Chapter 116 Various aspects of life

New Year's Eve this year is a little different from previous years and seems particularly deserted.

No matter how difficult life is, people must try their best to have a good New Year.

Today, every street and alley has been cleaned up, every household has posted New Year's couplets and hung up portraits of the elderly, and colorful slogans are hung on the streets.

Although the streets and alleys are no longer as bustling as before, there are few pedestrians and most shops are closed.

However, this cannot stop people's enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year.

In thousands of households, families sit together, chatting and laughing, talking about their experiences and gains in the past year, full of warmth and joy.

Although the quality of New Year's celebration for most families this year is much worse than in previous years, this year will definitely be somewhat unsatisfactory.

But this cannot stop people's yearning and longing for a happy life.

Starting from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household will start to prepare for the New Year. On the 24th, they will clean the house, on the 25th, they will make tofu, on the 26th, they will cut meat, on the 27th, they will slaughter the New Year chicken, on the 29th, they will steam buns, and on the 30th, they will eat dumplings.

Dumplings must have meat and vegetables, which means "wealth". So buying meat is the key. At the end of the year, everything will be snapped up, but it is not easy to buy.

Of course, if you wanted to buy something, you had to have a ticket. In that era of material scarcity, almost all commodities were strictly supplied with certificates and tickets and in fixed quantities.

You have to queue up to buy rice and oil, you have to queue up to buy meat and fish, and you have to queue up even more to buy the peanuts, melon seeds, fruits and candies that are "specially supplied" for the New Year.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, children began to help the adults in their family to queue up and occupy space.

I get up early in the morning and rush to the grocery store, ask what each line sells, and then line up at the end of the line. Every time I buy something for my family, I feel that I am one step closer to the New Year.

It is tiring to wait in line, "holding the ticket and certificate, hunching shoulders and sleeves, standing for a long time, and the family members don't have time to take your place, so you can only sway and stamp your feet."

But even after waiting in line, you may not be able to buy anything. What makes people most anxious is moving in the dark line, not knowing what is going on at the counter. They are afraid that after waiting in a line of two and a half miles, the salesperson will take off his apron and shout, "Today's goods are sold out!"

Tickets are precious.

In order to save enough money for the New Year, every family started working early and saved meat coupons, grain and oil coupons for later use.

At the end of the year, each household would be given a few more kilograms of flour and rice. If there was a sudden announcement that something would be added to the supply for this year's Spring Festival, such as a small bag of chrysanthemums or two taels of sesame paste, the news would surely spread throughout the streets immediately.

Yesterday, after receiving a notice that the street supply and marketing cooperative would have meat available, Uncle Yan Bugui took the lead in organizing the neighbors in the compound, and at around 4 a.m., they began to fight their way to the front of the line to sell meat.

They worked together to buy the meat they had longed for, so that they could make meat dumplings for their families during the Chinese New Year.

In this disaster-ravaged age, being able to eat meat-stuffed dumplings during the Chinese New Year is undoubtedly a rare happiness.

The ancients said that "food is the people's heaven". Meeting the most basic physiological needs and solving the problem of food and clothing for the people are what the rulers of all ages value most.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, my country has been moving towards a well-off life. However, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, affected by years of war, people's livelihood was in decline, and people's living standards were generally low, and they were obsessed with meat like a mystery.

In the late 3s, when material supplies were tight, urban residents were only supplied with 5- taels of pork per person per month.

During this difficult period, the capital city only had 8 taels of pork per person per year, and other parts of the country could not even get that little bit of meat.

For ordinary people, having enough food and clothing is the most important thing, and everything else comes second.

In those days, meat was seen on the table every day, but only in the richest families. In order to buy meat, people often had to get up before dawn to queue up, and everyone unanimously liked to buy fatty meat, the fatter the better.

The supply of pork is sometimes scarce and sometimes unavailable. Once the meat is available, if you go too late, there won't be a single hair left.

Because of Liu Zhiye, the Liu family had enough food and drink, but in order to guard against the covetousness of others, they had to be cautious.

In this environment, they had to be careful and not eat and drink lavishly. Sometimes, they had to pretend to eat a few simple meals of steamed buns and watery soup for the neighbors to see.

Liu Zhiye knew the dangers of having red eye. When people are hungry, they can do anything. He didn't dare to gamble with human nature. For the sake of his family's safety, he could only act in secret.

forecourt.

Yan Jiecheng and a few of his brothers were pasting Spring Festival couplets at the door with laughter and joy. The red couplets sparkled in the sun, looking particularly festive.

The third uncle, Yan Bugui, set up an octagonal table at the door of his house.

The table is filled with writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, and the image of a scholar and poet comes to life. As time goes by, the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone on the table have become his signature. Whenever someone passes by, they will be attracted by this unique scene and stop to appreciate it.

"The spring breeze blows thousands of willows; the six hundred million Chinese are like Shun and Yao"

"Wind and rain send spring away, and flying snow welcomes spring."

"The business is brilliant and continues to grow step by step year after year"...

Yan Bugui put down the brush in his hand and looked at the couplets he had just written with joy.

He was extremely satisfied with his calligraphy skills. Every stroke seemed full of vitality and conveyed a strong festive atmosphere.

"Jie Cheng! Send these to your Uncle Liu and Director Liu..."

"Okay!" When Yan Jiecheng heard this, he immediately dropped the work at hand and ran towards the east courtyard happily with a smile on his face.

He knew very well that Uncle Liu's family had always been very generous, and they would definitely give him a favor when they came to celebrate during the New Year.

Seeing this, Xu Damao, who was standing by, carefully put on a shy face, showing what he thought was the most enthusiastic smile, and softly requested: "Uncle, your calligraphy is really amazing. Could you please write a few pieces for my family?"

(People in the compound are still used to calling Yan Bugui "Third Uncle")
Yan Bugui nodded with satisfaction, and with a wave of his hand, several spring couplets with profound meanings appeared on the paper.

Then, he stretched out his hand to ask Xu Damao for money, "It's a good deal! A total of 5 cents."

"What? Writing a few Spring Festival couplets costs money?" Xu Damao was about to take it happily, but said unhappily after hearing that.

"How fresh! It seems like I've been working in vain?" Yan Bugui said with a roll of his eyes.

Xu Damao felt very dissatisfied. He felt that the third uncle Yan Bugui was obviously looking down on him, so he retorted a few words to Yan Bugui.

"Then why don't you accept the money from the Liu family? Instead, you take the initiative to send Yan Jiecheng to deliver it to them?"

At this moment, Sha Zhu happened to pass by with his hands behind his back. He walked over when he heard the words.

He would not tolerate Xu Damao's bad habits and would always criticize him whenever he spoke.

"I say, Xu Damao, who do you think you are? Do you think you can be compared with Director Liu?"

"Is it easy for the Third Master to write a couplet for the Spring Festival? Do you still want to beg for it for free?"

"Hurry up and pay. Don't make things uncomfortable during the New Year..."

……

Middle Court.

Qin Huairu quickly cooked a bowl of dumplings and put them into Lu's lunch box.

Then, he picked up Xiaodang and took him to the house opposite, asking Aunt Yi to help take care of him.

Still worried before leaving, she reminded Bang Geng again, who was drooling with greed.

"Great! But I'm warning you! These dumplings are prepared for your grandma. If you want to eat them, wait until mom comes back and makes them for you. You must not eat them secretly. Do you understand?"

Then he called out to Jia Dongxu who was lazing on the kang, "Dongxu! Watch Banggeng carefully, don't let him eat secretly..."

Then he went out and arrived at the Yi family across the street.

"Auntie! Please help take care of Xiaodang. Today is the New Year, and Dongxu and I have to go to see my mother-in-law. What do you think..."

Her mother-in-law, Jia Zhang, was detained in the Second Prison Labor Reform Team for labor reform. He and his wife would visit her every holiday, and today was no exception.

The aunt was silent for a moment, the past lingering in her mind, but to this day, she still couldn't let it go. Despite this, she still agreed to Qin Huairu's request.

"Huai Ru! Are you going to visit your mother-in-law again today?"

"Okay! You can go without worry. I'll help you take care of these two children..."

After leaving Yi's house, she happened to meet Xu Damao who had returned.

"Brother Damao! I need your help with something. Is it inconvenient for you to put it there?"

When Xu Damao heard that someone wanted to ask for help, his love for pretense was fully revealed.

He always looked at her with a smile and without revealing any expression, as if he was seeing through everything. And Qin Huairu's curvy figure made his eyes light up, and he admired her secretly in his heart.

Xu Damao swallowed hard, then pretended to be extremely enthusiastic and said, "Hey! Sister Qin! Given our relationship, we are just friends. If you have something to say, just talk to me..."

(End of this chapter)