Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 46 New Year's Day
New Year's Day
Early in the morning, the old lady went from room to room to wake everyone up and have breakfast. Last night on New Year's Eve, everyone played very late. Now they were very sleepy. The second brother yawned and said tiredly, "Madam, do we have to eat so early?"

"That's how the New Year is. Hurry up, wash your face and eat." The old maid urged everyone again.

"Wow, why are they all vegetarian?" After washing her face, Sachiko came out and saw the table was full of vegetarian dishes, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"The first day of the new year is a vegetarian day." The old woman explained, and then said, "Come and eat quickly, or else people will come to pay New Year's greetings soon, and it would be rude for the host to eat while guests are here."

According to the Cantonese custom, there are four things that people don't eat on the morning of the first day of the new year: no meat, no porridge, no bitter food, and no eating all the food.

There are several explanations for not eating meat: one is that the benefit of eating this vegetarian meal is equal to that of a whole year; another is that it is a metaphor for running a household frugally and not wasting money.

People don’t eat porridge. In the past, only poor families ate porridge. Therefore, they must eat dry rice in the morning of the first day of the new year, which means that the family will be rich and have surplus every year.

Don't eat bitter food. On the first day of the first lunar month, as the first day of the year, it is best not to eat bitter food or food with the word "bitter" in it, such as bitter chrysanthemum, bitter melon, bitter coffee, dark chocolate, etc. People don't want to live a hard life or suffer. Not eating bitter food on this day means that you can live a sweet life in the new year. Cantonese people like this idea the most.

Not eating it all, simply put, means you are not allowed to eat it all, to show that there is "surplus", which means having surplus every year, and it also comes from the meaning.

The Records of the Sui Shi of Jingchu written by Liang Zongyan of the Southern Dynasty recorded: "People get up at the crowing of cocks, set off firecrackers in front of the courtyard to drive away evil spirits. Afterwards, everyone, young and old, dress neatly and greet each other in turn." People get up at the crowing of cocks, set off firecrackers in front of the courtyard to drive away evil spirits. Afterwards, everyone, young and old, dress neatly and greet each other in turn.

On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month every year, people get up, put on new clothes, wash up, and first pay New Year's greetings within the family. As the younger generation, you have to pay New Year's greetings to the elders. In the past, the younger generation had to kneel down and kowtow to the elders, and the louder the kowtow, the better. Now, the younger generation does not need to kowtow to the elders, but instead bows, which reduces the number of procedures. After the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, the elders will bless and encourage the younger generation, saying auspicious words such as "improvement in study", "good luck in work", "good health", "prosperous business", "congratulations on making a fortune", etc. For the younger generation who are not married, the elders will also give them a New Year's money.

After breakfast, people leave home to pay New Year's greetings to their relatives and friends. If there are many relatives and friends, the closest ones are usually ranked first and are scheduled to pay New Year's greetings in the morning or afternoon of the first day of the first lunar month; slightly more distant relatives and friends are usually ranked second, third, or even fourth, and so on. Relatives and friends ranked later may have to wait until the third or fourth day of the first lunar month to pay New Year's greetings.

Therefore, the saying "If you are willing to pay New Year's greetings on the first or second day, you should do so on the third or fourth day" came into being. This means that the earlier you pay New Year's greetings, the more sincere you can see. That is why the old lady woke everyone up so early to have breakfast.

During breakfast, Lao Guang and Xianglan were the first to wish their father and mother a happy new year. The father smiled and took out two red envelopes and handed them to them, "A Guang and Xianglan, these are red envelopes from me and your mother. Your mother and I have no other wishes, except that we wish you a son soon."

"Thank you, Dad and Mom. We will try our best." Da Lao Guang and Xiang Lan shyly put away the red envelopes. Da Lao Guang is 40 years old this year. For children, their desire is much stronger than that of Lao Dou Ma Zi, after all, Lao Dou Ma Zi already has a grandson, Tian Xiu. Then everyone went to Lao Dou Ma Zi to wish the New Year in batches according to the family. Lao Dou also gave a red envelope to everyone. His blessing to the second brother was "prosperous business, harmonious marriage." To Tian Xiu, it was "study hard and make progress every day." To Yao Xingzi, it was "work well and have a baby soon." To A Zu, it was "live a lot, wake up and settle down."

When it came to Kang Qirui, the old lady Dou also gave her the blessing of "having a baby soon." The reason was that Kang Qirui was preparing to get married, which caused everyone to make fun of Kang Qirui.

After breakfast, A Zu had already gone somewhere. Lao Dou's mother stayed at home so that she wouldn't be unable to enter the house to pay New Year's greetings. The second brother, his wife, the eldest sister-in-law, and Kang Qirui all had to go to the clothing store to help out. Today was the first day of the new year and the business was bound to be booming. The eldest brother represented the Kang family to pay New Year's greetings to relatives and friends, while A Yao and Xingzi went to the leader's house to show their courtesy. It can be said that everyone was busy in their own way.

Today is the opening day of Metersbonwe's second store. The store was acquired before New Year's Day and the decoration started after New Year's Day. It is not yet fully decorated, but Kang Qirui insisted on opening the store on the first day of the new year despite all objections. Because of the traffic during the New Year and people's strong desire to buy new clothes before and after the New Year, how much money would be lost if the store is not opened?

Besides, the shop was originally a clothing store, so even if it was not completely renovated, it would not look bad. We still had to make money first, and it would not be a problem to continue the renovation after everyone went back to work after the holidays and the flow of people decreased. The second brother and his wife and Zhang Yongfang thought it made sense and agreed.

Kang Qirui and his second brother and his wife are helping out at the second store today, and Zhang Yongfang is enough for the first store. The first thing to do when entering the store is to hand out red envelopes. On the first day of work after the Spring Festival in Guangdong Province, the boss will give employees red envelopes to symbolize a good start, harmony, and booming business. The amount of the red envelope is usually not large, just a token of good luck. However, after Kang Qirui and his second brother and his wife discussed it, they decided to give one envelope of 168 yuan and one envelope of 88 yuan. Added together, it is almost a week's basic salary (the basic salary of sales is not high, it is mainly commission. Kang Qirui is not so saintly as to give everyone a very high basic salary.)
Before noon, Kang Qirui still had things to do, which was to count the store's inventory with Er Lao, and then go to Baima to pick up the goods. After the goods were loaded, Kang Qirui had nothing to do. He was not needed to introduce sales to the people in the store, and he was not needed for checkout. After waiting for another hour, when he was sure that he was really not needed, he slipped away. He has been busy these two days and has not yet visited Zhu's family to pay New Year's greetings. So he went to the mall to buy two vacuum cleaners, which were the New Year's gifts decided yesterday.

He went back to Kang's house first, and moved one of the machines to the patio with the old lady and put it together with the broom and mop. This thing is very simple, and the old lady can use it after a demonstration. When he was about to go out to Zhu's house, Uncle Liang came with his two grandsons to pay New Year's greetings. This is a good friend of Lao Dou, and Kang Qirui couldn't neglect him, so he and Lao Dou chatted with Uncle Liang in the living room.

Only after Uncle Liang left did Kang Qirui go out to the Zhu family. This is the way to entertain guests. It is not polite to leave when a guest comes to visit.

"Aunt Zhu, I'm here to wish you a happy new year. I wish you good health and all the best." As soon as Kang Qirui entered the Zhu family, he quickly put down the vacuum cleaner and a bag of fruit and said to Aunt Zhu.

Mrs. Zhu didn't go anywhere today, she was just waiting for her future son-in-law to come, but she didn't see him after waiting all morning. Now she is sulking, and she didn't pay any attention to Kang Qirui, watching the replay of the Spring Festival Gala by herself. Cantonese people may not watch the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala, but they will still watch the replay.

Kang Qirui was not embarrassed and poured himself a cup of tea. "Today is the opening of the second store, so I was very busy. After I finished everything, I went to buy you a New Year's gift," Kang Qirui pointed at the vacuum cleaner, "but when I got home, I met Uncle Liang who came to pay New Year's greetings, so I chatted with him for a while, and then I came to you right away."

Mrs. Zhu calmed down when she saw the gift, and Kang Qirui's explanation was very reasonable. Mrs. Zhu was no longer angry and returned to her character who cared deeply about her future son-in-law.

(End of this chapter)