Chapter 217: New Year and the Eternal Pain in Shazhu's Heart

New Year's Eve.

In previous years, all units and factories would work half a day.

In the afternoon, in order to let everyone have a good New Year, the employees will be asked to go home early to prepare for tonight's New Year's Eve dinner.

But today happens to be Sunday, so it is a day off.

morning.

The weather was fine and the sun was shining brightly. Wang Mengde took his two sons to the grocery store to buy some New Year's goods.

In fact, almost everything at home was ready, except that Wang Yuandi and Wang Yuanxun wanted to go to the grocery store to take a look.

So Wang Mengde used the excuse of just stopping by to take them for a walk.

Along the way, there were more pedestrians than before.

Although they all look thin and pale.

But there was a smile on their faces.

After all, no matter how difficult life is, when the New Year comes, people will habitually become lively and happy.

Many people, when they meet acquaintances on the road, will stop temporarily to chat about family matters and say a few words of blessing to each other.

When he arrived at the grocery store, Wang Mengde realized that it was a mistake for him to bring his children here today.

Maybe because of the Chinese New Year, the grocery stores have a lot more goods.

Things that were out of stock for a long time in the past are now available on the counter.

Waves of residents, waving tickets and money, pushed forward.

At the same time, he loudly said the name of the product he wanted to buy.

Although the sales clerks had sullen faces and looked unhappy, they were still busy serving everyone.

Today is not an ordinary day. If the residents who are anxious to buy New Year's goods give up their work and slack off, they will definitely smash the store.

Wang Mengde led his two sons to the door of the grocery store and took a look inside.

He was tall, so he could easily see what was going on inside from over the heads of the crowd.

Fatty Guo was seen waving a butcher knife in one hand and cutting slices of pork in the other, with a cigarette in his mouth.

From a visual estimation, the number of people queuing in front of him was the largest.

In 62, the country finally restored the supply of meat coupons. Many families, in addition to using some of the meat coupons to buy some meat to satisfy their cravings, saved the rest.

Just save it for before the New Year and buy some more pork to have a prosperous New Year.

I bought a bottle of soy sauce, a box of matches and a few strings of firecrackers.

Wang Mengde led his son home.

On the way back, he threw a few firecrackers from time to time, which attracted the response of several half-grown children. In the end, they started throwing firecrackers at each other.

Look at the happy faces of these children and the rare smiles on the adults' faces.

Wang Mengde was very happy. He felt that his hard work over the past two days had great significance.

On the day when the plague broke out, streptomycin had no effect and the Chinese medicine prescriptions were only about 80% effective.

In addition, the plague was extremely contagious, and the higher-ups were prepared to take extraordinary measures.

Of course, extraordinary measures should only be used as a last resort.

If there are other ways and effective medicines, the country will definitely not restrict everyone so that the people in the capital can have a peaceful New Year.

During the Chinese New Year period, everyone is asked not to go out and must stay at home.

It will have a huge impact on the image of Beijing city.

Life has been difficult in recent years.

Fortunately, Wang Mengde had a stroke of genius and came up with a prescription that was very effective against the plague.

According to the feedback from the epidemic prevention department, both patients with severe illness and those newly infected gradually got better after taking the medicine.

Especially for patients who have just been infected, after taking it two or three times, they basically have no symptoms.

This result made the higher authorities feel relieved.

It was decided that, except for the areas where the epidemic occurred, which were under strict control, other districts and counties in the capital would remain the same as in previous years.

Arrived at home.

When Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo saw the firecrackers in his hand, their eyes lit up and they hurried over.

"Brother, is this for us?"

"Go ahead and play with it, but be careful not to cause a fire, and don't point it at people.

Also, don't throw it into the toilet, you hear me?"

Wang Mengde handed over a few strings of small firecrackers and gave instructions with a serious face.

A few days ago, there was a naughty boy in the alley. Maybe he had been holding back for a long time, and after finally earning two cents, he couldn't wait to buy firecrackers to play with.

In the end, I don’t know what he was thinking, but he actually lit it and threw it into the toilet pit.

Fortunately, the pit is cleaned regularly, so methane is not formed.

Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.

But even so, the person who was using the toilet inside was covered in golden juice.

Finally, this little boy hasn't been seen for several days and is probably lying on the bed now.

"I know, brother."

The two of them responded crisply, then ran out together.

I guess he wanted to show off to his playmates.

Next door, Bang Geng saw this scene with envy on his face. He turned around and walked back to his house, saying to Jia Zhang: "Grandma, I want to play with firecrackers, too."

"Hey, dear grandson, grandma will give you some money. Is ten cents enough?"

Jia Zhang was mending clothes by the stove in the house. When she heard her eldest grandson's words, she hurriedly spoke.

Ever since the "Jia Dongxu eating fish" incident happened more than a year ago, she has been full of disappointment in her son.

Fortunately, she had her eldest grandson, which comforted her.

On weekdays, all kinds of pampering can be said to be 'holding it in your mouth for fear of it melting, holding it in your hand for fear of it falling'.

"Grandma, ten cents is not enough, give me five cents more."

Banggeng was already familiar with the price of firecrackers in the store, so he just asked for five cents more.

"Okay, grandma will get it for you."

As Jia Zhang said this, she stood up and walked towards the small bed in the living room.

As she walked, she suddenly remembered something and said to Jia Dongxu, who was sitting by the stove and looking at her:
"Dongxu, go to the inner room first and come out later."

In the crack of the wall next to the small bed in the living room, she hid the private money she had saved over the years, and she couldn't let her son see it.

Soon, it was afternoon.

The smell of rice began to waft from every household.

At Wang Mengde's house, the meals this year are richer than last year.

Not only are there chicken, fish, meat and eggs, but the quantities are also much larger.

Except for a small portion that was their family's ration, most of these were special supplies and gifts from other people.

Among them, Dai Botao brought two kilograms of beef brisket, added tomato sauce, and made a pot of tomato stewed beef brisket.

In the living room, He Shengnan and Ran Xiaomei were chatting and laughing while cooking.

Five children gathered around the pot, staring at the chicken stewed with mushrooms, their mouths watering with greed.

"Okay, okay, all of you go sit down at the table and wait. It will be ready soon."

Ran Xiaomei felt that they were getting in the way and spoke in a low voice.

"Grandma, I want to eat chicken wings so I can fly a plane when I grow up."

Wang Yuandi said in a baby voice.

"Grandma, grandma, I want to eat chicken wings too. I want to fly a plane." Wang Yuanxun on the side also rushed to compete.

"Okay, I'll save the chicken wings for you two later. Go and sit down."

Ran Xiaomei said lovingly.

These two grandsons and one granddaughter are now her treasures. As for the two younger sons, they are at the age when people dislike them and their status in the family has long been relegated to the back.

It's getting dark outside.

Many families set off firecrackers and started to eat New Year's Eve dinner.

After a while, Wang Mengde's family of nine also sat together.

"Dad, let's open a bottle of Fenjiu and try it today."

Wang Mengde took out a bottle of Fenjiu from the cupboard that Dai Botao had given him a few days ago. Looking at the packaging, he could tell that it was a wine that had been stored for many years.

"This wine is so good, why don't we keep it and just drink a bottle of Niu Er."

Wang Hao said hesitantly.

He is also a person who knows about wine. Although his family has stored dozens of bottles of wine a few years ago, none of them can compare to what Wang Mengde has in his hand now.

"It's okay. There's another bottle of the same kind in the cupboard. Keep that one and let's open one."

Wang Mengde said nonchalantly.

In his space, not to mention the wine from his previous life, he has stored about a hundred or eighty bottles of good wine from this era.

These few bottles were bought by him earlier, and the rest were given to him by patients one after another, and they were all stored in his space.

Of course, these are not intended to be sold for money later. He does not care about this small amount of money and saves it to drink slowly in the future.

"Okay, let's drink this."

After listening to his son, Wang Hao no longer insisted.

After the two men took a sip of wine, the family started to eat.

The two chicken wings naturally belonged to the brothers Wang Yuanxun and Wang Yuandi, and one of the chicken thighs was put in Yaya's bowl.

The remaining one was forced into He Shengnan's bowl by Ran Xiaomei.

As for the brothers Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo, they could only gnaw on a chicken claw each with tears in their eyes.

Wang Mengde watched the family chewing the chicken with their heads down and their mouths full of oil, and he felt extremely satisfied.

I picked up a peanut and put it in my mouth, chewing it slowly.

Sha Zhu's cooking skills are really amazing. The peanuts he crisped are so fragrant.

next door.

Lao Jia's family.

Looking at the dining table, there was only a plate of stir-fried pork belly with cabbage, half a stewed chicken, and a half-grown braised crucian carp as meat dishes, and the rest were vegetarian dishes.

Banggeng and Xiaodang ate most of the meat dishes, and the remaining food was shared by the three adults, so each person could not get much.

Jia Dongxu had a gloomy face. He picked up a piece of pork belly, put it in his mouth, and chewed it hard.

At the same time, he secretly made up his mind that he would never provide Yi Zhonghai with retirement support in the future.

This year, he found the master and proposed that the two families celebrate together.

Who would have thought that Yi Zhonghai would directly reject him and say that he wanted to stay with the deaf old lady and the Shazhu siblings and would not join them.

This made his wish come to nothing.

The original plan was to let the master spend some money to buy more meat dishes, so that he could not only fill his stomach, but the remaining oil and water would also belong to their family.

Qin Huairu ate the white flour buns in small bites.

Usually, she only eats steamed corn bread, and only during festivals can she eat two.

She sensed her husband's dissatisfaction, but she did not dare to ask casually.

Ever since his left hand was injured and became disabled, Jia Dongxu's temper has become more and more weird, and he often loses his temper for no reason.

The main room in the middle courtyard is Si Zhu's house.

Different from the repression of the old Jia family.

From time to time, laughter and joy could be heard here.

The deaf old lady picked up a piece of pork belly, put it in her mouth and ate it slowly.

She looked at her 'son' Yi Zhonghai and her eldest grandson Sha Zhu with a kind face.

Although these two are not biological children, their relationship is no different from that of biological children.

However, when I saw Sha Zhu drinking and looking carefree, I felt a little worried.

In recent years, many matchmakers, including Aunt Yi, have introduced many girls to him.

But in the end, none of them succeeded.

After the Chinese New Year this year, the eldest grandson will be already 27 or 28 years old.

At this age, refer to Wang Mengde who lives in the wing room. The two were born on the same day of the same month of the same year. One is now the father of three children, and the other is just a hanger-on.

Hey ~
Sighing in her heart, she pulled herself together, picked up her wine glass, and said to Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu, "Come on, the three of us, let's have another drink."

After a glass of wine, Yi Zhonghai said with a smile:

"Old lady, please try this braised pork. Zhuzi knows that you have bad teeth, so he stewed it very mushy."

As he spoke, he used chopsticks to pick up a large piece of meat with less lean meat and more fat for her.

"Well, the food cooked by my eldest grandson is delicious."

The deaf old lady took a bite and praised repeatedly: "I wonder which girl will be so lucky in the future to eat the food cooked by Sha Zhuzi every day."

After hearing his words, Sha Zhu, who was drinking happily, suddenly felt that the sumptuous meal on the table became boring.

He couldn't find a partner and was laughed at by his arch-enemy Xu Damao, but it was a permanent pain in his heart.

The cousin that Sister Qin promised before has not been seen until now.

Fortunately, Xu Damao had been married for several years and Lou Xiaoe's stomach was still healthy, which made him feel better.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting awkward, Aunt Yi hurriedly tried to smooth things over:

"Old lady, don't worry. I have asked someone to help Zhuzi find a date after the Spring Festival."

New Year's Day.

Because they were worried about the possible spread of the plague.

This year, Wang Mengde did not take the children to the temple fair in the south, but just walked around near home for a few times.

the next day.

The second day of the Lunar New Year is the time of the year to go back to my parents’ home.

Caochang Hutong.

Old He’s house.

He Shengnan sat on a chair in the living room and took out a stack of industrial coupons from her pocket.

Then count them one by one.

"Mom, these are thirty industrial coupons. With these, Shengwen should have almost enough for a bicycle."

As she spoke, she handed all the industrial coupons in her hand to her mother.

"Almost. Your father and Shengwen have saved up quite a few in the past three months. And your uncles and aunts can each borrow two or three more. That should be enough."

Zhou Xiaoyan said happily.

Her eldest son was about to get married, which made her very happy.

"Mom, this is considered a loan. Tell Shengwen and the others that they will have to pay it back slowly in the future."

"Don't worry, my girl. I will definitely explain this matter to them clearly."

"By the way, Mom, you're not going to give the watch that Meng De bought for you to your daughter-in-law, are you?"

"Well, I'm going to go cook first. Ask your dad and Shengwen to accompany Meng De for a drink later."

(End of this chapter)