After chatting with Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang for a while, Li Long went to Uncle Lao Luo's room to wish him a happy New Year. Sunflower seeds, candy, peanuts, and other snacks were already laid out on the little table. This year there were dried fruits too, including red dates and raisins, all bought by Li Long in Wu City. He had left some here as well.
Uncle Lao Luo's place was actually quite lively every New Year's Day. By the time Li Long and the others left, a group of children had already come running over to offer their New Year's greetings.
For old soldiers like him in the team, parents would usually send their children to pay them New Year's visits. It was a very good custom. The old men were delighted too, letting the children pick whatever they liked from the table and take it away with them.
Unmarried young men like Li Long would usually visit the village elders in groups of three or five, offering New Year's greetings, chatting, and drinking tea. They generally spent the first morning visiting all the elders they knew well and got along with, before moving on to the more substantial visits to relatives.
Normally, Tao Daqiang would no longer join in this sort of thing after getting married. It was something for unmarried youngsters. But since he had not split off to establish his own household, there was nothing particularly wrong with him tagging along.
After the three of them finished making the rounds of the three hamlets and parted ways, Li Long headed to Li Jianguo's house and found quite a few people already sitting in the main room. Lu Yingming from across the way and the two brothers who worked as pig butchers and tractor drivers,