2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 68 New Year’s Eve
February 8th, Lunar New Year's Eve.

Before seven o'clock in the morning, Tan Jincheng was pulled out of bed by Tan Lihua. The whole village would gather at the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors in the morning. The ceremony would start promptly at 10 o'clock. If you missed it, you missed it. There was no waiting.

Ancestor worship is usually done in groups of brothers from the same branch of the family. For example, in Tan Jincheng's family, starting from his grandfather's generation, Tan Lihua's generation has about 10 brothers who form a group to worship together.

The families are organized into units, from the largest to the smallest, each responsible for the sacrificial activities during the Qingming Festival, the Ghost Festival (July 15th of the lunar calendar), and the Lunar New Year. The Lunar New Year activities are much more elaborate, with the preparation of sacrificial items such as pig's head, cold chicken, cold fish, tea, and wine.

Each grave needs at least one string of firecrackers, which adds up to quite a bit. In famine years, the annual ancestral worship would be a considerable expense. I remember my grandfather saying that when everyone was very poor, the annual ancestral worship was a matter of each family pooling their money to pay for it.

This year, one of my great-uncle's relatives is in charge, so we don't need to prepare anything like pig's head. However, since Tan Jinyue is being born, Tan Lihua will also need to prepare a few strings of firecrackers and fireworks.

In the morning, people pay respects to their ancestors. Around 2 or 3 pm, each household puts up couplets. If you see a courtyard with couplets already up, you shouldn't go in before the New Year's Eve dinner is over, so as not to disturb the family's good fortune in the new year.

The New Year's Eve dinner is eaten quite early in every household, with most finishing before six o'clock. After dinner, people are free to move around, and the sound of firecrackers can be heard everywhere in the village and nearby villages.

No matter how the year has gone, tonight everyone will let their guard down and happily celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Grandparents spent the Lunar New Year with Tan Jincheng's family in their ancestral home. The building was constructed in 1997, when steel and cement were extremely expensive, and they even had to borrow some money. Then, they were hit by the great flood of 98. It must have been the most difficult period for Tan Lihua after he started his own family and career.

Eight years have passed. Although the house is a bit old, the small building with red brick prefabricated slab structure is still sturdy. However, my grandfather said that the roof tiles would leak if there was a strong wind and heavy rain.

Tan Lihua's idea was to renovate the house from the inside out in two years when the family's finances were better. They had originally planned to do so this year, but they gave up on it because Tan Jincheng wanted to buy a house.

Tan Jincheng did not object to this point, nor could he object. The older generation's attachment to their hometown was deeply rooted. Many of them, who had been developing their careers elsewhere for many years and whose homesteads had been taken back, would try every means to return home and build houses.

If they really can't get a homestead, they'll ask their brothers who stay in the village for help. They'll use their brothers' homesteads to build houses, and then keep a few rooms for themselves to live in during holidays.

The feelings that those born in the 1960s and 1970s have for their hometowns are something that those born in the 1980s and 1990s cannot understand.

Even in poverty, there is still longing.

Around seven o'clock, more and more people started visiting each other's homes in the village. Some were visiting the elderly to wish them a Happy New Year, while others were calling on their friends to organize a mahjong game. In previous years, Tan Jincheng would not have been invited to play mahjong.

For some reason, quite a few people invited Tan Jincheng to play mahjong this year, but he declined them all, citing the need to take care of his younger sister.

The younger siblings also came to wish their grandparents a Happy New Year, each bringing their own fireworks. They weren't planning to leave yet, as their eldest brother had plenty of fireworks, snacks they'd never seen or tasted before, and some fun toys.

At 8 PM, the Spring Festival Gala officially began. The quality of the gala was quite high at this point. After the opening dance, Andy Lau sang "Wishing You Prosperity" solo.

"I congratulate you on your fortune, I congratulate you on your success; the best please come over, the bad please go away, politeness never hurts." That's the charm of music. With just a few simple lines, it pulled Tan Jincheng, who had always been detached from this era, into the picture. At this time, Jay Chou, who would later become a god, was still known as the eternal runner-up.

In 2003, Dongfeng Po lost to Huanghun in the Golden Melody Awards; in 2004, Qilixiang lost to Jiangnan; and barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will lose again this year to Tonghua, which was released on January 21.

As a fan of Jay Chou, if it's understandable to complain about other songs losing to the champion of their respective years, then losing to "Fairy Tale" in 2005 is absolutely not unfair. "Fairy Tale" spread like wildfire as soon as it was released.

Only those who lived through that era truly know how popular "Fairy Tale" was in 2005. To exaggerate a bit, all the songs combined couldn't beat "Fairy Tale" and its music video in 2005. It's no wonder that "Nocturne" lost to it.

As far as I can remember, Jay Chou was always the runner-up in the annual hits from 2003 to 2008?

Tan Jincheng watched the Spring Festival Gala with great interest. The hosts included a female actress who had died quite young in her later life, as well as some other actors who would never appear on the big screen again in their future lives.

For example, the son of Brother Long, who was the first to appear in this year's pop medley, will completely disappear from the public eye after a certain incident.

And then this kid came on stage with "Mice Love Rice," a viral internet song that actually made it to the Spring Festival Gala. It was quite unexpected. I don't remember it before.

You know what, internet hits are synonymous with being tacky these days, but for someone like Tan Jincheng who has experienced the awful music scene of later generations, this song is actually not bad!

Those catchy pop songs we once thought were lowbrow, now they're a part of our youth.
Tan Jincheng watched the Spring Festival Gala intently for four hours, with an unprecedented level of engagement, which puzzled Zhang Suzhi. Since returning home, her son had hardly watched any TV except for watching the sports channel.

Even before, she had never seen him watch the Spring Festival Gala so attentively and honestly. If it weren't for the fact that it was Chinese New Year today, Zhang Suzhi would have really wanted to ask her son what was wrong.

As soon as the clock struck twelve, another round of firecrackers went off in the village. These were firecrackers to welcome the New Year, and every household had to set them off. The crackling and popping sounds made Tan Jinyue cry loudly.

During the Spring Festival, little Tan Jinyue suffered a lot. The constant sound of firecrackers often frightened her, and her usual routine was severely disrupted.

After the midnight bell, there are still some programs on the Spring Festival Gala, but by then no one is really interested in watching anymore; everyone except those staying up to welcome the New Year is going to bed.

Tan Jincheng's phone started ringing incessantly, and he lost all interest in watching the Spring Festival Gala. These days, sending New Year's greetings via text message is the norm, and those who knew Tan Jincheng's phone number were mainly business partners and people related to his work.

Among the classmates, only Zhang Xupeng and Chen Shuyi knew Tan Jincheng's phone number. However, some classmates who were on good terms with him in the past would send him New Year's greetings via QQ.

Of course, most people send group messages; but regardless of whether it's a group message or not, you should still reply to messages and calls that need to be answered, it's a matter of courtesy.

"Huh? Why did she send a message too?"

(End of this chapter)