For the generation of rural children 70 years later, the scene of killing pigs and eating pig-killing rice after the lunar month every year may be the fullest memory of all childhood life.

On a sunny day in the middle of winter, an old man who killed pigs was invited, and the men, women and children of the entire Zhuangzi would come to help.

A stove was set up in the yard, and the cauldron was boiling water.

The aunts and concubines were picking and washing the green vegetables and radishes, while the happy parents were short.

The little ones are practicing the skills of firecrackers and fireworks, and the ice floes in the pond have not yet melted, and some fucking kid has thrown a lit cannon on the ice by the dock.

With a loud noise, the ice floes around him cracked one after another, which also frightened the adult mother who was washing vegetables and almost fell into the water.

Several old people sat under the eaves of the porch, drinking old tea and basking in the sun, recounting some old things.

How many acres of land did one family have in the past, which family has shown off their talents, and how they were hungry when they "made trouble with the Red Army", caught strong men, and how they went hungry when they were "ceasefired" (the saying that three years of natural disasters were in the rural areas of Jianghuai).

It's all old topics, it's all about the past that happened in this heavy country, as long as the goatee of Daddy Dog's egg.

A few strong adults and the butcher man joined forces to press the earthen pig that had been fed for a year on the table.

The old man raised the knife in his hand, and the hot blood foam gurgled out.

Without much moaning or struggling, the pig closed its eyes peacefully.

After the pieces of Yin Hong's blood tofu are formed out of the pot, the pig-killing rice will begin.

The characteristic one-pot stew of Dabie Mountain has been replaced by a large iron pot with a heavenly name, pork and pig's blood, radish and greens, vermicelli and bean skin, which are naturally blended under the exquisite cooking skills of the farmer's clever women, and the fresh and spicy fragrance permeates the entire village.

There are also tables full of cured goose, bacon, salted chicken, salted fish, and all kinds of dishes are more sumptuous than the New Year.

Passers-by walking outside the village would also laugh and mutter, muttering about who had killed the pig again.

If it is a familiar passer-by, they will also follow the incense to come and beat the tooth sacrifice.

Of course, the host family will be open to hospitality and let them eat and drink well.

The belly, which has been wronged for decades, has finally been liberated in the spring breeze of reform.

Eat meat in large pieces, drink wine in small cups, and each family takes turns to be the east, and then go to the village drama after they are full of wine and food.

This small life is nothing more than the extravagant life of the evil landlords and old rich people before liberation.

Non-governmental surveys have found that the great changes brought by the "package production to households" to China's rural areas, and the era of farmers' happiness and sense of gain should be in the early 80s in the two or three years.

Later, with the rise of commercialization, there were more and more material and spiritual temptations, and the gap between the rich and the poor between relatives and friends in the countryside became increasingly serious, and this sense of happiness and joy of turning over and liberating slowly faded away.

The pig killing rice that was in full swing in the past has also changed from the common carnival of the whole village to a gathering within the family, and then to a quiet after.

The rural style of the ancient road and the warm intestines has long been gone, and in the era of marketization, you have to pay wages to find a neighbor to cut rice and wheat.

Even in remote villages, people are competing to see who has bought a house in the city, whose children have driven back high-end cars, and whose sons have become the bosses.

Those students who were admitted to university in the cold window of ten years no longer have the glory of the past when they return to their hometown.

A lot of the time, it will be gray, and there is a feeling that it is not good to mix and have no face to see Jiangdong's father.

Kindness is no longer a virtue, it has become synonymous with a spoon and a bad man.

Philistine and gangsterism are no longer a moral stain, but the identity label of successful people in the countryside.

In the pursuit of happiness, people seem to have forgotten some of the most authentic things.

This may be a stage that the whole society must go through in the process of pursuing material abundance.

That is, the famous "law of diminishing marginal returns" in economics, and sociologists define this phenomenon as "the law of diminishing happiness".

The process of material and wealth from poverty to abundance brings people a diminishing sense of happiness.

When it reaches a critical point, it may even become an evil and a burden.

Of course, this tipping point varies from person to person, and for devout monks, coarse tea and light food are sufficient.

They regard material happiness as evil and pursue great freedom without self.

And for the richest people, 100 million is just a small goal.

For most mortals, the happiness that material beings give us is often not determined by their utility, but by external references.

What others have, how much they have.

When everyone is poor, eating a full stomach is the happiest thing.

The people around me are richer than me, and it is also very painful to live in a mansion.

Therefore, a philosopher once said that the root of human suffering is to equate happiness with material things.

All the paradoxes of happiness are bitter wine brewed from the endless abyss of materialism.

After sending the god of the stove in the new year, Wang Shichuan and Wei Lan began to prepare to go back to Lao Zhuangzi for the New Year.

In the rural customs of Jianghuai, the village where the elders live is the place where the incense of the whole family is, which is related to the well-being and luck of the whole family.

During the New Year's holidays, unless the parents are busy, few of the older generations go to the homes of the younger generations, and the children and grandchildren scattered all over the country return to the old Zhuangzi for the New Year.

This year's Spring Festival has a different meaning for the Yan Chong royal family in the hinterland of Dabie Mountain.

Chengzi's father, Wang Yuanchu, took off his hat as a "rightist", and the class shackles that pressed on the head of the entire family were finally removed.

That kind of freedom and happiness of turning over and liberating made the old swineherd of Mu Nelong Zhong suddenly come to life, almost ten years younger.

Take off the swineherd's rotten clothes, freshen up inside and out, change into the coat of a tunic suit, and put on reading glasses, and the temperament of an old gentleman who has read poetry and books will return.

The resumption of public service and the payment of back wages made the peasant family, which was originally poor and miserable and needed to be subsidized by his sons to survive, suddenly become rich.

During the winter vacation, my aunt Wang Shiying came to Wang's village and brought a message from her grandmother.

This year, I went back to Lao Zhuangzi for the New Year, don't buy anything, just go back.

Grandma also specially instructed to go back and stay for a few more days, and the doors and windows of the water and fire here should be settled.

But a large number of chickens, ducks and livestock in two families need to be taken care of, and the incense of the small family also needs to be taken care of.

After discussing with his eldest brother Wang Shizhong, Wang Shichuan decided that this year, Dachengzi's family would go to Laozhuang to accompany his father and grandmother for the Spring Festival, and Uncle Chengzi's family Mao Ya would be the representative.

Replace it next year, so that both sides are taken care of.

Although the old father and mother are not lacking anything, the filial piety of the children is still respected, and the gifts given to the grandmother's family for the New Year filled the entire frame car.

Half a fan of pork, charcoal transported back from the mountain in two bamboo baskets, and vermicelli mountain goods given by Weizhuang's grandmother's family, etc.

Lao Zhuangzi's New Year's flavor is much grander than at home, pushing open the courtyard door of the old house, and the festive red couplets of the courtyard are coming.

Daddy Wang Yuanchu, as the only old gentleman in the locality, wrote Spring Festival couplets to the surrounding villagers, which is also an unshirkable thing.

In previous years, it was written about sourness and humility, but this year it is full of joy, and even the pen, ink and paper are not prepared by the neighbors.

After the new year, Mr. Wang cut paper and ink in his yard, and wrote all his gratitude and happiness on the festive red paper couplets.

During the years of being the "old four", the villagers treated him well.

There is nothing to repay, so use these Spring Festival couplets full of blessings to show your heart.

The room of the old house has already been cleaned up festively bright, and the grandmother with a spring breeze on her face picked up her grandson Wang and kissed her again, Dachengzi and Maoya couldn't take care of it, and urged them to eat all kinds of snacks they had just bought. Hate can't pour all the love into every child and grandchild at this moment.

As soon as she settled down, her aunt Wang Shiying grabbed the "strong man" and assigned the paper-cutting work to Mao Ya's cousin, and handed over the errand of grinding ink and paper to Dachengzi.

Three generations of cultural people worked together for the first time, and Wang Shichuan, who was watching the battle next to him, watched the ups and downs, while pouring tea and handing cigarettes to the relatives and friends of the villagers who came to pick up the Spring Festival couplets, and hid in the house from time to time to wipe away the tears on his face.

Happiness can really change a person's temperament, and Dachengzi discovered for the first time that the aunt of a junior high school student turned out to be so beautiful.

The originally gray-haired and sad grandmother has completely changed her appearance.

His hands and feet are numb, his thinking is clear, and his face is full of the brilliance of kindness and atmosphere.

For the lunch of a large family, she didn't want her daughter-in-law Wei Lan to interfere at all, and all the work of half an hour was cleaned up.

The year of more than half a hundred finally ushered in the second spring of her life, and the grandmother who was around her knees with her children and grandchildren had no regrets except gratitude.

The errand of writing Spring Festival couplets took three days, and Dachengzi and his cousin Mao Ya were simply bored to death, and they regretted coming to Lao Zhuangzi for the New Year.

At this time in Wangjia Dazhuang, it was the time when they and Gangzi, Goudan, and Bolt were making trouble in the heavenly palace and wantonly swaying.

On the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, all the Spring Festival couplets of the neighbors were finally written.

Mr. Wang Yuanchu solemnly cut the paper himself, and after pondering for a long time, he slowly put down the pen under the gaze of his children and grandchildren, and wrote down the couplets at the main entrance of the old house in one go.

The upper link is: spring breeze and rain, and the lower link is: the family and the country celebrate together.

The horizontal batch is: bitter and sweet.