The Happy Life of Han Kyung Hye, Miss Mermaid

There is a folk song in old Beijing during the New Year: "Wife, wife, don't slander, after Laba is the new year; after a few days of Laba porridge, Lili Lala23; On 23 slaughter chickens, on 24 make noodles, on 25 steam steamed buns, make a night out at night on the 26th, and go to New Year’s greetings on the first day of the new year.” (From Baidu)

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is a relatively important festival in China, and it is also the beginning of the year. On this day, we have to drink Laba porridge, which is made of yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut rice, chestnuts, red cowpea, peeled Jujube paste and other miscellaneous grains and dried fruits are boiled, which means "five grains will be plentiful".The materials may be different in different places, but the meaning is similar. On the day of Laba in the south of the Yangtze River, various famous Chinese pharmacies and temples will cook Laba porridge and distribute it to people who come to see a doctor, travel, offer incense, etc. You can drink it as long as you go that day Sweet Laba porridge.

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is commonly known as "Xiao Nian". Few people have a "small year".As the previous folk song said, on this "small year", every family in Beijing will offer sacrifices to the stove. The prince was made happy, and asked him to sweeten his mouth before the Jade Emperor, so as to give this family a year-round blessing, safe and healthy; there is another saying that the candied melon is used to stick to the mouth of the Stove Prince, and it is sealed with sugar, see The Jade Emperor simply let him keep silent, in case he would lose his words if he talked too much.

After the "Little New Year" is the 24 dust sweeping day. On this day, basic households across the country have to clean their houses to sweep away the dust of the old year. Do.But like in Jiangnan, posting Spring Festival couplets is done on New Year’s Eve, and at Li Haoran’s house, none of the males came back, so this work is also left to do on New Year’s Eve just like Jiangnan. , It can also make several children lively.

After sweeping the dust, it will soon be the New Year's Eve. On this day, Li Haoran's family got up very early, especially the few children who hadn't celebrated the New Year in China, so they were even more excited.After the family has eaten breakfast, they start a busy day.A few small couplets for Spring Festival couplets, window grilles for window grilles, Han Jinghui and Ya Liying helped Li's mother to eat in the kitchen for a day, because the big meat had been killed and washed in the past few days, now as long as it is Just put it down and stew, because meat is usually stewed, so it starts to be stewed in the morning of the New Year's Eve.So today, after the three of them put down the meat and stewed it, they just need to wash the vegetables and fruits, while Li Haoran and Mr. Li cleaned up the living room and the courtyard.

The whole morning was spent in the busyness of everyone. The family had a simple lunch and then started to get busy again.The three women in the family began to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner at night. Among them, Han Jinghui was in charge, and Grandma Li and Ya Liying helped.

The women are busy eating, and other men, big and small, go to the street to buy all kinds of fireworks and red lanterns. During the Chinese New Year, adults usually buy small lanterns for children, and the children eat with lanterns. After the New Year’s Eve dinner, find friends to play around and set off firecrackers to play.

When the New Year's Eve dinner was about to be prepared, Grandma Li made a nine-room offering in the main courtyard; there were Chengtang's set of cakes, flower cake noodles, Chengtang's fruits and dried fruits, eight pieces of flower cakes, rice cakes and New Year's rice, Vegetarian dumplings (or steamed food), stir-fried vegetarian dishes, etc., there will be a pig's head in Jiangnan.After the incense is placed, the leftover medicinal residues are dumped on the road for people to step on. On ordinary days, the medicinal residues are also disposed of in the same way, and the prescriptions that are being taken are also burned. This is what people often say "throw away All kinds of diseases", and although no one in Li Haoran's family was sick, Han Jinghui had prepared a lot of medicinal food for the family these days, and there were also a lot of medicinal residues, so they dumped these medicinal residues on the road.

Because they don’t have any relatives at home, they don’t have to go to their relatives’ homes to pay New Year’s greetings on New Year’s Eve, but some old neighbors still have to visit their homes, so they all put on new clothes and bring gifts to visit their homes, commonly known as “Farewell to the New Year”. .There is another item in the "resignation of the year" in northern Beijing that newlyweds must "resign from the year" at the mother-in-law's home, otherwise it is disrespectful and unfilial.

After returning from the "resignation year", Grandma Li took the offerings from the Eight Immortals table in the main courtyard and put them on the long table in the main courtyard until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.Then, Han Jinghui and Ya Liying began to serve the dishes. Generally speaking, the New Year’s Eve dinner is a combination of meat and vegetables, but there are more meat dishes, and the number of dishes must be more than ten, mainly odd numbers such as eleven, thirteen, etc. .Li Haoran's family cooked thirteen dishes. Although there were a lot of people, they didn't cook a lot of dishes. They were afraid that they would be wasted if they couldn't finish them later. Their family wasn't used to eating leftovers. Of course, meat dishes didn't count. Inside, because there is a time limit for slaughtering chickens and ducks during the Chinese New Year, these meats are all slaughtered first, and ordinary families make them in advance. .

Fireworks and firecrackers are set off before the New Year’s Eve dinner, and after the New Year’s Eve dinner is over, the New Year’s Eve dinner is started.The family sat in front of the big round table. After all the dishes were served, Han Jinghui and Ya Liying sat down. After the master of the family started, everyone began to eat the dishes. Of course, they had to drink champagne first, and everyone respected each other The wine speaks auspicious words, and of course the annual must-see program, the Spring Festival Gala, is indispensable. Everyone eats while watching the show, and laughing is indispensable when seeing the funny things. In short, the New Year’s Eve dinner is spent amidst the laughter. .

When the New Year’s bell rang at the Spring Festival Gala, Li Haoran and the children first went to the yard to set off firecrackers and fireworks. Dumplings are eaten on the evening of New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month in Beijing, which is "the meaning of making friends when you are older".Some families still put all kinds of dried fruits and coins in the dumplings, but Han Jinghui and the others are too lazy to make these, so it's good to eat like this.Before eating dumplings, Grandma Li and Mr. Li made big red envelopes for several children, including Li Minghao and Ya Liying.

Because on New Year's Eve, everyone has to "keep the year old", so it's rare for everyone not to go to bed, but to watch TV while playing mahjong and cards. It just so happens that their family can gather two tables, so except Except for Grandma Li, everyone else started to play, so they won't feel sleepy and can watch until tomorrow.In the meantime, Ya Liying also received a call from Li Yuanji, and the two had a lively chat, and even asked Grandma Li to help her play mahjong. After chatting for an hour, the two hung up the phone reluctantly.

"Ya Liying, what are you talking about with Yuan Ji? We've been talking for so long. It's nice to have a boyfriend. Pity me, who doesn't have a girlfriend. No one calls me for New Year's greetings. What a failure!" Li Haoming was distressed.

"Brother, if you want a girlfriend, many people post it upside down. I don't know who has a paralyzed face all day long, so they dare not post it even if they want to!" Ya Liying replied.The brothers and sisters talked to each other, and the other people around watched the excitement and laughed without saying a word.

On the first day of the first lunar month, everyone went to bed after breakfast. Except for the old couple of the Li family who went to bed after two o'clock in the morning, the others persisted until dawn, so as soon as breakfast was finished the next day, everyone went to bed. asleep.Because from the first day to the fifth day of the first lunar month, you can't sweep the floor, you can't take scissors, and you can't do anything else except cook, because they don't have to leave relatives, so they all sleep peacefully, and no one can sleep all night I can't stand it.

In this way, their family goes shopping every day. Some old streets in northern Beijing are covered with red lanterns, and there are many delicious and fun things that you can’t usually see. There are also juggling, dragon and lion dances, Several children go to the street to play every day, and they have a great time playing every day.

Until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, everyone went out that night, even the two old people went out together. There was a lantern festival on the street on this day. The Lantern Festival has never existed before. Lantern festivals have always been very lively. Stories about gifted scholars and beautiful ladies also happen from time to time, of course, these rarely happen in modern times.There were lantern riddles guessers at the lantern festival. Except for the two elderly people, Li Haoran’s family happily gathered there to guess the lantern riddles. It’s not in vain. Everyone is a talented student. In fact, they have guessed most of the lantern riddles. The boss’s face was all dark, because whoever guessed the lantern riddle would belong to the lantern, and they didn’t need to give money, so everyone guessed it, but Li Haoran is still kind, although he guessed it all, everyone just took it One lantern, so he returned all the extra lanterns to the boss.

After the Lantern Festival, the whole year is over, and the busy new year is about to start again. Ya Liying's holiday is coming soon, so Han Jinghui will start to pack up and salute Ya Liying again. Look at Ya Liying Seeing her salute, her eyes twitched, even the old couple of Li's family couldn't stand it, this is going to move, how can I take it away then.Li Haoran and the others are quite calm. Anyway, this is not the first time we have met. After a few days, the sons will return to the United States. Obviously, this situation will happen again.

After seeing off Ya Liying, the above scene happened again in the Li family within a few days. Now even the two elders of the Li family were very calm. Anyway, this kind of situation did not happen once.Like Ya Liying last time, Ya Liying talked too much, Han Jinghui said: "Anyway, there is still Yuan Ji, just ask him to drive a bigger car, I see nothing can Take less!" Anyway, in Han Jinghui's eyes, no matter how much it is, as long as she thinks she needs to bring it, she can always find a reason.It's the same this time, anyway, everyone knows it, it's useless to say it, it's better to accept it.

After sending off a few children, the old house in the north of Beijing suddenly became much empty, which made Li Haoran and the others a little uncomfortable.And Li Haoran and Han Jinghui also plan to go out for a walk when the weather is warmer, and then return to the United States, because the younger ones are about to take the high school entrance examination.Thinking of these little ones, except for Li Jue who is 15 years old, the others are only about 12 years old. They obviously plan to study for a year in high school and then skip a grade, because they have finished their high school texts and have already gone to university Han Jinghui also went with them, but every time she thought of these smart boys, she felt very relieved.