Baiyue Cave Master

"Yuan Chao, Yuan Chao, it's time to get up and eat dumplings. You are the man of the family. After eating dumplings, you have to go out to pay New Year's greetings."

Wang Yuanchao was sleeping soundly when his mother-in-law called him early in the morning.

"Mom, it's New Year's Day. Why are you getting up so early? It's still dark outside, just getting light."

The mother-in-law stood under the kang and said in a gentle voice:

"Here we go to pay respects and run around in the early morning on New Year's Day.

We have to go around and pay New Year's greetings to all the elders in the village."

This confused Wang Yuanchao. In Wang Yuanchao's hometown of Hunan Province, people don't go out on New Year's Day.

Why do people in Northeast China have to go out to pay New Year's greetings early in the morning on the first day of the New Year? And they have to go door to door to pay New Year's greetings, not to relatives' homes.

"Mother-in-law, are there any rules and etiquette for visiting relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year? What are the rules and etiquette?

"On New Year's Day here, we strictly follow the old rules such as not leaving the village, not going to the fields, not breaking the ground, and not throwing garbage outside, and the most important thing is to pay New Year's greetings and run around.

Women are not allowed to participate in the New Year's greetings. Those who participate in the New Year's greetings are middle-aged male heads of households and young people who are presentable in the family.

You are the only man in our family, so naturally you have to come forward."

When Wang Yuanchao heard this, he thought that since this was the custom here, he should follow the local customs, so he rubbed his wife's head.

Under the gentle gaze of his young wife, he prepared to get dressed and get off the kang to represent his family to pay New Year's greetings.

"Mother-in-law, how do you say New Year's greetings?"

"The so-called New Year's greetings are on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

People visit each other to wish each other a happy new year. No one brings gifts when paying New Year's greetings. They just run around and no one invites guests to dinner.

And there are all the elders in the village. We have to kneel down and kowtow to them. Just complete one round of worship.

As for peers, most people just say "Happy New Year" or "Happy New Year" to each other, and there is no need to kneel down. "

When Wang Yuanchao heard this, he stopped putting on his clothes and said:

"Mother-in-law, I'm from Hunan Province, and I can't learn the New Year's greetings here.

In our place, when adults pay New Year's greetings to the elderly, they only kneel down to pay New Year's greetings to their direct elders. There is no custom of kneeling down and kowtowing to strangers. "

After saying that, Wang Yuanchao took off the clothes he had just put on, got back into bed, and hugged his young wife to continue sleeping.

Seeing that Wang Yuanchao refused to get up to go to pay New Year's greetings, Widow Du and Zhang Yuanyuan were dumbfounded.

Widow Du couldn't get angry either, so she continued to persuade him:

"Yuan Chao, as the man of the family, how can you not go out to pay New Year's greetings on New Year's Day?

If you don't go out, our family will be drowned by the villagers' spit.

During the Chinese New Year, our family can’t go out.”

Zhang Yuanyuan couldn't stay in Wang Yuanchao's arms any longer. She shook Wang Yuanchao gently and said:

"My dear, are you really not going to pay New Year's greetings?

But we don't go to pay New Year's greetings here, and other people think we don't have a man in the family.

Is this really okay? "

Wang Yuanchao was annoyed by the mother and daughter, but he could understand them, so he said unhappily:

"I'll just walk around the village and if I meet people my own age, how about we exchange greetings?

Can I not go to other people's homes to kowtow to these elderly people and wish them a happy new year?"

"No, that's definitely not possible. If you don't go to other people's homes to wish the elderly a happy new year,

Isn’t that the same as not going out at all?”

Wang Yuanchao decisively pulled the quilt and covered his head with it, then muffledly said from inside the quilt:

"No, no, there is no such custom in my hometown. I am not used to kneeling down and kowtow to others to wish them a happy new year.

Okay, wife, mother, stop trying to persuade me. The villagers said, let them talk.

It won't make us lose any meat. Anyway, everyone knows that I was not born and raised in the Northeast. Isn't it normal that I can't adapt to the customs and habits here? "

Widow Du and Zhang Yuanyuan were really dumbfounded. Their husband had just loosened up a little, but why did he suddenly change his mind? The two women were at a loss.

This is the residual power of Wang Yuanchao who has always been the master of the family. Even if the mother and daughter have some objections now,

But you don't dare to make a scene with Wang Yuanchao. If the wife at home was in charge, she would have dragged Wang Yuanchao out to pay New Year's greetings and lectured you on all these big truths.

Zhang Yuanyuan and Widow Du stared at each other for a while, and then Zhang Yuanyuan sighed and said:

"My Lord, if we don't want to join in the fun, then we won't go.

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. This is really not okay. Everyone in the village will go out today and visit each other. It is not a good idea for you to lie on the kang.

If someone saw this, our family would not be able to hold our heads up high in the village.

Sir, please excuse me for your trouble. Thank you for your hard work for our family."

Wang Yuanchao was harassed by two women early in the morning, and he was completely numb.

Regardless of whether I slept well or not, two voices were buzzing in my ears early in the morning, and they were begging in a delicate voice. My young wife was pregnant.

It really made Wang Yuanchao so angry that he couldn't vent his anger.

In the end, Wang Yuanchao had no choice but to get up, wash up, eat dumplings with the mother and daughter, and then go out to pay New Year's greetings in the dark sky.

Although Wang Yuanchao went out, he was asked to kneel down and kowtow to each household to wish them a happy new year.

Wang Yuanchao would definitely not do that, so he stayed in the village, joining in the fun with the men and women in the village.

They would say happy new year to each other, and those who knew each other well would pass a cigarette and blow smoke rings together.

By the way, I also spread the word that there is no custom of New Year's greetings in my hometown.

Anyway, we don't have such rules here, and we won't follow the rules here. Everyone can do whatever they want. Anyway, Wang Yuanchao stood in the village openly and let others see what they want.

Actually, this New Year's greeting is really just a tradition and a way to join in the fun.

The temperature was minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, and no one really had a grudge against Wang Yuanchao that day. No one was forcing him to kneel down and kowtow to wish him a happy new year, or to impose rules on him or engage in moral kidnapping.

There are many people and households in the Hongqi Brigade, and everyone went around wishing each other a happy new year, and it was almost noon when the greetings were almost over.

Wang Yuanchao was afraid of being nagged by the two women at home, so he didn't go back home. He just stayed in the village to watch the fun and chat with some grown men.

Even though Wang Yuanchao was wearing deerskin boots, a cashmere coat, and a new cotton-padded jacket, he was frozen like a Muggle and was extremely stiff.

After returning home, I sat directly on the sofa, added firewood to the stove on the fire wall, sat there to warm myself by the fire, and didn't want to move at all.

When Widow Du saw that Wang Yuanchao was clean, she was surprised and asked:

"Yuan Chao, you've been praying for the whole morning, how come your pants are still so clean?"

"Hey, mother-in-law, I've been standing in the village arguing with someone.

Everyone knows that I am not from the Northeast, and they don’t ask me to follow the local customs.”