Morning is the best time to post Spring Festival couplets. Materials were scarce in the 1970s. Not to mention the exquisite gilded Spring Festival couplets, there were very few people who wrote Spring Festival couplets in black ink. Most of them in the village used blank red paper cut into suitable rectangular shapes.
On the lintel.
There are squares of red paper on the walls, and red paper is also pasted on the tables and chairs. These were all cut by Zhao Qingsong. Only the walls can be pasted with beautiful paper-cuts by Zhao's mother.
Li Rong stood next to Zhao's mother and watched. Zhao's hands were really skillful. She folded the red paper over and over and cut it with scissors a few times, and a beautiful paper-cut picture came out.
"What is this?" Li Rong asked, holding up a freshly cut pattern.
"This is called Prosperity Every Year, and it is posted on the window of the kitchen." Mother Zhao unfolded it on her hand, "This is called Good Luck and Good Luck, and it is posted in the main room."
Mother Zhao saw that Li Rong was very interested in paper-cutting, so she cut out another one and said, "This is a unicorn baby."
Li Rong nodded, not realizing what Zhao's mother meant. She took the 'Kilin Baozi' and looked at it with interest.
Mother Zhao quickly cut another one for her: "This is called Liansheng Takako."
"Uh..." Li Rong finally realized what Zhao's mother meant. She dared to stay here to induce labor. She laughed and tried to slip away, but bumped into Zhao Qingsong who walked in.
Zhao Qingsong helped her: "Why are you running in such a hurry?"
Li Rong said nothing and walked away.
Zhao Qingsong looked at Zhao's mother who was laughing in the room with a confused face, and asked: "Mom, what's wrong with her?"
"Your wife is very thin-skinned, hahaha."
"Um?"
Mother Zhao handed the two sets of paper-cuts to Zhao Qingsong: "Take them back and put them on the kang or the window. Next year, I will give birth to a big fat boy."
It turned out that this was what happened. Zhao Qingsong couldn't laugh or cry. The two of them did nothing but kiss and hug each other. Where did the fat boy come from? However, he would not tell his mother these details. He took the paper-cut neatly:
"Thank you, mother."
Zhao Qingsong finished gluing the Spring Festival couplets outside and took the remaining rice cereal back to the house.
Li Rong was arranging her clothes in the room. When she saw Zhao Qingsong coming in, she asked casually: "Have the Spring Festival couplets been glued on?"
"It's not even close, I'll come back and drill."
Is there anything I need to bring back to the house to glue? Li Rong raised her eyes and looked over. Zhao Qingsong solemnly pasted the "Lotus Born Takako" and "Qilin Baozi" that Zhao's mother had just cut on the wall and window of the kang.
Li Rong's face heated up and she muttered in a low voice: "It's so shameless."
Zhao Qingsong was by the kang. When he heard what she said, he was unhappy and approached her: "Why are you so shameless?"
"I haven't done anything, I just want to have children."
Zhao Qingsong raised his eyebrows: "Why do you think you have children?"
Li Rong felt that if she continued to speak, the man would start talking to her in a pornographic manner. Her face became even hotter and she turned away: "I don't know! Hurry up and finish standing and go out to kill the chicken!"
Zhao Qingsong turned her face around and asked, pretending to be fierce: "Daughter-in-law, when will you let me be your father?"
Li Rong's tone was erratic: "How would I know? I have to look at you."
"Then I want to be a father tonight."
Li Rong pinched his arm in embarrassment: "I have something to do, just think about it."
Zhao Qingsong felt warm all over and kissed Li Rong before going out to help kill the chicken with a blushing face.
On New Year's Eve, everyone's house is busy, busy from morning to night, it is a happy busy life.
After the men killed the chickens and ducks, they went to chop firewood to make fire, while the women worked in the kitchen almost all day long.
There was a stone mill in the yard, and Li Rong asked Zhao Qingsong and the others to grind some rice flour. In the afternoon, she used wooden molds to steam several drawers of rice cakes, with red bean paste filling and mung bean paste filling in the middle.
If there were osmanthus, the sweet-scented osmanthus cake would taste even better, but it was a pity that Lirong couldn't find osmanthus in the winter.
Mother Zhao took the first bite and praised Li Rong's craftsmanship: "This cake is so delicate. I have been working for so many years and this is the first time I have tasted it."
He Xing said: "You have to be a younger brother and sister. This stuff must be from the city. It is because of my younger brother and sister that we can eat it."
Li Rong accepted the compliment with a smile, but to her, this rice cake was the simplest. If conditions allowed, she could make more complex ones for them to eat.
The big cow and the two cows are fighting over the firewood, just so that the adults can stir-fry the food and stuff it with a bite of food as soon as it comes out of the pot.
In the time it took Mother Zhao and the others to say a few words, the two brothers finished eating two pieces of rice cake each. Mother Zhao smiled and said, "You two just eat. When you are full, don't eat the big dinner tonight."
Daniel stuffed his hand into his mouth, swallowed it whole, and said: "Don't be afraid, my name is Daniel, my stomach is as big as a cow, I will eat three bowls of rice tonight!"
The two cows imitated: "I am also a cow, I can eat it!"
Li Rong and the others were amused by this childish talk and laughed.
Li Rong stopped laughing: "Eat it, it's okay, take this drawer outside first and give it to your father and the others."
Daniel stuffed the remaining half piece into his mouth, holding something in his mouth and said, "The main thing is to give it to my second uncle!"
Mother Zhao and He Xing laughed louder: "Hahaha..."
Li Rong was so embarrassed that she urged Da Niu. Seeing Da Niu's smile, she really wanted to hit him on the head. This Da Niu was really becoming more and more "unlovable".
The Zhao family cooked more than a dozen dishes for New Year's Eve dinner, including three soups. The chicken and duck viscera and blood clots were added into the water to make one soup. The beef bones were stewed into one soup, and the remaining one was a vegetarian soup made with shredded cucumbers.
It was still bright outside, but the Zhao family had already sat down neatly.
The Zhao family's eyes felt sour as they looked at the sumptuous meal.
They experienced famine, and then lived a life of working and not eating meat for several months. They raised children and never had such a prosperous year.
Never thought about it either.
Li Rong saw that everyone was stunned, and the two little ones didn't dare to move. She smiled and said, "Eat, don't be stunned, the new year is coming!"
As the head of the family, Father Zhao cleared his throat and said, "Eat, eat, you can finally get through this day."
Li Rong said: "Let's have a drink first."
Zhao Qingsong picked up the wine bowl: "Here, let's touch it."
The three men all had wine bowls in front of them, filled with soju.
He Xing was stunned and asked Li Rong: "What do we want to do too? What are we doing?"
Li Rong picked up the soup: "The soup is the same. The main thing is to clink glasses and celebrate."
The whole room burst into laughter, and after clinking "cups", they started to move their chopsticks.
Halfway through the meal, the sound of crackling firecrackers came from outside.
Li Rong shrank her shoulders: "Hey, who finished eating so early and then set off firecrackers?"
"They are the brigade's firecrackers. Who has the spare money to set off the firecrackers so early," Zhao's mother said, "If I buy firecrackers, I will set them off at twelve o'clock."
Mother Zhao said: "After dinner, we went out for a walk. I wonder if there are any opera singers in the village."
During the Chinese New Year here, there will be special people singing operas everywhere, wearing festive clothes and singing congratulations. Going to see the operas has also become an entertainment program for the villagers after meals.
Daniel, who was immersed in eating, suddenly raised his head and asked: "Mom, can I wear new clothes?"