068 – Into the First Lunar Month
The heat of the water gradually dissipated. Lei Tie handed a blue foot towel to Qin Mian and picked up his gray foot towel to wipe his feet.
After Qin Mian went to the latrine to piss, he washed his hands and came into the bedroom. He had asked Sister Zhang in advance about the various taboos on the first day of the first lunar month1. On the first day of the first lunar month, he should avoid opening drawers and closets, so as not to let wealth and fortune slip away. He opened the wardrobe and picked out the new clothes, shoes, and socks that he and Lei Tie would wear the next day.
Lei Tie locked the doors and windows before coming in.
“Come, play chess.” Qin Mian clapped his hands. They could not just sit there while staying up late on New Year’s Eve. They had to find something to do to kill time.
Lei Tie took out the chessboard and set it up.
“You must let me put some pieces.” Qin Mian’s level of playing chess was average, thus he said unceremoniously.
Lei Tie nodded.
In the beginning, Qin Mian could still play very smoothly. After every file2 was filled with pieces, he spent more and more time thinking. His sitting posture also changed from cross-legged to sitting diagonally, with the left arm resting on the short-legged table. His two legs stretched out with the two feet folded together, shaking. The appearance of his head down and frowning as he was thinking looked very charming.
Lei Tie’s eyes glanced at his bare feet. He reached out to hold one and gently kneaded it.
Qin Mian raised his head and took a glance at the man. He tried to take back his feet but was unsuccessful and let the man had his way. Once again, he thought for a moment about dropping a piece.
Lei Tie thoughtlessly picked up a white chess piece and made a move. He looked back at Qin Mian’s foot. There was no flaw on his white feet and the smooth nails glimmered smoothly under the light. His five-toe bones held up obvious protuberances. It was still too thin that he could not help pinching.
Qin Mian looked at the chessboard and acted if nothing happened, while his face was getting warmer3. What’s with pinching a smelly foot?
As the temperature in his palm rose, Lei Tie looked at Qin Mian and found out that he was uncomfortable. He leaned close across the short-legged table, lowered his head, and pecked Qin Mian on the cheek.
The atmosphere was too ambiguous. Qin Mian pushed his head aside and said with a deadpan face, “Play chess properly.”
Lei Tie pinched his foot again and let go.
Qin Mian quickly retracted his feet.
It was a long night. Qin Mian could not endure it and yawn.
Lei Tie put the picked chess pieces back onto the chessboard. “Go to sleep.”
Qin Mian shook his head, “Staying up with you.” This was their first New Year’s Eve. He did not want to leave a trace of regret.
Lei Tie moved the short-legged table away, put his arms around Qin Mian, and wrapped both of them with a quilt, “Sleep. I’ll call you when it’s time.”
“Alright.” Qin Mian stroked his scarred cheek and drew his hand back into the quilt. He leaned against Lei Tie’s chest, closed his eyes, and fell asleep in a daze.
It was unknown how much time had passed when a cluster of firecrackers crackled outside.
White Spot, who was sleeping soundly, jumped up suddenly. It looked around alertly, shook its head, and lay down again.
Qin Mian opened his sleepy eyes and asked vaguely, “It’s the right time of rat hour4?”
“En.” Lei Tie got up and wrapped him tightly in the quilt. “I’ll set off firecrackers.”
Qin Mian watched him go out. Soon, there was a deafening sound of firecrackers in the courtyard, crackling. It took a long time before it stopped. The village seemed to be awakened as bursts of firecrackers sounded one after another, from far or near. The regular sound of fireworks exploding from farther away could also be heard.
Qin Mian’s sleepiness was blown away. He took off his thick clothes, yawned, crawled back to his old position, and covered himself with the quilt.
It took more than two moments5 for the village to regain its tranquillity.
Lei Tie blew out the light, undressed, climbed up the heatable brick bed, and fished out the person into his embrace.
Qin Mian groped for Lei Tie’s face in the dark, went closer, and kissed him on the lips, “Happy New Year.”
After they talked about it, a lot of things were done naturally.
Lei Tie clasped Qin Mian’s nape and deepened the kiss, “Happy New Year.”
“Good night.” Qin Mian adjusted his sleeping posture and closed his eyes.
However, Lei Tie was not sleepy. He stroked his wife’s back through his meager thin underclothes and sniffed at him. His wife’s smell was more intense than ever before, infecting his body’s temperature to turn into fiery hot. With one hand, he pressed his wife’s waist close, allowing them to stick to each other intimately, while the other hand could not help reaching to the fleshy part of the hips.
The palm of his hand was suddenly grabbed, and at the same time, it was pinched hard.
Qin Mian said languidly: “I’m only 15 years old.”
Lei Tie’s hand returned to Qin Mian’s waist. He sealed Qin Mian’s lips, sucking and kissing him fiercely. He difficultly gasped for breath a few times before gradually calmed down and patted Qin Mian’s back, “Sleep.”
Qin Mian put his arm on Lei Tie’s waist, kept his body unmoving, and soon fell asleep.
It was a good sleep all night.
When they got up in the morning, they put on new clothes. Qin Mian also tied a red cloth strip around White Spot’s neck.
The leftovers were put inside the wok to heat up, and they went out together. The snow had stopped, but the accumulated snow had not melted at all. With every step of foot, it echoed with “zizi”, and there were overlapping and disordered footprints everywhere. The wind was even more prominently gloomy and cold.
On the way, the villagers who were going to other villagers’ homes to pay New Year’s greetings, whether they were in good terms or not, all smiling and saying “Happy New Year” to each other.
A blooming6 young girl hid behind her parents. Seeing Qin Mian from afar, she secretly blushed with her heart palpitated. Inadvertently, she met Lei Tie’s gaze as sharp as a blade, and hurriedly lowered her head.
In the old house of the Lei Family, the younger generations were kowtowing to the elders as they paid the New Year’s greeting. The happy laughter and cheerful voices were incessant.
Lei Daqiang, Du Shi, and Wei Shi were all sitting in the upper position. Lei Daqiang wore an olive-green cotton-padded jacket printed with the character “福7“. Thanks to Wei Shi’s care for him these days, his face was ruddy and his complexion was excellent. He looked four to five years younger than before. Du Shi wore a cloud bun8 on her head, a silver hairpin on the left, and a golden dangling ornament on the right. She also dressed in a new suit. Her red cotton-padded jacket matched with purple flowers slit9 skirt made her face looked very friendly. Wei Shi was the most eye-catching. She had a snake bun10 on her head decorated with dark-green and bluish-green tassels. In between raising her hands and stamping her feet, subsequently, the earrings embellished with precious stones clipped on her ears gently swayed. Her suit of light blue cheongsam perfectly outlined her beautiful waist matched with a bright red beizi11. Her whole person looked charming. From time to time, Lei Daqiang took a look at her.
After Qin Mian and Lei Tie entered the door, everyone’s eyes involuntarily fell on them. They secretly sucked in a breath at the appearance of these two handsome men.
Lei Tie tied his hair with jasper hoops with his long black hair scattered behind his back. He wore a long indigo satin cotton-padded robe and a wide red belt to express the New Year’s joy. On the outside, he was covered in a black coat with a lockstitch border of golden thread cloud patterns. The garment against his tall stature made him look majestic and extravagant. Although Qin Mian was young, his figure was tall. He wore a cloud brocade12 cotton-padded robe embroidered with white bamboo leaves. On his waist, there was also a red belt embellished with a bulging embroidered pouch. He wore a black cloak of thigh-length sewn with velvety white fox fur on the edge. His whole person looked out of the world.
As the son and the daughter-in-law, they kowtowed to Lei Daqiang, Du Shi, and Wei Shi.
“Father, mother, little mother, we wish you all Happy New Year.”
Lei Daqiang was in a good mood, “Alright, alright, get up quickly.”
Du Shi responded with an “en” in neither salty nor indifferent tone.
Wei Shi invited Qin Mian and Lei Tie to sit down and have tea, melon seeds, and fried peanuts.
The Lei brothers and sisters-in-law came over with three children to wish them Happy New Year.
The three mischievous kids knelt down on the ground, kowtowed, cheerfully grinned, and crisply yelled: “Happy New Year to Eldest Uncle and Eldest Auntie.”
On the surface, Qin Mian was smiling but inside, his heart convulsed. He touched the heads of the three mischievous kids and put a red envelope for each of them in their pockets.
Zhao Shi secretly opened her two sons’ red envelopes and counted the money inside, which was 16 Wen13. She put them away with a smile. The average people gave money to relatives’ younger generation was 6 Wen. Qin Mian and Lei Tie had money to open a shop, which in Zhao Shi’s point of view, they were rich people. If they only gave 6 Wen, she would have something to say.
Qian Shi only secretly weighed Lei Xinxin’s red envelope. Her pursed lips smiled as she put it away.
After sitting for a while, Qin Mian and Lei Tie got up and went to Lei Dagang’s house.
Lei Dagang had opinions towards Lei Daqiang but held no prejudice against Lei Daqiang’s children. His wife treated Qin Mian and Lei Tie very warmly.
Qin Mian gave each of their children a red envelope, which also contained 16 Wen.
After coming out of Lei Dagang’s house, they went non-stop to other elders’ and their peers’ houses to pay New Year’s greetings. The first place they went to was Li Zheng’s14house.
Qin Mian was eloquent and had a good time talking with Li Zheng. Li Zheng’s wife also praised him and Lei Tie for their good looks….
After walking around the village, they returned home. They opened their gate/door15 and put all kinds of snacks on the table, waiting for the village’s peers and younger generations to visit their house for New Year. This was etiquette. As for whether people were willing to come or not, it could not be forced on them.
Before long, a few little turnip heads16 in new clothes came in with cheerful laugh. The few of them all wore a small red ao17, looking so happy. They were led by Xiao Hu and Gou Dan.
“Uncle Lei, Uncle Qin, Happy New Year!”
Lei Tie nodded lightly.
Qin Mian led them into the house with a smile and gave each of them a small red envelope, which contained 1 Wen. It was the custom of the village and only intended to be auspicious. He pointed to all kinds of snacks on the table, “See anything you like, grab it yourself.”
The children’s eyes lit up and started to drool. They ran to the table cheerfully, grabbed a handful of snacks, and stuffed them in their pockets. They did not even notice the small red envelopes in their pockets fell on the ground.
Qin Mian amusingly took them to pick up the red envelopes and put them back in their pockets.
Xiao Hu was the most polite kid. He shouted “thank you Uncle Qin” before he ran to grab the sweet guozis18.
Every little kid had their pockets filled up before leaving contentedly.
The adults and children came to pay New Year’s greetings one after another. Less than an hour later when no one came to visit, Qin Mian and Lei Tie had breakfast.
The lively first day of the New Year passed like this.
The second day of the first month was the day when a wife returned to her parent’s home.
Early in the morning, the sound of packing up things and berating children to not dirtying their new clothes could be heard from several nearby households. Lei Tie looked at Qin Mian and was about to speak, but said nothing.
Qin Mian was puzzled for a long time before he reacted and said to Lei Tie with a severe expression: “I really don’t remember my parents.”
Lei Tie embraced Qin Mian’s waist, bowed his head, and kissed on his lips, “Today, I’m going to pay New Year’s greetings to my maternal grandparents. You stay at home. I’ll take you when the snow melts.”
Qin Mian was surprised, “Is your maternal grandfather still alive? It’s the first time I’ve heard about it from you.”
Lei Tie was silent for a moment. “My maternal grandparents are alive. My maternal grandfather, grandmother, and second uncle are very kind to me. When I ran away from home, they secretly gave me one silver tael, and two silver taels when we split from the family.”
Qin Mian felt rather odd, “They didn’t come to our house warming…”
Lei Tie said: “My maternal grandparents live with Eldest Uncle. Eldest Uncle didn’t like me marrying a man and Second Aunt always felt that I’m a burden to Second Uncle.”
Qin Mian understood and stood up, “I’m going to prepare…New Year’s gifts for grandpa, grandma, and Second Uncle.”
He prepared generous New Year’s gifts for Lei Tie’s maternal grandparents. Fish balls, meatballs, lotus root balls, and tofu dregs balls were wrapped in one paper bag. Fried dough twists, sangzas19 and fried hemp leaves were hard for the elderly, but they tasted good when cooked with other dishes so each was packed with some. Each of the pheasant and hare that Lei Tie hunted were also wrapped separately. Moreover, there were also two kinds of soft snacks. All of these things filled a basket to the brim.
The New Year’s gifts to the second uncle were neither meager, which was a packet of hot pot seasoning, a bag of tofu dregs balls, and a pheasant.
All the way, Lei Tie watched Qin Mian wrapped them all with oiled paper, and his chest felt warm. “Two paternal aunts will come today. If they come in, you just entertain them and don’t care about other things.”
“Don’t worry, I can’t afford to lose.” Qin Mian said, unconcerned. In this era, etiquette and reputation were highly valued, unless there was deep-seated hatred that could completely cut off the relationship between relatives. Otherwise, it was not good to speak out. Henceforth, they would not cut off contact with Lei Xiaoyun’s family, but merely maintaining feelings on the outside would suffice.
Lei Tie drove the ox cart out. Qin Mian stayed at home alone, snacking on melon seeds while reading a book. He did not feel bored. At noon, he solved all the meals they had not finished on New Year’s Day. He did not treat himself badly at all.
Lei Tie hurriedly came back after lunch at his eldest uncle’s home.
Note:
1] Cloud Bun
2] Snake Bun
3] Slit Skirt (Horse-faced Skirt)
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