Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

As she said this, Zhou Chunhong pointed to Zhao Da'e, who was only up to Zhou Chunhong's belly and was indeed the shortest among the group.

Zhou Tianfu couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw this, and even Zhou Chunwen and the others laughed.

Zhao Da'e was stunned, pointing to herself incredulously, "Second cousin, are you comparing yourself to me? But I'm still young!"

Zhao Da'e spoke in protest.

Even Zhou Chunwen said, "Why are you comparing her to a goose? She's only seven years old, you can't tell anything yet."

Zhou Chunhong said matter-of-factly, "Precisely because we can't see anything, the goose is... the shortest. Think about it, what if the goose... grows shorter than me in the future? Isn't that a possibility?"

Zhou Chunhong stammered a little. That's what she was thinking. Zhao Da'e is still young, so it's not obvious yet, but what if she's shorter than her in the future? Then she won't be the shortest one in the family!

Zhao Da'e retorted helplessly, "Second cousin, I'm not the shortest one! Give me another seven or eight years, and I'll be taller than you!"

Zhou Chunhong patted Zhao Da'e's head, smiled but stammered, "I don't care... you're already short, at home... you're the shortest!"

Zhou Tianfu laughed beside him and couldn't help but mock, "Chunhong, you said the goose would be shorter than you, but I think the goose will grow taller than you in the future. You're just trying to comfort yourself."

Even Cheng Jinxi reached out and flicked Zhou Chunhong's head, saying with amusement, "You, you, you're not allowed to talk about your cousin like that. Your cousin is still young now and will grow up in the future, but if she really is shorter than you as you jinxed, then you'd better watch out for your second aunt coming after you."

Zhou Chunhong touched her head, pouted, and gave an annoyed "Oh". She felt that her family members were more or less biased towards Zhao Dage. She had only said that Dage might be shorter than her in the future, and so many people spoke up for her. Her mother even flicked her head.

But Zhou Chunhong stopped thinking about it for a while and took a bite of the sticky rice cake. She was immediately attracted by its aroma.

Cheng Jinxi felt a little helpless when she thought of Zhou Chunhong saying that she wanted to marry someone from the village just so she could go back to her parents' home for meals. This girl had never made her feel at ease since she was little.

She's clumsy at work, stutters a bit, and her eyes are always on food. Who knows what family would even consider her in the future? Despite these thoughts, Cheng Jinxi still had confidence in her youngest daughter. Zhou Chunhong was beautiful and would certainly have no trouble finding a husband.

"When you get married, don't just marry someone from the village. Marry someone you like and who is good to you. It's good if you can marry into the village and visit your parents' home often, but not too close. You can't just go back to your parents' home every day to freeload. I don't want to have to take care of you when I'm old." Cheng Jinxi shook her head helplessly at the end.

Zhou Chunhong was not one to listen to reason. She shook her head, hugged Cheng Jinxi's arm, and said coquettishly, "I... I don't care, I want to marry someone closer... so I can go back to my parents' home every day to see you, Mom."

Cheng Jinxi was at a loss with Zhou Chunhong, but she felt a warm feeling in her heart. She was both helpless and amused. Finally, she ruffled Zhou Chunhong's hair and said, "You, you, I really can't do anything with you. Do whatever you want."

Zhou Tianfu, watching from the side, burst into laughter. "Zhou Chunhong, how old are you? Still clinging to your mother's arm like a spoiled child, aren't you ashamed!"

Zhou Chunhong put her hands on her hips, snorted coldly, and said, "So what if I'm being coquettish?"

Zhou Tianfu couldn't help but chuckle, clapping his hands and admiringly saying, "You've got some nerve!"

Zhou Tianfu laughed at Zhou Chunhong, whose face flushed red. She wanted to retort, but couldn't think of anything to say for a while. Annoyed, she looked at Cheng Jinxi and complained, "Mom, look... my older brother is always... bullying me!"

This scene made Zhao Da'e and Zhou Chunwen next to him laugh until their stomachs hurt. Zhao Da'e even stopped eating the sticky rice cake and just kept laughing.

Zhou Tianfu laughed and said, "All you do is tattle."

Zhou Chunhong was so angry at that laugh that she turned red and couldn't say a word. Finally, Cheng Jinxi came out and said, "Alright, Tianfu, just say less."

Hearing Cheng Jinxi speak up for her, Zhou Chunhong's eyes lit up, and she straightened her shoulders a bit. She looked at Zhou Tianfu with a grin, as if to say, "I have my mother to help me, do you?"

Zhou Tianfu was laughing so hard he couldn't straighten up, which completely baffled Zhou Chunhong. Why was everyone laughing even harder?

Cheng Jinxi laughed for a while before calming down and said, "Alright, alright, everyone, after we finish eating the sticky rice dumplings, we'll go to your uncle's house. We're going to your uncle's house to pay respects to our ancestors at noon."

Before the New Year's Eve dinner, they have a custom of ancestor worship.

After finishing their sticky rice dumplings, Zhou Chunwen stayed behind to help Cheng Jinxi clean the kitchen.

Zhao Da'e played with small firecrackers with Zhou Chunhong. The firecrackers she played with were the small kind that would explode with a "bang" when thrown on the ground, which was both exciting and fun.

After playing with the firecrackers, Zhao Da'e and Zhou Chunhong started playfully fighting, hitting each other here and there. Later, Zhou Chunwen joined in, making it incredibly lively.

Looking at this scene, Zhou Tianfu suddenly felt quite happy. A family should be like this, lively and cheerful. He couldn't help but imagine whether his children would play and fight like Da'e and Chunhong if he married Huaihua in the future.

Thinking of this, Zhou Tianfu was overjoyed, and he even began to fantasize about the name of his future child.

After Zhou Yuren pasted up the couplets, the character "福" (fortune), and the window decorations, he looked at the masterpieces covering the wall with satisfaction. There were couplets with the words "满园春色" (springtime in the garden), many upside-down "福" characters, and all kinds of window decorations, which looked very festive.

Cheng Jinxi took out a bamboo basket and lined it with a thick white cotton quilt. This was specially made for storing steamed buns to keep them warm. She then put the remaining sticky rice cakes on the steamer into a plastic bag and put it inside the quilt to keep them warm for longer.

Cheng Jinxi planned to take these sticky rice cakes to the Cheng family home so that her elderly mother, older brother, and younger sister could try them.

After Cheng Jinxi and the others finished their work, the whole family set off for the Cheng family home. It wasn't far, and they arrived in no time.

As Zhao Da'e approached the door, he smelled the scent of incense and candles.

"Jinxi, geese, you've arrived!" Zhu Yufeng held a plate filled with white steamed buns, each topped with a small red dot. Many families would specially steam white steamed buns for ancestral worship on New Year's Eve, each with a red dot on it, and place them on a white porcelain plate. These offerings remained until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, during which time incense was burned twice a day, morning and evening.

Zhu Yufeng placed the steamed buns in front of the memorial tablet, then waved to Zhao Da'e and the others.

"Come over here, we've been waiting for you. Da'e, Chunwen, Chunhong, Tianfu, you younger generation need to come and pay your respects to your maternal grandfather."

Looking at her father's photo on the wall, Cheng Jinxi felt a mix of nostalgia and resentment. Her father always seemed to favor her more than her mother, who loved her older brother and younger sister the most. He would bring her gifts from the market every New Year.

She didn't wear her silver bracelet when she came over; there are rules for ancestor worship.

Avoid carrying fishy or pungent foods, as well as gold and silver jewelry, as these items may incur the displeasure of ancestral spirits.

In addition, pregnant women are usually not allowed to participate in ancestral worship activities, so as not to affect the solemn atmosphere of the worship and to have an adverse effect on the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus.

However, neither the Cheng family nor the Zhou family has a pregnant woman yet, so they don't need to worry about that for the time being. But Cheng Jinxi thinks that things will be different next year. By next year, her eldest son will be married, and his wife might even be pregnant. Then she will be able to pay more attention to ancestral worship.

During the ancestral worship ceremony, Zhao Da'e and the other younger members of the family would kowtow to their maternal grandfather's memorial tablet as a sign of respect, and silently make a wish in their hearts, asking their grandfather to bless them so that they could make a lot of money this year.

The afternoon was quite busy. Cheng Jinxi, Zhu Yufeng, and Cheng Jinxiang were busy in the kitchen for a while, preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.

Even Zhao Da'e and Zhou Chunwen, among others, helped out whenever they could.

Zhu Yufeng was preparing to boil some water in a pot, as she was going to cook her signature dish for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Before she started cooking, she asked Zhou Chunwen to prepare the Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and cinnamon. Otherwise, if she was busy and couldn't find the ingredients, or if she missed the right cooking time, the dish wouldn't taste good.

Zhao Da'e sat on a small stool next to him, pinched off both ends of the green beans, and threw them into a small basin next to him. After pinching all the green beans clean, Zhao Da'e added a spoonful of hot water and two spoonfuls of cold water so that his hands wouldn't get cold when washing them.

Zhao Da'e carefully washed the green beans and then put them all into a small basin.

"Auntie, I've washed the green beans!" Zhao Da'e called out to Zhu Yufeng.

Zhu Yufeng was taking out the spare ribs. These spare ribs had been soaked in cold water for two hours to remove the blood. Zhu Yufeng washed them for quite a while, then took a cleaver and cut the spare ribs into sections and set them aside.

"Okay, give me the green beans."

Zhu Yufeng took the green beans, cut them into sections, and set them aside for later use.

Besides washing green beans, Zhao Da'e also had to wash scallions, ginger, and other things. She was starting to question her life choices and didn't want to wash anything anymore, but her resistance was futile.

These things, once washed, should be given to Zhu Yufeng.

Ask Zhu Yufeng to cut the scallions into sections, slice the ginger, and mince the garlic.

Next comes the step of blanching the ribs. After the water in the pot boils, Zhu Yufeng puts the ribs into the pot, adds water and a little cooking wine, brings it to a boil over high heat, skims off the foam, and then takes out the ribs to drain.

Next, heat some cooking oil in a wok, add scallions, ginger, and garlic to sauté until fragrant. The aroma immediately made Zhao Da'e feel hungry again. Zhu Yufeng then added the ribs and stir-fried them until they were slightly golden brown. She added dark soy sauce and light soy sauce and stir-fried evenly to color the ribs. This method of stir-frying makes the dish look much better and more appetizing.

Next, pour in enough water to cover the ribs. Add the prepared peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, etc., cover the pot and simmer slowly.

When the pork ribs are about 70-80% cooked, add the green beans and continue to simmer. The green beans must be fully cooked before consumption to prevent food poisoning.

After finishing these steps, Zhu Yufeng removed the pot lid, added some salt, and it was almost done. The flavor was already very fragrant; this was pork rib stew with green beans.

Zhao Da'e also ran outside; she was going to get some iced pears.

There are pears buried in the snow outside. These pears have been carefully selected; they are large and well-shaped, and they taste great when used to make frozen pears.

Holding a plate and wearing gloves, Zhao Da'e pushed aside the snow and discovered that the frozen pears had become hard and black. Zhao Da'e placed the frozen pears on the plate, then took it to the kitchen, took out a basin, poured in cold water, and put the frozen pears in to thaw.

Wait about half an hour, and when cracks start to appear on the surface of the pear, it's ready to be taken out.

The thawed pears can be eaten directly, and Zhao Da'e couldn't wait to take a bite. But before eating, she added a small spoonful of honey to make them sweeter and give them a cool, refreshing taste.

Cheng Jinxiang came over and took away the two thawed pears. She cut the pears into chunks, put them into a small pot of boiling water, added an appropriate amount of water and rock sugar, simmered them for about ten minutes, and then took them out. That made hot frozen pear syrup.

Cheng Jinxiang poured the cooked frozen pear syrup into a small bowl and gave it to Wang Shi to eat.

Wang was not in good health and could not eat cold food. She could only eat hot food. However, the New Year's Eve dinner would take some time to prepare, so Cheng Jinxiang first cooked some frozen pear syrup for Wang, which would be warmer and more comfortable to eat.

Cheng Jinxi also came over and served Zhou Chunwen a bowl of frozen pear syrup, saying, "You should drink some too. It's not good to have your period, this will warm you up."

Zhou Chunwen felt a warmth in her heart as she listened, and obediently drank the bowl of frozen pear syrup.

When Cheng Jinxiang brought the frozen pear syrup to the room, Wang was sleeping. She was covered with a thick quilt, and even the heated kang was warm. The temperature in the whole room had increased significantly, making it a world apart from the icy world outside.

"Mom, get up and have some hot frozen pear soup. I made it especially for you."

Cheng Jinxiang came over to wake Wang Shi. When she first got up, Wang Shi was a little dazed and her mind was still foggy. There were firecrackers going off outside, and the character "福" (fortune) was pasted upside down on the window. She looked out the window and asked in a daze, "What day is it today?"

Cheng Jinxiang found Wang's question somewhat amusing. "Mom, are you confused? Today is New Year's Eve. Look at the 'Fu' character on the wall. It was written by my eldest brother and then hung up."

Hearing the words "New Year's Eve," Wang gradually realized, "It's New Year's Eve, the New Year is almost here. As people get older, their memory gets worse and worse. Another New Year has passed in a blur..."

Wang paused for a moment: "Every year that passes is one year less..."

As she got older, Wang felt increasingly powerless. She used to be able to lift her hand to eat, but now she didn't even have the strength to lift her hand. She felt very weak and had a feeling that she didn't have more than a month to live. However, she didn't tell her family because she was afraid they would worry. She knew her body very well and thought it was better not to tell anyone and not let them worry.