Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 297

This is very convenient for Zhao Da'e, since she is a bit lazy and prefers to do as little housework as possible.

But right now, she needs money for all her businesses, renting shops and building new houses, and she's really short of cash. She'll consider buying these furniture pieces when she's a little better off in the future.

On the other side, Zhang Cuilan was also doing a thorough cleaning at the Zhao family's house. Every corner of the house was cleaned. This kind of cleaning is called "sweeping the house" and is to sweep away the dust and bad luck of the past year.

Zhang Cuilan deliberately came to Wang Guixiang's room to clean, leaving no corner unchecked, wanting to see if Wang Guixiang would leave money or savings books in the room.

So, under the pretext of cleaning, Zhang Cuilan rummaged through Wang Guixiang's room, searching here and there, but found nothing.

Zhang Cuilan even searched every nook and cranny of the bed sheet, but still couldn't find any money.

Then a voice came from the doorway, startling Zhang Cuilan.

"what are you doing?"

Zhang Cuilan jumped in surprise, dropping the broom in her hand. When she saw that it was Zhao Tiegang, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said angrily, "What are you doing, scaring me from behind?"

Zhao Tiegang glanced at the somewhat messy room and said uncomfortably, "What are you doing? Weren't you cleaning? Why is it so messy?"

Zhang Cuilan glanced at the door, and after finding no one outside, she put it down, closed the door, and began tidying up the messy blankets and cabinets one by one. As she tidied, she said, "Oh, what do you know? I'm checking if Mom has hidden the money. I've searched this room, but there's no money or savings account anywhere. Honey, Mom might really be broke. She took tens of thousands of yuan from my second brother's family and it's all gone. She definitely gave it to some lover outside! Even if it's not a lover, it's still an outsider!"

Zhang Cuilan was very certain this time; she deliberately waited a few days until the day of the big cleaning, using the excuse of cleaning to come to the room to check.

Zhao Tiegang's expression also turned somewhat grim. He asked tentatively, "Did you really turn the room upside down and not find a single penny? Did Mom put the money somewhere else?"

Zhang Cuilan pursed her lips and finally told the truth, "It's not that I can't see any money at all, but I can only see a few loose bills, maybe a few hundred in total, and a savings book, but there's only about a thousand yuan on it. I guess that's all the money Mom has, but the money my second brother gave her is far from enough. You've heard my second sister-in-law nag about it; she gave Mom tens of thousands of yuan, it can't be just a thousand yuan. Mom must have embezzled those tens of thousands of yuan or given them to outsiders."

Hearing Zhang Cuilan say this, Zhao Tiegang's face also turned ugly. He was a little incredulous at first, but if Wang Guixiang didn't have these tens of thousands of yuan on her, then where did his second brother's money go?

It's terrifying to think about. Could it really have been given to an outsider, just as Zhao Da'e said?

Zhao Tiegang still remembered that Wang Guixiang had promised him last year that she would use all the money she had saved to build him a new house. But the money for building the new house was gone, and he had also given Wang Guixiang several thousand yuan. Could it be that Wang Guixiang had given all of that money to outsiders? And if his father found out, whose side should he take when the couple had a fight? Wouldn't this family fall apart?

After thinking for a while, Zhao Tiegang said to Zhang Cuilan, "Cuilan, you must not tell anyone about this, especially not Dad and Second Brother. We'll ask Mom later. Maybe she lent the money to someone else. We'll help her get the money back. Maybe we can build a new house with the money we get back."

As for whether or not to repay his second brother's money, that's not within Zhao Tiegang's current considerations. What he's thinking about right now is how to get the money to build a new house.

Zhang Cuilan thought about it carefully and realized that what she said was true. What if Wang Guixiang had lent the money to an outsider? It would be bad if she made a big fuss about it. She should wait and see, or go to Wang Guixiang and ask for the few thousand yuan that the three families had entrusted to her. In any case, she couldn't afford to lose out. In the end, she could ask Wang Guixiang for a few thousand more yuan to build a new house.

The day before Lunar New Year's Eve, red lanterns were hung at the door of every household, which looked very festive.

Cheng Jinxi took out the red beans to soak, so she could use them to make a delicious dish tomorrow morning.

Zhou Tianfu sat in his room, imagining the happy days he would have with Ma Huaihua after their marriage, and kept smiling foolishly.

Zhao Da'e took out his freshly washed red overcoat and hung it by his bedside, so he could wear his new clothes on New Year's Eve.

On this day, every household eagerly awaits the arrival of Lunar New Year's Eve.

Soon, as soon as the sun rose the next day, the sound of firecrackers could be heard.

"Crackling and popping—"

Zhao Da'e woke up amidst the commotion, but was still half asleep. Zhou Chunwen came over and shook Zhao Da'e awake, saying, "Da'e, get up. Don't sleep in on New Year's Eve. We still need to write the character 'Fu' and cut paper-cuts later."

Writing couplets, pasting up the character "福" (fortune), and cutting paper-cuts are all traditions of New Year's Eve.

Zhao Da'e rubbed his eyes and had no choice but to get up.

Cheng Jinxi had already gotten up early and was busy in the kitchen.

Today she's making sticky rice cakes. First, she takes out the red beans that she soaked last night, rinses them with clean water, and then puts them in a pot to cook after the water boils.

Next, wash some red dates. However, the red dates need to be cut into small pieces and pitted. This step is a bit troublesome, but Cheng Jinxi still did it very patiently.

After doing all this, prepare some white sugar or glutinous rice flour in advance, so that you won't be caught off guard and scrambling to find the ingredients when you need to do these things later.

Wait about half an hour, and the red beans will be almost cooked. Mash the cooked red beans, add an appropriate amount of white sugar, mix well, and knead them into small balls. The red bean filling is now ready.

Cheng Jinxi took a large bowl from the cabinet, added an appropriate amount of glutinous rice flour and chopped red dates, then picked up white sugar and poured it in. She stopped when she felt it was about right, as it didn't need to be too sweet, just right.

Then slowly add an appropriate amount of water and knead vigorously. This takes some effort. Cheng Jinxi's arms ached from kneading. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued kneading the dough without resting for a while.

This needs to be kneaded into a smooth dough, and the dough should not be too soft, otherwise it will collapse during steaming.

After completing the previous steps, Cheng Jinxi set the dough and red bean filling aside. She took a small piece of dough, flattened it with her hand, wrapped the red bean filling inside, and then slowly sealed and pinched it closed, ensuring there were no gaps. She placed the wrapped sticky rice buns in the steamer, keeping a certain distance between them.

After doing all this, Cheng Jinxi added enough water to the steamer, brought it to a boil over high heat, and then placed the steamer basket inside. It would take about half an hour to steam.

After finishing all this, Cheng Jinxi finally breathed a sigh of relief. It would take a while to steam properly, and during that time, Cheng Jinxi needed to prepare the paste.

She poured some boiled water into a basin, then added flour and stirred it continuously until it became a sticky paste, which could be used to stick couplets and the character "福" (fortune).

On the other side, Zhao Da'e wrote the four characters "Full Garden of Spring" on a piece of paper. Although she was young, her handwriting was quite neat.

The couplet "A Garden Full of Spring Light" was to be posted in the garden. Of course, it wasn't written by Zhao Da'e, but by someone Zhou Yuren had written it outside.

Zhao Da'e was playful and wanted to write more couplets, but for children like her, writing the character "福" (fortune) was the most suitable.

Zhao Da'e took a calligraphy brush and wrote a slightly crooked "福" (fortune) character on the paper.

On the other side, Zhou Chunwen was very satisfied with the characters she had written, and even showed them to Zhao Da'e, saying, "Da'e, Da'e, come and see the characters I wrote, aren't they beautiful!"

Zhou Chunwen had practiced writing the character "福" (fu, meaning good fortune) before New Year's Eve. She had heard that the better one wrote the character, the more good fortune one would have in the year. Zhou Chunwen believed this and wanted to have a lot of good fortune this year, so she secretly practiced writing. As a result, the characters she wrote were quite neat.

"It's so beautiful! Cousin, your writing is really good!"

Zhao Da'e praised with a smile, then lowered her head to continue writing the "Fu" character she hadn't finished. At this moment, Zhou Chunhong came out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of sticky paste. This paste could be applied to the back of the couplets and then stuck on. It had good adhesion and was not easy to fall off. Almost every household used this method to stick them on.

Zhou Yuren first brushed on the paste, then evenly applied it to the back of the couplets before pasting them on the wall.

Zhao Da'e also took a brush, applied the paste to the back of the "Fu" character, and then turned the "Fu" character upside down and pasted it on the wall, which meant that "Fu" had arrived.

It's not just this one "福" (Fu, meaning good fortune) character that's pasted upside down; the "福" characters written by my eldest cousin, my second cousin, my aunt's husband, and my eldest cousin are all pasted on the wall.

“Let’s put up a few more, and then this whole wall will be covered with the character ‘福’ (Fu, meaning good fortune),” Zhou Yuren said with a smile, having already put up several ‘福’ characters while he was speaking.

The sound of firecrackers outside continued intermittently. Zhou Chunwen tugged at Zhao Da'e's sleeve, "Da'e, shall we go play with firecrackers later?"

Every year during the Lunar New Year, children and adults alike play with firecrackers. It's lively and fun, but it's only done during the Lunar New Year. Zhou Chunwen always looks forward to playing with firecrackers during the Lunar New Year.

"Okay, big cousin, let's sneak out to play later." Zhao Da'e couldn't wait to go out and play. Since her rebirth, she had never had a proper rest like this. Every day she was thinking about how to make money and build a new house. There were also many chores at home, and she was always worried. Only during the New Year could she relax a little.

After pasting up the "Fu" character, they started cutting paper snowflakes. Zhao Da'e didn't have much of an artistic talent, and he couldn't finish cutting the snowflakes, so he threw them aside and ran into the kitchen.

She could smell the sticky rice cakes from afar. It was early morning and she hadn't eaten much yet. Zhao Da'e came in at the right time, and as she expected, Cheng Jinxi had already taken the sticky rice cakes out of the steamer when she came in.

Zhao Da'e had a sweet tooth, so he washed his hands with hot water and then went to get a sticky rice cake to eat.

Cheng Jinxi couldn't help but laugh, "Look at you, so greedy. But I can't blame you. You must be starving since you didn't eat this morning. Take a few more to eat. Your aunt cooked a lot, enough for you."

Zhao Da'e's eyes lit up when he ate the sticky rice cake; its sweet taste made him want to take a few more bites.

"Auntie, your sticky rice cakes are so delicious!"

Zhao Da'e said excitedly, finishing a sticky rice cake in no time. But because it was too hot and he ate it too fast, Zhao Da'e choked a little and patted his chest to catch his breath.

Seeing this, Cheng Jinxi quickly poured a bowl of water for Zhao Da'e. Zhao Da'e took the water and immediately drank it in big gulps. She had eaten too fast and almost choked to death.

After taking a sip of water, Zhao Da'e immediately felt better. Finally, she couldn't help but give Cheng Jinxi a thumbs up and exclaimed, "As expected of Auntie, the sticky rice cakes she makes are delicious!"

Cheng Jinxi was both angry and helpless. "Why are you eating so fast? No one's going to take it from you. What if you choke?"

Zhao Da'e scratched his head sheepishly, "It's nothing, Auntie, stop nagging, have a sticky rice cake, it's delicious."

Just as Cheng Jinxi was about to start nagging, a sticky rice cake was stuffed into her mouth. She subconsciously took a bite and found it quite delicious. She hadn't eaten all morning and now the sticky rice cake tasted especially sweet.

But she felt helpless. The goose couldn't stand a single word of nagging, but that's just a child's habit, so it's nothing.

They invited Zhou Tianfu and the others to come and eat sticky rice cakes together. Zhou Chunwen took a bite and couldn't help but exclaim, "This is delicious!"

Zhou Chunhong ate several sticky rice cakes. "These are...sticky rice cakes made by our mom. The taste...of course they're good! I...want to eat them every year from now on!"

Cheng Jinxi smiled and said helplessly, "I will do it every year from now on."

Zhou Yuren jokingly interjected, "So what if your mom makes it every year? Once you get married, you won't be able to eat it anymore!"

These words startled Zhou Chunhong slightly. She would be 15 after the New Year, and in a few years she would be going on blind dates and getting married. At that time, she would be staying at her husband's family home and wouldn't be able to go back to her parents' home often, and she wouldn't be able to eat her mother's cooking often.

The thought of this possibility made Zhou Chunhong feel a little sad, but then she thought of something: If I get married in the future, I'll find someone nearby, someone from the same village. That way, I can go back to my parents' house for lunch. I'm so smart!

Looking at her second cousin, Zhao Da'e found it somewhat amusing that her initial sadness had turned into excitement and joy.

Zhou Tianfu chuckled and said, "Dad is just talking nonsense. Er Ya is still so young. Why get married so soon? Let's wait until she grows up a bit more."

Zhou Chunhong is only 1.5 meters tall, which is considered short in the Zhou family. Zhao Da'e is only seven years old and can be ignored for now. Even Zhou Chunwen is 1.7 meters tall.

Besides, fourteen or fifteen years old is still a child, and marriage is a long way off. Although the custom here is to get married at a young age, it's still around seventeen or eighteen.

Zhou Tianfu's words immediately hit Zhou Chunhong's sore spot, and she retorted defiantly, "Big brother... I... I... I'm not an adult yet, my height... and so on... can still grow, I... am not... the shortest in the family!"