February 5, 1978, the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Since there is no thirty in this year, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. This means that the Spring Festival is just around the corner.
Of course, in the last two days before the holiday, everyone has their own things to do.
For the three women of the Hong family, they have to follow the old order of not using knives or cooking during the first month of the year. They continue to steam buns, fry meatballs, grill fish and stew meat, and prepare the unfinished New Year dishes.
As for Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, their mission is to distribute New Year gifts to relatives and friends.
Hong Yanwu and his mother had already figured out how to distribute the items specifically last night. The New Year's gift would come from the dried seafood he brought back, the New Year's goods he bought, and the sixteen boxes of Maotai.
Of course, Wang Yunlin did not agree with Hong Yanwu's misappropriation of "other people's" things at first. She thought the wine belonged to Yang Weifan.
But Hong Yanwu Fei, who was eloquent and persuasive, insisted that Yang Weifan gave him two boxes of Maotai, and said that if his mother didn't believe it, she could call and ask. So Wang Yunlin had no choice but to believe it.
The final decision was to start with two kilograms of sea cucumbers, two kilograms of abalone, two kilograms of scallops, two kilograms of dried shrimps, two kilograms of eggs, four kilograms of pork ribs, four kilograms of ribs, one kilogram of water chestnuts, a bunch of leeks, and a bottle of fruit wine.
, a pound of mixed food, six cans, ten fruits, two bottles of Maotai, four portions each, and sent them to Shou Jingfang, Chang Xianzhang, Xiao Baizi's family and the Feng family entrusted by Yang Weifan to take care of them.
In addition, I have to give Shan Shou Jingfang a live chicken, a bottle of chive flowers, a bottle of fermented bean curd, a bottle of shrimp paste, a bottle of good soy sauce, a pound of high-end candy, and two bottles of Maotai for Song Guofu's family.
Share pork ribs, ribs, sausages and other meats with the neighbors in the east courtyard.
The reason for this is that Wang Yunlin decided to do this after careful consideration based on her closeness and worldliness.
First of all, Shou Jingfang is a close relative of the Hong family, he also saved Hong Lucheng's life, and he has just resumed walking in 20 years. From all aspects, he must be given the first share and cannot be neglected.
Secondly, Chang Xianzhang was the teacher of Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, and they had done a lot of harm to them. They should have been more respectful and compensated as much as possible.
Furthermore, Xiao Baizi has worked hard all the way and should be solemnly thanked for his contribution in front of and behind the horse.
As for the Feng family, although I have never had any dealings with him, it was because Yang Weifan traveled thousands of miles to deliver "Zuo Hulong" to the door of the Hong family, and because of the heavy gift of 300 yuan, he could not live up to his trust.
As for the Song Guofu family, because they are a family of high-ranking officials, they have no shortage of real things. In order to repay the favor of the three hundred kilograms of food stamps, sending two bottles of good wine is not degrading, but also just right, and will not cause any trouble.
The misunderstanding requested.
Finally, it comes to the neighbors. After so many years of ups and downs, although the families respect and help each other and have become as close as a family, after all, people in the capital pay attention to the old etiquette of coming and going.
Every family is a small family.
From this point of view, reasonable gifts must not be ostentatious, and it is fundamental to make each other feel comfortable. Otherwise, good intentions can also tire and hurt others.
Wang Yunlin was really afraid that the heavy gifts would put pressure on each family to return gifts, so she could only give some meat that everyone was most in need of in order to maintain this simple emotional relationship. Anyway, the days are long, and there will be many opportunities to help in the future.
After hearing this series of arrangements by Wang Yunlin, Hong Yanwu carefully considered them and found that there were no flaws at all and that they were extremely thorough in every aspect. So much so that he couldn't help but praise his mother at that time.
He said directly, "You are really an expert in giving gifts, and you have given me a lot of knowledge. I really need to learn this worldly thing. If you have an old family, you have treasures. It is true that ginger is still spicy when you are old..."
Unexpectedly, when Wang Yunlin heard what her son said, she didn't buy it and slapped him on the back.
"You're just like me, and you're making fun of your mother, aren't you? You have a lot of knowledge about giving gifts. It's strange if you don't see them. How do you think you're doing this?"
Just like that, after the mother and son put various gifts into several sacks that night, at five o'clock in the morning the next day, Hong Yanwu got up with important tasks.
Some people may be wondering, why is it so early? Why are you so anxious?
Hey, he can't be in a hurry. The key is Shou Jingfang's place. According to etiquette, not only must he go first, but he must also go early, otherwise the miracle doctor will go to work in the pharmacy. He has to bring so many things and a live chicken
It's too inappropriate to send someone your work unit, isn't it?
So he set the alarm clock last night, thinking that he would go to Shou's house early in the morning. And it happened that the Feng family also lived in Chongwen District, so he sent the two houses that were farthest away.
As for the other families, that's easy to say. Chang Xianzhang and Xiao Baizi should be at home during the day, and they can go anytime. Song Guofu's family is also close to each other, especially the neighbors, so the Hong family can live together if they are sent separately.
As for Hong Ye, Lao Gui, a few old brothers, and those police buddies, they have to contact each other when they have time. But that can be postponed until after the holiday, there is no need to rush.
Soon, Hong Yanwu finished washing up. He called Chen Liquan, who had gotten up earlier to practice, and went to his home in the east courtyard together. He took two sacks that had been packed and tied a chicken in them. He didn't even eat breakfast before going out.
.
But Wang Yunlin stopped them at this moment. The pot of steamed buns that Qingqing had steamed in the morning had just been cooked, and she wanted the two children to eat the steamed buns before going out.
Although Hong Yanwu was in a hurry to leave, he couldn't live up to his mother's kindness. He went over and opened the lid of the steaming pot, grabbed a bright white steamed bun with his hand and handed it to Chen Liquan, and then took one for himself.
But he didn't expect that the steamed buns were really hot, and he didn't have the skill of Chen Liquan, so he soon couldn't hold them anymore. He blew them while blowing them with both hands, as if he was practicing juggling, and he had a great time eating them.
Just like this, I still stuffed it into my mouth. I exhaled and said, "Mom, the steamed buns are really steaming. But I like to eat the scalp of these steamed buns, they are so chewy..."
This immediately made Wang Yunlin dumbfounded and kept nagging her. "You silly boy, you have no appearance at all. You can tell at a glance that you were born in the 1960s."
As soon as these words came out, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan were all happy.
After finishing the steamed buns, the two of them didn't waste any more time. They said goodbye to Wang Yunlin, each of them carried a sack, took the chicken and walked out of the courtyard one after another.
But just as they were leaving the cave, something went wrong again. They suddenly ran into two hairy black figures.
It was still dark at this time, so they were startled and thought they had "hit" something unclean.
Hong Yanwu was walking in the front. He said "Ouch" and opened his eyes wide. After taking a closer look, he realized that in front of him were two people wearing torn sheepskin coats and also carrying a lot of things.
.
However, it is a bit inaccurate to say "people". The most appropriate word is probably "savage".
Because the appearance of these two black shadows is really evil and scary.
One is broad and the other is thin. What they have in common is that they have a gray face and messy hair and beards, as if they are covered with gray hair. In the dark, the nose, eyebrows and eyes are all unclear, except for two pairs of eyes.
Shining.
To put it bluntly, one could definitely think of them as little ghosts who ran away from some City God's Temple.
What I didn't expect was what happened next. Before Hong Yanwu could ask any questions, the two "savages" became anxious first. They actually jumped forward, grabbed Hong Yanwu's arms from left to right, and started shouting.
"Someone come quickly! Someone come quickly!"
Hong Yanwu was startled at that moment. He thought to himself: What are you doing? Are you going crazy or trying to rob something?
So he didn't think much about it. He subconsciously swung the sack and put a "sloping foot" with his left and right feet, and in one fell swoop the two "savages" fell to the bottom of the high steps.
Unexpectedly, these two "savages" didn't give up and started screaming while lying on the ground.
One shouted, "There is no one in the east courtyard, so don't sleep! The thief is here, come out and catch the thief!"
The other one also shouted, "What's going on? Are you stealing things so blatantly? Don't run away, I'll take you to the police station!"
Only then did Hong Yanwu figure it out. He was afraid he might have misunderstood.
He quickly stopped him, "Okay! Stop shouting! What's going on? Are you still treating us as thieves? I still think you are robbing us! Who are you? What kind of thing is this?"
Chen Liquan seemed to hear a familiar voice and hurriedly walked from the back to the front and asked, "Hey, is this the third brother of the Bian family? I'm Quanzi..."
Suddenly, there was silence in front of the courtyard gate.
After a while, the two "savages" started to fight fiercely again.
One asked, "Quanzi, why is it you? He hit us hard enough, so the brat who did it couldn't be Hong Laosan, right?"
Another said, "Quanzi, I am Su Jin. Even you have become a young man. You really shocked us..."
Hong Yanwu also remembered now. It turned out that these two "savages" were Bian Jiangong, the youngest son of the Bian family, and Su Jin, the eldest son of the Su family. They were classmates, three years older than Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan. They had been together since 1972.
We started working together in Inner Mongolia in 2016, and we probably came back to visit relatives during the holidays.
Originally, they had not seen each other for several years. In addition, they were unable to see people clearly in the dark, and they were carrying so many things on their backs and holding chickens in their hands, so there was a misunderstanding.
At this, he couldn't help but laugh, and quickly reached out to pull them both up from the ground. After saying that he was offended, he went to help others pick up their luggage.
Bian Jiangong and Su Jin were both happy at this time.
One said, "Look at this misunderstanding. I didn't even enter the courtyard when I came back. Instead, I kicked you out first. Fortunately, we had practiced a lot in Inner Mongolia, and we couldn't prevent you...
…
The other said, "If the thing is not broken, we can do it ourselves. If you have something to do, leave quickly. We will talk later..."
Hong Yanwu was not polite and took Chen Liquan to leave first. However, before leaving, he also took pictures of himself and the cigarettes in Quanzi's pockets to the two "savages".
How could those two "Hua Zi Ye" smoke while sharing cigarettes behind them?
"Hey, you have drawn 'Fragrant Hill' and 'Summer Palace', okay..."
"Oh, by the way, I brought you dried cheese. Come back and try it..."
Hong Yanwu turned around to rush as he walked.
"Don't talk nonsense! I said you two should take a shower before entering the house. You are all rotten. It looks like a smelly hairtail and an empty pickle jar. Be careful that your family will beat it out for you again..."
Unexpectedly, Bian Jiangong actually laughed evilly when he heard this, and said something distant with the energy of a gangster-proletarian.
"What's the big deal? We still have lice. You deserve it. Who told you to hit us..."