1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 374 Watching the 1985 Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve
“Speaking of raising shrimps, it’s all thanks to A Qiang! What a coincidence, half a year ago A Qiang persuaded my dad and me to raise shrimps. I never expected that the price of shrimps would suddenly increase so much half a year later!” The eldest brother Liang Tiancheng thought about it and was very grateful to Liang Ziqiang.

Finally, they decided to continue to listen to Aqiang and raise the shrimps for a while longer.

As they chatted, they soon arrived at Changwang Village. When Liang Ziqiang got home, he did not rush to take out the gold jewelry, but hid it in the cabinet when his wife was not paying attention.

There was a lot to do in the next few days. I had to make various kinds of rice, offer sacrifices to the kitchen god, and thank the gods. Then I went to the street with my wife to buy New Year's goods.

In a blink of an eye, New Year's Eve has arrived. This is the second New Year's Eve that Chen Xiangbei has spent with him.

Tonight, we didn't play with firecrackers like last year, so we set off some rockets with lychees. Liang's mother and Chen Xiangbei prepared the New Year's Eve dinner, which was much more sumptuous than in previous years. The family sat together in the main room, eating and watching TV.

The first show was a Peking Opera. The black and white TV could not show many details, but the excitement still came through the screen, making people feel the joy of the festival.

The only puzzling thing is that, for some reason, this show is called "A Hundred Monkeys Welcoming the Spring", and the costumes and facial makeup are mainly monkeys.

"Didn't the Year of the Monkey pass five years ago? Shouldn't this year be the Year of the Ox?!" Liang's mother became confused after listening to this.

Liang Ziqiang was actually puzzled. Although the programs of previous Spring Festival Galas were often replayed and rebroadcasted in later generations, he had never noticed that the program performed in 1985, the Year of the Ox, was "A Hundred Monkeys Welcoming the Spring."

"It doesn't matter whether it's the Year of the Ox or the Year of the Monkey, as long as it sounds good!" Liang's father was not that particular and listened quite seriously.

Around the fourth program, a melody sounded. This sound was so familiar to our family in recent days.

"The Great Wall will never fall, the Yellow River will flow..."

The theme song of "Heroes of the East" was even sung during the Spring Festival Gala.

Lizhi put down his chopsticks and shouted, "I know this, the Mysterious Fist, this is the Mysterious Fist!"

The sound effects of this era were naturally not very good, but when the singer in white started singing, it was like thousands of mountains rising up and tens of thousands of horses galloping, covering up all the background music.

Liang Ziqiang discovered that there were so many Cantonese programs on the Spring Festival Gala this year. No wonder Chen Xiangbei watched with great interest and felt no sense of alienation.

Right after the song Huo Yuanjia, three more Cantonese songs followed. When the singers' names were announced by the host, Liang Ziqiang was excited.

"Luo Wen is here?!" he couldn't help but say.

"Who is Luo Wen? Have you heard of him?" Chen Xiangbei had no impression at all. She coaxed the little Jingcheng in her arms, looked at him blankly and asked.

That’s right, I don’t know Chen Xiangbei at all, and the TV was just bought for our family not long ago.

Besides, even if someone has a TV at home, they probably don’t know Roman Tam.

Liang Ziqiang was working outside the city later. It was not until around 1986 that he saw The Legend of the Condor Heroes on TV. He heard that the singer was Luo Wen. Later, he heard that Hong Kong Island had already broadcast The Legend of the Condor Heroes in 83, but the mainland was three years later.

Liang Ziqiang didn't watch many TV series in his previous life, but he watched the Ocean Channel the most. However, the 83 version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes was his favorite, and he made an exception to watch the reruns over and over again.

After finishing the New Year's Eve dinner, a Cantonese opera program was on. Cantonese opera is my parents' favorite, so they immediately moved their stools and moved closer to the TV.

Liang Ziqiang found that the Spring Festival Gala of this era still has more songs and dances, and less humor. But if you want to talk about what to watch, the skit "Making a Movie" is quite exciting, and the crosstalk performed by an old man is also quite good.

"Brother, look, this guy looks like Ah Cai. If Ah Cai shaved his head, I guarantee he would look like this!"

The whole family was laughing at Chen Pei Shi's performance, but Lizhi's focus was on Qingqi and she pointed at the screen and insisted that Deng Zhaocai looked like her.

Watching a black and white TV, they talked and laughed throughout this year's New Year's Eve. This was probably the warmest New Year's Eve that Liang Ziqiang's family had ever spent in his two lives.

But it was hard to say for the people on TV. It was obvious that this year's Spring Festival Gala was held in an open-air stadium for the first time. Towards the end of the performance, the sound of the wind could be heard, and Liang Ziqiang felt cold for the people on the scene.

It was almost midnight, and when it was time to close the doors, Liang Ziqiang lit firecrackers and closed several doors.

Liang's mother usually went to bed early, and she began to doze off when there was no Cantonese opera program later. Lizhi was curious and excited throughout the whole process, but was dragged to sleep by Liang's mother. Chen Xiangbei yawned and prepared to go to bed, and put Liang Jingcheng, who had been sleeping in her arms, on the bed.

As soon as he was put down, the little guy woke up again, moving his arms.

"Your son is asking you for New Year's money, why don't you hurry up!" Chen Xiangbei looked at him with a smile.

How could he not prepare in advance for his son's first New Year's red envelope? He took out a red envelope from his trouser pocket and stuffed it into the little guy's outstretched hand.

Unexpectedly, Liang Jingcheng didn't take it at all. He just bypassed the red envelope and continued to reach out.

It was obvious that he wanted his mother to hold him. As for the red envelope, he didn't care at all.

The daughter-in-law picked up her son and tried to coax him. Liang Ziqiang finally found a pocket on his son's clothes and stuffed the red envelope in it. Although the other person regarded money as dirt, he had no choice but to give it.

"If you say so, I won't give you any New Year's money this year!" Liang Ziqiang said to his wife with a smile.

"Who cares?"

The wife said nonchalantly. Even so, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes. He had given her a big red envelope on New Year's Eve last year, but he suddenly stopped giving her this year. She felt that the richer this man was, the more stingy he became.

Although the money in the box was hers, and he had to give her the New Year's red envelope last year, he had given it once, so why would he suddenly not give it a second time...

"Instead of giving out lucky money, I've given you lucky money instead. Look!"

A beautiful pink paper bag with silver diagonal stripes somehow appeared in his hand as if by magic.

"What lucky money?" She glanced over, full of doubt. "What's this bag that looks so pretty? What's in it?"

"Open it and see for yourself!" He deliberately didn't say it.

But she seemed to have noticed the words "Zhou XX Jewelry Shop" on the paper bag. An idea flashed through her mind but she didn't dare to believe it, so she quickly took the paper bag and looked inside.

"Where did you get this? This box is so beautiful!"

When she took it out, she was first attracted by the colorful porcelain box with copper edging.

"The flowers and birds on each box are different, but they are all equally beautiful!" She took a look at the colorful flower and bird paintings on the three boxes before opening one of them.

It is a golden ring, not big and looks delicate, but the shape is beautiful and the patterns engraved on it are also pleasing to the eye.

"Ring? Can it be real?" She looked at the beautiful ring and then looked at him in disbelief.

“Why don’t you take a couple of bites to see if it’s pure gold?” he encouraged with a smile.

She had seen the invoice, with several 9s written on it, gold that was as pure as it could be.

Then two other colored porcelain boxes were opened one after another.

The earrings and necklace matched the ring very well. The necklace was especially heavy, heavier than the ring and earrings combined, and the petal-shaped pendant was not very big but very eye-catching, shining under the electric light.

"What are you doing?" She said angrily, "I didn't even hear you say a word, and you bought so many gold items in one go!"

Who doesn’t love beauty at this age? The beautiful gold jewelry made the daughter-in-law like it instinctively, but her face was clearly filled with some pain.

"If I had said something, could I have bought this?" Liang Ziqiang was glad that he acted first and asked for permission later. "Put it on quickly. Good things look beautiful only when they are worn!"

The wife was still hesitating, so he picked up the necklace and put it on her neck...

(End of this chapter)