Chapter 354 Mountain Rat
The two old men arrived at Zhang An's house. They first washed their hands, then tidied their clothes, and finally invited the Zhang family's ancestral tablets out.
The elders of their generation pay great attention to these things, although they do not need to burn incense and bathe in advance and fast for three days like the ancients.
But there are requirements. People with unclean limbs and disheveled clothes are not allowed to invite the ancestors.
In the yard, two uncles, Zhang Jianguo and Zhang An, were busy working together, either killing chickens or fish.
Speaking of which, the fate of these chickens is indeed a bit miserable. No one can guarantee what will happen to them tomorrow.
Every time there is a happy event in the family, they have to suffer because one of them has to be killed to celebrate.
Every year or festival, one has to be caught and killed to celebrate the festival, but they still cannot escape their miserable fate.
When they encounter customs such as ancestor worship and sacrifice, they still cannot escape the fate of being knifed.
Or if you have guests at home, you have to kill one to receive the guests no matter what.
Sometimes when there are too many people, you have to kill two. It would be better if you kill two, and it would not be boring if you have a companion on the road.
I won’t talk about red and white matters. After all, this kind of big scene is not something that can only be solved by one or two people.
The rooster is especially miserable, because most customs stipulate that a big rooster must be used and it must be able to crow.
The life of hens is slightly better, and because they can lay eggs, many people are reluctant to kill them.
After the three brothers slaughtered the big rooster and carp, they did not change the knife.
Especially the big rooster, put it in the pot and cook it for a while before taking it out, because these are necessary offerings.
A pair of high waxes are burning in front of the shrine in the main room, and three pillars of high incense are offered, illuminating the whole main room.
After all the offerings are brought out and arranged, the ancestor worship ceremony is ready to begin.
“Today there is a Zhang family, the twenty-seventh generation grandson Zhang An, has found a good wife and is happy to have heirs.”
“In the year of Wuyin, on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, I borrowed I would like to greet you all the ancestors of Gaotang on this festive occasion.”
Mr. Zhang stood in front of the hall, clasped his hands and began to pray.
When the old man finished reporting the news to his ancestors, Zhang An, as the reporter, had to toast and kowtow.
This section of the memorial to the ancestors is several hundred words long, but Mr. Zhang read it in a melody, clear and catchy way.
After the memorial service was completed, Wang Fang and Zhang An's two aunts began to pack things and were busy in the kitchen making dinner.
The three old men in the room kept greeting Su Ying, their granddaughter-in-law, and couldn't stop smiling for a second.
Especially Zhang An’s second grandma, who held Su Ying’s hand and patted it gently, kept telling Su Ying a lot of experiences about pregnancy and childbirth care.
The old lady valued her great-grandson very much. She spent nearly half an hour just imparting her experience, for fear of missing something.
After all, this is Su Ying's first child and she is still ignorant about this aspect. As old people, they naturally have to put more thought into it.
In the evening, it was too crowded for a large family of more than a dozen people to sit at one table, so Zhang An simply set up a small square table next to it.
This table is reserved for the more playful younger brothers and sisters in the family. Aunt Zhang An's second and third aunts were worried about these children, so they also sat with them.
During the dinner, several elders heard Wang Fang mention that Zhang An was now a member of the County Forestry Bureau, and they were all very happy.
Especially the three old people, holding Zhang An’s work permit, burst into tears and kept talking about double happiness.
Although Zhang An didn't think anything was wrong, he was happy along with the elders in the family.
This meal, because several old people were too happy, they chatted while eating until eight or nine o'clock.
The dishes on the table are hot and cold, hot and cold.
In the end, the two old men naturally drank a little too much.
Even Mr. Zhang, who has always been relatively under control, drank too much that day.
The two old brothers took advantage of the fact that all the descendants of the eldest brother's family were there and told them a lot of past events.
These are the past events between Grandpa Zhang An and them, and there are many things that Zhang An has heard mentioned by the two elders for the first time in his two lives.
This is why Mr. Zhang is happy today, so he will explain these things to his descendants at home.
So that the children and grandchildren in the family can know the past of their elders.
It also prevents these things from going into the mud with them when they are gone.
"Anzi, you are good. I have seen your performance over the years."
"When your grandfather left, you were still wearing crotchless pants. In the blink of an eye, you are going to be a father, and your grandparents are here, so you can feel at ease."
Second Master Zhang finally said and gave Zhang An a thumbs up.
"When I go down one day, I will tell your grandparents slowly and slowly. They will definitely be very happy when they know."
"Bah, bah, bah, have a good life. Why are you talking about this? Are you drunk?"
As soon as Mr. Zhang said this, he was immediately slapped by Mrs. Zhang next to him.
Now in their family, the only one who dares to do this is Grandma Zhang.
"Yes, Second Grandpa, you are talking nonsense. You still have to watch your great-grandson grow up, and then hold your great-great-grandson in your arms, waiting for our family to be full of children and grandchildren."
Zhang An didn't say anything about longevity, because in later generations, Mr. Zhang and Mrs. Zhang had already reached the age of 100, so it would be unlucky for him to say this again.
"Okay, okay, then we will keep waiting until we hug our great-grandson and hug our great-great-grandson, hahahaha."
"That's for sure, our family will definitely become better and better. Well, there will be more and more grandsons in the future, and I’m afraid that you guys won’t be able to carry them.”
In the end, the two old men were almost sober, and the family sent a few old people back.
When going to bed at night, Su Ying fell asleep with her arms around Zhang An's neck not long after lying on the bed.
Zhang An thought that he would be hugged for a while and let go after she fell asleep, just like before.
But she stayed up until midnight. Su Ying slept very deeply, but she never let go of her hands.
Having no other choice, Zhang An could only let her hug her all the time. After all, she was his wife.
Zhang An didn't even think about letting go of her hand, because it was not good to wake her up in the middle of the night.
The next day, the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, although there were still people working in the fields, many were already idle.
Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the end of the new year. Everyone is preparing food for tomorrow at home.
Zhang An walked around the village. Many people were either killing chickens or ducks. The day was very prosperous and festive.
Every year during the Chinese New Year, the days that everyone pays most attention to are New Year's Eve, the first few days of the new year and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Because everyone believes in having a beginning and an end, the New Year and the New Year must be lived well. As for the days in between, the later the year goes, the less New Year’s taste will be.
Although when we met, everyone said what kind of work they would do during the Chinese New Year.
But secretly, everyone wishes they could work a few more days so that next year’s harvest would be better than others.
In the past, Zhang An couldn't understand it when he was young, but now he has grown up and realized that these people are very bad, and what they say is used to numb others.
Arrived at Qiaotou, where Li Hongbin was inspecting the construction site. This place already looks a bit different from the time I started working on it on the eighth day of the lunar month until now.
The former slope has now been dug into flat ground by these excavators.
For those who have never been here, they would never imagine that this place used to be a slope.
"Old Li, how many days will it take to finish the work here?"
There should be little work here. It is estimated that there is only some finishing work left, which will take less than a few days.
"There is only a little bit of tail left in the corner that needs to be cleaned up. I estimate that after finishing it this morning, it will be almost time to call it a day."
Just like what Zhang An thought, it will be finished soon, but He didn't expect it to be so fast.
"Nah, when the work here is finished, will you ask a few masters to help me dig the fish pond?"
Now the wasteland and fields at the foot of the mountain have become Zhang An's home Yes, the half-acre fish pond should be wider.
This time, while Li Hongbin transferred the excavator, Zhang An was ready to dig it out to avoid further trouble.
And now that winter has just passed, the fields are still dry, and the excavator can just go in. At most, it will be a waste of some rapeseed that has not grown up.
If the fields are turned into paddy fields and rice is planted in the future, it will not be easy for the excavator to drive in.
"Then when this place is finished, I will take them there. You were not willing to dig half an acre of fish pond before, so why are you still thinking about widening it now?"
Li Hongbin did not forget, When the house was being built, he and Chen Ze strongly requested to dig the half-acre fish pond, and he agreed to dig it.
“There wasn’t much space in the backyard at that time. How big can a pond be dug? Now the wide area at the back should be expanded.”
Anyway, this fish pond is not big enough. After digging, the pond of only half an acre is indeed too small. Now that there is room, we might as well dig a few more acres for him.
And Su Ying has always had a dream of rowing, so Zhang An plans to buy a small boat this year.
When the time comes, if you want to go out, go for a swim in the river. If you don’t want to go out, just hang out in your own pond and enjoy the breeze.
And there is another reason, because the river is closed to fishing before June, so many fishing friends feel it is a pity.
Many fishing friends who knew Zhang An suggested that Zhang An make the pond bigger.
When fishing is no longer available in the river, I will come here to have a good time.
Zhang An only thought about it for a moment and agreed. After expanding the fish pond, his mother can guard it every day.
In the past two years, she had watched others go to the fields and felt idle, so she had been thinking about going to the fields to work.
Just let her stay at home and collect fishing fees. She gets money every day. How can she still have so much energy to think about farming.
At around one o'clock in the afternoon, several excavator masters drove their big machines over the bridge.
The roaring sound like a tractor immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the village.
Everyone was very curious and stretched their heads in their yards to see where these big excavators were going to dig.
"How big do you plan to expand the fish pond this time?"
Li Hongbin knew that the nearby mountains and paddy fields now belonged to Zhang An's family.
“If you dig into the field in front, it will be about three or four acres in size.”
There is a loess slope behind, and you definitely can’t dig inward, as that would be very laborious.
There are paddy fields and flat land in front of us, so it won’t take much time to dig directly.
Although rapeseed is still grown in this field, and these rapeseeds still belong to their previous owner.
But Zhang An has already come to greet these families in advance. When the time comes, they will just collect the rapeseed from Zhang An's field.
No one would refuse this, and they all happily agreed. After all, the rapeseed in Zhang An's field is much better than what they grow themselves.
The farmers will know at a glance that there will definitely be a harvest of rapeseed in that field next year, so there will be no reason not to agree.
A few people stood and looked around, then took lime and spread it around to determine the approximate location.
The fish pond has already been dug, this time it is just to expand it, but it also saves the process of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and setting off cannons.
A few masters started the excavator and started digging directly with their arms stretched out.
In fact, there have always been paddy fields here, and digging is much easier than in the mountains over there.
"This place is not small. If you are not in a hurry, you can dig all afternoon today. I will let them go home tomorrow and then come back to continue digging after the fifteenth day."
Although this place is not as good as the one at Qiaotou. It is as big as a side, but it is also three or four acres of land. It takes several days to dig with only three excavators.
Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. If they don't rush to work, Li Hongbin also wants to let a few masters go back to have a rest and celebrate the festival.
After all, now everyone attaches great importance to the Lantern Festival, second only to the Chinese New Year.
And these masters have been working since the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. If they are not allowed to go back during this big holiday, their families will definitely have objections.
“There’s definitely no rush, I’ll be fine if I play for a few days. I just thought I’d dig it while the excavator is here to save me the trouble of going back and forth on the road.”
Zhang An Of course I don’t have any objections. Anyway, it won’t matter if the pond is dug earlier or later.
“Wow, this mountain rat is so big.”
While the two were standing nearby chatting, the excavator master working inside suddenly exclaimed loudly.
It turned out that there was a digger master who dug a mouse hole while operating the bucket to dig a hole.
The two of them followed the cry and saw a huge mountain rat running around on the ground in front of them.
“Damn it, where did this monster come from?”
Zhang An took a look and saw that this mountain rat was about the same size as a piglet, not to mention that they had agreed not to become sperms after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
"Ball, is this still a mouse? This is a fucking pig, I'm really *********, I've become a sperm."
Isn't it true that Li Hongbin didn't? He had seen rats before, but this was the first time he had seen such a big rat.
He was so shocked that he burst into a beautiful Chinese phrase.
Other villagers who came to watch had the same expression as him. There were many big rats seen in the village, but this was the first time such a big one.
While everyone was marveling, Xiaohu didn't care whether he was meddling in his own business or not.
With a howl, he led several other big dogs in the family and rushed straight towards the spirited mountain mouse.
For a while, in this open space, everyone began to perform a big show of a dog and a mouse.
The excavator masters were afraid that the bucket of the excavator would hurt Zhang An’s big dog, so they stopped the excavator.
The people nearby who were joining in the fun quickly moved out of the way when they saw the mountain rat approaching them.
After all, the two front teeth on its mouth look very scary. Who knows what will happen if it is bitten.
(End of this chapter)