Some Things About the New Year
When the bus passed a mountain pass and a strange small town appeared on the right, I suddenly realized I had once again left my hometown, and couldn’t help feeling melancholy. I’ve been living very relaxed these days. Returning from the noisy, bustling city to the quiet countryside felt like escaping from one world to another. All my troubles were thrown to the back of my mind. I no longer logged into QQ all day, no longer refreshed Weibo repeatedly, and stopped visiting blogs everywhere. I stopped caring about tech news, economic news, Egyptian politics, and such. I only cared about how many ducks the family was raising, how many acres of land were planted, how the neighbors were doing… There were no TV shows I liked. I went to bed around nine at night. In the pitch-black room, sleeping alone on a big bed, accompanied by music, I drifted off to sleep. Woke up at ten the next day. Well, more than half the day was spent sleeping—truly luxurious, truly comfortable. Living day by day in fragments, I seemed to forget the passage of time. Ten-plus days felt like the blink of an eye and passed in an instant.
The morning I came back, my dad asked me to bring my laptop. Originally that was also my plan, but when I tried the wireless card, it seemed broken. So bringing the computer would be pointless. I only casually brought some clothes and a few books—“The Devotion of Suspect X” and “Walden.” “The Devotion of Suspect X,” like “White Night,” is a novel that doesn’t withstand rereading. I read while listening to music in the courtyard and finished it in two or three days. Then I read “Walden”—progress was much slower. From the day I returned home until now, I’ve been listening to moumoon’s “Sunshine Girl” on repeat. I like this singer’s cute and playful voice. I’ve replayed it more times than I’ve listened to the national anthem from childhood to now. Because of this, my phone needs charging three times a day.
The family has raised a new puppy again. The previous dog ran away during summer while dragging its iron chain. It was hot at the time, and my grandpa, afraid the dog would suffer, splashed some water on it. Surprisingly, it scared the dog so much that it broke free from the chain and ran away. It wandered around the village at first, then was never seen again. The new puppy isn’t familiar with me. As soon as it sees me, it hides far away. Ha, what a timid dog. I threw bones to it from far to near. It carefully approached with its tail between its legs, grabbed the bone, then ran away with its tail between its legs. After two days of this, the dog no longer feared me. I don’t have clear likes or dislikes regarding cats and dogs. Some say dog people crave being loved by others, while cat people crave loving others—I think there’s some truth to that.
We have a C-band satellite TV receiver at home. I like tinkering with these things, exploring unknown worlds. Our area can receive satellites from 78°E to 128°E. I’ve watched every free satellite program within this range that has receivable conditions. I especially like Phoenix TV on AsiaSat 3 and French fashion channels. I’d really like to install a Ku-band LNB, but I don’t live here permanently and haven’t had the chance to do it. If only I had my own house—I’d install several big dishes on the roof and crack encrypted programs with a networked setup, haha. I happened to see Chenghua Cable TV saying they want to legally install satellite receiving equipment and watch legal TV programs. I was curious what “legal TV programs” means—does Phoenix count as legal?
Grandpa is an old Party member. At lunch on New Year’s Eve, he reminisced about the past and expressed gratitude for the present, and we had a disagreement about who brought us our happy life. He thought it was Mao Zedong, I thought it was Deng Xiaoping. I argued a couple of sentences then stopped debating. It’s common for people to become more stubborn as they age—many views won’t change. Let’s go with Mao Zedong then. Actually, according to my five-cent classmate, we should also thank that bowl of egg fried rice. Later I heard family history and had never really understood this. I also don’t know the ancestral relationships with nearby neighbors. Now I can roughly figure it out. If they hadn’t told me these things, I would never have asked. I’m not very interested in these old relationships.
New Year’s Day was quite boring. My grandma went up the mountain to ring the chimes for people worshiping Buddha. I also went up the mountain once. My cousin suddenly called saying she was going to town. My cousin and I immediately decided to go to town. We went to the temple in town. Although I didn’t feel the lively atmosphere of the morning, the garbage on the ground indicated the previous scene. I have no religious faith—in fact, I have great aversion to one particular religion. Forgive me for not being able to directly name it online. No matter what Buddhist temple I visit, I only treat it as artificial scenery. People burning incense and worshiping Buddha I treat as temporary actors. In China, people with faith all have utilitarian motives. They hope the Buddha will protect their safety and bring them wealth. If the compassionate Buddha could save all sentient beings, wouldn’t our great motherland have so many human tragedies? According to my understanding, burning incense, worshiping Buddha, and praying for blessings will eventually become just a ritual, like pasting Spring Festival couplets during New Year or eating tangyuan during Lantern Festival.
The New Year custom is to receive New Year’s money. On my maternal grandmother’s side, the uncles haven’t followed this custom for many years, so I’ve gradually gotten used to not receiving New Year’s money during the holiday. One of my aunts has a family that’s not very well-off economically, but she insisted on giving me money. Last year when she gave me money, I quietly stuffed it back into her bag. We only called to tell her after we’d walked far away. This time when I left her house, she didn’t give me New Year’s money. I thought that was fine. After walking quite far, I subconsciously reached into my pocket and discovered she’d also quietly stuffed the money into my bag. I felt both touched and uncomfortable. Earning money isn’t easy nowadays, let alone with prices skyrocketing. Once while walking alone on the road, I pondered whether returning to the gold standard economically would prevent economic crises. I made many assumptions—it seemed this could solve the problem.
My aunt also asked if I had a girlfriend. This winter break, I heard similar questions many times. My mom even asked me twice, almost making me angry. No means no!!!!!!! Why does it have to be so direct?
Went to my maternal grandmother’s house. I feel my maternal grandparents have really aged. The food they cook no longer tastes as good as before, though I still ate with great relish.
The sixth day of the lunar new year was the high school classmates’ reunion. I hadn’t attended the previous few reunions. Now in my third year of university, it will be hard to have opportunities to gather in the future, so I must cherish this. Although we hadn’t seen each other for a long time, that warm feeling still moved me. When we went to the teahouse to drink tea, I noticed many people had learned to play mahjong. I could only sit on the side chatting with classmates who also didn’t know how to play cards. I like face-to-face conversation—this way we can understand each other better. Being able to see others’ reactions during conversation is the best form of communication. It’s very convenient for gauging whether what you’re saying is reasonable and planning what to say next. Guessing the other person’s feelings and responding appropriately during online chat is really mentally exhausting. In the future, let’s go drink tea together. Coffee works too.
On the bus, I thought: this New Year is really over.