Chapter 154: Xiao Nian

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. 【Latest chapter reading. To thoroughly clean the room, commonly known as dusting, sweeping dust is to remove the old and welcome the new, and remove 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.

This hygiene is Chen Qiaoqiao's most annoying thing, and there is an advantage after this crossing, that is, she has a maid, don't do such a thing yourself, just watch Dongmei busy

Sweeping is mainly to clean the house thoroughly, this Dongmei is the best at doing these things, she first covers the bed furniture in the room, wraps her head with a bandana, and then sweeps the walls up and down with a broom. After sweeping the house, scrub the tables and chairs and rinse the floor. After cleaning the house, the home suddenly has a new look. Coupled with the newly pasted Spring Festival couplets bought by Yangzi, they are bright and eye-catching, showing the prosperity of prosperity. The vivid door gods, the banners that look up to see joy, the exquisite window flowers, the colorful New Year paintings, the lanterns full of flowers, and the abundant offerings on the shrine all show a joyful and thriving festival scene.

Speaking of this window flower, Chen Qiaoqiao feels that this autumn fragrance is indeed some talent, she cut the window flower, rich in content, delicate and vivid, lifelike, such as magpie Dengmei, swallow wearing peach willow, peacock play peony, lion rolling hydrangea, three sheep Kaitai, two dragons play pearls, deer crane Tongchun, five bats hold longevity, rhinoceros looking at the moon, more than one year in a row, mandarin ducks playing in the water, bangs playing golden cicadas, and two immortals and so on. Even Chen Qiaoqiao, a well-informed modern person, is dizzying

As for Wu Er's family, the kitchen is her world, and her main task is to worship the god of the stove, Si Zuo and Si right only follow Wu Er's family, because this worship of the god of the stove is to make sugar melons

It's a delicious meal that makes your mouth water when you think about it, and of course they're going to be waiting here.

This small year is the day of the folk sacrifice stove. There is another reason in it, it is said that on this day, the prince of the stove will go to heaven to report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor will reward and punish. When sacrificing to the stove, the Kanto sugar must be melted with fire and applied to the mouth of the king of the stove, so that he cannot speak ill of the Jade Emperor in front of him. It is generally said that the god of the stove is a handsome and beautiful man, so in northern China, the god of the stove is worshiped by men, and there is a saying that "men do not worship the moon, women do not worship the stove", which may be the performance of "strict defense of men and women".

Although Chen Qiaoqiao likes food, she doesn't know anything about these folk customs, so she also watched the busyness of Wu Er's family with great interest.

"Madam, go and tear off the statue of the god of the stove," Wu Erjia instructed. Chen Qiaoqiao was very surprised, this Wu Erjia dared to instruct her to do it, it was not because she was too approachable recently, this Wu Erjia didn't know how to measure, although she had no class concept, but she paid her to do it

Besides, if she really didn't have any dignity at all, wouldn't she be about to say a few words to stab her, but Wu Erjia spoke again, "Mrs. is a family member, and Mrs. must come to tear this statue of the Stove God."

Chen Qiaoqiao breathed a sigh of relief, what was going on, Chen Qiaoqiao was also secretly funny, was she too careful, or had been a lady for too long, and her thoughts were also ** Chen Qiaoqiao, who was on the end of this shelf, laughed at herself here, Si Zuo had asked curiously: "Why is this?" Wu Erjia smiled: "This is to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, because generally every family has a portrait of the god of the stove near the stove, and sometimes there is a portrait of the grandmother of the king of the stove to accompany it. In order to let him "say good things to heaven and return to the palace to bring auspiciousness", he should also bribe him to stick a sticky sugar melon or cake to his mouth, so that his "sweet mouth" can only say good things, and then burn it with the grass horse. This process is known as rhetoric. After the New Year, buy a new portrait and ask the stove god to be pasted back. In the middle of the few days, due to the lack of supervision from the god of the hearth, ordinary people overeat, gather crowds to gamble, and indulge themselves to do some small mistakes that they usually think should not be made. ”

Si You's big eyes blinked brightly, "So, can you mess around these days" Chen Qiaoqiao tapped her forehead with her finger, "Yes, as long as you finish writing the big characters that should be written every day, my mother will let you mess around"

Si Zuo and Si You were suddenly embarrassed, Chen Qiaoqiao couldn't help but laugh, "In a few days, you will go to the Open Book Academy to study, I heard that Xiao Yue'er writes very well in big characters, and you don't want to compare with your little sister."

Si Zuo and Si You's eyes suddenly brightened, "Mother, don't worry, we will not embarrass our mother" Chen Qiaoqiao smiled with relief, "This is a good child"

"Madam, don't worry, the two young ladies are very sensible, it's really enviable," Wu Erjia exclaimed.

Si Zuo blinked smartly, "Wu Erjia's will be too good to talk to the Stove God, a little sugar melon will bribe" Wu Erjia's expression became nervous, "Shh" Don't say it in front of the Stove God again, and secretly pulled the children into the outer room, although Chen Qiaoqiao didn't believe this, she also felt that it was very funny, and she followed her to the outer room.

"Miss, you don't know the story of this stove god, if you knew, you wouldn't say that," Wu Erjia said in a low voice.

The two children suddenly became curious, "What kind of story do we want to hear?"

Wu Erjia said in embarrassment: "I'm a rough person here, I'm afraid it's not good to say" "No, we just want to listen" Si Zuo and Si Right coquettishly.

"Wu Er's family, can you just talk about it, we are all our own people, and we won't make fun of you if we don't say it well, it's a lot of fun," Qiu Xiang said in the middle.

"Yes, Mrs. wants you to say it, you can say it, I heard it when I was very young, and now I almost forgot it" Dongmei did her own thing and came to join in the fun.

Chen Qiaoqiao smiled and encouraged, "I want to hear it too, so you can say it."

Wu Erjia's words said, "According to legend, a long time ago, there was a rich son surnamed Zhang Mingchan, and after marrying a wife, he lived a very happy life. Who knew that within a few years, Zhang Chan had evil thoughts, he liked the new and hated the old, and forced his good wife to divorce. The wife had no choice but to live in another country. Since then, Zhang Chan has not been doing his job properly and has lived a life of spending time and drinking. Unexpectedly, one winter, Zhang's family was suddenly hit by a fire, which burned a huge family business to the ground, and Zhang Chan's eyes were also burned blind. Faced with such a tragic situation, Zhang Chan had to beg everywhere for a living. One day, when he came to the door of a house begging for food, the kind hostess saw that he was pitiful, so she invited him to her house, and cooked good food and cooked him for him. During the conversation, Zhang Chan found out that the hostess was actually his divorced ex-wife, so he was ashamed and threw himself into the stove and burned him alive. Later, when the Jade Emperor learned of this, he felt that he was a prodigal son who could be used to turn around, so he named him the king of the stove, that is, the prince of the stove, and asked him to observe the merits and good deeds of the world, and on the twenty-third day of the lunar month every year, he went back to heaven to report the truth of the world.

How do you know that this Zhang Chan, since he became the king of the stove, is still lazy and does not do his job. People couldn't believe him, and they were afraid that he would talk nonsense after he went to heaven, so on the day he went to heaven, they put sugar melons to commemorate him. During the sacrifice, the couplet of "Heaven says good things, and the lower world keeps peace" is pasted on both sides of the statue of Zaojun to remind him to say good things for the people and do practical things. As for the sugar melon, it is to take its sweet and sticky characteristics and use it to cover his mouth. When he tastes the sweetness of the sugar melon, he has to say more good things, and if he wants to make a small report and say bad things, let the stickiness of the sugar melon stick to his mouth, so that he can't open his mouth if he wants to.

Therefore, when everyone worships the stove king, they should kneel in front of the stove king, recite words in their mouths, pray in front of them, and recite the sacrificial stove ballad, which says: "Listen to the grandfather of the stove king, you have seen the sky in the kitchen." I ate and drank frugally, and it was a mistake to throw rice and noodles. There is a lot of dirt in the furnace, and you old man can take care of it. I can't eat all this sugar melon, so I gave it to the Jade Emperor to taste. I'm here to kowtow to you, and I want to say good things to me when I go to heaven. On the first day of junior high school, don't delay when you come back early, come to our house to eat my steamed jujube mountain buns. ”

After the prayer, the housewife should slowly remove the statue of the stove king and burn it with fire, indicating that the stove king has gone to heaven. Until the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, the statue of the new stove monarch is pasted, which is regarded as the beginning of another year. ”

This story and explanation, not only the children, but also Chen Qiaoqiao listened to it, "Wu Erjia, I can't see it, you still have such a good note, and you still can't say it, this is to hide it" Chen Qiaoqiao was very surprised, does this look like she can't speak

Now Wu Erjia was embarrassed, waved his hand, and said: "Madame, this is tormenting me, I said this paragraph well, that is because I am a cook, plus there are many children in the family, and I am honest, I often coax them, so I can say it a little wisely, if you let me say, it is impossible, there is no goods in this stomach" Everyone suddenly laughed.

Si Zuo and Si You quarreled and said: "We want to eat sugar melons, we want to eat sugar melons"

"Okay, okay, I'll do it," Wu Erjia hurriedly agreed. However, this sugar melon is a huge project, first of all, the malt is crushed with a mill, mixed with cooked rice in a certain proportion, and then fermented to obtain sugar water, and then steamed and stirred to become the semi-finished brown sugar of the sugar melon. Wait until the middle of the night, and then knead and draw the brown sugar, which not only has to carefully grasp the viscosity of the brown sugar, but also to complete it before the temperature rises.

However, Wu Er's family is very energetic, and the children are also looking forward to it.

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