As the saying goes: Twenty-three sugar melons are sticky; 24 house-sweeping days; twenty-five pasted windows; Twenty-six stewed meats; Twenty-seven killed roosters, twenty-eight handfuls of dough hair, twenty-nine steamed steamed buns, stayed up for a night on thirty nights, and twisted on the first day of the New Year.

The sixteenth year of Kangxi (1677 AD) is about to pass. Shuyun is also about to usher in the twenty-first year after the Qing Dynasty. The years are merciless, and it always passes quietly and inadvertently without people noticing.

The festive atmosphere of the festival seems to dilute the gloom of war and poverty. The streets and alleys are filled with more vibrant colors. Although it is very poor and backward at this time, the atmosphere of the New Year is much richer than that of later generations, especially with the "flavor of the New Year", and now there are many folk customs for the New Year, many of which have been diluted or forgotten in later generations.

This is the first real Spring Festival after Shuyun's rebirth. In the past, when she was in the Niucolu Mansion, Shuyun was not allowed to spend the New Year with Anwar's family. I can only stay in the courtyard of the next person and have a reunion dinner with Juan and his wife. After all, their husband and wife are the next people in the mansion, and they are already busy during the New Year, so only on Chinese New Year's Eve, they can relax for a while, and the Fucha clan will reward them with a few good meals, which is considered the New Year, as for other programs, where can they participate, so Shuyun who follows them is also the same treatment, only when the year is good, Sister-in-law Guihua will give Shuyun a few pieces of stove candy and some melon seeds. On Chinese New Year's Eve, Juan would wrap a red envelope of 2 cents to Shuyun as a New Year's money, and the year would be considered to be over. Later, he went to Europe with Tom, and it was even more impossible to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

So this year's Spring Festival, Shuyun attaches great importance to it. I want to have a good experience of the taste of the ancient New Year. We also need to appreciate the various customs.

The twenty-third year of the lunar month is a small year. Stove Day. "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky" refers to the sacrificial stove. The New Year is the beginning and foreshadowing of the entire Spring Festival celebration. At this time, it is strictly stipulated that women are not allowed to sacrifice to the stove. Therefore, the early morning of the 23rd morning was presided over by Chen Ce. "Sending off dumplings to the wind", there is a custom of eating dumplings on this day. So Shuyun took the women in the Zhuangzi and began to mix noodles and chop stuffing. Prepare to make dumplings. In addition, there is also the custom of eating stove candy, the stove candy on Zhuangzi is bought from a time-honored store in the capital, the taste is quite good, fragrant and crispy, and it is particularly sticky to the teeth. The kids love to eat.

And this stove sugar is also used to worship the king of the stove, and he has to say "Say more good things, don't say bad things." "This is to plug the mouth of the Lord of the Stove with sugar and make him stop saying bad things. Moreover, the children on the village were also asked by Qian Liu to speak auspicious words from now on.

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, there is also a custom of killing livestock. Wait for Chen Ce to finish the sacrifice. He led the farmers to slaughter cattle and sheep. At present, in order to protect farming, the imperial court prohibits the slaughter of healthy cattle. Because there is Lao Kang Zhao, and there are Bayan, the big internal guards, who are in charge. Therefore, Zhuangzi is still killing according to the truth. It's just that it's not the ploughing cattle that were killed, but the two Kobe beef cattle. In addition, 6 sheep were killed.

The cowhide and sheepskin were handed over to the old man in the Zhuangzi to cook. There are two old people from Shanxi who cook leather very exquisitely. The bones and part of the goods are boiled into two large pots and boiled into beef bone broth and mutton soup respectively. The children all gathered around the pot, drooling one by one. In the afternoon, everyone ate with a round belly. I almost couldn't eat the dumplings at night.

As for those beef and mutton. Pieces are cut. There are also hearts, livers and stomachs and the like, all cleaned up. It was placed outside the cafeteria, in the big hollowed-out wooden piers. After a while, it was frozen solid.

On the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, you have to dust and sweep the house. It's cleaning. These living Shuyun can't intervene, and Qian Liu will naturally take people to clean up.

Shuyun went to the capital with Bayan, Chen Ce, and Qian Afu to buy New Year's goods. By the way, I brought some beef and mutton, chickens, ducks and geese. African geese, candy and more. There are also the first fresh vegetables grown in the greenhouse and the newly caught red carp. Divided into three parts, ready to be sent to the Xu, Lu, and Hu families. It's a New Year's gift.

When I arrived in the capital, I first sent the things I brought to the three mansions. He refused to be retained and hurried to the bazaar in Dashilar. It's really very prosperous here, with pedestrians and endless streams, all of whom come here to buy New Year's goods.

Shuyun and the others first parked the two carriages at the door of an inn not far away. paid the shopkeeper 100 yuan and asked the guys in the store to help take care of it. Then everyone acted collectively and went to the first stop - Changshengkui Dried Fruit Shop, which is a time-honored brand in Beijing and has been there since the Ming Dynasty. All kinds of dried and fresh fruits are very complete, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, melon seeds, almonds, sesame, all kinds of preserved fruits bought a lot of large bags and small bags, a few people can't take so many things, so I paid first, let the guy pack it, and then come to pick it up later.

Then I went to Liubiju and bought oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, rice and white noodles, and all kinds of pickles. The two carts couldn't fit in, so Chen Ce took the money and asked the shopkeeper to help hire two carriages, and asked the guys to help load the carts first, and then leave together when they came back after finishing other New Year's goods.

As soon as she came out of Liubiju, Shuyun saw an old man at the door setting up a stall selling frozen autumn pears. I saw that the frozen pear was big and plump, dark in color, and there was ice stubble on it. Shuyun still ate this frozen pear when she was young in her previous life, and when she ate it, she had to soak it in cold water first, and then eat it when it softened, Shuyun still remembered that the taste was sweet and sour, very refreshing.

Shuyun looked at the frozen autumn pear, remembered its taste, and swallowed her saliva. So he walked over and asked the old man the price, and when he heard that it was five cents a catty. Shuyun thought it was still quite cheap, so she wanted to buy both baskets. Qian Afu next to him is too expensive, saying that it usually only costs two pennies a catty. As a result, he and the old man who sold pears, you and I bargained. Shuyun looked at the old man, his clothes were in tatters, he was leaning around, and his face was full of vicissitudes, he must also be a poor family. Besides, he is not short of that money, and it is a big New Year. hurriedly stopped Qian Afu. still wrapped those two baskets at the price of 5 yuan. The group walked to the next stop in the old man's thousand thanks.

Because Shuyun disliked being dirty, there were no pigs in Zhuangzi, so she went to Zhang Butcher's pork stall. I bought four pigs that had been cleaned up, and I bought them with bones, and I bought a large basket of pig's trotters.

Shuyun and his group of four walked around the Dashilar, which was only 300 meters long, and bought a total of six horse-drawn carriages of lucky oranges, apples, persimmons, lanterns, New Year paintings, red paper, fireworks, and red silk threads woven with Chinese knots.

I went to Tongfu Jindian again and got the gold and silver steamed buns that I had asked them to make in advance. Only then was I ready to drive back to Zhuangzi.

But as soon as he walked out of the gold shop, he met a little boy in ragged clothes and shivering from the cold, who was only eight or nine years old, with slender eyes, very delicate, and a thin girl on his back. The boy walked over to Shuyun and the others with a broken bowl that only had a bottom left. Seeing this, Bayan hurriedly blocked in front of Shuyun to prevent the child from approaching.

Shuyun saw that these two children were really pitiful, so she had the heart to take them back to Zhuangzi for adoption, anyway, so many of them were raised in Zhuangzi, and these two were not bad. So he pushed Bayan away and beckoned them to come over.

When I asked, I learned that Lu Dao, the two children are from Hunan, no name, only know that Lu Dao's surname is Song, and his parents usually call him gourd, saying that it is because when his mother gave birth to him, his father saw the gourd in the yard as soon as he went out, and he called him that way in the future, her sister has no name, everyone calls her sister girl. It was also because of the war that my parents died on the way to escape, so they trekked all the way to the capital with the flow of people. There is no way out, just take my sister around begging for food, hungry and full.

After saying this for a long time, his sister who was lying on his back did not move, as if she was asleep. Shuyun felt that something was wrong, maybe she was sick. So he asked the gourd to put the girl down, Shuyun took it, and found that the girl's face was flushed, and when she touched her forehead, she really had a fever.

With Hulu's consent, Shuyun carried the girl into the carriage and used the three-edged needle she carried with her to put some blood on her earlobe and thumb to relieve her temporarily. Because of the pain, the girl woke up immediately, and saw Shuyun, a stranger, squeezing blood out of her fingers, so she shrank back, but she didn't cry because of the pain, and then saw that her brother was also on the side, and she was immediately relieved. After bleeding, Shuyun wrapped her tightly with the blanket in the car.

Then he asked Hulu, who had been looking at his sister anxiously beside him, "Child, my name is Qi Shuyun, I live in Xiaotangshan, not far from here, would you like to live with me from now on, in that case, you and your sister will have a warm house to live in, you can eat well, and you can study?" ”

Hulu was relieved to see that his sister had woken up. Hearing Shuyun's question, he thought for a while and asked, "Then can you promise to be good to us?" ”

Shuyun smiled and nodded. I think this kid is pretty good, he has brains, and he is not blind.

Hulu bit his lower lip and looked at Shuyun with some embarrassment. It only took a moment for his expression to become firm. Then he pounced and knelt in front of Shuyun, "Sister Shuyun, Hulu Zhilu said that you are a good person, not only did you beat and scold me without disliking me like other people, but also saved my sister,. Thank you for taking us in, but I still have some partners who usually beg for food together. Can you take them in too, gourd beg, kowtow to you. As he spoke, he began to kowtow.

Seeing this, Shuyun hurriedly helped him up, and said at the same time, "Hurry up, child, I promise you, where are they now?" ”

Hulu said happily, "They will all go back to the ruined temple outside the city in a while, and I will take you there." At this time, the child revealed the innocence of a child.

Now Shuyun feels that this is really a good boy, he doesn't have an idea, he is still benevolent, he and his sister have a settlement, and he doesn't forget those partners who have been in trouble together. It's a manufacturable talent. Shuyun already likes children, and wants to create a group of talents, so it doesn't hurt to take in more of these orphans. So I gladly agreed to his request.

Thanks to Maryane, a book friend, Qingquan 0901182318, and a reward of 100 starting coins.

Thanks to the book friend Immortal Cactus, Qinqi, for rewarding 99 starting coins. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) )