Su Qing heard the little girl say "Sugar", and couldn't help but ask with some confusion: "What is 'Sugar'?"

Li Fan said with a smile: "'Sugar' is a word invented by the girl herself, in fact, it is to pay tribute to the king of the stove, and you need to put some candy." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Su Qing covered her mouth and smiled, looked at the figure of the little girl running out, and said, "I guess that girl is worried about candy." ”

Li Fan said: "I think so, let's go to the stove room." ”

Su Qing nodded, followed Li Fan to the stove room, and his father and mother naturally followed.

Before sending the stove to the sky, there is also a ceremony called "sending the stove".

The ritual of sending the stove has now been simplified, and it is basically just a gift of incense.

In the past, it was necessary to sing the song of sending the stove and dancing the song of sending the stove, which was much more lively than now.

Moreover, in the past, the stove was mostly carried out at dusk and night, but now it is not so particular, and it can be done at dusk during the day.

A group of people walked into the stove room, and on the north side of the stove room, there was a portrait of the stove king.

Su Qing had seen this portrait before, but he didn't know it was the Lord of the Stove.

Su Qing looked at the portrait and said, "It turns out that this is the Lord of the Stove, I didn't know it before." ”

Li Fan said: "In fact, in the past, there was generally a shrine of the king of the stove in the stove room, most of which were located in the north or east of the stove room, and the statue of the king of the stove was offered in the middle. Now it's basically gone, and it's all directly pasted with a portrait of the king of the stove. Isn't it? Dad. ”

Hearing this, my father nodded and said, "Indeed, when we were babies in the past, there were stove king niches in every stove room, but now, there are almost no more." ”

What is the Stove King Shrine? Su Qing had never seen it, so he asked Li Fan, "What does the Stove King Shrine look like?" Have you ever seen it?"

Li Fan said: "When I was a child, I saw it in the village, and some of them looked like a sitting platform, and the statue of the Lord of the Stove was enshrined in the middle. ”

Su Qing nodded, and said, "Why does every family have to pay homage to the Lord of the Stove?"

Li Fan smiled and said: "According to legend, the Lord of the Stove was sealed by the Jade Emperor, the 'Nine Heavens East Kitchen Si Ming Stove Wangfu Jun', who is responsible for managing the diet of each family. Since Chinese New Year's Eve the previous year, Lord Zao has stayed at home to protect and monitor the family. On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, well, today, the Lord of the Stove will ascend to heaven and report to the Jade Emperor in the sky about the good or evil deeds of this family. Therefore, we have to give some candy like the Lord of the Stove, so that the Lord of the Stove can say more good things. ”

Su Qing's eyes blinked when she heard this, and she looked very interested, she never knew that the Lord of the Stove still had so much attention.

While speaking, the little girl had already placed the candy under the portrait of the Lord of the Stove.

Dad also put the paper horses made of bamboo strips and the forage for feeding the animals that he had prepared long ago next to the candy.

These are all things that the prince needs to use.

Then light a pair of red candles, three sticks of incense, and put them away.

After that, the little girl volunteered, stepped on the stool, and smeared sugar around the mouth of the portrait of the king of the stove.

Su Qing looked quite interesting, and his intention was self-evident, this was to make the old man's mouth sweeter.

After the sugar is smeared, the father takes off the portrait of the king of the stove, ignites the money paper prepared in advance, and then places the portrait on the burning money paper and burns it.

The entire stove sending ceremony is over, just waiting for Chinese New Year's Eve to invite the stove king back again.

"Is it over?" asked Su Qing.

Li Fan nodded and said, "It's over, it's all simplified now." ”

......

At noon, after lunch, Li Fan took Su Qing and the little girl, and the two beauties went to live in Yuanlai.

On the way, Su Qing asked, "Elder Zheng and Elder Liang, don't they go back for the New Year?"

Li Fan nodded and said, "Don't go back, Old Liang's wife, I also came over a few days ago, they are definitely going to celebrate the New Year here." ”

Su Qing nodded and said, "It seems that Elder Zheng and Elder Liang have completely regarded this place as their home." ”

Li Fan said proudly: "That is, the environment here is so good, where are they willing to leave." ”

Su Qing rolled his eyes and said, "Dese!"

Soon, the three of them came to the front of Yuanlaiju, Zheng Jie, Zhang Xia, Liang Sheng, and Liang Sheng's wife, Wu Bingrong, who had just arrived a few days ago, were disturbing their respective courtyards.

Li Fan said: "Elder Zheng, Elder Liang, did the Lord of the Stove send it?"

Zheng Jie said: "The love girl is also here, but she hasn't sent it yet, so I'm waiting for your kid to come and send it together." ”

Su Qing hurriedly greeted the four elders, Zheng Jie, Liang Sheng, and Zhang Xia had seen Su Qing, but Wu Bingrong saw it for the first time, and she was surprised in her heart, and said secretly: "What a beautiful girl!"

Then he smiled kindly: "Fanzi, this is Xiao Su, and Linlin's good girl, you are all here, come and sit." ”

Li Fan said with a smile: "Aunt Wu doesn't have to be polite, we came here to send the stove prince with you." ”

Subsequently, Zheng Jie and Liang Sheng's small courtyard stove room respectively sent away the stove prince.

After that, Li Fan and the three said goodbye, and after wandering around the village for a while, they returned home.

......

The next day, on the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, Li Fan still got up early. Well, Su Qing also got up.

Today will be busier than yesterday because today is "Dust Day".

To be precise, from today to Chinese New Year's Eve, these few days are "sweeping days", that is, cleaning.

Every household in the village has to clean the courtyard and house, clean all kinds of utensils, dismantle and wash the bedding and curtains, dust and dirt cobwebs, and dredge open channels and culverts.

Before the Spring Festival, everything will be cleaned up, and all the "bad luck" and "bad luck" will be swept out of the door, and the old will be said goodbye to the new year.

Every year in these days, every household in the village is cleaning, which is quite lively, and the atmosphere of the New Year is getting stronger and stronger.

After breakfast, Li Fan took a firewood knife and went to chop two bamboos back, and then cleaned the bamboo branches on the bamboo joints and made two bamboo poles four or five meters long.

Seeing this, Su Qing asked strangely, "What are you doing cutting two bamboo poles of such a length?"

Li Fan smiled: "You'll know right away." ”

Su Qing was puzzled and stared at the movements in Li Fan's hand. I saw Li Fan put down the bamboo pole and tied the thin bamboo branches that had just been picked off together, and the bamboo branches had bamboo leaves on them, forming a "broom" appearance.

Broom? Su Qing seemed to understand a little.

After that, Li Fan tied the "broom" he had just made to one end of the previous bamboo pole.

In this way, a temporary "long broom" composed of bamboo poles, bamboo branches, and bamboo leaves was completed.

What is such a long "broom" for? Naturally, it is used to clean the dirt and cobwebs high on the walls.

"Now you know what I'm going to do with it, right?" asked Li Fan.

Su Qing nodded and said, "Well, I know, it turns out that the broom can still come out like this." ”

Li Fan smiled: "I haven't seen it before, this is a method that has always been used in the village." ”

......