During the meal, Nan Sheng was arranged to sit at the main table.
There were two extra dishes on this table, one was chicken stewed with vermicelli and the other was a braised fish, specially prepared to entertain the Wang Family.
Nan Sheng held her daughter on her lap and ate with her. As for her son, it wouldn't be proper to hold him here.
Lin Guozheng and others were drinking and chatting. She just focused on feeding herself and her daughter. Nan Jingyu didn't arrive until the bride was brought back. Since his daughter had married into the Lin Family, he definitely had to maintain the kinship with the Lin Family.
Lin Guozheng wanted to arrange for him to sit at the main table, but Nan Jingyu refused and just found a random seat to sit down and have his meal.
After the meal, the Lin Family saw off the Wang Family first. Nan Sheng asked Sizhe and Siqi to take their grandfather home first, and she stayed behind to help her elder sister - in - law clean up.
In this era, the relationship between neighbors was very close. When there was a happy event in someone's family, people would help from start to finish before going home. Nan Sheng helped clean the yard, and others took care of the rest of the work.
After finishing the work, Zhou Wei not only brought her a small basin of roasted duck meat but also two whole pieces of bowl jelly. She found them quite delicious.
When she got home, Father Nan was sitting in the yard watching his two grandchildren build a snowman. As soon as Nan Sheng entered the yard, he quickly said that it was time to go home. Nan Sheng asked him to take the duck meat back and heat it up for Zhong Yanyan and Grandpa.
After the new daughter - in - law entered the family, Zhou Wei enjoyed the treatment of being served. Early the next morning, Wang Yuting got up early to cook. Sizhong felt sorry for his wife and went to the kitchen to help build the fire.
The daughter - in - law was diligent and sensible, and she also brought a lot of dowry. Zhou Wei promised that when the family had some money, they would build two more rooms for the young couple to live in separately.
Sicheng was also happy to hear that. He had moved to his parents' room to sleep and felt very uncomfortable. When his elder brother and sister - in - law moved out, he could have the whole room to himself. Just thinking about it made him excited.
The Lin Family was satisfied with Wang Yuting. The next day, they sent the young couple to the town to get their marriage certificate and become a legitimate couple.
Nan Sheng didn't pay attention to the Lin Family's affairs anymore. Since the heavy snowfall, it had become a problem for her to go to work. It took her three hours on the road every day.
When she arrived at the town government, Nan Sheng was so tired that she lay on the table gasping for breath. Outside, every breath she took felt like inhaling ice chips into her lungs.
Officer Peng encouraged her, "Just hold on. After the Minor New Year, we'll also have a holiday, which will last until the fifth day of the first lunar month!"
Nan Sheng felt dizzy. There was still a week to go!
How could she survive this!
Facts proved that no matter how heavy the snow and wind were, they couldn't stop the determination of workers to go to work. Fortunately, the two children were very considerate. When she got home, the meal was already ready.
"Mom, it's the Minor New Year tomorrow. Why are you still going to work in the town?"
Nan Sheng let out a long sigh of relief. "Tomorrow is the last day. I'm going to get some holiday benefits. There will be flour, oil, and even pork. I'll make pork stewed with big bones for you tonight!"
On the last day of work, Nan Sheng and her colleagues distributed the supplies to each village, and then they started to collect their own shares. After that, they could go home and rest.
As a clerk at the section - level, Nan Sheng could get two more catties of oil and two more catties of pork than the clerks. This was the advantage of having a state - funded job. The welfare was excellent.
She tied all the things to the back seat of her bicycle and rode to the black market. She had already informed Mingli to buy more pork bones and spine bones for her. She also asked him to keep some beef and pork if there was any.
Xiao Yi was also at the black market today. Without Mingli spending a single cent, he helped Nan Sheng purchase all the New Year's goods.
They bought twenty catties of pork, five catties of beef and five catties of mutton each. Knowing that Nan Sheng liked bones, he even reserved the bones of a whole pig. There were also pastries, canned food, and soda!
Nan Sheng was worried looking at this large pile of things. But considering their friendship, it would be too inappropriate to mention money.
After some greetings, Mingli asked his sister to take some of the New Year's goods back first, and he would deliver the rest after he finished his work at night.
"Okay, then I'll leave first. I'll save you a meal tonight!"
It was the busiest time at the black market during the New Year festival. Nan Sheng didn't want to stay and cause trouble. Otherwise, Xiao Yi and the others would have to accompany her.
It was really difficult to ride a bicycle in winter. In places with a lot of snow, she even had to get off and push the bike. By the time she got back to the village, it was already past noon.
In winter, villagers had nothing to do, so they would visit each other to pass the time. When they saw Nan Sheng coming back with New Year's goods, they were all envious, but no one dared to have any bad ideas.
When she got home, the two children quickly ran out to help carry the New Year's goods.
There was white flour, soybean oil, pork, and big bones. The two children immediately looked forward to the big meal at night.
Nan Sheng didn't disappoint the children. After getting home and resting for half an hour, she put the big pork bones into the pot to cook.
In winter, the days were short, and two meals a day were enough. Before, when Nan Sheng was at work, the two children would just drink some hot water and eat some pastries to fill their stomachs at noon and wait for their mother to come back for dinner.
The Minor New Year was an important festival. Besides making pork stewed with big bones, Nan Sheng also made braised pork and shrimp and Chinese cabbage soup.
It was a rural tradition that on important festivals, firecrackers should be set off before meals, which was meant to ward off evil spirits and pray for peace.
Boys liked to play with these things. Sizhe volunteered to set off the firecrackers.
When he came back, he ate a mouthful of white rice with a mouthful of meat. Nan Sheng also picked up a big bone for him to hold and gnaw on. For Sizhe, such a good day was something he had never dared to dream of before.
In the first few months after his mother got married, he felt that the sky was about to fall. How could there be such a vicious person?
Now he knew that, just as his father had said, life had to be bitter first and then sweet. He and his sister had gone through the tests, and their future days would surely get better and better!
At night, Sizhe wanted to lock the door. Nan Sheng told him that his little uncle would come to deliver the New Year's goods at night, so the mother and son sat together and waited.
By the time Mingli arrived, the mother and son were already asleep. The three of them carried the meat to the jar in front of the window and froze it, covering it with a layer of snow on top.
When they got back into the house, Nan Sheng found that her younger brother was shivering with cold. She quickly started the fire to heat up the dishes. Sizhe digested quickly and accompanied his little uncle to have another meal.
"Sis, I can earn quite a lot of money this month. I've also bought the New Year's goods for our family."
Nan Sheng praised him for his hard - work. "When you go home tomorrow, take a chicken. The chickens in our family have been fed so fat by the two kids. They've been raised for two years."
Mingli proudly refused. "I've already bought two. One is for the New Year's Eve dinner, and the other is for when you come to pay New Year greetings."
The three of them chatted for a long time that night. On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, they got up very late. Siqi was almost crying from hunger.
Nan Sheng felt sorry for her daughter, so she scooped up two bowls of white flour to make dumpling soup. After the meal, she boiled water and asked her younger brother to kill the two chickens. Then she chopped the meat into pieces and took them outside to freeze.
When Mingli left, he said that they should be more vigilant when sleeping at night, so as not to have all the meat stolen.
Nan Sheng told him not to worry so much. After the autumn harvest, the villagers had just received their grain rations. Now they weren't so hungry that they would come out to steal things.
Moreover, the identities of her and Lin Han were special. Except for their own family members, no outsiders would dare to do such a thing.
