Rebirth: We are all in the same little galaxy

Lan Yinlin took the two specially customized guitars and microphone back to her room. Her younger brothers and sisters who had their own musical instruments also excitedly started tinkering with them!

Mr. and Mrs. Lan went to prepare dinner for the family. Grandma Lan took her cell phone and the phone book she carried with her and called her sisters in her hometown one by one to save their numbers.

In the next two days, Mr. and Mom Lan will start preparing for moving into the new house. On the day of buying the house, Grandma Lan called someone to help choose an auspicious day to move into the new house.

After choosing a good day, Grandma Lan called her cousin in her hometown and ordered steamed cakes from him as a symbol of blessing. She also asked him to help distribute some to all relatives and friends, which also meant inviting them to the banquet!

This is the custom in the rural area of ​​Hai City. Every place has its own customs, but starting from Lan Yinlin's generation, these customs have gradually begun to disappear.

By 2025, China's traditional festivals have lost their former atmosphere, and people celebrate them in an increasingly formal and perfunctory manner.

People's living standards have improved, they eat better, dress better, and live better, but their interpersonal relationships have become worse.

Young people are becoming less and less interested in socializing. People in big cities don’t even know who their neighbors are across the street.

Lan Yinlin is one of them. The times are progressing, and she is also being carried forward by the times. She has not felt such a lively atmosphere for a long time.

Grandma Lan, Dad Lan and Mom Lan go out shopping whenever they have free time these days, because in their place, everything has to be perfect when moving into a new home, and they can't have anything missing during the housewarming ceremony, as that would be unlucky!

Today is already Thursday. Lan Yinlin has already added Boss Chen on WeChat and sent him her ID card. She has also bought the plane ticket and will be leaving for Beijing in three days.

Grandma Lan wanted to complete the housewarming ceremony before she went to Beijing, so when the person who calculated the auspicious time gave her three dates, she decisively chose the day before she went to Beijing. The family had to be in order to have a sense of ceremony.

Grandma Lan and the others will be very busy in the next two days. Although they have asked someone to notify relatives and friends of the address and have made the steamed cakes, there are still many things needed for the housewarming ceremony that have not been purchased.

Grandma Lan and her family have already entrusted the housewarming banquet to the husband of Lan's father's cousin from their hometown. He is a well-known banquet chef in several nearby villages. In their place, they usually call him "Lao Zan", which means he is very experienced in using a kitchen knife.

In the next few days, there should be people coming in and out of their new home, because the pots, pans, tables and chairs that will be used for the housewarming party need to be transported there in advance.

On the day of the housewarming party, "Lao Zan" would come to their house early with his team of chefs and all the ordered ingredients, and cook the banquet in their yard.

These two days, Grandma Lan and her family went to make preparations for the move, and the four siblings were responsible for cleaning the house. They had to clean the house thoroughly before the move-in ceremony.

After two days of back pain, the four siblings finally cleaned every corner of the house. Lan Yinlin was so tired that she didn't want to talk!

Looking at the clean house, she felt filled with sadness at the thought that it would soon be dirty because of someone's feet.

Lan Yinlin turned around and asked her father, "Dad, do you think it's possible to make everyone who goes in wear shoe covers tomorrow?"

Blue Dad asked back: "What do you think?"

Lan Yinlin said with a sad face: "It should be impossible!"

I can't control it! I really can't control it! If someone wants to go into your house, you can't refuse them entry, right? And she was too embarrassed to remind them to wear shoe covers.

The weather was very good these days and it wasn't expected to rain, but when the uncles who were preparing the banquet came to their house with pots, pans, tables and chairs, they still built a simple plastic shed in her backyard, because the banquet would be held outdoors tomorrow and a shed could block out leaves and dust.

Various items needed for the banquet had been laid out on the backyard corridor on the first floor of her house, and the tables and chairs that were originally there had been moved back to the living room.

When they moved into the new house, the male host had to set off firecrackers at the old house first, so Dad Lan had already driven back to his hometown.

Because his hometown is quite far from here, Dad Lan has already arranged with relatives and friends to charter a car to pick them up in the village early tomorrow morning.

There are ten very conspicuous things placed in her living room. The first one is a rice bucket that is more than 80% full. The second one is a red envelope bag with auspicious amount of money placed on the rice bucket.

The third item was a new broom and dustpan with a red cloth tied to the handles, and the fourth item was a bucket that was more than one-third full of water.

The fifth item is a set of brand new bowls and chopsticks placed in a bucket. The number of bowls and chopsticks is in an even number, and they are also tied with a red rope.

The sixth item is a brand new brazier, which is used to step over bad luck and misfortune when entering a new house. The seventh item is a bunch of incense and candles, which are used to worship ancestors and remove bad luck in the house.

The eighth thing is firecrackers. Two sets should be prepared for celebration when leaving the old house and entering the new house. One set has already been taken to the old house by Dad Lan.

The ninth item is a pair of red suitcases filled with high-end clothing, and the tenth item is seven pillows tied together.

They are conspicuous because they are pasted with the word "Fu" written in black on red paper. The courtyard gate, the main door and the back of the house are all pasted with couplets written by Boss Chen.

I don't know when Dad Lan became familiar with Boss Chen, but when he heard that they were going to move into a new house, Boss Chen volunteered to write couplets for her family, and he wrote them quite well.

I heard from Lan's father that he will come to their house tomorrow to help warm the house. After the banquet, the host will usually keep some relatives and friends and let them stay at home for one night to help gather people to the house.

Early the next morning, the yard was filled with the sounds of pots and pans colliding, car horns, doors opening, and the voices of Grandma Lan and Mom Lan communicating with others.

Lan Yinlin quickly washed and changed her clothes, then went downstairs to call her three younger siblings who were also woken up. When they came to the backyard, they saw many familiar relatives.

The four of them greeted them politely one by one. Polite and good-looking children are always likable. Everyone smiled and praised the four of them.

The four siblings started working under the arrangement of Lan's mother. Lan's mother said that the bus had already gone to the village to pick up people, and Lan's father and others would start to set off together.

After more than two hours of busy work, the four siblings finally waited for Papa Lan and the villagers.

Dad Lan was driving in front, and there were two buses behind. A red cloth was tied to the mirrors of the three buses. Dad Lan had booked the bus for a day, so the driver would stay here to eat, and then send relatives and friends home after dinner.

After letting relatives and friends get off in the yard, Dad Lan drove the two buses into the underground garage and parked them.

The four siblings have already taken the ten lucky charms from the living room to the porch, where they will hold a housewarming ceremony.

After people got off the bus, some of them went to help Lan Ma and Lan Nainai with their work, while others curiously visited their yard.

When everyone came, their hands were full. They were either holding a chicken or a duck. The better ones even carried a basket filled with homemade steamed cakes, rice cakes, and sugar cakes.

On such days you cannot go to someone else's house empty-handed. Even children have a small piece of green bamboo leaf in their hands or pockets!

As more people came, the quiet yard suddenly became bustling. Lan Yinlin placed a lot of stools and a few tables in the front yard. She also put a lot of melon seeds, snacks and fruits on the tables.

Everyone was eating in the yard, looking at their house and chatting together. It was so hard to get together, and everyone had endless topics to talk about.

The children may have been reminded by their parents at home that even if they were curious, they would not enter their home without permission. Outsiders are not allowed to enter the house before the owner has performed a housewarming ceremony.

Dad Lan quickly brought two drivers to the front yard from the exit of the underground garage, and the housewarming ceremony was about to begin.

Lan Yinlin ran to call Grandma Lan and Mother Lan to the front yard. When she came back, she saw Boss Chen driving a very cool black Hummer into the yard. Father Lan was directing him to park on the roadside of the villa.