Farming? I'm making a killing with my fairytale vegetables!

Chapter 179 Lunar New Year 1

Once New Year's Eve is over, the Spring Festival officially begins, and the first day of the Lunar New Year represents the true start of a new year.

Xia Shiyu grabbed and sent out several red envelopes in the group yesterday. The days leading up to Lunar New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival are usually the peak time for sending red envelopes, and the various WeChat groups are very lively.

Xia Shiyu didn't fall asleep until after 1 a.m., and was then woken up by the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers outside at 6 or 7 a.m. the next morning.

She reluctantly sat up in bed, listening to the commotion outside. Knowing that it was impossible to go back to sleep, she decided to just get up.

Because this is a rural area, fireworks and firecrackers are not banned; every family sets them off, especially today for ancestor worship.

When I came downstairs, Yu Juan was already preparing breakfast. She had cleaned the house thoroughly a few days ago, sweeping away all the dust from the roof beams.

Everything is clean and tidy now, just in time to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new.

Xia Shiyu walked into the kitchen, peeked into the pot, and sure enough, water was being boiled to cook plump, white glutinous rice balls.

Yu Juan said while kneading glutinous rice balls in her hands, "On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we eat glutinous rice balls to symbolize family reunion. By the way, you can tidy up our family's ancestral worship later."

Xia Shiyu glanced at it and asked, "Okay, Mom, do you need my help?"

Yu Juan glanced at it and said, "Go help me start the fire. The fire doesn't need to be too big, just keep it like this."

"Okay," Xia Shiyu nodded and went straight to start a fire.

After helping to tend the fire for a while, my grandparents slowly came downstairs. The two old people had smiles on their faces; it wouldn't be good to have a long face on such a joyous occasion.

Xia Shiyu even noticed that her grandparents were wearing the new clothes they had bought for her.

"Grandma, I always said this dress suits you. You should have worn it sooner."

Grandma shook her head. "These new clothes are meant to be worn in the new year. It wouldn't be good if they got dirty while we're doing farm work all year."

"That's true." Xia Shiyu nodded. She hadn't worn any new clothes today because getting a sore throat would easily make her clothes dirty. She was wearing casual, warm pajamas that were fluffy and very comfortable.

After her grandparents finished speaking, they came over and handed her a red envelope.

"Here, Happy New Year, Xiaoyu. This is a red envelope from your grandparents."

"Wow, that's wonderful, thank you Grandpa and Grandma."

Xia Shiyu happily accepted it. Although she had been working for several years, she still received New Year's red envelopes.

She put it in her arms; it would be her little treasure trove when she got back to her room.

Yu Juan smiled and glanced at her. She didn't say that the two teachers shouldn't receive their New Year's money; it was just for the sake of celebration. Plus, Xia Shiyu had already paid them their salaries, so the two elderly people had some money in their hands.

"Mom will send you a big red envelope on her phone later."

"Okay," Xia Shiyu replied happily, and a little while later she even received a red envelope from her father.

She now has three red envelopes in her possession, and her mother also sent her a red envelope containing 1000 yuan, which is the most red envelopes she has ever received during the Chinese New Year.

Normally, unless it's something important, her family would just give her a hundred or two hundred yuan for the New Year to celebrate. She rarely receives such a large red envelope. Although she doesn't need the money now, she's still happy to receive it.

Once the glutinous rice balls were cooked, the family began to eat them, enjoying their plump, white flesh.

"Mmm, it's still so delicious and delicate." Xia Shiyu was very happy. It was so delicious, so wonderful.

Xia Lihua smiled and said, "As long as it tastes good, we can make it for several more days."

He is the family's favorite and biggest eater of glutinous rice balls. When he was a child, his family was poor and they didn't have much sugar. Now, these glutinous rice balls are filled with sugar, and he is very happy to eat them.

Xia Shiyu can only eat four or five, but he can eat ten! He doesn't find them greasy at all.

Xia Shiyu shook her head, "Then forget it. We'll get tired of eating this all the time. We need to eat it in moderation."

"That's just a way of putting it. After all, we'll be visiting relatives later on. As for breakfast, we can eat whatever we want."

The family chatted and ate glutinous rice balls. After they finished eating, Yu Juan urged Xia Shiyu to change his clothes.

"Go change your clothes. We'll go do some shopping after we finish our ancestral worship."

"Okay!" Xia Shiyu happily agreed.

I went upstairs and picked out a light blue down jacket.

Yu Juan was somewhat dissatisfied when she saw her wearing this outfit.

"Why are you wearing such light colors? Didn't I buy you two red ones before? And that pink one with fur trim too?"

"Oh Mom, that red down jacket is nice, but I don't want to wear it today. The pink one is even more troublesome; it can only be dry cleaned, and it looks too much like something a child would wear, so I'd better pass."

Xia Shiyu refused. Sometimes she still couldn't accept her mother's generation's aesthetic sense, even though the clothes were not bad.

"Fine, then I'll leave you be."

Yu Juan shook her head and picked out a bright red down jacket for herself, while Xia Lihua stuck to his old style and chose an all-black outfit.

After getting dressed, the family went straight to pay respects to their ancestors. Fortunately, their ancestors' graves were relatively close to the road, so they didn't have to go through the trouble of climbing up the mountain. Otherwise, they would have changed their clothes too early.

They brought incense, paper candles, and firecrackers to the grave of the deceased elder.

Insert the pretty grave markers you bought, light the incense and candles with a lighter, and then start burning paper money. Xia Shiyu loved this part the most when she was little; she inexplicably felt a great sense of satisfaction from burning paper money.

Back then, her parents would point out who was in the family and tell her what name she should call them according to their seniority. Gradually, she remembered it.

Now, looking at the colorful underworld currency, it feels pretty good. After the paper money was burned, everyone else stepped back, Xia Lihua set up the firecrackers, lit them, and walked away to let them go off.

The sound of firecrackers crackling and popping began to echo, and besides their home, Xia Shiyu could also hear sounds coming from other places on the mountain.

Today, everyone has come back to pay respects to their ancestors.

Anyway, after I finished visiting all the places, my family and I slowly walked to the highway entrance to wait for a bus to go to town.

"Let's go, the car we called has arrived."

"Okay," Xia Shiyu followed them out. They directly called a car from a villager. There was no public transportation in their area, so they could only get to town by relying on other vehicles that did business.