Siheyuan: Full of Love

Jia Dongxu's arrival seemed to be a shot of adrenaline for Siheyuan.

It was already a New Year atmosphere, and now it seems even more lively.

Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui all came to visit one after another.

I came to Zhang Dazhuang's house and talked to Jia Dongxu.

Especially Yi Zhonghai, who has always wanted Jia Dongxu to celebrate the New Year with him.

However, Jia Dongxu declined the offer and just said that he just wanted to have some fun with Zhang Dazhuang this year.

Yi Zhonghai could only go back in disappointment.

After a while, an old lady came again and chatted with Jia Dongxu for a while. She was happy for him when she heard that he was living a good life.

There was no mention of inviting Jia Dongxu to celebrate the New Year together.

Zhang Dazhuang felt that the lady was invited by Yi Zhonghai to call Jia Dongxu to celebrate the New Year there together.

But the aunt didn't listen to him and chatted with Jia Dongxu for a while and then went back.

Zhang Dazhuang was busy, pouring tea and serving melon seed candies.

When the children came to play, Zhang Dazhuang gave each of them two pieces of candy.

This is a delicious thing that most children have never eaten since they were young.

Some sensible children were reluctant to eat it and took it back to their parents as a treasure.

When other children in the compound heard the news, they also came to Zhang Dazhuang's house to play.

It's not even the first day of the new year yet and I'm already wishing Zhang Dazhuang a happy new year.

Zhang Dazhuang accepted everyone who came, and as long as they were children, they would get two pieces of candy.

Liu Lan, who was standing by, felt so distressed watching this.

Toffees are now a luxury item and are very expensive.

He said to You Fengxia: "Fengxia, don't you care about your man? Why do you use good things to cause trouble?"

You Fengxia said, "It's the New Year, be happy! Let him be."

"Wow! You have a really broad mind!" Liu Lan looked at her and praised.

You Fengxia looked at her and said with a smile: "Sister Lan, you have a big heart!"

The two of them were talking and laughing.

A sumptuous lunch was soon prepared.

Jia Dongxu couldn't help swallowing as he looked at the huge table of dishes.

"Da Zhuang, I was joking when I said we were going to eat a lot, but seeing all these delicious foods, I feel like I was definitely not joking!"

Zhang Dazhuang smiled and said, "Eat, don't control yourself! Eat as much as you can! You'll be full!"

"Oh! That's right!" Jia Dongxu seemed to remember something.

He carefully took out a small package from his inner pocket and handed it to Zhang Dazhuang.

"Da Zhuang, here is 500 yuan. I will pay you back the money I borrowed from you."

Zhang Dazhuang took the package and gave it directly to You Fengxia without even looking at it.

You Fengxia also put it into her pocket.

Well, it’s not appropriate to put it in the safe in front of them, so I’ll just put it in my pocket for now.

"Da Zhuang, count!" Jia Dongxu reminded.

Zhang Dazhuang said casually: "Okay, let's eat quickly, you still owe me one thousand and nineteen."

Jia Dongxu was somewhat moved when he saw this scene, "Da Zhuang, last time you and Damao gave me all the money for your wedding gift, I..."

Zhang Dazhuang said: "It's New Year's Day, there are so many delicious foods, don't do that! Do you think I'm giving you money? I'm giving you a bill!

If something happens to someone's family, you will have to pay the bill and return the gift money!"

You Fengxia interrupted and said, "Alright, alright, hurry up and eat. There are so many delicious foods that can't stop you from eating!"

Everyone started to enjoy the food.

In fact, people in the old city still have many rules for celebrating the New Year.

On New Year's Eve, there are Buddhist shrines, statues of gods, and ancestral tablets.

On this day, nine large offerings should be placed in front of the altar;

Such as five kinds of honey offerings, whole hall pancakes, whole hall noodles, vegetarian dumplings, vegetarian stir-fried dishes, etc.

Even families of average financial status would still place three or five tables of offerings.

In the afternoon of December 30th, people start hanging up lights and decorations in preparation for the New Year.

Every family puts up Spring Festival couplets, the word "Fu", hanging money, window flowers, "Look up and see happiness", "Go out and see happiness" and so on. After putting them up, firecrackers are set off, making the house very lively.

In addition, the yard is covered with pine branches, sesame straw, etc., which is called "stepping on the year", which means peace every year.

The New Year celebrations in Beijing are all about eating, drinking and having fun. In the past society, eating was the main focus.

In fact, even those offerings are actually prepared for humans.

As the saying goes: "God knows what is in your heart, and people should eat it"!

The New Year’s Eve dinner, also known as the reunion dinner, is indispensable to the old people of Sijiucheng and is also the most sumptuous family dinner of the year.

The New Year’s Eve dinner should include both meat and vegetarian dishes, cold dishes, main dishes and refreshing dishes.

Cold dishes include cold stewed pork, stewed lamb, cold stewed chicken and duck.

The main dishes include: braised pork, braised pork with a sauce, rice noodle meat, red and white meatballs, four-happiness meatballs. The light dishes usually include tofu, green vegetables, etc.

The staple food is mostly meat and vegetable dumplings.

Of course, when material things are scarce, people won’t be so particular and filling their stomachs is the first priority.

Those who worship their ancestors’ tablets must also offer a bowl of “New Year’s Eve dinner” in front of the altar.

Insert pine branches on the rice, hang copper coins, small paper ingots, etc. on the pine branches, just like a money tree.

The old people in Sijiucheng have a ceremony to worship their ancestors before eating the New Year’s Eve dinner.

First, the elders in the family light candles and burn incense, and then they perform the ritual of kneeling three times and kowtow nine times in the order of family seniority, with men first and women last.

After the ceremony, the elders in the family read out the sacrificial petition.

After the reading, the petition, money, grain, gold ingots, thousand pieces of paper, tea leaves, incense powder, etc. were put into a sparse tube and burned in the courtyard.

At this time, firecrackers are set off, and only after the incense is burned do men and women return to the house to eat the reunion dinner.

No one would do that at this time.

The people of Laosijiucheng eat dumplings at the intersection of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month and the 1st day of the first lunar month, which means "changing the year and handing over the child."

As the name suggests, dumplings are taken from the meaning of Jiaozi, which is exchanged at midnight. As the saying goes, one night connects two years and the fifth watch divides two years.

When making dumplings, every family would make them into the shape of ingots and stuff sugar, copper coins, peanuts, etc. into the dumplings.

If you eat candy, it means a sweet and happy life in the coming year;

Eating copper coins means a prosperous year ahead.

Eating peanuts means health and longevity, so peanuts are also known as longevity nuts.

When the midnight hour arrives, firecrackers are set off and incense is burned to welcome the gods.

The elders in the family hold three tall incense sticks and go to the courtyard outside the house to welcome the gods in the five directions.

After welcoming the gods, people in Laosijiu City have the custom of staying up on New Year's Eve, which can be traced back to the Jin Dynasty.

There are two meanings of staying up all night. The older people mean cherishing the time as they bid farewell to the old year.

Young people stay up all night to extend the life of their parents.

Therefore, anyone whose parents are still alive needs to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year.

However, those customs that were in line with the times were passed down, and those that were not in line with the times were simplified.

For example, the sticky sugar-coated melons on the 23rd are actually a way to worship the Kitchen God.

The house is swept on the 24th to prepare for pasting Spring Festival couplets.

Grinding tofu on the twenty-fifth is a good start and symbolizes a life of luxury.

Because jade is white and tofu is also white, they are very similar, so every household grinds beans to make tofu.

Twenty-six meals of meat, because in the eyes of people in the past, big fish and meat were the highest level of New Year’s Eve dinner!

This reflects that in the era of material scarcity, people attached great importance to food.

In the old city of Sijiu, there is a custom on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, every family washes clothes and takes a bath to wash away the dust and bad luck of the year in order to welcome the arrival of the new year.

Therefore, there is a saying in the old city of Sijiu: The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month is for washing away blessings and fortune, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month is for washing away old mud, and the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is for washing away dirt.

On the twenty-seventh, slaughter the rooster, and there will be no disease or illness.

Twenty-eight handfuls of noodles mean making a fortune.

Steam buns on the 29th and make a fuss all night on the 30th!

The ground was full of people on New Year's Day.