Chapter 1137 Rural Customs

Yesterday, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, but the next day, snowflakes fell again. Fortunately, there are roads in and out of Yangjia Village. In other villages, you can only visit relatives early before the frost melts after the New Year, otherwise you will definitely have muddy feet if you stay late.

I didn’t drink at Yang’s house last night. Yang Ma and Zhou Ya had prepared the dishes and were ready to start cooking. But the general came and called someone to take Yang Dongxu away, so he had to take a bottle of good wine to the general’s house to drink.

I drank a little too much and my head was dizzy. But after washing my face and drinking a bowl of millet porridge, I felt completely refreshed. While there was no snow on the road, I hurried to the farmhouse to pick up the three old men.

Because the snow seemed to be getting heavier, I didn’t have lunch at the farmhouse and rushed back.

“Why did you bring back so many things again? There are so many things at home and we can’t finish them.” Seeing Yang Dongxu start to move things from the trunk of the car, Yang Ma blamed him while handing Xiao Wenchen in her arms to Zhou Ya to come over to help.

"You hold it, mom. I'll move it." Zhou Ya pushed her son back and helped Yang Dongxu move things.

"Xiaocheng said that he would only do business today, but there were no customers due to the heavy snow. We plan to open the store on the sixth day after the Chinese New Year. Some vegetables are left there and are not easy to serve. We must purchase fresh ones after the Chinese New Year, so he asked me to bring some back.

It's not just me. When I went there, he was sorting some vegetables into piles for the chefs and waiters to take back." Yang Dongxu said while moving things.

Most of them are fresh green vegetables, which were just bought and prepared for today's business. Now that they are not needed, let his brother-in-law bring some back. In addition to vegetables, there are also some fish and a few turtles.

The Yang family runs their own pig farm, and the eldest sister Hongying is afraid that there will be no meat at home. Fresh meat is not easy to deliver, and all kinds of smoked meat and pickled meat have never been heard of all year round, so the Yang family is not short of meat, so they sent fish and turtles.

"The shell of this turtle is quite dark in color, and the wild ones are different. The turtles sold on the street are obviously farmed, and the shells look soft." Although Yang's mother complained, she was still a little happy in her heart. After all, although parents don't care what their children give them, filial piety will make them happy.

"The one you see is indeed wild. I caught it in the reservoir two days ago. I haven't eaten it yet. The other ones are farmed, but because the water area on the reservoir is relatively large.

And they are not fed with much feed. They just put some small fish in as bait. It is indeed better than other intensively farmed turtles. Apart from other things, it looks more energetic than the others." Yang Dongxu said with a smile.

"Then clean this one at night and stew it for the old man."

"We are all old, what can we supplement? Don't put anything in the stew later, and give it to little Wenchen. Children are young and it is the time to grow up." Old man Xuan wanted to help, but Yang Dongxu didn't let him. So he glanced at Yang Dongxu in anger, then turned around and stretched out his hand to tease little Wenchen with a doting smile on his face.

Yang Dongxu rolled his eyes at the difference in treatment.

Besides, as long as a child of two or three years old has a balanced diet, how can he grow?

Shouldn't he grow up when the child eats up his parents' money? Then he needs nutrition to keep up with the growth.

"By the way, old man, please check the pulse of my cousin and his wife later." Yang Dongxu turned to Mr. Sun and said.

If a man and a woman don't want to get married, the most feared thing is pregnancy. But if they want to get married, then they naturally want to get pregnant immediately.

It has been almost two months since Zhang Jing moved into the general's house with her luggage. Both of them want to have a child quickly. When they drank a lot yesterday, the general said that he wanted to have a child. What would happen if a man and a woman really fell in love in the future?

"Okay, got it." Mr. Sun responded.

I got up on the morning of New Year's Eve to change the child into new clothes. In the morning, I started to make paste to paste couplets. At noon, I cooked a big pot of meat and bones. This is lunch.

When it was getting dark in the afternoon, the people of the same clan gathered together, brought paper and firecrackers, and began to visit the graves around the village to worship their ancestors.

I heard before that a graveyard was also built in Yangjia Village, and the elderly would be buried in the planned graveyard after they died. And the old graveyards in the past would also be moved there.

Many people did not agree because they did not want to move the graveyards of the older generation, so the graveyard planning was not completed. So when the elderly died, they still invited a fortune teller to come and see which piece of land was suitable for burial.

So there are many graveyards around the village, and every year at the end of the year when they worship their ancestors. Basically, they go around the village for a long time before they can come back.

After the worship, Yang Ma, Zhou Ya, Cui Ma, and the little aunt who came to help had almost prepared the New Year's Eve dinner. Grandpa and grandma were called over, as well as the uncle's family.

This is basically how they have been spending the past few years, with a large family gathered around a specially customized huge rotating dining table. The house did not seem deserted because of the two daughters who got married, but it felt more lively.

After dinner, several elderly people sat down to talk for a while and watch TV, and then went back to bed early. The older generation went to bed early, basically after 8 o'clock.

In fact, people now go to bed early, usually around 9 or 10 o'clock. Unlike a few years later when smartphones were invented, everyone was still very energetic at 11 or 12 o'clock with a mobile phone in their arms. And after going to bed, they still couldn't sleep well and often suffered from insomnia.

My uncle wanted to play big cards, so he dragged Yang's father along. Although he has restrained himself a little in recent years, he has never gotten rid of this bad habit.

However, as the child grows up, he is not as dissolute as before. In addition, my aunt is really virtuous, and I don't know if there is a rule of thumb. Grandpa and grandma can't control my uncle, but my aunt, who is virtuous and rarely loses her temper, keeps him well behaved.

Although he occasionally makes mistakes, in recent years, he has not quarreled with my aunt because of playing cards or other things.

Perhaps it is because the child has grown up that my uncle has finally found the responsibility of being a father.

"Don't play too big?" My aunt couldn't help but admonish.

"I know, how big can we play in our village without going outside?" My uncle answered triumphantly.

My aunt pursed her lips and said nothing.

In Yangjia Village, it is considered a big game. After all, Yangjia Village is a market. Many people who like to play cards at the end of the year and feel that they are not satisfied in their own small village will come to Yangjia Village to play. If you want to play bigger, you can only go to the town.

In recent years, although the health of the grandfather and others has been getting worse day by day. The trend of playing cards is less popular than before, but it is still restrained. There are signs of an upward trend.

However, in recent years, thanks to the development of the country, everyone's pockets have been fatter than before. Although they play a little more, they have not lost all the money they have worked hard to earn outside for a year, and then the family has never fought on the first day of the new year. So for the big play on New Year's Eve, everyone turned a blind eye.

Shengli, who has been holding back for a year, must want to take this opportunity to have fun, but he obviously can't do it alone. Because whether he wins or loses money, the little aunt will not give him a good face. But it's different with Yang's father, there is more or less room for maneuver.

Especially if you are unlucky and lose too much money, it is basically Yang's father who helps to cover it. As the saying goes, someone guarantees the bottom line and is bold, Shengli feels that he will definitely be able to kill all sides today.

"Go and watch it later." Yang's mother kicked Yang Dongxu who was teasing her son.

"Got it." Yang Dongxu responded.

In fact, Yang's mother didn't need to call, Xiaowu and a few others had already come to find Yang Dongxu to go out and play.

When playing cards, basically the older generation has one bed and the younger generation has another. At first, everyone plays mahjong and Pai Gow, but they don't play much.

When the place is heated up, the older generation and the young people start to get together, and after a few people start to make a fuss, that's when it gets exciting. Then a large group of people gather around a card table, some are the banker, and some are the side door, making it seem like a fund-raising, and slowly the game gets bigger and bigger.

"The granary is locked by the old man, where are we going to play this year?" After leaving the house, he forgot to put two packs of cigarettes in his pocket and followed Xiaowu out of the house. In fact, card players don't like to share cigarettes, saying that it's unlucky to share money.

But Yang Dongxu obviously doesn't have this taboo. Besides, winning or losing is just a small amount of money in his eyes, and he won't complain about losing money, and feel uncomfortable sitting on the bench.

The reason why the granary becomes a gathering place for playing cards during the Spring Festival is that the public grain submitted by each village will be cleared at the end of the year. The large space inside is just right for gathering many people.

However, for some reason, half of the public grain that the village paid this year is still in the granary, so the granary can't be opened for playing cards.

That's right! Now farmers have to pay public grain according to the amount of cultivated land.

But if I remember correctly, starting this year, the government has begun to reduce and exempt agricultural taxes on a large scale. Then by the end of next year, agricultural taxes will be completely abolished. Farmers not only don't have to pay public grain, but also get subsidies for farming.

As a farmer, I still remember this clearly. This is also the policy that has been insisted on and implemented since the coming of age, which makes the people very grateful.

"Go to Damao Restaurant. Usually there are people playing cards in his backyard. It's just right to go there. Otherwise, whoever goes to someone's house during the New Year's Day will be disliked by his wife and children." Daliang said with a smile.

If it's just a few brothers playing mahjong or something, there's basically no problem. After all, the families are familiar with each other. When Yang Dongxu comes back, he either eats at this house or drinks at that house.

But at the end of the year, there are many people playing cards, and a group of people who come in and out in a mess are a bit unwelcome.

In the past two years, mahjong parlors have been increasing in some cities, and this trend has begun to spread to small towns. Yangjia Village is a market village, although there is no professional mahjong parlor because people often go out to work. But big names have also begun to gather here.