The snow stopped and continued until the day before Chinese New Year's Eve.

Chinese New Year's Eve is even better weather, the bright sun comes out, the sky is bright, the sky is blue, and the clouds are as white as cotton.

The morning in Xiaxi Village is very lively, the sound of chickens and dogs barking in the houses of the village is noisy, the children are eager to rush out of the yard to call friends, the adults are happy, the voice is much higher than usual, and there is a New Year's atmosphere everywhere.

Lu Zhong stopped the car after buying Qi New Year's goods, got up early to clear the snow in the yard, and was busy carrying water.

Lu Xiaoyi is the first time to spend the ancient year, the mood is in an inexplicable excitement, before going to bed will be whimsical, get up early and not get out of bed, Chinese New Year's Eve even wakes up earlier than the crowing rooster, Yulan laughs at her hope for the year is bigger than Ding Xiaogeng.

Looking forward to the New Year? Lu Xiaoyi scratched his head and smiled, as if yes. In my previous life, I also looked forward to the New Year when I was a child, when I was a child, I was looking forward to good food and new clothes, after going to school, I was looking forward to holidays and New Year's money, and after working, I was looking forward to going home and reunion.

Now, in a different world, what are you looking forward to in the new year? It's not delicious food, it's not new clothes, it's not a holiday, it's not New Year's money, it's not going home and reuniting, Lu Xiaoyi is a little stunned, as if the New Year has become meaningless to her.

"Mother, are you looking forward to the New Year?" Lu Xiaoyi asked.

"Hope! It's just that unlike you children who are looking forward to it on your face, I am looking forward to it in my heart. Yulan smiled and said: "When I was a child, I was like you, looking forward to eating meat and wearing new clothes during the New Year, and now I look forward to the New Year because you are one year older in the New Year, and you can grow food in the spring again, and the family can buy piglets to raise...... The cat has been in winter, who doesn't look forward to the New Year? ”

Lu Xiaoyi suddenly laughed, "I'm looking forward to making more money next year, and I'm looking forward to our family building a new house." ”

Yulan said angrily: "I hope you don't fall into the eyes of money!" ”

Lu Xiaoyi laughed and hurriedly promised that he wouldn't.

Yulan said with a smile: "Your father has come back from carrying water, you go and ask Xiaoding to come over the stove room and learn to cook Chinese New Year's Eve meals with me." ”

The dishes on Chinese New Year's Eve are richer and more complex than before, fried meatballs, fried tofu bubbles, fried crispy meat, fried peanuts all require skills, Yulan explained to Xiaoyi Xiaoding while operating, such as eggs and sweet potato powder in the meat filling, so that the fried meatballs will not fall apart; For example, the tofu bubble is fried until you can quickly rebound when you press your fingers, and the heat is just right; For example, the crispy pork strips should pick fat and thin pork belly, and the crispy meat dough should be mixed with eggs and sweet potato flour, and never add water, otherwise the oil pan will splash; For example, peanuts should be drained before frying, and when the peanuts cool down are just crispy, if they wait until they are crispy, the peanuts will definitely be burnt.

Xiao Yi and Xiao Ding both studied seriously, and when the dry goods were fried, Yulan began to knead the dough again to make some small pasta, there were thin strips, small round grains, and circles, Lu Xiaoyi rubbed a thin noodle and wrapped it around a simple twist, Yulan saw that the twist shape was cute, praised it, and all the pasta in the back was made into a small twist shape.

Half of the oil is used in half of the pot, and the rest is used by magnolia for stir-frying.

When the fried goods were cooled, Yulan picked up some of everything and asked Lu Xiaoyi to send the surplus grain.

Lu Xiaoyi said: "Mother, call Brother Liang to eat together!" ”

"Surely the grain will not come,"

"Why?"

"As the saying goes: beggars have thirty nights. Where can you spend Chinese New Year's Eve at someone else's house? Let's not embarrass him, it's best to send some fried goods. ”

Oh, it turns out that there is such a thing, Lu Xiaoyi nodded to show that he understood, took the food box and walked to the front yard.

Yulan chased it out and changed her words: "The snow is very thick, if it doesn't work, let your father go." ”

"Dad is busy pasting window paper and pasting pairs! I'll just go. After saying that, he went straight out of the courtyard gate.

The snow is not very thick, just to the ankles, squeaking sound, and then look at the surrounding houses, all covered under a layer of white snow, there are deep and shallow footprints on the path, deep and shallow are stepped on by people, shallow cats and dogs.

Lu Xiaoyi walked along the path to Shangxi Village, there were fewer and fewer footprints on the road, she picked the snow without footprints and stepped on it, and soon, a series of regular footprints came out behind her.

The smoke curling in the courtyard of the Yu family, imagining the clumsy appearance of the remaining grain in the stove room, Lu Xiaoyi laughed unconsciously, and the strength of the door was full of joy.

The black tiger in the courtyard had already barked, and Yu Liang came to open the door, and when he saw the person who came, he smiled and showed a mouthful of white teeth, "It's just right to come, I'm worried about whether to put the meat or the seasoning first." ”

The black tiger flatteringly stepped forward and rubbed Lu Xiaoyi's legs and feet, screaming non-stop.

Lu Xiaoyi entered the courtyard with a food box, only to see that the snow in the courtyard had been swept to a corner, and the door frames and eyebrows of the two mud-walled huts were pasted with red and glamorous New Year pairs, and the newly replaced window paper was as white as snow, and he couldn't help but praise: "Your small courtyard is well cleaned up!" ”

Yu Liang scratched his head and said with a smile: "Uncle Qi said that he was coming over on the first day of the new year, so I thought about cleaning up." ”

Lu Xiaoyi thought of the second goods and asked, "Is Brother Feng here too?" ”

Seeing Yu Liang nodding, Lu Xiaoyi muttered to himself: "Stay away from the second goods, cherish life!" It's best not to run into him on the first day. ”

Yu Liang couldn't hear what she was muttering, remembered the firewood in the stove, jumped to the stove, and shouted to her by the way: "Come and help me." ”

Lu Xiaoyi followed, and saw that there was a lot of meat and vegetables in the stove room, the meat pieces were cut into square and uniform sizes, the vegetables were also washed and placed in a vegetable basket for later use, and a bunch of seasonings were scattered on the cutting board.

"What are you?"

Yu Liang pointed to the cutting board and then to the piece of meat, a little embarrassed, "braised pork...... How? ”

Lu Xiaoyi put down the food box, rolled up the cotton sleeves, and said proudly: "You can be regarded as finding the right person, haha, you burn the fire, I'll come to the stove, braised pork, it's just like a 'one'." ”

Yu Liang likes to see Lu Xiaoyi's proud little appearance, if he raises his head a little higher and puts his hands on his waist, his momentum will be more sufficient.

"Oil, oil! And sugar, where is the sugar? Lu Xiaoyi quickly entered the role, and after completing the seasoning of the braised pork, he urged the remaining grain: "Burn the fire!" ”

Then the oil squeaked and the shovel moved, the meat turned over the spice, and then added water and simmered slowly, Lu Xiaoyi clapped his hands and explained, ready to retire.

Stuff some firewood into the stove with the surplus grain, help her empty the food box, and then turn out two hares for her, and said with a smile: "There is a lot of snow catching, I want to send you two gifts for the year, and you just take them back by the way." ”

Lu Xiaoyi didn't shirk either, he took it with a smile, two rabbits and a food box, and it was hard to carry it.

"Wait." Yu Liang thought of something, went into the house and found a piece of straw rope to tie the two rabbits, put them on Lu Xiaoyi's shoulder, and then said with satisfaction: "Well, you won't be tired of carrying it this way." ”

Lu Xiaoyi's face was black, thinking of her as a little Lori, wearing a thick cotton hat, two thick cotton jackets, two thick cotton pants, two fat rabbits on her shoulders, and a food box in her hand......

The surplus food was not as much as she thought, and she didn't think there was anything wrong with her appearance, so she told her to go down the mountain and be careful of slipping, and the more she instructed, the more uneasy she became, so she simply took off the rabbit and carried her to the foot of the mountain before turning back.

Yulan had already prepared the meat and vegetables for lunch, and when she saw Lu Xiaoyi coming back with two rabbits, she said, "Let you send some fried goods, why are you carrying two rabbits back?" ”

Lu Xiaoyi's sturdy little body shook and threw the two rabbits off his shoulders, "I won't accept the New Year's gift from Brother Liang today, and he will send it tomorrow." ”

Yulan put the fat rabbit in the clay jar in the backyard, and she didn't need to worry about it breaking down on a cold day, "Put it first, wait for your uncle and them to come over, and then we will burn it and eat it." ”

"Uncle, when are they coming?"

"In the second year of junior high school, let's go to your grandfather's house, and when your aunt and uncle return to their parents' house, they will come to our house together."

Yulan said again: "Let's see if your father is done, I'm going to start stir-frying." ”

Lu Xiaoyi ran to the front yard to ask Lu Zhong, and then went to the stove room to pass the word, Yulan asked Xiaoding to burn the fire and start stir-frying.

Although I have to go to Lujia West Courtyard for a New Year's dinner in the evening, Yulan still makes a lot of dishes at noon, such as spiced tofu soaking, crispy pork and yellow flower soup, braised pork, stir-fried pork with dried red peppers, home-style tofu, plus a plate of pickled radish, with white flour steamed buns.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was warmer than usual, Xiao Geng was holding a steamed bun bigger than his face, and he couldn't close his mouth with a smile.

Lu Zhong smiled: "Son, can you finish eating one?" ”

"Yes!" Xiao Geng had already taken a bite and puffed out his cheeks in affirmation.

"Good boy, is it okay to just eat steamed buns?"

"No way!" After speaking, he immediately took chopsticks and sandwiched braised pork.

Lu Zhong laughed out loud and said to Yulan: "Xiao Yi likes spicy food, Xiao Ding likes to eat lean meat, Xiao Geng likes to eat braised pork, you move the dishes on the table and put them closer to them." ”

Yulan said: "There are no short hands on the table, you don't need to move, they can all hold it." ”

The children stretched out their hands to demonstrate, and sure enough, they were all within arm's length.

Lu Zhong smiled and nodded, beckoning the children to eat quickly, after eating, Lu Zhong asked Yulan to go to the West Courtyard to help early, and by the way, take some meat and vegetables over, the evening New Year's Dinner could not all be undertaken by the West Courtyard, knowing that Yulan had already been prepared, he praised a few words of satisfaction, which made Yulan blush and blame him.

Lu Xiaoyi saw that his father and mother were now showing affection, so he took Xiao Ding Xiaogeng to play outside the hospital.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the festive atmosphere that lingers over Xiaxi Village becomes more and more intense, especially after lunch, people have come out of the yard to swim. The adults had joyful smiles on their faces, and they had to congratulate each other when they met, and the little girls and teenagers were even more playful and loud than ever. Even the flower dog does not like to bark as usual, and it looks much gentler when it sees people wagging its tail, and even those cold cats will not immediately slip away when they see people, but will sniff the fumes on your body closely, and then meow at you.

Xiao Geng shouted that he wanted to go to the gathering place of the children in the center of the village to play, in other words, Lu Xiaoyi was too lazy to go, and was content to play under the camphor tree outside his yard, and now he was infected by the atmosphere of Chinese New Year's Eve, agreed with a smile, and ran to the gathering place with Xiao Ding Xiaogeng.

Good fellows, almost all the girls and boys in the village are here, the older ones are talking in piles, and the smaller ones are chasing each other.

Lu Xiaoyi's eyes were sharp, and he immediately found the figures of the magpie and Chunhua, and ran over to say hello, and the magpie pulled Xiaoyi and said: "Hehe, you are afraid of the cold, I am lazy, Chunhua is afraid of the cold and lazy, and they nest at home in winter, and they can't see each other in the same village." ”

Lu Xiaoyi said: "Where are you lazy?" My mother said that I saw you washing clothes in the icy stream a while ago, and then the stream froze, aren't you too lazy to chisel the ice? ”

"See if I don't tear your mouth." The magpie stretched out his hand with a smile, wearing a bulging glove, not showing his five fingers, how to tear his mouth?

Lu Xiaoyi deliberately pouted and muttered, "Tear, tear!" ”

The magpie poked her with a glove, and then explained: "My mother was not in good health a while ago, I am the eldest in the family, if I don't wash, let my younger brothers and sisters wash it!" ”

Lu Xiaoyi once thought that Aunt Hua forced the magpie to go to Hanxi to do laundry, not only indignant that Aunt Hua was patriarchal, but also imagined the magpie as a masochistic little girl, and when she learned the truth, she misunderstood Aunt Hua, Lu Xiaoyi was ashamed and said to the magpie: "Magpie, you are a good sister!" I'm going to learn from you. ”

Xiao Ding held Xiao Yi's hand and said sweetly: "You are also a good sister!" ”