On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the village committee began its annual holiday, and Zhao Donglin brought back his past benefits, ten catties of pork, five catties of red dates, and three catties of brown sugar.
"Yo, it's worth a lot of money to send out such things."
Not only is it valuable, but it is also quite rare. In this era, transportation is inconvenient, and large-scale fruit and vegetable planting has not been formed. The supply of red dates is limited. It does not mean that you can buy as much as you want. Giving away is great.
"Another ten catties of meat, we can eat it openly during the Chinese New Year this year."
"Sister-in-law, didn't you say you wanted to fry meatballs last time, why don't we fry some meatballs?"
Meixiang has always remembered what Jiahui said, saying that if there is more meat for the Chinese New Year, you can fry meatballs to eat. There are lotus roots at home, and you can also make lotus root sandwiches. Just fried are crispy on the outside and crispy on the inside, and the meat is full of fragrance. Saliva almost flowed out.
Jiahui didn't expect my sister-in-law to be like a child, thinking about delicious food all the time, she said with a smile, "That's fine, I'll fry it if mom agrees."
Jiahui kicked the ball to her mother-in-law. Zhang Qiaoer was hanging the meat on the beam with a bamboo pole. Hearing this, she said with a smile, "Okay, everyone is so grown up, and they are still greedy like children. It's just this meat, let's eat it as soon as possible." How do you rectify it, you don’t have to worry about making light.”
The whole family laughed.
After dinner and back to sleep, Zhao Donglin handed an envelope to Jiahui.
"What's this?"
According to the normal operation, the envelope should contain cash checks or the like. Jiahui took it and opened it, and found that it was really money. There were 20 yuan, 10 yuan, and a total of 50 yuan.
She asked suspiciously, "What kind of money is this?"
"Bonuses from the village."
Jiahui gave a clear acknowledgment. Fifty yuan was neither too much nor too little. After all, Zhao Donglin's salary was already more than 60 yuan, which was equivalent to an extra month's salary.
"Is this for me? Don't you need to give the bonus to mom?"
Zhao Donglin looked at his daughter-in-law's eyes wide open, with a look of disbelief, with a hint of anticipation and innocence in her dazed circle, like a soft and cute little animal.
It can be seen that she is quite generous in dealing with things, such a small money fan is really rare, Zhao Donglin loves it in his heart.
"Well, here you are."
Happiness came too suddenly.
"Does mom know? If you don't say that if mom knows, it will be troublesome."
Zhao Donglin smiled and said nothing.
Not to mention that he has already told his mother, even if he didn’t report it, it’s fine. He handed it over to his family in the 60s a month. It's not that he really has an eye for money, so he won't take this bonus seriously.
"I said, just put it away and put it away. Don't save on what you want to buy in the future, and make fewer clothes, especially if you can't stay up late."
Those who give the money are all benefactors, and the benefactors are right in everything they say. Holding this "huge sum" that came out of nowhere, Jiahui nodded repeatedly, her eyes bent into crescents. If the eyes weren't big enough, there might be a gap left up.
"Then I'll accept it and save it together after the new year."
Since traveling to the 1970s, Jiahui has added a new hobby. She especially likes saving money. Seeing a little increase in the amount of savings will give her a sense of accomplishment.
Usually, there is almost no place to spend money. The basic necessities of life are basic necessities of life. The mother-in-law is responsible for the meals, and the clothes are ripped and made by myself. I don’t need to buy a house, and I go out by bicycle or on foot. The life is simple and fulfilling.
In addition to wanting to spend money and having no place to spend it, the reason why Jiahui saves money seriously is also to prepare for going to school in the future. Going to school requires tuition fees, living expenses, books fees, and social expenses. If you don’t have a job, you have no income. Three meals a day cost money.
Jiahui herself is definitely going to go to college. Whether Zhao Donglin is willing to go to college or not, she is still not clear about accepting new challenges. If the husband and wife are both studying at the same time, they will have no income. Naturally, they should prepare more money.
Now she has almost 500 yuan in savings, and she should be able to save up to 1,000 yuan in two years. The price is cheap in this era, and I heard that some universities still have subsidies, so it should be enough to save some money.
Posting couplets on New Year’s Eve. The couplets at home were written by Zhao Donglai himself. When he was a child, he practiced calligraphy by finding a branch to draw on the sand. After entering the army, the army encouraged the soldiers to enrich themselves. Only then did Zhao Donglin learn brush calligraphy seriously .
A pair of couplets costs a few cents. After people in the team knew that Zhao Donglin could write with a brush, many people came to ask for couplets with red paper. One piece of red paper can write several couplets, which is much more cost-effective than buying couplets. It can save a penny. One point, it is also good to save a few pieces of candy for the children to buy sweets.
Rural couplets are all particular about writing couplets. The gates, halls, kitchens, and even pigpens and chicken coops use different pairs. "Auspicious", the kitchen can be used for "wedding candy and wine for weddings, delicious dishes and delicacies for guests" or "elaborately adjust the five flavors in the hall, and get together with three relatives in the hall". If someone sticks the kitchen pair on the door or pigsty It became a joke.
The glue used to paste the couplets is homemade rice milk. Glutinous rice is sticky. Grind the glutinous rice into glutinous rice flour and add water to make a paste. The adhesion is comparable to industrial glue, and it is more than enough to stick a pair.
Heidan followed behind Zhao Donglin with the paste in his hands, first pasting the gate, then the main room, wing room, kitchen, and then the chicken pen and pig pen. After the yard was covered, the fiery red color added a joyous and festive color to the festival .
Jiahui was busy cooking early in the morning. In addition to preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, there is also a rule in the village that it is not allowed to fire on the first day of the New Year, so a lot of dishes have to be prepared today.
Fish is a must, and it means more than every year. This year, Jiahui is the cook at home, and Meixiang is on the sidelines.
Braised fish, meatballs, lotus root clips, and braised pork are all cooked in a large iron pot, then served in bowls, cooled naturally and put into the cabinet.
In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the temperature is as low as minus, and the whole environment is a natural refrigerator, which is not afraid of damage.
The happiest part of Chinese New Year is the children, who play wildly, have new clothes to wear, meat to eat, and endless peanut candies.
From Jiahui's cooking, the children came into the kitchen to watch from time to time, eating meatballs and lotus root sandwiches, and they were full after not eating much for lunch.
In the evening, when the sky was dark, the New Year's Eve dinner began. Except for the children, everyone poured a glass of rice wine. Zhao Manzhu usually didn't talk much, but today he raised his glass and spoke as the head of the family.
"I can't speak either, your mother insisted on letting me speak."
Zhang Qiaoer smiled and elbowed him, Zhao Manzhu laughed, with a simple and honest face.
"Everyone is doing well this year, and Dong Lin has also returned from the army. Our family is finally reunited after ten years."
Speaking of this, Zhao Manzhu should have real feelings, and began to talk freely, no longer stumbled just now, Zhao Donglin looked down at the wine glass, obviously thinking of those difficult and fulfilling times in the army.
"I am quite satisfied with my current life. I don't have to go hungry or cold, I can eat enough, and my family is together. This is a day that I couldn't even imagine before. I have always told your mother that our family is happy. It was brought by Dong Lin, without him in the army our family life would not be so good, so Dong He, you have to toast your brother."
Zhao Donglin's eyes were moist, and so was Zhao Donghe. Even Zhang Qiaoer and Meixiang wiped their tears with their heads down. Only Jiahui and Zheng Yuefen didn't have any emotional fluctuations.
"Brother, as a younger brother, I have always known your difficulties. Although I don't know how to say it, I know it in my heart, and I have always admired you and thanked you. Really, I have been proud of you since I was a child. He is Zhao Donglin's younger brother, so I'm happy, my brother is so good, he studied well when he was young, and he didn't shy away from fighting. When I was bullied, he went to find a place for me..."
Speaking of this, Zhao Donghe was already choked up, Zhao Donglin patted his younger brother on the shoulder, passed the wine glass forward, and clinked glasses with Zhao Donglin, as a respect.
There are a lot of words, all in silence. He has a lot of affection for this younger brother. It may be that he left home when he was young, and he attaches great importance to family affection.
"Okay, let's eat, and the food should be cold after talking."
After Zhang Qiaoer spoke, the two brothers sat down and the New Year's Eve dinner officially started.
"Well, this fish is delicious, much better than mine."
After taking a bite of the fish, Zhang Qiaoer couldn't help but praise Jiahui.
"I like to eat this, it's delicious."
Meixiang was talking about lotus root clips.
"In summer, we can use eggplants to make eggplant sandwiches. That's also very fragrant."
Mei Xiang covered her face and smiled, "Sister-in-law, the food you cook is so delicious, my face is getting fat."
"It's so pretty, like a red apple."
"That's right, it's better for girls to be fatter. Don't follow your sister-in-law's example. She's just too thin, and there's not much flesh on her body."
Jiahui couldn't help crying out for herself, "Mom, I didn't eat less, and I just have a small frame and a lot of meat on my body."
On the surface, Zhao Donglin drank with his father and younger brother. Jiahui listened to what Jiahui said once, and when he heard her say that he had a lot of flesh on his body, he glanced at Jiahui and remembered the balsamic jade under his palm in the night. Instantly, his face turned red.
"Brother, are you drunk and blushing like this?"
Zhao Donghe yelled in surprise, thinking to himself, his brother is obviously a good drinker, he claims that he won't get drunk after a thousand cups, but it's only a few cups of rice wine, so he shouldn't be drunk.
"Drink less, it's all from my own family, just mean it, keep your energy and have New Year's greetings tomorrow."
Zhang Qiaoer immediately responded when she heard the words, and Dong Jiahui also looked back with concern, and just happened to meet Zhao Donglin's eyes full of affection, she couldn't help but startled, and her back began to feel chills for no reason.
When the meal was halfway through, Zhang Qiaoer went back to the house and brought out a few red envelopes, each of the three children was a dollar.
"There's not much money, that's what it means, don't spend it indiscriminately."
It is said that it is for children, and the final outcome must be left to adults, but it is a custom to give out red envelopes during the Chinese New Year, just for fun.
In addition to the child's red envelope, there were several red paper envelopes on the table. Zheng Yuefen kept looking at her eyes. She knew that her mother-in-law must be sending out money. As expected, Zhang Qiaoer quickly spoke.
"Everyone has worked hard this year. According to the rules of our family, I should give you some pocket money at the end of the year. The money is the same for everyone. The old family and the second family are 30 per person, and Meixiang has less. Twenty yuan per person, if you have an opinion, please raise it now, if you don't have an opinion, we will divide it like this."
Years ago, the team received cash dividends, deducting food, and the Zhao family got 268 yuan, which was a bumper year.
The others are fine, and Zheng Yuefen, who is usually the most opinionated, has no objection either. Thirty yuan for one person, and sixty yuan for a couple. Although this money is not a lot, it is pure income, and it can be saved. Besides, Today is ten yuan more than last year.
Zheng Yuefen was the first to express her opinion, "Mom, I have no objection."
As soon as she opened her mouth, everyone looked at her, Jiahui was quite surprised, it was rare that this sister-in-law didn't stand up and shout.
"Well, since you don't have any objections, let's do it like this. The money is for you. It stands to reason that I shouldn't ask you how to spend it, but every penny is not easy to come by. Save it if you can, and don't spend it recklessly."
Zhang Qiaoer took out a stack of ten yuan bills and gave everyone a lot of money, first to the old couple, then to the second couple, and finally to Zhao Meixiang.
As soon as Zheng Yuefen got the money, she also took the money from Zhao Donghe's hand, and counted it with a proud face, thinking about how much to save and how much to use.
It costs money to go back to her mother's house in the second day of junior high school. She can't be compared with other sisters in the family. She is so polite that she has to give red envelopes to the children. It costs six or eight yuan, but it doesn't matter, red envelopes are big guys My son will also give stones, but I only have one stone in my family. Compared with the sisters who have several children at home, it is a bit of a disadvantage.