In the Northeast, the New Year is a very grand event, to last more than a month, from the beginning of the lunar month, every household Zhang Luo New Year, until the fifteenth day of the first month, the year is over, people began to continue to return to life, and began to arrange for the next year.

The Northeast has a strong New Year's flavor and pays attention to it. There is a folk song that vividly reflects the atmosphere of the New Year in the Northeast: 23 sugar melons sticky, 24 sweep the house, 25 grind tofu, 26 to cut meat, 27 kill New Year's chicken, 28 handful of noodles, 29 steamed steamed buns, stay up for a night on 30 nights, and kowtow on the first day of the New Year.

This folk song basically depicts the customs of the New Year in the rural areas of Northeast China very realistically, and basically has to make several major preparations. In order to get rid of the old and welcome the new, the first thing is to do a big cleaning, sweep away the bad luck of the year, and welcome a new beginning; And then it is for the Spring Festival to eat meat to prepare to kill pigs, until now, the Northeast countryside will also kill the pigs in advance when the winter comes, and then freeze it up, when you want to eat meat, you will take out a piece, and when you kill the pigs, you generally have to feast on the neighbors and set up a few tables of banquets.

The next thing is to buy New Year's goods and steamed steamed buns, in order to have a happy New Year, but also for next year's Bo a good fortune, the family is better to buy some New Year's goods or new clothes, dishes and chopsticks, etc., in order to make people prosperous. Because the Northeast cooks are all used in the pot, when there are more people in the Spring Festival, they can't be busy, so they steam several pots of steamed buns in advance for later use, and the other is to worship the ancestors during the Spring Festival. After all this, I am waiting for the New Year to set off firecrackers.

Years of war have devastated the land of Northeast China, and the people's lack of livelihood, hunger and poverty have shrouded the land of Northeast China. However, this year's New Year of Liujiaweizi is particularly hot, the courtyard is full of lights, a festive and peaceful atmosphere, and everyone's faces are filled with a rare smile in this war-torn era.

Only Gao De, the chief butler of the Liu Mansion, rushed to the front of the waizi with a few Zhuang Ding early in the morning, at this time he jumped his feet and kept looking into the distance as if he was very anxiously looking forward to something, Gao De was not tall, his eyebrows were high, his eyes were not big but he looked very spirited, he had a thick goatee on his broad chin, and only a dogskin felt hat was worn on his head, and the brim of the hat was covered with frost formed by water vapor. With bare hands, he put it in his sleeve for a while, and put it to his mouth for a while to keep warming himself with his mouth. His beard was also covered with ice cubes.

At this time, it is the coldest time of the day, the old Kanto people are called "ghost teeth" the sky seems to be bright and not bright, the east has just revealed the "fish belly white," even the ghost will freeze the teeth at about five o'clock in the morning, this time is also the time when people's mental state is the worst.

The weather is very cold, but Zhuang Ding, who is on duty and patrolling around the fence, is full of energy, the old man has given an order early The times are not peaceful, the officials and bandits collude, bandits are rampant, in order to keep the homeland for a peaceful year, this time is even more negligent.

To this end, not only before the Spring Festival to increase the sentry, increase the intensity of patrols, but also patrol at night is to supply hot water on time, each person is issued with a cotton coat, a pair of cotton boots lazy, a pair of sheepskin hands stuffy.

When it comes to sail shoes and stuffy hands, they are the treasures of the Northeasterners.

Boot lazy is a kind of "native leather shoes" worn by Northeast people in winter, "this kind of shoes will not freeze your feet when worn at more than 40 degrees below zero."

The production method is also very special, first the cowhide or horse skin is ripe and then smoked with grain grass to apricot yellow, with a large piece of leather to roll inward, the toe part of the toe part of the pull out a uniform "bun fold," the heel is sewn, the main body of the shoe is done, the back part of the pleats and then use a small piece of leather to make a raised "shoe tongue," the upper of the shoe is then made of leather strips into "ears" for wearing shoelaces, so that the boot is basically done.

In order to prevent snow from pouring into the shoes, a long ankle will be installed on the upper of the shoe, and when you wear it, you can tie it with a leather rope as a legging. …,

When the boots are lazy and worn later, they should also be waddled with boot grass inside, so generally this kind of shoes are larger and longer than other shoes, and there is no specific shoe size.

The custom of wearing boots and boots has continued to spread for many years in the Northeast, and until the eighties of the last century, the countryside still retains the habit of wearing boots and shoes in winter.

In the courtyard of Liu's mansion, the old man Liu Shoucai wrote a few couplets on the table and had not yet pasted them, and the old man was slowly pacing in the hall with his hands behind his back, his brows tightly locked, as if he was thinking.

It's already the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and according to custom, it's time to invite the God of Wealth and post the link. But Liu Mansion is now suspended in order to wait for the eldest young master!

As early as a month ago, the old man received a letter from his son, saying that he had achieved success in his studies and was coming back for the New Year this year. Therefore, from the beginning of Laba, the Liu Mansion began to prepare, slaughtering pigs and sheep, and rewarding the servants with five eldest sons each.

Liu Mansion has been prosperous for several generations, only when the family Liu Shoucai, until he was in his forties, he was considered an old man, and he gave birth to such an only son, so the status of the young son in the Liu family compound is conceivable, the old lady can be said to be afraid of freezing in his hand, and he is afraid of melting in his mouth, and the old lady thinks that it is God's favor, in order to thank God, he named his son Guodong.

Although the Liu Mansion is very fond of this young son, but the old lady is not sloppy at all in the education of the young son, at the age of three began to ask the teacher to enlighten, read the four books and five classics, learn the Spring and Autumn etiquette, at the age of six began to practice boxing and feet to strengthen the muscles and bones, and at the age of eight he was sent to Erlongshan to learn from the boxer Zhao Hualong, learn Mandarin, practice southern boxing and northern legs.

In a blink of an eye, ten years have passed, in order to allow his son to concentrate on martial arts, the old man has not been to see his son once in the past ten years, and now that his son is coming back soon, the excitement in the old man's heart is naturally indescribable. But it's already the Chinese New Year's Eve, why hasn't the son arrived yet, this world, the war is chaotic, won't it be any trouble on the road, right? All kinds of doubts and conjectures kept flashing in the old man's mind, but they were all overturned by the old man again and again, no, definitely not. It must have been delayed on the road due to the weather, and my son will be home soon.

It's been ten years, a whole ten years. What will the son be like? It must have grown taller and stronger, and now is it a round face or a square face? is eighteen years old, he is an adult, and after returning from school, Wen Taowu is strategic, and he will definitely be able to support the foundation of the Liu family in the future. Thinking about it, the old man showed a smug smile on his face again.

Suddenly, a patrolling home general ran into the inner hall in a panic.

"Master, Lao Mou, young master, young master!"

Liu Shoucai is full of cleverness; "Don't panic, say slowly, what's wrong with the young master?"

"Young master, young master, young master is back!" The family general was in a hurry to run, and he breathed a few breaths before he spoke.

"Ahh The young master is back. The wrinkles on Liu Shoucai's face suddenly stretched a lot, "Where is it?" Take me to meet the young master. ”

The family general came back to report the news in a hurry, and he was sweating, and then he breathed a sigh of relief, took off his hat and carried it in his hand, and his head was steaming, like a steamer that had just opened the pot.

Liu Shoucai didn't have time to put on his hat and followed him out of the Liu Mansion compound and walked towards the south gate of Weizi, and the old lady and a family member behind chased him out with a hat and coat in his arms.

On the road leading from the south gate of Liu's house to Liu's house, the big housekeeper Gao De and a tall figure hurriedly walked in the direction of Liu's house, followed by a few family members.

Liu Shoucai had just walked out of the gate of Liu's mansion, and met his son Liu Guodong and his party who came in a hurry, looking at the tall and strong young man in front of him, Liu Shoucai's eyes were straight, and he didn't say anything for a long time. …,

"Daddy." Liu Guodong shouted Dad, and knelt on his knees with a poof, "Dad, the unfilial Guodong has kowtowed to you." As he spoke, he was busy kowtowing again and again.

The old man Liu Shoucai was speechless for a long time, and then the old lady also rushed over, while putting on a coat for the old man, she looked at the son in front of her who had not seen him for ten years and said: , get up, get up, get home, it's all your own family, what's polite! ”

As he spoke, he slapped the old man and said, "What are you doing in a daze, it's so cold, don't tell your son to come into the house quickly." ”

Who would have thought that Liu Guodong stood there motionless: "Dad, mother, my son has caused you a ...... disaster."

Liu Shoucai and his wife were stunned, but they heard their son say: "When my son came back this time, he killed several bandits ......."

"Ahh Liu Shoucai was stunned.

Liu Guodong roughly explained the matter, and Liu Shoucai gradually quieted down, and muttered a little there: "Bolt, you go and keep an eye on me, and the bandits will come back and report as soon as there is any movement!" The people in the Zhuangzi have also prepared for me! ”

The squatting bolt is back!

This time confirmed the news of the bandits' coming soon. It turned out that this group of bandits was a small group of bandits in Xinglong Mountain, a hundred miles away from here, and the bandit leader was nicknamed "Wang Cannon". It is said that he came to the east of the country, in his hometown he was idle, gambling money lost a fine light, lost his wife and children and paid off the debt, and then there was no way to follow the people to the east of the country, came here is still dead and not changed, he was tired of farming, he ate the east and ate the west, and then there was no place to eat, and began to steal, and then I saw that this thing was good, what do you want to do, and it was not hard to work, and slowly developed into a robbery of money, robbery, and then not long after making a group of the same fox friends and dog friends, began to pull up the sheath and entrench in Xinglong Mountain, blatantly becoming a bandit. After several years of development, now there are three or five hundred people gathered on the mountain.

Liu Guodong killed his subordinates!

On this day, just after lunch, before the people went to work in the field, the bolt hurried back. As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the fence, he shouted: "Quick, it's not good, it's not good, the king cannon is coming!" The king cannon is coming! ”

When Liu Shoulu, the second master who had just come to inspect the enclosure, heard this, ran down the enclosure, and met the bolt, "How many people, where are they?" ”

"There are about 200 people, and I can't see it very clearly from a distance, and it is estimated that there are less than five miles at this time." The bolt wiped the sweat from his head, "There are organic guns, and the weapons are much better than those guys who came here before." ”

"Okay, hurry up and inform the third master." Liu Shoulu commanded, turned around and shouted; "Full hoard, notify the fence to strengthen vigilance, all hidden, don't let the bandits see that our reality is coming!" ）