Meng Yan's Transformation

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Aunt Zhang's eldest daughter, who got married a year ago, came back to her parents' home to pay New Year's greetings. Xiao Mengyan and her sister Yingying also came to Aunt Zhang's home to visit her elder sister and her new brother-in-law. Her elder sister had a big black braid and a pair of big black eyes, but her neck was very thick... The new brother-in-law was dark and didn't like to talk. He was surrounded by children and lowered his head shyly like a newlywed wife...

The elder sister gave Xiao Mengyan and her sister a flowered handkerchief each, and the two went home happily...

In ancient times, there was a remote mountain village. One of the families ran a medicine shop and had a good business. They were also considered wealthy. The old man had several daughters but no sons, so all the married daughters were called back to celebrate together during the New Year and other festivals. First, the family reunited and it was lively. Second, this move made the villagers envious. Because some poor families could not even afford to eat, they would definitely not want to invite daughters and sons-in-law to celebrate the festival together, let alone bring grandchildren, because sons-in-law would basically leave after finishing their meals. But the good times did not last long, until one year during the Spring Festival, the daughter brought her child to celebrate the New Year. At noon, the granddaughter was very hungry. While the adults were chatting, the granddaughter roasted and ate some black "sweet potatoes" in the grandfather's medicine cabinet. After a while, the child had a stomachache. When the adults asked what she had eaten, the granddaughter told the truth. The old man felt like a bolt from the blue. At this time, no one cared about each other and went their own way. So he crawled to the pharmacy and took a look (good guy, as expected! Alas, alas...) That was the treasure of the store he had fought hard for (Millennial Polygonum multiflorum)! The old man fainted on the spot because the treasure of the store was roasted and eaten by his granddaughter as sweet potatoes. The old man became addicted to alcohol all day long and was drunk every day. The pharmacy was not doing well because of this, and finally it closed down. His life was getting worse and worse. Because the old man was in a state of depression, he had to rely on the girls for support in the following days. Gradually, the girls stopped coming back for the New Year. The old man also went from being a rich man to a poor man. It was so strange that the thousand-year-old Polygonum multiflorum was cooked and eaten as sweet potatoes. So this story was passed down for a long time, and it was evolved into a saying by later generations that married daughters could not return to their parents' home for the New Year, otherwise they would eat their parents' home into poverty.

Yingying and Xiao Mengyan returned home from Aunt Zhang's house. Xiao Mengyan was surprised and scared at first: she saw Uncle Ye and another fat, dark old man.

"Uncle Ye, Happy New Year!" "Uncle Ye, Happy New Year and all the best!" Xiao Mengyan and her sister greeted Uncle Ye respectively.

"Come on, come to Uncle Ye. Uncle Ye has New Year gifts for you!" Uncle Ye greeted Xiao Mengyan and Yingying warmly.

Yingying walked up to Uncle Ye, and Uncle Ye took out a bright red scarf and put it on Yingying.

"It's so beautiful!" Yingying said happily. "Thank you, Uncle Ye!"

Xiao Mengyan stepped back, she was worried that Uncle Ye was coming to ask her to be his daughter again and take her away, so she refused to go forward to receive the gift. She just hid far away, with tears in her eyes and big terrified eyes.

"Don't be afraid, come here. Uncle Ye will not let you be his daughter anymore. Your aunt Ye, Darlene, gave birth to a mixed-race little daughter for me. When she grows up a little, I will bring her to play with you." Uncle Ye saw through Xiao Mengyan's thoughts at a glance, so he spoke to her gently.

"Congratulations! Congratulations to Uncle Ye for having a daughter. Mengyan now has a younger sister." Little Mengyan congratulated Uncle Ye. Her elder sister Yingying also congratulated Uncle Ye.

Xiao Mengyan felt relieved and started to get close to Uncle Ye and play a game of cards together.

Uncle Ye also gave each of Zhan Zifeng, Zhan Ziqiang, Zhan Zian, Zhan Zixun, Xiao Mengyan and Yingying a red envelope as belated "lucky money".

After lunch, Uncle Ye said goodbye to Zhan Yu, Yun Qing and the children.

The fat old man from Zhan Yu's family also had lunch with Uncle Ye. During lunch, Zhan Yu introduced the fat old man to Uncle Ye: "Brother Ye, this old man surnamed Han is my colleague, an old Chinese medicine practitioner and a doctor. He is also from Liaoning."

I thought "Dr. Han" would leave with Uncle Ye. Maybe because he had lunch, he said he was sleepy and wanted to take a nap.

Yunqing brought a pillow to "Old Doctor Han". He lay down and began to snore loudly. The children looked at each other in confusion: Where did this old man come from and why doesn't he leave?

The children took a closer look at "Old Doctor Han" while he was asleep: a face full of flesh, a beard, a gloomy complexion as dark as the bottom of a pot, bulging eyes like two frog eyes, a low nose bridge, large and protruding nostrils, a big thick mouth tightly closed, exuding an ominous smell of alcohol, burnt yellow hair, and a few sparse hairs on the top of his smooth head, as if there were few trees in the first place and the woodcutters had cut down the trees in the middle of the land...

"Delicious! Delicious! Take another sip, another sip..." The children were watching it carefully when Dr. Han suddenly started talking in his sleep. The children were startled and they quickly dodged away, fearing that Dr. Han would wake up.

The children didn't know why they were both afraid and wanted to see Dr. Han clearly. They hated him from the bottom of their hearts, not because he didn't give any gifts or red envelopes to the children during the first month of the lunar year, but because Dr. Han's eating habits were too ugly.

When guests come to Beidahuang's house, the children and the hostess do not eat at the table together, so when Uncle Ye and old Dr. Han come to the house, only Zhan Yu sits and eats with them.

In ancient times, family members paid great attention to seniority, and the younger generation had to behave properly in front of the elders. There were many rules at the wine table in ancient times, such as fathers and sons should not sit at the same table, and uncles and nephews should not drink together. The guests must be the elders of the children, so they naturally cannot sit at the same table with the guests.

In ancient times, women were appendages of men and had a lower status than men. In addition, “men and women should not touch each other”. Women in the family were not allowed to talk casually with men other than family members.

Although poor families don't have so many rules, China is a country of etiquette. When guests come, they are treated with their best food. Children are not allowed to sit at the table when guests are eating because they are too poor and have too little food to treat guests. They are afraid of embarrassing the guests and also afraid that hungry children will eat in a bad manner and be laughed at by the guests.

Before Yunqing had served all the food, Dr. Han had already picked up his chopsticks and started to eat the food. He then slurped it up, mixed it with soup, and drank some wine. There was even a leaf of vegetable hanging on the corner of his mouth...

The children watched through the crack in the door as "Old Doctor Han" wolfed down the food. They were so shocked by the way he ate.

Uncle Ye saw that the corners of the mouth of "Old Doctor Han" drooped, his mouth was full of food, and his face was pulled black. He probably couldn't stand it, so he only ate half a bowl of rice, put down his chopsticks, and said, "I'm full!" The rest of "Old Doctor Han" wiped out all the food on the table...

Yunqing originally thought that the children could eat the leftovers, but when she went to clear the table, she was really surprised. She had to reheat the sticky bean curd and steamed buns for the children and make potato soup...