After the ancestor worship, the big room was lively and ready to celebrate Chinese New Year's Eve.

originally planned to invite Huang Xiucai's father and daughter to celebrate the festival together, but Huang Xiucai politely refused. Li thought in his heart that the father and daughter of the Huang family were in Maoshan Village, and they were inevitably lonely under the big festival, so they prepared a meal for Chen Qi'an to carry over.

Door pairs are the highlight of the New Year, starting from the beginning of the lunar month, the village people asked Chen Xiucai to write door pairs one by one. The so-called door pair is what later generations called the Spring Festival couplets.

The villagers think that the door-to-door pair written by Xiucai is decent, and not only the villagers of Maoshan Village ask Chen Xiucai to write it, but other villagers bring two bags of brown sugar or fruits to the house from time to time to beg for the door-to-door pair. Chen Xiucai was loyal and not greedy for money, and the door pair was written, and the gift he brought was returned intact.

Every day, someone asked Chen Xiucai to write, and it didn't stop until Chinese New Year's Eve.

There is a table in the courtyard, cut out of red paper, pour ink into a small bowl or saucer, and soak the tip of an aged brush in warm water. Chen Xiucai put on a posture and waved the ink, and Chen Qi'an pulled the corner of the paper beside him, afraid that the ink that had not dried would scurry on the red paper, so he changed the glyph without permission. After writing one, the villagers held it with both hands and dried it lightly on the ground, almost kneeling and bowing reverently.

\anshu)(ba).

The villagers respect such a red couplet, and the wishful thinking and auspiciousness they want in their hearts have sustenance in this red paper black.

Li Shi with Jing Hao, snow like a pot on the busy work, chicken, fish, meat and eggs are fried and marinated, and it is just stewed on Chinese New Year's Eve. The villagers are not used to eating the bland stir-fried vegetables, so they like to eat fatty stews, pork, radish, potatoes, and a stew of peppers, which are hot, suppress hunger and warm up, and even the child can whirring two big bowls.

Today is the first time that the big house has left the upper room for Chinese New Year's Eve. Even though Li and Chen Xiucai were happy in their hearts, they still had a smile on their faces, what should they do, but their walking steps were brisk, and their tone of speech was happy. The children are different, they show their faces when they have happy things, especially Chen Qiping. In previous years, on Chinese New Year's Eve, I could only look at the meat dishes on the table and swallow my saliva. This year is different, the table is full of meat and vegetables, and you can eat whatever you want, and no one scolds the starving ghost because he has an extra chopstick dish. At this time, he was wearing new pants and jackets and Chen Xuejiao in the yard throwing snowballs and setting off cannons.

Chen Xiucai was not idle after writing the door pair, and Chen Qi'an and Chen Qi'an scrubbed the old door pair and batter on the door panel, scraped it clean little by little with a knife, applied the new batter, and pasted the brand new door pair while it was still steaming. It's not easy to stick the double doors. Chen Qi'an stood on the stool, and Chen Xiucai watched from a foot away.

"Qi Qi or not?"

"It's a little higher on the right...... The left side is a little more slanted."

The villagers are superstitious, and the door pair is not decent, and the days of the year are not decent, so they are extremely cautious when pasted.

Chen Xiucai didn't throw away any of the red notes that were cut, and wrote all the words Fu. Old man Chen personally held a large stack of jujube trees, peach trees, and pear trees in front of the door. The willows, poplars, and elms behind the door are obliquely pasted with a piece of blessing at the waist one by one. From afar, there is a white and vast joy. The farm tools stacked in the corners, the jars for storing rice, the warehouses for storing wheat, the buckets for noodles, and the jars for water will also be blessed with new blessings. In the eyes of the villagers. Those farm tools and things, which accompany the same family through hard days, are all meritorious, and should be honored on Chinese New Year's Eve.

Soon it was evening, and the time for reunion arrived. Chen Xuejiao took out a pair of newly bought red lanterns. A piece of candle was put in, lit, and a chair hung high under the eaves, and the whole courtyard was reflected red.

Mrs. Chen took the ladies and dependents in the upper room to busy the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the pot house. The usual Chinese New Year's Eve is naturally Li Shi cooking a large table of dishes, and Mrs. Chen also picks three or four, and when it is her turn, she feels that the tired bones of making a table of dishes are soft. Zhao's scraping the fish, the fish's body slipped, and his hand was scratched, and Mrs. Chen said that she had to endure her anger and paste the flour and continue to scrape. I secretly scolded the big house in my heart for not knowing what to do, who didn't share the family and didn't celebrate the New Year together.

When Mrs. Chen went to the upper room to get oil, she saw the two lanterns hanging in the north wing, and the soles of her feet were stunned, and her heart was full of bad taste. I originally wanted to buy a lot of New Year's goods in a big house, and I had a reunion dinner together on Chinese New Year's Eve, and I couldn't take advantage of the house, so I didn't have many New Year's goods except for the pigs I killed. Unexpectedly, Dafang Shengsheng refused the request to have a reunion dinner together, and Old Man Chen agreed. If this spreads, it will be a slap in the face of her stepmother.

Li Shi had a busy day, preparing the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, six hot and six cold, a total of twelve plates. Xue Jiao and Xue Ru sisters carried the plates to the house, and when they saw Mrs. Chen looking up at the lanterns, Chen Xuejiao said sweetly: "Milk, look how bright those lanterns are." ”

These words were like sticking a knife into Mrs. Chen's heart.

Chen Qi'an lit a long hanger of firecrackers, and the smoke and phosphorus fire mixed into a lively scene. The dishes have been served, the dumplings have been cooked, and the family is sitting around and starting a lively New Year. Whole braised carp, large pieces of stewed chicken, eggplant stew, pork ribs under thick red sauce, fried crispy lotus root clips, and plates of dishes exude an enticing aroma. The candles were wrapped in red paper, the body was dressed in red, and the mouth-watering dishes on the table were all covered in a bright red light......

Chen Xiucai took out a bottle of pear blossom brew, this wine is sweet and fragrant, it was given to him by Master Qin last spring, he has been buried under the peach tree at the back of the yard, and the first snow has been dug up. He poured a full cup himself, poured a cup for Li Wei, and several children also filled it one by one. The red face raised a glass to first salute Zaitian's mother, the Li family, and Xuejiao. Xue Jiao was surprised, Chen Xiucai said that if it weren't for the second girl's experience of life and death, the family would not have become so good. When Li and several children heard this, tears glistened.

Chen Xuejiao knew that their previous life was too hard, but in fact, today's life is just an ordinary family, and other families in the village don't prepare eight dishes and eight bowls for the New Year. In the past, the Chen family's life was not bitter, but under the suppression of Mrs. Chen, those rich vegetables and fruits could not be eaten.

The happiest person at the banquet is Li's, on Chinese New Year's Eve in previous years, she was busy on the stove with a dusty old clothes, and was constantly commanded by Mrs. Chen when eating reunions, adding vegetables and scooping soup for a while, busy not eating a few bites, and when everyone finished eating and got off the table, she could take advantage of the time to clean up the dishes and chopsticks to pick up a few cold dumplings and swallow them. Since she married into the Chen family, the year has always been busy and tired for her, until today, although she has also been busy in the soap room for a day, but she is busy for her own family, wearing a big red dress and a golden hairpin, and her heart is extremely happy and satisfied.

The big room has already been eaten, and the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the upper room has not yet been prepared. Not to mention anything else, you have to drive the dumplings out first, dumplings are the highlight of the reunion dinner. Zhang's rolling skin, Cai's bag. Mrs. Chen saw that Zhang's rolled skin was an inch thick, and she snatched the rolling pin from her little feet, and couldn't stop scolding. Zhao is responsible for making big dishes, because of inexperience, the fish is fried black, the pork ribs are stewed tasteless, Xuewa sits in the pot and cooks the pot, she is angry in her heart, Xue Yao and Xue Miao are eating fruit in the house and holding the stove Monster is comfortable, the same granddaughter calls her to burn the pot every time she cooks, and she is angry and stuffs more firewood into the bottom of the pot. Zhao was frying oil, and the fire was booming, and she was so frightened that she threw down the spatula and broke a bowl, so frightened that her face turned white. It was not a good sign that the bowl was broken on Chinese New Year's Eve, and Old Mrs. Chen quickly recited a few broken peaces, and glanced at Zhao fiercely.

finally made a table of New Year's dinner, and Mrs. Chen instructed her daughter-in-law to serve it to the house one by one. Zhao and Zhang passed by the door of the big room, through the curtain, and saw the meat and vegetables on the table, Li sat with a ball of joy on his face, and his heart was like a needle prick.

"Patronizing yourself, regardless of our life or death, black-hearted." Zhang scolded.

Cai's also saw the joy of going to the room for the New Year, and he was so envious in his heart, and the idea of separating the family became stronger and stronger.

Li separated the dumplings according to the mutton filling and pork filling, and Chen Xuejiao loved to eat mutton filling, so she wrapped some more.

When the firecrackers rang out in the upper room, Li served three bowls of dumplings and wanted to send them to the upper room. Even if Mrs. Chen is not, Old Man Chen is always Chen Xiucai's father. If you don't eat together at the reunion dinner, Old Man Chen doesn't say anything in his mouth, and he must be sad in his heart. Chen Xuejiao was afraid that Li would be rejected when she arrived in the upper room, so she took over the job of delivering dumplings, and Li told her that the mutton dumplings in the blue and white bowl were for Old Man Chen.

Chen Xuejiao sent the dumplings to the upper room, and Mrs. Chen's eyelids drooped and she was reprimanding her three daughters-in-law, and when she saw her come in, a stream of sour water gushed out in her heart. Today, I am more and more proud in the upper room, especially the Li family, who is coated with rouge and powder, wearing a big red jacket, and I don't know who to show the commotion.

When Mr. Chen saw that Dafang gave him dumplings, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and immediately put one in his mouth, chewed it twice, and knew that it was the mutton filling specially prepared by the Li family for himself, and praised it one after another.

Chen Xuejiao returned to the north wing room and continued to eat lively.

After drinking, Li's, Xueru, and Jinghao's faces turned red. This pear blossom is white, it doesn't look great, and the stamina is quite big, because of the New Year's Eve, Li didn't dare to let the children be greedy for a cup, and everyone was not allowed to drink a cup, and Chen Xiucai drank it himself.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, we have to stay up late to keep up the New Year, remove the leftover soup after the meal, and put frozen pears, oranges, apples, melon seeds, peanuts, and various pastries on the table.

On the table are plum blossoms plucked from private schools, and they emit a faint fragrance in the night.

Li was afraid that the children would be cold, so he specially added a brazier, and the whole room became warmer and warmer.

Everyone chatted and laughed, and before they knew it, late at night, when the crackling firecrackers in the village sounded, Chen Xuejiao's upper and lower eyelids fought, and she fell asleep somehow.

By the time she woke up, it was already the morning of the first day of the new year. (To be continued......)