When Hong Yan arrived home, it was January 5. This time I went out for half a month, and half of the time was spent on domestic travel. Naturally, it was inevitable to ask, and Hong Yan only went to a relative's house in Yuzhou according to his parents. Still, he took out candy and cigarettes and distributed them to his uncle and the helpers.

Before going to rice, Hong Jianguo invited Mr. Yin and Yang to set a date to lay the foundation. The task of the stonemason is simply to lay the foundation and run two wheels of stone as the foundation of the column. At the same time, the eldest uncle Li Yongchuan brought four uncles and apprentices to build a house - an 11-pillar wooden structure house. The main hall house is open one zhang eight, the depth is up to three zhang six, the height is two zhang seven, and one pass to the top in the end. The left and right two bays are one zhang and two, the middle partition is broken, and the beam is paved with the floor slab. In the end, it was 9 rooms in size, which was spacious. However, the room behind the ground floor is obviously shady and unsuitable for habitation, so you can place items.

Twenty days before and after, the column heads, beams, piercing fangs, purlins and other large pieces are ready, and the shelves of four rows of three wooden houses have begun to take shape.

Uncle, their "masterpiece" is about to be completed. The uncle, as the master of palm ink, looked through the almanac and chose the auspicious day of the zodiac to "build a house", which happened to be on the twenty-ninth day of the winter month of the lunar calendar the day after tomorrow.

Hong Jianguo went to the commune to pay the pig slaughter tax and called the pig killer by the way. The winter moon is already the season to kill pigs, and the meat can be stored for a few days without spoilage. After the two big fat pigs were sold, the shelf pigs bought back after two months of fattening, I am afraid that there are more than 300 catties, with a wide back and round hips, and absolutely fat.

Hong Jianguo released the fat pig out of the pen and rushed to the door. Li Yun was still standing outside the circle door, calling softly until the fat pig disappeared from view. Li Yun naturally didn't go to see the pig killing, and the children also called into the house. After a set of procedures of killing pigs, blowing, cooking, shaving, disemboweling, evisceration, and dividing, all that is left is a piece of pork, a pile of offal, and a pot of boiling pig blood. According to Hong Yan's request, the ribs were taken out separately and put away. Gnawing bones is the preference of fine babies, and fat meat is the favorite of adults.

In the evening, I ate fresh pork. After dinner, the pig killer offered a pair of pigs in the water as a reward. Hong Yan was going to pay, but later his father said it was a common practice, so forget it.

Originally, the New Year's pig was killed to invite relatives and friends to eat soup. But the day after tomorrow is the day when the house is built, so I don't eat alone. The next day, for housewives, is a busy day to prepare dishes for the establishment of the house. Relatives, friends, and members of the team will send some food or two dollars a piece to congratulate. Naturally, the host will set up a table to thank him.

Xiaofang's father, Hong Maojiang, is a folk chef, and he is responsible for all this for his birthday wedding. Therefore, the next day, Hong Jianguo went early to pick up the necessary items such as steamers, dishes and chopsticks, while Hong Yan prepared a variety of vegetables.

On this day, Hong Maojiang was busy preparing for the banquet the next morning, Uncle Hong Yan, the master of palm ink, took his apprentice to make the final preparations, and his neighbor Chen Chaokun and Li Dafei, who was the wife and future son-in-law of the Du family, who was Hong Yan's cousin, were busy borrowing tables and stools. Hong Jianguo went one by one to ask the male laborers in the team to help and instructed the women and children to come to breakfast.

The master carpenter and the cook only closed their eyes and rested that night. When he arrived, a huge torch was lit at home. The folks who helped came. Each person first eats a bowl full of glutinous rice dumplings. There is a relatively long ceremony for building a new house, and Hong Yan only has the last bit of candy in his memory. Therefore, he also got up early to watch the excitement.

Finally, when it was the auspicious time to "build a house", Li Yongchuan, the uncle of Hong Yan, the master of palm ink, first sacrificed the beams and column heads with chicken blood, and sang "The wooden house is forever standing, auspicious and wishful; The earth is long, and the children and grandchildren are prosperous......", with his shout of "standing up", the villagers who have already held back their strength shouted, and a large row of houses stood up "with a bang", like a row of mountain peaks, piercing the sky; Then, with another wave of energy, another row of houses was erected. The "mountain" was erected, and the morning dawn was shining. A few uncles commanded the staff to erect a few piercing fangs and pull up a few beams to string up the mountains. And on the sides of each row were propped up tree trunks on top of them. The coarse hemp rope in the hands of the villagers can not be loosened until the front and back are pierced, and then the house shelf is stable. Lipai Mountain is also exquisite, and there are order requirements. Start with the main hall and then line the hills on both sides.

After the "mountain" is erected, it is time to "go to the beam". First of all, I wanted to "praise the beam", and I saw Li Yongchuan holding a big red cloth one meter wide and two meters long, with the four big characters "crape myrtle high" written on it, and pasted it uprightly in the middle of the thick and straight beam. Then he sang: "The new Gaihuatang is tall and tall, standing majestically in the sky." From now on, after the beam is buckled, thousands of years of wealth and ten thousand years of prison. ”

The big red cloth will be hung for many years.

Then, I saw him take out a small bowl of Lao Bai dry soju, sprinkle it on the beam, and sang: "A sacrifice to the beam, you don't have to worry about food and clothing." Sprinkle it on the waist of the beam: "The second sacrifice is the waist of the beam, and the bag is full of silver." Then sprinkle it on the beam tail: "Three sacrifices to the beam tail, glory and wealth." After the praise is completed, the girder is tied with a rope, and the brothers standing on the wall buttress on both sides pull the girder by hand, while the master himself carries the girder on his shoulder, steps on the wooden ladder built along the wall, and walks up step by step, which is the "beam".

The uncle began to sing the "Song of Ten Steps to the Beam": "Step on the cloud ladder one step, and the Lord He's family climbs high step by step." The uncle carried the girder on his shoulder, and then climbed the second step of the wooden ladder, and sang: "Two steps on the ladder, the family of the Lord of the Lord will live for a long time", "Three steps on the ladder, the children and grandchildren of the Lord of the Family", "Four steps on the ladder, the family of the Lord of He" will be rich......

As soon as the "Song of Ten Steps of Beaming" was sung, the girder was firmly placed on the central pillar of the upper hall. At this time, the sun rises and the morning glow fills the sky, and everyone's mood is brighter. The eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law in the team came to see the excitement. The figures are one after another, smiling and smiling, admiring the good rise of the new house, and the pine wood of all colors is quite dazzling in the early sun.

"The three children of Li Yun's family are looking for their mother-in-law."

"Well, the matchmaker stepped on her threshold!"

"I don't know whose girl has this blessing!"

……

The next most beautiful part, "stepping on the beam", is like performing high-altitude acrobatics. Hong Yan saw that his uncle was holding a big new porcelain basin in his hand, and walked step by step on the beam, grabbing a large handful of candy, cakes, cigarettes, peanuts, and coins from the washbasin with each step, and throwing them into the air, first scattering them from the beam in the four directions of east, west, north and south, and then blooming everywhere. Sing the "Song of Stepping on the Beam" while sprinkling:

"One step on the beam, thousands of miles of marquis; Second, step on the waist of the beam, and the ribbons are fluttering; Three steps on the beam, thousands of years of wealth; Four step on the tail of the beam, rich to the end. The beams of the house stepped on the edge of a foot, and people came and smoked. The beams of the house are stepped on the edge of two feet, and the hard work and prosperity are getting higher and higher. The beams of the house stepped on the mouth of the beams, and the gold and silver treasures were full of buckets. Since today's uplift, the descendants have prospered forever. ”

When "stepping on the beam", the sound of firecrackers, laughter, and shouts were in unison, and the sound of joy was thunderous. Wherever candy and coins are thrown, bursts of cheers erupt and crowds of people are crowded. Then, those who didn't eat were about to leave, and Li Yun filled their pockets with peanuts and sugar cubes with porcelain basins.

The upper beam naturally refers to the middle beam of the main hall house, also known as the beam. After stepping on the beam, Hong Jianguo gave each of the villagers who helped a box of big front doors, and the villagers were very surprised. Some of them smoked and washed their hands to prepare for breakfast, and the uncle instructed the four uncles to put the beams of the other two rooms up, so that the new house was more stable, and then they could sit down to eat with peace of mind.

Hong Yan watched the whole process and sighed that these rituals had basically disappeared in the afterlife. He can't wait to record the whole process, and after the traditional things disappear, it will be difficult to recover.

The fourth and fifth uncles were actually still apprentices, and it was the apprentices' duty to pack up their tools. Li Yongchuan lit a cigarette and relaxed. The middle beam is about ten meters from the ground, so stepping on the beam is quite energy-consuming and dangerous.

"Uncle, are you tired?" Hong Yan walked up and said hello and asked.

"Hehe, it's okay, just rest for a while!" The uncle's rough hand touched Hong Yan's head and said, "Uncle is very happy to see you, and it's worth being tired." ”

"Uncle, hard work!"

"Look at what you kid said, why don't you call someone else's uncle." Although the uncle said, he smiled happily.

Breakfast was served in three rounds, and the table was quite sumptuous compared to this era. Speaking of it, it is a pork feast, fatty meat with dry pickles as the base, roasted white, bone stewed white green beans, crispy meat, slippery meat and stewed kelp with pork lungs, and other vegetarian dishes such as winter melon, old pumpkin, mung bean sprouts, and soybean sprouts. But even vegetarian dishes are not available in other families. In this era, it is difficult to build a new house and get married.

The steamer on the makeshift stove outside the kitchen was steaming, and Hong Maojiang was putting out bowls and plates in order. Chen Chaokun and Li Dafei carried tea trays to each table. There are melon seeds and candy cubes on the table, and from time to time children hide the candy cubes in their pockets, and the aunts joke: "Don't forget, I'm busy with the children." ”

How many people have eaten meat and tasted meat for half a year, and they will eat it vigorously when they have the opportunity. It is said that if you haven't eaten meat for a long time, you can easily get over your stomach if you eat too much fatty meat at once (diarrhea). Experienced mothers will not let their little ones eat more fatty meat. Soon, the table was staggered, and you drank and ate back and forth, and finally fisted and pulled the tendons. From time to time, cousins-in-law and acquaintances take advantage of people's unpreparedness and cover people with a big bowl of rice, and the person who is covered can only roll their eyes and choke on it.

Three rounds of seats, thirty tables, and the entire production team can come. Most of the pig's meat went down. Some wild boar meat was also added, and the smell of the wild boar was basically removed by the chef's hands. Skinny wild boar has become a favorite of children.