Compared with the capital, the weather in Zhangjia Village in the northeast, thousands of miles away, is even colder, and there is not a ghost shadow on the road at night, let alone the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, where each family closes their doors and secretly worships the Vesta.

According to legend, the Lord of the Stove was originally a star in the sky, but because of his mistakes, he was degraded to the world by the Jade Emperor and became the "East Chef".

He sits in the middle of the kitchen stove of each family, recording how people live, how they act, every year on the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, the king 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 rewards and punishes. Therefore, people have to sacrifice to the stove on the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, and sacrifice the god of the stove to ascend to heaven.

Zhangjia Village is located in the north of China, different from the south with the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month as the Chinese New Year's Eve, and has always been handed down from the ancestors as the twenty-third month of the lunar month as the Chinese New Year's Eve.

"Men do not worship the moon, women do not sacrifice to the stove" custom, so the sacrifice to the king of the stove is limited to men.

In the kitchen, Father Zhang drove away the women and children, took out a statue of the stove king from his underwear pocket, and respectfully pasted it in front of the stove, muttering not to blame.

On a table set up in front of the stove, four kinds of candy, water, beans, straw, etc., were placed, and a piece of milk candy was melted and stuck to the mouth of the stove king.

Originally, a few years ago, he still used Kanto sugar to stick to the mouth of the king of the stove, so that he would not speak ill of the Jade Emperor, and it was also intended to make the mouth of the king of the stove sweet and just say good things.

But Daddy Zhang thinks that immortals are also human beings, and they should prefer toffee to Kanto sugar. Since the king of the stove has a sweet mouth, the best must be used.

I didn't see that since their Zhang family started using toffee, this day is getting better and better. For this matter, he has privately told his two brothers since last year that they must use toffee.

Whether Uncle Zhang and the others believe it or not, ordinary people are still reluctant to tell him!

Father Zhang led the two brothers Zhang Guofu to kneel on the ground and kowtowed three times, stood up and took off the statue of the king of the stove and lit it together with the grass horse, kowtowing and praying while burning.

After completing the ritual of sacrificing to the god of the stove, Father Zhang motioned to his wife and daughters-in-law to come in and clean up the mess. Even if each family tacitly secretly worships and may not be conspicuous in front of outsiders, it is better to have less trouble.

In the hall, Father Zhang sat cross-legged on the kang, took out a long pipe, took out the tobacco leaves from the basket, lit it, took a deep breath, and slowly spit it out with half-squinted eyes.

"Dad, comfortable, right?"

Zhang Guofu watched the second brother squeeze his eyebrows and beat his father's back, and laughed happily.

"Yes, you'll keep pounding tonight."

Hearing this, Zhang Guofu couldn't help laughing anymore.

"Dad, will your second elder really go to the capital after the year? Don't go, my eldest brother and I are in the county, and I can discuss it with you and my mother if I have something. It's far away, and our brothers can only catch blind. ”

Zhang Guofu shook his head disapprovingly: "It's not okay if you don't go, Jiaojiao is happy, no one in our family has passed, it's not good-looking." Dad, you go to stay with your mother for a few days and come back. ”

"Big brother, do you think this time is the same as last time, and you can come back after staying for a week? Our little five days sent a letter asking if there was less food, how was my father's body and bones, and how good the capital was. I see, this time it has not been two or three years, and I will not be able to return home. ”

Father Zhang remembered what his old son said in his letter to him, the courtyard of the alley can see the palace in the house, and what little grandson is not kind after not taking it with him, and grinned.

"Dad, don't worry about laughing. Think about what's in the capital? We still have your old brothers in the village, and there are a lot of your old buddies in the county, what do you have to go to the capital? ”

Zhang Guofu heard that his father and mother were going to live permanently, but that would not work! He was silent for a while, and looked at Dad Zhang: "Dad, don't go, let my mother go, take a look at Jiaojiao and come back." ”

Daddy Zhang gave him a blank look.

"Hehe, let the second brother and sister go over with their mother."

"No, I can't. She is similar to her sister-in-law. Don't go, dad! When the time comes, you will say that you are worried about your mother, as long as your mother does not go to the capital, Xiao Wu will not dare to keep you. ”

Father Zhang was worried that the two daughters-in-law would hear it, so he glared at him: "What nonsense!" We discussed, and after the first month, your mother will take your daughter-in-law, and their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will enter Beijing. When Jiaojiao gives birth soon, then I will talk to my mother. It's useless to worry less. Don't look at your Uncle Zhou, just a delicate seedling, there is no shortage of people at home to serve the confinement. ”

Zhang Lao Er frowned. What did the do in the past? There is a lack of a lock on his mouth, and when he comes back, he will talk nonsense. and his sister-in-law, although it seems to have changed for the better now, who dares to guarantee it.

Daddy Zhang is old and refined, how can he not see that his two sons disagree. But what his Jiaojiao said makes sense, he should show some muscles to others, and he can't hide them.

The first two daughters-in-law have a temperament, and they also know it. Just take it over and let Jiaojiao train a few hands, and go to see the sperm of those people in the capital, so as not to implicate her son in the future.

"Dad, I'll see if my eldest sister can take a vacation and let her accompany my mother."

Father Zhang glanced at his second son: "Go back and let the old Zhang head take care of the house?" Your eldest sister can't go, she has to take care of the house, your brother-in-law is a good person, but he doesn't have a claim. ”

"What about the second sister?"

Father Zhang shook his head: "The water spilled by the married girl." She has her little home, and the children are still young. ”

The two brothers Zhang Guofu looked at Zhang's father in surprise. You must know that his father treats the five siblings equally, but he doesn't have any patriarchal thinking.

Father Zhang hesitated and snorted his long pipe, and said in a low voice, "I plan to ask your mother to take your daughter-in-law to see the world." Only when this person has seen too much danger and seen a wide range of things, she does not dare to live by her temperament. ”

Zhang Guofu and the two brothers glanced at each other.

"When I wrote a letter to Xiao Wu, he understood what I meant. In addition to the men in a family, they must also be sensible and know how to measure. In this way, the days can be more and more prosperous. ”

After Dad Zhang finished speaking, he closed his mouth and stopped talking. Some things can only be understood by themselves, and it is useless to talk too much by themselves.

At night, Zhang's mother blew out the lamp in the bedroom of the main house, and lay next to her wife on the kang, thinking of the surprised and happy faces of the two daughters-in-law, she felt a little uneasy.

"Daddy, do you think you want to discuss this idea with Xiao Wu first?"

Father Zhang smiled when he heard this: "No, as long as your old son learns that you brought his two sisters-in-law over, his eyes can guess his old son's plan." ”

"What about Jiaojiao, do you want to say hello to her first? I'm worried that this kid is stupid and doesn't know the background of the collector, and he will dig out everything. ”

"No, it won't. Except for the two of us, she can't trust outsiders. ”

"Yes. I'm just worried that these two will get a moth. ”

"Some time ago, Brother Ah Guang told me that the wind was going to rise again. I'm not worried about the children we have, but I'm worried about these two daughters-in-law. This time, you asked Jiaojiao to suppress the minds of these two people for me, especially the old ones. ”

"The more you talk, the more mysterious it becomes, so let's go with you. I'm worried that it won't be able to be done. ”

Dad Zhang patted his wife, "I can't leave in the first month, the village has been busy with work for a winter, and it looks like it's coming to an end. This matter is your old son secretly leading the village, I have to watch a little bit to prevent him from being involved.

And you also asked Xiao Wu this time, what should I do at the school when I have a child? It's really not good, we may have to go over to take care of the little grandson, and no matter how careful the maid is, how can we watch the children ourselves. ”

Zhang's mother saw that her wife said so, and she didn't persuade her again. Her wife has an account in her heart, but she doesn't understand what the account is, so she just listens to his arrangement.