Rebirth 96: Begin the life of a monster from kindergarten

Chapter 15 It's New Year's Eve

As soon as they got up in the morning, Zhang Yixing and his sister Zhang Xiuxiu were assigned work.

The brother and sister came to the yard with several tea bowls. There was a shovel of sand in the yard specially used to hold the tea bowls.

Because they were reluctant to buy incense burners, these tea bowls filled with sand were used as incense burners.

Ancestors, Baojiaxian, Kitchen God, and Door God all need incense.

Li Hongyu and Zhang Guangzong are preparing to make dumplings.

Zhang Guangzong chopped the cabbage stuffing, while Li Hongyu wrapped the cabbage stuffing in a drawer cloth and pressed out the water.

The cabbage stuffing with the water removed is mixed with oil residue, which is today's dumpling stuffing.

After everything was prepared, one of them pressed the dough and the other made the dumplings. The division of labor was clear and orderly.

When night falls, overlooking the small village from above, no matter whether it is a new or old house, every house is brightly lit.

Before the New Year's Eve dinner, Zhang Guangzong and his family went to Lao Er's house to pay New Year's greetings to Mrs. Guo.

Zhang Yixing and Zhang Xiuxiu kowtowed to their grandmother as soon as they entered the door, and each received a piece of New Year's money, five yuan each.

After paying New Year's greetings, the family left.

Zhang Xiuxiu didn't want to leave, because there was beef on the table at the second uncle's house, and the second uncle and the second aunt kept urging her to stay.

But when she saw her brother frowning at her, she didn't dare to cry, so she had no choice but to go home with her head hanging down.

"Okay, Xiuxiu, give the new year's money to your mother. When you grow up, your mother will give it to you!"

On the way, Li Hongyu reached out to her children.

Zhang and his party immediately took out the money and sent it over.

Zhang Xiuxiu also handed over the money and warned: "Mom, don't give me flowers! Remember to pay me back when I grow up!"

"Okay," Li Hongyu agreed seriously.

Zhang Yixing pursed his lips and smiled.

After returning home, Li Hongyu packed the tributes in bowls and placed them one by one on the big table in the main room.

The tributes include meatballs, meat pieces, chicken, fish, steamed buns, apples, etc.

There is a row of ancestral tablets made of paper on the table, one by one inserted on the radish base.

There are three sticks of incense stuck in the "incense burner", and the smoke is constantly floating.

Two candles stood on the corners of the table, their flames dancing.

Zhang Yixing and Zhang Xiuxiu were eating melon seeds and roasted peanuts while waiting for the Spring Festival Gala to start.

This year’s New Year’s Eve dinner is more sumptuous than last year’s.

There were a total of six dishes on the table, including croquettes, fried lotus root boxes, sweet and sour fish, stewed chicken nuggets, fried lotus root slices, and cabbage stewed in oil.

Zhang Xiuxiu was very forgetful and quickly forgot about the beef, and her mouth watered just looking at the food.

Zhang and his party, as people who have been there, naturally found it boring.

But looking at the oil and water alone, the New Year’s meals are indeed more oily and watery than usual.

In this era, people usually use less oil when cooking, so Li Hongyu is not good at stir-frying, but is good at stews.

When the Spring Festival Gala started, the dumplings were also served.

Li Hongyu carried a bowl of dumplings to worship her ancestors and gods one by one. At the same time, she burned some red ingots and took Zhang and her sisters to kowtow to Baojiaxian.

After the worship service is over, the family sits at the dinner table and begins to eat New Year's Eve dinner.

Before the meal, Zhang Guangzong and Li Hongyu each gave their children a piece of lucky money.

The two of them had not taken the hot food yet, so Li Hongyu took it back under the pretext of keeping it.

Zhang Guangzong boiled a pot of wine and it was obvious that he was very happy. When Zhang and his party poured him six glasses of wine, he was even happier.

The small wine cup used for drinking always squeaked when Zhang Guangzong drank.

The Spring Festival Gala has begun!

More than ten years later, no one watches the Spring Festival Gala during the Spring Festival.

But now, of course I watch the Spring Festival Gala during the Spring Festival!

The whole family is having New Year's Eve dinner while watching the Spring Festival Gala, which is a real family joy!

There were firecrackers from time to time outside.

When Zhang Guangzong saw that the time was almost up, he put down his chopsticks and came to the yard.

There is a bamboo pole leaning against the courtyard wall, with a firecracker hanging on the top, which can only go off a hundred times.

He raised the bamboo pole and let the firecrackers hang down, then turned to signal Zhang and his party to light the firecrackers.

Zhang Yixing was naturally unafraid. He held a lit incense stick, approached the firecrackers, stretched out the incense stick and lit the firecrackers directly, and then quickly retreated.

"Bah...bah! Bah! Bah! Bah!..."

Firecrackers exploded, crackling, the smell of gunpowder filled the yard, and pieces of red confetti were scattered on the ground. Zhang Xiuxiu didn't dare to walk into the yard and kept the door closed. Only a small gap was exposed that could be observed, and he covered his ears and screamed non-stop.

A hundred firecrackers exploded quickly.

Zhang Xiuxiu ran out of the house and squatted on the ground looking for unexploded firecrackers. Whenever he found one, he called Zhang and his party to light it.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! ......"

Not far away, a flying monkey took off into the sky, exploding small pieces of fireworks in the night sky.

Immediately afterwards, more gorgeous fireworks took off, and the sky was suddenly decorated with colorful lights.

You don't need to guess to know that these are the fireworks set off by Zhang Xiaoyu's family.

This scene will happen for many years.

Until Zhang Xiaoyu's father left this home and never came back.

The person setting off the fireworks was replaced by someone else.

After that, many houses will set off fireworks.

Zhang Xiuxiu shouted: "You idiot is setting off firecrackers, be smart and listen to the sound!"

Although she said so, she stared at the night sky intently, and the gorgeous fireworks made her intoxicated.

When no more fireworks took off, Zhang Xiuxiu reluctantly returned to the house.

At around eleven o'clock in the evening, the New Year's Eve dinner was almost finished.

Zhang Yaozu came with his son Zhang Yunfu.

Zhang Guangzong chatted with his brother for a few words, then stood up with a serious look on his face.

Zhang Guangzong took the lead, followed by Zhang Yaozu, followed by Zhang Yunfu, and finally Zhang Yixing.

The four of them faced the big table and knelt down to worship the ancestral tablets.

After getting up, Zhang Guangzong led people to the home of his cousin Zhang Jialiang.

Zhang Jialiang is now almost sixty years old. After the New Year's Eve dinner, he was sitting on the sofa drinking tea with his son Zhang Jianjun.

After the Zhang Guangzong brothers took their children into the house, there were six people drinking tea.

A few minutes later, a group of people knelt down to worship their ancestors.

This time, the eldest Zhang Jialiang took the lead, followed closely by Zhang Guangzong and Zhang Yaozu, followed by the next generation Zhang Jianjun, Zhang Yunfu and Zhang Yixing, and finally followed by the youngest Zhang Xiaokang.

Zhang Xiaokang is much older than Zhang Yixing, but according to his seniority, he has to call Zhang Yixing uncle, so he can only stand at the end.

After paying homage to their ancestors, Zhang Jialiang led the team to visit other families in the village to pay New Year greetings.

The so-called main family refers to the kinship. If we push it back several generations, we are all one family.

Every time we go to one, someone joins us, and the team continues to grow.

A group of people were walking on the village road and met another group of people from time to time. They exchanged greetings and wished each other a happy New Year, and then separated to continue their respective New Year greetings.

When all the heads of the village had finished their New Year greetings, it was already past twelve o'clock in the evening.

The adults started playing cards all night long, while the children went back to their homes.

When Zhang and his party returned home, the knees of their pants were all dirty.

When he was a child, after celebrating the New Year, he would go to his cousin Zhang Yunfu to watch TV and stay up all night.

This year he plans to go to bed early.

It was impossible to stay up late, he wanted to maintain his health.

But after only five hours of sleep, Zhang and his party were awakened by the crackling of firecrackers.

On the morning of New Year's Day, firecrackers will be set off again.

The ground is filled with red, auspicious start to the new year!
  After breakfast, Zhang Yunfu came over. As the most knowledgeable person in the younger generation, he comes every year to help the uncle put up Spring Festival couplets.

Zhang Yixing handed him the Spring Festival couplets, and Zhang Yunfu stepped on a stool to post the Spring Festival couplets. This happened every year, even if the two families fell out in the future, it remained the same.

Li Hongyu is even busier today.

New Year's Eve is a time for gentlemen to pay New Year's greetings.

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the woman visited the house to pay New Year greetings.

When a woman comes to visit, it doesn't matter what her family is. She goes to her employer's house to sit down, to chat at her west's house, or to hang out with acquaintances, which can cover almost half of the village.

By the time Li Hongyu returned home after celebrating the New Year, it was already noon.

No one will come next.

The family ordered some dumplings directly, and after finishing the meal, they finally had time to rest.

The busy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are over.

Zhang Yixing is seven years old!

(End of this chapter)