The story of a cook

Chapter 149 Going Home for the New Year (Part [-])

In the evening, my mother, Lin Yan and I sat on the kang, eating melon seeds and fruits, watching the Spring Festival Gala, and the room was warm and peaceful.

Lin Yan was tired from sitting, so she took a pillow and lay next to her mother, and continued to watch the Spring Festival Gala, saying, "I'm so happy, it's better to be home."

The mother looked at Lin Yan lovingly, patted her hands, and said, "The family is good at any time. No matter how broken or poor the family is, it is my own home. It doesn't matter what other people say. You didn't watch TV and said Yes, I have to go home often. It’s the Chinese New Year, no matter where I am or how much money I earn, I will travel thousands of miles to go home, and I want to have a reunion year.”

Lin Yan said: "In the future, we will come back every year to celebrate the New Year."

The mother smiled happily and said: "You don't have to come back every year. I will spend one here, and I will go back to your house for one. I will spend a new year with your mother, and your mother will be happy when the time comes."

Lin Yan looked at me and said, "Come to my house to celebrate the New Year."

I said, "It's up to you."

Mother took out a red envelope from her pocket and gave it to Lin Yan, saying: "It's Chinese New Year, I'll give you a red envelope, lucky money for the new year."

Lin Yan hurriedly sat up and said, "No, I'm already old, so I don't need lucky money."

The mother said: "Aren't you a child at any age? Besides, you haven't passed the door yet. If you pass the door, I won't give it to you."

Lin Yan happily took the red envelope and showed it off to me: "Look, mother gave me lucky money, but you haven't."

When it was almost ten o'clock, my mother started to make dumplings. Lin Yan said, "I don't need you. You can just sit on the kang and direct. I'll do it."

Talking about going to the field and starting to make it, my mother said: "What is the command, you don't know, the dumplings at our old Tan's house on the [-]th night are vegetarian fillings, all vegetarian, you can't make it."

Lin Yan said, "I can make a face."

Mother said: "I have finished the stuffing, and a piece of bread will do."

I really like the vegetarian dumplings made by my mother. There is another flavor, and I still want to eat it after thinking about it all these years.

For the vegetarian stuffing made by my mother, first fry the tofu in soybean oil until golden on both sides. The tofu slices should not be too thick, otherwise they will not be fried through.The fried tofu slices are cut into small cubes and put together with sauerkraut stuffing. You can’t put chopped green onion. Both green onion and garlic are meat.Just put some minced ginger, add some refined salt and soy sauce, and then mix it with cooked soybean oil.

Now my mother doesn't make it, but Fifth Sister makes it every year. It's also delicious, a bit of my mother's true heritage.

After making the dumplings, when it was almost twelve o'clock, my mother and Lin Yan were cooking dumplings in the house, and I went out to set off firecrackers.

This is called "distributing paper" in my hometown.

My mother said: "Today, all the gods descend to the realm, and all the ghosts return home. You are still in your birth year. It is best not to go out to see the stars, that's not good."

I said: "It's nothing, I've done the math, even if I don't see the stars, I still have to run around during the New Year."

My mother looked at me and said, "Come back after handing out the papers."

When I came outside the house, I first burned paper in four directions in the yard, communicated with the gods, and wished a year of peace and safety, and then lit a hanging whip. After the firecrackers were set off, I checked again to see if they jumped out If there are sparks falling on the firewood, it will be bad. Although there is a saying that the fire will prosper, no one wants to catch fire on New Year's Eve.After checking that there is no Mars and everything is safe, I entered the house.

At this time, Lin Yan had already cooked the dumplings and put the table on the kang, waiting for me to come in and eat them.

My mother was sitting on the front seat, and Lin Yan and I were standing on the ground. I knelt down and kowtowed to my mother, saying, "Mom, Happy Chinese New Year!"

Mother said, "Okay! Get up."

When I stood up, Lin Yan bowed to her mother and said, "Mother, Happy Chinese New Year."

The mother smiled happily and said, "Okay! Everything is fine, our whole family is fine!"

Sitting on the kang and started eating Chinese New Year dumplings, my mother saw that I didn't take the wine, and said, "I'm good, I won't drink."

I said, "Forgot."

I went to get the wine, Lin Yan said, "Bring two bottles of almond milk."

Passed almond milk to Lin Yan, Lin Yan opened a bottle and handed it to mother, mother said: "You drink it, I won't drink at night, drink too much at night, you have nothing to drink this, digestion is good."

Lin Yan said: "The almond milk here is delicious, better than Chengde Lulu."

After finishing speaking, she started to eat dumplings. After eating one, Lin Yan said, "This dumpling is much more delicious than meat stuffed ones, but vegetarian stuffed ones are still delicious."

Mother said: "It's just a vegetable stuffing. It's not as delicious as meat."

Lin Yan said: "No, it's better than meat, I would like to eat it."

Mother said: "When you two get married, I won't make this dumpling in the future. It's all made by Lao Tan's daughter-in-law."

Lin Yan said: "Okay, mother will teach me then."

Mother smiled.

After eating, my mother went to sleep on the side.

Lin Yan rubbed her belly and said to me, "Old Tan, I ate too much, why can't I sleep?"

I said, "If you can't fall asleep, just watch TV, it's okay anyway."

Lin Yan lay next to me with a pillow and watched TV, and I stroked her head.

This New Year's Eve is warm, peaceful and full of the taste of home.

New Year's Day, the day of New Year's greetings.

Mother is the elder in the family, and many people come to pay New Year's greetings to mother.When she got up early in the morning, her mother had already cooked the food, and she called Lin Yan to get up. She was still a little sleepy, and told her to get up quickly, someone should come to pay New Year's greetings later, so she got up reluctantly.

After breakfast, I went out to pay New Year's greetings to my uncles and aunts in the family.In the family, the mother is the oldest, and the rest are the uncle and aunt from the distant branch, who used to kowtow to the two old people and return home after New Year greetings.

When I got home, there were many people in the house, all of whom came to pay New Year's greetings to my mother.Chatted with them a few words, paid New Year's greetings to each other, and when everyone had left and only our family of three was left in the house, Lin Yan let out a long breath and said, "It's too scary. My wife kowtowed to me after kowtowing, calling me auntie, and some who called me little milk, they were all older than me, I was embarrassed, I didn’t know what to say.”

My mother said: "Our old Tan family has a large family and a lot of people. In addition, our family is the last child and has a seniority. If you don't see it, you will call me Grandma Tai. If you call me Grandma Tai, you must call you Grandma Tai." grandmother."

Lin Yan said, "That's also older than me."

My mother said: "Old age is great, but where is the seniority, this can't be messed up, it should be called whatever."

Lin Yan said: "It's not like that at my house. We also pay New Year's greetings. When we meet, we just say 'Happy New Year' and don't kowtow."

My mother said: "One place has one custom. We still practice the old etiquette here, and we can't change it. Our village is big. Except for Lao Tan's family, people with other surnames don't kowtow anymore."

I said: "This is etiquette, the ancestors left behind, you should kowtow or kowtow."

The mother said: "Isn't it a new society now? Kowtowing is part of the old society. If you don't kowtow, you don't kowtow. It doesn't matter if you kowtow or not. You still kowtow now, and your son's generation probably won't even kowtow." .”

I said, "Not necessarily, we have to continue."

When the Chinese New Year was approaching, I told the hotel staff that I would kowtow to my parents and say hello to my parents during the Chinese New Year.Some employees kowtow when they say what age they are?
Hearing this, he was very angry, so he said, "That's the parents who gave birth to you and raised you. Without them, there would be no you. Why don't you kowtow to your parents who gave birth to you and raise you during Chinese New Year? They are not qualified to accept you kneel and kowtow ?"

Nowadays, many people go to the mountains to worship Buddha and pray for gods. They kneel and kowtow piously in front of the Buddha statues. The piety is sincere and respectful.There is nothing wrong with this. After all, China is a big Buddhist country, and it is right for people to have a belief.If the parents in the family are still alive and can offer incense and kowtow to the gods and Buddhas, it is best to kowtow to the parents, because parents are our living Bodhisattvas.

The high hall is in the family, and the future generations will be blessed.

The Buddha said: If all people in the world are obsessed, they are not bodhisattvas.

In the afternoon, there will be no New Year greetings.

Lin Yan said: "I don't eat anymore, I want to sleep."

Mother said: "Sleep, no one is coming."

Lin Yan hugged a pillow and started to sleep. Her mother said, "This child has never experienced it before."

I said, "Well, maybe it's not like that over there."

Mother said: "This year is over, you go back and go to see her mother, she is also old."

I said: "I have to go to work in the third day of junior high school, and I will go there when I rest."

My mother said: "It's fine, I will learn something when I go to someone's house, don't understand anything."

I said, "Well, I know."

My mother looked at me and said, "If you are sleepy, you can sleep for a while."

I said, "I'm not sleepy, let's chat with you for a while."

Mother said: "Your elder sister and the others will come back tomorrow, aren't you ready?"

I said, "It's almost ready, the rest can be prepared tomorrow morning, no rush."

The mother said: "The children will come tomorrow. Do you have enough money? Don't have enough money. I have it here."

I said, "No, I'm enough. I'm ready."

The mother said: "It's fine to give one hundred to one child, and they don't choose. They know what you are like, and you are not married yet."

I said: "Okay, listen to you, as much as you say."

Mother said: "This time you are 28 when you come back, and you don't have time to go to the grave. If you have time during Qingming, you will come back to visit the grave. You still have a father."

I said, "Got it, I'll probably be back in Qingming."

(End of this chapter)