Several tables of banquets in the middle hall are almost set, and tonight's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was not cooked personally because Yang Huairen had just returned home, but Yang Lotian's craftsmanship was also good, and the dishes that were laid out were more than a dozen good dishes with good reputation in the garden.

The dishes are actually not peculiar, most of them are taught by Yang Huairen, but one thing still reflects the difference between the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner and the ordinary banquet.

Needless to say, the various dried fruit plates at the banquet are not much more, a large family gathers together to celebrate the New Year, and the amount of snacks and snacks at the banquet is naturally very heavy, and the snacks and dried fruits of the Yang family are more diverse, which makes people appetize when they look at it.

All kinds of dried fruits, sweet and sour appetizing plums, stir-fried browned maltose, spicy or sweet beef jerky, cumin-flavored mutton dried beans, and of course, melon seeds and peanuts with different flavors.

A bonfire was lit in the courtyard, and according to the elderly, it was a traditional custom called "Ting Liao", which is to light a large pile of firewood in the middle of the courtyard.

Children can throw bamboo poles into the fire, and the bamboo poles burst open and make a "crackling" sound under the scorching flames, which is used to ward off evil spirits.

This is also where the word "firecrackers" comes from, of course, in the Song Dynasty, with the development of gunpowder technology, people no longer have to throw bamboo poles, but instead set off all kinds of fireworks and firecrackers.

However, this custom is still preserved, and the fire is lit in the yard on Chinese New Year's Eve, and the flame illuminates the whole yard, which is festive and makes people feel open in their hearts.

At the entrance of the lobby is an offering table with several plates and an incense burner, which contains grains, fruits, candied fruits, and five-colored paper money.

These are used to welcome the gods, and by placing these at the door of their homes, the people are willing to believe that when the gods of all walks of life go to earth on the 30th day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, when they see the offerings made to them by the families, they will choose a pious and good family, and then enter the door to pray to the family, bringing them good luck for the whole year ahead.

In addition, a small plate was placed at the threshold of the entrance, and only three things were placed on the plate, namely a cypress branch, a persimmon, and an orange.

These three things are also used to pray for blessings, and together the homonym is "Pepsi auspicious", so that the family members who come in and out and the relatives, neighbors and friends who come to visit the New Year on the first day of the new year will cross over, and ask everyone to be lucky in the new year.

Before the main meal began, Yang Huairen gathered his brothers, as well as a few shopkeepers and stewards in the family, and drank a little wine with these snacks first.

The women laughed and gathered on the other side to pull the homely food, and at the same time did not forget to wrap the dumplings in their hands.

Yang Huairen squinted at them making dumplings, and really felt that their skills were not as good as his, which actually couldn't be blamed on them, making dumplings was the same as doing other things, practice makes perfect.

In the past, when the conditions at home were not so good, they could only make dumplings during the Chinese New Year, where was there such an opportunity for them to practice?

Therefore, it is not uncommon for their craftsmanship to be not so proficient, but Yang Huairen believes that it will not be long before each of them will at least surpass his level in making dumplings.

Mother Yang and Mother Li's bags are quite presentable, and the others are really wrapped in all kinds of strange shapes, Lian'er is more like wontons, and Yun'er is wrapped because of too much force, but often leaks traps.

It was the first time for Yu Meiren and Guihong to do this kind of work, and they felt fresh and happy in their hearts, but the dumplings in their hands were miserable, and they were pinched miserably.

The second girl originally wanted to learn from her mother, but then she couldn't pinch a dumpling skin tightly, so she simply didn't use the dumpling filling in frustration, and directly took a few sugar balls and put them on the dumpling skin, and then kneaded it into a dough with both hands, which can be said to have created a precedent for sugar ball filled dumplings.

The two babies were tired after a long time, and they had fallen asleep in the cradle at this time, the little fish was still spitting bubbles, and the big official was sleeping and playing, waving his little fist and kicking his calf from time to time, as if he had not forgotten to practice kung fu in a dream.

But they can't sleep long, and when the whole Zhuangzi firecrackers go off later, they have to quarrel again, and they don't have to think about it, they can guess that these two babies will have to make a big fuss again.

At the men's table, several shopkeepers and stewards reported to Yang Huairen the accounts of several years, Yang Huairen listened and interjected from time to time, on the one hand, he expressed satisfaction and appreciation for their work in the past year, and on the other hand, he also reminded them of the matters to pay attention to in the coming year, and hoped that everyone would make persistent efforts.

Now that there are more people available, Yang Huairen doesn't have anything to worry about, only one point, whether it is in Zhuangzi or in the restaurant, or the partners who cooperate, we must continue to adhere to the distribution idea of distribution according to work and more work and more rewards, and we can't let everyone lie on the credit book and become a lazy man.

In addition, in the management of business and personnel, we are also instructed to think of more ways, brainstorm, and sort out a set of more rigorous and reasonable management methods and processes after the year.

While rewards and punishments are clear, discipline is equally important, and things like the one that happened in Mianzhou that used Yang Huairen's reputation to bully the good must not happen again.

On the brothers' side, Yang Huairen actually has a lot to say in his heart, but it doesn't seem to be the time yet, how Zhang Duan and Zhao Xu planned to conquer Western Xia after the year, Yang Huairen is still not very clear, and it is not good to blindly make judgments based on the limited information he knows.

Especially whether he will be involved in this matter, whether the soldiers of the forbidden army of Long Wuwei and Hu Benwei will be ordered to go to the battle, there is no way to know, and there is not much he can do, so he can only let everyone train step by step and gradually improve their military quality.

If the soldiers are really ordered to go to battle in the coming year, then the soldiers of the two guards and forbidden armies must also be recruited to fight.

These can be gathered together after the New Year, and it is not good to reveal a lot to them now, so as not to worry them, or their families.

Everything seems to be on the right track, and Yang Huairen has become more and more aware of his grand ideals, and has gradually begun to make great strides on the road to realization.

The hour was almost up, the women also sat around the table, Yang Mu and Yang Huairen got up in turn to toast, praying for a bumper harvest in the coming year and prosperity of the country, everyone drank happily and began to enjoy the table meal on Chinese New Year's Eve.

The bangzi of the third watch suddenly sounded, and after a moment of tranquility, the entire Yang family Zhuangzi boiled in an instant, and the dense sound of firecrackers shook the heavens and the earth, and the entire Zhuangzi was full of lightning, reflecting half of the sky in the falling snow.