Chapter 251: The First Lunar Month, A New Journey
In Northeast China, the dumplings for New Year's Eve are generally eaten after midnight.
Before eating the dumplings, firecrackers must be set off; the sound of the crackers is meant to scare away the Nian beast.
At the same time, it serves to send off the old year and welcome the new.
Wang An had plenty of firecrackers—small ones, "thunder-claps," and "two-step" crackers—all of which he had bought previously.
Leading Wang Yi and the two little sisters, Wang An spent over half an hour setting them off with a series of "pop-pop-bangs."
In truth, firecrackers at this time were just for the noise and had no aesthetic value, but the four siblings had a great time playing with them.
After the firecrackers, the family gathered around the table to eat dumplings. Wang An brought out the deer blood wine, pouring some for everyone except the children.
Aside from nourishing the yin and strengthening the yang, deer blood wine was very beneficial to the body for both men and women if consumed in moderation.
After all, its primary effects were strengthening the muscles and bones, fighting fatigue, and boosting the body's immunity.
However, one couldn't drink too much of it, mainly because overindulgence easily led to nosebleeds.
Due to Wang An's clever maneuver of placing sixteen coins inside the dumplings, every member of the family found money.
Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli, in particular, had such delighted expressions upon finding the coins that the already joyful family couldn't stop laughing.
It was the New Year; happiness and joy were what mattered most!
At that moment, Wang An suddenly felt that his rebirth was absolutely meaningful for his family!
After finishing the meal and washing the dishes, Wang Dazhu, as the head of the household, personally performed the "pot-pressing."
This "pressing" wasn't literal; rather, it involved placing dumplings, steamed buns, and rice cakes into a large bowl.
Of course, only three to five dumplings, one or two buns, and a few slices of rice cake were needed.
Then, the bowl was placed on the steamer rack inside the pot, and finally, the lid was closed.
Doing this was actually a way of expressing longing and hope for a better life.
Having food in the pot and food in the bowl had been the ultimate aspiration of all farmers for thousands of years.
Of course, this was merely a folk custom and shouldn't be over-analyzed.
Then came the most important part for the children: asking for New Year's money.
In the Northeast, unmarried girls did not need to kowtow to their parents, but after marrying, they had to kowtow to their parents-in-law for New Year's greetings.
Thus, Wang An led Mu Xueqing and Wang Yi to kowtow to Wang Dazhu and his wife.
Although Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli didn't need to kowtow, they still had to give their parents New Year's greetings.
Then, Wang Dazhu and his wife distributed the prepared New Year's money to the five juniors.
Neither too much nor too little, without bias—each person received one "Big Unity" ten-yuan note.
Looking at the Big Unity in his hand, a sense of happiness welled up within Wang An.
Barring any special circumstances, this would be the last time Wang An received New Year's money.
Because this was the first year Mu Xueqing had married into the family as the new bride, starting from next year's New Year, Wang An and his wife would no longer be eligible to receive it.
However, Wang Yi and the two little sisters didn't care about the amount, because this money was also called "pocket-pressing money."
After the first lunar month—specifically after the fifteenth day—it had to be returned to the parents.
In other words, the money only stayed in their pockets for fifteen days; by the sixteenth day, they didn't even have the right to keep it.
Therefore, for the children, this money was less practical than a piece of candy.
Red envelopes weren't popular in those days, so New Year's money was just money—naked cash.
In previous years, the four Wang siblings had each received one yuan or a few jiao, but this year, everyone got a Big Unity.
Regardless, one could tell how a family was faring simply by the amount of New Year's money given.
After receiving the money, the whole family huddled on the kang to sleep.
"Huddling the kang" essentially meant spreading out the bedding.
Due to the low temperatures, the fire-kangs in the Northeast were hot almost all day, and spreading bedding over them trapped the heat.
As a result, it was incredibly warm inside the quilts, making it exceptionally comfortable to sleep.
Inside that warm cocoon, Wang An, having drunk the deer blood wine, was exceptionally vigorous.
Even after trying several different positions, Wang An felt he hadn't had enough.
Furthermore, after a long period of exertion, he still didn't feel tired.
In fact, Mu Xueqing had also drunk a bit of deer blood wine during the dumplings.
As mentioned, this stuff strengthened muscles and bones and fought fatigue for anyone.
Thus, Mu Xueqing was the same; her stamina was excellent, she refused to give in, and her combat power was full.
The two fought round after round; being young and tireless, neither would yield to the other.
However, in these matters, women always held the advantage.
Some compared men to oxen and women to the earth.
As the old saying goes: "There are only oxen that work themselves to death, but no earth that is worn out by plowing."
It wasn't until their final bout ended that Wang An used the oil lamp to check his watch.
Holy crap, it was almost 4 AM!
The twenty-year-old Wang An began his new year in the heat of battle with Mu Xueqing.
On the morning of the first day, the family woke up early to welcome the God of Wealth.
Despite only sleeping at 4 AM, neither Wang An nor Mu Xueqing felt a hint of fatigue.
Welcoming the God of Wealth essentially meant setting off firecrackers early in the morning.
After the firecrackers and breakfast, they began visiting the families in the same village to kowtow and give New Year's greetings—though this was limited to the men.
The Wang family didn't have many elders. The only ones Wang An needed to kowtow to were his eldest uncle Wang Dashu and his wife, and his second uncle Wang Daliang and his wife.
As the new bride, Mu Xueqing had to accompany Wang An to kowtow this year; in future years, she could be more casual.
After the greetings, many people would take a stroll around the village; this was called "running off a hundred illnesses" on the first day of the lunar year.
It was a play on words—"running off a hundred illnesses" meant chasing away all disasters and diseases, which was the people's wish.
Medical care was very underdeveloped in this era; regardless of the illness, even a common cold could potentially be fatal if one caught it.
While "running off illnesses" in the village, whenever villagers encountered one another, they would exchange New Year's greetings and wish each other a happy New Year.
However, Wang An noticed that although everyone had smiles on their faces, many of those smiles were forced. In particular, many of the sheep-raising households looked utterly distressed.
The wolf disaster had truly caused significant losses.
It proved the old rural saying: "Wealth in the house is ten thousand, but those with fur don't count."
On the second day, Wang An accompanied Mu Xueqing back to her parental home and drank quite a bit again.
On the third day, Wang An and Mu Xueqing began visiting relatives to see the elders, mainly to familiarize themselves with the homes. There were only three houses—his eldest aunt, youngest aunt, and uncle. Since Mu Xueqing was the new bride, she still had to visit every house and kowtow with Wang An.
Once all this was finished, Wang An began to wander aimlessly, once again becoming a "loafer."
During the day, he was either drinking or playing cards.
The number of times he engaged in "daytime music" with Shen Wei was quite significant, and every time, he left her defeated.
In the Northeast of this era, mountain hunters generally did not enter the mountains before the fifteenth of the first lunar month.
Because one does not kill living beings in the first month, it was a rule many hunters followed.
Although Wang An had never really followed rules, he wouldn't deliberately break them.
Traditions left by the older generations certainly had their reasons. Besides, Wang An wasn't short on money; there was truly no need to risk his life against mountain beasts during the first lunar month.
Soon, the time reached the sixteenth of the first lunar month, which was February 20, 1981. In the countryside, the New Year celebrations were considered over by then.
This meant the new journey of the year had begun, and Wang An had quite a lot to do this year.
Hunting in the mountains, building a new house, prospecting for gold, and hauling logs—none of these could be completed in a short time.
However, food must be eaten bite by bite, and tasks must be handled one by one. Take it slow; there's no use getting anxious and fired up!
On the morning of the sixteenth, Wang An loaded everything he needed to sell onto his sledge and drove it toward the county town.
This time, the sledge was carrying quite a lot: five bear galls he had hunted with Mu Xueli, all of which were now dried.
There were also three complete bear skins, twenty-six complete wolf skins, and fourteen complete red dog skins.
All these furs had been hunted while in the mountains with Mu Xueli. After all this time, they were finally completely air-dried and ready to be sold.