Chapter 17: New Year

On the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, Lin Yue got up early.

This day was Little New Year, which also meant that from this day on, every household would start preparing for the New Year.

In her previous life, Lin Yue’s impression of Little New Year came entirely from her mother calling to remind her to eat dumplings.

On this day, she would occasionally encounter people selling candied gourds on the street, and she would buy some for the sake of tradition. But the candied gourds at that time were no longer the same as they were when she was a child, they weren’t crispy at all.

The festive atmosphere at that time was actually quite weak. For young people, Little New Year wasn’t as important as National Day or New Year’s Day, after all, there was no holiday for Little New Year.

But it was different now. Early in the morning, Zhang Da-niang came over and supervised Lin Yue in washing all the pots and pans in the house, cleaning the stove, and pasting up the Kitchen God image.

After watching Lin Yue finish, Zhang Da-niang left.

Before leaving, she repeatedly told her to offer candied gourds and dumplings to the Kitchen God in the evening.

The Kitchen God image and candied gourds were bought at the market a few days ago, and Lin Yue had secretly eaten more than half of them.

That day at the market, she also followed Luo Er-niang to a household to buy a lot of dried shrimp and dried fish.

That family also sold melon seeds and peanuts. Luo Er-niang was there for their five-spice peanuts.

Lin Yue tasted them, and they tasted very similar to the ones she had sold before.

She kept quiet, asked the price, and bought half a jin as well.

The raw peanuts she sold were 60 cents a jin, and the five-spice peanuts here were 90 cents a jin.

Even though they were so expensive, there were still many people buying them. Everyone bought at least half a jin, and they were all sold out in a short while.

No wonder the plump woman was laughing so hard that day.

Lin Yue also bought chives at the market, which would be perfect for making leek and egg dumplings today.

She had basically not dared to use the white flour at home before. Today was a holiday, so she indulged herself and made dumplings with all white flour.

In order to eat dumplings tonight, Lin Yue only ate a few bites at noon.

The dumplings were almost ready, and Liu Shi-liang, the youngest son of Jin A-jie’s family, came running over in his father’s big padded jacket, saying that his mother had asked him to help Lin Yue set off firecrackers.

Lin Yue was overjoyed and quickly let him in. The dumplings were just about ready to be taken out of the pot. She scooped out some dumplings and offered them to the Kitchen God first, then she and Shi-liang, one holding the stick and the other lighting the firecrackers.

The firecrackers crackled and popped, making Lin Yue almost drop the stick in her hand.

After setting off the firecrackers, Lin Yue filled a small bowl of dumplings for Shi-liang to take back home.

Shi-liang couldn’t refuse and happily carried the dumplings back home.

The two little ones weren’t afraid of the sound of firecrackers at all. They slept when they needed to sleep, and played when they needed to play, as if they couldn’t hear it.

The three sheep, however, were quite scared and kept pacing restlessly.

She saw that it was getting dark and no one would come, so she put the sheep into the space.

The dumplings were still cooked in the earthenware pot.

Mrs. Su said that the new iron pot needed to be seasoned before it could be used. There wasn’t enough oil at home for her to waste, so the pot had been bought for many days, and she still hadn’t used it.

The dumplings were delicious. Lin Yue ate more than thirty before she stopped.

It started to snow outside again. Lin Yue hugged her two soft little ones and sat by the window, staring out at the vast expanse of snow.

She didn’t know much about this period of history. She only knew that the three years of famine had passed two years ago, and maybe things would improve next year.

The village slaughtered the New Year pig on the 26th, still according to the ratio of six parts for people and four parts for labor.

Lin Yue’s family had added two children, so they received three people’s share of meat this year.

She mainly wanted lean meat, but she specifically asked for a little bit of fat, which she would keep at home for seasoning the new iron pot.

Everyone was lacking in oil and water, and fat meat was a good thing. Sun Hongmei watched with red eyes in the crowd, and sarcastically said loudly, “It’s different when you have a backer. You’re so greedy that you can go to the village chief’s house for a good meal. We don’t care much for this New Year’s pork, look at her, she’s so smug, she even wants the fat meat!”

Except for sending 8 yuan and a small bag of sorghum flour to the old house a few days ago, Lin Yue had hardly interacted with her in-laws.

Hearing Sun Hongmei say this now, she didn’t get angry, but smiled and said, “Yes, mother-in-law, you don’t have to worry about me now. I can at least eat some meat now. You keep the meat you got for yourselves. If you really miss me and your two fat grandsons, just send a little less, don’t send too much, leave some for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to eat.”

Sun Hongmei was so angry that her mouth went crooked, “Bah! You’re a daughter-in-law who doesn’t give food to your in-laws, and you’re always thinking about your in-laws’ little things. You’re shameless and don’t know how to be filial!”

Lin Yue still didn’t get angry, but instead said with concern, “Mother-in-law, I just sent you food and money a few days ago, you wouldn’t have forgotten, would you? I went to the county a while ago, and I heard that some old ladies get forgetful when they get old, it’s called senile dementia or something. Are you serious? Otherwise, we should go to the hospital to check it out!”

Although everyone didn’t know what “senile dementia” was, they knew it was an insult, and they all burst into laughter.

Sun Hongmei was about to scold her again, but the people next to her were not happy, “Zhang Lao-san’s wife, that’s enough.

“Alright, alright, you can talk about your family business when you get home and close the door. We’re still here waiting to get our share of the meat. Don’t waste everyone’s time.

You’re so slow, are you really getting senile dementia?”

Sun Hongmei was so angry that she almost fell over. She didn’t care about Lin Yue anymore, and went up to tear the person’s mouth.

The village only got to share meat twice a year, and sharing the New Year pig was a very important event in the countryside. Many people came to wait before dawn.

Now, everyone was bundled up in thick padded jackets, jumping their feet off in the snow.

The villagers might usually be happy to watch the gossip between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but now, no one had the time for that. Everyone was thinking about getting their share of the pork and going home for a good meal.

Zhang Zhiqiang scolded, “Anyone who keeps making noise, go back home. Come back when we’re all done!”

Everyone immediately fell silent, even Sun Hongmei didn’t dare to make a fuss anymore. She stood in the crowd, swallowing her anger, and glared at anyone who snickered, regardless of whether they were laughing at her or not.

Lin Yue took the opportunity and, after greeting the people she knew, took the meat home.

On the way, Lin Yue met Liu Widow. She greeted Lin Yue enthusiastically and wanted to go back together.

Lin Yue didn’t dare to agree and quickly walked away.

It wasn’t because of Liu Widow’s reputation that Lin Yue avoided her, but because she had witnessed Liu Widow’s secret a few days ago at the market.

Of course, the other party might not think it was anything to be ashamed of, and might even want everyone to know.

That day at the market, Lin Yue went to the deserted alley as usual, but she accidentally bumped into Liu Widow and a man having a secret rendezvous.

Lin Yue was startled and quickly entered the space. She secretly looked out from the space, but saw that the two didn’t worry about anyone coming. After a fierce battle, she heard Liu Widow say to the man, “Let’s break up. Don’t come looking for me anymore.”

The man straightened his clothes and said nonchalantly, “What, you still want to keep your innocence for that Principal Xu? You’ve been flirting with him for so long, has he ever looked at you properly?”

Sun Widow didn’t get angry, she leaned against the man’s chest and said softly, “He has. He has a female disciple in our village. Last time I helped his disciple, I went to him to ask for credit, and he even said ‘thank you’ to me.”

The man was excited, and said with a dirty mouth, “Oh, a female disciple? You play a lot. What about her? Is she pretty? How does she compare to you?” As he spoke, his hands began to get restless.

Lin Yue quickly closed the space, not daring to look anymore.

She felt speechless, there were too many points to criticize, she didn’t know where to start.

After seeing that scene, Lin Yue felt like she had seen a monster whenever she saw Sun Widow. She looked like a stepmother, the kind who would put a green hat on her father at any moment.

How could she dare to say a word to her?

But Liu Widow was obviously not someone who could read people’s expressions. Every time she saw Lin Yue, she was very enthusiastic, and she often created encounters with her. Lin Yue was really fed up with avoiding her.

On the 27th, Mrs. Su sent her second son, Zhang Shou-cang, over early in the morning to help kill the old hen and the two rabbits. She also enthusiastically helped her process them, cutting them into pieces.

Lin Yue kept most of it for herself, and divided the rest of the rabbit meat into several portions, sending a little to a few families she knew.

During the New Year, she finally wouldn’t be short of meat. The rest of the meat could be made into cured meat, to be eaten slowly later.

After the meat was divided last time, Sun Hongmei wanted to come and ask her for meat, but Lin Yue didn’t hesitate in front of the other people. She went up and pushed her away, threatening, “If you dare to cause trouble again, I’ll go out and say you beat me, and you want to take all the food in my house! See if everyone believes me then!”

Sun Hongmei was furious and went to fight with Lin Yue. Her little strength was no match for Lin Yue, and she was subdued by Lin Yue in a few moves.

Sun Hongmei was frightened by Lin Yue’s strength and didn’t dare to make a fuss anymore. She left after muttering a few harsh words.

After this incident, Lin Yue and her in-laws completely fell out. The two families didn’t interact much anyway, and now Sun Hongmei and her husband would actively avoid her when they saw her on the road.

Her younger sister-in-law, Zhang Xiao-xi, would often come to her house and ask her for food and drink.

But everyone was busy before the New Year, and Lin Yue didn’t have time to deal with her. Seeing that crying and making a fuss didn’t work, she just left.

Early in the morning of the first day of the New Year, Lin Yue held her two little ones and walked into her in-laws’ house under the eyes of her neighbors to pay New Year greetings to her father-in-law and mother-in-law.

In the countryside, paying New Year greetings on the first day of the New Year was a man’s job. Married women couldn’t go around paying New Year greetings, they could only go to their in-laws’ and relatives’ homes to pay their respects.

Lin Yue had already paid New Year greetings to the families she knew before the New Year. She only needed to go to her in-laws’ house to pay her respects, and then she would be done for the day.

Sun Hongmei didn’t let her in, and chased her away in the courtyard.

But the twin brothers secretly followed, and gave each of their little nephews and nieces a piece of candy.

She looked at these two children, who were not yet ten years old, and smiled genuinely.

The old Zhang family had good bamboo shoots growing from bad bamboo. Except for Zhang Xiao-xi, who was a bit spoiled, the rest were good children.