Rebirth 1979: Marrying a poor girl at the beginning

Lin Zhengjun sighed and said, "Perhaps this is another meaning of offering sacrifices to ancestors. Even if they can't actually eat it, offering sacrifices to ancestors and asking for food from them is a bit of comfort to everyone!"

He didn't smoke originally, but for some reason, he really wanted to smoke a cigarette at this moment.

"Dad, don't worry, life will get better and better. We won't be hungry anymore. Let's not be sad and look forward!"

Lin Zhengjun comforted Lin Sanhuai for a long time before he calmed down. Then the two of them packed the tribute into a basket and went home together.

At this time, the sky was already bright, and a dazzling red sun slowly rose from the east.

Today, the weather is very good, it is a sunny day!

The red sun cast thousands of rays of light, and the father and son no longer felt cold. There was only a warm feeling burning in their hearts. The road ahead was already illuminated by the sun, and the heat was rolling, and the ice and snow were melting.

After praying to the ancestors, Lin Sanhuai returned home and took down a roll of something wrapped in many layers of cloth from the wall. He first gently dusted off the dust, then unrolled it layer by layer, and finally found a large scroll and two small scrolls.

The paper has turned a little black and looks like it must be an old item that has been in existence for a long time.

The big scroll is the "family tree", and the small scroll is a couplet, "To be from a big family, accumulate virtue and do good deeds" and "To be a good son, farm the land and study." These can be considered the family motto of the Lin family. There is no signature, and no one knows which ancestor wrote them. They are all hung on the back wall.

Then offerings are placed, incense and candles are lit, paper money is burned, firecrackers are set off again, and a "wish" prayer is said. Only then is the ancestor worship completed.

Next, Lin Zhengjun, Tang Xiaofu and Lin Hongying took brushes and used sticky corn paste to paste Spring Festival couplets, door paintings and window decorations in the old and new houses.

It’s the New Year, so let’s have fun!

These paper-cuts were given by Wei Hongbing. His grandmother is very skillful and can cut paper-cuts.

There are little rabbits, big roosters, and a fat baby holding a big carp. This is to express the hope that Lin Zhengjun and Tang Xiaofu will have a baby soon!

First invite the ancestors, then paste couplets and door paintings. This procedure cannot be reversed.

Because Spring Festival couplets and door paintings represent "door gods", if you post them too early and then invite your ancestors back, they will be blocked outside by the door gods and will not be able to come in.

The door gods are all big guys, such as Qin Qiong, Jingde, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and so on.

After finishing his work, Lin Zhengjun returned to the old house and Zhang Shuqin had already prepared lunch.

Lunch was simple. Zhang Shuqin made a big stew with fried chicken, fried fish fillets, crispy pork and cabbage vermicelli. The staple food was shredded pork noodles.

It’s not that there is no delicious food at home, it’s mainly because we have the New Year’s Eve dinner in the evening, which is particularly sumptuous, so we just have a simple meal at noon.

Not only Li Zhengjun's family, but the entire Hewan Brigade, have much more New Year's goods this year than in previous years. Basically, they include chicken, duck, fish and meat. The per capita amount of meat is probably double that of last year.

Adults and children also put on new clothes and new shoes, and many little girls even wore new hairpins, headbands and hair bands.

As a result, the New Year atmosphere of the entire Hewan Brigade was a little stronger than before. In this era of material scarcity, a slight improvement in conditions is enough to make people happy.

So, after lunch.

Lin Zhengjun said: "Mom, let's go to the new house in the back mountain to have the New Year's Eve dinner!"

Lin Hongying was the first to agree and said, "Dad and Mom, let's go to the new house in the back mountain to eat. It's bright and comfortable."

Zhang Shuqin hesitated a little and said, "This is not appropriate! Our ancestors are celebrating the New Year here. We are going to the new house and leaving them behind!"

She looked at Lin Sanhuai inquiringly, wondering if this was in accordance with the rules.

Lin Sanhuai thought for a moment and said, "After preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, come to this room and put two bowls in front of the ancestors. Let them eat first. If they are willing, the ancestors will understand!"

"Okay!" So everyone took the food and rushed to the new house in the back mountain.

In the afternoon, Li Zhengjun and his family made dumplings.

Generally, you need to make enough dumplings for three or four days, and you basically don’t need to cook for the remaining days.

There are many strange customs during the New Year in Huaibian County.

First of all, you are not allowed to shave your head in the first month of the lunar year. This is the same all over the country. In addition, you are not allowed to sweep the garbage before the sixth day of the first month of the lunar year, but have to hide it behind the door.

The sun is strong today. It is warm and gentle in the afternoon, not cold at all. The whole family is sitting in the yard making dumplings.

When making dumplings, a coin is put inside one of the dumplings. Whoever bites it will be blessed. I don’t know where this rule came from.

Lin Zhengjun is responsible for preparing the filling.

First, I made the pork and radish filling.

The pork is half fat and half lean. The radish should be shredded in advance and salt should be used to kill the moisture. Squeeze out the moisture, then add some shredded green onion, minced ginger, and coriander and chop it together.

Add some star anise, peppercorns, soy sauce and sesame oil that have been crushed with a roller and passed through a sieve, and the flavor will immediately come out!

Lin Hongying sighed: "Brother, it has to be you. This stuffing is still raw. It's not even cooked yet, but I'm drooling!"

Lin Zhengjun said proudly: "I have always believed that my talent in cooking is greater than my talent in literature..."

“These past two years have been great!”

Zhang Shuqin smiled and said: "In the earliest communes, people still ate in a big pot. And on New Year's Eve, they would have a bitter memory meal! They would recall the hardships they had suffered before 1949, and feel satisfied and grateful for the happy life of socialism."

"Usually, some relatively rough and cheap ingredients are used to simulate the poor life in the past. For example, some people use cornmeal, dried yam, and yam flour to make steamed bread; some people use bran and cornmeal to make steamed bread; others use rotten vegetable leaves, taro flowers, pumpkin flowers, radish leaves or wild vegetables to cook rice bran, bean curd dregs, etc. Not only are they cheap, but they also have a rough taste and are difficult to swallow, thus achieving the effect of recalling the bitter past and thinking of the sweet past."

"When cooking, some brigade cadres would deliberately not add salt or use leaves, grass roots, and broken rice husks that pigs would not eat to make the food look realistic."

"The funniest thing is that one year, when we invited a poor peasant of three generations to a bitter pasture, he suddenly said, 'Oh, life was really hard back then. People starved to death in those three years!' The brigade cadres were almost scared to death!"

Lin Zhengjun almost burst out laughing and said, "This old man has political awareness, but not much. For a moment, he can't tell the difference between the old and new societies!"

The family chatted and soon made enough dumplings for three days.

The sky grew dark.

Lin Zhengjun walked into the kitchen and started preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Tang Xiaofu was making the fire, and the other three were helping Lin Zhengjun, so the work went very quickly.

First, there are fried chicken nuggets, fish nuggets, crispy pork, tofu puffs, and braised heart and lungs. Add some side dishes, stir-fry and heat them up, and it becomes a hot dish.

Afterwards, Lin Zhengjun cut some braised pork head and liver and made two cold dishes. He then fried some spinach, some cabbage with vinegar, and some shredded potatoes.

Although our family conditions are good, we cannot just eat meat. We need to combine meat and vegetables to ensure a balanced nutrition.

After a while, the food was ready and the dumplings were cooked in the pot.

Lin Sanhuai first put two bowls of dumplings and two bowls of vegetables in a basket and took them to the old house for his ancestors to enjoy, and burned paper money and made wishes.

Lin Zhengjun also placed all the dishes on the table in the living room, but the meal was not started yet, as the ancestor had to eat first!

After a while, Lin Sanhuai came back with an empty basket and said with a smile, "Let's start!"

Everyone closed the door, poked the stove, and the honeycomb coal burned brightly. The temperature in the room instantly rose and it became as warm as spring. The family sat together and happily started the meal.