Chapter 176: Welcome the New Year and Say Goodbye to the Old Year, All Soldiers and Civilians Celebrate the Spring Festival

“Brother, the couplet you are holding is a little crooked on the right!”

“Yes, yes! A little to the right! A little more to the right! Hey, it’s over, it’s over!”

“Little Bean Sprout, can you please stop giving orders blindly? It was just right just now! You are being weird again!”

“whee……”

At the gate of the military hall where Li Dingguo lived, Xiao Douya, holding a ladder, and Li Dingguo were pasting a huge red couplet.

Hongmei hung a few pairs of big red lanterns on the side, and the three of them were laughing and having a great time.

This is the first New Year that the three have celebrated since they became orphans and beggars.

Li Dingguo was fine, but Xiao Douya and Hongmei were so excited that their faces turned red. They were busy running around and could not rest for a moment.

After a while, the three of them finished arranging the dozens of couplets of various sizes and dozens of pairs of big red lanterns used to decorate the hall, and then walked excitedly towards the large kitchen in the backyard.

Unlike other forces, Li Dingguo ordered that this year’s New Year celebrations can be freely arranged by all soldiers and civilians. They can form their own teams to celebrate the New Year, or each can celebrate it separately. The entire army will have three days off.

As for the grand gathering of the military and civilians, perhaps some kind of big party, Li Dingguo had no interest in it.

This kind of routine superficial work actually has little practical significance other than being extravagant and wasteful.

What the people really care about is their own interests, such as affordable New Year gift packages.

Relying solely on brainwashing and other means to maintain the stability of one’s own power will inevitably not last long. The true colors will be exposed easily, and then people’s hearts will collapse and become a mess.

The most meaningful thing is for the soldiers to spend a happy and reunion Spring Festival with their families and close friends.

Although there are too many orphans in the Fuxing Army, after living together day and night for so long, everyone basically has some close friends, brothers and sisters, so there is no worry about not finding companions to celebrate the New Year together.

The vigilance work during the Spring Festival is naturally the responsibility of the thousands of three-tailed iron-backed magic wolves.

Under the leadership of two top-grade spirit beasts, Da Huang and Xiao Huang, who have grown to the peak of level three spirit beasts and have become the kings of wolves by virtue of their superior bloodlines, they are responsible for patrolling and guarding this area.

With their dedicated vigilance and protection, safety is much greater than if tens of thousands of soldiers were on guard together.

After all, they are the most professional in this area.

“Brother, you said we need to prepare ten dishes, including braised pork, steamed fish, braised pork, boiled chicken, etc. There are so many dishes to prepare, let’s get started quickly!”

“I have a big appetite now, the three of us can definitely finish it.”

Xiao Douya just walked into the kitchen with Li Dingguo and Hongmei, and started yelling.

She had never eaten these dishes before, and she was drooling just thinking about them. She couldn’t wait.

“Don’t worry, little bean sprout. Your big brother’s cooking skills are pretty good. I’m sure I can prepare a delicious meal tonight.”

“Stop talking so much, go and catch the first-level flying beast, the three-colored golden-feathered chicken, that I specially brought back yesterday!”

“The water in the big pot has boiled. We have to kill the chicken immediately!”

“There is also braised pork belly. It was prepared last night. We will steam it later.”

“By the way, Hongmei, go to the backyard and catch a big white goose. We’ll make a roast goose for you later!”

Li Dingguo knew clearly that a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner was not so easy to prepare, so he quickly gave instructions to Xiao Douya and Hongmei and started to get busy.

Fortunately, all three of them are warriors, with quick knife skills, and they can process various ingredients quickly.

The three of them divided the work and in less than an hour, a large table of sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner was placed on the large table in the dining room next to the kitchen.

In his previous life, he loved to prepare various delicious foods at home. For this purpose, he spent a lot of time online and learned how to cook a lot of delicious foods from all over the world.

For him, preparing a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner is a piece of cake, and he knows the entire process by heart.

“Big brother!”

“Sister Hongmei!”

“Come on! Let’s set off firecrackers together!”

As soon as the New Year’s Eve dinner was ready, Xiao Douya ran outside the restaurant, jumped and waved and shouted beside the lit bonfire.

“I’m coming!”

“Little Bean Sprout, here we come!”

Upon hearing this, Li Dingguo and Hongmei smiled at each other, then hurriedly trotted out of the house to the blazing bonfire. They kept throwing a pile of bamboo tubes next to them into the bonfire, which made a “crackling” sound and sent sparks flying everywhere!

“Oh! It’s New Year’s Day!”

“We are celebrating the New Year today!”…

The two girls jumped up and down with great joy and cheered non-stop!

“Ha ha……”

When Li Dingguo saw this scene, he couldn’t help but think of his past life. A mixed feeling suddenly surged into his heart, and there was some crystal in his eyes.

“Oh oh… the firecrackers are all set off! We can have the New Year’s Eve dinner now!”

Because the bonfire was very bright, a pile of firecrackers were quickly burned out. Xiao Douya cheered, holding Hongmei in one hand and Li Dingguo in the other, and turned around and ran towards the restaurant!

The large dining table, made of century-old rosewood, was not only filled with steaming delicious dishes, but also with two ten-jin jars of aged fine wine.

One jar contains Shandong Qiulubai, and the other contains Zhejiang Jinhua wine.

Wine culture reached its peak during the Ming Dynasty. Both Shandong Qiulubai and Zhejiang Jinhua wine are among the top ten famous wines in the world.

The difference is that Shandong Qiulubai’s liquor is white and transparent, very clear, and belongs to the distilled liquor category of white wine.

Many people in the 21st century believe that there was no distilled liquor at that time, but this is not true.

The truth is: distillation technology originated in the Han Dynasty. By the middle and late Tang Dynasty, due to the development of business, distillation technology had been widely used and distilled liquor began to appear.

During the Song Dynasty, the brewing masters of the Song Dynasty improved the process, making it much more sophisticated than Western distillation technology, and distilled liquor began to enter thousands of households.

By the Ming Dynasty, the technology of distilling liquor had been perfected to perfection.

As for Zhejiang Jinhua wine, it is an original brewed yellow wine with a golden color and has the reputation of being “the best wine in the world”.

“Jinhua’s fine wine is like a tulip, and the jade bowl is filled with amber light.”

This line of poetry, which has been passed down through the ages, was used to praise Zhejiang Jinhua wine.

When drinking Jinhua wine, the best wine vessel is a jade bowl made of Hetian jade. The two complement each other.

During the Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang Jinhua wine was of the highest quality and the most expensive. Even the matching wine utensils were only affordable by officials, aristocratic families, and wealthy families.

This lives up to its reputation as “the best wine in the world”.

Xiao Douya first excitedly opened the mud seal of a jar of original Jinhua wine, then picked up the jar and filled the three Hetian jade bowls on the table one by one.

Then he gave a bowl to Li Dingguo and Hongmei respectively.

During this period, Li Dingguo destroyed several wealthy merchants and a large number of Tatar tribes. Among the massive amount of spoils he obtained, there was naturally no shortage of special wine utensils for Jinhua wine, such as Hetian jade bowls.

There will also be no shortage of aged Zhejiang Jinhua wine, Shandong Qiulubai and other ten famous wines collected by wealthy merchants of this era.

This kind of original wine becomes more fragrant as it ages. As long as it is well sealed, it will not deteriorate no matter how long it is stored.

“Welcome the new year and say goodbye to the old year. I wish you all the best in the new year! May all your wishes come true!”

“I wish Sister Hongmei to become a fifth-level martial arts master in the new year! Of course, I also wish me to become a master as well!”

“I wish Xiao Douya will always be innocent and happy, and I also wish Hongmei to achieve more success and successfully develop and expand our Fuxing Army!”

“I wish Brother Dingguo will have this day every year, and make further progress!”

“Dry!”……

The three of them each held a large bowl of golden Jinhua wine and raised their bowls together. After a round of toasts, they gently clinked their jade bowls against each other, making a very crisp sound.

“Gulu gulu…”

Soon, a large bowl of golden aged Jinhua wine was drunk by the three of them in one breath!
“Hahaha……”

“whee……”

“Eat vegetables, eat vegetables!”

“Oh! Big brother, let me have a roast goose leg first!”

“Here you go! Hongmei, have one too!”

“Brother, please eat some big wings!”…

In an atmosphere of great joy, the three of them began to eat and drink heartily…

The three of them enjoyed this sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner to their heart’s content. It was so enjoyable.

Two ten-jin jars of aged fine wine were also drunk up by the three of them!
The three of them are now masters of the Qi Refining Realm, have strong digestive abilities, and are difficult to get drunk.

After eating and drinking, the three of them sat and chatted for a quarter of an hour, then worked together to clean up the restaurant and the kitchen.

Then we sat on the big wooden chairs and chatted, talked about various plans and goals for the next year, and started to stay up all night.

The Logistics Department has arranged some experienced elderly people to serve as night watchmen.

These people have a very rich sense of time. They keep watch according to the hourglass and basically never miss a task.

“Brother, we will continue to live like this next year!”

Little Bean Sprout was very happy. He was so happy today. “No! We have to celebrate like this every year from now on!”

“I also want to learn how to cook as soon as possible. In the future, I can help Sister Hongmei become the head chef and make all kinds of delicious dishes.”

Xiao Douya and Hongmei will never forget the New Year’s Eve dinner prepared by Li Dingguo himself as the chef.

They had never imagined that Li Dingguo could make a New Year’s Eve dinner so special that it was so delicious with all its color, aroma and taste.

As the three of them chatted, time passed by unnoticed.

With the arrival of midnight, countless firecrackers and the sounds of gongs and drums began to ring out in all directions!
“Haha… it’s New Year’s Day!”

“Let’s go to the yard and set off firecrackers!”

“The three of us have grown one year older!”…

Hearing the sounds of firecrackers and gongs and drums coming from outside the house, Xiao Douya jumped up from his chair, grabbed Li Dingguo and Hongmei one by one and ran out.

Amid the cheers of the three people and the sound of firecrackers, the third year of Chongzhen had passed and a new year was ushered in…

(End of this chapter)