It's an uneventful winter morning in the northern countryside. Sparrows chirp and squaak on the branches in the backyard.

This is the only bird call that can be heard in winter. Every morning, when he opened his eyes in the warm noise of sparrows, Guo Zhenmou felt that his machine, which had been running for most of his life, began to start, and without hesitation, he sat up from the kang and put on his clothes and trousers.

In winter, the weather is cold and freezing, there is no tight way to live in the fields and orchards, and the sheep have to wait for the sun to come out and the frost will dissolve.

It was a habit for him to follow the call of the sparrow. Habits are more difficult to disobey than a system is more difficult to disobey than an order for a person over sixty years old, and lying on the kang like that is not only not enjoyment but awkwardness.

When Guo Zhenmou was wearing clothes and trouser belts, there was gradually a passion and tension in his heart, but in fact, there was nothing urgent or important, but the passion mixed with nervousness gradually filled the whole body.

It is not surprising that he is completely able to accurately grasp this pulse, which is urged by the youth. The spirit of the year is invisible, indescribable.

Is it anticipation or anticipation, is the end is the beginning, is it shaken off or re-draped?

"Five-bean porridge", a kind of porridge mixed with five kinds of beans, is eaten on the eighth day of the lunar month

"Laba noodles" is a noodle dish made with thin noodles in rice porridge and stir-fried. Every farmer's pot scooped out of each pot is almost the same meal.

In this way, the spirit of the year is gradually permeating the villages, alleys, houses, and courtyards in the countryside, steaming up the blood of men, women, young and old.

Guo Zhenmou remembered accurately that the dawn that was woken up by sparrows was the nineteenth day of the lunar month, and four days later would be the day of sacrifice to the god of the stove.

The god of the stove is the emperor who has been appointed to the world

The smallest god of "quality" is the god who goes deepest into the grassroots and goes deep into every household. A woodcut rubbed paper god sits between two big red roosters, and the most conspicuous thing on Charity's face is a smooth black beard, located on the wall directly in front of the pot.

The duty of the god of the stove is to observe and record what goes into each pot and scoops it out three times a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, and returns to the heavenly palace on the twenty-third day of the lunar month every year to report to the emperor of heaven and report the thickness of the peasant pot, so that the emperor judges that the life of the human beings is comfortable and uneasy.

The content of the red paper couplet attached to the left and right sides of the stove god has been passed down for many years

"God says good things, and people and earth bring good fortunes". Guo Zhenmou looked at the portraits and couplets of the god of the stove that had faded and been blackened by smoke, and thought in his heart that in three or four days, this grandfather of the god of the stove should step down, and the new grandfather of the god of the stove will also take office.

Yesterday, he bought a new portrait of the god of the stove at the New Year's painting stall in the market town, which is still the kind of woodcut rubbing antique, but the couplet has changed a few words: "God reports the real account, and the people and the earth observe carefully." Guo Zhenmou asked the painting vendor, how dare the couplets handed down by the ancients be changed indiscriminately?

The painting vendor said that the owner of the town, who specializes in printing portraits of the god of the stove, said that last year, the town's per capita income was only 990 yuan and a few cents, and the mayor reported 2,000 yuan and a few cents to the county.

Villages coax towns, towns coax counties, all the way to the State Council. won the award, did it, and will take it again at the end of next year...... The boss who printed the Stove God painting also said that the mayor of the town could report nonsense, and the Lord of the Stove did not dare to follow the mayor's example when he returned to the Heavenly Palace, and even the rain that should have fallen was mistaken.

The painting vendor said that the owner of the painting of the god of the stove also said that this is called the right medicine. Guo Zhenmou listened, and at the same time calculated his year-end total income in his heart, in fact, he had already calculated how many times, three generations of a family of six, the total gross income was almost 8,000 yuan, more than 1,300 yuan per capita, and it was an upper-average family in the village.

The mayor of the town finally reported to the prime minister, but the figure was two thousand and a few cents. He jokingly said to the painting vendor, "Let's take the train to Beijing tomorrow to find Premier Zhu and ask for the shortfall of 2,000 yuan.

The two of them laughed, Guo Zhenmou handed over the money with one hand, picked a satisfactory painting of the Stove God and a brand new couplet, and said another sentence when they broke up, we have to prescribe the right medicine...... Guo Zhenmou tightened his trouser belt and knotted the buttons, and the next step was the thatched house.

My wife is still lying on the kang. My wife has always gotten up earlier than Guo Zhenmou and left the kangtou, but the little grandson's preschool is on winter vacation, and she hugs her grandmother every morning and is not allowed to leave the bed, so she enjoys a while more happiness according to her grandson's temperament.

The old wife listened to the footsteps of the old man opening the back door and walking towards the backyard, she was already familiar with it and had not paid attention to it, but unexpectedly, the old man screamed in a panic: "Our cow?" she pushed her grandson away, wrapped her clothes and pants, and ran to the backyard.