After the rain, the day turned over, it was Wednesday, August 29, 1979.

This day is ordinary on the surface, but it is actually a very special day. Because the lunar calendar on that day is the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh month, "Tanabata".

In the story that boys and children know, on this day every year, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will gather together through the bridge built by magpies to comfort the pain of lovesickness for a year.

In the folk proverbs of the capital, there have always been sayings such as "the river matches on the seventh day of July, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet for a while" and "On the seventh day of July, the magpie is rare".

Therefore, this day is also known as our country's own "Valentine's Day".

In fact, it is more than 2,000 years old, which is much older than Valentine's Day, which originated on February 14 in ancient Rome in 270 AD.

And not only that, on this day, there are also girls who beg the Weaver Girl to teach their skills, hoping that they can be as clever as the Weaver Girl, so as to obtain the cultural connotation of a happy marriage and life.

Therefore, this day is also called "Begging Festival" and "Girl's Day".

The content and form of the traditional festival are quite rich and interesting.

First of all, there is the worship procedure of "worshipping the double stars", and the offerings are not only seasonal fresh products such as "flower melon", "peach" and "smelling fragrant fruit" carved from watermelon. Also put flowers in the vase. And put cosmetics such as rouge and dianer powder on the table, saying that it was dedicated to the weaver girl.

After the sacrifice, the pollen offered to the Weaver Girl was divided into two halves, half of which was thrown on the house, saying that it was for the Weaver Girl, and the other half was reserved for his own use.

In the past, women all believed that they could maintain their youthful beauty by using cosmetics shared with Zhinu.

Secondly, after the sacrifice of the double stars, the old people in the family will also give each of the girls who gather together to worship a needle and a thread, so that the girls can wear it at the same time, to see who wears it fast, and who threads the thread into the pinhole first, even if it is a begging for dexterity and wisdom.

In addition, the game of "throwing a needle" is also popular. On the evening of the sixth day of the first lunar month, some set up water bowls under the flowers. At noon on the seventh day of the lunar month, women put the needles they usually use for sewing or embroidering into the bowl, and the needles float on the water.

If there are flowers, birds, beasts, clouds and shadows under the water, or those as thin and straight as a needle, it is a symbol of "skill". It is called "begging for skill".

Because these shadows indicate that the Weaver Girl has given her a dexterous embroidery needle, which can weave and embroider beautiful patterns.

However, if the shadow of the needle under the water is as rough as rough, or if it is bent and unformed, it means that the woman who lost the needle is a "clumsy woman", because the weaver girl gave her a stone pestle. Therefore, it is often also seen that "women or sighs, and women have weeping." ”

As for the rest, there are also "Spider Joy and Skill", "Seed Life and Seek Child", "Worship Kui Xing", "Eat Clever Fruit" and so on.

Even in the past, the pear orchard (theater world) was also mobilized every Qixi Festival. Each opera garden must perform "Queqiao Meeting", "Tianhe Pei" or Kunqu Opera "The Palace of Eternal Life". Some of them are eye-catching, and they can even bring real cattle to the stage, which is called "scene play".

Of course, these customs and activities are similar to the "Dragon Boat Festival", which were named the "Four Olds" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and all disappeared. At present, only the young children squatted under the grape trellis on the day of the Chinese Valentine's Day to listen to the cry of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

But even so, it has to be said that at least this day is extraordinary for the Hong family.

Because as early as ten days ago, the renovation work of the Hong family's cross-courtyard had been completely completed.

When Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin accepted the project, they couldn't find fault with it at all, and they were so happy that they said that it was repaired well.

In order to express their gratitude, the old couple came forward together to invite a group of craftsmen to have a meal at the "Jinyang Restaurant".

During the banquet, in addition to asking Hong Yanwu to settle everyone's wages, he also asked his eldest son Hong Yanzheng to prepare a cigarette and wine for everyone as an additional thank-you gift.

It's just that I didn't expect Mr. Shan and Wang Hanping to refuse tobacco and alcohol, but they still insisted on not taking a penny, and they had to help to the end, which made people very unhappy.

Fortunately, everyone unanimously persuaded each other, and finally Hong Yanwu said again, "Why do you two have to charge some carriage and horse fares." Otherwise, the matter in the main courtyard will not be good for the two of you. ”

In this way, Mr. Shan and Wang Hanping reluctantly accepted 50 yuan each.

Of course, this is equivalent to them taking on a new task by default and starting to plan the repair budget for the "Four Courtyards" on Shangzheng Road for the Hong family.

As for why he proposed to continue to repair the house, and where did the money come from for the subsequent repairs, Hong Yanwu had already thought of an excuse to explain to his family, and when he went back, he took out dozens of stamps to show his parents and eldest brother.

Hong Yanwu half-truthfully claimed that as early as the beginning of seven or eight years, when he met He Jiefu, he found that the transfer price of "The Drunken Concubine" with a face value of three yuan was as high as 300 yuan, and he realized that stamps have the potential to appreciate their value.

And he also found that stamps do not belong to the state restricted materials, this kind of transfer is similar to the handicraft trade, is a long-term existence, can not be regarded as speculation. Especially at that time, because of the "movement", everyone felt that the stamps before the Republic of China were "hot", and the transaction price was very low.

So he considered that most of these stamps had been destroyed in the "movement", so he began to collect these old stamps before the Republic of China under the idea of making scarcity expensive.

I didn't expect to buy it right.

Last July, the stamp company resumed its operations to the general public after a 12-year closure. Last year and this year, there were two officially-led stamps price increases, which were tantamount to a stimulant injection to the "postal market", which directly caused the price of stamps to rise sharply.

Generally speaking, the price of the entire market has at least doubled in just one and a half years. But what surprised most people even more was that the price of these old tickets before the Republic of China, which no one wanted in the past, rose the most.

The tickets in his hand have turned over a few times. When I bought it, I averaged twenty or thirty-one pieces, and now it's one or two hundred yuan. Therefore, as long as he sells the ticket in his hand, he can afford the money for repairing the house later.

After listening to Hong Yanwu's explanation, Hong Lucheng, Wang Yunlin and Hong Yanzheng were like listening to a story about a poor boy who fell and picked up gold ingots. No one expected that Hong Yanwu would make such a windfall without slipping away.

Hong Yanzheng took the lead and said, "I didn't expect it, you kid is really lucky, you can pick up money every day when you wander around like this! I think you're an 'old thief' just don't have a job, and you won't starve to death in this life." God prefers blind sparrows, I take care of you too much......"

Wang Yunlin also said, "You kid, this temperament and behavior are really incomprehensible, how come you still have no teacher and learned the ability to 'play a small drum'! Like you, the Hong family and the Wang family have never grown such seedlings......

Only Hong Lucheng was silent for a long time, but he gave full affirmation.

"Don't say that, it's not easy for the third child to earn this money, but it's not just luck and a little bit of ghost cleverness. If you think about it, there are not a few people who can know about this, but how many people can move this mind? And how many people really dare to take action? Not to mention that the high price has also risen little by little, and it is even more difficult for the third child to not sell it in advance. It's not eyesight, it's vision!"

Well, I really didn't expect my father to give such a high evaluation.

Hong Yanwu was like a child who got 100 points by cheating, and he was so happy that he was dancing and talking nonsense.

actually said, "The parents of the one who gave birth to me, and Lao Hong, the one who knows me, also ......"

As a result, the words were shocking, causing happiness and sadness, causing "Lao Hong" to change his face immediately, and the eldest brother also gave him a slap in the neck on the spot. In addition, my mother counted, but she showed her face and changed her face again......

But then again, after all, this calmed the doubts in the hearts of parents and relatives, and it can be regarded as a great thing to add to the cake.

So Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin were happy in their hearts, in order to celebrate the successful completion of the "first phase of the project" of the Hong family's old house, and the children in the family were reluctant to give up on the old house at home.

They made a decision. Simply, everyone will choose July 7 and go to the old house to celebrate. The children should be happy and simply stay until school starts.

At the same time, they naturally hoped that the old man would see the old mansion restore its old appearance, so they also sent an invitation to Shou Jingfang.

In this way, early in the morning, the courtyard of the Hong family's old house was lively again.