"Okay." Yang Chuxia replied.
As she spoke, Ye Zi’an had already come over with Yang Qingrui, carrying a package in their hands.
Yang Chuxia looked closely and found it to be a pile of gift boxes. Goodness, this kid had really gotten into the role early. It was customary for people in the countryside who had arranged marriages to give gifts to their new in-laws during the New Year, but since Ye Zi’an and Yang Chuxia only had a verbal marriage agreement, there was no formal engagement yet, so it was unnecessary for him to give gifts.
But she hadn’t expected that the boy had prepared gifts anyway. However, Yang Chuxia was puzzled; shouldn’t such gifts have been given earlier? Why did he wait until just before the New Year?
Of course, she definitely wasn’t being greedy for the gifts; she was just genuinely curious.
"You kid, I invited you to spend the New Year at our home, and you bring so many things here; what for?" Yang Dachuan hadn’t figured it out yet.
Yang Chuxia knew Ye Zi’an better, so she listened as he said, "Uncle Yang, I should have brought gifts anyway. I didn’t bring them earlier because I was afraid you wouldn’t accept them. Since I’m coming to celebrate the New Year, it wouldn’t be right to come empty-handed. This is different from usual, so I brought them along."
Hearing this, Yang Dachuan finally understood, and he laughed heartily, hugging Ye Zi’an, "Uncle will accept it, how could I not? I definitely have to accept gifts from my future son-in-law."
Yang Chuxia listened to them in cold sweat, thinking about how they were ancient people, where was the ancient people’s dignity and modesty? Was it fine to openly discuss the marital issues ?
Little did she know, since her reputation as a fierce woman had spread in the vicinity, the ancient people’s taboos had all been thrown out of the window by Yang Dachuan and Ms. Wang, who just wanted their eldest daughter to be married off smoothly.
"Have you finished setting off the firecrackers? Hurry up and wash up, then come and eat dumplings." In Yangshu Village, wealthy families began eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve morning.
They continued eating quality dishes until lunch and then again that night, although the main course in the evening had become dumplings.
"Dad, here’s yours!" Ms. Wang filled a large bowl for Old Yang.
Old Yang, looking at such a large bowl of dumplings, tried a bite; they were full of meat. The feeling in his heart needn’t be mentioned. Even when he had been working for the main family back then, he couldn’t eat as much as he could now.
Not to mention after returning to the countryside, when he had Old Lady Hua, it was already good to have two or three dumplings a year.
In fact, not just Old Yang, but Yang Dachuan’s entire family felt the same way.
In the end, it had to be said that it was all Old Lady Hua’s fault. So, after breakfast, Old Yang actually went to sit in front of Yang Dachuan’s biological mother’s grave for a while, talking about how good their lives were now and how he hadn’t treated Yang Dachuan well back then and so on.
As for Yang Chuxia and the others, they finished breakfast, and it was getting light outside.
Yang Chuxia took out the couplets she had bought in the county and the window decorations. "Qingrui, you and Qingtong put up the window decorations."
"Brother An, let’s put up the couplets together."
People in this era didn’t use adhesives like we do today. Many families used grains of rice or flour paste.
It had to be said that when it came to celebrating the New Year, even the stingiest people would become more generous. If it were any other day, they would be reluctant to eat the flour, let alone use it to stick things together.
"Here, I made you some flour paste." As she thought about this, Ms. Wang had already prepared the flour paste and brought it over.
Yang Chuxia took the flour paste, smeared it onto the back of the red couplet with chopsticks, prepared one, and handed it to Ye Zi’an. Ye Zi’an then pasted it onto the door.