Chapter 514 New Year's Day
It's seven or eight o'clock, and night has just arrived.
Although it was still a long time before midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the village had already begun to become lively.
Because the usual group of naughty children have run out of their homes and are wandering around the village in groups at night.
After all, they are a group of children, and the oldest is no more than eleven or twelve years old. It is difficult to sit down with adults honestly at home.
Although it is pitch dark outside, for the children who have grown up in the village, every corner of the village is already familiar to them.
Because they have rarely had any entertainment since they were young, they have always played various games with their friends in the village, so even if it is dark, they can play as if it were daytime.
And today is not like usual, just playing catch cats and catching blind people. Many children came out with pocket money tonight, and almost all of them went to Zhang Xinmin’s house to buy all kinds of things. fireworks.
There are firecrackers, two kickers, flying monkey cannons, etc. Compared with previous years, there are many more tricks.
However, most of the children bought skin-cleaning firecrackers, and only a small number of children bought the Flying Monkey Cannon.
Because firecrackers are the cheapest among these fireworks, you can buy a box for only one or two cents.
As for the others, it may cost about fifty cents, which is equivalent to a huge sum of money for the little guys.
The sky cannon seems to be sold for a dime each, but these little guys are very calculating.
Buying a sky cannon for a dime can only give you a short burst of pleasure, but if you buy a box of skin polishers, you will have at least a dozen of them, which can satisfy them for a long time.
Zhang Xinmin’s family seems to have brought in a large number of fireworks and firecrackers this year to sell in the village. When these children found out, they almost all ran towards his house.
Of course, the sales volume of the children is just a drop in the volume of his purchases. His real intention is to wait to sell to people who come to the village to play tomorrow.
Last year, there were already a lot of people coming to the village on the first day of the Lunar New Year. But at that time, he was not brave enough and did not dare to buy more. As a result, the stock ran out within two days of selling last year.
At that time, he regretted not buying more goods. It would be difficult to replenish the goods after they were sold out, because the store selling fireworks had closed and would not open until after the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
So last year, he missed an opportunity to make money.
Finally this year, he spent enough money and stocked up a lot of goods without saying a word.
Zhang An heard the lively play of the children outside, so he took his son to the yard. Sure enough, the children were lighting firecrackers one by one, and the village became lively because of the sound of these firecrackers.
The leader of the Piwazi brigade is Zhang Bao. Ever since Zhang Tie retired from junior high school, he has inherited the position of leader.
Seeing Zhang Bao and a group of little guys playing with firecrackers, Zhang An had to say that Zhang Xinmin was a very thief, even plotting against children.
He just needs to give Zhang Bao a few boxes of firecrackers and fireworks, and then let him go out to play with the children in the village.
When other children see Zhang Bao playing with cannons, they will definitely feel itchy and run to their house to buy some. This is simply naked advertising.
But Zhang An doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with this. After all, his childhood playing with fireworks was really a happy one.
"Uncle Xiao An, why did you bring Qiqi out?"
Seeing Zhang An and Xiao Siqi in the yard, Zhang Bao and the others immediately stopped setting off the firecrackers.
Although they are playful, they are still somewhat sensible. They are worried that they will scare their younger brother Xiao Siqi by setting off cannons.
"It's okay, just throw it away. He's not afraid."
If other people's children were scared to cry when setting off a string of firecrackers, little Siqi would not. At first, Wang Fang and Wu Qiuping were worried about scaring their precious grandson when setting off firecrackers, so they quickly covered his ears.
I didn’t expect that this little guy was not only not afraid, but felt uncomfortable because his ears were covered, and kept twisting his body.
As for his son who has always behaved differently from other children, Zhang An is worried that he might be like himself and be taken away by some old monster from time to time.
But after observing for several months, Zhang An discovered that this was because he often brought his son into the space, which caused little Siqi's development to be much ahead of other children, so he felt relieved.
"Brother, you grow up quickly, we will take you to play together."
Zhang Bao and the others did not go away, but gathered around Zhang An to coax little Siqi.
They like the elder Zhang An very much. The feeling is different from that of other adults, but they like him from the bottom of their hearts.
So for Xiao Siqi, it is probably because he loves the house and the bird.
"Then you have to wait. Don't wait until he grows up, and you won't be willing to take him to play."
Little Siqi is less than half a year old now. If he can No matter how you play in the field, you have to be four or five years old, and you have to be able to run and jump.
At that time, Zhang Bao and the others were already fifteen or sixteen years old, and they had reached the age where they wanted girls in their hearts, so it was really not certain.
“No, little Uncle An, we are willing to take Qiqi to play with us anytime. Why don’t you let Qiqi be carried on my back now, and let’s take him out to play.”
A bunch of little guys really like little Siqi. Their younger brothers and sisters probably wouldn’t be treated like this.
"It's too dark now, go and play by yourselves."
Zhang An quickly refused Zhang Bao's kindness.
It didn't matter during the day. After all, they were teenagers who had never taken care of their younger brothers and sisters at home, so he was very relieved.
But it was dark everywhere at this late night, and they were playing quite crazy. How could Zhang An rest assured to give his son to them.
“But remember, don’t leave firecrackers in other people’s water tanks or haystacks, otherwise you will definitely be beaten.”
When the children were playing skin-scrubbing , but they are very naughty. They like to throw them into toilets or sand tanks filled with water, as well as into the feces pulled by animals on the road. If they explode slightly, it will be like a goddess scattering flowers.
However, on the road to Changqing Village, there are no longer any animals defecating outside, and the dry latrines have been transformed into bathrooms, so there is no place to throw them away.
However, some villagers still have sand tanks for water storage in their yards. These tanks will last for decades without being bumped, but if they are bumped a little, they will be smashed to pieces if you dare to touch them.
In previous years, many children liked to play with the squibs that everyone had set off during the Chinese New Year. Some naughty children blew up other people's sand jars.
Whoever blew up the bomb in the end will be recognized by his family. After paying for a sand vat, he would grab his own child and beat him severely.
There are also grains and straw piled up by many people in the fields. If you throw a firecracker into it, it will easily ignite.
Because the children were very obedient to his own words, Zhang Ancai warned them in advance.
"Don't worry, Uncle An, we will definitely not blow up other people's things."
Zhang Bao chuckled. He originally had this idea, but as soon as Zhang An said it, he Obedient gave up.
"That's right. It's not worthwhile to be beaten during the Chinese New Year. And don't fry the cabbage in other people's fields." Zhang An suddenly remembered that now in various vegetable fields But there is Chinese cabbage that has been rolled into the core, which is the favorite toy of these little guys.
Just light up any firecrackers and stuff them in, and they will bloom.
Not long after entering the house, little Siqi fell asleep in Zhang An's arms. After all, he was a child and didn't have much energy.
However, I could only sleep for two or three hours this time. At 12:10, fireworks started to go off outside, and there were "whoosh, whoosh, bang, bang, bang" explosions everywhere. .
As soon as the firecrackers sounded, Xiao Siqi was woken up.
Zhang An returned his son to Wu Qiuping and Wang Fang, and then went out to set off fireworks.
This year he prepared a whole car as before.
Arrived outside the yard, Zhang An found that there were many more people setting off fireworks in the village than last year.
Even the Dongli courtyard is following suit. Although there are relatively few households there, it is not difficult to see that they are the main force.
Colorful fireworks exploded in the sky, and the whole village was illuminated sparklingly.
There are also people in other villages, but they are still not as good as Changqing Village, and the Zhang An family has not started yet. It seems that the money distributed to everyone by the village this year is really quite a lot.
After watching for less than a minute, Zhang An took out his lighter and started to light it.
The people who stayed at home had already run to the window on the second floor with little Siqi in their arms, and began to enjoy the fireworks outside through the large window.
Finally, Zhang An set off half of the fireworks in his home village, checked that it was already four in the morning, and was ready to call it a day.
Although there is still half of the inventory left, there is no need to flush it all in one night like before. It can still be continued in the next few days. Now it does not need to disturb everyone's sleep.
The next morning, Zhang An got up very early because he had to prepare to go out on the first day of the new year to pay New Year greetings to his elders.
It was the same in previous years, except that he didn't have to get up so early in the past.
Because his seniority in his family is too high, there are not many elders in the village who need him to pay New Year greetings in person, and it won't take long for him to come back.
But not this year. After having little Siqi, he, as a father, must take his son to pay New Year greetings to all the elders, because little Siqi can't walk yet.
Zhang An took a look and found that his son hadn't woken up yet, so he didn't wake up little Siqi. He got up and washed himself first, and let the two of them continue to sleep.
Because there is a taboo on the first day of the lunar month, if you wake up people in the morning, Tai Sui will also be woken up. Then Tai Sui will be the one who is woken up throughout the year.
In rural areas, Tai Sui represents something unlucky, so everyone takes it very seriously.
So on this day, you can sleep as much as you want until the afternoon, and no adults at home will call you.
After washing up and tidying up his clothes, Zhang An started to burn incense.
The incense starts on New Year's Eve and has to be burned until the third day of the Lunar New Year. There are also days after that when the incense needs to be burned.
After doing this, little Siqi woke up after a full sleep. Children are like this, they have to sleep, but they can't sleep for too long.
Wang Fang saw Zhang An carrying his grandson downstairs, so he poured a basin of warm water for the little guy to wash, and then changed into a new set of clothes that Wu Qiuping had just brought over. The clothes and pants were all bright red. Yes, very festive.
"Okay, go quickly and bring Qiqi back early for breastfeeding."
Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo have to stay at home, because there are also many people who want to come to their home to pay New Year's greetings.
In this way, Zhang An took his son and spent about two hours, starting from the second master Zhang and the fourth master Zhang, and visited the homes of the elders who were relatively close to each other in the village.
The elders like the little guy very much. When they see him one by one, they quickly stuff new year's money into his arms.
After one trip, I collected hundreds of New Year's money. In rural areas of this era, it was a really scary figure.
Zhang An was also very happy. The New Year's money he had given out in previous years finally began to return.
Waiting for the two men to return home, they found that no one came to the house and there was no one at all.
After asking, I found out that it was not that no one came to the door this year, but that when they came over, they saw that Zhang An was not there, and after paying New Year's greetings to Zhang Jianwen and Wang Fang, they went to the next house.
After all, many people who are not close to each other come here with their children, hoping to use their little relationship to show off their faces in front of Zhang An.
Now that Zhang An is not here, they will naturally not stay here any longer, but Zhang An thinks this is good. The house should be quieter, unlike before, where there was no room to sit in the main room.
No one came to disturb her now, and Wang Fang was free and began to make bread and lotus leaf cakes.
Zhang An is also good at making arrangements. After handing over his son to Su Ying, he helped the two mothers.
This year Wang Fanghe’s noodles are not only glutinous rice noodles, but also half a pot of potato flour and sweet potato flour.
The lotus leaf cake comes out of glutinous rice bread. Even if it is cooked, it still looks the same. You can only judge whether it is cooked by whether it floats.
Potato flour and sweet potato flour are different. Although the lotus leaf cake made from this stuff is not much different from the glutinous rice bread when it is not in the pot.
But after it is cooked in the pot, it becomes completely transparent, and you can clearly see the fillings inside. The crystal dumplings sold at the food stalls outside are also made in this way.
In contrast, the lotus leaf cake made from glutinous rice bread has a glutinous texture, but it can easily get boring if you eat too much.
The ones made with potato flour and sweet potato flour will taste better. The buckles are very chewy and you won’t get tired of them no matter how much you eat.
But if you use sweet potato flour and potato flour to wrap it, it will test your personal skills very much. You are very particular about the ratio of the water surface and the temperature of the boiling water.
For someone like Wang Fang who has been doing it for decades, there is no problem at all.
But for those who are not very familiar with it, they may not even be able to roll out the skin. Even if it is rolled out, the wrapping will be very easy to crack.
After Wang Fang finished cooking the lotus leaf cake, almost everyone in the family rushed towards the crystal clear lotus leaf cake.
Even Wu Qiuping and Su Shaowen are like this, because they have never tried this kind of eating.
“Oh, if I had known that everyone liked it, I should have ordered more noodles.”
Wang Fang saw the half pot of lotus leaves wrapped in sweet potato flour and potato flour. The dumplings were quickly divided, and I suddenly felt that the package was a little lacking.
I wanted to come out with some more bread, but everyone stopped me.
If you wrap it again, the glutinous rice bread will be wasted if no one eats it.
(End of this chapter)