Chapter 74 Sisters are not as good as an old woman who is a drama queen

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, they usually boil dumplings. Each person gets a bowl of dumplings and some dumpling soup, and that's it.

Of course, before eating, there is one more thing to do, which is to kowtow to heaven and earth, ancestors, and the Kitchen God, and to set up an incense table and offer incense.

Originally, the three Tang sisters were not supposed to be involved in this matter, since they were not yet considered members of the Tao family, but their grandfather insisted that they participate.

"Now that you've entered our family, there's no distinction of surname. From now on, Cuihua and the others can participate in all matters, big and small, in our family. When we register your household registration, you can change your surname and name if you want."

Grandpa and Grandma are kind people. After living together for so long, they have a clear understanding of the children's character.

Now that we're liberated, the old ways of the society are no longer in use. The old rule that only boys can kowtow to their ancestors is not practiced in their family.

After bowing in worship, firecrackers are set off before eating. After eating, people go out into the street to greet their neighbors in a friendly manner.

Occasionally, when acquaintances bring their children to visit, Grandma not only offers them peanuts and candies, but also gives them red envelopes containing 500 or 1000 yuan. Of course, Grandma will also bring them to visit for the New Year and receive red envelopes as well. This is the most basic etiquette and custom.

Basically, the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year is spent visiting relatives and friends to exchange New Year's greetings. At noon, my mother and sisters will prepare a big table of delicious food, including chicken, duck, fish, and pork, as well as hot and cold dishes. With so many people in the family, we need to prepare at least two tables, since we don't have a large enough table. So we prepare one large and one small table.

These little wines were of no help. She just ran around the yard with her brothers. When they set off firecrackers, she covered her ears and ran away quickly to hide. After the firecrackers exploded, she would excitedly run over to see if there were any explosions on the ground.

The older sisters have grown up and are helping their mother and grandmother prepare the most important meal of the first day of the Lunar New Year. They have never seen such a sumptuous feast, even when they have eaten at banquets.

The wine was even more lavish than last year, which shows that the snack shop is making money this year, otherwise my parents wouldn't be so generous.

However, since she stopped sleeping in the same room as her parents, she knew very little about the family's finances.

I remember my father and grandmother reporting that they could make 100,000 in profit a day, which would amount to more than 3 million a month.

Business is much better now than before, and we've added a lot of new products, so earning five million a month shouldn't be a problem, and it might even be more.

The main problem is that inflation is too severe, and prices fluctuate every day.

However, this is still less profitable than brewing wine. Selling wine guarantees a minimum income of ten million, and earning several million requires much more hard work than brewing wine. It just goes to show that the situation is getting worse and worse.

After a month of hard work, I don't even earn as much as the minimum wage for brewing. The whole family works hard, but now it seems even more tiring than before.

Because business is getting harder and harder.

With too many concerns, there are also many people who come looking for trouble. If you don't pay some 'protection money,' it will be difficult to run your business peacefully.

Of course, the couple rarely brought these hardships and exhaustion home to talk about. Xiaojiu only learned about them from Cuihua and her sisters' conversations that life in the county town wasn't as easy as they had imagined.

This doesn't even include encountering bizarre diners or those who are difficult and nitpicky. In fact, these small-time drinkers understand this best because their parents have been in business for so many years and have also encountered all sorts of toxic people. But you can't give up this business just because of a few people, so you have to persevere no matter how hard or difficult it is.

On the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the intermittent snow finally came in full force, turning the ground white overnight, and the snow was so heavy that it reached up to your ankles when you stepped into it.

As soon as the children woke up on the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, they started busying themselves building snowmen and having snowball fights. They were so excited that their hands were frozen, but they still didn't want to stop.

The streets outside were especially lively, with all the children running out to have a snowball fight. The older boys ran out without even eating, and only went home to find something to eat when they were tired. Grandma roasted sweet potatoes for them over the charcoal fire, and they tasted so good when they were hot.

When outsiders come to visit, the three sisters always hide, because they are afraid that if too many people see them, they will be recognized.

During the Lunar New Year, Zhao Di saw other families reunited, and inevitably thought of her good-for-nothing parents. Cui Hua responded coldly to her.

"Why do you care if they're living a lonely life? When they were doing well, they didn't think of us. Now that they're doing poorly, they don't need us to worry about them, understand? Don't mention them anymore. Don't you think it's bad luck to mention them during the New Year?"

Pandi glanced timidly at Cuihua: "Big sister, why are you so angry? No matter what, they are..."

"Come on, so what if they're your biological parents? They'd just throw you away or sell you anyway. Why did the three of us stay? Because while they were trying to have more boys, we grew up and could work, so we stayed. Do you know how terrible my dreams are? Your fourth sister was sick as a child and became deaf and mute. Her adoptive parents treated her well, and she eventually married a deaf man. Their children were quite healthy, but our mother couldn't stand seeing others do well. After being abandoned by our father, she went to the children she sold to ask for money, ruining their good lives. She died before she was even forty, gone!"

Cuihua felt that the dream was a warning, so she believed it without a doubt.

"The fifth son was a child bride. She was abused from childhood to adulthood, and she was submissive. She gave birth to a daughter, lived in a cowshed, and died in childbirth at the age of thirty. She never enjoyed a single day of happiness."

"Sixth sister married a gambler. After losing the gambling, he sold her to a man in the mountains to be his concubine. Even so, your mother wouldn't let her go. I don't know how, but she went to her house to ask for money. After she was given money once, she went to ask for money every day. In the end, the man found out and beat her to death, leaving behind several children. She was not even forty years old when she died."

"Seventh Sister," Zhao Di interrupted her before she could finish, "it's just a dream, don't take it to heart."

"Dream? Dream my ass! To me, this is a warning about how miserable it will be when we go back to that family. You, me, her, the three of us, including Xiao Jiu—none of us will live to old age. We all died young, all because of that woman. She ruined our lives, and yet you still talk about her. I'm telling you, never mention her again. Just thinking about what she did makes me want to vomit. It's ridiculous that I tried to save her before, to give her money for treatment. But what did she do? She only ever had her own family. She's a fool, a madwoman who sold her daughter and then wanted to drink her blood and eat her flesh!"

"His body was abused like that, yet he lived longer than us sisters. Tell me, isn't that ridiculous?"