Chapter 80: New Year

In Nine-Bend Town, although temperatures could drop below freezing, it wouldn’t stay that cold continuously. During the day, with sunlight, the temperature would rise somewhat. Without refrigerators, even in winter, it was challenging to preserve fresh food for an extended period.

People would buy some dried bamboo shoots, seaweed, etc., in advance to keep at home for the New Year. However, for items like chicken, fish, and fresh pork, they would wait until the day before New Year’s Eve or even on New Year’s Eve itself to purchase them.

After having lunch, Jiang Liyun went out for a stroll. She noticed that the usual midday market, which would typically be deserted by now, was still bustling with people.

Today, there was no one selling white-feathered chickens. Everyone was selling well-fed roosters or plump hens. Some were selling fish—small crucian carp kept in buckets or basins, still alive. Larger carp, grass carp, and crucian carp were dead, neatly arranged on snake-skin bags used for feed. If someone bought them, the vendor would even help scale the fish.

Additionally, the stalls selling incense, candles, and firecrackers were doing the best business.

In their village, there was a pond that had been drained a few days ago to catch all the fish inside. Jiang Lame had gone to buy a couple of lively fish a couple of days ago, keeping them in a water tank at home. The big rooster needed for the ancestral ceremony on New Year’s Eve had also been bought and was being raised at home.

Jiang Liyun didn’t need to buy these things, so she purchased some firecrackers and fireworks, planning to bring them back for Jiang Liyu and Feng Yi to play with.

When she returned to the shop, there were already customers wanting to buy fried chicken.

Now that many factories had closed for the holidays, some elderly people’s children who usually worked in the county or even the provincial capital had returned. They specifically came to buy some fried chicken to add to the family’s dishes.

Someone also said to Jiang Liyun, “Liyun, please prepare more dumplings tomorrow morning. I want to buy some fresh dumplings to cook for the New Year’s Eve dinner.”

Jiang Liyun naturally agreed.

Currently, there are no machine-made dumpling wrappers for sale in the town, and people in Nine-Bend Town are not skilled in making dough products. So, they simply bought ready-made fresh dumplings. There were quite a few people who informed Jiang Liyun that they would buy fresh dumplings tomorrow.

Hearing that people in the north ate dumplings for the New Year, they wanted to give it a try.

As they were chatting, Jiang Liyun saw a few more friends of Xie’s mother coming in, saying they wanted to buy fried chicken racks.

Now that they had a gas stove, the control of frying chicken was even better than before, and even Feng Qiufeng had learned to make fried chicken.

She double-fried the chicken pieces that had already been fried, then, after confirming with the customers, chopped them up and handed them over.

The middle-aged women happily took the fried chicken and left.

Jiang Liyun followed them to the door, took a distant look, and saw Xie Zugen’s mother holding a piece of fried chicken and enjoying it.

Jiang Liyun: “…”

Xie Zugen’s mother had always been frugal and hardly spent money, but on this day, close to the New Year, she spent fifty cents to satisfy her appetite.

Little did she know that her son was at the gambling den, losing another five hundred yuan.

Xie Zugen was terrified, afraid that Boss Zhou would come to his home.

His parents doted on him, but if he really did something wrong, his dad would still scold him.

If someone came to his house for debt, it wouldn’t only be about getting scolded. When the villagers found out about his gambling issue, how would they view him?

Xie Zugen wants to repay the money, and the only way he can think of to repay it is to win a large sum of money.

As long as he can win a large sum of money, he can repay the debt!

So today, he came again and then lost again.

Xie Zugen’s eyes were red! It was at this moment that he saw Sun Jinshan.

Sun Jinshan was brought by his friend.

He had many friends. He had been busy with business before and hadn’t contacted these friends for a long time. Now that the end of the year was approaching and there was nothing going on with Jiang Liyun, he relaxed and prepared to have fun with his friends and show off a bit.

This morning, he invited his friends to play cards at his own home, talking to them about his experiences in Shanghai while playing.

One of his friends said, “Lao Sun, you’re so rich; can you lend me some money?”

Others chimed in, “Yeah, lend me some too.”

“I’m short on money to build a house!”

“I want to buy a bicycle!”

…

Sun Jinshan paused before saying, “Ah, I’m getting married soon, you know? My mum is keeping an eye on my spending; she won’t let me spend recklessly!”

Sun Jinshan’s friends knew he liked to brag, and they also knew that in such a short time, even if he could earn some money, it wouldn’t be much.

They were joking when they asked for money. When Sun Jinshan said he didn’t have any, they didn’t press further, only saying, “If you’re not lending money, then treat us to something delicious!”

Sun Jinshan didn’t refuse this. He took out money and had Sun Cuicui go to the town to buy fried dumplings, buns, cigarettes, and alcohol, and they ate together with his friends.

After they finished eating, one of them, named Gao Changdong, said he knew a fun place and invited the others to go together.

If there’s a fun place, they definitely want to check it out! Sun Jinshan brought a group of friends and followed Gao Changdong to the casino.

This casino was mobile, usually finding a household in the countryside, giving them some money as rent, and then playing inside.

The people running the casino would also hire some people to watch nearby. If they encountered police coming to arrest gamblers, they would all escape together.

Sun Jinshan knew there were such places, but he had never been in contact with them. Now that he was brought here by Gao Changdong, he was extremely surprised, but at the same time, he was curious about this place.

Sun Jinshan’s friends were the same.

Young people like them were always full of curiosity and wanted to try everything.

As for the possibility of getting addicted to it… They didn’t think they would get addicted.

“There’s a lot you can play here; you guys should give it a try.” After Gao Changdong finished speaking, he glanced at Sun Jinshan.

It was Zhou Laoda who asked him to bring Sun Jinshan here. He knew it wasn’t fair, but Sun Jinshan didn’t even want to lend him money after winning, so he shouldn’t blame him.

Sun Jinshan did want to give it a try. He only had ten yuan left on him; he could just lose it all.

Sun Jinshan’s other friends had the same idea.

They split up to play, and soon after, the ten yuan in Sun Jinshan’s hands turned into a hundred.

Sun Jinshan’s other friends had their own wins and losses.

“It’s four o’clock; we should go back for dinner!” Sun Jinshan glanced at the time and called his friends.

He could win money.

He’s very happy, but he had promised Jiang Liping to have dinner at the Jiang family’s house today.

They are getting married soon, and as the prospective son-in-law, he has to bring some gifts to his future mother-in-law!

Sun Jinshan’s friends enjoy playing cards, but they prefer playing with friends, with small bets and stakes—just a few dollars at most.

The amount of money involved in gambling here is too large for their liking.

At Sun Jinshan’s call, they followed him out, leaving only Gao Changdong behind.

Once outside, one of them said, “I’m never coming here again. I lost all ten yuan I had.”

“Me too.”

“Next time, let’s just play among ourselves. The winner treats; that way, the money stays in our hands, and we’re not giving it away for nothing.”

…

Sun Jinshan didn’t lose money, but he thought, “Yes, let’s come here less often. I’m leaving now!”

Sun Jinshan went home, picked up the gifts his parents had prepared for him, took them to his future mother-in-law’s house, and then rode his bicycle to the commune to buy two more packs of cigarettes and a snack before heading to the Jiang family.

Having just won money, he didn’t mind spending it at all!

There was actually no one in the Jiang family who smoked, but he was getting married, right? There would definitely be a need for cigarettes then.

When Sun Jinshan arrived at the Jiang family, Jiang Liping was cooking.

She usually doesn’t cook, but today wasn’t an ordinary day because Sun Jinshan was coming!

Seeing Sun Jinshan, Jiang Liping put down her work and rushed over. When she saw the many gifts Sun Jinshan brought, including four packs of cigarettes, she was overjoyed.

In the past, when Li Xuyang came to their house, he brought very few things and required her care throughout.

Sun Jinshan, on the other hand, helped with the chores and even brought a bag of snacks specifically for her to eat.

Her first love would also buy snacks, but they were always for them to share. Li Xuyang wouldn’t buy them himself; he would ask her to buy them, and then they would split the snacks.

Sun Jinshan is really great!

Sun Jinshan didn’t have much to say to Jiang Lame, mainly because Jiang Lame didn’t speak!

Jiang Lihai was not there, and Feng Yi hadn’t returned yet. Sun Jinshan lifted his feet and went to Uncle Jiang’s house next door to chat with Uncle Jiang and Uncle Jiang’s two sons.

There was no way to display the demeanour of an elder in front of Sun Jinshan. Uncle Jiang felt uncomfortable all over. “…”

It wasn’t until Jiang Liyun and the others came back that Sun Jinshan returned to the Jiang family for dinner. During dinner, Sun Jinshan mentioned his afternoon experience: “I saw Xie Zugen this afternoon…”

He recounted the afternoon events and was a bit proud: “I won a hundred yuan today!”

“You’re really amazing!” Jiang Liping’s eyes lit up.

However, Jiang Liyun’s expression turned cold as she looked at Jiang Liping. “Jiang Liping, it’s the first time I’ve seen someone praise someone for gambling.”

Jiang Liping didn’t react immediately.

Jiang Liyun said, “There are many people who gamble and end up losing everything. By praising him like this, he might think it’s a good thing and keep gambling until he loses everything. Are you happy about that?”

Jiang Liping suddenly realised what was going on.

Sun Jinshan said, “Jiang Liyun, don’t speak nonsense. How could I keep gambling? I’m just playing casually.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Jiang Liyun said. “Sun Jinshan, since you saw Xie Zugen over there, why not go and tell the Xie family? Ask Xie Zugen’s father to bring him back, and you can also see the Xie family’s situation.”

“The Xie family’s situation?” Sun Jinshan was puzzled.

Jiang Liyun said, “Gambling is not a good thing.”

In rural areas these days, there are a lot of people playing cards and gambling, probably because there’s too little entertainment.

Most people don’t gamble too much, but if someone sets a trap, things can go bad.

She had suspected earlier that Xie Zugen might have started gambling early. Now, Sun Jinshan’s words confirm her suspicion.

As for asking Sun Jinshan to inform the Xie family, it was mainly because she wanted Sun Jinshan to see Xie Zugen’s outcome.

Sun Jinshan wasn’t her son, and she couldn’t control too much, so she could only give a little guidance.

As for the Xie family, she had grievances with them, but those running the gambling den weren’t good people either. After warning the Xie family, both sides could end up in trouble.

In her past life, Xie’s father had reported gambling dens many times, even getting beaten for it.

Thinking of this, Jiang Liyun added, “You go and give the Xie family a heads up, but it might cause trouble… How about this? I’ll write a letter, and you can find an opportunity to slip it through their door.”

Sun Jinshan’s home was quite close to Xie Zugen’s house, so it was a simple task.

Sun Jinshan felt it was unnecessary, but Jiang Liyun’s serious expression made him reluctant to object.

That night, he slipped the letter, written by Jiang Liyun with her left hand, through the gap in the Xie family’s door.

“Zugen doesn’t know where he went. It’s so late, and he hasn’t come back for dinner,” Xie’s mother muttered.

Xie’s father was a bit displeased. Xie Zugen was always running around; they didn’t know what he was up to!

As they were talking, they suddenly noticed a letter in the hall.

Xie’s father read the letter, and his face changed drastically. He quickly put on his clothes and hurriedly went out.

The next day was New Year’s Eve.

On New Year’s Eve morning, Jiuqu Town was particularly lively!

Many people came to buy vegetables today, so they could have fresh ones for the New Year’s Eve feast.

Jiang Liyun’s fried dumpling shop had exceptionally good business today. Some people directly bought fried dumplings and buns to take home as substitutes for traditional New Year cakes and pastries used for ancestral worship.

For the people of Jiuqu Town, New Year’s Eve was the most important day of the year, especially for those in rural areas.

They cooked pig heads, boiled chicken, and performed various rituals.

People also visited each other, sharing their experiences from the past year.

Sun Jinshan was at home today, helping his father clean the house and do some miscellaneous tasks.

While they were busy, someone came to their house, mysteriously telling Sun’s father, “Old Sun, something happened to the Xie family, do you know?”

“Which Xie family? What happened?” Sun’s father asked.

The person said, “It’s Xie Zugen’s family. I heard he lost tens of thousands in gambling. His parents are going crazy, and even though it’s New Year’s Eve, they haven’t even slaughtered a chicken at home.”

Sun Jinshan knew about Xie Zugen’s gambling problem, as he had seen it with his own eyes yesterday.

But he never imagined that Xie Zugen had lost tens of thousands.

Heavens, that’s tens of thousands!

He had been struggling to make ends meet selling chickens, and he only made three thousand, with only one thousand four hundred in hand.

And now Xie Zugen has lost tens of thousands? If he had tens of thousands, he would definitely buy a car, not gamble!

Before, Sun Jinshan actually thought Jiang Liyun was making a big deal out of nothing.

But at this moment, he suddenly realised that gambling really wasn’t a good thing!

“Xie Zugen’s parents are really unlucky to have such a son!” The person who came to Sun’s house to talk about this matter cracked open a sunflower seed, spat out the shell onto the ground, and seemed a bit gleeful.