Author: Jiucheng Li Xiansen

Wu Hao drove a car to deliver things, and each family got different portions. Those who were short of oil were given more meat. Everyone knew it was him as soon as they saw the bear meat and insisted on keeping him to eat.

Instead of chatting with Widow Zhang, I have to chat a few words when I go to someone else's house. It's already dark when I get home, so I have to eat and go to bed to prepare for the New Year's Day tomorrow.

He got up late today. After getting dressed, he went to the main room and saw his parents about to make noodles. He reminded him: "Stop packing!"

Eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year in the Northeast is actually quite "scary". The days from Little New Year to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year are very busy. Some people make dumplings on Little New Year's Day and can eat them until the Chinese New Year.

It saves trouble, you can eat it once it is warmed up, and you can continue to make dumplings on the New Year’s Day. Lazy ladies will make more dumplings during the Chinese New Year and eat them until the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

Even if people today are short of oil and water, they can't eat dumplings filled with meat, and they will definitely not be able to eat them for several days.

Gao Lijuan nodded: "It's just food for today. We've fed the horses, dogs and martens, but we haven't fed the mountain donkeys yet."

"I'm going to feed them." Wu Hao went out to mix hay for the mountain donkeys. These little guys were familiar with people. They had food and drink and didn't have to worry about predators.

He eats well and plays for a while before going to bed every day. He lives more comfortably than other people. He doesn't hide when he is touched twice. He just lowers his head and eats.

Wu Hao went into the house and fed some bugs to the two little fat dogs, and then looked at the four puppies who were sleeping after eating. They were all quite fat.

Now I can eat some leftovers without being picky about food. I can also eat corn noodles mixed with potatoes, but I have to put malted milk in it, so they can't eat it if it's too dry.

After he had served the animals and entered the house, the noodles were ready, he washed his hands and went to the kang to prepare to help make dumplings.

Xiaonian eats at home in the morning and goes to the second grandfather's house in the front yard to eat in the evening. There are many people in the front yard, and it is difficult to eat dumplings. Every year, they have two kinds of fillings, one meat and one vegetarian.

One is the sauerkraut dumplings, which are filled with the leftover oil from boiling lard. Sauerkraut and oil residue are a perfect match. Sauerkraut likes oil, while oil residue is greasy. When mixed together, it tastes very fragrant.

The second type of dumplings is all meat. Some people don’t have so much meat and will put some radish in it, while others will make dumplings stuffed with potatoes.

Especially the poor people in Lao Maozi often eat potato stuffing.

Thirty years later they will also eat it.

The lack of New Year spirit in later generations is not just a matter of setting off firecrackers, but also a lack of popularity. Nowadays, when traveling from house to house during the New Year, one must eat and stay overnight to chat.

In later generations, the purpose of visiting was to deliver express delivery, and I wished I could just put down my things and leave.

There are only two or three people in the family, and sometimes the children don’t come back for the Chinese New Year. How can it be lively?

Nowadays, there are many people in rural areas, and every household has a large panel and table. Wu Weiguo placed a panel one meter long and seventy or eighty centimeters wide on the kang.

Gao Lijuan put two small basins of noodles on the board, and Wu Hao took one basin and prepared to roll out the noodles. Even though there were only four people in his family, it was difficult to handle them all.

My wife and I ate boiled dumplings stuffed with pickled vegetables, and my husband and I ate steamed dumplings stuffed with donkey meat. It’s not that they didn’t like them.

The steamed dumplings have thick skin and are hard to bite, and the oil inside can burn your mouth. My wife likes to eat soft noodles.

Wu Hao glanced at his sister holding a small rolling pin. This child had been eager to try it for a long time. She was younger last year.

She makes trouble making dumplings at home. She has grown up a lot this year and makes dumplings a lot in winter. Even though she is only four years old.

People have learned how to roll out dough, so don’t underestimate it. Most adults can’t roll it into a round shape. Although the dough she rolled out is not very good, it can at least be used to make dumplings.

The bean buns and other things on the panel were all ready. He sat there like a little adult, patted the panel and looked at his elder brother: "Noodles!"

Wu Hao grabbed a piece of dough for her and let her play with it. It would be better to not do much work than to cause trouble.

Xiaodou Bao had a serious expression. She picked up the gada noodles and rolled them into balls with her two little hands. At this time, she frowned and felt something was wrong with this noodle.

Put it on the panel and press it with your little hands, "Oh!" It hasn't moved yet, so you sit up on your knees and press it down, while encouraging yourself: "Ah~"

She raised her little hand and saw that it was flat on all sides and still bulging in the middle. Why couldn't she press it down? She tilted her head and looked at her elder brother: "You are fooling me!"

"Who deceived you?" Wu Hao rolled his eyes at her, stretched out his hand and flattened that side.

Xiaodou Bao looked at the flat face and was stunned. At this moment, she didn't understand the difference between strong and weak, and thought she didn't press it correctly.

He picked up the small rolling pin made by his father and rolled out the dough. He pressed it with his right hand and pushed it back and forth, and pinched the dough with two fingers of his left hand and turned it in circles.

She felt that this side could not be rolled out, and she gritted her teeth for a long time. The sides of that side were flat, but the middle was still bulging. When she was distracted and pulled back, she pressed her left thumb.

The fingers were connected to the heart, and she felt pain as soon as she touched the fingertips. Her eyes started to mist when she said "Oh!" and she raised her thumb to show the three of them.

None of the three of them looked at her. Although she was not good at coaxing her, she would definitely shed tears. Xiaodoubao saw that no one cared about her.

Wiping away tears with his right hand, he opened his mouth: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

She blew on her thumb, flicked it twice and put it in her mouth. It still hurt. She stood up and ran around twice until the pain stopped.

She walked to the panel with her hands behind her back and lowered her head with a straight face. She didn't move her head and glanced left and right at the three people.

See them snickering, I understand!

He sat down and muttered: "It's not even reliable!"

She just wiped her face and it was all over her face. Gao Lijuan waved her hand: "My face looks like a dog's butt. Go wash it and then play with it."

Now that my hand doesn't hurt anymore, what can I do if I want her to leave? Just look at the two bowls of noodles.

Something doesn't look right.

Wu Hao snickered, the steamed dumpling noodles were hard. The noodles Lao Wu made today were much harder than before. It was a bit difficult for him to roll out the noodles, let alone a little girl who was only four years old.

Xiaodou Bao pointed to the bowl of obviously whiter noodles in front of her mother and said, "Give me that."

Gao Lijuan took a piece of dough for her. After rolling it out, the little girl looked at the oval-shaped dough and was a little stunned. Why is this soft?

He tilted his head and looked at his elder brother: "You lied to a child!"

"You want your own face! Don't rely on me!"

"Humph!" Xiaodoubao couldn't resist his elder brother at all, so he leaned in front of his mother and continued to roll out the dough.

She didn't know how to make dumplings. She was making a lot of mistakes, and one dumpling was almost wrapped into a hexagon. By the time she finished making one, all three members of the family had made it.

After Wu Weiguo finished cooking the dumplings, he first fished out a few with a strainer and placed them behind the pot. Then he took out the statue of the Stove God who had been placed behind the bowl rack.

He is the head of the family, so he must be allowed to perform sacrifices.

Portraits of the Kitchen God have only been sold in the past two years. They are just paintings on paper and are relatively crude.

Wu Weiguo placed another plate of stove candy on the stove, which was the Guandong candy he bought from the market a few days ago.

There is also a set of kowtows for worshiping the stove: "The Stove Lord, whose real name is Zhang, rides a white horse and holds a silver spear... God has said good things, and he will bring good luck when he returns to the palace."

Wu Hao knew what the word was, but his father was mumbling it so fast that the brother and sister looked at each other and didn't hear it clearly at all.

Wu Weiguo put the portrait of the Stove Lord on a big rooster tied with straw and burned it in the fire next to the stove. The Stove Lord went to report to the Jade Emperor.

Wait until the New Year's Eve to bring the Kitchen God back and continue to be the head of the family.

After the simple ceremony, Wu Hao led his sister to the yard to set off firecrackers, which made a "cracking" sound after being lit.

The animals at home seemed to be "hairy". The dog and the marten heard the sound of the firecrackers. The dog lay down and stayed still, and the marten ran into the barn again.

The mountain donkeys were so frightened that they ran around twice and hid in a corner. They are naturally afraid of this kind of sound.

Xiaodoubao didn't like playing with firecrackers, so she covered her ears to watch the firecrackers go off, then went into the house and got on the kang. When the three of them were seated, she stretched out her chopsticks and pointed: "I want the wheat dumplings!"

These wheat ear-shaped dumplings are made by Gao Lijuan, which symbolizes a good harvest.

In fact, both the dumpling wrapper and the dumpling filling are the same. Children are curious and always think that such dumplings are more delicious.

Whenever his sister opened her mouth, Wu Hao had to make dumplings for her. He spent half of his time waiting on others during every meal.

After dinner, I hung up lanterns with Lao Wu. Let alone now, even in the future, we will not hang lanterns at the door of every house.

Some people hang lanterns above the main entrance, maybe only one.

Sometimes there are strong winds at night in the Northeast, so Wu Weiguo prepared three wooden poles, two vertical and one horizontal, nailed to the front end, shaped like a door frame, so that they would have tensile strength and be stronger when erected.

Wu Hao took out two lanterns, a rope and two small iron rings. He fixed the iron rings on the side of the wooden pole.

The lantern can be moved up and down by threading the rope. The two men inserted the wooden poles into the holes dug on both sides of the gate.

This lantern pole has many origins, and the one that is widely circulated is related to Jiang Taigong.

After Jiang Ziya sealed himself as a god, he found that he had forgotten to seal himself, so he had no choice but to squat on the lantern pole.

A more reliable theory is that it was passed down from the Manchu people. Nurhachi used a Solo pole to worship the sky. The common people couldn't get a Solo pole, so they erected a simplified version, which gradually evolved into a lantern pole.

After hanging the lanterns, the two returned to the house. Gao Lijuan was cutting and hanging money on the kang, while Wu Weiguo took a small basin and paste.

Wu Hao took out the New Year pictures. He still remembered that a few years ago, his family didn't have much money, and he didn't buy any New Year pictures for several years.

Mom took a rag and wiped it carefully over and over again on the surface of the old New Year paintings.

This year, I bought a lot of New Year pictures. Wu Hao picked up a New Year picture called "Big and Fat Fish".

On the top is a chubby and cheerful little boy, sitting on a green lotus leaf, holding a small fishing whip in his hand, and on the other end is a big red carp that was hooked and flew up to the water.

This year, instead of plastering the wall, New Year pictures had to be pasted. He took the paste from Lao Wu and went to the kang to paste the New Year pictures on the wall. The New Year pictures were a bit awkward compared with the old newspapers.

This big fat boy successfully attracted Xiao Doubao's attention. She held her fingers in her mouth and tilted her head to look at him. After a long time, she muttered: "He's so fat!"

This sentence made the three of them laugh. She must have learned it from other children. Maybe she heard Li Erhuai say that his second daughter-in-law was fat and she remembered it.

Wu Hao picked up the second New Year picture and posted it on another wall. This one was called "First Swimming". A young mother was standing in the water, holding a swimming ring with one hand.

She stirred up the water with one hand and teased her child with a smile on her face. The chubby child opened her eyes wide and hugged the inflatable deer, and started playing in the water for the first time.

The third picture is the New Year picture "Liu Bei Recruiting a Marriage". Wu Hao bought it because of the festive color. Today's New Year pictures are not as many as those of later generations, and most of them are about the autumn harvest.
To be continued...