The annual fair in the countryside is a kind of belief and a kind of culture.

Sitting on the cement-hardened weir by the river, Wang Shaodong felt as if he was a spectator who was free from this world, admiring and sighing at all this.

The cold weather could not stop the enthusiasm of the villagers who rushed to the New Year's fair, and everyone's face was filled with happy smiles.

Maybe most people don't have much money in their pockets, and after a year of busy work, they start their wages at the end of the year, save some of them for later use, and use the rest to buy New Year's goods.

Chinese New Year, we must pay attention to it, there are carp on the table in other people's homes, our family must also have it, and other people's families have chickens, and our family must also have them. Anyway, isn't it just for the New Year all year round?

In those days, things were not too expensive, and most of the vegetables in the market were still stuck at the level of a few cents. The price of meat has risen, six or seven yuan for raw pork, six or seven yuan for raw mutton, six or seven yuan for live chicken, and raw beef is a bit expensive, fifteen yuan a catty. So at the end of the year, take out four or five hundred yuan, and you can buy all the things you need to buy.

The rural annual fair revolves around the offerings on the table in the family hall.

In the surrounding areas of Luzhong for the New Year, the biggest custom is to invite the family hall, offer the family hall and send the family hall.

What is the family hall, it refers to the table of the eight immortals dedicated to the tablet of the ancestors.

In the central Lu area, every household, the poor and the rich, the diligent and the lazy, must have a family table, which is placed in the place where the main hall house is facing the door.

The table of the family hall is against the wall, and the particular thing is to put a fan table between the table and the wall of the family hall, and there is a large central hall hanging on the wall, on which the crane is painted, the birthday star, etc., and the home and everything are written on both sides.

Below the central hall is the family table, and inside the table is a fold with the ancestral tablet written on it. In front of the ancestral fold are tea bowls, wine cups, and chopsticks. Further on there is the fruit bowl, where oranges, apples, bananas, pineapples, and other fruits that can be bought at the market are put on a plate. Of course, Wang Shaodong's favorite drunken jujube must be indispensable. Wang Shaodong loves to drink, and it is estimated that it is also related to the fact that he often ate drunk dates when he was a child.

Further on, it's the fried goods.

Deep-fried lotus lotus, fried tofu rolls, fried toon sprouts, fried lotus rolls, etc., the same plate, make a row.

In front of the fried goods are green vegetables, celery, beans or something, and the market picks up the names with good names to buy, and it is not allowed.

Then there is the carp tied with a red rope, the big rooster coiled up, the pig's head meat, the pig's liver, and so on.

At the front is an incense basket with an incense stick in it, and when it's finished, another one is inserted.

The center of the New Year is around this family table, the living stand aside first, and the ancestors have to enjoy it first.

When the family table is ready, then start thinking about the children and the elderly, and one person and one dress is a must.

The clothes are all set, and then the next thing is to revolve around eating and playing.

On the first and second days of the new year, each family has to greet each other, others come to your house, melons, fruits, pears and dates must be ready, and there are children, but also have to give people some grass knots and firecrackers to play, if there is a fireworks cannon, it is a big money.

Wang Shaodong sat on the river weir, thinking about it, in his previous life, he had been poor since he was a child, and he was reluctant to buy things for the Chinese New Year every year, and it was really sad to think about it now.

Now it's okay, this year, there is no problem with two batches of chickens to earn 600,000 yuan, and in the bazaar, as long as you are in the picture, you really want to buy anything.

Tomorrow is a small year, you need to quit the stove, and sugar melons must be bought.

Wang Shaodong touched the money in his pocket, and drew two hundred from the money from selling chickens today, plus the change left before, he now has a total of two hundred and thirty or forty yuan.

Although the annual fair is good, you must beware of pickpockets.

Wang Shaodong is very clear about this, when it comes to the New Year's fair, the thieves are all out together, and there must be at least a dozen thieves on the New Year's fair on the east-west three-mile road in Dazhai Village.

"Let's go, let's go buy a blast. ”

Wang Shaodong jumped off the weir and jumped onto the beach.

Zheng Hui and Zheng Tao dropped the oil-wrapped paper that had eaten stinky tofu and jumped down with Wang Shaodong.

The firecracker market on the twenty-second day of the lunar month is already very lively.

However, for the sake of safety, adults rarely let children go to the firecracker market full of truckloads of firecrackers.

Every year on the 22nd and 27th of the lunar month, there will always be one or two unlucky firecracker businessmen who accidentally ignite the firecrackers of the whole vehicle, and there is a loud bang, and the firecrackers will burn all the way in a few minutes, and even the car will become a pile of scrap copper and rotten iron.

This is a very dangerous profession, but this profession is really profitable at the time, and after a cart of firecrackers is sold, you can almost buy a firewood, this risk is worth taking.

Wang Shaodong bought five large firecrackers and five small ones, and then Zheng Hui and Zheng Tao also bought the same number of firecrackers. The money was paid by Wang Shaodong, saying that it would be a New Year to give benefits to the two of them.

After coming out of the firecracker market, they went to the dry goods and roasted goods market, and then bought some drunken dates, sugar melons, melon seeds, raisins or something, and one of them carried a big bag, and finally had to leave the market.

The usual Dazhai village fair, there is no one after noon, but this annual fair, until four o'clock in the afternoon, there are still many people.

The New Year's Fair sells things, any one sells dim sum, and a New Year's Fair can sell goods for three or four thousand yuan.

Wang Shaodong carried firecrackers on his shoulders, and then Zheng Hui and Zheng Tao each had big bags and small bags in their hands. This trip only cost more than 160 yuan in total.

In 2002, the country's total monetary output was 18 trillion yuan, and by the end of 2016, this figure had reached 155 trillion yuan, more than eight and a half times more. In other words, Wang Shaodong spent 160 yuan, which may be equivalent to 1,300 yuan in 2016.

For an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy, that's a lot of money.

It's not accurate, but it's basically a reflection of something.

In 2002, vegetables for two or three cents were everywhere in the market, and vegetables for more than one dollar and one pound were very expensive, but by the end of 2016, there were not many vegetables that could be found in the market for less than one dollar.

After buying the things, carrying them out 200 meters, getting into the car, everyone was so happy that they were going home.

The road was blocked at the market, and Wang Shaodong and the others had to return to Songjiazhuang Village first and then go home on another road.

In this way, the way home is a little farther.

On the way home, passing by the station in the county seat, Wang Shaodong suddenly saw a familiar figure on the side of the road, and next to her, there were two large travel bags, it was Ma Lili, she came back from vacation.