There were over twenty jin of pork. Rong Zheng kept five jin to eat and smoked the rest to make cured pork.
Ye Yun knew Wang Zhang-shi made excellent cured pork, so he took a jin of meat over to ask her advice. Wang Zhang-shi warmly explained every step in detail. As he was leaving, she reminded him, "When you smoke the pork, be sure to add some pine and cypress branches and fruit peel. That makes it more fragrant."
After curing the pork according to Wang Zhang-shi's method, they began preparing for the New Year, starting with a thorough cleaning.
The family of three spent a whole day cleaning the house inside and out, then wiping down the furniture, washing bowls and basins, and so on.
Rong Zheng discovered that a big house could be a nuisance too. There were so many little cleaning tasks. His physical fitness had improved considerably lately, but all that work still left him exhausted.
Next came shopping for New Year supplies. Rong Zheng took Ye Yun and Ye Chen around town, buying rice, flour, meat, sweets, pastries, lanterns, firecrackers, New Year prints, and more. He bought Ye Yun and Ye Chen a new outfit each, but none for himself. Ye Yun had made him new clothes that would be ready to wear for the New Year.
They did not buy spring couplets, because Rong Zheng had already written a pair himself. He was quite confident in his brush calligraphy.
On the way home, their back baskets were packed full, and even Ye Chen carried quite a few things in his hands.
On New Year's Eve, Rong Zheng pasted the couplets beside the entrance and hung red lanterns in front of the main door. Then he got busy in the kitchen, preparing to cook a lavish New Year's Eve dinner.
Ye Chen ran out to play with "paper firecrackers" with his friends. Rong Zheng had bought these especially for Xiao Chen. They were a less dangerous kind of firecracker intended for children, and he had bought plenty. Rong Zheng generally did not restrict him, only requiring him to complete a set amount of martial arts practice and copybook exercises every day.
Learning and play were both important: one improved oneself, while the other relaxed the mind. The two complemented each other!
Ye Yun went to the fields to pick vegetables. Heavy snow had fallen recently, and more than half the vegetables had frozen to death. Ye Yun peeled away the frost-damaged outer leaves and picked the tender, fresh parts inside.
He would not be coming to the fields over the New Year holiday, so he needed to pick enough for several days. It was winter now, and they would keep for quite a while.
When he returned home with a large basket brimming with vegetables over his arm, Rong Zheng was plucking a chicken. A strong fire burned in the stove beside him, where soup was simmering.
The rich, distinctive aroma of pork bone soup filled the kitchen and drifted into the courtyard, greeting his nose.
"A-Yun, try the soup and see whether the seasoning is right. It's been simmering all morning!"
"All right." Ye Yun lifted the lid. The carefully simmered soup was boiling, hissing as it sent up white steam. Some of the ingredients had softened and dissolved into one another, giving the broth a rich color. He took a spoon, blew on a spoonful to cool it, and tasted it. Mm, the flavor was rich.
"The seasoning is just right. It's delicious. The fire doesn't need to be so strong anymore. I'll move some firewood to the other stove opening."
That evening, they had a lavish spread: white-cut chicken, sweet-and-sour ribs, steamed fish, stir-fried napa cabbage, red-braised pork, and rich pork bone soup.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Rong Zheng went to the study to read some more. The exam was approaching, and he needed to stay in the habit of studying every day.
At midnight, firecrackers began sounding here and there throughout the village, waking both Rong Zheng and Ye Yun. There was a custom of staying up to see in the New Year in ancient times, but Rong Zheng had been tired from studying and had gone to bed early.
Amid the crackle of firecrackers, another year passed~
This was Rong Zheng's first New Year's Eve since transmigrating to this world. He thought of his parents and younger brother in the modern world and felt a little wistful.
Still bleary-eyed, Ye Yun noticed Rong Zheng's expression and asked, "Are the firecrackers too loud?"
Looking at the warm, soft husband in his arms, Rong Zheng kissed his forehead and held him tighter, saying softly, "A-Yun, Happy New Year!"
Ye Yun buried his face against Rong Zheng's chest and replied, "Husband, Happy New Year!"
After New Year's Day, villagers came and went, visiting friends and relatives. The atmosphere was very festive.
Rong Zheng had no elders he was particularly close to, and Ye Yun was on bad terms with his eldest uncle's family, so there were not many households they needed to visit to offer New Year greetings.
The two took Ye Chen and some New Year gifts to visit only the village chief's family, Wang Zhang-shi next door, and Doctor Ye. He was something of a mentor to Ye Yun, so they ought to pay the old gentleman a New Year visit too.
On the fourth day of the New Year, Ye Yun suggested making dumplings at home.
He poured warm water into the flour and mixed it evenly, then kneaded it into a smooth dough. With practiced movements, he used a rolling pin to roll the dough into round, thin wrappers.
Rong Zheng was in charge of chopping the filling. He chopped several jin of meat together with a small amount of vegetables and mixed in fragrant seasonings. Finally, he chopped a handful of their homegrown scallions and added them to the filling. Before long, he had a large basin of meat filling. Judging by the amount, it would make plenty of dumplings.
When Ye Yun brought the wrappers over, Rong Zheng saw a little flour on his delicate face and smiled as he raised a hand to wipe it away.
Rong Zheng did not know how to wrap dumplings and could only watch and learn as he went. He was not even as good as Ye Chen.
Ye Yun picked up a wrapper, spooned some fresh meat filling into the center, then folded the wrapper in half and pinched it shut. Each dumpling resembled a crescent moon, uniform in size, dainty and pretty.
Rong Zheng's, on the other hand, were either too bulging or too flat. Ye Chen did fairly well, making his dumplings reasonably uniform, though they were rather small overall and looked a little like caterpillars curled up into themselves.
The finished dumplings were piled on a bamboo draining basket, forming a mountain of dumplings.
"We've made so many dumplings, and they won't keep long. Let's send some to Wang Zhang-shi's family." Rong Zheng picked out dumplings Ye Yun had made and put them in a large bowl. He was too embarrassed to choose his own, which were far too oddly shaped. He handed the bowl to Xiao Chen. "Here, Xiao Chen, take these over to Grandma Zhang!"
Seeing that they were almost finished wrapping, Ye Yun washed his hands, dried them at his waist, and started a fire to boil water. As the water neared a boil, he added the freshly wrapped dumplings. Their wrappers gradually turned translucent, and they floated to the surface, clearly almost cooked. Ye Yun deftly scooped them out into bowls.
Looking at the steaming dumplings, Rong Zheng picked one up with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. Mm, since they had made them themselves, they had been generous with the filling. Every bite was full of meat, fresh, fragrant, and firm, with a lingering savor.
"Your eldest uncle's family has returned those ten mu of land. Spring plowing starts at the end of the month. Shall we hire farm laborers to tend the fields this year?" Rong Zheng discussed it with Ye Yun. For one thing, he did not know how to farm; for another, he had to take the county exam. Nor could he let Ye Yun cultivate more than ten mu alone. That would be far too hard on him.
Farm laborers included long-term hands, monthly workers, and casual workers in the countryside. With no land or very little of their own, they could only make a living by working for other households, helping with farm work such as plowing, harvesting, sowing, and planting. Landlord Ye's family in the village employed quite a few farm laborers specifically to cultivate their fields.
"We won't farm any of it ourselves?"
"Let's not. We'll hire people to do all of it. I remember Yao Jizheng's family at the far end of the village barely has any land. We could ask whether he'd be willing."
Ye Yun knew that family. Two years earlier, Yao Jizheng had fled famine with his wife and children and come to Anhe Village. The village chief had taken them in and allotted them three mu of barren hillside land. He had not given them any farmland. After all, farmland was scarce in the village, and as refugees, they were already fortunate to receive hillside land.
For a farming household, having no farmland meant having no income, so they lived in great poverty, relying solely on the couple doing odd jobs for the villagers. But villagers could do their own work and rarely hired anyone.
Yao Jizheng had considered going to town to haul goods, but prolonged hunger had left him physically weak. The goods at the docks were heavy, and anyone who was not sturdy could not manage the work, so he could not get a job hauling goods either.
Their family therefore struggled, often going hungry, and their four children were skin and bones.
"Then I'll go ask whether they're willing." Since beginning to accompany Doctor Ye on house calls, Ye Yun had become increasingly poised and at ease when dealing with people. Some narrow-minded villagers occasionally gossiped that, as a husband, he ought to stay home and properly manage the housework, but he ignored them all.
"Mm, seventy wen a day. If they do well, we can hire them again next year."
Ye Yun nodded. He had no objections to Rong Zheng's decision.