The sky outside was pale blue and white, and the crackling of firecrackers was even bigger than yesterday's Chinese New Year's Eve. After Chinese New Year's Eve, it was the first month, and Chen Xuejiao was another year old.

Yesterday, I didn't boil until the east turned white, and I felt regretful. Lifted the new quilt embroidered with a big red peony on the quilt on his body, reached under the pillow, and found a big red paper bag embroidered with a carp jumping over the dragon gate, which contained ten cents, which was the New Year's money given by Chen Xiucai and Li.

Although Chen Xuejiao is in charge of the big money in the family, it is different to receive the New Year's money, as if a pie falling from the sky is as happy as hitting her head.

Not only Chen Xuejiao, all the children in the family have ten pennies under their pillows.

Chen Xuejiao put on a small jacket, this jacket is embroidered with two pomegranates, and in the cracked mouth, the seeds are like the real thing, crystal clear, who can embroider so realistically except for Jinghao. After a freshening up, he wore two double screws on his head, no other jewelry, wrapped around two red ribbons, his ears and eyes had grown, and he removed the tea stems and put on two broken silver jasmine nails the size of a grain of rice.

With pink cheeks and jet-black hair, she is dressed like a dragon girl in a New Year's painting.

There was laughter and excitement outside, everyone offered their hands, and a string of auspicious words in their mouths were sprinkled outside.

"Xuejiao hasn't come out yet, let's go inside and make trouble for her." The sound of the yellow dragonfly is crisp and pleasant.

Chen Xuejiao heard this and hurried out, and Huang Dragonfly, Zhao Yiming and some other villagers all came to pay New Year's greetings to the Chen family. The table was full of fruit cakes, pastries, melon seeds, peanuts, and sugar melons, and Li grabbed his hands full of auspicious words and stuffed them into the pockets of the New Year's greeters. Not only the Chen family, on the morning of the first day of the new year, every household will come up with the best things to entertain their neighbors, and there are those naughty boys who get up early in the morning from the head of the village to the end of the village to go door to door to greet the New Year, and wait for a circle. The waist is stuffed with fruits and melon seeds, and he walks all the way and falls all the way. Qi Ping is not, and the big egg, the second egg, and the third egg get up early to pay New Year's greetings. The waist bag is bulging, with sugar in his mouth, and melon seeds in his hand.

I haven't seen Zhao Yiming for a few days, I haven't been fat but thin after the New Year, my face was blown by the cold wind, and I looked like a pretty girl, wearing a cyan jacket and pants, and I only knew how to grin when I saw Xuejiao.

After a few winter snowfalls. Chen Xuejiao knew that his father's illness had worsened. Thinking about it, in order to take care of his father, he didn't have a good time for a whole year.

Chen Xuejiao stood and talked to him, he didn't see any decadence except for being a little thinner. With a happy face, he said auspicious words to her, and avoided Chen Xiucai's sight, took out a copy from his sleeve and handed it to Xue Jiao.

Huang Dragonfly stood in the north wing and talked to Xue Ru and Jing, her eyes glancing at the upper room from time to time, looking forward to the appearance of the gloomy young man.

These days, when I came to Chen's house, I didn't see him, and I wanted to read in the room. The relationship between the big house and the second room is not good, and it is not easy to inquire.

No other day will come out. The first day of the new year can not come out. She got up early in the morning and dressed up deliberately, with a faint powder on her face, a thin layer of rouge on her cheeks, and a tuxedo combed with green silk all over her head, and there were no ornaments. Alone planted a green plum. With the silver-red plum blossom pattern gauze jacket worn on his body, the whole person is bright and pretty.

Since the last time he was holding a handful of plum blossoms, he was bumped into by Chen Qilin. Every day she planted a plum blossom on her head.

Chen Qilin finally came out of the upper room, just stood under the eaves and went in again. The dragonfly looked at the corner of his moon-white robe, his eyebrows were tightly locked, his heart was like a deer bumping, and he immediately blushed for no reason, she was wearing a silver-red shirt, and her face was like a peach blossom, and she couldn't see the redness.

After the people in the courtyard dispersed, the grandchildren of the Chen family were led by the adults of all parties to the upper room to pay New Year's greetings to the second elder. Mrs. Chen sat upright, and when she saw the big house, she pouted, and the old man Chen smiled and gave a red envelope, which was five cents.

Li had already made breakfast, and he didn't chase his mouth to eat on Chinese New Year's Eve, and he didn't feel hungry at all when he got up early. Chen Xuejiao ate a bowl of gruel indiscriminately and put down the dishes and chopsticks. However, he was still forced by Li to eat a piece of reunion cake, sprinkled with sesame seeds, sesame oil, and dates.

Outside the sound of the merchant's selling, the New Year's Festival is a good time for the merchant to walk the streets and alleys to earn copper plates, the dolls always have a few New Year's money in their hands, and the bells and whistles can make money as long as they are beautiful.

Chen Xuejiao and Chen Qiping slipped out early and bought small candy people, sugar balls, and sticky tooth candy, these snacks are not as good as those at home for the New Year, but everything on the stall is good, and they bought a picture.

There are not only playthings on the merchant's burden, but also fat powder velvet flowers. Xue Ru and Jing stood by the door and looked out, their eyes were very hot, they were embarrassed to go up to bargain, or Xue Jiao and Xue Wa helped bargain and bought two boxes of incense powder rouge and two hair ties with glass beads.

Xue Miao heard that she was selling fat powder, and she also came out, she was wearing a new skirt embroidered with magpies in satin, which was stuffed with new cotton, light and warm, and the waist looked long and thin, she was born black, and the silver and gray trivials of roses and red beads lined her whiter. Xu's Xuewa sarcastically ridiculed her for being black yesterday, and today she specially found this piece to wear.

Today, I want to go home on the first day of the new year.

Jing Hao thought of her mother, and wept two lines of tears. I don't know, when worshipping ancestors at home, the mother's tablet will be placed on it. My father's newly married stepmother seems to be a reasonable and easy to get along with, but I don't know if she will be like Mrs. Chen in this situation.

When she wanted her mother to die, her grandmother wanted to expel her from the ancestral grave, and the scene was really chilling.

Chen Xiu only knew about Jing Hao's heart, he had no mother, and he knew that people who had no mother were suffering in their hearts, that is, they didn't realize it on weekdays, and they would have to shed two lines of tears when they arrived at the Qingming Festival, and their feelings were all out of place.

So he said to his niece, "If you want, go and put incense on your mother during the New Year." ”

You can only go to the Wang family to give incense to your mother, but the Chen family can't, Wen Ying is a married daughter, and she can't receive incense in her mother's house when she dies.

Yesterday, Qingbi asked Wang Baozhu to take Jing home for the New Year, and wrote a sincere letter to Chen Xiucai. She also sent a set of autumn fragrant silk clothes, the needles and needles are all sewn by herself, the needle angles are fine, and the embroidery is also Fulu Tuanhua, and the royal blue clothes are embedded with three sides, all of which are rolled finely, and the precious and uncommon glitter satin is also used. The letter also said that she thought that she looked good in red clothes with a white complexion, but she forgot that she was still keeping filial piety. It seems that he is literate and knowledgeable. It is not surprising that the sisters who came out of the secret door are literate, they are all trained in size and size, in order to please the officials and their families. Merely. Qingyu's words are gentle and elegant, and there is no frivolity at all, but it seems that he has been specially trained by a famous teacher. is said to be like his person, Chen Xiucai has some sympathy for his brother-in-law's stepwife. After Chen Xiucai saw it, he discussed it with Jing Hao, and Jing Hao thought about going home after the first day of junior high school.

Wang Baozhu didn't know if he was persuaded by Qingbi. This is a real concern for Jing Hao. He took out a pair of silver bracelets from his arms and handed them to Jing Hao, judging from the detailed patterns on the top of the book, they were made in the largest silver building shop in the town, and the flowers and leaves were carved with all his heart.

Jing Hao's unspeakable emotions to Wang Baozhu. He forced his mother to death, and he had to force himself to change his parents, and now he gave himself a bracelet, which made her hate him less so.

The Li family prepared a four-color box early and let Jing Hao carry it. This box is still bought with good money, and she now embroiders a lot of money, and tries her best to supplement the family. Li didn't just say that he helped her keep the dowry. There should be fruits at home during the New Year, and Jinghao paid for Xuejiao to buy them.

Jing Hao was reluctant in her heart, in the end, she was the stepmother, and she was good to her, so she made a middle coat embroidered with red and bright peony for Qingyu as a gift.

Chen Xiucai ordered Qi An to send Jinghao to Wangjiazhuang, and the rules of the New Year are big. On the first day of the new year, you can't go to relatives. can only send her to the entrance of Wangjiazhuang Village.

Qi An came back to learn to Li Shi: "...... My cousin's stepmother was already waiting at the entrance of the village, and her hands were red from the cold......"

There's a lot of work to do in the day. The Chinese New Year's Eve that was promised to the upper room was spent separately, and the first and second rooms of the new year were together for the reunion festival. Chen Xuejiao expected that the reunion of the two rooms together would definitely cause trouble, if the reunion dinner was placed at home at the beginning of the year, and each room was invited to eat, so that they would be guests at home, and they would not make a mistake.

Chen Xiucai is a transparent person, for the sake of his wife and children, he agreed and persuaded Old Man Chen. No matter how Mrs. Chen blows her beard and glares at her eyes, it is inevitable to have a reunion dinner in a big house.

Mrs. Chen is still making a fire for the sacrificial thing, and she is an old man with a face.

Old Man Chen asked the family to kowtow to Liu's tablet, but it was not because he remembered her in his heart. In his heart, Liu is the fairy in the sky, and his wife, Mrs. Chen, is the one who knows cold and hot. Two days ago, because Qi Lin went home, he was so happy that he drank two more glasses of spirits, and started a dream at night, dreaming that Liu and Wenxiu were standing in front of him, not saying a word, only crying with their eyes.

After waking up, the more he thought about it, the more he felt uncomfortable, Mrs. Chen knew very well what the children in front of him were. Back then, he was pulling three children, and finally someone was willing to come over the door to be a stepmother, and he was grateful, not to mention that Mrs. Chen was a serious girl when she entered the door, so many white and tender offspring were unwilling to marry, but they were willing to marry him. For this reason, he turned a blind eye to the lives of the children who had come out of him.

As everyone knows, Mrs. Chen is the stepmother, it is no way, she is a child in her mother's house either to quarrel with the West family or to fight with the East family, and her style of acting is not like a girl who has not been out of the cabinet at all, and her pungent reputation has gone out, and no one has come to the door to propose marriage until eighteen or nineteen. It's not a way to delay like this, my mother died at the age of twenty, and my sister-in-law, who had been suppressed since she got married, made the decision and promised her to Mr. Chen, and she became a ready-made mother as soon as she entered the door.

Over the years, Old Man Chen has never mentioned the future, and he didn't expect to live to such a long time, so he let her children kowtow to the front.

Having a reunion dinner in the big house, Li didn't want others to help, and took the children to prepare meals in the pot house. Cai's stomach came to help, and he came to cook the pot together with Xuewa.

Zhao and Zhang hid in the house and did not come out.

After frying the fish, marinating the meat, and steaming the ribs, Li worked hard all day, preparing 12 hot dishes, 6 cold dishes, plus various cakes and fruits, and set up two large tables.

Before the dishes were put on the table, Zhang was led out of the house by the fragrance, went straight to the pot house, and said hello to Li. I went straight to the stove and took a small stool and sat down, took chopsticks to scoop up the fried rice candy in the pot, put it in the plate, opened the sugar jar, sprinkled a thick layer of white sugar on the fried golden and bubbly side, and bit it when I picked it up.

Chen Xuejiao couldn't get used to her style, so she moved a basket of fried fruits and sugar jars to the north wing.

"Why, didn't you say that I would feel distressed after eating a few fried fruits at the reunion dinner in your house?" The corners of Zhang's mouth were oily after eating.

"Grandma hasn't eaten yet, and the fourth aunt has moved her chopsticks." Chen Xuejiao carried out the second elder in the upper room.

This dish is served on the table, Li and Xueru are making dumplings, Old Man Chen likes to eat mutton filling, and Chen Qilin also likes to eat. Only pork stuffing is prepared in the upper room, and the mutton dumplings sent to the upper room yesterday don't need to think about entering Chen Qilin's stomach. Thinking of this layer, Li Shi put down two large bowls of mutton filling.

The dishes were arranged, the dumplings were served, and the mermaids in each room entered the north wing. Mrs. Chen came after being urged by Chen Xiucai, and when she entered the room and saw Li beckoning everyone to sit down with a hostess's posture, layers of dark clouds were buried in her heart.

The second room family is also not a taste in their hearts, in previous years, the reunion dinner was full of their second room singing the leading role, but this year it has been over. Looking at the children in the big room, all of them were new shoes and socks, and their faces were full of joy.

Old man Chen smashed his mouth while eating, with a jar of pear blossoms and white, and he was holding a wine cup and drinking vigorously. The meat on the table was full of chopsticks, but I ate a bowl of mutton dumplings first.

On the table, everyone in the second and fourth rooms ate very happily, especially Zhang's grabbed the chicken leg and gnawed it. Since the division of the family, they rarely eat such a delicious dish. Mrs. Chen is careful, under the New Year's Festival, a chicken has to eat several meals, and the stewed clear soup has little water, and they have long run out of oil and water in their stomachs.

Chen Xuejiao noticed Chen Qilin, picked up the mutton dumplings in a single door, dismantled the skin, and ate the mutton inside, and there was a bunch of dumpling skins in front of her.

"Brother Qi Lin is like this every time he eats dumplings." Xuewa whispered against Chen Xuejiao's ear, "It's not what I'm used to." ”

Xue Miao, who was sitting opposite, heard this, picked up her eyes and gouged them out, Xue Wa was not afraid of her, knocked on the chopsticks and said, "Could it be that you are burning once." ”

As soon as these words came out, not only Xue Miao, but also Zhao's face turned red.

After all, it was a festival, Chen Xuejiao didn't want to spoil the fun at the dinner table, so she sandwiched a chopsticks and handed the tender fish to Mr. Chen: "Master, this is your favorite fried fish, you can taste the crispy skin on the outside, the inside is fragrant and tender, and the wine is the best." ”

Here, the clever Chen Qiping picked up the wine jug early and refilled a glass for Old Man Chen.

The contradiction was revealed, and this reunion dinner was lively and peaceful. (To be continued)