Reborn 73 years later, he takes his mother-in-law hunting in the mountains.

Chapter 399 The Festive Atmosphere is Still Strong at This Time

Lu Ming angrily slapped her:

"What are you saying? That's my nephew. How could I possibly fall out with him? Go home and stop embarrassing yourself here."

Zhang Shulan let out a long sigh.

This cowardly man is not even as good as the dirt on Lu Yao's toes!

Lu Ming didn't say that before when Lu Yao was mentioned.

They kept calling him "little brat."

He now treats Lu Yao with more respect than he would his own father.

When Lu Yao returned home, Lu Xiaoqian and Xiao Ying were both on the kang (a heated brick bed), chatting away.

They even set up a small notebook to keep track of the scores.

Jiang Guizhi was boiling water in the outer room:

"Hey kid, it's almost New Year's. You and your sister can take a bath when it gets dark. Just use the big washbasin in the outer room."

Lu Yao looked at the large laundry tub that he had used to bathe in countless times when he was a child.

There were so many holes, which were all soldered back together by a blacksmith in town.

"Mom, no need. This basin is fine for washing my feet, but it's too small for bathing. How about this: the bathhouses in the city are open all morning tomorrow. I'll take you and my little sister to the city for a bath!"

"Going into town just to take a bath? That must cost a fortune!"

"There aren't many people, it's one cent per person. Children don't need to pay."

"A penny isn't a penny, you know. Even if you have money, you should be frugal. You haven't even gotten married yet."

Lu Yao nodded with a smile.

The two generations have different ideas, and Mom meant well.

Later, as Lu Yao grew older, he came to understand his mother's tendency to worry about everything.

Because that's how he felt about Zheng Shuang back then.

He carried the old hen that Xilian had given him to the yard.

One fatal blow.

Then I came back, and Mom had just boiled water.

Put it in the pot and swirl it around, then take it out and put it in the wash basin to start plucking the hairs.

The chicken was cleaned up and chopped into pieces in no time.

I'm just waiting to add some mushrooms and stew it tomorrow.

I brought in another big fish that was frozen in the warehouse. I let it thaw overnight and will stew it tomorrow at noon.

Jiang Guizhi watched her son busy and felt very gratified.

With fish and meat this year, we can consider it a prosperous year.

My eyes involuntarily welled up with tears:

"If your dad were alive, he'd be so happy to see how successful you are! Ah, he died young and wasn't blessed!"

Lu Yao felt quite uncomfortable after hearing this.

Come over and give Mom a hug:

"Mom, I'll make sure you enjoy a comfortable life from now on!"

Jiang Guizhi smiled:

"Mom is really enjoying her life now."

For dinner, Jiang Guizhi made fried bean buns, which were very sweet and delicious when dipped in white sugar.

When Zuo Xiaoying wanted to leave, Lu Yao didn't let her and stayed to eat with her.

After she finished eating, she asked him to take some white sugar back to her grandfather, and also gave her two strings of firecrackers and a few sparklers.

Xiaoying was so happy that she kept bowing to Lu Yao.

The two came out together. Xiaoying went home, while Lu Yao took a bag of firecrackers and headed towards the Ding family's house.

Along the way, villagers would frequently visit each other, and many would greet Lu Yao and invite him to their homes.

In rural areas, this is how it is during the off-season: people visit each other's homes.

Some people are very popular and attract a lot of people; the flow of people coming and going is like a shuttle.

People who love to visit others go from house to house eight times a day, never tiring of it.

I saw that every household had Spring Festival couplets pasted on their doors and lanterns hanging in their courtyards.

Although it was just a small candle burning and not very bright, it added a lot of warmth to the cold winter and the snowy landscape.

Red is inherently auspicious.

Many families couldn't bear to buy red paper lanterns, so they used white paper instead.

The sorghum stalks were tied together with string to form a frame, and then white paper was pasted onto it with glue.

White lanterns don't look very auspicious, so I use a pen to draw some flowers on them, write some auspicious words, or quotes from great people.

Some people cut out colored pictures they had saved and pasted them on the outside of the lanterns, then lit candles on them; they looked just as beautiful.

Some people like to decorate and hang all sorts of colorful paper strips and cloth strips on the cherry and crabapple trees in the yard. You can't see them at night, but they look really festive during the day.

Children from wealthier families had already started taking small firecrackers apart, putting them in their pockets, and holding incense sticks in one hand, setting them off one by one to hear the sound.

The younger children nearby were too scared to watch, so they just stood there, covering their ears with their hands, their faces full of joy.

The smell of gunpowder and sulfur is also a kind of New Year's flavor.

Although the mountain village was poor at this time, it was full of festive spirit.

Unlike later years in the city, where everyone lived in apartment buildings and got tired of eating big meals, we couldn't feel the joy of the New Year at all.

When Lu Yao arrived at the Ding family's house, he jumped over the wall and entered the courtyard as usual.

Once Lu Yao got the hang of jumping over that low wall, he could basically leap over it without even touching the top.

Ding Dahu opened the door and came out, wearing an overcoat and a cotton hat, with some joss paper tucked under his arm.

Lu Yao asked, "Why are we going to Uncle Da Hu's place?"

"Oh, isn't it almost New Year's? I'm going to burn some money for Youliang behind the village. That kid loves to spend money and doesn't want to work. I'm afraid he'll suffer down there."

These words made Lu Yaoxin feel quite uncomfortable.

It has nothing to do with whether Ding Youliang is bad or not; it's just that the parents who lost their daughter are pitiful.

There is no more tragic thing in the world than a parent outliving their child.

Lu Yao took out a string of firecrackers from the bag:

"Take this to his grave and put it there to ward off evil spirits."

Ding Dahu took it, tears welling in his eyes:

"Tuwazi, I apologize on Youliang's behalf! That day... he actually wanted to kill you... and you still don't hold a grudge against him..."

Lu Yao chuckled: "When a person dies, all debts are settled! It's nothing. Uncle Da Hu, don't be too sad. You still have Xiao Meizi, right? I'll take care of you when you get old."

One sentence almost brought Ding Dahu to tears.

Quickly widen your eyes and try to suppress it:

"Alright, go inside now, I'll be back in a bit."

"Um."

Lu Yao was walking into the house when Ding Dahu called him back:

"Don't go in. Go to the west room. Your aunt lives there by herself."

"it is good."

Lu Yao turned and ran towards the west room.

Ding Dahu didn't forget to add a final reminder:

"Don't tell Xiao Meizi where I went, or she'll start crying again."

Lu Yao agreed and arrived at Ding Mei's room on the west side.

I opened the door; it was locked.

Reach out and knock.

"Who is it?"

"Your husband."

Lu Yao made a casual joke.

Inside, Ding Mei was very curious: "What? What does 'husband' mean? Is it Lu Yao?"

"It's me. You can understand me, right, man?"

"Husband" was a term that Northeast China adopted from Hong Kong and Taiwan TV dramas in the later period. At that time, no one understood this foreign word.

Ding Mei opened the door latch from inside.

As Lu Yao stepped inside, Ding Mei stopped him:

"Don't go in yet, stay in the kitchen for a while, I'll stay with you."

"Why won't they let us in?"

"Shumei is taking a bath. She said she hasn't bathed for several days and needs to take a good bath for the New Year. She's all naked."

"Really? Can I sneak a peek?"

Lu Yao's furtive manner amused Ding Mei.

"That won't do. Shumei will get angry with me if she finds out I let you see it."

Lu Yao laughed, "Knowing I'll be taking a shower later, she's probably just trying to tempt me."

Ding Mei pinched Lu Yao: "I really don't understand you men, why are you so willing to watch women bathe? What's so interesting about it? I've never even thought about peeping at men bathing."

Lu Yao laughed and said, "If you don't like looking at men, do you like looking at women? How about we both sneak a peek at Shumei together?"

Ding Mei, pulling Lu Yao along as he pretended to peek through the doorway, asked with a grin:

"You really want to see it that much? Shumei is so fair-skinned."