Great Yin and Yang - C85
The streets were filled with the smell of the year, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard in the village from time to time.
When there were still a few days until the new year, I saw a lot of children playing together in the streets and alleys, wearing new clothes. The boys were in the middle of a war of words, while the girls were covering their ears to watch.
He also played with the kids, and I don’t know where he got out some super big cannons, which he held in his hand and ignited with the fire. Then, when the cannons were about to explode, he quickly threw them out of the way, and the cannons made a loud noise in the air. It felt as if the entire small mountain village was shaking slightly, causing my eardrums to ring out.
All the children looked at their eldest senior brother in amazement. The eldest senior brother threw a large cannon ball into the sky, and it even attracted a lot of adults to come over to take a look at him. A lot of people were probably thinking that this kid simply didn’t care for his life. The cannon ammunition in the eldest senior brother’s hands was as thick as his wrist, if he didn’t throw it in time, wouldn’t his hands explode into a bloody mess?
However, the Eldest Senior Brother was very accurate in everything he did. He threw more than a dozen cannons consecutively, yet none of them hit him, causing everyone to break out in a cold sweat for him.
This time, Eldest Senior Brother became famous in our village. Not only did he know how to predict things, but he also had extraordinary courage and attracted a lot of young ladies to point at him.
My eldest senior brother’s mouth is especially sharp, and he’s always able to talk without stopping. However, I’m not very good at speaking, and with eldest senior brother around, everything is fine, he can always say some funny jokes, which will make my parents laugh out loud. Even if he doesn’t say anything funny, he still looks very comical, especially with his panda eyes.
In short, on New Year’s Eve, our family was very happy. Eldest Senior Brother and I continuously toasted to my father.
After 12, our village became really lively. On New Year’s Eve, other than the elderly and young babies, everyone in the village didn’t sleep at all. They stayed up all night, which was also known as the whole year.
After 12 o’clock, the villagers would go door to door to pay their respects, kowtowing to the elders and the ancestors who had died.
When the clock struck twelve, our New Year’s Eve meal had just ended. Borrowing the strength from the alcohol, I knelt down in front of my parents and kowtowed to them, thanking them for the kindness of bringing up their family. When the Eldest Senior Brother saw me kowtowing, he didn’t stay idle and followed me in kneeling down and kowtowing to the two elders.
Mom and Dad were naturally overjoyed. They hurriedly helped us up and gave us the New Year’s money that they prepared.
The eldest senior brother smiled exaggeratedly and said, “Little …”
Originally, he wanted to call me junior brother, but later on he thought something was wrong, so he quickly changed his tone and said, “Tian Luo, coming to your house to celebrate the new year is really nice, and there’s even a red packet for you. I’ll come to your house to celebrate the new year often …”
His parents were naturally very happy, especially his father, whose face was flushed from drinking so much. He said to his eldest senior brother, “That’s a very good relationship. Our family only has Tian Luo, a kid. “We welcome …”
The sounds of firecrackers outside were deafening. It took more than half an hour before the firecrackers died down.
At this moment, I called my mother into the room alone and gave the prepared ten thousand to my mother. The little senior sister gave me this money, and my eldest senior brother also had one.
I originally wanted to give them twenty thousand yuan, but I was afraid of scaring them. In just half a year, I earned twenty thousand yuan from this, and since I just graduated from university, I was worried that they might be afraid that I didn’t do a proper job, so they only gave me ten thousand yuan.
But when my mother saw this amount of money, she was also shocked. This amount of money was not a small amount in a village like ours, my parents were farming at home and the food they collected all year round was sold, so they were probably left with this amount. They hurriedly asked me where I came from.
I can only say that I earned it from work. Our company is quite big and our salary is also quite high.
After hearing my explanation, Mom felt a little more relieved. At the beginning, she didn’t want to accept it, so she told me to keep it for myself. I told them to save it for me and only did Mom accept it when I bought a house in the future.
Outside, the eldest senior brother was already busy helping to clear the dishes on the table.
After a while, someone came to pay their respects to the new year. It was not good to leave a table full of leftovers there.
When everything was ready, people started coming to my house one after another to pay their New Year respects.
In the village, our Shangguan family was still a big family, my brothers were four, and were the oldest members of the family, with three younger brothers and two aunts, so the ancestral tablets were usually placed in my house. People from the village would come to my house and kowtow to the ancestral tablets of the dead old people, and those younger than my father would kowtow to my father.
This is a rule that has remained in our village for who knows how many years, passed down from generation to generation until now.
Until two or three in the night, my second uncle suddenly ran to my house in a sweat. When he saw my father, he almost cried.
Second Uncle said with a sullen face, “Big Brother … …” Bright… “The light is gone …”
Right now, he is eleven or twelve years old. At this age, he is already very sensible, at least he should be in the fifth grade. According to the rules, nothing should happen to him.
When my father heard about this, he immediately became flustered. He immediately told my second uncle not to be anxious.
Second Uncle said with a trembling voice, “Mingliang went out to play with the kids not long after we finished our New Year’s Eve meal. He said that he was going to put on a show, but those kids all went home, so Mingliang didn’t come back …”
My father immediately let out a sigh of relief. “It’s normal for children to go out to play. They definitely won’t be able to get far. I’ll be home soon. Don’t worry …”