Manor Romance

Chapter 27 New Year's Eve Dinner

As the Lunar New Year approaches, the temperature here will drop to the lowest point of the year. In the southwestern region, although it is in the subtropical climate range, there will be snow in the high altitude areas.The area where Linshan County is located has a moderate altitude, and except for a few areas on the top of the mountain, there is very little snowfall.

Although there was no snowfall, the temperature was still quite low. Except for some winter crops, there were no green spots in the world.However, Xiaolu Mountain is an exception here, and Yunli's main work recently is to supplement the electromagnetic force of the crops in the field to stimulate their maximum potential to survive this cold period.

It is also for this reason that Yunli does not plan to return to the welfare home for the New Year this year.He had already called Aunt Fang earlier, and Aunt Fang understood very well, and she also said a lot of instructions, so that he didn't have to worry about it.

From Aunt Fang's mouth, Yunli knew that Lily would not go back this year, but in previous years, many of the children that Aunt Fang took care of would come back to visit Aunt Fang.Many of these children are already successful in their careers or have families, and they often bring their families with them, so that Aunt Fang will not be so lonely.

The Chinese New Year is coming, and every household in the village is busy and happy. The weather and environment throughout the year are very good, and there are no disasters. Everyone's harvest is good, and we can have a relatively peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Even if he is wandering alone, people will always be infected by the surrounding atmosphere. Here, there are only a few people who are familiar with Yunli. The first thing he thought of was to find old brother Chen to spend the festive season with him.

Since that dispute, Brother Chen has come to Xiaolu Mountain much less often. Even if he came, he would deliberately avoid Xu Lin, and Xu Lin is the same. It seems that there is no possibility of resolving the grievances between the two .But it's not bad, at least now there is no more impulsive behavior between the two of them, which made Yunli and Xu Ping feel relieved a lot.

But old brother Chen has already made an appointment. This year he will go to an old classmate's house in the north to celebrate the New Year. When Yunli came to him, he was packing his luggage and had to catch the bus.Although there was still plenty of time, the train ticket was obtained with great difficulty, and he didn't want any surprises at the beginning of this journey.

The New Year's Eve dinner is the most important event in every family before the Chinese New Year. People here also believe that the richer the New Year's Eve dinner, the better luck they will have in the coming year.Yunli originally planned to go to Brother Chen's place for a New Year's Eve dinner, but now his wish has come to nothing, so he has no choice but to buy the ingredients himself to prepare the last meal of the year.

When passing by Lu Ci's house, Yun Li stopped involuntarily, opened the door and went in to take a look, but it turned out that Lu Ci happened to be at home, and she was alone with no friends, so Yun Li invited her to the bamboo building for a New Year's Eve dinner.At this time, Lu Ci had nothing to do, and he was alone at home, no different from usual, so he hesitated and agreed.

When I was young, Aunt Fang would bring a group of children with them to post Spring Festival couplets and hang decorations in the orphanage every Chinese New Year. Even though everyone was orphans from all over the country, they could still feel the family-like atmosphere.Yunli didn't prepare any New Year's goods, but when he was shopping for the ingredients for the New Year's Eve dinner, he saw Chinese knots for sale, so he bought two Ruyi knots, one big and one small, and hung the big one on the bamboo building, and nailed the small one on the piece that said The wooden boards of Jifangyuan add a festive atmosphere to Xiaolu Mountain.

Lu Ci had nothing to do at home, so he came early to help cook together. This was a great help to Yunli. He excitedly bought a bunch of ingredients and came back. When he entered the kitchen, he realized that he had no clue. What to do.

Not long after Lu Ci came, Xu Ping also rode a motorcycle to Xiaolu Mountain. After greeting Yun Li, he was about to take his elder brother Xu Lin home for a reunion dinner.But Xu Lin refused to die, and Xu Ping had nothing to do with him. In the end, Yunli came to smooth things over and asked Xu Lin to come to the bamboo house to eat with them. Xu Ping had no choice but to agree, and after thanking him repeatedly, he left Xiaolu Mountain.

Compared with other peasant families, Yunli and his family's New Year's Eve dinner was not rich, but it was also very special.I used to live in a coastal city. During festivals or important gatherings, there was always a variety of seafood on the table. However, here in Luzhen, there are very few types of seafood, and most of them are shipped fresh. It is very difficult to live. See you.

After spending a lot of time with Brother Chen, Yunli has become more and more particular about what he eats. After traveling all over the Luzhen vegetable market, he finally bought a few fresh hairy crabs, and a dozen or so small crabs. King prawns.

The whole table of meals was basically prepared by Lu Ci, and Yun Li just helped her from the sidelines.What pleased him was that Lu Ci was really good at cooking seafood.The hairy crab is disassembled, the crab shell with paste is stuffed into the minced meat and steamed, and the crab meat is stir-fried with chili pepper, garlic root, and sliced ​​ginger.

The big prawns are another method. Use the thick sauce made from tomatoes and eggs to simmer. If the temperature is well controlled, the crispy and tender taste of the shrimp meat can be maintained. With the slightly sour sauce, it tastes sour and sweet. Sweet and very unique.

Of course, rice cakes are indispensable in the Chinese New Year food. In Luzhen, people like to use glutinous rice to make rice cakes with moderate hardness. Whether it is used for cooking or eaten directly with ingredients, it is very delicious and very popular.People here call this kind of rice cake "nian nian gao", which means that it will improve every year, and it is delicious and pleasant to hear.When visiting the market, the busiest business is the stall selling New Year cakes, which are available in various colors and flavors, and Yunli couldn't resist buying two.

Lu Ci makes two kinds of eating methods for the New Year Cake. The first one is to cut the New Year Cake into strips, add tomato slices, shredded carrots and other fruits and vegetables, and stir them together to make a New Year Cake Salad, which is healthy and fashionable.The other is to stew with sliced ​​meat, wild mushrooms and other ingredients. This method allows the rice cake to absorb the juices of other ingredients during the cooking process, and it tastes soft, glutinous and fragrant, with endless aftertaste.

With the addition of a few plates of hot dishes with meat and vegetables, a table of New Year's Eve dinner is ready. When the two of them were setting the table, Xu Lin came to the small hall on the second floor of the bamboo building with a half-full cup in his arm. wine bottle.

There are three people at a table, and they are familiar with each other. They have no polite words, so they start to enjoy with chopsticks.The three of them are also the only three employees in Xiaolushan. As the boss and host, Yunli took the initiative to greet them. I took a small cup.Speaking of which, this rice wine was brewed under the guidance of old brother Chen, if he knew that Yunli took it out for Xu Lin to drink, what would it be like.

During the festive season, I miss my relatives a lot, and this poem has different expressions on the three people.Yunli only misses Aunt Fang, and maybe Baihe, while Lu Ci thinks of the people of the Lu family, the deceased Mrs. Chen, and that old Mr. Mo who has only met a few times but holds clues to his own life experience.

Xu Lin, on the other hand, pinned his longing for his wife and children on alcohol, and his alcohol addiction has grown stronger in the past few days.With good wine and good food on the table, Xu Lin also became excited and talked a lot. He praised Lu Ci for his good cooking skills and advised Yunli that if he wanted to find a wife, he should look for this kind of person. It must make both of them somewhat embarrassed.

Xu Lin's wine bottle soon bottomed out, and he had almost eaten, so he dragged his feet and returned to the small building, only Yunli and Lu Ci were left.

"Uncle Lin is not a bad person, how could he be like this?" Lu Ci sighed.Lu Ci hadn't lived in Shanglu Village for long, and he rarely had contact with the villagers. All he knew about Xu Lin's situation was hearsay.

Yun Li picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and sighed: "No one can choose the right direction all his life and not take the wrong path. Instead of complaining and regretting, it is better to take some practical actions to make up for the mistakes."

When recruiting people, Xu Ping introduced Xu Lin's situation to Yunli, and Yunli knew that Xu Ping's intention was to let his elder brother do something and stop sinking, and Yunli was willing to give him this opportunity.And after the conflict between Xu Lin and Brother Chen, even if Xu Ping didn't say anything, Yunli would not fire Xu Lin. He knew that if he did, it would really kill Xu Lin's chance to cheer up.

"It's all alcohol that hurts people. You should remember it. It's a lesson learned from the past. Don't drink too much." Seeing Yunli reaching out to pour the wine, Lu Ciyu warned earnestly.

Hearing what Lu Ci said, Yun Li paused with his outstretched hand, smiled at her, then continued to take wine, refilling both of their glasses, and argued, "Everything has two sides, it seems like During this festive season, if there is no wine, the taste of the year will be gone. In ancient times, if you didn’t drink Tusu wine on New Year’s Eve, the year would not be considered too much.”

"The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze brings warmth into Tusu. So, after drinking, do you want to set off firecrackers later?" Lu Ci rolled his eyes at Yunli, took a sip from his wine glass, teased.

"Good idea. When I was young, I was the only one who dared to set off firecrackers in the orphanage. At that time, setting off firecrackers and fireworks was not strictly prohibited in the city. I would light the firecrackers in the courtyard every Chinese New Year and festival. Now I think about it. It's itchy." Yun Li eagerly said.

"You must have been naughty when you were young, and it was hard to take care of your aunt." Lu Ci sarcastically sarcastically picked up the food.

"It's a little bit, but it's not my aunt who suffers the most, but her right-hand man. Every time I want to do something, I can't escape her eyes. Sometimes I still think that maybe she and I have been lost for many years Brother and sister, otherwise, why would she sense me every time, once..." When mentioning Aunt Fang, Yun Li naturally thought of Lily, and shared with Lu Ci interesting stories about his childhood. With an audience, he could speak well. The vivid sounds made Lu Ci both amused and envious.

During the usual chats, Lu Ci knew that Yunli, like himself, was an orphan who grew up in a welfare institution.Although she grew up in a family, she didn't have too much affection for the Lu family. It was better when she went to college and made some friends, but after a family change, all of this came to naught.

(End of this chapter)