On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the sacrificial stove festival is also commonly known as the small year.

It is said that at the end of each year, the Stove King, the Tai Sui God and the folk gods have to return to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor, especially the Stove King will tell the Jade Emperor about the good and evil in the world, as the basis for the reward and punishment of human beings, so most people worship the gods and the Stove King at this time.

Zao Jun returned to the first and fifth watches of the first day of the twenty-fourth lunar month, so on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, every household in the village prepared sacrificial stove sugar for Lord Zaojun, so as to cover his mouth and let him only say good things. The women of the village pay special attention to this festival, after all, they are the ones who gather around the stove every day to gossip and talk about the rights and wrongs of people.

"Every household in the Great Zhou Dynasty has a stove, that is, every household has a stove god, and the Jade Emperor is only one, so many stove gods report on their work, can he listen to it?"

Lan Yi imagined the Jade Emperor sitting on the throne of Lingxiao, with countless fat stove gods standing below, waiting one by one to talk about the big and small things that had happened on the stove under his jurisdiction in the past year, she couldn't help but feel a chill for the Jade Emperor.

However, she also bought sacrificial candy and put it next to the stove, and on the side of the sacrificial candy was all kinds of food she prepared for the whole family.

The pork ribs are already boiling in the pot, and the pig's trotters are also simmering in the casserole, she sits on the edge of the stove and smashes the pecans with stones, then adds sesame seeds and rice and stir-fries them in a dry pot, and then goes to the small mill in the village to slowly grind them into powder, and when they are done, they are put in a jar and when they are drunk, they are directly added with sugar and washed with boiling water, which is a bowl of nutritious homemade walnut sesame paste.

She also dried the pumpkin seeds at home and fried them with salt to make snacks, there are no sunflower seeds and peanuts here, and the dried fruits at the end of the year are mostly dates, persimmon cakes and various candies, and fried pumpkin seeds are also relatively common. After preparing in this way, the food at home is already very rich.

Lan Yi looked at the food that was full of food, and then looked at the small plate of candy prepared for the Stove God, and couldn't help but smile: "Lord Stove God, you can go after eating the sugar, we have to prepare for dinner." ”

Lan Yi took off the casserole of stewed pig's trotters, put it in a wok and fried a plate of leek eggs, and then added pork rib soup, sauerkraut and mung bean vermicelli to boil a pot of soup, and sprinkled some chopped shallots when it came out of the pot, which smelled fragrant and appetizing.

"Daifuku, Yu'er, baby, wash your hands and eat." Lan Yi called the three children who were kicking Keju in the yard into the kitchen.

The three children ran in response, Yu'er and the baby were fed by Lan Yi like this, becoming more and more tender and growing quickly. Yu'er goes out to play dog holes, set off firecrackers, and kick bows every day, because the baby always has to follow, so when Lan Yi can't spare his hand to look at him, he lets Yu'er play in the yard and watch the children by the way. Although the baby can run around with his brother, he is still less than two years old after all, so Lan Yi can rest assured that he will go around.

"Mother, it's so fragrant!" Yu'er couldn't help but swallow as she looked at the vegetables and rice on the low table.

Dafu also stretched his neck and pursed his lips: "Auntie, grandma said to let you take Yu'er and the baby over for a New Year's dinner." ”

This child looks more like Chen, with delicate facial features. However, because he didn't pay attention to washing his face when he ran around, his little face was rough by the wind, and it looked a little less watery than his two tender buns.

"Okay, let's go over later. Wash your hands, you two, let's eat. After Lan Yi washed the baby, she carried him into the house and put him on the kang before turning around and coming out to serve food. Now that the weather is cold, Lan Yi also burned the kang in the West House, put the kang table on the kang to eat, and when the women in the house came, Lan Yi also let her sit on the West House Kang. The east house has become a special bedroom, which is more in line with Lan Yi's living habits.

Later, before Lan Yi could go to the second uncle's house to help cook the New Year's dinner, Hua Changye, who delivered New Year's goods from Huajia Village, arrived, and Lan Yi sent two pork, two rabbits and a firecracker.

"I shouldn't have come, but I just happened to go to the city to run errands, so I brought my younger siblings over by the way." Hua Changye explained.

Lan Yi nodded and poured him tea, it didn't make a difference to her who would send the New Year's Harvest in Huajia Village.

Hua Changye held the hot white porcelain teacup, warmed his cold hands and said: "Brother and sister, wait for me to come and pick you and the child in the fourth year of the new year, you haven't been to our house yet, don't go to the fork." ”

"Don't bother my cousin. There are a few girls in the village who have married from Huajia Village, and it happens to be the fourth day of the new year to go back to pay New Year's greetings. ”

When Zhao Lizheng's eldest daughter-in-law, Wu, came to Lan Yi's house to chat, she mentioned that her mother-in-law and younger siblings Dahua had set up a fourth day to return to her parents' house.

"That's fine."

"Cousin, the leeks and celery in the greenhouse can be eaten in a few days, I'll cut some and bring them back to make dumplings. Yu'er, baby, you two are here with your cousin, and your mother will come when she goes. After Lan Yi told Yu'er and the baby, she turned around and walked out of the hall.

Hua Changye wanted to follow him to the greenhouse to have a look, but when he saw the little guy sitting on a small stool motionless and looking at him in front of him, he had to sit.

Yu'er listened to her mother's instructions and nodded. He got up and went to the West House, climbed on the kang and put down a small box with melon seeds and dried fruits on the kang table, and put it in front of Hua Changye.

"Cousin, you taste these melon seeds, my mother put salt when she fried them, and they tasted good." Yu'er grabbed a handful of melon seeds and put them in Hua Changye's hand.

He turned around and walked up to the baby and handed him a persimmon cake: "Brother, eat." ”

The baby happily took it, holding the persimmon and gnawing it, although he didn't have teeth, but he liked to gnaw on the persimmon cake very much, Lan Yi was afraid that he would eat too much and not digest it, so he was only allowed to eat one a day.

Hua Changye looked down at the pumpkin seeds that were fried in his hand and were a little yellow, and he was a little dazed, so he heard Yu'er's immature little voice and said, "Cousin, are the New Year's goods at home ready?" ”

Yu'er sat on a small stool like a little adult, holding dried apricots in her hand and greeting Hua Changye very well, and her mother said that he would accompany his cousin, and he would naturally accompany him.

Yu'er is the eldest son in the family, and Lan Yi deliberately cultivates his ability to deal with things. If there is anything to deal with other people at home, Lan Yi will go ahead and then let him pass the word. Yu'er is no longer afraid of strangers, and she can express her meaning clearly in front of them.

He saw that Hua Changye didn't speak, and observed that his expression didn't look like he was angry, but he was in a daze, thinking that he didn't hear clearly, so he continued to ask: "Cousin, are all the New Year's goods at home ready?" ”

In the past few days, people have come to the family, and my mother has asked like this.

Hua Changye looked at the big one and the small one in front of him, and nodded mechanically: "Okay." ”

Yu'er nodded in style: "That's good." ”

After speaking, he raised his sleeve to wipe the saliva flowing down the persimmon cake for his younger brother, and then asked, "Grandma, are they okay?" ”

Hanatsune: ......

Looking at Yu'er still looking at herself seriously, Hua Changye couldn't help but wonder how her younger siblings taught her children.

Lan Yi returned to the house with the bag, and saw Hua Changye and Yu'er chatting "decently", she nodded with satisfaction, and turned around and went into the east house to get five pieces of cloth, which was the New Year's gift she prepared for Wang Linshan's grandmother and four aunts.

"Cousin, I'm sorry for you to make this trip. These fabrics are for you to bring to your grandmother and four aunts. By the way, do you and your uncle have to go out on a boat next year? ”

Hua Changye finally didn't need Yu'er to "chat" anymore, and said with a sigh of relief: "Run, leave after the sting water thaws." ”

Lan Yi remembered Zhao Zhongxuan, who said in front of his house that day that he would go out with the merchant ship, so he then asked, "I wonder if there are enough people on this ship, cousin?" ”

"Just find two more guys after the year, if my brother and sister plan to go back to Meixian with our merchant ship, there is a place on the ship."

Lan Yi shook her head: "Thank you, cousin, I don't plan to go back recently." There are a few young people in Beigou Village who plan to find a merchant ship to go out and run with them after the New Year, and I see that they are also smart and safe. ”

Hua Changye looked at Lan Yi, in his opinion, this brother and sister are not troublesome: "Is it the Wang family brother who wants to go out?" Okay, get them ready, and then just go over there. ”

"No, it's just a few people in the village, I happened to hear them talk about this when I passed by that day, and when I saw my cousin today, I suddenly remembered it." Lan Yi didn't want to do much, but looked at Hua Changye as if he had a brain, and Zhao Zhongxuan's stunned young man could also be a little safe if he followed him. More than she could do.

"Yes. You tell those people, if you want to go to Huajia Village to look for me after the rain, I'll look at each other. "Since ancient times, there have been three hardships, supporting boats, striking iron, and selling tofu, and most people don't like to do these three trades. It's not easy to recruit the right guy for merchant ships, and it's best if someone is willing to go.

After the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the new year is very close.

On the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, Lan Yi sent the baby to the second uncle's house, and she and Yu'er rode a donkey to Lijia Village to burn paper on the grave of his parents, telling them that Yu'er was fine. The thirtieth day of the lunar month is the right day for people here to go to the graves of their ancestors, and there is no one in the cemetery. Lan Yi once brought Yu'er to the Midyear Festival, and although it snowed heavily, the road was still recognized.

After Yu'er kowtowed to her father and mother in a proper manner, she lit the paper money and said a few words to reassure her parents according to Lan Yi's teaching. With the death of her father and Lan Yi's wholehearted love for him, Yu'er's sadness about her father's death has faded a lot, and she did not cry loudly.

Afterwards, Lan Yi wiped the tears on his little face, and the two rode on the back of a donkey and wrapped a black cloak back to Beigou Village. Although she knew that Yu'er's grandparents were still in the world, Lan Yi never thought of taking Yu'er back to see, she didn't have a good impression of the Li family, and she didn't want Yu'er to go back and be angry.

On the thirtieth day of the lunar month, the sound of firecrackers in the village has never stopped, and the men of every family have to go to the ancestral grave to worship their ancestors. Wang Linyuan also came over and took the baby to the grave together, although Yu'er is Lan Yi's adopted son, but he is also a foreign surname, so he can't go to the ancestral grave of the Wang family to worship.

Lan Yi was afraid that Yu'er would be sad, so she took him to prepare a sumptuous sacrificial food at home and put it on the Eight Immortals Table Mountain in the hall, and also lit three pillars of incense, waiting for the ancestors to come back in the evening to enjoy it.

After the baby came back, Lan Yi asked him to kowtow to his parents at the table. Lan Yi thought silently in her heart, hoping that Yirou and her husband could reunite and bless the baby to grow up safely.

On the evening of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Lan Yi and the three went to the second uncle's house for dinner, and the second uncle led them to kowtow to their ancestors in the courtyard to thank their heavenly spirits for their blessings to their descendants. Because of the cold weather, Lan Yi took the children back to their house after kowtowing, and the three of them nested on the warm kang and listened to the sound of firecrackers outside.

After the two children fell asleep, Lan Yi brought the homemade charcoal in the clay pot to the kitchen, the window of this room was small, and it was closed tightly in winter, she was afraid that she and her children would be poisoned by carbon monoxide if she was not careful.

She was in the courtyard again, prostrating to her parents who were far away to pay New Year's greetings. Although this place and her hometown are different from time and space, and now that the New Year is here, the family may not yet be in winter, but she still imagines that her parents are also preparing for the New Year, so that she feels closer to her parents.

Lan Yi knelt down and bowed, and said a lot of words to her parents in front of the stars, before turning around and returning to the house to prepare for sleep.

Zhou Weiji heard the sound of Lan Yi closing the door, looked at the courtyard wall of the two houses and sighed. He stood for a long time with the two poetry collections of the former dynasty that he bought for Lan Yi in his hands.

Zhou Weiji knew that Lan Yi liked these things, and he bought them in the bookstore when he went to Meixian last time, but he never found a chance to give them to her. One is that the two did not have a suitable chance to meet, and Zhou Weiji did not meet her several times when he came back from the Yamen; Second, after she had a dispute with the Liu family of Zhou Yang's family, Zhou Weiji also heard about her poisonous oath, and it was not good to make any moves, he had planned to ask his eldest sister to ask for marriage in the past, but now he can only give up.

He thought that this little woman's thin body was not afraid in the face of Liu, and slapped her twice, and when he said that sound of reason, his heart would be sour and numb, and he would cherish her and respect her more.

He didn't expect that he would bring her trouble when he went home more, and Zhou Weiji would open the door as long as he was at home these days, so that the villagers could understand what he was doing in the yard when they passed by, and it would not affect her reputation.

As for moving away or not coming back, he never thought that he would feel at ease if he could stay here like this, and it seemed that it would be good to live like this for the rest of his life.

When she was a child, Lan Yi was woken up by the sound of firecrackers, she also went outside the house to light a firecracker according to the rules, covered her ears to see it crackle, and then made a prayer with both hands to Polaris to wish her parents good health, and wished the coming year a smooth season, so she went back to sleep in a trembling house.

Zhou Weiji, who was next door, had just finished setting off firecrackers when he heard the sound of firecrackers in the courtyard next door.

He couldn't help it anymore, jumped up on the wall and hid in the shadows, watching her raise her arms and hide far away from lighting firecrackers with incense, watching her palm-sized little face bright and dark in the light of firecrackers, and seeing her standing in the courtyard with her eyes closed and her hands folded to pray to the gods. Zhou Weiji's heart was astringent, because he knew that what she was asking for had nothing to do with him.

The shrew Liu was right, the reason why she came back every day was because she seduced her.

However, this little girl knew nothing.

What can he do but watch here?

The word love has been sung through the ages.

The origin is nowhere to be found, and I just hope that the sky will last forever. R1152