New Year's Eve is the most important day of the year in China. No matter where you are, or whether you can go home or not, you will always do something meaningful on this special day. During the years when Xiao Zheng was overseas, every New Year's Eve he would eat hot pot with Monkey Siyan and others and play all night long. If I'm in a leisurely mood, I'll turn on the TV and watch the Spring Festival Gala. Even if Ma Yingjun and others strongly requested to change the channel -
But no matter what, New Year's Eve in previous years was always lively and full of New Year's flavor. Although there is no complete family to celebrate this special holiday, at least setting off firecrackers and changing cups can dilute the yearning for family to a certain extent.
This year's New Year's Eve can be said to be the least lively but most meaningful New Year's Eve in Xiao Zheng's life.
There were not many people, only three men and one woman. There are still two nuns, one can speak and is mute. Except for him, no one can liven up the atmosphere. This made Xiao Zheng smell a bit of family, but more uneasy about this New Year's Eve dinner.
While cleaning up the fallen leaves from the back mountain with a broom, he said to Lin Huayin, who was sitting on the stone steps and resting: "Old Lin, your attitude needs to be improved. This is not Xinao, nor is it a pearl. When we are guests, we have to use it as guests. You must be aware that you can’t keep a straight face all the time and act like everyone owes you money.”
Lin Huayin glanced at Xiao Zheng with a flat expression: "You asked me to come."
"It's boring if you say that." Xiao Zheng performed a beautiful sweep of thousands of troops, sending the fallen leaves on the slope swaying down the cliff, and turned back to Lin Huayin and said. "It's true that I took the initiative to come here to celebrate the New Year. But why did I come? I don't want you and my mother-in-law to eat and chat in peace. After all, we are close relatives. You can't blame her for the rest of your life, right? Besides, My mother-in-law just said something to me, and I think it makes sense."
Lin Huayin looked at the snowy scenery in the distance without any interest, neither responding nor asking. As quiet as an iceberg goddess. If he wasn't still breathing, he would be regarded as a snowman.
"One person is guilty, and all living beings are complicit." Xiao Zheng said with a showy face. "It means that if one person makes a mistake, everyone is to blame. Don't always use what happened in the past as an excuse. Once or twice is characterful, but if it is done more than once, it becomes pretentious."
Lin Huayin raised his eyes slightly and glanced at Xiao Zheng: "Did he bribe you with just a bowl of soup?"
"There are also two plain lion heads. Half a bowl of steamed vegetables made of unknown ingredients." Xiao Zheng said with bright eyes. "It is no exaggeration to say that my mother-in-law's craftsmanship is absolutely amazing."
As he said that, he took a broom and learned how the eminent monks were playing with several sets of flower arrangements on the hillside, and then he clasped his hands together and said: "Female donor, the poor monk is hungry, let's have eve dinner?"
The environment here is quiet, with the endless sky in the distance and the snow-capped mountains nearby, compared to the big cities with tall buildings in the Pearl. Lin Huayin's tense nerves were also released, and his mentality became relatively active. He stood up and said, "Are you so interested that I can ask Uncle Bai to shave you?"
"How about that?" Xiao Zheng lost his broom and said proudly. "If I want to become a monk and become a monk, won't you have to be a widow? No, no, no. Even if I can hurt myself, I can never hurt you."
"It's okay." Lin Huayin said calmly. "I will give you some sesame oil money every year."
Xiao Zheng rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth and said, "If you try to bully me again, believe it or not, I will throw you down the mountain?"
Lin Huayin walked into the temple silently.
When the two returned to the temple, Li Jing and Ye Yuhua had prepared a table full of food. There are three or four kinds of steamed vegetables, seven or eight plates of stir-fried and cold dishes, plus two hot pots and a pot of thick soup. It can be said to be extremely sumptuous and can be regarded as a high-standard New Year’s Eve dinner.
As soon as the two of them entered the dining room, Li Jing greeted them to sit down with a smile: "Miss, Azheng, come and sit down. After the incense is poured, you can eat."
"Sake incense?" Xiao Zheng was about to sit down, then stood up and asked. "Want to offer incense to the Bodhisattva?"
"Yeah." Li Jing nodded with a smile.
"I'll also burn a stick of incense." Xiao Zheng rubbed his hands and grinned. "Just a wish by the way."
"What else do you wish for?" Ye Yuhua took out the Changxiang and said with a smile.
"I once prayed for peace and prosperity for the country and the people, and then asked for a good wife." Xiao Zheng said with a smile. "Although we can't talk about world peace at the moment, things are going well for us in China. As for the latter, I can be considered a success. Naturally, I have to fulfill my wish."
Ye Yuhua chuckled and nodded, handed Xiao Zheng a stick of incense, then looked at Lin Huayin and took out an incense stick.
"Old Lin. Don't you want the company to grow bigger and the business to go smoothly?" Xiao Zheng asked jokingly.
Lin Huayin said nothing, and reached out to take the stick of incense handed to her by Ye Yuhua, lit it, then faced the Bodhisattva, prayed, burned incense, and bowed.
Xiao Zheng, on the other hand, was kneeling on the futon with a professional and exaggerated posture, which almost made him prostrate himself. Shen Shen said in a nagging voice: "Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, may you bless me to live a long life, have a family full of children and grandchildren, have more money than I can spend, and live more prosperously as time goes by -"
After everyone in the group had offered incense, they returned to the dining room, took their seats, and moved their chopsticks. Monks do not tell lies, and they also abstain from alcohol and meat. Therefore, although Ye Yuhua prepared a large table of delicious food, it was a small regret that he had no wine to serve the food. Xiao Zheng, who had been hungry all day, came to the table with a whirlwind meal. Lin Huayin was also hungry, although not as crazy as Xiao Zheng, and he didn't stop using his chopsticks. Within a quarter of an hour, three or four plates were empty on the table, the speed was quite astonishing.
Ye Yuhua pays attention to color when cooking, and the taste is also light. Since there is no wine to accompany the food, if the taste of the food is too heavy, you will inevitably have to eat the food, and you will be full after a while.
Xiao Zheng had never tasted Ye Yuhua's cooking, and as her daughter, Lin Huayin, how had she ever tasted it? According to the information obtained from Lin Xiaozhu's gossip, Lin Huayin had not even had a wet nurse a few times, and had only been fed milk powder and nutritional supplements. It must be because Ye Yuhua was busy with work back then and rarely spent time with her at home, right
Xiao Zheng was eating the food, and asked curiously: "Mother-in-law, I see this mountain is deserted, let alone electricity, there is not even a human figure. Where do you get the things you usually eat and drink from? ?”
Along the way, Xiao Zheng only saw large stretches of bare woods, and it was hard to imagine where the table full of dishes came from. And what about the commonly used ingredients, rice, oil, and salt
"There is a vegetable garden in the back mountain, and we can be self-sufficient in some ordinary fruits and vegetables. As for materials, rice, oil and salt, I have to bother Ajing to go down the mountain to buy them. There are only two of us, and the consumption is not big. We can use it in one purchase. Half a year later." Ye Yuhua elegantly ate a plate of stir-fried cabbage on the table and smiled.