boyutpedia Chapter 167 The Best New Year
Chapter 167 The Best New Year
After slaughtering the New Year pig, they steamed rice cakes, sticky bean curd dumplings, and steamed buns with leavened dough. Unlike previous years, this year the Gu family also made a lot of fried fruits and fried meatballs.
The fruits are the common hemp leaves, fried dough twists, etc., while the meatballs are tofu meatballs and pork meatballs.
In addition, the Gu family also prepared chicken, duck and fish to be used as a main dish on the 30th.
They were busy like this until the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, when families in the village who could afford it began to cut and paste window paper-cuts.
It was not until this time that Gu Wenxuan found out that her grandmother and her second aunt were both masters of paper cutting.
Not only were the window paper-cuts for their family cut by her grandmother and her second aunt, but other aunts and sisters-in-law in the village also came to her grandmother and her second aunt with red paper for help.
As lively as theirs were the families of the head of the village, the two elders of the Bai family, and Bai Jingzhou. Those who went to these families for help all had no one at home who could write Spring Festival couplets.
After a day of bustle and bustle with people coming and going, it was the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.
The villagers will visit the graves of their ancestors on this day. Of course, some people will do this three or two days in advance.
After completing this last custom, the next day will be the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the important day for people to celebrate the New Year and stay up all night.
On this day, people not only post Spring Festival couplets, burn bamboo, and eat reunion dinner, but also stay up late and eat dumplings.
Unlike previous years, this year's Gu family reunion dinner has a very rich variety of dishes.
A big braised fish, a big pot full of roast chicken, braised duck, stewed lamb, fragrant braised pork elbow, braised pork offal, braised pork, as well as cabbage and tofu, scrambled eggs with leeks, and cold spinach and peanuts.
For the dumplings in the evening, the Gu family made pure white flour dumplings with meatballs, pork with less fat and more lean meat, and a little chopped celery and green onions for seasoning. Then they washed the copper coins and put a few of them in the dumplings.
In addition to these, the Gu family also prepared a lot of nuts, dried fruits, candies, and cakes. The children, well, also the adults except Lin Shuzhen, all had the happiest year of their lives.
The joy and laughter continued until the first day of the first lunar month. Early in the morning, the Gu family collectively changed into new clothes, new shoes and new socks.
This is the first time in all these years that everyone in their family has changed into new clothes during the New Year.
The adults felt sad and had complicated feelings, but the children were much simpler. They had no time to reminisce about the good and bad times, and were only focused on cheering for their new clothes, new shoes and new socks.
After changing their clothes and walking out of their respective rooms, everyone gathered in the main hall and kowtowed to Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li according to their seniority.
Gu Yongming and Jia Guizhi came first, followed by Gu Yongqing and Lin Shuzhen, and finally Gu Wenxuan and her siblings.
After greeting Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li, and taking the money they gave to ward off evil spirits, the children then greeted Gu Yongming, Jia Guizhi, Gu Yongqing and Lin Shuzhen.
The four of them also gave Gu Wenxuan and her brother five coins to ward off evil spirits. It was the first time that the children received not just one copper coin, but a whole string of copper coins. They were all so happy that they couldn't stop smiling.
Of course, they will not take this money out of the house.
They took all the copper coins strung with red strings back into the house, locked them in a box, and put them under their pillows at night. Then everyone went out to pay New Year's greetings separately according to their seniority.
Because the children are the youngest, they basically run around the village and visit every house.
People of Gu Yongming's generation only need to pay New Year's greetings to the elders in the village.
Of course, if they meet villagers of the same generation as them in the village, they will also say auspicious words such as "Happy New Year" and "May your family be well" to each other.
As for Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li, who are the oldest in the Gu family and older than Gu Tong and Gu Xing, they only need to stay at home and be responsible for entertaining people who come to pay New Year's greetings.
It is worth mentioning that in the era that Gu Wenxuan and others live in now, this way of visiting every household to wish a happy new year is only suitable for lower-class people like them.
The upper class scholars and officials had the custom of sending congratulations to each other using name cards.
They have more social contacts than ordinary people who are confined to one place. Visiting people door to door to wish them a happy new year is time-consuming and energy-consuming. Therefore, they do not visit some friends who are not very close in person, but send servants to bring a card cut from plum blossom paper, two inches wide and three inches long, with the name, address and congratulatory words of the person being congratulated written on it, which is also called a name card, to wish them a happy new year on their behalf.
Although Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou intended to personally or urged their younger brothers to take the imperial examinations, their family was still an ordinary family after all, and visiting cards were not suitable for them. The two still had to go out and pay New Year's greetings honestly.
Like Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan's younger brothers, he had to visit almost every household in the village. Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingxin were better off. Girls of their age only needed to visit those families who were very close to their family when they went out to pay New Year's greetings.
For example, Gu Wenxuan only went to Gu Tong's house, Gu Xing's house, Li's mother's house, Bai Jingzhou's house, and Bai Jingzhou's grandparents' house, while Bai Jingxin only went to her grandparents, eldest uncle, and second uncle's house.
After visiting the few houses that they had to visit, Bai Jingxin was sent back to their own home by Bai Jingzhou. Gu Wenxuan, a capable girl who her younger brothers didn't need to worry about whether she would encounter any trouble or danger, returned to their Gu home at the end of the village alone.
When she got home, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li were talking warmly with Gu Xing's family and Gu Tong's family.
Gu Xing and Gu Tong were the first to come to Old Man Gu's place. Although Gu Xing should go back to her parents' home tomorrow according to custom, there were no elders left in her husband's family. Even if she came back today, no one in the Fang family could say anything to her.
In addition, she wanted to stay at home tomorrow to greet her daughter Fang Chunxi who had finally returned to her parents' home. So since her daughter left home three years ago, she had moved up the time for her own return home.
Gu Wenxuan entered the yard, first greeted everyone warmly, and then went straight into the kitchen to prepare hot water for everyone.
Based on the fragmentary memories left by the little original owner, Gu Wenxuan knew that Gu Tong and Gu Xing would not leave soon. They would have lunch at Gu Wenxuan's house and then go back to their respective homes.
Although her mother and aunt prepared a large pot of brown sugar water for them before they went out in the morning, there were quite a lot of people in both of their families, and with other villagers coming to visit later, the water would definitely not be enough.
She scooped the remaining brown sugar water into a clay pot, and then boiled a full pot in a large pot.
Carry the earthenware jar into the main room, refill everyone's bowls, and then take out more nuts, candies, snacks, candied fruits and dried fruits to entertain the guests.
Old Master Gu and Mrs. Li kept giving food to the adults of the two families. Although they knew that Gu Wenxuan's family was wealthy, they still felt embarrassed to eat and drink casually in someone else's home.
Even the children of the two families were restrained by them and only dared to taste a little carefully.