Visiting relatives has become an inevitable task during the Chinese New Year, especially for this friend, who has to travel between 22 relatives every year, which can be called a family marathon. Once upon a time, the number of relatives faced was as high as more than 30, and the complexity of the scene was overwhelming.
In the usual process of visiting relatives, the cousin of the aunt's family and the cousin of the uncle's family always appeared at the friend's house on time, and everyone had already tacitly given up those gifts and directly sent a 200 yuan red envelope to the parents, which was both affordable and trouble-free.
However, the friend's parents have a unique take on the red envelope. In their view, red envelopes should not simply be left in their hands, but should be exchanged for gifts and sent back. So, every year when he visits relatives, this friend has to use his 200 yuan budget to buy some gifts to show his greetings to his relatives.
In the village where he lives, there are four small supermarkets, one of which happens to be owned by his relatives. Since they are relatives, they have to go to this supermarket to shop every year to take care of their business. As a result, the annual supermarket shopping has become a necessary part of his visit to relatives.
This year, in order to meet the budget of 200 yuan per family, he chose a bag of 10 catties of rice, a barrel of blended oil and a box of 6 bottles of walnut drink. A total of more than 1,400 yuan was spent and 7 relatives were visited. However, in this process of visiting relatives, not all relatives can get together simply and happily. Because of my aunt's family, my uncle's dinner was often not luxurious, my aunt was paralyzed for a long time, and my second aunt's family played crazy all year round and refused to cook.
This year's trip to relatives ** showed a little episode. The walnut drink he bought originally had 24 bottles on the package, but there were only 12 bottles, and one of them was opened. What's even more frustrating is that the production date of this drink is September 2022, and the shelf life is until March 2023, which just expires during this year's Spring Festival.
All this made it quite difficult for the friend, because the episode not only troubled him, but also affected the emotional relationship between relatives. In rural areas, such trivial family matters may cause discussion among the villagers, making kinship more delicate and complicated.
This story may be a bit laughable, but it is a real-life scene. In the New Year, a moment full of family affection, there are not only celebrations and laughter, but also all kinds of trivialities and contradictions. Although this friend has to spend some money every year, it may be a true portrayal of the warmth and imperfection of the family.
Everyone's story of visiting relatives is different, and this vignette over a bottle of walnut drink paints a subtle picture of family affection. Perhaps, this is a touch of truth in rural life, and it makes people sigh at the complexity and diversity of the family world.