Time passed quickly, and the lively atmosphere at Old Wang’s Fourth’s house continued. Zhulan’s family had grown, and they too enjoyed a bustling life; in the blink of an eye, it became New Year’s Eve.
Zhulan and Zhou Shuren experienced their first New Year in ancient times differently. Early in the morning, Zhou Shuren took his son and grandson to worship their ancestors. When they returned, he brought out the red paper he had bought early to write couplets on.
Zhulan had also discovered a new skill—she used the original body’s memories to cut paper-cuts, which she did quite skillfully.
Once the couplets and paper cuts were in place, Zhulan, along with her daughters-in-law and daughters, started preparing lunch. In Zhulan’s home, they had an extra meal compared to others; they planned to eat hotpot at noon and, as in previous years, have a reunion dinner in the evening.
Hotpot, something both Zhulan and Zhou Shuren had been longing for. Hotpot had been around for a long time, and by the Song dynasty, it had become more refined. People in the north loved it, especially in the winter. It was often a mix of everything stewed together. The hotpot was quite popular in the fictional era depicted here, so their enjoying it was not unusual; even the taverns in the county offered hotpot during winter.
In order to enjoy hotpot, the couple bought a large ceramic pot and charcoal. Zhou Shuren also went to a tavern to get a base for burning the charcoal used in the hotpot.
For the meat to dip in the pot, Zhulan had reluctantly saved some lamb, a shame that they could not buy beef. With many mouths to feed, they also sliced quite a bit of pork. During the New Year, they bought five carp weighing over three pounds each. Zhulan asked Lady Li to slice one for the hotpot. The vegetables were simple: only frozen tofu, tofu, radishes, cabbage, and potatoes.
The broth base was chicken and large bone soup. Forget about sauces; even the taverns’ hotpots in the county didn’t have them, at most some green onions and chili powder.
Actually, when it comes down to it, this hotpot was quite different from modern ones. In Zhulan’s opinion, the tavern’s hotpot was just a pot of stew—everything thrown in together.
Given the large family at Zhulan’s, they didn’t bother dipping individual pieces of food and instead put everything neatly into two pots to stew directly over the charcoal fire. The fish slices couldn’t handle much cooking and were to be eaten quickly, everything else could withstand being cooked together.
When the large family sat down for lunch and lifted the lid from the hotpot, whether adults or children, they all salivated. The children’s eyes were glued to the meat. Well, to be accurate, except for Zhulan and Zhou Shuren, the whole family was focused on the meat.
This was the first New Year they were so generous—everyone was urged to eat as much meat as they liked!
Zhou Shuren moved his chopsticks, unable to bear his sons’ expectant gazes. He coughed and said, "Delicious, everyone, start eating!"
No sooner had he spoken than chopsticks flew into action.
The entire family had never had hotpot before. They had only heard of its name and never dared to hope for it; today, their wish was fulfilled.
Zhulan and Zhou Shuren, as the heads of the household and the masters of the pantry, were no longer yearning for meat but preferred something refreshing. The two of them mostly picked tofu and cabbage. Initially, no one touched the fish slices except for Zhulan and Zhou Shuren.
Later, seeing them relishing it, the sons tried some and their eyes lit up, but unfortunately, due to the limited quantity of fish, it was gone after just one chopstick per person.
Lady Li was teary-eyed from delight as she ate, taking care to serve her children as well.
Zhao’s wife ate rapidly too. As she was only looking after her daughter, she ate even more than Lady Li. Zhao’s wife felt blessed to have come out of her confinement period just before the New Year, not missing out on any delicious food.
Since Xue Mei was only caring for Jiang Zhu and only needed to feed her daughter, she too ate quite a bit. Having moved back to live with her parents, Xue Mei had long accepted the fact that the food at her parents’ home was better. Just for this lunch, they sliced up eight pounds of lamb and five pounds of pork—such extravagance was unheard of in other households during the New Year. If not for the fact that it didn’t look good for a married daughter to live with her parents for too long, Xue Mei would have liked to stay with her children permanently.
At the next table, Jiang Sheng initially felt awkward about freeloading, but gradually he became accustomed to it. The in-laws truly didn’t mind his whole family, and these days, not only could he earn money by copying books, but he also got to read the books his father-in-law brought back. Not just his sons and daughters, even he didn’t want to leave!
A hotpot meal was consumed amidst laughter and noise, and they could even fight over a piece of meat.
Zhulan smiled at the lively scene. The livelier it was, the stronger the bonds of affection grew. People, whether kin or strangers, needed time spent together to strengthen their relationships. Look, even Chang Lian wasn’t targeting Rongchuan anymore.
After the hotpot, the whole family, both children and adults, felt warm and sleepy.