I farmed in ancient times

Old Cen's age hovers between 39 and the most attractive 40 years old. He has a refined temperament and a dignified appearance. He is leading two children who are also not bad in appearance. He is very eye-catching on the street.

Chao An only focused his eyes on the food stalls on the side of the road, and didn't feel the eyes of others. He pointed at the sugar man and acted like a baby to his father, clamoring to buy it.

Cen Daonian was ordered to stop by the side of the road and bought a sugar figurine with a big cock for his youngest son.

Holding the big cock, Cen Chaoan stretched out his pink tongue and licked the candy. It seemed that it was not as delicious as ordinary candy. The taste of boiled yellowish candy was a bit different from the usual one.

While Cassia Ming was rubbing Chaoan's head, Cen Daonian bought another dragon sugar figurine, and stuffed it in Cassia Ming's hands as if he was doing it casually, and continued to walk forward holding the hands of his two sons.

Holding the sugar figure, Jue Ming couldn't laugh or cry, Father Cen didn't know what was going on today, he seemed to pay extra attention to himself?

After admiring the ancient sugar figurine, Jue Ming and Chao An bit the sugar figurine together, and were pulled forward by Cen's father.

There are many differences between the New Year's customs in the Song Dynasty and modern times. Although several years have passed here, Jue Ming is still excited.Following Cen's father, the three of them bought Tusu wine, new calendars, door god paintings, gold colors, wisps of flowers, New Year's gift trays, and so on, which are necessary for the New Year.

Cen Daonian bought three new clothes for one person, covering everything from head to toe.In addition, I bought a dozen catties of mutton on purpose, planning to save it and eat it slowly.

I bought so many things along the way, and naturally I couldn't carry them. At this time, I needed to go to the intersection of Shantang Town to find someone who specializes in pulling carts, and rent a car to let them pull the things to Damo Township.

The closer it is to New Year’s Eve, the busier the adults are. On the contrary, the children in the village are like deer in the mountains, actively scurrying around in the village, or grab a handful of melon seeds and peanuts while the adults are not paying attention, and get together to eat melon seeds and chat. , or in a shady place, playing snowball fights with unmelted snowballs.

Every household was busy preparing for the New Year. Hu Tutu was invited to slaughter pigs in every household. The pigs to be slaughtered seemed to know their tragic fate, and the howling sound could be heard throughout the village.

Cen Daonian posted the portrait of the Kitchen God in the kitchen, prepared cakes and food for the sacrifice, and took money to ask the butcher to buy some fresh pork and store it at home.

Jueming stood by the chopping board and kneaded the noodles. After kneading the noodles, he mixed the dumpling fillings that had been chopped in three pots. In the shape of a column, Cassia cut it up and down with a knife, sprinkled with dry flour and flattened it, and quickly rolled it into dumpling skins.

At this time, the Song Dynasty also called dumplings "jiaozi". The pronunciation is the same, but the characters are different.

Cassia is good at rolling skins, but making dumplings is not good. Holding the soft dumpling skins, Cassia's usually dexterous five fingers are completely disobedient at this time. The dumplings were limp and looked listless.

Compared with Cassia Ming, the dumplings made by Cen Daonian are much better, with their bellies arranged roundly on the pot pads woven from reed stalks.

Cassia simply rolled out the skin and asked Cen's father to make dumplings. The two cooperated tacitly, and made three big pots of rice before the sun went down, enough for three or four meals.

After sacrificing the stove, the family sat in the main room, closed the door, and the fire was brightly lit. On the fire, Caesar made two pots of dumplings. After eating, he was not in a hurry to clean up the dishes, and sat around eating melon seeds and chatting. When I got sleepy, I washed the dishes with the hot water on the stove, lit charcoal in the room, ventilated well, and got into the silk quilt for a deep sleep.

Before falling asleep, Jueming thought: Next year, we must find cotton and promote it...

After the new year, the village became more busy. Jueming got up early in the morning, cleaned up, steamed the cakes, and on New Year’s Eve, he and Jueming posted Zhong Kui and the door god paintings together, took down the old peach charms at the door, and replaced them with new ones. .

On the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, New Year’s Eve, everything was ready. As night fell, two red lanterns were hung at the gate of the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. Looking down the mountain, lanterns were lit in front of every house. The red lights are very warm in the cold night.

The sky began to snowflakes again at some point, Jue Ming looked up, the snowflakes fell on his face and quickly melted into water droplets.

Touching his face, Jue Ming turned and entered the room.

This snow is quite discerning. It started to fall after all the households had prepared their new year's goods. From today to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people can eat and drink at home without going anywhere.

The snowflake gradually turned into the size of a goose feather, and one person rode a horse to the foot of the mountain and knocked on the gate of Cen's house.

"Who is it?" Jue Ming answered while wrapping up a wool coat and came out to open the door, it turned out to be Shen Yan's servant.

"Come in quickly, it's so cold outside." Caesar Ming welcomed the man in, and the servant took out a large package that was bulging from the horse's back, stuffed it to Cassia Ming, begged for a cup of hot tea, and left in a hurry .

Jueming went back to the house and opened the package. Inside were three cloaks. The cloaks were made of black mink fur without a trace of variegation. It felt smooth to the touch and the fur was shiny.

A swollen thing slipped from the cloak and fell to the ground. Cassia picked it up, and it was written with the words of Cassia.

Show the cloak to Father Cen, and Jueming goes back to the house to open the letter.

"Zhan Xin'an:

It's getting colder these days. I wonder if it's even colder in Damo Township?It seems that this year, oh, the second year of Ming Dao, the one in the court can regain power, and then father and Weng Weng will be able to return to Beijing.When are you going to Bianjing?I'll take you to eat delicious..."

…………

"I have read a lot of books now, and I gradually understand that it is not easy to live in a big mansion safely." Li Xiurong bit his pen, lying on the table, pondering over his words, flipping them aside from time to time "The eldest lady does have a lot of tricks, but she is my nominal mother after all, so I can't touch her easily."

Scratching his head in annoyance, Li Xiurong calmed down, and then wrote: "It is estimated that it will be Chinese New Year when you read this letter. Weng Weng was very happy to see me studying hard this year, and sent me a lot of leather materials. Send someone to make a cloak and give it to you, I wonder if you are satisfied?"

Touching the mink fur cloak that hasn't been sent yet, Li Xiurong thought while writing, Uncle Cen looks weak and lives by the side of the mountain, so he can't be blown by the mountain wind and fall ill, otherwise Jue Ming and Chaoan will be very anxious .

Cassia and Chao'an can't get sick either.

Correct.

Thinking of this, Li Xiurong wrote on the paper: "The year is cold, the night is windy and snowy, take care of yourself."

Flipping through the book on the side, Li Xiurong pursed his lips and copied a paragraph from the book, "Fawn on the poor, let's talk about wishing Ji'an, please don't dislike it."

At the end of the letter, he drew three ermines as usual, blowing ink, and Li Xiurong stroked the ermine cloak with satisfaction, as if he was very satisfied with his painting skills.

When the ink was dry, Li Xiurong looked up, and it was snowing outside the window. He went to the garden and picked a branch of wintersweet, put a few flowers in an envelope, sealed it together with the cloak, and sent someone to Damo Township.

Looking at the three innocent-eyed minks at the end of the letter, Jue Ming couldn't laugh or cry. Li Xiurong seemed to have lightened up his drawing skills.

Lighting up another lamp to make the room look brighter, Caesar began to write a reply letter in a whimper.

"Li Xiurong:

I haven't circulated letters for a long time, so I think about it.Although the wind and snow in the mountains are heavy, it is not as good as Brother Li's love of sending mink thousands of miles away. "

Cassia scratched his head in distress, how to write a letter without revealing the fact that he was also half illiterate! ?

After thinking about it, Jueming changed the subject, "I'm afraid you won't understand, so I purposely wrote it in vernacular."

"Some time ago, Damo Township was hit by a snowstorm, and the roofs of many people in nearby villages were crushed. Fortunately, no lives were injured. Lizheng sent people to take precautions in time, and Damo Township did not suffer any losses."

"Uncle Shi's legs are almost in good shape. I think he can take Xiaohua to the town to watch the lanterns during the Lantern Festival."

Jueming wrote that he fried the melon seeds himself, but it was inconvenient to keep them on the road, so he did not send them to Li Xiurong. He only sent the rabbit fur hat made of beaten black rabbits to Li Xiurong.

After receiving the hat, Li Xiurong immediately put it on happily, ignored Wu Yuan's surprise beside him, and swaggered out of the room, wishing to announce to the world: Cassia!delivered!I!Li Xiurong!a hat!He made it himself!

After walking around, Li Xiurong was called by Weng Weng and saluted under Weng Weng's surprised eyes.

"You..." Li Di glanced at the eldest grandson, how big he is, and wearing a rabbit fur hat with two rabbit ears.

"What's wrong? Weng Weng?" Li Xiurong looked at Weng Weng curiously.

"No...nothing." Li Di bowed his head and coughed, secretly said: It's just been a while since I saw my grandson, and I'm ready to get angry again?Forget it, he has been struggling for so many years, what else is he not used to?

Li Di had a conversation with Li Xiurong, revealing that he could be transferred to Beijing in spring, and his father could also be transferred to Beijing, and then the family could be reunited.

Thinking of his uneasy daughter-in-law, Li Di hesitated to speak, and finally said nothing, let Li Xiurong go back, and called the housekeeper, telling him that this year's New Year's goods can be done.

Li Xiurong wore a rabbit-eared rabbit fur hat, and after wandering around the mansion for a few days, Wu Yuan couldn't help reminding him of the existence of rabbit ears. Unexpectedly, Li Xiurong retorted: What's wrong with the rabbit ears!You know how hard it is to peel off rabbit ears!This is all Jue Ming's intention!

The New Year at the residence of the deputy envoy of regiment training was very low-key. After all, Li Di was old. After eating the New Year's Eve dinner and accompanying Li Xiurong for a while, he followed his routine and went back to his room to sleep.

Li Xiurong took a few playful boys together and set off fireworks inside and outside the courtyard, with two kicks and firecrackers. The whole courtyard was noisy and did not stop until the third watch.

The village lying under the winding mountain is not so noisy because it is far away from the county seat. On the contrary, it is not restricted by the crowded houses in the county. stop.

It is a tradition of the Lizheng family to set off fireworks and firecrackers every year. The elders of the Wang family and the younger generation carry the fireworks outside the ancestral hall for the brave young people to light them.

The fire light gradually sank into the paper tube along the fuse, and there was a moment of silence. When everyone thought that the fireworks were misfired, with a "咻——" with a long ending sound, they shot up into the sky and exploded brightly in the sky.

The five-color fireworks are simple in shape, not as varied as the future fireworks. Jueming stood in the courtyard and looked at the sky, but Chaoan couldn't help holding his brother's hand, and jumped out of the courtyard, shouting and dancing to the fireworks, very excited .

The fire light reflected in Jueming's eyes, flickering and flickering, infected by Chao'an's happiness, Juming couldn't help but pursed his lips, looked at him with a smile and clapped his hands.

Many bold pastoral dogs barked at the fireworks, and the timid chickens in the chicken coop huddled together in fright and cooed.

The piglets in the backyard who had escaped the slaughter seemed to want to eat something more.

People at the bottom of the mountain came out one after another. The adults discussed how much the Lizheng family spent on fireworks this year. The children pointed to the sky and asked what this firework looked like and what that firework looked like.

The shy girl stood behind the adults, watching the various fireworks quietly, imagining whether the gods in the sky would see such beautiful fireworks.

Having had enough trouble and tired of playing, Cen Chaoan nestled in his brother's arms, his hands still hooked his brother's neck, and fell down drowsily. He took his hand off Cassia Ming's neck, put it lightly in the back room, took off his clothes and covered him with a quilt.

At the right time, the fireworks outside were deafening, and people inside were leading people to worship in the ancestral hall, praying for ancestors to bless Damo Township with good weather and peace in the coming year.

"Cassia." Cen Daonian took out a sling of money, "Here, lucky money, I wish you a safe and happy new year."

Caesar smiled and took it from Father Cen. The money was very heavy, and the joy of having New Year's money lightened the heaviness. Caesar held it in the house, took out a small wooden box, and gave it to Father Cen, "Also I wish my dad a happy new year, all the best and prolong the year with kindness."

Cen Daonian took the wooden box, his eyes were deep, and he seemed to be able to see everything. Jue Ming was shocked by the sight, and quickly lowered his head, pretending to be relaxed and said: "I'm going to sleep."

"En." Cen Daonian touched the wooden box, "Thank you son."

Cassia's calf twitched, and hurried back to the room, where he sat on the bed and rubbed his cramped calf.

The sound of fireworks and firecrackers lasted until midnight, and a long flute sound came from the courtyard. Cassia Ming's spirit shook, and it was he who played it.

Accompanied by this quiet and distant flute sound, the sound of cannons in Damo Township gradually stopped, and the two people in the house fell asleep with the sound of the flute.