On Tuesday morning, Huang Jianyang called Yue Haohan and Wang Jinxi early, and after having breakfast in a small restaurant opposite the agricultural technology station, Huang Jianyang drove the police van in the police station, and the three of them drove towards the Heiyazi management area together.

Yue Haohan and the three of them started from the Heiyazi management area and ran for ten days in several villages managed by Wulong Township, and Wang Jinxi of the Finance Office was quite familiar with the situation in each village; Everywhere I went, the cadres of the management area and the village group were quite enthusiastic; Jiangyang people are very hospitable, some villagers who are more familiar with Wang Jinxi and have some friendships, after encountering, they are all vying to invite the three of them to their homes as guests, and it is almost the New Year, the village is killing pigs and slaughtering sheep everywhere, and every place where they go, the meals for entertaining the three people are also very rich, Yue Haohan really felt the kindness and simplicity of the people of Wulong Township for the first time.

Through this visit to the village, Yue Haohan, Huang Jianyang and Wang Jinxi have enhanced their mutual understanding, and the relationship between the three of them has become closer than before.

Through the past few days, Yue Haohan learned that Wang Jinxi and Huang Jianyang's lover Li Jinghong are cousins and sisters, Li Jinghong Since her father had a stroke and her mother had stomach cancer, Wang Jinxi has paid her monthly salary from time to time, so she will give her aunt and husband some money, and usually take special care of her aunt's family; Therefore, the two sisters Li Jinghong respect Wang Jinxi's cousin very much and treat them as their own brothers, after Huang Jianyang married Li Jinghong, they knew Wang Jinxi's dedication to Li Jinghong's family, and they were also very good to Wang Jinxi.

Yue Haohan met Wang Jinxi not long after working in the Heiyazi Management Area, and his impression of him at the beginning was neither good nor bad; Through this trip to the village, Yue Haohan learned that Wang Jinxi was assigned to work in the Wulong Township Finance Office after graduating from the Yanshan City Finance School in 83 years.

Through the last ten days of communication, Yue Haohan found that Wang Jinxi not only has strong business ability, but also is quite good and has good morality; The only drawback is that he likes to play mahjong, and his self-motivation is poor, and most of his classmates who graduated at the same time are currently the directors or heads of the financial system and the tax system, but Wang Jinxi is still an accountant.

When visiting some village groups and peasant households in the past few days, Yue Haohan realized that Wang Jinxi actually had an excessive burden on the peasants in his bones, and he hated it for raising too much money and apportioning too much. was transferred to the special collection class, Wang Jinxi never took the initiative to raise cattle, pull sheep, and drive pigs to farmers in arrears of taxes, so many people in Wulong Township who knew him still had a very good impression of Wang Jinxi.

After visiting each village, Yue Haohan investigated and collected a lot of materials related to the burden of peasants; On the afternoon of the twenty-second day of the lunar month, Yue Haohan returned to Jiangyang with Huang Jianyang, preparing to spend the New Year at home on the twenty-third day of the lunar month.

In Chinese tradition, Xiao Nian does not refer to a festival, and due to the different customs in different places, the festivals called Xiao Nian are also different. During the small year, the main folk activities of the Han nationality include dust sweeping, sacrificial stoves, etc. In most parts of the north, the 23rd or 24th day of the lunar month is called the small year. There are also many areas that call the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month a small year, and there are also places called small years on the day of the winter solstice. The small year also means that people begin to prepare for the New Year, ready to have a good year, indicating that the new year should have a new atmosphere, expressing a kind of good wish of the Han working people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.

The 23rd and 24th day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar is the traditional day of the Han folk sacrifice, also known as the "small year". Legend has it that the prince of the stove was originally a commoner Zhang Sheng, and after marrying a wife, he spent all day drinking, losing his family business and begging on the street. One day, he begged to his ex-wife Guo Dingxiang's house, was ashamed, and burned to death under the stove.

After the Jade Emperor found out, he thought that Zhang Sheng could change his mind and not be bad to the end, and since he died at the bottom of the pot, he made him the king of the stove, and reported to the heavens on the 23rd and 24th of the lunar month every year, and returned to the bottom of the stove on the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve. The common people feel that they must respect the Lord of the Stove, because he has to go to heaven to report what the family has done in the past year. As a result, the Han people have the "Little Year" of the 23rd and 24th of the lunar month to pray for peace and fortune in the coming year.

On this day, it is also the day of the Han folk sacrifice stove. According to Han folklore, every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the prince of the stove has to go to heaven to report the good and evil of the family to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish. Therefore, when sending the stove, people put candy, water, beans, and straw on the table in front of the statue of the king of the stove; Among them, the last three are prepared for the mount of the Stove King's ascension. When sacrificing to the stove, the sugar should be melted with fire and applied to the mouth of the king of the stove. In this way, he can't speak ill of the Jade Emperor. The Han folk have the custom of "men do not worship the moon, women do not sacrifice to the stove", so the sacrifice to the king of the stove is limited to men. In addition, on the night of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the king of the stove will come to the world with the gods to celebrate the New Year, and there must be a ceremony of "receiving the stove" and "receiving the gods" on that day. After every household burns a sedan chair horse, spills three cups of wine, and sends away the god of the stove, it is the turn to worship the ancestors.

After the 23rd, there are only six or seven days left before the Spring Festival, and the preparations for the New Year seem to be more enthusiastic. Every household should thoroughly clean the interior, commonly known as dusting, sweeping dust in order to remove the old and welcome the new, and sweep away the ominous. Every household should be cleaned carefully and thoroughly, so that the windows are bright and clean. Painting walls, scrubbing glass, pasting windows, pasting New Year's pictures, etc.

After twenty-three, the Han folk believed that the gods had gone to heaven and had no taboos. Marrying a daughter-in-law or hiring a daughter does not need to choose a date, which is called a chaotic marriage. Until the end of the year, there are many wedding ceremonies. The folk song has "Suiyan is busy marrying in the countryside, and Yichun posts amuse spring." The sisters in front of the lamp whispered to each other, and this year is a cave house".

In addition, why is the date of the New Year not uniform, there are differences? It is said that from the Qing Dynasty's Yongzheng Emperor years, every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month in Kunning Palace to worship God, Yongzheng is a very frugal emperor, in order to save expenses, Yongzheng Emperor worshiped the Lord of the Stove by the way when worshiping the gods. From then on, the royal family and Baylor followed suit and sacrificed to the stove on the 23rd day of the lunar month, and since then there has been a distinction between the government and the people celebrating the New Year on different days.

In the Han folk, Xiao Nian has the tradition of "three officials, four boats, five boats", that is to say, the official family is the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the common people's family is the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, and the water family is the twenty-fifth lunar month.

The Central Plains area was the political center before the Southern Song Dynasty, and was heavily affected by the official atmosphere, so most of the small years were the twenty-third day of the lunar month; On the contrary, the south is far from the political center, and the majority of the young year is the 24th day of the lunar month; The residents along the lake and the sea have retained the tradition of the boat family, and the new year is set on the twenty-fifth day of the lunar month.

In the NJ urban area, it is a special place, because after Zhu Di usurped the throne of his nephew in the Ming Dynasty, he moved the capital from NJ. At that time, when the people of NJ held a lantern festival on the 15th day of the first month of the first year of Yongle, they missed the peace and prosperity of the imperial city in the era of Zhu Yunwen, and the scene was celebrated for the New Year. Therefore, in the NJ area, the Lantern Festival has become a small year. In addition, in the southwestern border areas and some northern ** regions, the first day of the first lunar month is regarded as the Chinese New Year's Eve, and Chinese New Year's Eve becomes the Chinese New Year's Eve.

On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, Yue Haohan and his two younger sisters and younger brothers cleaned up the whole house, inside and out, and at dinner, his mother Wang Sulan not only fried a large table of dishes, but also wrapped meat dumplings.

In the Jiangyang area, on the day of the Stove Festival, the folk pay attention to eating dumplings, which means "sending off dumplings to the wind". In mountainous areas, rice cakes and buckwheat noodles are mostly eaten. In some areas, it is also popular to eat the custom of fried corn, also called fried bun grain flower, and the folk proverb has the saying of "twenty-three, do not eat fried, at the beginning of the new year - a pot is poured". People like to glue fried buns with maltose, put them outside, and freeze them into large pieces, so that they taste crispy and sweet.

In Central South Province, in addition to eating dumplings on the day of the sacrificial stove, fire steamed buns are also very characteristic seasonal food. On the 23rd day of the lunar month, the business of the baked cake stalls in the city is very prosperous. In addition to sugar melons and the like, most of the offerings in the Central Plains supply water dumplings, taking the meaning of "getting up dumplings and falling noodles" from the folk, and some also offer noodles.

After the dishes were served, Yue Haohan's family sat down happily around the dining table, Yue Yulin and Wang Sulan sat in the first place, Yue Haohan sat next to his father Yue Yulin, Yue Haojiang sat next to his brother Yue Haohan, his mother Wang Sulan sat next to Yue Chunfang, and Yue Chunxia sat next to her sister.

Yue Haohan opened a bottle of liquor, first poured a full cup for his father Yue Yulin, and then poured a full cup for his younger brother Yue Haojiang, Yue Haojiang saw that his brother filled the cup in front of him, looked at his father and mother, and said, Brother, I can't drink so much, I will get drunk so much, I will only drink half of it.

Yue Haohan said, today is the New Year, it's okay, drunk and sleeping, studying hard all year round, relax for a few days during the New Year, don't be like a girl, your two sisters want to drink liquor, I won't let them drink it.

Wang Sulan looked at Yue Haojiang with a smile and said, Haojiang, if your brother pours it for you, you will insist on drinking it, and it will not affect your study if you drink some wine occasionally.

When Yue Haohan was pouring liquor, Yue Chunfang went to the kitchen, brought the hot rice wine to the living room, took the bowl, first gave her mother Wang Sulan a bowl and put it in front of her, and then gave her sister Yue Chunxia a bowl, and then poured the bowl herself, then sat down, looked at Yue Yulin, Yue Haohan, and Yue Haojiang, and asked, Dad, brother, do you three drink rice wine?

Yue Yulin said, the three of us men will drink liquor, and the rice wine will be kept for you to drink.

After the wine was poured, Yue Haohan picked up the cup, looked at his father Yue Yulin and mother Wang Sulan, and said, today is the New Year, come, the four of us brothers and sisters will take the wine and salute our father and mother.

The four brothers and sisters picked up the wine in front of them, Yue Yulin and Wang Sulan also smiled and picked up the wine in front of them, the family drank together, and after putting down the cup, Yue Haohan said, Dad, Mom, I want to discuss something with you.

Wang Sulan glanced at Yue Haohan and asked, what is the matter?

Yue Haohan said that when I was in Jianghan, I called Zi Ying, and she said that she had planned to come to Jiangyang for the New Year, but after the New Year, her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were going back to the East China Sea to celebrate the New Year, and she didn't feel good about leaving.

Wang Sulan said, Ziying's child is really, I really want to see her, but her brothers are rushing back for the New Year, she is really going to Jiangyang, she really can't say it, really want to be like that, what do people Ziying's parents think?

Yue Haohan said, yes, so I have an idea, I don't know if you want to, Mom? I want to go to the East China Sea tomorrow to see Ziying, visit Ziying's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, and come back after a few days of playing in the East China Sea.

Wang Sulan smiled and picked up the chopsticks and ate the food, then turned her head to look at Yue Yulin and said, Okay! I agree with you to go to the East China Sea, I don't know what your father's opinion is?

Yue Yulin smiled and said, I listen to you, you two just say it's good.

Wang Sulan said, vast, then what are you going to do? By train or plane? Also, when you go, you have to bring some gifts to Ziying's house, think about what to bring, Ziying's family should lack nothing; In my opinion, I still take the wild air-dried fish from the Yangjiang River at home, as well as the sausages I personally poured some time ago, plus a few air-dried chickens, I will pack them for you later, and you can bring them over, although these things are not worth a few dollars, they are rare things in a big city like the East China Sea.

Yue Haohan said, I want to take the train from Jianghan, but the train is a little slow, and there is a delay on the way.

Wang Sulan smiled and quipped, son, let's take a plane from Jianghan, this will hurt the expensive air ticket? You didn't expect it when you and Ziying were friends? It's expensive, mom sponsors you.

Yue Haohan smiled and said, Mom is so good! I'll toast you again.

Yue Yulin said, vast, there are still two catties of autumn tea you brought back last time, also bring it, and give it to Ziying and her father to drink, this tea is an authentic pollution-free tea.

After the family drank wine, Wang Sulan went to the kitchen to make dumplings, and Yue Chunfang and Yue Chunxia also went to the kitchen to help their mother.

There were only three Yue Haohan left in the living room, Yue Yulin picked up the chopsticks, and after eating a piece of fish, he put down the chopsticks, looked at Yue Haohan, and said, Haohan, this is a holiday? Don't have to go to work anymore?

Yue Haohan said that the work in the township is like this, and when it enters the wax moon, no one goes to work, and the leaders are going through their own relationships and busy with their own affairs every day, and the clerks are busy doing New Year's goods, playing cards, and drinking.

Yue Yulin said, you should also go to Secretary Chen of the county party committee, you don't care what gifts you bring, the key is etiquette, and Minister Luo of the Propaganda Department, you should also walk around often.

Yue Haohan said, okay, Dad, I'll listen to you, I'll go to Secretary Chen and Minister Luo's house after I come back from the East China Sea.

The father and son were chatting, Wang Sulan, Yue Chunfang, and Yue Chunxia came over with dumplings from the kitchen, Yue Haohan hurriedly stood up, took a bowl of dumplings handed over by his mother Wang Sulan, and after sitting down, the family began to eat dumplings.

After the meal, after cleaning up the living room, Wang Sulan took out Yue Haohan's often used travel bag, and counted the items that Yue Haohan wanted to bring to the East China Sea into the bag one by one.

Yue Haohan went to the study inside, picked up the phone, paged Li Xiaohui from Jianghan, and then took the magazine on the book table, flipped through it casually, and waited for Li Xiaohui's call.

After a while, the phone rang, Yue Haohan picked up the microphone, and Li Xiaohui's voice came from the other side, saying, Haohan, is it your pager?

Yue Haohan said, how do you know that I called you?

Li Xiaohui laughed "giggle, cluck, cluck" and said, stupid! The phone area code shows, Jiang Yang, I don't have any other acquaintances besides you, who can you be?

Yue Haohan asked, Xiaohui, are you going to go back to your hometown in western Sichuan after the Spring Festival holiday? Is it just in Jianghan for the New Year?

Li Xiaohui said, go back, I bought all the train tickets, the train tickets for the 28th of the lunar month, but Director Yan said that I am far away from home, so I will come back to work after the Lantern Festival.

Yue Haohan said, Xiaohui, I have something I want to trouble you, I want to take a plane from Jianghan to the East China Sea tomorrow, can you help me book a plane ticket, a ticket for the evening, I estimate that I will arrive in Jianghan at the fastest at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Li Xiaohui said, it's okay, we have long-term contact with the Department of Finance and the airport, I will make a reservation for you tomorrow morning, after the reservation is made, I will leave you a message on the pager, I have something tomorrow, I can't see you at the airport, you see Ziying and say hello to her on my behalf.

Yue Haohan said, okay, Xiaohui, besides, don't tell Ziying that I want to go to the East China Sea, I want to surprise Ziying. I'll get back in touch with her when I get off the plane.