Taoyuan Farmhouse Daily

The fact that the Chang family, no matter how old or young, would follow Chang Xile to learn characters and arithmetic at night, has long been spread in Taoyuan Village.

At the beginning, everyone just thought it was interesting, because in everyone's mind, those who go to school are all little dolls, and they have never seen those elders in the Chang family, and even the women who have children running all over the ground learn together.But they found that after the Chang family studied for a few days, something seemed different.

The most obvious ones are Chang Jinhua and his wife from the second room. When they collected things from the folks, they all remembered them in their heads.At the beginning, it was fine, but later there were too many things, and sometimes mistakes were inevitable.After learning for a while, I started to use pen and paper.No matter how many things there are, you only need to flip through the little book, and it will be clear immediately, there is nothing wrong with it.

Especially when collecting cornel and camellia oleifera, some people are willing to exchange these two for cornel paste or camellia oil, but they haven’t made them yet, so they have to write down how much they should give in the end.

At that time, neither of these two things had been done yet, and it would take at least a while before they could be fulfilled. If you just remember them in your head, you will easily forget them.But I can't write it down in my notebook, it's written in black and white, and it's clear.

A few months is not enough for a group of people to learn how to write many words, but the simplest Arabic numerals are still easy to remember.So they only need to mark each person in the book, know which page belongs to which family, and write the number in it to remember clearly.

Writing brushes are not easy for beginners to master, so Chang Xile made simple charcoal brushes.Anyway, they don't go to the scientific examination, as long as they can write clearly and understand it by themselves.Therefore, it is not required to practice brush calligraphy, so the efficiency will be higher.

Every time when receiving the goods, Chang Jinhua held a simple bookcase made of wood, and scribbled on it with a charcoal pen. To the people in the village, it looked like that.

And we all know each other, and immediately feel that the two are different.

Especially Chang Jinhua, every time she writes and records with the pen and paper, she is still the same person, and she feels completely different from before.She didn't look like a peasant woman with her back to the loess and her face to the sky, but she had an indescribable charm.

If it is described in the words of later generations, it is a little bit intellectual.

In short, it looks pretty good, without the vulgar feeling that country women often have.

In fact, the effect is not so exaggerated, after all, the study time is too short, but such a change is enough to make the villagers of Taoyuan Village feel very rare.

That's all, after all, many people feel that they are useless.

But when I heard that the little ones in the Chang family could count and memorize poems, they looked like Chang Xile's back then, so it made a difference in my heart.

Although they didn't quite understand what those poems said, they felt very comfortable in their ears, and imagined what it would be like to say it from their own children.These illiterate farmers are born with a desire and reverence for knowledge, hoping that their children can jump the dragon's gate with a carp.

So as soon as news of Chang Xile's plan to open a school in the village spread, many people actively signed up here, hoping that their children would be like the little ones in Chang's family.

In the end, there were more than 30 children who reported to Chang Xile, generally under the age of eight, and most of them were around five or six years old.Because Chang Xile is too young to do too much work at this age, she still doesn't accept it.

Although Chang Xile does not charge tuition fees, and does not require everyone to buy pens, ink, paper, inkstones and books, studying here means wasting time to do farm work.In a poor family, it is still unaffordable.Besides, although they know that reading is good, on the other hand, they also feel that it doesn't matter whether they are literate or not after farming anyway, and that's not how they came here.

Chang Xile's literacy is definitely not as good as them in doing farm work, and her child is not as good as Chang Xile, so if she thinks about it, she will let it go.

"Are there no girl dolls sent over?"

Li Zheng was stunned for a moment, although he also knew that the girls and women of the Chang family followed suit, but most of us felt that it was useless for girls to learn these things.Unlike the Chang family, they can do business.

Chang Xile sighed, "It's good for girls to learn a little bit, too many skills don't overwhelm them."

"That's what I said, but everyone still thinks it's not very useful. It's better to learn weaving at home."

Chang Xile also knew that she couldn't change everyone's thinking for a while, so she stopped forcing it.Moreover, it is not a small project for him to teach more than 30 people. If there are more people, he will be completely bound to this.He still has a lot to do, and he really doesn't have much free time.The matter of universal education can only be discussed slowly, and it is a credit to teach these things well now.

The school is set up in the ancestral hall of the village, and the study time is from [-]:[-] am to noon every day, and only half a day of class is held every day.However, the training classes inside the Chang family are still going on. The adults really have no free time during the day, so they can only find time to learn something at night.

The children of Chang's family also entered the school, but they didn't force it at night. After all, it was more suitable for studying during the day.

The children of the Chang family insist on studying day and night without adult supervision. In fact, there are some children who do not like to study. It can be seen that everyone works like this, and they are just ashamed to be left behind.

Chang Xile is already quite experienced because of the previous training, so although there are so many more students at once, she doesn't think there is any big problem.

And these children were warned before they came, and if they made trouble, they would be taken home directly.

In this life, it is even more rare for everyone because they cannot go to school. Unlike in the previous life, because they have to go to school, they feel a sense of compulsion, and some children will have a sense of resistance.It is not easy to go to school here, so I cherish it even more.So there is no need to manage discipline in class, a group of children are very serious in class, which saves Chang Xile a lot of trouble.

Because the children of Chang's family started learning earlier, they progressed faster, and Chang Xile scored on both sides of the teaching.When practicing here, there are classes over there. I have a direct view of the primary schools in poor mountainous areas, and several grades are mixed together in class.First teach the children of Chang's family, and then let them practice by themselves, and he will teach other children by himself.

Sometimes, he would let the children of Chang's family act as little teachers to teach other children.This is also to exercise them and let them deepen what they have learned in the process of teaching.Including Xing'er and Zao'er, the two little girls had been temporary teachers, but Chang Yu was determined not to cooperate and was still unwilling to speak in front of others.

Chang Yu can already speak a lot of words now, although he still can't speak complete sentences, he can roughly express himself in words.But he has never opened his mouth in front of others. If it wasn't for being overheard by Chang's family members occasionally, they would think he couldn't speak.

But even though he doesn't like to open his mouth, he can write well. Although he is still very immature, he is the best writer in Chang's family except Chang Xile.

Chang Xile also couldn't understand why he didn't like to talk to others, but when he asked him, he just looked confused and pretended not to understand what it meant.Chang Xile had no choice but to let him go, often leading him to speak in private.

In Chang Xile's autumn, Chang Xixing's rapeseed flowers are lush and the moss period is coming to an end, and the most lively Spring Festival of the year is coming soon.

It is always a joy to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, especially Taoyuan Village is having a very happy life this year.Although it has experienced a lot of twists and turns, but overall it is much better than last year.

Because of digging river channels and providing food for Chang's family, everyone has some money in their pockets and confidence, which makes the atmosphere of the New Year more intense than usual.

Many people went to the county before the new year, or entrusted other people to the county to bring them some candies and other things for the new year.There are also many people who have made new clothes for their children and themselves, thinking of a beautiful new year.

Both adults and children have happy faces on their faces, and they walk more lightly than usual.

As the saying goes, killing pigs is a good way to celebrate the New Year. Pigs that have been raised for a year are about to end their good life of eating, sleeping, and eating, and they will become a delicacy in people's mouths.

The pigs in the third room of Chang's family were not fat enough, and the pigs raised earlier were sold early to raise Chang Xile's medical expenses.The remaining one has only been raised for half a year, and it hasn't grown much meat yet.But everyone also planned to kill the pig for good luck.

This is a custom in Taoyuan Village. There is no need to sell pigs that are slaughtered at home, which means a good harvest in the coming year.Even if it is sold for money at the end of the year, the pig's head has to be kept for a good omen.

Pigs are usually slaughtered around Laba. During that time, families slaughtered pigs next to each other, and the sharp cries ebbed and flowed.The more and louder such voices in the village are, the more prosperous the village is.

But killing pigs is also very particular, not everyone can do it, otherwise it will be a waste, sometimes half of the pigs will escape.

Chang Xiwang was one of them. When the Chang family slaughtered pigs, he personally operated the knife, and began to sharpen the knife early in the morning.

Compared with other people's big fat pigs, Chang's pigs are not enough, so they don't ask anyone to help, and they can solve it by themselves.Chang Xiwang's movements were quick, with white knives in and red knives out. The pig screamed a few times before dying. The blood flowed profusely without spilling a drop, and the pig died without much pain.

The children who have been taking care of raising it by themselves are inevitably a little sad when they learn that their pig has been killed.The adults also sent them out of the house, and came back after killing and cleaning up.

The farm children are used to such scenes. Although they were a little uncomfortable at first, they soon recovered.Otherwise, the chickens, ducks, and even vegetables at home would not be edible, and these were all brought up with love and care.

After the pig is slaughtered, the first dish to kill the pig is the blood sausage.

Wash the small intestines of pigs repeatedly with plant ash, stir them with fresh pig blood, boiled glutinous rice, chopped green onion and ginger, then pour them into the cleaned casings, put them in a pot and steam them until they are done.

When the blood-enfused sausage is steamed, there will be children who have picked up some and come to ask for the blood sausage to watch outside.The more children there are in front of the house at this time, the more festive and auspicious it will appear.And this time is also the happiest time for the children. Although each family can only get a small portion, they can have a full stomach after eating it in such a circle.

This is undoubtedly the biggest temptation for people who are still struggling on the line of food and clothing.What's more, the glutinous rice used in pork blood sausage is all carefully selected, unlike the usual brown rice, so no matter how poor the craftsmanship is, the taste will not be much worse.This stuff is both a filling and a snack for the kids.

Seeing a group of children eating with gusto, Chang Yu was also very curious, staring at this dark thing with bright eyes.

"Would you like to try it too, Xiao Miao?" Chang Xile cut a section and handed it to him while talking. Although the tone was asking, but the action was an attitude that you must eat.

Although Chang Yu has integrated into human life and started to eat cooked food, he rarely touches raw food, but he is still like a tiger. He only likes meat and does not like vegetarian food or staple food. The food is very simple.

Chang Xile was afraid that his partial eclipse would lead to malnutrition, so she kept trying to get him to eat vegetables and staple food.For this reason, he personally cooks food for him. Now not only Grandma Sun, but everyone else in the Chang family thinks that he spoils Chang Yu too much and spoils the child to no end.

Although Chang Yu would accept anything as long as it was done by Chang Xile, and sometimes he was quite interested.But most of the time, the process of eating non-meat is not so pleasant, you have to be coaxed with joy, every time it seems like you have been greatly wronged.

The corners of Chang Yu's mouth dropped immediately, and he pinched the blood sausage with a look of resignation, and then put it in his mouth reluctantly.

The moment Chang Yu ate it, his eyes narrowed slightly, but soon he turned into an expression of reluctance, his head arched and arched in Chang Xile's arms.

Having been with him for so long, Chang Xile didn't understand what this kid was thinking. He obviously liked it in his heart, but he deliberately looked down on him. It was the attitude that you insisted on forcing me to eat, so he liked to coax him to eat by himself.

A few times, he simply pushed the boat along with the flow, but he didn't know that the child was also stubborn, so he just stopped eating.I'd rather hold on to Tsundere than bow down for three buckets of rice.

Chang Xile couldn't help it. He was really worried that such a diet would affect his health and development, so he could only let him go.

This was mainly because Chang Yu didn't touch the bottom line. If Chang Xile used this method to do some bad things, Chang Xile wouldn't condone it. It was just for ordering food, and it wouldn't be too much, as long as he was happy.

"Eat a little more. After eating this pork blood sausage, you will be prosperous and healthy in the coming year."

Only then did Chang Yu open his mouth to take a second bite. His mouth was obviously not big, but two mouthfuls of the palm-length pig's blood sausage were eaten clean.After eating, she still looked into the pot, Chang Xile was very happy to see that he was so interested in other people's cooking, and cut another section for him.

Chang Yu took a bite and stuffed the rest into Chang Xile's mouth, "Lele, eat."

Chang Xile was so choked up that she ate the pig's blood sausage in her mouth before opening her mouth to speak, "There's more here, why don't you stuff it to me if you can't eat it?"

Chang Yu shook his head again and again, "It's delicious, Lele, eat."

Chang Xile laughed, and messed up his hair with his hands, making Chang Yu giggle.

In addition to blood sausage, people who are particular about filling sausages will also stuff sausages. If they don’t plan to sell them, the remaining meat will be cut into long strips and hung on the firepit.Apply a small amount of salt and let it slowly smoke into bacon, which will make the meat last longer.

In the future, if you want to eat meat, you can cut it from the top. Most of the meat that people eat in a year is the pig that was killed at the end of the year. If you want to eat fresh pork, it is only at this time, and you are rarely willing to spend money to buy it.If there is no meat at the end of the year, it means that there may be no meat to eat in the next year, showing self-sufficiency.

Taoyuan Village has a good life this year, so most of the households that raise pigs will keep a pig's meat, and live a good life with meat to eat in the coming year.

The closer to the New Year's Eve, the busier it was. Mrs. Cao's business and the oil mill stopped working, and all the people working in the river have come back. Everyone is preparing for the New Year.

The women began to use the new rice to brew rice wine, which was to be drunk during the New Year.

In normal times, there are very few people who are so extravagant to use rice to brew rice wine that can't eat enough.Even if it is brewed, it is very precious to have a sip, just to keep out the cold and so on.It's not like during Chinese New Year, it's all about drinking to your heart's content.

There is a custom in Taoyuan Village, that is, from the third year of junior high school, good people in the village will be invited to have dinner at their home. It's going to be a blast.So from the third to the fifteenth day of junior high school, not only the men, but even the women ate from door to door. During these days, there was no meal at all, and they ate from one house to another.

What to eat at this time is not important, what is important is the communication during the meal.

This is also a way of cultivating relationships. Usually everyone is busy, so it is only at this time that we can relax and run around, talking and chatting with a group of people.

And at this time, as long as the family is not too poor to open the pot, rice wine will be prepared to entertain everyone.No matter how poor the family is, they will squeeze a little out of their fingers to entertain the people in the village, just to get a good sign for the beginning of the new year.

In the first year of the new year, the family is lively and lively, and life will be prosperous for the whole year.

If no one came to the banquet, it would be bad luck, which is very unlucky, and it also means that my family is very unpopular and it is difficult to gain a foothold in this place. The people here still value these things very much.

And in the year before, it is necessary to prepare glutinous rice ball powder, tofu and make glutinous rice.

The custom on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Taoyuan Village is to eat hot glutinous rice balls, which means reunion and happiness for the whole family.

The glutinous rice ball noodles are all ground by their own stone mills, and the same is true for tofu.There is a stone mill in Chang's family, because there are not many of them and there is no need to use a mill, otherwise you have to worry about cleaning it and causing odors.

Grinding tofu is not only for making tofu, but also for making tofu balls. This is a must-have meal in Taoyuan Village during Chinese New Year.

To make tofu balls, you first need to crush the tofu and filter out the water.Then use pork, pork lard, black fungus, mushroom glutinous rice, etc., and chop them into pieces as the filling, then grab a small amount of crushed tofu and spread it flat in the palm of your hand, put in the stuffing, grab some crushed tofu to wrap the stuffing, and knead it into a circle The ball is then gently pressed up and down to make the upper and lower sides flattened, and then put it in the oil pan and fry the upper and lower sides.

Tofu balls are usually eaten as a dish when the side stove is around the firepit. The taste is very good, and it can be regarded as an indispensable hard dish.

The New Year’s Eve dinner also includes braised pork and steamed pork with flour. The steamed pork is spread on the glutinous rice soaked with yellow flowers. This kind of glutinous rice is light yellow and has a faint plant aroma.Children will knead glutinous rice into a rice ball and eat it with tamales in their hands.

At the age of 29, Chang Xisheng finally came back from the county seat. He seldom went home in the past two months, and even when he came back, he came and went in a hurry.It's not easy for a rich family in the county to deliberately block the way, so Chang Xisheng has to spend more time.

But he never said a word to his family, he worked hard to do his own thing, and wanted to use his own ability to resolve these crises, instead of relying on his teenage brother all the time.

He knew very well in his heart that if he chose to go into business, relying on his younger brother or someone else, it would not last long.

Relying on the mountain to fall, relying on everyone to run, only if you have the ability, can you live a good life.

Chang Xisheng brought back the popular sweets and snacks in the county from the county seat. These were rarely bought in previous years, but this year's life is good, so he is willing to spend the money.Among them, the children are the happiest. Although after the family started business, they no longer had to eat candy once during Chinese New Year as before, but candy is so attractive to children, and they are very happy whenever they see it.

And this time because of the Chinese New Year, I bought a lot of varieties, many of which I had never eaten before, which made the children even more greedy.

As the end of the year approaches, Chang Xile is the busiest, because everyone in the village comes to him to write couplets, which requires not only physical strength but also brain power.Fortunately, he remembered many pairs before, and the original body also had a lot of stock, so he would not be out of stock.

But writing from morning to night every day is really tiring.But couplets are very important to the people here, and he is the most knowledgeable and the best handwriting in this village, so naturally we all look for him, and it was the same in previous years.

Although Chang Xile felt dizzy from writing, she was still very happy.

His handwriting was not bad in his previous life, but it was all for self-entertainment. He has never used his handwriting to bring joy to everyone like he is now, and he feels a sense of accomplishment.

On New Year's Eve, every household cleans and decorates the house inside and out, and Chang's is no exception.Everyone got up early to clean up, cleaned every corner, and then started to decorate.

Mrs. Wang is very skillful. She cut out very beautiful patterns out of red paper and pasted them on the windows. It is beautiful and festive.The couplet written by Chang Xile was also pasted up, and the red lanterns were also hung high.As long as you step into this courtyard, a kind of New Year's atmosphere will come oncoming.

This day is the reunion day, and most people will put aside their affairs and gather at home for a reunion dinner.

Before the meal, the ancestors will be worshiped. The rules of Taoyuan Village are not only to put chicken, pork, glutinous rice and wine on the altar, but also to put a dustpan at the door with the food made during the day. Put some coins.Then let the children stay there, waiting for the arrival of the ancestors.

No one knows whether the ancestors came or not. After the incense placed is burned, the straw woven next to it like a tripod is lit, and the dustpan is put on the fire, which is the time when the living can eat. .

This year, the Chang family lived very prosperously. Not only did they have a lot of money in hand, they also set up an oil press, which was unimaginable at this time last year.Now when everyone looks back, they realize that they have done so many incredible things in the past six months.

"Our days are truly unmatched by gods."

Second Sister-in-Law Cao looked at the table full of food, almost all of which were meat, and there were a lot of pastries and candies on the altar, and couldn't help sighing.In the past, she thought that the life of Chang's family was pretty good, although it gradually failed, but the foundation was there, after all, few families in the village could afford to live in mud houses.

But only now do I know that life can still be like this!

You no longer need to be sneaky about eating more meat, and you don’t have to cry secretly because you can’t satisfy the children’s desire to eat candy. Now you even have to worry that your children’s teeth will break if they eat too much sugar. How dare you think about it!

Chang Xile smiled and said, "Our life will get better and better."

Chang Xiwang raised his wine glass, "Is there any need to say such a thing, that's for sure! Come on, come on, I've done everything, I can drink to my heart's content today!"

Alcohol is not cheap. In previous years, even if you took turns to eat in the village, it was difficult to drink to your heart's content, but this year is different, soaking in a wine jar is enough!

Everyone picked up their wine glasses one after another, even the daughters-in-law.Women usually don't like this drink, but they will drink a cup after Chinese New Year.

He raised his glass and drank it all. The rice wine slid down his throat. It was a little sweet and a little spicy. After drinking it, his whole body was warmed up, just like this day. In the end, there was only one word left - happy!