The prosperous era of courtyard houses

Chapter 301, New Year’s Eve

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and New Year's Eve soon arrived.

The dark clouds that had lingered in the imperial capital for several days finally slowly dispersed, and a rare sunny day appeared on New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, the whole courtyard became busy. Every household was busy cleaning dust and sweeping snow, putting up Spring Festival couplets and hanging lanterns.

The third uncle's family in the east wing of the front yard had already set up their formation in the front yard, with all the pens, inks, paper and inkstones available, just waiting for the wealthy guests to come.

No, before Li Weiguo went out, the third uncle sent Yan Jiecheng over to ask for instructions.

"Brother Wei Guo, happy New Year. My dad asked me to ask you, do you want to help you prepare these Spring Festival couplets?"

Yan Jiecheng rubbed his hands with a smile and waited for Li Weiguo to nod and give him the bill.

Li Weiguo smiled and said: "Happy New Year, okay, then I'll ask the third uncle to help me write a festive post. I won't pay the writing fee. Can I give you two taels of peanuts?"

"Hey. That's great. Thank you. Brother Wei Guo. Please be kind. I'll make sure it's done for you. I'll put it on for you later."

Yan Jiecheng was immediately overjoyed. It didn't matter if he had money or not. It wouldn't go into his pocket anyway, but it would be great to get two taels of peanuts. No matter how much he took it home, he could get a few.

Moreover, peanuts are in short supply for oil. During the Spring Festival, each household in the imperial capital can only buy half a catty (including the skin) with their non-staple food budget. At other times, if you have money and have no place to buy them, these two taels of peanuts are quite a lot, enough to cover your pen. It’s a waste.

"Okay, I'll trouble you, please explain."

Li Weiguo smiled and didn't care much about the three melons and two dates. He casually took out the two taels of peanuts he had eaten a few days ago from the cupboard and handed him over.

He has long been free of things like peanuts and melon seeds. Since he obtained the secret space, he has taken the time to find ways to get all the crop seeds that he can find in the imperial capital. There is basically no shortage of such materials.

Yan Jiecheng took the small bowl of shelled peanuts from Li Weiguo, grinned happily, thanked him, and left.

The benefits of Lao Yan's family are in place, and the work is quite neat. Not long after Yan Jiecheng returned with the peanuts, a newly written couplet written by the third uncle was quickly delivered to him.

First couplet: A year full of good luck.

Second line: Everything goes well and everything goes well.

Horizontal batch: Chunmanhuatang

Li Weiguo was not allowed to do anything, and the old Yan family's service was in place throughout the process. Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang carried a pair of ladders, while the two children, Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiedi, helped apply the paste. After three strokes, five divided by two, it was fixed for him. The torn old couplets were all cleaned up.

Li Weiguo went out and took a look. Not to mention, the couplets were posted upright with no flaws at all, so he was not stingy and gave each of the brothers and sisters a candy as a reward.

After dismissing the attentive four brothers and sisters of the Yan family, Li Weiguo also picked up the broom and started cleaning.

Life needs a sense of ritual. It’s New Year’s Eve, no matter how clean the house is, you still have to clean it.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, as soon as the time came, Li Weiguo got on his car and went straight to Heizhima Hutong to pick up the old man for New Year's dinner.

He had made an agreement with the old man when the salary was settled earlier. From now on, the two of them would spend the New Year together. The old man had no objection and he would arrange everything.

After leaving the yard and riding for two minutes, Li Weiguo soon arrived at the door of the old man's house.

Without knocking, he just pushed the door open and shouted, "Master, I'm here to pick you up."

"Okay, here we come."

In the main room, the old man responded and quickly came out of the house carrying a large package.

As soon as Li Weiguo looked at what he was carrying, he knew that he was still the same as last year. He was worried about increasing the burden on him and wanted to bring food to subsidize him.

But this time, Li Weiguo wouldn't let him take it no matter what.

"Master, I have told you many times that there is no need to bring anything with you. You can just keep it for yourself. I have prepared everything. We don't need anything."

"You bring something to eat, are you treating me like an outsider?"

These days, rations are rationed, so it's understandable to bring your own food stamps to eat at home, but bringing your own ingredients is out of the ordinary.

Li Weiguo had a straight face, took the package from his hand and put it back into the house without saying a word.

Seeing that his apprentice was unhappy, Mr. Wang smiled coquettishly and explained: "Hey, isn't it because of the recent shortage of supplies? My comrades just gave me a few cans of military canned meat, and I plan to take them with me to add some vegetables."

Li Weiguo secretly rolled his eyes and said speechlessly: "When did you see that I was short of meat? Why bother worrying about it?"

"Okay, okay, if you don't take it, I won't take it, hehehe"

Mr. Wang smiled cheerfully, knowing that he had a special connection, but he couldn't resist his filial piety, so he simply stopped insisting.

After putting away the package, he took his master out and locked the courtyard door. Within a few minutes, Li Weiguo drove Mr. Wang back to the courtyard.

After returning to the house in the front yard, he pushed the bicycle under the eaves and parked it. Li Weiguo took out a small sack that had been prepared in advance, and then took the old man straight to the silly pillar's house in the middle courtyard.

There weren't many things in the sack, just a twelve-pound fat rabbit and a four-pound silver carp. The rest were some miscellaneous vegetarian vegetables produced by the space, for Silly Zhu to freely use.

This year, due to material supply issues, there are not many things that everyone can buy. In the past, the most important part of the Chinese New Year was refining lard, and there were only a few people who killed chickens and ducks. The whole yard felt less lively than before, so eating I can only make do with it, so as not to be too showy and make people jealous.

When they arrived at the main room in the middle courtyard, they led Master Wang Zhenhai into the house. They saw that Shazhu and his wife were already busy in the main room with rain. They were making steamed buns and making dumplings while chatting. They were very busy.

"Brother Zhu, sister-in-law, my master is here." Li Weiguo called out when he entered the room.

Seeing that Mr. Wang was coming, Shazhu, his wife and Yuyu stopped what they were doing and stood up to greet him: "Hey, Mr. Wang is here. Welcome. Please take a seat. Yuyu will go get tea quickly."

"Hey, okay, Master Wang, please sit down for a moment." Yuyu patted the flour on his hands and quickly went to get a thermos to make tea.

"Hey, there's no need to work, I'm not thirsty, the pillars, the rain, you can just do your business."

Mr. Wang waved his hand with a smile, and then asked: "Do you need my help, old man?"

"No, it's almost done. Please sit down for a while and drink some tea. We'll have dinner soon." Silly Zhu said with a smile.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the big meal. I had a small meal last year, but I've always been thinking about it, hahaha." Mr. Wang took the tea handed over by Yu Yu and said with a cheerful smile.

"Hey, thank you for the compliment. Don't worry, I will definitely try my best to satisfy you today, hahaha."

Hearing that his cooking skills were recognized, Shazhu immediately burst into laughter. He had worked hard on cooking for so long just for the praise of the diners.

After the old man and Silly Zhu and the others had exchanged greetings, Li Weiguo put the sack in his hand directly on the dining table and said, "Brother Zhu, everything is here. I leave it to you."

Silly Zhu, his wife and Yu Yu's eyes lit up and they quickly came over.

When the bag was opened, what came into view was a big white rabbit weighing about ten kilograms. It had been knocked unconscious and was sleeping soundly in the sack.

There are also a large silver carp and about ten pounds of various vegetables, as well as various ingredients such as onions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns.

"Wow, those fat rabbits and silver carps are so delicious today."

Yu Yu, the greedy little cat, exclaimed and secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, already a little impatient.

"Okay, leave it to me. I'll give you braised rabbit meat, spicy rabbit dices, and steamed silver carp. I'm sure you'll be satisfied. How about it?" The moment he saw the ingredients, Shazhu immediately asked. My hands are itchy.

In the past two years, due to the scarcity of ingredients, there have been fewer and fewer opportunities to make small stoves in the canteen and take on private jobs outside. Silly Zhu feels that his skills have declined. Now it is just right, there are good things that he can use to his fullest extent.

"Okay, you are the chef in charge, you have the final say." Mr. Wang smiled and nodded, and Li Weiguo and the others had no objection.

After discussing the dishes, he was no longer required to make steamed buns and dumplings. Silly Zhu put on an apron, picked up the rabbit and threw it on the stove floor. Then he took the kitchen knife and enamel basin and prepared to skin, bleed and disembowel the rabbit.

Silly Zhu was a professional after all. It didn't take long for him to finish the rabbit while he was still sleeping. By the way, he also got a rabbit skin that was in good condition. It was snow-white and not stained at all. It was really beautiful.

"Wow, this rabbit skin is so big and white. Brother Wei Guo, how about I use it to make you a scarf?"

After making the dumplings, Yu Yu ran over happily carrying the freshly peeled rabbit skin.

Li Weiguo glanced at the white rabbit skin in her hand, shook his head and said, "Forget it, I have a scarf, why don't you keep it to make a hat."

"I don't have to, it's too wasteful." Yuyu refused.

Her heart was now focused on Li Weiguo. How could she be willing to use such a good rabbit skin for herself.

Li Weiguo joked: "Why don't you use it? I almost froze you like a village girl when I was queuing up to buy groceries a few days ago. Wouldn't it be a good idea to make you a winter hat?"

As soon as he mentioned the appearance of a village girl, Xiao Nizi immediately became embarrassed. This is simply a black history that cannot be erased and cannot be looked back on.

"Hahaha" everyone laughed.

感谢书友【战之必胜】【2021030110428522】【高永林】【20171104162249847】【铁血天王】【20190901094539319】【20180701005043393】【繁星H】【20210301104130495606】【20181218113750370】【20180518100534446】【160312192136161】【20210301105361034686】感谢各位老表的月票支持，谢谢\(^o^)/~

I originally wanted to take a two-day break, just to be lazy, but looking at the situation, I can’t take a break even if I want to, so let’s forget it. I’ll keep the accounts for you first. I’ll take a break when I want to, quack quack O(n_n)O~