My Courtyard Refuge

New Year Greetings

After handing out the New Year’s money, everyone sat together and watched the Spring Festival Gala for a while, and then went to bed.

Fireworks and firecrackers are still banned in Yanjing this year, not because of concerns about air pollution, and no one cares about it now.

Speaking of it, it is still based on the consideration of fire protection. After all, the whole country has been dry for a whole year, and the weather is dry, so it is very prone to fires.

Moreover, fresh water resources are very tight nowadays, and it is better not to waste them. In addition, fire hydrants are also short of water, which undoubtedly greatly increases the difficulty of fire fighting.

So in the final analysis, doing a good job in prevention is more important than anything else.

…

On the first day of the new year, early in the morning, Xu Dong drove out to pay New Year’s greetings.

Chief Li’s house and Director Cao’s house are definitely going, Aunt Wang’s house is also going to be there, and Zhao Jian also needs to maintain a good relationship, maybe it will be useful at some point.

As for himself, he had already greeted his subordinates, and he understood everyone’s wishes, so forget about New Year’s greetings.

===Section 85===

On the street, there are crowds of children everywhere, allowing Xu Dong to find a trace of childhood memories, and he finds that this year’s New Year is particularly full.

In fact, this is not difficult to understand.

In the early years, why was the year full of flavor?

The main reason was that the living conditions at that time were poor, and only during the Chinese New Year could everyone have a good meal, so everyone was full of expectations for the Chinese New Year.

Later, Daxia’s economy developed rapidly, and everyone’s living conditions improved rapidly.

In the past, the big fish and meat that could only be eaten during the Chinese New Year have become rare and common. Of course, everyone’s sense of expectation for the Chinese New Year has decreased.

Especially for the young people nowadays, every time they go back for the New Year, they are either urged to marry by their parents, or they are compared by their seven aunts and eight aunts.

But now everything seems to have changed back again, and the society is short of supplies, especially in terms of food.

Invisibly, this will greatly increase the expectations of ordinary people for the New Year.

It is no surprise that the taste of the year is full.

The first thing Xu Dong came to was Section Chief Li’s house. After all, he was directly under the supervisor. Since he came early, Aunt Li hadn’t woken up yet!

“Your aunt slept late last night…”

Xu Dong interrupted: “It’s okay, the sky is big and the earth is big, pregnant women are the biggest.”

“Xiao Xu, you are so right.” Chief Li smiled.

“Uncle Li, if that’s the case, then I won’t keep any more. I brought a bag of strawberries for my aunt. Remember to put them in the refrigerator later.”

This time when I came to pay New Year’s greetings, in addition to strawberries, Xu Dong also prepared two bottles of moss wine, a pack of Fuxing cigarettes, and a basket of tomatoes, weighing about four to five catties.

“Understood, but you should take the alcohol and tobacco back home. I have given up smoking and drinking now, so I don’t need it.” Section Chief Li waved his hand.

“No, there’s no reason to bring back the things you sent out.” Xu Dong hastily declined.

Section Chief Li was too lazy to talk nonsense, so he stuffed cigarettes and alcohol into Xu Dong’s arms, and then pushed him out of the house.

Xu Dong rubbed his chin. It seems that Section Chief Li really regards him as his own, and he is not polite at all. It should be a good thing.

Next, Xu Dong came to Aunt Wang’s son’s house, where Aunt Wang spent the Chinese New Year.

“Ding dong…”

It was Wang Xiujuan who opened the door, and Xu Donglai had already called before.

“Happy New Year, Aunt Wang!”

“Come in, why are you being polite to Auntie?” Wang Xiujuan dragged Xu Dong into the living room.

“Uncle Xu, why did you come to my house?” Zhang Yong said pleasantly, there was no one else in the living room, only the brother and sister.

Xu Dong stepped forward and stroked the little guy’s hair, “Haha, but they asked me to come over and ask, when will you go back to play with them?”

“Grandma, when are we going back to your place?” Xiao Zhang Yong asked Wang Xiujuan immediately after hearing this.

“I’ll go back tomorrow, I’ve never seen you so active before.” Wang Xiujuan scolded with a smile.

Xu Dong took the opportunity to take out the strawberries, dismissed Xiao Zhangyong, and then chatted with Wang Xiujuan about homework.

“Aunt Wang, where are Brother Zhang and sister-in-law?”

Speaking of which, Xu Dong hasn’t met the deputy district chief yet. He thought this was a good opportunity, but he missed it.

“Your brother Zhang accompanied your sister-in-law back to her mother’s house. Not long after she left, if you had come half an hour earlier, you might still be able to see her.”

Xu Dong asked curiously, “Where is sister-in-law’s natal family? Why don’t you bring Zhang Yong with you?”

“In Heizhou, it’s too cold over there, and it’s inconvenient to take care of children.” Wang Xiujuan explained.

“Exactly.”

Heizhou is located at the northernmost tip of Daxia,Summer is better. In winter, it is said that the temperature at night is at least three to forty degrees below zero.

If you encounter extreme weather, minus 50 degrees is commonplace.

This is also the fundamental reason why Mao Xiong obviously owns Lake Baiga but cannot be developed.

In the end, I could only watch helplessly as the deepest freshwater lake with the largest water storage capacity in the world gradually turned into salt water until it dried up completely.

“Xiao Xu, is your mother free recently? It’s been a long time since we played cards together.”

Xu Dong shook his head: “Aunt Wang, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it for a few days. My sister and my elder brother’s family are going to visit my parents, so I probably won’t be able to spare the time.”

I haven’t seen each other for more than a year. This time Xu Bin finally agreed to come together to pay New Year’s greetings to the two elders. It may also be because Xu Ma often sends things to their family.

“Really… When will you come over? I’ll join in the fun then.” Wang Xiujuan said in surprise.

“Should be there this afternoon.”

“That’s just right. I’ll visit your house tomorrow.”

After chatting for more than ten minutes, Xu Dong left, leaving behind a generous gift.

Including two bottles of Maotai wine, two Fuxing cigarettes, two boxes of black tea, ten catties of salted fish, ten catties of dried seafood, a bag of strawberries, and finally four bottles of strawberry jam.

Different positions, of course Xu Dong gave different gifts, but with Wang Xiujuan’s character, tomorrow this person will definitely bring a heavy gift to their home to celebrate the New Year.

This is the so-called reciprocity.

In the middle, I went to Director Cao’s house. Near noon, Xu Dong finally came to the last stop of the day, Zhao Jian’s house.

“I’m planning to go to your house tomorrow to pay New Year’s greetings, but I didn’t expect you to come earlier than me.” Zhao Jian laughed.

“You are a dignified section chief, how can you give New Year’s greetings to ordinary employees, isn’t this a mess?” Xu Dong took the opportunity to tease.

“Since you said that, I will just have a rest at home tomorrow.” Zhao Jian put on a haughty look.

Xu Dong put away his smile and said solemnly:

“Old Zhao, I’m not joking with you, my elder brother and elder sister are coming over from their hometown in the afternoon.

There will be chaos at home tomorrow, you really don’t need to come over, what’s the relationship between us, there’s no need to be so polite. ”

“real or fake?”

“There’s no need to lie to you about this, you’ve saved the New Year ceremony!” Xu Dong smiled wryly.

Zhao Jian thought for a while, it was really inappropriate for him, an outsider, to pay New Year’s greetings when Lao Xu’s family was reunited.

So he nodded and said, “Okay then, you don’t have to save me money, I’ve prepared all the annual gifts, and you can take them back with you later!”

“Listen to you!” Xu Dong simply agreed.