Towards the Lunar New Year, temperatures drop to the lowest point of the year, and in the southwest, although it has a subtropical climate, snow can also occur at higher altitudes. The area where Linshan County is located is at a moderate altitude, and except for a few areas on the top of the mountain, snow is rare.

Although there was no snowfall, the temperature was still quite low, and there were few green spots in the sky except for some winter crops. However, in Xiaolushan, this is an exception, and Yunli's main job recently is to supplement the crops in the field with electromagnetic force, and stimulate their maximum potential to survive this cold period.

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

From Aunt Fang's mouth, Yun Li knew that Lily would not go back this year, but in previous years, many of Aunt Fang's eldest children would come back to visit Aunt Fang. Among these children, many of them have now had successful careers or started families, and they often drag their families to come, so that Aunt Fang will not be so lonely.

It's the New Year, every household in the village is busy and happy, the weather environment is very good this year, there are no disasters, everyone's harvest is good, you can have a relatively safe and prosperous New Year.

Even if he is wandering alone, people will always be infected by the atmosphere around him, here, there are only a few people who are familiar with Yunli, and the first thing he thought of was to find Brother Chen to spend the festival with him.

Since that dispute, Brother Chen has come to Xiaolushan a lot less, and even if he comes, he will 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 this is not bad, at least now there is no more impulsive behavior between the two, which makes Yunli and Xu Ping feel a lot more relieved.

But Brother Chen has already made an appointment, and this year he will go to an old classmate in the north for the New Year, and when Yunli found him, he was packing his luggage and was going to catch the bus. Although there was still plenty of time, the train ticket was hard to get, and he didn't want to have any surprises at the beginning of this journey.

The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is the most important program in every family before the New Year, and people here also believe that the richer the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the better the luck will be in the coming year. Yun Li originally planned to go to Brother Chen's for a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, but now this wish has failed, and he has to buy his own ingredients to prepare the last meal of the year.

When passing by Lu Ci's house, Yun Li couldn't help but stop, pushed the door and went in to take a look, but Lu Ci happened to be at home, she was also alone, no friends, Yun Li invited her to the bamboo building to have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner together. At this time, Lu Ci had nothing to do, he was at home alone, and there was no difference from usual, so after hesitating, he agreed.

When I was a child, every Chinese New Year, Aunt Fang would take a group of children to paste Spring Festival couplets and hang decorations in the welfare home, even if everyone was orphans from all over the world, they could also feel the family-like atmosphere. Yun Li didn't prepare any New Year goods, but when he was buying ingredients for the Chinese New Year's Eve meal, he saw that there were Chinese knots for sale, so he bought one large and one small two Ruyi knots, the big one hung in the bamboo building, and the small one was nailed to the wooden board with Jifang Yuan written on it, which added a bit of festive atmosphere to Xiaolu Mountain.

Lu Ci had nothing to do at home, so he came to help cook together very early, which helped Yunli a lot, he happily bought a bunch of materials and came back, and when he entered the kitchen, he found that he had no clue and didn't know where to start.

Not long after Lu Ci came, Xu Ping also rode a motorcycle to Xiaolushan, and after greeting Yunli, he was about to take his eldest brother Xu Lin to his home for a reunion dinner. However, Xu Lin couldn't live or die, and Xu Ping couldn't do anything about him, so in the end, Yun Li came to play a round and asked Xu Lin to come to the bamboo building to eat with them, Xu Ping had to agree, and after thanking him repeatedly, he left Xiaolushan.

Compared with other farming families, Yunli's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is not rich, but it is also very distinctive. In the past, I have always lived in a coastal city, and every festival or important gathering, there are always all kinds of seafood on the table, but here in Luzhen, there are very few types of seafood, and most of them are shipped after being chilled, and it is difficult to see it alive.

After mixing a lot with Brother Chen, Yunli became more and more particular about eating, and ran all over the Luzhen vegetable market before finally buying a few fresh hairy crabs and a dozen or so large prawns that were not very big.

The whole table of meals was basically cooked by Lu Ci, and Yun Li just gave her a hand on the side. What makes him happy is that Lu Ci still has a hand in making seafood. The hairy crab is disassembled, the crab shell with paste is stuffed into the minced meat and steamed, and the crab meat part is stir-fried with spicy seeds, garlic roots, and ginger slices.

The prawns are another method, simmering in a thick sauce made of tomatoes and eggs, controlling the temperature well, you can maintain the crisp and tender taste of the shrimp meat, plus a slightly sour sauce, it tastes sweet and sour, which is very unique.

In the Chinese New Year food, of course, rice cakes are indispensable, here in Luzhen, people like to use glutinous rice to make rice cakes with moderate softness and hardness, whether it is used to make dishes, or to eat directly with ingredients, they are very delicious and very popular. People here call this kind of rice cake "New Year Cake", which means that it is progressing high every year, delicious and good-sounding. When visiting the market, the most prosperous business is the stall selling rice cakes, which are available in various colors and flavors, and Yunli can't help but buy two pieces back.

Lu Ci made the rice cake into two ways to eat, the first is to cut the rice cake into strips, with tomato slices, carrots and other fruits and vegetables, and stir them together to make an adult cake salad, which is healthy and fashionable. The other is to stew with other ingredients such as sliced meat and wild mushrooms, which can make the rice cake absorb the juice of other ingredients during the cooking process, and taste soft and glutinous and fragrant, with an endless aftertaste.

Coupled with a few plates of hot dishes with meat and vegetables, a table of Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was ready, and when the two set the table dishes, Xu Lin came to the small hall on the second floor of the bamboo building, still carrying a half-full wine bottle in his arm.

There are three people at a table, and they are usually familiar with each other, and there are no polite words, so they start the chopsticks and enjoy it. The three of them are also the only three employees in Xiaolushan now, Yunli, as the boss and owner, took the initiative to greet the two, and also took out the rice wine brewed during the relocation of the bamboo building before, and poured a small glass for each of them. Speaking of which, this rice wine was still brewed under the guidance of Brother Chen, and if he knew what it would be like if Yunli took it out for Xu Lin to drink.

Every festive season, this verse has a different expression on the three of them. Yun Li only thinks about Aunt Fang, and maybe Lily, and Lu Ci will think of the people of the Lu family, the deceased Mrs. Chen, and the old Mo who has only met a few times, but has the clues of his life experience.

And Xu Lin pinned his thoughts on his wife and children on alcohol, and his addiction to alcohol has become bigger in the past few days. There was good wine and food on the table, Xu Lin also came to the uproar, and he talked more, praising Lu Ci's good cooking skills, and admonishing Yun Li, if you want to find a wife, you can find this kind of one, and you can enter the kitchen and get out of the hall, which makes the two of them a little embarrassed.

Xu Lin's wine bottle quickly bottomed out, and he ate about the same, so he dragged his floating footsteps and returned to the small building, leaving only Yunli and Lu Ci alone.

"Uncle Lin is actually not bad, how could he be like this?" Lu Ci sighed. Lu Ci didn't live in Shanglu Village for a long time, and he rarely had contact with the villagers, and all he knew about Xu Lin's condition was hearsay rumors.

Yunli picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and sighed: "No one can choose the right direction in their life, not take the wrong fork in the road, instead of complaining and regretting, it is better to take some practical actions to make up for the mistakes." ”

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

"It's all alcohol that harms people, and you also remember, don't drink too much." Seeing that Yunli was about to pour the wine, Lu Ci said earnestly.

Hearing Lu Ci's words, Yun Li's outstretched hand paused, smiled at her, and then continued to take the wine, adding some to the cups of the two, and defended: "Everything has two sides, just like in this festival, if there is no wine, the taste of this year will be gone, in ancient times, if you don't drink Tusu wine on Chinese New Year's Eve, this year will not be counted." ”

"In the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu, so after drinking, do you still want to set off firecrackers later?" Lu Ci glanced at Yunli, and also picked up the wine glass and took a sip, teasing.

"Good idea, when I was a child, I dared to put firecrackers in the welfare home, at that time the city was not strictly forbidden to set off firecrackers, every New Year's holiday, the firecrackers in the courtyard were lit by me, and now I think about it and have some itchy hands." Yunli was eager to try.

"You must have been naughty when you were a child, and you suffered from the aunt who took care of you." Lu Ci was sarcastic while picking up vegetables.

"Yes, there is a little, but the most bitter thing is not the aunt, it is her right-hand man, every time I want to do something, I can't escape her eyes, sometimes I also think, she and I may be lost for many years of brother and sister, otherwise why is she sensed every time, there is a ......" mentioned Aunt Fang, Yunli naturally thought of Lily, and shared with Lu Ci the interesting story of his childhood, with an audience, he also spoke vividly, so that Lu Ci listened to it funny and envious.

In the usual casual conversation, Lu Ci knew that Yunli was an orphan like himself, and he grew up in a welfare home since he was a child. Although she grew up in a family, she didn't have too deep feelings for the Lu family, and it would be better when she went to college, and she made some friends, but after a family change, this qiē came to naught.