On the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, every household has to clean up, sacrifice to the god of the stove, and paste Spring Festival couplets, cut window flowers and eat dumplings, in Liu Guiyuan's view, this day is as lively as the New Year.

Liu Chongshan and his wife still haven't returned, and the three sisters cleaned up their mood, got up early in the morning to clean up the house, and wiped the whole family clean inside and out, especially the earthen pot table under the grass shed.

The eldest sister bought a new portrait of the king of the stove and pasted it on the right side of the stove, and then pasted a couplet of "God says good things, and the lower world descends auspicious", and then moves a few cases from the hall, and puts hemp sugar and water on it as an offering.

Liu Hongjube took the lead in smearing a piece of hemp candy melted by fire on the portrait of the Lord of the Stove, and chanted words in his mouth: "The Lord of the Stove, the Lord of the Stove, eat me."

The sugar at home, when it comes to the Jade Emperor, you must say more good things. ”

After Liu Hongjube finished reading, Liu Huahua concocted it in the same way, followed by Liu Guiyuan, and finally Liu Lianzi, the eldest sister hugged her and also pasted the mouth of the stove prince, so that the sacrificial stove link was over.

"You two chop the stuffing and noodles first, and when I cut a few pairs of window flowers, I'll help you." Liu Hongzao held a pair of scissors in her hand, and according to the appearance in her memory, she began to learn to cut magpies and swallows wearing peach willows, which were not pasted at home before, but this year is different, she especially wants to cut them out and paste them on the window to decorate.

At about ten o'clock, the second uncle personally came over and called them over for dinner, saying: "It turned out that the eldest brother and sister-in-law came back, who knew that we didn't see anyone here, or you all went to my house to eat, and there were many people." ”

Liu Hongzao didn't want to go, and subconsciously went to see the two younger sisters, obviously the two sisters didn't want to go over as she thought, so she politely refused: "Thank you, second uncle, but we are ready for everything at home, so we won't bother." ”

The second uncle looked at the yard of her house, the door and the wall were covered with Spring Festival couplets, and they looked weird and decent, so he didn't persuade them to go, and explained a few words to them and left after closing the door at night.

After the second uncle left, the three sisters wrapped the dumplings filled with celery and meat, and ate them first, and after eating, they continued to mix the noodles and stuffing, plus chop some firewood, and planned to fry some small balls and small fruits necessary for the New Year. Make more this year, as long as it is well preserved, you can eat it until the beginning of spring.

Liu Hongzao said that it turned out that her family celebrated the New Year, and the fried balls were all vegetable filling, this year is different, the three sisters relied on trading, and earned a lot of silver in their hands, and this year they fried glutinous rice meatballs, fried and took a bite, which was full of meat and eggs, especially fragrant!

As for the fried fruits, her family can be said to be a relatively arrogant family, with a large basket of fried fruits, wrapped in a lot of sugar liquid, and finally sprinkled with black sesame seeds, which are absolutely fragrant and sweet, and the bite is crunchy.

Just fried balls, fruits, etc., crackling firecrackers sounded outside the house, the frightened dog in the house screamed, the chicken coop chicken was also a little afraid, the eldest sister said that the New Year day to kill a chicken to eat, the chicken represents auspiciousness, in addition to eating chicken, but also to eat fish, implying more than one year in a row.

On the 29th, Liu Chongshan and his wife had not yet returned, and the three sisters were ready to celebrate the New Year alone, killing chickens and fish and cooking a hearty meal as originally planned.

But the meal was only halfway done, and before the chicken was caught in the pot, there was a banging knock on the door outside.

"Brother Tie Niu, Happy New Year, why are you here?" Liu Guiyuan saw that it was Liu Tieniu who came, and there were some differences, saying that he had been home for a while, but there was not much contact between them.

"Oh, Happy New Year, my father and my grandmother said, come to my house for dinner tomorrow night." Liu Tieniu came to her yard for the first time, looked up and down, looked very curious, Liu Guiyuan invited him into the house to sit, and grabbed a handful of small fruits for him to eat by the way.

Liu Tieniu was eating small fruits, looking around in her yard, and was about to enter the east wing to see as she walked, Liu Guiyuan hurriedly walked in front and stopped, saying: "Brother Tieniu, this is our boudoir, you can just sit in the living room." ”

Liu Tieniu sat unceremoniously on the chair in the living room, chatting with the three sisters, nothing more than what they did at home this year, how much money they made was enviable, and then talked about how he wanted to sell rice and grain to make money, but unfortunately the capital was not enough.

Liu Guiyuan didn't sound right, Liu Tieniu didn't mean to drink this drunkard, so he could only echo: "Oh, oh, I wish Brother Tieniu a lot of money in the New Year, and the wealth will roll in." ”

Liu Huahua and Liu Hongjube each said a few auspicious words, Liu Tieniu saw that they didn't take the initiative to borrow money, they felt meaningless, grabbed a large handful of small fruits, ate them while walking, and said: "Okay, I'll go back, don't forget to eat tomorrow, I won't come to call you." ”

After Liu Tieniu left, the three sisters were a little at a loss, feeling that Liu Tieniu's words and deeds were strange today, but they didn't think much about it, the next morning, with the cooked food, holding lotus seeds, followed by the puppy, and walked towards the second uncle's house together.

Before he walked to the second uncle's house, Liu Guiyuan saw Liu Tianpersim leaning on the door frame and eating melon seeds, wearing a peach-colored jacket and a green thick skirt underneath, looking strange and eye-catching, I have to say that Liu Tianpersim's appearance still inherited the face of the third aunt.

Liu Tianpersim saw the two of them, each wearing new clothes, a blue jacket skirt inside, and a goose yellow armor outside, feeling that they were better than themselves, and they were suddenly in no mood to eat melon seeds, rolled their little eyes, and didn't even say hello, so they turned around and went into the house.

The three sisters knew Liu Tianpersim's temper, so they didn't care about her at all, and when they arrived in the house, they saw that the elders were there, and they shouted hello one by one, so they obediently sat in the hall and waited for dinner. They brought cooked food, and it didn't matter if they went to the kitchen to help or not.

In the hall, Liu Yao's didn't help in the kitchen, she sat opposite the sisters, watching them start eating from the time they entered the house, not to mention helping in the kitchen, she was a little unhappy at the moment, but thinking that there was something to call them here today, she still endured it and didn't speak.

If you want to say that the New Year is in the second uncle's house, it is still quite lively, there are many plates with many people, and the two long tables are not enough, and a small square table is added, and there are twelve kinds of dishes on the table, including meat and vegetarian and fried balls and fruits, which is very rich.

When the second aunt put out the last plate of eggs and fried fungus, the second uncle put a string of firecrackers outside, and the whole family sat around the table to prepare to eat, but it was not counting lotus seeds, and how to sit for a family of thirteen was a problem.

Li annoyed the third uncle's family, and enthusiastically called Liu Hongjube and asked them to sit beside him, but Liu Yao's didn't want to sit with a few girls, so he asked the third uncle's plug and sweet persimmon to sit over, and asked the three sisters to sit on the small square table at the very end.

"The square table is so small, how can she sit down with the three of her lotus seeds? No, you can just sit next to the iron egg. "The Li family is not happy, why should the children of the third family sit in the middle, and the middle is full of good dishes.

"Why can't you sit down? Tie Dan and Bolt sit opposite me, you two and Chonghe sit next to me, and then there are a few Tie Niu Tie Zhu, and they sit outside. "Liu Yao doesn't want to sit too close to a few girls.

Liu Guiyuan pursed his lips and pushed the cart to sit on the small square table first, the eldest sister and the second sister were expressionless, sitting together silently, thinking that they would leave after eating quickly.

The three sisters all thought so, and the meal was eaten very quickly, not to mention that there were few good dishes in front of them. As soon as he finished eating and was about to get up and leave, Liu Yao, who had been waiting for a long time, spoke and said to them: "Come here, I'll ask you something today." ”

The three sisters got up slowly, and listened to Liu Yao's say: "Your sister is really capable, and she has earned a lot of money by knitting sweaters this year, right?" Grandma wants to ask you how much money you have saved in your hands, and I have a good number in my heart, so that when your father and mother come back, I can praise you with them. ”

What is this called? During the Chinese New Year, my grandmother asked them how much money they had at the dinner table, and in front of a group of relatives, how can this be easy to say?

Liu Guiyuan walked in front of the eldest sister and the second sister, and said to Liu Yao's on their behalf: "Grandma, why are you asking us this, then how much money do you have in your hand, you may tell us?" After Liu Guiyuan said this, he looked at a table full of people, although they were relatives, but it did not prevent them from wanting to know how much money they had, so they could only roughly say a number, "I didn't earn much, it was all hard money, except for the cost, it was just one or twenty taels." ”

Liu Yao's obviously didn't believe it, listening to the third daughter-in-law, a plain sweater can be sold for at least eight or nine hundred wen in the town, so far the three girls don't know how many pieces have been sold, if they don't make a lot of money, as for the sweater weaver so much wages?

She guessed in her heart that the three girls earned at least forty or fifty taels, plus the money from selling this and that in the summer, there were more than eighty taels if not one hundred, so she looked at them and continued: "Before and after the year, the village is the most vulnerable to thieves, your father and mother are not at home, I am afraid that you will not be able to collect the money, it is better to bring it to me, I will collect it for you, and I will give it to him when the boss comes back." ”

Liu Guiyuan was speechless, how could she make some money, Liu Yao's was like a greedy cat seeing a fish, staring at her every day and asking, pursed her mouth, and then said: "Grandma is worried, we can collect the money ourselves, there is a courtyard at home, and there is a guard dog, no one will steal it." ”

Liu Yao's really can't like Liu Guiyuan in front of her, she said a word, this girl has eight sentences waiting in the back, very tricky, but God doesn't have long eyes, among several grandchildren, she can make the most money right now.

Thinking of this, she could only say patiently: "Then can you guarantee that the thief will not go to your house?" You see your family building a house and a yard, who in the village doesn't know that your family is rich? If you want me to say, all the money in your hands is placed with me, and I will keep it for you, and then I will give it to you in the next year. ”

Liu Yao's attitude is so good, Liu Guiyuan feels that there is something greasy here, and the excuse is that the money they earn is used to buy wool thread and dyeing, and there are only six or seven taels of silver left in their hands at present, and they can just keep it at home.

Liu Hongzao added: "Grandma, this money will be used immediately, and the family will have to hold two piglets and raise a few sheep after the year, and the wool will not be enough to be collected by other villages, which one does not need money?" ”

7017k