Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

Courtyard house

Lunar calendar 29th, New Year’s Eve.

The 1960th lunar month in 12 had only 29 days (I checked this on Baidu)

Last night, neither the Xu father nor his son was able to convince the other.

In the end, Xu Fugui had no choice but to ask Xu Damao to think about it more. If he really wanted to change his job, he would not stop him.

Xu Damao slept well that night and slept soundly.

Xu Fugui couldn't sleep. He was thinking about whether he should go back if Damao really changed his job. He was upset. Xu Fugui thought about this all night. At almost four o'clock in the morning, he fell into a fitful sleep.

I had just fallen asleep when I heard the door opening and was suddenly awakened.

I thought there was a thief.

When I turned on the light, I found it was Xu Damao. The guy was tiptoeing out, but the sound of the door opening was a bit loud.

"Da Mao, what time is it now?"

Xu Fugui thought that the weather was bad today and the sky was a little dark.

"Dad, it's six o'clock."

"Ah, son, why are you up so early if you don't go to bed at six?"

"Dad, didn't I tell you? Of course it's exercise and martial arts."

"No, we still need to rest during the New Year."

"Got it, Dad. I'll take a rest starting tomorrow."

Xu Fugui was both happy and distressed.

The Xu family has been a single-son family for generations. They have never suffered any hardship since they were young, and they have never let Damao suffer either. But they didn't expect that Damao would seek hardship himself now.

Besides, the Xu family has always relied on intelligence rather than strength. Is this going to change starting from Damao's generation?

But, it’s true, there’s an indescribable feeling when beating someone up, especially when it comes to those who used to bully you with force. It feels so good.

Should I, Old Xu, also practice with Damao? I don’t expect to beat Shazhu, but it would be good to have a chance to beat up that old mule Yi Zhonghai.

"Dad, you should sleep a little longer. I will be careful and try not to disturb the neighbors."

I have to say that the beating of Sha Zhu yesterday gave Xu Damao great confidence.

He himself understood that yesterday's attack was unexpected and he directly kicked Sha Zhu in the crotch. If Sha Zhu had been prepared, he would definitely not be his opponent. However, as long as he gave himself time, he would be able to beat Sha Zhu sooner or later.

.................

Hope Village

After breakfast, we started cleaning again.

Anyway, no corner should be left undone. According to traditional customs, it is not appropriate to sweep the floor or take out the garbage from the first to the fifth day of the New Year.

So you need to clean every corner again in advance.

The key point is the cafeteria, which is a place for eating and must be clean and hygienic.

Everyone is involved, including the steamer used yesterday, various tableware, etc.

In the afternoon, the canteen began to prepare for the evening gathering and reunion dinner.

Of course, there was a lot of meat, but there were basically no vegetables. Liu Guozheng also did not allow the summer vegetables from the second world to be taken. They were just simple cabbage, bean sprouts, radishes, potatoes, etc.

However, fruits were prepared, they were seasonal fruits, such as apples and oranges. Nan Yi could make some candied apples or candied oranges, or a fruit platter would be fine, to improve the taste.

There are also candies that children like, fruit candies, milk candies, and relatively rare soft candies, all of which are produced by the Second World Food Factory.

Melon seeds and peanuts are also indispensable.

During the Chinese New Year, it is a wonderful thing for the family to gather together after dinner, eating melon seeds, peanuts and watching the Spring Festival Gala.

There is no need to think about it now. We don’t even have a TV, and it will take another 23 years before the first Spring Festival Gala is broadcast.

The others helped in the cafeteria. Li Dabao and the third child took the children to start pasting Spring Festival couplets and setting off firecrackers.

According to traditional customs, Spring Festival couplets can only be posted after visiting the graves and paying homage to relatives.

If you put up the Spring Festival couplets before visiting the graves, your ancestors and relatives will not be able to return home to celebrate the New Year.

It is not a big deal now, and there is no way to be particular about it. After so many years of war, the ancestral tombs have long been flattened, unless those who have been living there can still remember the location of the ancestral tombs. I hope that the people in the new village are all refugees and have no way to go back to pay homage.

Liu Guozheng can do it, but he just asked his clone to send a robot to do it for him.

After the busy work of Master Yuan, Nan Yi and others, everything was ready at six o'clock in the evening.

"Guo Zheng, today is New Year's Eve, let me give you guys a few words."

"Yes, yes, you can have this."

Yang Youde made the proposal, and several elderly people including Lou Zhenhua agreed unanimously.

Liu Guozheng is not pretentious. Although he doesn't have much knowledge, he can still make a few remarks.

"This year is New Year's Eve. After today it will be a new year and a new beginning."

"Let the suffering and pain of the past go. We must look forward and work hard for a better life tomorrow."

"Here, I would like to first say hello to Uncle Lou, Uncle Yang, Uncle Jiang... Aunt Niu, Aunt Ma, and wish you all a happy new year. I wish you good health, a long life, happiness as vast as the East Sea, and a long life as great as the Southern Mountains. May everything go well with you in the new year."

"Secondly, I hope all of us young people will have smooth sailing, good luck and prosperity. Erlang and Li Ge, may you have a baby soon. Dabao and Nan Ge, may you find your ideal partner soon. Of course, Lao San and I will also put marriage on the agenda after the New Year."

"Finally, it's our next generation. I wish them to be forever innocent and carefree, to be loved by everyone, to grow up healthily, and to succeed in life as soon as possible. In short, I hope all children can smile all the time and be healthy and happy."

"Okay, let's get started. You can eat and drink without worry tonight."

Then there was a burst of applause.

Liu Guozheng pressed his hand down, and the New Year’s Eve dinner officially began.

Eat, drink, talk and laugh.

It took more than two hours before everyone worked together to clean up the mess.

Finally, new clothes were distributed, and everyone, whether adults or children, got one.

Everyone should put away their own clothes and change into them early tomorrow morning, and have a happy new year happily.

After distributing the clothes, the children ran to set off firecrackers.

Liu Guozheng distributed the red envelopes he had prepared. Each person received about twenty red envelopes, which were prepared for tomorrow.

It doesn’t mean that the children will not receive red envelopes when they pay New Year’s greetings tomorrow. It’s okay for young people, but children must receive red envelopes.

The money in the red envelopes was also prepared by Liu Guozheng. It was not a lot of money, just fifty cents in each red envelope, mainly for a sense of ceremony.

The adults also received red envelopes, which Liu Guozheng prepared for them.

The red envelopes have their names and blessings on them, and each red envelope contains fifty yuan. If you want to go out for a stroll during the New Year, you must have money on you.

The next step is to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year.

Don’t force yourself to do this. Just go to sleep when you feel sleepy.

Children set off firecrackers, even all night long as they are not sleepy.

Young people playing cards.

The older ones drank tea and chatted.

Everyone had a smile on their face and the whole scene was quiet and peaceful.