In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 23 Staying up late on New Year's Eve, Family Reunion

On New Year's Eve, Yu Dawei got up early to start preparing lunch, but there was no need to make dumplings for dinner.

Yesterday, my father-in-law came over and told me to take my wife out for dumplings tonight.

Outside, it was snowing heavily. Inside the house, Yu Dawei was cleaning a carp. The 30-centimeter-long carp had its mouth open, and its dead fish eyes just stared blankly at him until it was put into the pot.

The Yu family eats vegetarian food, but not entirely vegetarian. They can eat chicken and fish, but not pork, beef, or lamb. They also cannot eat garlic or green onions.

Although the family has separated, Yu Dawei still follows the tradition of eating vegetarian food, but he also cooked six dishes for lunch.

Celery noodles, the celery was brought back from the town, because the small shops had very few vegetables at this time of year, almost none.

The main reason was that the villagers thought the vegetables were too expensive. Yu Dazhi bought two batches of vegetables but couldn't sell them, so he stopped buying more. As for summer, every household had vegetables growing everywhere in their gardens, so who would want to buy them from him? Wouldn't that be a waste of money?

The second dish was peanuts, followed by scrambled eggs, braised carp, chicken stew with mushrooms, and cold dishes.

Han Jingfan wanted to help, but Yu Dawei pushed her onto the kang (a heated brick bed). His wife's belly was now as big as if she were ten months pregnant, so he didn't dare let her move around.

Although Yu Dawei knew the day his son would be born, who could guarantee that nothing unexpected would happen? It was better to be careful.

After lunch, Yu Dawei heated the kang (a traditional heated brick bed) in advance and covered the head of the kang with a quilt so that the hottest part of the kang could retain some warmth.

The kang mat on the kang had been used for a long time and was now yellowed leather. When Yu Dawei came back from town, he specially bought a new one with pink floral patterns. It was not only beautiful, but also much thicker than the old leather, so there was no need to worry about the kang getting too hot and burning it.

In my past life, one year, when I was heating the kang (a traditional heated brick bed), I accidentally set it on fire. Luckily, we were both home at the time, but the quilt and the kang mat were missing a big hole.

Yu Dawei has learned his lesson this time.

"Shall we go?" Yu Dawei turned his head and glanced at Han Jingfan, who was looking down at her book.

Han Jingfan now talks to herself more than she did in her previous life combined. Although she is still taciturn in front of outsiders, it can be considered an improvement.

At least I've opened up to myself a bit.

What's even better than in her previous life is that Han Jingfan has actually picked up her love of reading again. Now that her belly is getting bigger and bigger, she can no longer do any heavy work. Every day, she sits quietly on the kang (a heated brick bed) and reads. If she gets tired, she will occasionally get up and walk around.

One day, Xiaofang secretly told Yu Dawei that Han Jingfan really liked the pens in her pencil case and kept looking at them.

He knew that his wife probably really wanted to write something, but ballpoint pens hadn't become popular yet, and most people were still using fountain pens, so notebooks and pens weren't cheap.

She must have understood, which is why she never told herself that she wanted a pen and notebook.

No rush. Once we have time after the New Year, I'll get some notebooks from town and buy a decent fountain pen, so she can write whatever she wants. Yu Dawei silently made a mental note of this.

"Wait a moment." Seeing that Yu Dawei was about to take her to the backyard, Han Jingfan turned around and ran to the kang (a heated brick bed), taking out an iron box from the corner of the quilt: "Xiao Fang is still young. It's almost New Year's, so as her older brother, you should give her some lucky money, right?"

Yu Dawei smiled. This time when he got home, he first gave the other party the more than 1,600 yuan in his pocket, leaving only some change in his own pocket.

He hadn't forgotten that he still owed his wife three thousand yuan, and he said he would pay back some of it first.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, she took out the money again, counted out five hundred yuan, and handed it to Yu Dawei.

"We don't need that much."

"Take it, you'll need money for a lot of things before and after the New Year." Yu Dawei took the money and looked at Han Jingfan with some surprise. He remembered a saying: "How you treat the world is how the world will treat you."

In his past life, every time he asked her for money, it was as difficult as collecting a debt. Every time he made money, she would immediately reach out to take it. He always thought she was a money-grubbing woman.

But looking back now, it seems that I wasn't considerate enough, proactive enough, or magnanimous enough.

She voluntarily handed over her money, and would take out some of her pocket money to keep for herself. Whenever she needed money, she would immediately go to the metal box in the corner.

Are the differences in how people get along really that big?

Although he didn't quite understand it, he really liked the feeling that both of them were relaxed.

So the two of them put on thick clothes, cotton hats and gloves, held hands, and strolled through the wind and snow toward the backyard.

----

"It's Chinese New Year!" Xiao Fang shouted in the yard, and her second brother lit an incense stick and pointed it at a string of firecrackers in the yard.

The crackling sound of firecrackers echoed throughout the village, but the loudest firecrackers were always set off from one's own yard!
After setting off one string of firecrackers, Xiao Fang wasn't satisfied. Hearing all the firecrackers going off next door, she felt even more itchy. So, after begging her second brother, Yu Dasheng reluctantly took his sister to set off two-bang firecrackers.

As darkness fell, Old Man Yu, wearing an apron, was using a strainer to scoop out wood ear mushrooms from the outer kitchen. He placed the cooked mushrooms in a bowl and then carried it to the altar above where the ancestors were worshipped.

In previous years, Yu Dawei would definitely have been lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), cracking melon seeds and swinging his legs, leisurely enjoying the New Year.

But this year, Yu Laonian was surprised to find that the kid had not only lost his lazy nature, but had even taken the initiative to roll up his sleeves and help him.

Honestly, Old Man Yu hadn't cried in most of his life, but when he saw his eldest son roll up his sleeves and walk up to him, he almost couldn't hold back his tears.

"What are we going to do later?" Yu Dawei looked at the family tree and portraits passed down from generation to generation, as well as the black and white photo of the old lady next to the table, and his nose felt a little sore.

If only I could have been reborn a few years earlier, I might have been able to see my grandmother one last time.

All the love in the world combined can't compare to the love of one grandma. I miss you.

"Blanch the vermicelli, then start frying." Yu Laonian wiped the water off his floral apron with both hands, picked up a bundle of vermicelli, tied it, placed the bottom in a bowl, and poured hot water into the bowl to set the shape.

"Okay, I'll fry it." Yu Dawei helped his father drain the water from the pot and added more firewood to the stove.

I poured oil into the pot and glanced at the tofu and two crucian carp, each over ten centimeters long, placed next to the stove.

"Are you sure you know how to do it?" Old Man Yu's tone and eyes revealed deep worry. This was a dish prepared for the ancestors, and messing it up would be bad luck.

Zhang Yunqin, who was finally able to rest for a day inside the house, saw her eldest son about to get started. Out of curiosity, she also went from the inner room to the outer room. The other women also came to the outer room to watch the excitement. Even Han Jingfan, who was not very mobile, stood next to her mother-in-law to watch.

Actually, the lunch that Yu Dawei made today had already surprised Han Jingfan quite a bit.

They've been married for almost two years, and she had no idea that Yu Dawei could cook, and that he could cook so well.

"Don't worry, Dad." Yu Dawei was both amused and exasperated, feeling like a monkey in a zoo.

However, he wasn't lying to his father; he really knew how to make it, and his skills were in no way inferior to his own father's.

(End of this chapter)