The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 157 A Joyful and Harmonious New Year Celebration on Television
When Qian Jin and his party returned, the Niangniang Palace Temple Fair was still in full swing.

It was already close to noon, and people from surrounding counties and towns had also arrived, crowding the roads.

He bought quite a lot of large yellow croakers, more than fifty of them of various sizes, but none of them were the big fish that Zhou Shanhu had given him. The largest one only weighed two or three pounds.

This made him quite dissatisfied. He wanted to go to Zhou Shanhu to ask where he bought the big fish he had given him last time, but the father and son were busy selling barbecue, so he could only go home first.

Besides the large yellow croaker, Wei Qinghuan bought some New Year's goods.

That wouldn't fit two bicycles, so Qian Jin rode off on the People's Mobile Canteen's tricycle.

Around noon, the branches of the plane trees on both sides of Taishan Road were covered with a thin layer of snow.

Smoke billowed from the stoves of every household, mingling with the aroma of stewed frozen cabbage and vermicelli, weaving a warm and cozy net within the tenement building.

Qian Jin and his group carried home a large quantity of yellow croakers, drawing envy from their neighbors as they went out.
"Hey, Chief Qian bought so many yellow croakers? Yellow croakers aren't cheap these days, what are you doing?"

Qian Jin said, "I'm planning to give gifts to my superiors and colleagues."

He used the same excuse to deal with Wei Qinghuan and the others.

Otherwise, how do you explain buying so many fish?

Qian Jin had also figured out that he definitely couldn't sell these fish to the mall from home. He had to freeze them first and then process them when he went to work on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

This also explains the presence of yellow croaker.

The neighbors nodded in understanding, and at the same time, they were even more envious.
"This year, ribbonfish are in limited supply. Each household can only purchase five catties based on their grain reserves. I'm afraid there won't be any large yellow croaker available. I didn't see much of this fish during last year's Spring Festival."

The large-scale catch of large yellow croaker in recent years led to a sharp drop in its price, making it one of the cheapest options available.

Back then, many families bought large yellow croakers for the Chinese New Year.

After all, these fish are beautiful and golden, and many families buy them to offer as sacrifices to their ancestors.

These past two days, large yellow croakers have suddenly become unavailable, and some people have even been specifically looking for this type of fish.

Even if I find it, I won't buy it.

After all, a few years ago, a pound of large yellow croaker only cost two or three cents. Last year, the price suddenly increased, and this year it has risen to eight cents a pound, which is on par with the price of pork. Who would buy it?

Several neighbors saw that Qian Jin had bought a lot of large yellow croakers and wanted to ask him for a couple more.

But when they heard that the price this year was 80 cents per pound, they shook their heads and left.

If Qian Jin didn't have a high status on Taishan Road and a large number of subordinates, people would probably laugh at him for being an idiot to his face.

Using the money meant for pork to buy a large yellow croaker is a huge rip-off.

Back home, Wei Qinghuan rolled up her sleeves and started working as usual.

She needs to pack up the New Year's goods, process the large yellow croaker, and prepare for tomorrow's Lunar New Year's Eve.

First, she processed the large yellow croaker. She went to a cool, shady place and poured water on it, creating an ice layer on the surface of the fish.

This job is both cold and strenuous.

Qian Jin couldn't bear to see her suffer, so he forcibly took the water ladle away and said, "Go do other things, I'll do this job."

"What are you doing?" Wei Qinghuan looked at him suspiciously.

Qian Jin is definitely not the type to take on this job willingly.

He thought for a moment and handed the water ladle to Xiao Tangyuan: "You handle these big yellow croakers."

Little Tangyuan was stunned: "Huh? Me?"

Wei Qinghuan was amused by her dazed expression, her breasts trembling: "Alright, alright, you two move aside."

Qian Jin refused to let her suffer, finally saying, "When Yi, Er, San, and Si come back, let them handle it."

"How can we let someone else's child do it?" Wei Qinghuan scolded him.

Qian Jin said, "I gave them big red envelopes on the first day of the Lunar New Year."

Little Tangyuan suddenly said, "Brother One Two Three Four said they gave you a red envelope."

This surprised Qian Jin greatly: "Really? Where would they get the money?"

Little Tangyuan tilted her head in confusion and then shook her head: "I don't know, do you put money in a red envelope?"

Suddenly, the sound of firecrackers came from outside the window, diverting Xiao Tangyuan's attention. She peeked through the crack in the door and exclaimed, "Two-stage firecrackers! Someone's setting off two-stage firecrackers!"

There was no need for Wei Qinghuan to handle the large yellow croaker herself, so she went to do other things.

At the temple fair, they bought some non-staple foods, such as red sausage, pork skin jelly, and braised beef.

I cut a little bit of each of them for lunch, and paired it with a pot of shrimp dumpling soup, which made for a pleasant meal.

In the afternoon, Wei Qinghuan steamed buns.

These aren't the steamed buns we usually eat; they're large steamed buns meant to be offered as sacrifices to our ancestors.

A cast iron pot sat on the stove, steaming hot and emitting a rich aroma of wheat.

Wei Qinghuan dipped her chopsticks in red ink and made a red dot on the freshly steamed jujube bun.

She looked up and saw Qian Jin idly playing with the dog, and asked, "Honey, aren't you going to hang up the ancestral scroll in your house?"

The family ancestral scroll is similar to a genealogy book, but it is not a book; it is a large drawing, often exceeding two square meters in area. It is something that is hung in the main hall for worship during the Lunar New Year in coastal areas.

Qian Jin was taken aback; he had completely forgotten about this: "I don't know where my house is."

Wei Xiongtu casually said, "Maybe it was burned down before?"

Wei Qinghuan knew it was impossible.

Because she already knew how wealthy her husband's ancestors were, such families cherished their genealogy records and ancestral hall scrolls.

But Qian Jin really didn't know where the Qian family's ancestral scroll had been put.

If he had known, he would have sold it in the mall long ago.

Given the Qian family's past glory in Haibin City, the ancestral scroll must definitely be considered an antique.

Of course, this is a joke.

The family ancestral scroll is not a small item like a genealogy book, but a scroll that is two meters long.

Even his largest chest of gold couldn't hold it all...

Faced with the Wei siblings' doubts, Qian Jin made up an excuse, saying, "I don't usually talk to my father about this. I came back recently, but my father had already passed away and didn't tell me about this, so I can't hold the ceremony this year."

Wei Qinghuan lamented, "I should have asked about this when I wrote to my older siblings."

Qian Jin was taken aback: "You even wrote letters to my brother and sister?"

Wei Qinghuan rolled her eyes at him: "Of course, how can we not wish them a Happy New Year?"

“Not only did she write them letters, she also mailed all my savings and vouchers issued by my workplace to your brother and sister.” Wei Xiongtu, who was reading the newspaper, suddenly looked up with a sorrowful expression.

Wei Qinghuan snorted, "What's there to say? You don't need it normally, so what's the point of keeping it?"

Wei Xiongtu's sister took care of all his needs, and since he neither smoked nor drank, he didn't spend much money.

But this also means that he has accumulated a considerable fortune.

Qian Jin said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Wei Qinghuan said helplessly, "I saw that you were too busy to do it, so I had no choice but to take over."

Qian Jin said to Wei Xiongtu, "Brother-in-law, why don't you take Xiao Tangyuan out to set off firecrackers?"

Wei Xiongtu stood up sensitively: "What's wrong? Do you have a conflict with your brother and sister? Don't quarrel with Xiaoqing during the New Year. Tell me what's wrong, and I'll criticize her."

Qian Jin shoved him out the door: "We're not arguing, we're just trying to communicate."

He locked the door, opened his arms and embraced Wei Qinghuan, sliding down with his hands around his wife's slender waist, and instantly reached the peak.

Wei Qinghuan blushed: "What are you doing in broad daylight?"

Qian Jin whispered warmly in her ear, "Thank you, my wife. The happiest thing in my life is meeting you and marrying you."

Wei Qinghuan felt a sweet warmth in her heart upon hearing the sweet words, and she happily said:
"You're good at saying nice things, but all my hard work behind the scenes didn't go to waste, that's why..."

“Flowing water? Where is the flowing water? Let me see…”

They spent the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month in the workers' new village, because they would definitely have to spend New Year's Eve in the tenement building, and many people would come to wish them a Happy New Year on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

So on the night of the 29th, Qian Jin kept tinkering with the electric blanket.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Wei Xiongtu was the busiest.

He's going to write a couplet.

This morning he is going to write couplets for many households in the neighborhood.

Writing couplets requires a special brush called a couplet brush, which uses a traditional wolf hair brush.

It's not easy to find a couplet pen these days, so Qian Jin prepared three for him!

All the strokes are from the combined strokes of wolves and sheep, smooth and without splitting, with good elasticity and strong ink retention.

Upon seeing the brush, Wei Xiongtu regarded it as a treasure and quickly pinched the brush head with two fingers to carefully feel the texture of the bristles.

After smoothing and cleaning the brush, Liu Dajia took out a red paper and came over: "Teacher Dawei, my dad asked you to write a couplet for my family."

Wei Xiongtu rolled up his sleeves, unscrewed the ink bottle, and prepared to wield his brush.

Unfold the red paper, and a piece of calligraphy is written:
Be a model worker on the production front; be a vanguard of the cultural revolution.

Horizontal scroll: Dedicated to the country.

Qian Jin read the content and exclaimed, "Wow!"

Wei Xiongtu wrote an even more domineering message to his family:

Transportation comes first, electricity comes first, we open up mountains and ridges, paving the way for leapfrog development;

The Iron Marshal, the Mechanical Marshal, leading thousands of troops and horses, march straight to the peak of victory. Later, others arrived one after another. He spent the whole morning writing couplets; as long as someone brought red paper with couplets, he would write one for them.

Qian Jin looked at them and realized that the Spring Festival couplets of that era were different from those of later years. They didn't focus on blessings; instead, they mainly talked about national development.

Hold firmly to the gun and stand firm in your revolutionary post; keep your eyes open and never forget class struggle.

The victory over the four pests resounded across the land; the revolutionary ship sailed mightily through the ice.

Break with the old and establish the new to create a great enterprise; eliminate capitalism and revive the weak to realize a grand vision.

This is the mainstream approach; even those expressing good wishes are practical ones like, "May the family store ten dan of grain before the old year ends and may the bank deposit a thousand yuan before the new year begins."

Starting at noon, firecrackers popped and exploded like popping beans.

The boys ran and shouted in groups of three or five on the street, and every now and then a firecracker would shoot up into the air with a "whoosh" and explode with a muffled sound against the thin curtain of snow.

Cats and dogs like Huang Chui are having a bad day.

Yellow Hammer crawled under the bed and refused to come out. It was afraid of nothing but the sound of firecrackers.

Smoke carrying the smell of sulfur permeated the air, and children coughed and laughed, their scarves and collars stained with the sweet malt scent of sugar melon.

Qian Jin called Xiao Tangyuan home for dinner. Xiao Tangyuan was exchanging gifts with several other children: firecrackers, small firecrackers, and fruit candies—nothing more than those three items.

A woman came out to take a look, then suddenly grabbed her son and kicked him in the buttocks.
"Your new pants are already frayed at the knees? Huh? You don't want to celebrate the New Year, do you?"

The child cried loudly.

Grandma Li waved her hand and said, "Chunhua, let it go during the New Year. How can you beat a child who is crying during the New Year? Wait until after the first month of the lunar calendar before you beat her."

The woman was furious. Pointing at the boy's pants, she shouted, "I won't let him wear new clothes, I won't let him wear new pants! No way! He's throwing a tantrum at home and insists on wearing them!"

"Here, I've put it on him. Look at the mess he's made of me all this time!"

Green liberation shoes trod over red scraps of paper scattered on the ground; a woman chased after her son, ready to hit him.

Little Tangyuan was so frightened that she quickly looked down at her pants and saw that her knees were also chafed. She immediately started crying at the top of her lungs.

Qian Jin was speechless: "Why are you crying? Go home and eat."

Little Tangyuan pointed to the knee of her pants and cried, "Mine are worn out too."

“These aren’t new clothes, so what if they get worn out?” Qian Jin was even more speechless. “Besides, these were worn out before, not today.”

"Really? I see." Little Tangyuan suddenly realized, her crying stopped abruptly, and glistening tears still clung to her eyelashes.

She immediately perked up, skipping home with the firecrackers and candy in her pocket, and proudly told Wei Qinghuan:

"Auntie, the glutinous rice balls didn't wear out my new pants."

As the sun began to set, Lunar New Year's Eve finally arrived.

In front of the Taishan Road Subdistrict Residents' Committee, the bright red lanterns flickered in the twilight, casting a blood-red glow on the snow.

The ink on the handwritten Spring Festival couplets had just dried, and the edges of the gold-flecked red paper were being lifted by the cold wind.

In the distance, the state-owned department store lit up its neon sign for the first time—but instead of the department store's name, it displayed the four red characters with gold lettering that read "Happy Chinese New Year."

This scene amazed the nearby residents, who came out to see the neon sign.

The sound of firecrackers was incessant, the smell of sulfur was stronger, and a layer of smoke enveloped the seaside town.

Qian went into the workers' new village and brought the TV back. Little Tangyuan clapped happily when she saw it.

"Oh, I have a TV at home now."

Wei Xiongtu was very interested in the television set. He ran around looking for a place to put the machine and even tried to adjust the built-in antenna on the television to find a signal.

The brothers, one, two, three, and four, scurried over like mice, while Little Tangyuan, who had gone to tell them the good news, chased after them, calling out, "Brother, wait for Tangyuan!"

Liu Eryi rushed to the door, then ran back, picked up the small glutinous rice ball, and dashed into the house.
"What a huge TV!"

Qian Jin stared at the television, which was smaller than half the size of his buttocks, and questioned his existence.

Is this what you call a huge TV?
Wei Qinghuan handed them the chestnuts and peanuts she had just roasted that afternoon. For the first time, the four children didn't focus on the food and all crowded in front of the TV to watch.

Wei Xiongtu said, "I've checked the TV schedule. Tonight there's a Spring Festival Gala produced by the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio. Just wait and see, it's really good. I saw it in People's Pictorial."

Qian Jin asked in confusion, "Huh? The Spring Festival Gala has been broadcast ahead of schedule? And it's already been published in People's Pictorial?"

Wei Xiongtu said, "Yes, didn't you know?"

Qian Jin really didn't know.

After he asked him carefully, he understood.

It's a mistake.

There was no Spring Festival Gala or Spring Festival celebration program broadcast this year. Wei Xiongtu was referring to the Spring Festival celebration program that aired in 1956.

This program was a cultural performance jointly launched in 1955 by the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, the Broadcasting Bureau, Ta Kung Pao and other media, bringing together people from all walks of life, including workers, farmers, merchants, students, soldiers, intellectuals and masters of folk arts.

Qian Jin had also watched this program; he had seen it many times on short videos in his previous life.

This is the first Spring Festival Gala in the recorded history of the People's Republic of China.

The "gathering of masters" at the gala was something that never happened again. For example, the guests included Hua Luogeng and Qian Xuesen, who were "some of the gems of the Chinese scientific community," as well as famous writers Lao She, Ba Jin, and Zhou Libo, and theatrical performers Mei Lanfang and Xin Fengxia, among others.

However, due to the limitations of the era, the gala was not broadcast live on television.

It was first broadcast live by the Central People's Broadcasting Station, and then recorded by the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio to become a documentary film, which was then distributed nationwide and screened in theaters across the country.

It has never been broadcast on television before, but tonight all TV stations will broadcast this "Spring Festival Gala" program.

Although it has already been shown in theaters, only a small number of people have been able to see it.

Neither Wei Xiongtu nor his four brothers had seen it before, so Wei Xiongtu was really looking forward to the evening's program.

Upon hearing that there was a good program, the four brothers wished they could stay rooted to the concrete floor of Building 205.

Li Xiaomei came downstairs to call them up for New Year's Eve dinner, but the four brothers hesitated and dawdled, unwilling to leave.

Little Tangyuan said, "They want to watch TV at my house."

Li Xiaomei peeked inside from the doorway and exclaimed, "Oh, Chief Qian, Teacher Wei, you bought a TV?"

Wei Qinghuan greeted her warmly: "Sister-in-law, go and call my older brother down. He'll have New Year's Eve dinner at my house tonight."

“Let’s watch TV and eat tonight. I made a lot of dishes, so let my husband and brother have a couple of drinks with Brother Liu.”

Li Xiaomei was tempted but also embarrassed: "How can this be? Who goes to someone else's house for New Year's Eve dinner?"

Liu Sanbing ruthlessly ripped off his mother's fig leaf: "Mom, the four of us brothers have been eating here for half a year!"

Li Xiaomei said with a stern face, "What do brats know? Can the New Year be the same?"

Wei Qinghuan laughed and said, "It's perfectly normal for a family to have New Year's Eve dinner together. What's wrong, sister-in-law? Don't you consider us family?"

Li Xiaomei laughed awkwardly and said she would go upstairs to discuss it with her husband. Then the two of them carried the plates downstairs.

The two brought two dishes: one plate of fried ribbonfish and one plate of pork skin jelly.

Soon, the table was filled with delicious food.

Qian Jin brought the last plate of fried lotus root slices to the table, the oil droplets gleaming golden in the candlelight.

He opened a bottle of Wuliangye liquor.

The clear liquor was poured into the glass, and after Liu Youniu took a sip, his muscular chest began to heave violently.

"This is Wuliangye? It's really good wine, really good wine! I never thought we'd be drinking Wuliangye!"

Qian Jin has genuine Wuliangye in his hand, a 27-year-old Wuliangye.

The packaging of liquor bottles from the two eras is vastly different; he bought Wuliangye at the mall and poured it into a bottle from this era.

While the men were drinking, the small television began playing a clip of the Spring Festival Gala from twenty years ago.

Qian Jin was indifferent to small televisions, and he believed that having experienced the Spring Festival Gala for many years to come, he looked down on this kind of 1950s program.

But once the show started, he couldn't resist watching it.

He used to only see a few clips on short videos, but now that he's watching it from the beginning, he finds this year's Spring Festival Gala to be quite spectacular.

Although it couldn't compare to later Spring Festival Galas in terms of scale, grandeur, and lineup, the guests were still incredibly impressive.

Moreover, the program producers put in a lot of effort, featuring a variety of performances including singing, dancing, opera, crosstalk, and magic, with some classic movie clips interspersed throughout.

Qian Jin watched intently.

Back then, those who could appear on programs like the Spring Festival Gala were all top-notch talents, which is completely different from the artists who later went up and shouted "I missed you all so much!" or "Oh my god!"

As the program drew to a close, the sound of firecrackers outside the window gradually subsided.

Qian Jin occasionally turned his head and saw his reflection in the glass, and was momentarily dazed.

I was born in 1978.

My first Lunar New Year in this era has come to an end.

It was lively with many people, and everyone stayed up all night to welcome the New Year, until midnight.

The men went out to set off firecrackers, while Wei Qinghuan, with Li Xiaomei's help, made dumplings to prepare for the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Zhang Aijun was wicked; he used a chicken head to tease Huang Chui as he went downstairs.

Fortunately, Huang Chui was shrewd.

When it saw Qian Jin hang up the firecrackers, its ears suddenly turned into airplane ears, its four paws left afterimages, and it darted back under the bed.

A crackling sound rang out.

The new year has arrived.

Spring has arrived in 1978—just two days ago, on February 4th, was the Beginning of Spring, so according to the solar terms, it is already springtime.

(End of this chapter)