Chapter 76 New Year’s Eve
On New Year's Eve, every household is busy.

Killing chickens and fish, buying fireworks, writing Spring Festival couplets, busy and happy, this land full of rural flavor is filled with the strong flavor of the New Year everywhere.

Zhang Yunqi remembered hearing a colleague in his previous life say that the feeling of the New Year is getting worse every year, and sometimes it feels that the Spring Festival is not as lively as Christmas.

This view cannot be said to be completely unreasonable. After all, young people do not kill pigs, smoke meat, write Spring Festival couplets, or stay up all night to celebrate the New Year, while the elderly can no longer do these things.

Therefore, it is normal that the New Year atmosphere becomes less festive in later generations.

But the New Year atmosphere in the 1990s was really strong.

On New Year's Eve, every household is busy preparing for the coming New Year, and the Zhang family is no exception.

Aunt Zhang is preparing ingredients for the New Year’s Eve dinner in the kitchen.

Zhang Yunfeng was washing the tractor with water outside the yard.

Zhang Chunlan did the laundry and cleaned the house.

Zhang Yunqi took the fifth child, Zhang Xiaoxiao, to Longwan Town to buy Spring Festival couplets and firecrackers.

It is New Year's Eve, and most of the service-oriented businesses in the town have closed, but there are still many small vendors selling things, especially those selling Spring Festival couplets and fireworks. They will probably be busy until three or four in the afternoon before they pack up and go home to celebrate the New Year.

Zhang Yunqi bought a pair of Spring Festival couplets and then went to buy fireworks.

This is what Zhang Xiaoxiao is looking forward to most.

This morning, the little girl pestered him to come to town. In fact, she had always envied others playing with fireworks since she was a child. There was nothing she could do. Her family was poor before, so she had to spend every penny. How could she buy fireworks for her children to cultivate their childhood fun? She didn't have that much free time.

Now that we are not short of this little money, it is no problem for the little girl to get whatever she wants.

Zhang Yunqi bought two large bags of baby's breath, firecrackers, and rubbing firecrackers, as well as the most popular firecrackers for children, such as sky rockets, colorful beads, and butterfly flowers. Zhang Yunqi bought two large bags of firecrackers for the fifth child, Zhang Xiaoxiao, and then picked two strings of red earth firecrackers with 10,000 firecrackers, and took Zhang Xiaoxiao, who was so happy that she was about to fly, home.

As soon as he got home, Zhang Yunqi saw Zhang Xiaonan coming.

Zhang Xiaonan was standing in the yard chatting with Zhang Yunfeng who was washing the tractor. From time to time, she took the wooden bucket from Zhang Yunfeng to help fetch water. Zhang Yunqi was not surprised at all. He just greeted her and went to put up the couplets.

Ever since Zhang Xiaonan returned to the village on New Year's Eve, she would go to Old Zhang's house every few days. She told Zhang's mother that Chunlan would take the high school entrance examination the following year, and she found some internal review materials from the No. 1 High School in the city to tutor Chunlan. However, Zhang Yunqi discovered that every time Zhang Xiaonan finished tutoring Chunlan, she was not in a hurry to leave, but would talk to her eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng for a long time.

In addition, Zhang Yunqi met Zhang Xiaonan several times at school last semester. Whenever they talked, she would always mention her elder brother Zhang Yunfeng.

Although Zhang Xiaonan and her older brother grew up together and have a special relationship, even though her older brother dropped out of school after graduating from elementary school and returned to the village to farm, and Zhang Xiaonan became a government-sponsored teacher in the junior high school department of the city's No. 1 Middle School through her own efforts, she still treated her older brother as well as before, and all signs indicated that Zhang Xiaonan and her older brother had "that kind of relationship".

Deep down, he really hoped that his elder brother could marry a woman like Zhang Xiaonan. Zhang Xiaonan was beautiful, educated, and spoke and acted in a generous and appropriate manner. But he also knew that this was very difficult. The fact that they had not been together in their previous life was ironclad proof of this.

His brother is a farmer, while Zhang Xiaonan is a government-sponsored teacher, a golden phoenix that has flown out of the nest. Most importantly, Zhang Xiaonan's father, Zhang Guorui, is the village secretary of Yunxi Village, a very powerful figure in Yunxi Village, and her second uncle is a cadre in the Jiangchuan City Education Bureau, the pride of the people of Yunxi Village. Although Zhang Xiaonan and his eldest brother grew up together when they were young, the two of them were very close - but being close is one thing, and getting married is another.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunqi was a little pessimistic about his eldest brother's feelings. However, matters of the heart are difficult for others to judge. He couldn't say anything now. He had to wait for his eldest brother to express his attitude first before he could see how to deal with it.

After pasting the couplets, Zhang Yunqi boiled water for a bath.

He didn't have a bathroom at home, so he had to boil water and take it to the bedroom to take a bath. It was a bit troublesome, but taking a bath on New Year's Eve was the most important thing of the year.

After taking off his clothes, Zhang Yunqi rubbed the soap while looking at his body. After long-term exercise, his arms became thicker and his abdominal muscles became more prominent. Although he still looked very thin because his body was getting thinner, he was no longer skinny.

Well... I'm very thin and my dick has gotten bigger.

It seems that adequate nutrition during the growth period is indeed very beneficial to physical development. I have to continue to strengthen my training in the next semester and make sure to lay a solid foundation for my body. The body is the capital of revolution. Without it, how can I pick up girls in the future? In order for the little bird to grow up, necessary massage is necessary.

Rub it and wash it with soap.

Zhang Yunqi could vaguely see his elder brother and Zhang Xiaonan in the yard through the blurry glass window. He hummed leisurely: "I am a tiny bird. I want to fly, but I can't fly high. I'm searching for a warm embrace. Is this request too much?"

Taking a shower is so refreshing.

After taking a shower, Zhang Yunqi prepared the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Now everyone in the family appreciates his cooking skills and likes to eat the dishes he makes. He doesn’t ask for expensive or luxurious New Year’s Eve dinner, but it must be thick, plump and full of human touch.

Zhang Yunqi specially bought a large black carp, pickled the fish body with salt, and used the fish head to stew soup, which is called "Abundance every year"; the New Year's Eve dinner must have a braised pig's trotter, and it must be stewed until it is soft and tender, and it is best if it can be cut with pork bones, with the lean meat in stripes; fermented glutinous rice balls and rice cakes are served with homemade pickled radish, which is a wish for continuous success and a happy reunion.

More happiness, less trouble.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, when the reunion dinner was almost ready, Zhang Yunqi went out to set off firecrackers.

I don't know about other provinces, but this is the tradition of Yunxi Village during the Spring Festival. Before eating the New Year's Eve dinner, you have to set off a batch of firecrackers, which is called bidding farewell to the old; before dawn on the first day of the New Year, you have to set off another batch of firecrackers, which is called welcoming the new. Together, it means bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, hoping that the new year will have a good omen.

In the past, this grand firecracker ceremony was organized by my father Zhang Liushun, and later it was handed over to my eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng. This year, Zhang Yunfeng handed it over to Zhang Yunqi.

Zhang Yunqi came to the gate of the courtyard with a string of 10,000 firecrackers, took out a lighter and lit them. The crackling sound of the firecrackers and the happy shouts of his sister Zhang Xiaoxiao rang out, bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new year.

1993 is a year of new things!
Unlike other children, Zhang Yunqi used to be most afraid of the Chinese New Year. He could forget about receiving red envelopes and rarely bought new clothes. What hit his self-esteem even more was that every New Year's Eve, when families gathered around the fire to watch the Spring Festival Gala, he and his family had to wait in fear for countless creditors to come and collect debts.

This year's New Year's Eve is no longer a cause for fear, but rather a time of joy. The whole family has put on new clothes and is happily waiting for the Spring Festival Gala and the sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner.

During the New Year's Eve dinner, the mother of the family, Aunt Zhang, stood up with a glass of wine and said, "In the past, your father would raise the first glass of wine at the New Year's Eve dinner. Since he is not here, I will do it. Our family has been through a lot in recent years, but we have finally come to a happy ending. We don't ask for great wealth in the future. We just hope that our family will be safe and sound in the new year."

Everyone picked up their glasses and drank them all.

The wine is homemade plum wine, which has a rich and sweet taste and does not choke the throat.

After the first glass of wine, everyone started eating.

Zhang Yunqi and Zhang Yunfeng were drinking and chatting. Mother Zhang didn't eat much, so she picked up chicken legs and various delicacies for her children with chopsticks. Chunlan was watching the pre-show of the Spring Festival Gala while feasting on the food. Zhang Xiaoxiao held a chicken leg in one hand and a Coke in the other, his little mouth was stuffed full, and he said to Zhang Yunqi incoherently: "Hurry up! Hurry up! Second brother, take me to set off fireworks."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "I haven't received the red envelope yet, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Is there a red envelope?" Zhang Xiaoxiao's eyes widened, and even Chunlan turned her head away.

This scene made Zhang Yunqi feel sad. His sisters at home were so old, but they had never seen a red envelope. He said: "We won't know until twelve o'clock whether there is one or not."

That means it exists.

Zhang Xiaoxiao was small but very clever. She happily jumped up to Zhang Yunqi and pestered him, saying "Congratulations on your prosperity, give me the red envelope!" This made the whole family laugh, and the festive atmosphere of the New Year filled the dilapidated house of the old Zhang family.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Zhang Yunqi felt dizzy but his heart was warm. Looking at the smiling faces of his family members, he suddenly felt that this simple and harmonious family reunion feeling was the essence of the "New Year's flavor".

The so-called flavor of the New Year is actually the flavor of humanity.

******
　Happy New Year! Please add to your collection!
　　

(End of this chapter)