival...

But this is the way the old Xu family gets along. Father and son, mother and daughter all enjoy it.

"...This year, it is indeed more lively than in previous years. Our family has a new relative, Qiangzi..." Li Fuqiang stood up and responded: "Hey, uncle."

"Hey, when you sit down, your whole family will stand up and gawk. What do I want to say? We are a family from now on. If anything happens, don't keep it to yourself, you know?"

"Hey, I understand!" Li Fuqiang nodded and responded.

Xu Laowei said with a smile: "That's it, let me say a few words every year. How can I say so much? Then I wish us harmony, happiness, better days and better pockets!" Come on, let’s raise a glass together and take a sip first.”

"A whole mouthful!"

"The days are getting better and better!"

Wang Hu shouted: "New Year..."

"It's early, it's not dark yet." Liu Tianen put a pestle aside.

"Ha ha……"

Everyone raised their glasses together, the children drank with Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang, the rest of the adults were all drinking, and even Wang Shujuan also filled a small wine cup.

After putting down their cups, everyone picked up their chopsticks and looked at the delicious dishes on the table. They didn't know what to pick with their chopsticks first.

Today's cuisine is really rich, because Liu Lizhen saved all the good things for the Chinese New Year.

In addition to the usual pheasant stewed with mushroom vermicelli and sauerkraut stewed pork bone sticks, there are also deer ribs and beans, scrambled eggs with onions, stir-fried roe deer meat with garlic sprouts, and stir-fried venison with Gada.

As well as sliced ​​platters of wolf, bear, deer, roe deer tongue, deer liver, deer heart, bear heart, deer hooves, roe deer hooves, pig brains, etc. Some of these things are dipped in garlic sauce, eaten as cold dishes, and some are sauce. The hot dishes that come out include charcoal-grilled deer heart and bear heart, which are also dipped in garlic sauce.

Shrimp crackers are not worthy of being served because they are obviously not as good as the assorted canned food.

Of course, cold cabbage heart is always indispensable on the Xu family’s dinner table.

There are twelve dishes on the table, and each dish has a meaning. For example, cabbage means wealth, pheasant means good fortune, fish means more than one year, tofu means wealth, various hooves mean scratching money, and meatballs mean money. get together……

Dinner started at around two o'clock in the afternoon, but no one went out to set off the cannons. Why?

Due to different customs, Qing'an places them during the New Year's Eve dinner. There is no specific time limit. However, there are already children on the street carrying a bag of small whips removed from the hanging whip and holding a small piece of incense in their hands. Let it go while walking.

While eating and drinking, Xu Laowen once again revealed Xu Ning's shortcomings and told how Xu Ning made Marlezi blow up the cauldron. Wang Erli was not to be outdone, and said that Wang Hu was not a fool, he had blown up Mao Lou.

Han Fengjiao was disgusted by what he said, so she ran down to the ground and slapped him on the neck, making everyone in the room laugh wildly.

"Hey, dear, don't mention the pigs... When the production team was freed before, my little little calf didn't know what was wrong with it, so he found a corn pole and chased after the buttocks of the pigs raised by the team. Then he thrust the rice pole into the pig's back and gave the pig a hard time, clamping his crotch between his legs and making a squealing noise..."

"Hahaha, fuck me, brother, you have quite an idea." Li Fuqiang laughed.

In fact, both Wang and Liu have heard this matter countless times, but every time they hear it, they find it funny.

"Another time, for some reason, this little bastard provoked his father and asked him to give him a good beating. After that, he squatted in the courtyard and cried. When the big rooster standing on the gate saw him, After flying down, he jumped on his back and bit the back of his neck with his mouth..."

"Hey...haha, why does my brother do this kind of thing?"

The people in the room were so happy that Liu Lizhen answered: "Another time, when he just entered elementary school, Fengjiao and I were putting geese on the river rope. He didn't want to go to school, so I kicked him twice, and he turned around and ran away. Then he let the goose chase him for a while. "

Li Fuqiang turned around and said with a smile: "No wonder you don't like the big goose. That's how it came about."

Xu Ning looked at the table, patted the table and said, "Why didn't you mess with the goose today? I have to take revenge!"

"Ha ha……"

Dinner started at about two o'clock and didn't end until about five-thirty. During this period, it can be said that there was singing and dancing, noisy gongs and drums, noisy people, and an endless stream of people!
For the first time, Xu Laowen sang a crescent moon dance, which made him confused. If Xu Ning hadn't been there to support him, he would have had another private meeting with Diao Chan.

Poetry recitation was a repertoire of the old Xu family. Xu Feng was allowed to perform until the end of the drinking party. During this period, Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang had already left the table and went to Li Fuqiang's house to hang lanterns. When they came back, the table was Already removed...

Although the ladies drank two cups of wine, each of them didn't drink much, less than two taels each. However, Yang Shuhua did not drink well. She was a little confused after just two cups, but it was nothing. It's such a big deal, you even know how to pick a deer's hooves to chew on.

In the outhouse, Wang Shujuan was washing dishes and pots, Wu Qiuxia was washing the curtains, which would be needed for making dumplings later, and Liu Lizhen was sitting on the kang in the east room, feeling this hard-won joy and happiness.

"Drink more, sister-in-law." As soon as Xu Ning entered the room, she saw Wang Shujuan's face was red.

Xu Long leaned against the doorframe and grinned.

Wang Shujuan replied: "I only drank five cups in total, how can I have more than one or two? Your eldest brother insisted on letting me drink soda. I burped as soon as the water entered my stomach."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then you didn't cut him?"

"He must be shaved! Let's wait until no one else says it. Now that there are more people, it will save him some face."

"No, Xu Erning, have I offended you? It's Chinese New Year, why can't you get along with me?"

Xu Ning turned around: "Have you forgotten what you took from me?"

Wang Shujuan asked: "What?"

Xu Long waved his hands hurriedly, "Nothing, nothing, I'm making a joke with him...Brother Qiang, smoke a cigarette."

Li Fuqiang smiled and took the cigarette, then entered the east room. Xu Long glanced at Xu Ning and said, "Come in quickly, you are about to get married, why don't you leave some way out for yourself."

"I'm teasing you, but you take it seriously. Did our dad give you any money?"

Xu Long frowned and shook his head: "No, are you giving me lunch at midnight?"

Xu Ning waved, and Xu Long came over. Xu Ning whispered: "In this case, you will definitely have to drink for dinner in the evening. They didn't drink much in the afternoon. When the time comes, you and my uncle will just say a few words to our dad. It’s easy for him to get wet when he’s in bed. When he drinks too much, we’ll reach out and ask for as much as we can.”

"Hey, I... you are really at a loss! Didn't you give me all the pocket money in my dad's pocket?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "My sister-in-law also gave me a lot, so I just took this opportunity to give him all the money."

"Hurry up and pull it down, otherwise it will make our dad anxious again during the Chinese New Year."

"Hey, what do you know? Dad and my second uncle must not be thinking about good things. They are frugal these days. Do you think they are saving new year's money for us?

What if they act like monsters, make my mother angry, and cause a lot of trouble in the house? I'm doing this all for family harmony! Why don’t you understand my good intentions, brother! "

When Xu Long heard the words and thought about it, he felt that it was indeed what Xu Erning said, so he nodded suspiciously: "That's okay, then you can't betray me, right?"

"Gah, betray you, we are brothers, what do you want to do, brother?"

This call of "big brother" made Xu Long's blood boil. As soon as the junior Xu Ning called him "big brother", Xu Long would definitely stand in front of his younger brother. He was still not afraid of senior people. He had to protect his younger brother even if he was beaten. Zhao'er, because Xu Long knew the meaning of "big brother".

"Okay! This is all for our family."

Xu Ning nodded: "It's not good."

On the side, Wang Shujuan, who was washing the dishes, lowered her head and suppressed her laughter, but she did not laugh out loud in front of Xu Long. After all, the two brothers were discussing something, so why are these ladies just messing around?

(End of this chapter)