C22 (2/2)
”A good dog protects three neighbors, a good official protects three villages? ”Everyone, it's only right for us to borrow some light.” Zi Peng said his goodbyes and turned around to leave …
February 1st, 14th. Lunar New Year. This day was the seventy-fourth birthday of Zi Peng's mother. It was a cloudy day. Thin clouds were swimming in the sky, and the temperature was very low, -29 degrees Celsius.
9 in the morning, relatives, friends, neighbors came one after another. Among those who came to congratulate their mother, six were from Wen Tian's family, three were from Wen Zhan's family, and five were from Chun Lan's family. There were more than thirty neighbors in their team, and Village cadres came over with the exception of one person who was on duty. The three rooms were packed to the brim, the kang was also filled to the brim. Chun Lan, Cheng Hua and Li Xia were cooking in the kitchen. On the floor of the east and west rooms, there was a mahjong table on one side and a poker table on the other. The crowd gathered around the two tables. Around 11 AM, the birthday banquet began. There were five tables with ten people at each table. The four Zipeng siblings sat together with their mother. On the table were chicken, stewed carp, beef stew and squid leeks … There were a total of 14 dishes. There was also a large cake for her mother.
Before the birthday banquet began, Zi Peng poured a glass of beer for everyone sitting around him and stood in the middle of the room. He said:
”My friends and relatives, my Old Neighbor, my brothers and sisters, today is my mother's 74th birthday. On behalf of my mother, I welcome all of you on her behalf. Everyone raised their glasses and I toast everyone. I hope everyone has a good meal and a good drink. I wish you all good health and plenty of money. ”Come, let's toast! Cheers!” After Zi Peng finished his sentence, he finished his glass of beer. The others also finished their wine …
The birthday feast ended an hour later, and everyone went back. In the afternoon, Wen Tian, Wen Zhan, Chun Lan and the rest all returned. In the morning, there was even a room full of people. It was so crowded that it looked like it was about to explode. In the blink of an eye, only Zipeng's family of six was left in the room, feeling somewhat empty. At this time, the mother said to Zi Peng:
”Zi Peng, I've lived for more than 70 years, this is the first time I've seen so many people having birthdays, the first time I've seen so many dishes on a birthday, and the first time it's so lively on a birthday. [I haven't wasted my life after all. This is all thanks to you! How about someone come over for my birthday? ”
”Mother, from today onwards, whenever you have your birthday, we will do the same. There will probably be more people coming than there are now, as long as you don't mind the ruckus and don't mind the ruckus. ”
”Forget it. How much money would it waste?” the mother said.
”Grandma, we are happy to spend more money. As long as you are healthy, we are willing to spend more money.” Cheng Hua agreed. After saying that, she went to watch TV …
Spring Festival was approaching. It was February 10th, the twenty-third of the lunar month. Today, the members of the Sessions sent a group to visit and sympathize with the victims, the five guards, the soldiers and the old cadres. As the Spring Festival approached, Zi Peng and Chunming discussed it.
”Chunming, let's have a poker and chess match before the Spring Festival. What do you think?”
”We've worked hard for a year and it's only right for us to have some entertainment, I agree. ”Tell the national economy that he should organize some people to buy some prizes in the village to make the peasants happy.” Chun Ming said.
Thus, Zi Peng found Cao Guoli and explained the situation to him. Each production team would have 4 farmers, 7 production team s, a total of 28 farmers, including Village cadres s, a total of more than 30 people. Having him organize the staff, arrange the procedures, and take turns, Cao Guoli happily agreed to it …
The New Year came in 1988. It was New Year's Eve on the 29th of December, the 16th of the lunar month.
There were lanterns hanging from every house; every house had a red spring couplet affixed to it. The Zipeng family was even more lively on New Year's Eve. This year, his family did not slaughter pigs. They bought half a pig of pork meat s, one set of head and hooves, two sets of ribs, and all sorts of supplies for the New Year. The only thing missing this year is a missing person. The adoptive father died on June 20, last year. But the family was still happy.
On New Year's Eve, there were no couplets posted in Zi Peng's house. Because of the old man's death, there was no Spring Festival couplet for three years. Although it was not the Spring Festival Gala, it was still very busy. When he woke up in the morning, he was done with the paste. He ate breakfast, fried the lanterns, fried the melon seed, and fried the peanuts. In the afternoon, he would go to two more graves to bury the old man. This was the busiest day of the year.
One was in the south and the other was in the north. There was a difference of 15 miles between the two graves and it would take 3 hours to finish them.
This year's Spring Festival, Zi Peng also bought a lot of firecrackers, which was basically the same as last year's. Because this year, he had four things to celebrate: First, Zi Peng had become a Secretary of the Party Branch of the Taoyuan Village, had received the approval of the Rural Party Committee and the government, had received the support and support of the Village committees and the members of the branch committee; second, he had obtained the unanimous praise of the villagers; secondly, his ginseng had obtained a high yield, and caused a huge sensation in the whole region, the whole village and the whole village. The district also published a collection of fruits for this purpose. The third was that he had bought a house in Taoyuan, which, although temporarily uninhabitable, would be renovated into a new house when the day grew warm. The fourth was that after a year of being together, he and Lixia had grown from being neighbours to being siblings, and then into a relationship of love, and they had truly fallen in love …
In the afternoon, Zi Peng went to two tombs, and by the time he got home, it was already past six in the evening. Thus, the family sat together and ate their last meal before the Spring Festival. At dinner, Zi Peng poured a glass of champagne for his mother and another for himself. Everyone else drank. Zi Peng raised his wine cup and said to his mother:
”Mother, today is New Year's Eve. In order to raise us, you old man have to bend your waist. A lifetime of toil, a lifetime of poverty, a lifetime of toil. ”Now that the policy has been completed, if you want to eat, you have to eat. If you want to wear something, you have to wear something. Let me toast you, old man.”
After saying that, he downed a glass of champagne. Mother took a sip of champagne, put down her glass, and said:
”Child, it's such a great thing to be able to eat so many good things during the new year. This was something that could never be imagined or seen in the past. Please don't forget about this! ” Mother's words made the whole family laugh...