Chapter 30: New Year 2.0

Little child, little child, don't be greedy, after the Laba Festival comes the New Year.

Laba porridge, a few days pass, and it's the twenty-third before you know it.

The twenty-third, the sugar melons stick; the twenty-fourth, sweep the house; the twenty-fifth, make tofu.

The twenty-sixth, stew pork; the twenty-seventh, slaughter the New Year chicken; the twenty-eighth, let the dough rise.

The twenty-ninth, steam Steamed Buns; on the night of the thirtieth, stay up all night; on the first day of the New Year, dance and sway; New Year's Eve dumplings are had every year.

Zhang Ping'an put five jin of Black-skinned Pig meat and mushrooms in his cart again and walked toward the Siheyuan. Perhaps because the end of the year was approaching, there were noticeably more people on the street; otherwise, in the middle of winter, one really wouldn't see anyone on the street, except for children.

"Ping'an, why are you back again? Did you forget something?"

"No, no, I had some business in the city, so I just stopped by to take a look."

"Dongxu, Dongxu?"

"Is that Ping'an? Dongxu went out and hasn't come back yet."

"San Jie, it's me, you don't need to come out."

Zhang Ping'an hurriedly carried the things into the house. Zhang Xiaohua was a key protected person now; she was only a month or so away from giving birth, and it would be troublesome if she slipped on the icy, snowy ground outside, so she didn't come out of the house unless necessary.

"San Jie, the Second Uncle's family slaughtered a New Year pig, and Mom and Dad asked me to bring you some."

"Oh my, Ping'an, you made a special trip in this cold weather, you didn't freeze, did you?"

"It's fine, I hunted two Wild Boars back home and happened to sell them to the Rolling Mill. I hung the pork outside. Where did Dongxu go?"

"He went to his fiancée's house to deliver gifts; he should be back soon."

"Oh? Dongxu is quite fast."

"Who's to say? When we first started talking about a wife for him, he was shy, but look at him now, he's eager to deliver gifts."

"That's good, let's set it for them after the New Year."

"Mm, Lao Jia and I think so too. Once I've finished my confinement, I'll go propose for him."

"If Dongxu knew, he'd probably be overjoyed, haha."

"Mom, I'm back. Uncle, you're back?"

"Mm, I just stopped by to see you. I'll head back tomorrow morning. I was just telling San Jie that I'd go propose for you after the New Year."

"Really, Mom?"

"Look at how impatient you are. At the latest, I'll go propose in May. By then, we'll have taken off our cotton-padded clothes and trousers, and your younger brother and sister will be able to be left with others."

"Younger brother and sister?"

"Yes, I went to see the Divine Doctor Wang up ahead, and he said it's twins."

"Then it must be true; our Traditional Chinese Medicine is still very magical."

Ever since Zhang Ping'an obtained the Yongle Encyclopedia, apart from copying a version in his spare time, he had barely looked at it because he couldn't understand it at all. It was all in classical Chinese, and he couldn't grasp the meaning, so he gave up.

Zhang Ping'an planned to find time to see if he could learn a trick or two from the Divine Doctor Wang up ahead; at the very least, he could learn how to read medical books.

In the evening, Zhang Ping'an taught Jia Dongxu how to stir-fry dishes in the kitchen. They were all standard methods from his past life—simple and practical. Lao Jia also returned from work at this time.

"Ping'an, this is what Captain Tan from the Security Section asked me to give to you."

"Oh, okay." He had almost forgotten. He took the money and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

After finishing his meal at the Jia Family, Zhang Ping'an returned to his own courtyard. He burned some firewood and then slipped into his space to take stock of this year's harvest.

Zhang Ping'an had planted three crops each of wheat and rice, which were harvested every two weeks, and each had over ten tons. He also planted quite a lot of peanuts and soybeans, most of which had been pressed into oil.

There were also over seven tons each of corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sorghum, most of which had been brewed into wine. All the wine had been placed by Zhang Ping'an into the Great Cauldron; now it had a faint medicinal fragrance inside. A small portion of the sweet potatoes and potatoes was used to feed the chickens, ducks, geese, cows, sheep, and pigs.

Zhang Ping'an had sold a large portion of the rabbits a while ago. Now, pork was the most abundant; he had slaughtered over two hundred Black-skinned Pigs, and there were even more Wild Boars—over five hundred had been slaughtered—all stored in the Thatched Cottage.

Chickens and eggs came next, while there were far fewer cows and sheep; apart from the two he had slaughtered earlier, there was no stock left.

Common fruits like hawthorn, apples, bananas, oranges, peaches, pears, and grapes were also available in quantities ranging from several hundred to over a thousand jin.

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an was exercising in the space. After finishing the complete Eighty-one Style Body Refining Technique, his body suddenly expelled black filth, and his stomach rumbled.

Zhang Ping'an hurriedly found an empty spot, dug a pit, and after a series of popping sounds, he felt his whole body was light, and even his walking felt airy.

It seems my Body Refining has had some small success, coupled with the effect of the Space Water, it has directly performed Cleansing Marrow.

He buried the pit. The pungent smell on his body reminded him, so Zhang Ping'an fetched two buckets of water to give himself a good wash. His once rock-hard muscles had shrunk a size, but the muscle lines were more explosive.

Zhang Ping'an looked down at his lower body; fortunately, that thing hadn't shrunk and could still sway between his legs.

Fortunately, it was winter, and wearing cotton-padded clothes and trousers, one couldn't tell that Zhang Ping'an had lost weight. If it were midsummer, it would have scared people, as the once muscular hunk had turned into a skinny dog.

At 8:30, Zhang Ping'an finished his breakfast in the space, pedaled his tricycle, and after greeting Lao Jia and the others, he prepared to go home.

This time, perhaps because of the body strengthening in the morning, Zhang Ping'an didn't feel as cold as last time on his way home; it felt a bit like the minus four or five degrees of his past life.

When he got home, it happened to be mealtime, and he devoured two large bowls of rice—not the kind of large bowls Jia Zhangshi used in the show.

"Ping'an, no one can match your appetite. It's fortunate that Siya cooked a lot, otherwise it really wouldn't be enough for you."

"Ping'an is growing, isn't it normal for him to eat more? You don't eat any less when you come back from heavy labor."

"Da Ni is right."

"....."

Time flew to the twenty-seventh of the New Year. The eldest and second sisters came to deliver gifts, and the things they took back after lunch were more than what they had brought.

On the twenty-eighth of the New Year, every household began various frying, boiling, and cooking. At this time, Zhang Ping'an didn't dare to go near the kitchen; he was afraid of being beaten for no reason for being a chatterbox. I believe many friends have had similar experiences.

On New Year's Eve, after the reunion dinner, they wrapped dumplings. Zhang Ping'an rarely participated; he was responsible for rolling the dumpling wrappers. As for staying up for the New Year, he was just a child, so what was there to stay up for? He went straight to sleep after wrapping the dumplings.

The quilt and mattress made of new cotton were indeed fluffy, and having been sun-dried during the day, they were full of the scent of sunshine.

Early on the first day of the New Year, Zhang Ping'an still got up early to exercise.

"Ping'an, is that Taiji you're practicing? Why is it different from what others practice?" Zhang Laohan asked only after Zhang Ping'an finished his practice.

"Yes, I spent a lot of money to buy this at the Black Market. It's the full set, and the manuals are from the Republic of China era; they can't be fake."

Zhang Ping'an indeed didn't know much about the classical Chinese of the Ming Dynasty, but manuals like Xingyi, Taiji, and Level Eight Fist were from the Republic of China era, and the way they were written wasn't much different from today's, not to mention there were annotations by unknown experts inside.

Coupled with the fact that he practiced the Body Refining Technique and had a relative understanding of human joints and acupoints, he could naturally understand it.

"Fine, fine, fine, as long as you aren't practicing blindly—cough—practicing recklessly," Zhang Laohan almost cursed again, but fortunately, he reacted in time.

After eating the dumplings, Zhang Ping'an and his Si Jie first kowtowed to their grandparents and parents, happily taking a few dimes of New Year's money.

Afterwards, they went to kowtow to his paternal second uncle, third uncle, his grandfather's brothers, cousins, uncles, and other elders, and it was already past ten o'clock.

"Whew," truth be told, after all this busy work, he was quite tired, and Zhang Ping'an's face felt like it was going to go stiff from smiling the whole way.

This scene of paying New Year's calls is rarely seen in later generations, except in the Qi Lu region, of course; Zhang Ping'an didn't watch few short videos back in the day, especially around the end of the year—as long as that, you know, leaf-falling music started playing, it was eight or nine times out of ten a collective New Year's greeting.