The Sweet Little Fulang

    "It's really beautiful." Quanzi's mother  held the ruyi knot and on the persimmon tree with her hands, she couldn't stop praising it, she liked it very much, and asked Ji Qiuyue as if puzzled: "How do you grow your heads? How do you know it looks good when you hang it like this?"
[如意 rú yì: as one wants; according to one's wishes; a symbol of power and good fortune]

    Not to mention the women, even the men in the village found it very beautiful to see these knots hanging on the branches.

    Seeing that she liked it, Ji Qiuyue took two ruyi knots out of the basket and said, "Since auntie thinks it looks good, so auntie also hang them up."

    Quanzi's mother and Aunt Miao got the ruyi knots, they were happy and kept laughing when they got something, and then went home to get busy.

    The persimmon tree was outside the yard, and even Lu Gu knew that after tonight, it was estimated that there would be less laozi and ruyi knots left on the branches, so they only hung a few of them on the branches, and they were all small. It was okay if someone took them. Ji Qiuyue also told him that it would be a blessing for everyone during the Chinese New Year.

    After hanging up laozis and ruyi knots, they were not idle. The couplets, door gods and Zhong Kui's portraits had to be pasted, and peach talisman had to be hung in front of the gate. Wei Lanxiang even bought Ji Qiuyue a new year picture doll, it was white and fat,  holding a red carp. she let Haosheng paste it.

    "A little to the left." Lu Gu took a few steps away and instructed Shen Xuanqing on the ladder to paste the horizontal scroll, while Shen Yan was helping to hold the ladder.

    It was so busy, and it was noon in a blink of an eye.

    After lunch, Lu Gu looked at Shen Xuanqing eagerly for a few times, and Shen Xuanqing understood what he meant, he said, "Mother, we will go to Anjia Village to visit mother in law's grave first, and then we will go to Nanpo to visit my father with my elder brother when we come back."

    There were many things going on today. Lu Gu was afraid of delaying the family affairs, so he pulled Shen Xuanqing in the bed last night, and even grabbed the corner of his clothes, saying that he wanted to go to his mother's grave at noon, and they could come back sooner.

    "Alright, go." Wei Lanxiang had always been considerate of Lu Gu, and she didn't care about it.

    If the parents of the girl or shuang'er were gone after they got married, they didn't have to go back to visit the grave by themselves during the Chinese New Year. The brothers in the family would go by themselves. After all, they were married and went to someone else's house.

    But Lu Gu's mother only had one child. After Lu Gu got married, the Lu family might not necessarily visited her grave. Besides, Anjia Village was so close, even Shen Xuanqing listened to his fulang, and it was difficult for Wei Lanxiang to say anything.

    The paper money, joss sticks and offerings in the basket were all bought by Lu Gu himself during the fair market, and now he and Shen Xuanqing hurriedly went to Anjia village after mentioning it.

    As soon as they arrived at the grave, sure enough, there was nothing in front of the grave, and no one from the Lu family came.

    The two of them also came here to burn some paper money and give some  offerings in winter clothes festival before, but now, Lu Gu was no longer like before. When he came to the grave, he had sore nose and wanted to cry. Now he could eat enough and wear warm clothes, no one would beat him anymore, so the grievances in his heart would be less, at most he missed his mother, but he still could hold back his tears.

    After talking for a while while burning the paper money, he wiped his tears and went back with Shen Xuanqing.

    As soon as they got home, Wei Lanxiang prepared the New Year's gift and New Year's wine, and asked the two brothers to bring their wife and fulang, and Shen Yan to the relatives of the same clan. There were several houses, and it took a while to sit in each house.

    The New Year’s gift in the New Year’s gift box was salted duck eggs, dried fish, walnuts, chestnuts, and peanuts. The third room's family could have a little more, for Shen Yu was Lu Gu's embroideried purse, for Zhou Xiangjun was an embroidered handkerchief, bacon and New Year's wine were for Shen Shunwang and Shen Yuping to eat and drink.

    The New Year’s wine this year was served in small red lacquered wooden barrels with lids. It was more face-saving than serving it with bowls. The red color was also very festive. When they came out, they were seen by the villagers, and some people asked them how much the wooden barrels cost.

    After they delivered the gifts for the new year, other people also came to their home, and the lively afternoon passed like this.

    As soon as it was dark, Lu Gu and the others were busy in the kitchen, steaming the meat and cooking the dumplings. They happily cooked a table of delicious meat dishes, chicken, duck and fish, vegetarian dishes, tofu, peanuts. they also had dried mushrooms and machicai picked by Lu Gu, soaked and fried them for a delicious dish, the New Year's Eve dinner was very rich.

    After the food was served on the table, Shen Xuanqing lit the brazier and placed it in the middle of the yard. The charcoal used inside was good charcoal, which was more burn resistant than firewood that had to be continuously added at night so it could burn until dawn.

    The New year's wine filled the cups, Shen Yaoqing said a few auspicious words, and the whole family laughed and toasted to celebrate the New year, very happy and lively.

    Eating meat and drinking wine made life happier.

    When they were full of wine and food, they didn’t wash the dishes. The whole family went to the yard and threw the bamboo joints into the brazier. The bamboo crackled and crackled, just like setting off firecrackers.

    After the bamboo joints had exploded, it was time for the real fireworks.