Chapter 405: A Hot Year (Blocked Chapter Modification)
(This chapter is a revised chapter, please read it carefully if you have already read it.)
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is the end of another year. This year, the outside world has been turbulent, with many changes that are dizzying.

However, the land of Liujiazhuang seems to be isolated from the world and still maintains its original tranquility and stability.

The rhythm of life of the villagers has not been disrupted by the turmoil of the outside world. They still work from sunrise to sunset and rest at sunset, leading an ordinary and down-to-earth life.

That is to say, starting from this year, the people of Xia Kingdom began to celebrate a different Spring Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, Liu Zhiye’s family welcomed an unprecedented reunion.

This year, all family members were present, creating an unprecedented warmth and liveliness.

In addition, the home also welcomed many distinguished guests, including Liu Zhiye's father-in-law and mother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gan Gong, and Professor Cui, both of whom were finally convinced by Liu Zhiye and his wife.

After the Chinese New Year, Liu Zhiye's father-in-law and mother-in-law will settle in Liujiazhuang and live a pastoral life from then on, working from sunrise to sunset.

At the same time, Liu Zhitai's father-in-law He Zhiyan also came to Liujiazhuang for the first time to celebrate the New Year. He was very satisfied with the "environment" here. Perhaps he will settle down here in the future.

What is even more delightful is that Liu Zhiruo and his wife Li Shengli also came hand in hand. Their arrival was like a spring breeze, adding a touch of bright color to the Liu family's Spring Festival.

With the participation of the elderly and kind grandfather in the family, as well as my uncle's family, my sister and my brother-in-law's family, the whole house was instantly filled with laughter. Dozens of people sat together, it was very lively, and together they weaved warm memories of this big family.

On January 25, which was the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month and when the Spring Festival was getting closer, the Shanghai-based Jie F Daily published a letter from a reader.

The letter was written by a worker named Zhang Renxing from the Shanghai Glass Machinery Factory. He first proposed the idea of ​​"not going home for the Spring Festival" and commented: "The Spring Festival is nothing! Our grandest festival has arrived!"

On January 29, Renren Daily responded to the demands of the general public and published a notice that "according to the old custom, there will be no holiday during the Spring Festival." At the same time, it suspended the family visit leave and would make it up later.

Just like that, the Spring Festival, which was originally a legal holiday, was suddenly cancelled, and major train stations and bus stations used radio to broadcast notices that there would be no Spring Festival holidays.

After hearing this notice, many people who had bought train and bus tickets to go home for the New Year went to the ticket office to refund their tickets and returned to work.

"We celebrate the Spring Festival by changing our customs. We don't stop until New Year's Eve, and we work until the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. After eating dumplings, we start working again on the morning of the first day of the new year."

From this year on, people in many places no longer set off firecrackers, burned incense and worshipped Buddha, or performed dragon and lion dances during the New Year.

In the more than ten years since then, not having a holiday during the Spring Festival has become the norm.

Every time the Spring Festival comes, no matter whether it is office cadres or factory workers, as well as waiters in shops, supply and marketing cooperatives, and restaurants, they all do not take holidays or go home, but actively participate in production labor.

Winter is the idle season for farmers, but farmers still have to participate in labor, turning the idle season into a busy season.

Since there is no holiday during the Spring Festival, the New Year customs that have been passed down for thousands of years have naturally been cancelled.

Folk activities such as setting off firecrackers, worshiping ancestors, lion and dragon dances, and purchasing New Year's goods have disappeared since the Spring Festival.

Drinking and playing cards were even banned as bad habits. The only traditional custom that can be preserved is "sticking up Spring Festival couplets".

Even the "posting of Spring Festival couplets" is very different from before. In the past, couplets would be written with good wishes such as "Green bamboos distinguish one-third of the scenery, red plums herald the arrival of spring in thousands of homes" and "Day after day, wealth and fortune come with spring every year". Now, the content of couplets is battle slogans such as "Don't stop fighting on the 30th, continue working on the first day".

During this Spring Festival, most of Xiaguo's government agencies, factories and schools were operating as usual.

Many people did not reunite with their families like in previous years, and the streets were no longer as lively and bustling as in previous years, but instead were solemn and silent.

This year's Spring Festival is the first Spring Festival since entering this period, and it has a very special significance.

Many public institutions have also issued notices saying: "Based on the needs of the situation, there will be no Spring Festival holiday this year, and employees' home leave will be suspended and will be made up later."

At the Red Star Factory, a young worker wrote a letter of advocacy to everyone, saying: "Now is the critical period of production. How can we go home for the Spring Festival? No! Absolutely not!"

Therefore, this year's Spring Festival is more like an "overtime event". There is also a popular couplet, the upper line of which is "Don't stop fighting on the 30th", and the lower line is "Keep working on the first day".

On New Year’s Eve, it is popular for people to have a meal at work to recall the past and cherish the present.

The unit would prepare wild vegetables, tree bark, and some miscellaneous things in advance, cook them into a pot of porridge, and everyone would eat together.

There are two kinds of this "bitter recalling the bitter past and thinking of the sweet past" rice. One is porridge made with rotten vegetable leaves, taro flowers, pumpkin flowers, radish tops, wild vegetables, rice bran, and dried sweet potatoes; the other is steamed corn bread made with corn flour, dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato flour, bran, etc.

The biggest feature of these two foods is that they are difficult to swallow - yes, this is exactly what the organizers hope to achieve: they hope that by tasting these common foods in the old society, everyone will remember the "evil old society" and love the new society.

During meals, the unit’s loudspeaker would play “White-Haired Girl” at the highest volume, and Xier’s crying was earth-shaking.

"The north wind is blowing, the snowflakes are floating..."

During the Spring Festival, "grasping XX and promoting production" is a nationwide action. Many places also require everyone to work overtime and do GM with the spirit of "XX and working hard".

In the vast rural areas, "learning agriculture from Dazhai", moving mountains and filling the sea, digging ditches and canals, overhauling water conservancy projects, and building terraces are a common scene during the Spring Festival. Red flags are waving everywhere, and people are flocking to the scene.

Some farmers have couplets written on their doors: "Don't stop fighting on the 30th, and keep working on the first day of the new year."

However, even so, people's feelings about the Spring Festival have not changed much.

People may not celebrate in public, but in private, families will still gather together to share the reunion of the year and wish each other well.

Although this year's Spring Festival lacks the hustle and bustle of the past, the warmth of home and the care of family still bring comfort to people.

However, there must still be a New Year's Eve dinner at home, but before the meal, everyone in the family, young and old, must hold a criticism and self-criticism meeting. Parents are no longer in a superior position, but must humbly accept criticism from family members.

Finally, everyone stood up together... and then sat down to eat.

There have also been new changes in the New Year's greetings etiquette.

Children no longer kowtow, but bow and say to their parents: "Comrade Dad, Comrade Mom, Happy Chinese New Year!" When giving gifts, in addition to the necessary cakes, they will also give a New Year picture.

The elders would stand up respectfully and carefully stick the New Year pictures on the wall...

In the hearts of people today, everyone's feelings for him are truly heartfelt gratitude.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people have to wish their neighbors a happy new year, but they are not allowed to say things like "Congratulations on your prosperity." Instead, they should wish the other person "even greater success in the new journey."

In rural areas, the community operas and entertainment activities in the first month of the lunar year have also changed. Many traditional folk activities and rituals to celebrate the Spring Festival, such as making lanterns, dragon dancing, and lion dancing, have disappeared.

Instead, model operas took their place, and the talented men and beautiful women, heroes on stilts became Yang Zirong, Li Yuhe, Li Tiemei, Grandma Sha, A Qing Sao, the New Fourth Army, etc. in the model operas.

An old lady from Liujiazhuang wrote to her granddaughter in the city describing the GM Spring Festival in the countryside: "This year the commune celebrated a GM Spring Festival, which was more joyful and meaningful than in previous years! Every family did not invite guests or give gifts. On New Year's Eve, everyone in the commune, young and old, crowded into the elementary school auditorium to attend your cousin Xingyuan's new-style wedding.

The bride and groom first bowed respectfully to the elders, then gave a speech, praising them for breaking old customs and establishing new ones, not riding in a sedan chair, not holding wedding banquets, taking the lead in late marriage (28 for men and 25 for women), and listening to the Party, being worthy of being poor and lower-middle peasants, and calling on everyone to learn from them! Everyone talked and laughed, clapped their hands, and ate wedding candy. It was quite interesting.

I think the new style of wedding is great, it's lively and saves money! On New Year's Eve, gongs and drums sounded, and the club's amateur troupe performed GM modern model operas for everyone.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the good news team went to the families of the military to wish them a happy new year. As soon as the old year was over, people could no longer hold back and went to the fields to collect river mud. The whole village was bustling with enthusiasm, and this year must be another bumper year.

In order to respond to the call, the Liujiazhuang District Commune continued to perform operas during the Spring Festival, but this year they were mainly model operas.

Liujiazhuang Commune also deliberately arranged for an old couple to come on stage and sing "The Sky is Full of Stars", which is a popular song this year. The old couple had suffered enough from the landlords and rich people in the old society. They were very emotional after coming on stage, but because of their old age and unclear speech, the lyrics were sung in a muddled way, and there was a burst of laughter from the audience. The commune leaders quickly asked them to leave.

Next, two girls came on stage and sang "Thinking of the Hard Times in the Past". They sang very emotionally, and the former poor and lower-middle peasants in the audience were in tears.

A leader who came to inspect asked the two girls what their family backgrounds were. The cadres of Liujiazhuang replied that they were once poor peasants, but they turned over a new leaf after liberation. The leader was moved when he heard this. We poor people know...

…………

February 2nd is the 2th day of the twelfth lunar month. Today we begin to celebrate the "Little New Year"...

During these days, classes have been suspended in most schools, and teachers and students are basically free to come and go without any supervision, relying purely on their own self-discipline to restrain themselves.

After breakfast, Liu Zhitai left the medical school with a simple bag on his back, ready to go home for the New Year. Liu Zhitai was one of the few professors who had persisted in the school until the end, and he really couldn't stay in this school anymore.

He just couldn't understand why such a big school couldn't provide him with a quiet desk.

Liu Zhitai held the book and looked back reluctantly in the direction of the school playground, where his students were watching a movie noisily.

Nowadays, during every festival, open-air movie screenings are a "regular program" in factories, schools, government agencies and military units in the capital.

Young girls and boys, men and women, old and young, arrived early in the morning with their small stools in hand to reserve seats and wait at the screening room.

“We can’t remember what we were watching, but everyone just liked the excitement,” said a young man from Liujiazhuang village.

He summarized the movies of that time with a jingle: "YN movies are about planes and cannons, CX movies are about crying and laughing, Xiaguo movies are about news briefs, Romanian movies are about hugging and cuddling, and Albanian movies are about inexplicable things."

…………

A labor farm.

Before the Spring Festival, the grassland farm labor team where Qin Huairu worked received a notice from the higher-level leadership that there would be no holiday during the Spring Festival, and that the Spring Festival would be celebrated in a "ZGM, promote production" way.

Winter came early to the grassland farm this year. In November, snowflakes like broken jade poured down onto the Gobi Desert without any care.

The withered and yellow Gobi Desert looks like a silver world. Rows of bare poplar trees are covered with white snow, and the branches are held high like blooming pear blossoms. The fields and houses are covered in silver.

The grassland farm clearly leaves deep footprints in the silver world
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, after the wakeup call sounded in the early morning, all the team members gathered in the playground for morning instructions as usual with snowflakes flying above their heads.

The team leader made a mobilization speech based on the work of the day: "…………It's not about treating people to a meal, it's not about writing an article... "; "Make up your mind, don't be afraid of difficulties...

The Gobi Desert and the fields were covered in white. There were several encouraging signs on the farm, and red flags fluttered in the wind on both sides of the entrance to the sand dunes. The special period has inspired people's consciousness of struggle and set off the festive atmosphere.

The main job of workers like Qin Huairu during the Spring Festival is to take sand from the sand dunes and then transport it to the fields with carts to improve the soil.

The snow was heavy today. The thick snow in the fields had blocked their way of towing the car. The knee-deep snow made it difficult to move, and the strong wind blew into their mouths, making it seem as if their teeth were frozen off.

It was so cold standing in the biting north wind! The icy Gobi seemed to be trembling, and the air seemed to be frozen.

Qin Huairu was working in the fields so cold that her nose was sore and her head was aching, and her feet were like two popsicles.

They hung up the climbing ropes and pulled the car on the snow with difficulty, taking one step deep and one step shallow.

The wheels of the heavy truck tore through the snow, leaving behind them two deep ruts and a series of deep and shallow footprints.

The ruts were more than a foot deep, and the radius of the wheels almost matched the depth of the concave ruts. They each had a cart, and because the snow was too thick, they basically crawled on the ground, learning to "push the cart until it doesn't fall over!"

In this way, we worked from the first to the fourth day of the New Year, vigorously promoting reforms and accelerating life, and spent a busy Spring Festival.

Although such days are busy, I miss home especially. "As a stranger in a foreign land, I miss my family even more during the holidays."

Qin Huairu was exiled to the frontier to work because of the seriousness of her crime. With every festive occasion, her sense of loneliness became more profound.

On the first night of the new year, Qin Huairu slept on a cold bed. When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, she burst into tears and began to miss her relatives. She felt homesick and regretful.

"Wow... Banggeng, woooo... Xiaodang... Huaihua... Mom misses you, Mom regrets..."

"I was wrong, I know I was wrong, I should never have had the intention to harm others!"

Qin Huairu has been working here for more than half a year, and she will have many more years of such days in the future.

If she hadn't been worried about her children, she might have collapsed long ago.

At night, the lonely and clear light fills the world of the heart. As the night falls, a kind of longing permeates the air. In the longing, the moon gradually sinks.

Life is peaceful and tranquil in the courtyards of Nanluoguxiang.

This year, the three uncles gathered again. In front of Yu Shazhu's house, the familiar eight-immortals table was still placed upright, as if the passage of time had not changed its position.

However, the atmosphere of this year's party was different from the past. There were fewer familiar faces, and there was a subtle sense of coldness in the air.

The third uncle, Yan Bugui, had a look of fatigue on his face, and even his former enthusiasm seemed to have diminished a bit. The responsibility of presiding over the meeting naturally fell on the shoulders of the second uncle, Liu Haizhong.

Liu Haizhong, the second uncle who has been dreaming of becoming the "top leader" for many years, finally got his wish this year.

He stood beside the round table, his expression showing both satisfaction and responsibility, as if at this moment, he had truly become the leader in everyone's hearts, directing the progress of this group party.

However, Liu Haizhong completely offended the person after just a few words.

"This year, our hospital has lost another advanced and civilized unit. Comrades, this is so embarrassing..."

"I won't explain the reason, but everyone knows it...

"I hope everyone will take Qin Huairu's behavior as a warning and not bring shame to our hospital like her..."

Jia Zhang was sitting below, and her expression became worse the more she listened. Finally, she yelled, "Liu Haizhong, why are you saying this on New Year's Day? The government has already reached a conclusion on our family's affairs. Do we still need you to talk nonsense... just to show off your ability, right?"

"Well, we are the only orphans and widows in this courtyard who are easy to bully, right? Everyone, whether cat or dog, wants to step on us..."

After Jia Zhang's noise, the voices of other people in the yard became silent, and even the children who were jumping around in the yard became much more restrained.

The neighbors watched the fun from afar, but no one was willing to step forward to dissuade her.

The deaf old lady actually doesn’t talk much and doesn’t go out much. One reason is that she is old, and the other is that her hearing is not very good.

However, as both of them are elderly, although she and Jia Zhang do not get along well, they still chat with each other occasionally.

Often they would start fighting while chatting, as both of them had bad tempers.

Especially Jia Zhang, who was used to being arrogant and spoiled, and as an orphan and a widow, she was particularly sensitive.

Sometimes people say things unintentionally, but the speaker may take it seriously. Jia Zhang felt very uncomfortable when she heard this and immediately turned hostile to them.

The deaf old lady witnessed Jia Zhang's noisy behavior during the Spring Festival, which was really inappropriate, and her face changed suddenly.

She stood up tremblingly, walked around behind Jia Zhang, and mercilessly tapped her back with her cane as a punishment.

"Girl Zhang, you are capable of that, don't you want to be quiet during the New Year?"

Jia Zhang turned around and said with great grievance: "Old lady, are you being unreasonable? It is obviously Liu Haizhong who is bullying us, why are you speaking for him..."

"What has become of my family now? Do you all want to bully us?"

“…………”The neighbors who were watching were also shot while lying down.

"Jia Zhang, please explain yourself clearly. What do you mean by we bully you too?"

"How did we bully you?"

"that is……"

The neighbors who were watching were all unhappy. What kind of thing is this? They could get into trouble just by eating a melon.

(End of this chapter)