"Go back, get ready, and go to Long Street later."
The uncle hung the woodcutter behind Chujiu, said hello, and everyone walked back.
I asked Chujiu what Long Street was, and Chujiu told me it was just a place to eat.
After returning to the house, my uncle used a knife to drill a hole in the bamboo joint he brought back on the ninth day of the lunar month.
A green liquid with a strong bamboo aroma flowed out of the bamboo tube, followed by a scent of wine.
Master Vidyadhara sniffed his nose, with an intoxicated smile on his face, and said that when it came to drinking, my uncle was the best.
Grandpa patted my back and motioned for me to follow him to the room on the second floor.
When I arrived at Grandpa's room upstairs, Grandpa took out a dozen brand new red envelopes from his backpack and threw them to me.
"Grandpa, why did you give me so many red envelopes all at once? Didn't you always get one in the past years?"
Grandpa said nothing and looked at me kindly. I knew instantly that something was not right. Every time he tried to plot against me in the past, he always smiled brightly.
"Hey, it's the Chinese New Year. Your uncle has given a ten-dollar red envelope to every household in the village. I have to give one to a few girls and Chujiu, right? It doesn't need to be too much. Just put some change in it as you see."
In the end, grandpa used hard and soft tactics and told me that the money he brought was spent to save my dog's life.
When I took out all the money in my pocket and stuffed fifty yuan into each red envelope, I only had one hundred and fifty yuan left in my hand.
"What's left is not even enough to go back to school."
“Isn’t there a bank where I can withdraw money when I get to Panzhihua?”
I pretended to complain about my grievances, but my grandfather saw through it easily.
Grandpa put the red envelope into his pocket and happily said that he had saved another 450 yuan. When he took out dry tobacco leaves from his pocket to smoke, he accidentally brought out a few hundred-dollar bills.
I rolled my eyes at Grandpa, but he ignored me and said that today's tobacco leaves seem to be more fragrant than usual, and ginger is indeed still spicy!
The Long Street is not a street, but a place where everyone gathers during major festivals in Tuhaizhai. The Long Street is not far from my uncle's house, just a few minutes' walk away.
The buildings on the long street are similar to pavilions, but they are many times larger than ordinary pavilions, more than twenty meters long.
Inside this super long pavilion, dozens of tables are put together to form a giant dining table more than ten meters long.
Dozens of bamboo chairs were placed on both sides of the giant table. At this time, the dining table was filled with various dishes and fruits. All the busy men, women, and children stood down from the giant table, and no one sat down.
When the uncle and his entourage arrived, everyone cheered.
My uncle walked towards the main seat of the giant table, and his grandfather was on his left. Grandma Jian Shu and Master Vidyadhara were next to him.
On the right side of the uncle are the residents of the village. The oldest old man is next to the uncle, sitting in order.
The seat of Chujiu was facing my uncle. On the other side of the huge table, Chujiu's eight sisters and I were also seated in this area.
My uncle spoke impassionedly in dialect, and everyone happily slapped the table with their hands.
After my uncle indicated that everyone could take their seats, I asked Chujiu's uncle why everyone was so excited.
Chujiu curled his lips and told me that my uncle told everyone that as long as he lives, Tuhaizhai will get better and better day by day.
After the uncle finished speaking, he picked up the wine bowl and saluted everyone around. Then everyone picked up the wine bowl and drank the wine in the bowl with a shout, and the New Year's Eve banquet officially began.
On the ninth day of the lunar month, he introduced his other sisters to me one by one. Every time he introduced one, the girl would come up to me with a wine bowl and say thank you.
Finally, Lan Xi held the wine bowl and asked me with a smile, "Are you happy to suddenly have so many beautiful and lovely sisters?"
The wine making skills in the village are very good. After drinking eight bowls of rice wine in a row, there was a sweetness in the gaps between my teeth.
At the other end of the huge table, my uncle and the others were drinking wine from a bamboo tube. They were all blushing. The Vidyadhara Master's face was the reddest, and he looked faintly drunk.
After three rounds of drinking, my uncle stood up, picked up the wine bowl, walked to the residents in the village one by one to toast, and then took out a red envelope and handed it to the residents.
The atmosphere of the New Year's banquet was instantly high. On the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, when I got the red envelope from my uncle, I happily asked for some extra prizes and played brain teasers.
I was in a group by myself, and his eight sisters were in a group, with Chujiu acting as translator. One asked questions, and the other answered. Those who couldn't answer drank a bowl of wine.
On the way here, Chujiu told me how much they drank, and I guessed that they were pretty drunk. So I simply agreed to the challenge of eight people.
Eight girls chattered and said something in dialect. Chujiu translated for me, Mi Li and the others asked me to ask first, and they would answer. I am a guest, this is their custom.
"Okay, let's start with a simple question, who is Mi's grandmother?"
After I finished speaking, Chujiu began to translate with a smile. I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t understand the dialect. Would Chujiu be cheating? Chujiu’s righteous expression must be fair and just.
After a while, the girls calmed down. I looked at Mi Li, who smiled and shook his head, picked up the bowl and drank all the wine in the bowl.
Then I looked at the girl next to the rice grains. The girl also smiled and drank all the wine in the bowl.
Finally, I asked a question, and each of the eight sisters in the ninth grade drank all the wine in the bowl.
Lan Xi, who was sitting next to me, drank all the wine in the bowl, took my arm and shook her head coquettishly, and asked me what the answer was.
"Haha, what a wonderful stroke!"
"Why is Zi a wonderful pen?"
"The mother of rice is a flower. Because peanuts are rice, the mother of the flower is rice's grandmother. What a wonderful pen."
The few people who were suddenly enlightened were chattering. It seemed that there was no problem for one person to challenge eight people.
It was their turn to ask first. Lanxi raised her hand and said she wanted to ask her brother first. The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Brother, let me ask you the simplest question. 500 bricks are loaded on the plane. If one brick falls, how many bricks are left?"
I instantly remembered that there were two birds on the tree. The hunter shot and killed one. How many were left? This must be the same type of brain twisting. I replied casually: "There is no one left."
"Wrong! There are still 499 yuan left. I told my brother to ask for the simplest one. You can drink it."
After Lan Xi finished speaking, others started to make noises. Even Chujiu looked at me with contempt. I blushed and picked up the bowl and drank it all.
On the ninth day of the lunar month, he filled my bowl with rice wine.
Mi Li covered her mouth with her hand and said softly: "How to put an elephant into the refrigerator in just three steps?"
I thought about it over and over, but it really didn't occur to me, so I drank the wine in the bowl.
"Guo Guo, you are so stupid, I know it! The first step is to open the refrigerator door, the second step is to put the elephant into the refrigerator, and the third step is to close the refrigerator door."
Then came the girl next to the rice grains, her voice equally clear and sweet.
Chujiu Translation: "There is a meeting in the zoo. All animals need to attend. Why didn't the elephant come?"
I drank the wine in front of me again, and the answer was "elephant" because the elephant was put in the refrigerator.