Chapter 36: The Spring Festival (I)
With the expectation of countless people, the reunion festival belonging to this country has finally arrived, and you can feel the difference from the moment you open your eyes on this day.
All of this is a sign of its liveliness and ritual.
Before Shi Shu opened his eyes, the outside was already lively, and the people next door seemed to be pasting Spring Festival couplets.
The man of the house was yelling that the dipping water was too thick to touch. The hostess shouted to take it back and add some hot water, Shi Shu didn't see it with her own eyes, but she could feel the hostess coming and going in a hurry and leaving with the dipping water.
"It's time to get up." Shi Shu rubbed his sleepy eyes, he usually got up much later, and he was still a little uncomfortable at this time.
"These stupid humans outside, why are they making a lot of noise and not letting the monsters get a good night's sleep." Qiu Huan stretched out dissatisfied, obviously not wanting to get up yet.
"Then plug your ears and go back to sleep." Anyway, the steamed buns can't help in front of uncles and aunts, so it's better to let him stay in the room, so as not to slip away again, today is not a day when you can not be together casually, Shi Shu doesn't want any accidents.
"Ah, it's Shi Shu, you just got up, go and help your Uncle Lin Yu paste the Spring Festival couplets." Xiaoyun brought out a bowl of rice paste from the kitchen, and here are the Spring Festival couplets pasted with this paste, which are very firm and will not fall off for a year.
"Okay, I'll take it to my uncle." Shi Shu took the rice paste, and his eyes followed the figure of Uncle Lin Yu.
Lin Yu was studying the Spring Festival couplets in the courtyard, and as soon as he divided the upper and lower couplets of the gate, he saw Shi Shu bring the bowl over, and couldn't help but smile and stepped forward to pick it up, this year's New Year is similar to usual but very different.
Probably, it's pretty much the same thing that says to be done on this day, the difference is the person who does it.
Shi Shu held on to the ladder slightly rustily and asked Uncle Lin Yu to post it on it, and after the top was aligned, Shi Shu also pasted it little by little against the seam below.
In this way, Shi Shu was looking below to see if it was aligned, holding the ladder for a while, handing the paste for a while, busy coming and going, but the whole person was very happy.
All the doors in front and back are pasted with blessing characters and couplets, and the meat cooked in the kitchen is already exuding a burst of fragrance.
At this time, it happened to have breakfast, but it did not prevent Aunt Xiaoyun from sandwiching a big chicken leg on Shi Shu.
It was Auntie's specialty dish, and it tasted like a sauce fragrance, and in the eyes of the later steamed buns, she enjoyed this special treatment alone, which was not even Uncle Lin Yu's treatment.
"Auntie, do I have anything else to do?" For the Spring Festival, Shi Shu has never had any knowledge, and the only process he is familiar with is the just-completed Spring Festival couplets, planning to come here to wash vegetables, but there is no green vegetables in today's menu.
"Well." Xiaoyun thought about it seriously, no matter how lively the two of them were in the past, they would not be like today, and there didn't seem to be any special need for help, she looked around, and finally saw a pot of dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water, and her eyes couldn't help but light up.
"Then Xiao Shu, you can help me cut off the roots of the mushrooms, be careful not to hurt your hands." Xiaoyun took out the pot of shiitake mushrooms and put them in the basin, and quickly brought the scissors, completely taking care of Shi Shu as a child, although Shi Shu was indeed a child.
"Well, got it, leave it to me."
"Haha, then please."
Occasionally, there are times when Shu is very childish.
She cleaned up one by one there, and Qiu Huan was making trouble next to her.
Is shiitake mushroom a very fragrant mushroom? He secretly hooked off a shiitake mushroom stalk with his paws, and then leaned under his nose to smell it.
"It's not very fragrant, is it because it tastes?" Qiu Huan stared at the thing on his paw to himself, hesitated for a moment, and chose to take a bite.
"Wang... Poof"
It's such a bitter and fishy thing, these strange human beings, they like to mess with this mess!!
Aha...
Shi Shu couldn't help laughing, and his shoulders twitched, and he could see that he was really amused.
"You kid, be careful not to cut it." Xiaoyun saw Shi Shu holding the scissors and shaking it, and his heart also hanged.
"Okay."
Shi Shu saw Aunt Xiaoyun looking at him very seriously, and immediately changed her appearance.
"You schadenfreude, you don't know how to be careful." Qiu Huan is still secretly spitting scum, muttering things that are not very annoying.
Shi Shu helped her aunt to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, and set up the chairs, while Lin Yu went to move out the big gifts and firecrackers that had been prepared years ago.
All the utensils in the kitchen were taken out by Xiaoyun to stew, and the fried dumplings were relatively less, the dumplings and glutinous rice balls were quick-frozen, and the aunt was not good at making those, so it was almost enough to fry the dumplings for the time being.
Shi Shu put on the hot water, the matter at hand had already been done, she was called aside by Xiaoyun to wait, and she didn't understand the next thing at all.
"You stand and wait, and it'll be fine right now."
The dumplings in the pot were ripening a little slowly, and by this time the neighbors had already returned from outside.
"Either you two go first, I'll be right there." Aunt Xiaoyun looked out the window, the sound of fireworks over there had stopped, and she was a little anxious.
"Then let's go over first, Shi Shu, you take those."
Shi Shu ignorantly took something and followed Lin Yu, Qiu Huan wanted to follow, but was stopped by Lin Yu, in case the dog was frightened by firecrackers, it was not fun, and it was not worth it if it was injured, so Qiu Huan was left at home.
Lin Yu and Shi Shu walked along an unfamiliar road one after the other, there was no one on the road, and at this time, everyone was preparing or enjoying the reunion dinner at home.
What Shi Shu didn't expect was that she was taken to an ancestral hall, and the next thing, after Aunt Xiaoyun caught up, Shi Shu completely became a marionette.
Aunt Xiaoyun and Uncle Lin Yu asked her to do whatever she wanted, and their firecrackers and fireworks were lit at the same time in this place, crackling, showing respect for their ancestors and prayers for the future.
Soon after, someone came to continue the ceremony, which I heard was a tradition in this town.
When I got home, I usually needed to give the father-in-law of the land a ceremony, which is the love of the people in the town for this land.
Immediately, the sound of firecrackers began to come from every household, and the New Year's dinner, which symbolized reunion and celebration, began.
Plates of unusual dishes are served, with chicken stewed with fungus and cuttlefish trotters being the main dishes on the table, and two stoves are filled with alcohol and burned.
Soon, the three of them served all the dishes, at this time, Xiaoyun's fish was not yet cooked, and she also remembered that it had not been cooked when she went home, and this meal could not be without this dish.
Fish is a must-have dish in every household, and it is impossible to eat it in one meal, which also symbolizes that there is more than enough every year.
"Xiao Shu, you two eat first, I'll be fine right away."
Taking advantage of Shi Shu's time to heat up the drink, Xiaoyun had already fried the fish and brought it up, and hurriedly went to cook the rice balls, and the pot that had just fried the fish had to be washed first.
"Let's wait for Auntie to come and eat together." Shi Shu really couldn't eat it first, although the steamed bun couldn't wait, but it didn't plan to eat it first.
"Our little Shu steamed buns are still quite sensible, and we know that we will wait for my aunt together." Lin Yu smiled with relief and touched his smooth chin, the beard on it was shaved by Xiaoyun early in the morning, and it felt good at this time.
Xiaoyun brought up the bowl of rice balls in the expectant eyes of everyone, and it was still steaming.
"Okay, okay, tell you to eat first without waiting for me, it's getting cold now." Xiaoyun said with some embarrassment that in the first Spring Festival with her child, she wanted to behave better, but the result was still like this.
"It's not that Xiao Shu wants to wait for you to eat together." Lin Yu quipped with a smile.
"That is, our Xiao Shu must be sensible." Xiaoyun also laughed and quipped.
Shi Shu was a little embarrassed, but the taste came up all of a sudden.
During the banquet, Lin Yu took the lead in raising the drink in his hand and began to say auspicious words, Shi Shu responded a little awkwardly, while Qiu Huan next to him was eating chicken legs intently, which was something he had been looking at in the morning.
Time at the dinner table is always extraordinarily fast, and between pushing the cups and changing the lamps, the meal is over.
As soon as she helped put away the meal, Shi Shu was mysteriously pulled aside by them, and at this time she also knew why she was boiling so much hot water.
I heard my uncle and aunt say that according to the customs of the town, after eating the New Year's dinner, it is time to change into new clothes and go out to play.
"Of course, this is a little bit of uncle and aunt's heart, put it away and spend it later."
On top of the new clothes were two brand-new red envelopes, which were the first red envelopes Shi Shu had received in many years.
She was a little embarrassed, and she didn't even remember saying thank you, so she went upstairs with her clothes, and the hot water was also sent from behind her aunt.
Shi Shu took a good bath, she felt that she smelled fragrant, and when she put on new clothes, she stood next to the wardrobe and looked in the mirror, feeling that she looked a lot better.
I don't know when my uncle and aunt bought the clothes for her, they are very comfortable and suitable, and it seems that this is the first time she can wear new clothes in the New Year.
When the New Year arrives, wear new clothes......
The scenes that exist in books and mouths can also be satisfied with reality.
The laughter and laughter outside gradually increased, and the children and youths in the neighborhood had begun to go out to play one after another, and Shi Shura covered his face with his long sleeves.
The events of the morning became blurred in my mind one by one, and it turned out that a person could not even remember clearly when he really sighed.
Shi Shu smiled with a smile, dressed in new clothes, and went out with Qiu Huan, who agreed to be changed into new clothes, carrying a bag made by Aunt Xiaoyun, and what was in the bag was the New Year's money they gave Shi Shu.
Shi Shu didn't know how much, and she just wanted to store these until one day, what she received would be so precious that she could no longer be reluctant, and perhaps, the money would be able to play its role.
Today is a magical day, the laughter at home, even the old man in the ancestral hall who can't be seen by others is smiling so kindly.
The smile seemed to say.
Shi Shu, you will live happily with your family...