Chapter 413 The embarrassment of a combined family celebrating the New Year

Author: Hometown Three Thousand Miles

Chapter 413 The embarrassment of a combined family celebrating the New Year

The next day is New Year's Eve.

Before dawn, I heard the crackling sound of firecrackers and a roaring sound. It was Tuan Nian on the other side of the river.

What they attach most importance to on New Year's Eve is the morning meal, which starts at four or five in the morning, when it's still dark.

The emphasis here is on the lunch meal, and it’s not time to show off yet.

After getting up in the morning and having dinner, it was past eight o'clock, and then the family started to work.

Prepare the meal at noon on New Year’s Eve.

The two older ones went to the kitchen to sort out the ingredients.

Yan Xin and Bai Xiaoling's task is to put up the couplets and hang up the word "Fu".

I also bought two red lanterns and hung them at the gate.

Even the chicken coop has been pasted with a Spring Festival couplet saying the animals are prosperous.

After doing this and taking a few more photos, they went to the kitchen to help.

Those who wash the vegetables wash the vegetables, those who chop the vegetables chop the vegetables, and those who light the fire make the fire.

Yan Xin cooked a few dishes himself, and Wu Xiuhong did the rest.

They were all brought over. There were twelve dishes in total, basically all hard dishes, which looked quite rich.

Dad Yan couldn't help but sigh, this life is so good.

Now four people celebrate the New Year together, which is a lot more lively, and one family finally looks like a family.

It's just such an embarrassing thing.

According to custom, before eating the New Year's meal, one must first worship the ancestors and let the deceased use it first.

They served three bowls of rice to the deceased, with chopsticks placed on each bowl, and a glass of wine beside each bowl.

The donors were Yan Xin’s grandparents and his mother.

And the portrait now enshrined on the shrine is that of Yan Xin’s mother.

It's okay to just serve food, but before eating, you have to kneel before the portrait.

——The custom here has always been like this, and of course it is normal for them to do this today.

However, this year, it is not only the Yan family and his son who are celebrating the New Year here, but also Wu Xiuhong and her daughter.

And these two new members have nothing to do with Yan Xin.

It is quite strange to participate in this ceremony.

But if you don't participate in this ceremony, you will appear to be an outsider.

At first, the Yan family's father and son didn't think of this, so they just followed the habits of previous years.

After both father and son had finished worshiping, they saw the mother and daughter looking a little embarrassed, and then they thought of this.

They are a combined family.

It was also their first time to start a family. They had no relevant experience and didn't know what to do if they encountered such a situation.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Xiuhong pushed her daughter:

"Xiaoling, please go over and pay your respects too."

Bai Xiaoling looked at the portrait enshrined in the shrine, then at her mother, then at the Yan family's father and son.

Finally, he knelt down and kowtowed several times to the portrait.

I thought to myself: "Just think of it as kowtowing to your future mother-in-law. This is what we should do..."

Thinking about it this way, I felt a little better.

Just thinking about her mother's situation, she still felt a little bit unfair in her heart - "Women are so embarrassed. They don't have any ancestors of their own, so they can only worship other people's ancestors."

Wu Xiuhong's behavior showed that she understood the general situation and did not care about those empty statuses or fight with the dead, which made both the Yan family and his son feel some gratitude for her.

We set off firecrackers and then had New Year's dinner.

The weather was not bad on this day. According to the usual practice in previous years, as long as it didn't rain, we would go to the graves after the New Year's Eve dinner.

In the past few years, the Yan family went to visit Yan Xin’s mother’s grave.

However, now both the Yan family and his son are embarrassed to make this request.

Of course there is no problem for the two of them to go, but the status of the remaining mother and daughter is awkward. Should they go or not?

They had already given in before, but they still wanted to make such a request, which seemed a bit bullying and went too far.

——Although they do not mean to bully others subjectively.

However, Wu Xiuhong took the initiative to mention this matter and asked them to go up the mountain to worship after eating.

As for her, of course she stayed to clean up the dishes and didn't go with her.

She also asked Bai Xiaoling if she would stay and help her wash the dishes or follow them to the grave.

This gives her a chance to make the decision.

As for her late husband, Bai Xiaoling's biological father, don't think about it.

Having already arrived at this home, it is somewhat unreasonable to go to pay homage to my ex-husband.

That's not to say that you can't do this, but doing so will obviously not give your current husband's family face.

She has only been married for a month or two, and what she needs to do is to make the combined family more harmonious, rather than making the family more divided.

It can’t be like this during the Chinese New Year, and it can’t be like this during the Qingming Festival.

As for the deceased husband, the brothers of the Bai family can only go to pay homage.

——Who told them to take away the fields and houses? Logically speaking, it should be their business.

Wu Xiuhong thought so.

Bai Xiaoling thought for a moment and said with a smile: "I'd better go with my dad and brother."

What she thought was that this could bring Yan Xin closer to her, so it would be good to go out. Although she was worshiping someone she didn't know and had nothing to do with her, it could make their relationship more harmonious.

Why not do it?

Wu Xiuhong smiled and said: "That's okay. It's also good to go for a walk. You can also help."

After eating, the Yan family father and son and Bai Xiaoling went out with firecrackers, incense, candles, paper money and other things.

Wu Xiuhong, on the other hand, stayed at home alone to clean up the dishes.

After they all left, Wu Xiuhong looked at the portrait of Yan Xin in the shrine for a long time, and finally sighed and whispered:

"I really envy you for raising a good son."

By the time they came back from visiting the grave, it was only around two o'clock in the afternoon.

At this time, Wu Xiuhong was chatting with her neighbors outside.

Now there are four people in the Yan family celebrating the New Year together, which is much more lively than in previous years.

However, several of the neighbor's sons who went out to work have gone home, and the older two and their wives and children are also celebrating the New Year at home. There are about ten people in total, which makes it even more lively.

Wu Xiuhong envied the liveliness of her neighbor's house, but her neighbor said:

"Your family is a good one, and all the children can do it. There are not many people there now. In a few years, the sons and daughters will all have families. If we add more children, it will become more lively."

Wu Xiuhong smiled, but thought in her heart:

"When my daughter grows up and gets married, she will be someone else's daughter-in-law. She will only celebrate the Chinese New Year at someone else's home. Even if she gives birth to a child, she will only be in other people's homes."

Thinking about it this way, I feel a little bit uncomfortable in my heart.

This is a combined family.

Although Yan Xin is a good boy and does not treat her as an outsider, he is not her biological son after all.

In the future, if Yan Xin marries a daughter-in-law and has children, it will have nothing to do with her.

But as a stepmother, if she wants to be a good stepmother, she must conscientiously help her stepson with the children, and even serve her daughter-in-law during the confinement period.

The person he works so hard to serve is someone who has no blood relationship with him.

But her biological daughter, her daughter's children, people who are related to her by blood, are people she cannot take care of.

The people I love most are far away, but I can only stay in this home like an outsider.

It doesn't make sense, but that's the truth.

In order to better integrate into this family, she even thought about having another child.

This possibility is not impossible, she is only in her forties now.
To be continued...