escape and return

New Year's Eve is the busiest day of the whole Spring Festival.

When Fangge woke up, his parents were no longer in the room, only Yuan Song was still sleeping soundly in the warm blanket.Holding his breath, he leaned into Yuan Song's ear and shouted: "Ah..."

"Ah!" Yuan Song was so startled that he sat up all of a sudden, looked at him with misty eyes, his eyes couldn't focus for a long time, and he was in a daze. Looking at his deformed face with Dudu's cheeks, Fang Ge laughed out loud.

Yuan Song stretched out one hand and waved Fang Ge's evil hand, but he didn't get rid of it, and waved again, seeing that the saliva was about to overflow from the corner of his mouth, Fang Ge quickly let go.

Yuan Song rubbed his face and complained, "Brother, it hurts like hell."

"Who made you so lazy, you still sleep when the sun is on your butt. It's time to spank!" Fangge picked up the new clothes his mother had prepared for them on the stool beside the bed, and urged: "Hurry up and change."

The clothes Du Lijuan prepared for the two brothers were of the same style, but in different sizes. The black straight padded jacket and black quilted sweatpants made them look like two ruthless little killers.

"Come on, put this on, I have to work later." Fangge handed a smock to Yuan Song, and put on one himself. During the first month, every household is not allowed to wash clothes. People take great care to keep their new clothes clean and tidy.

When they left the house, they heard chickens and ducks crowing from the side room. Fang Ge opened a door and looked in. His mother was catching chickens inside.He opened the door a little wider, and was about to go in to help his mother, when suddenly a chicken flapped its wings and bumped into it, almost making close contact with him, Fangge was so frightened that he closed his eyes and leaned back.

"Quick, grab it, Grid, grab it." Fang Ge grabbed a chicken paw, and the old hen screamed again and again, kicking her paws vigorously and struggling.

"Brother, brother, hurry up, grab the other foot." Yuan Song couldn't stop shouting from Fangge's side.However, the child is not strong enough, and the two hands can barely hold one foot of the old hen.Du Lijuan rushed over, grabbed the old hen's head and folded it back, and then grabbed the chicken wings and crossed them in the middle, firmly stuck the old hen's head in the wings.

"Both of you, go and get a knife, and a bowl, grid, put half a bowl of water in the bowl, and add some salt to the water, you know? Bring it here."

"Good mother." After saying that, the two turned and ran to the kitchen.

Du Lijuan plucked the hair around the chicken's neck, and took the knife from Yuan Song's hand, "You two, come here and grab your feet, use your strength, stand them up, yes."

"Tang Tang, is the water ready?" Du Lijuan yelled towards the kitchen.

"Okay, Mom, I'm just pretending, and I'll take it out later."

The old hen was still twitching slowly, and the bright red blood was dripping into the bowl, a life was slowly passing by.

After the wooden barrel was taken out, Du Lijuan put the whole old hen into the boiling water and turned it up and down. After a while, she took it out and put it in the big washbasin next to it. He lifted his red fingers and blew air.

"I'll leave it to you, Tang Tang, you take them with you." Du Lijuan turned around and went into the kitchen again, tossing about other things.

For that pig, Du Lijuan took most of the meat to marinate and put it in several large tanks. The remaining internal organs and fresh pork were used during the Chinese New Year. The whole pig's head had to be marinated. After a while, bursts of strong aroma wafted from the kitchen.

After the siblings packed up the old hen, my mother gave me a new task, and the busy morning passed by.

At noon, Dad came back, carrying two big bags of New Year's goods.The two brothers gathered around at once, opened two cloth bags, and took out the contents one by one.There are dried shrimps in bags, dried squid, kelp, fresh pears, apples, bananas... The brothers were overjoyed.

The New Year's Eve dinner is usually at two or three o'clock in the afternoon, so they usually just deal with it casually for lunch, let the bar rest a little, and then continue to cook.

When cooking well-made dishes, one must worship the ancestors first, and behaviors such as touching chopsticks and tasting dishes are not allowed.Fangge and Yuan Song leaned against the table, tiptoed, but looked at all kinds of delicacies on the table, swallowing their saliva unceasingly.Yuan Tang patted the top of their heads, covered his mouth and laughed non-stop, laughing at their two little greedy cats.

"You can eat it after worshiping the ancestors later, enough for the two of you!"

In the first three days of the first month, the stove cannot be turned on, so the amount of dishes cooked on the New Year's Eve is very sufficient, and these dishes are eaten for the next few days.After Du Lijuan finished the shrimp dish, all the dishes were ready.Yuan Dashan placed a large wooden table in the lobby, and there was a small square table directly in front of the wooden table. On the table was an incense burner, and a candlestick was placed on each side of the incense burner.

"Kids, take the food outside."

Du Lijuan handed the dishes on the table to the children one by one. Some of them were relatively large, such as pig intestines filled with glutinous rice. Du Lijuan cut them into small pieces and put them on another plate. The whole thing was taken over by Yuan Dashan and placed on the small square table, with a pair of chopsticks inserted into the pig's nose, standing there high.

There is also a circle of bowls filled with white rice on the outermost edge of the big wooden table, and a pair of chopsticks are placed on each side of the bowl, which are for the ancestors.After all the dishes were served on the big wooden table, Du Lijuan pushed the children into the room and closed the door.

"Sacrificing to the ancestors, children can't watch it, you know that, when Dad is worshiping outside, don't make a sound, don't open the door, and don't look at it, do you hear me?"

"Understood, Mom." The two brothers replied in unison. The little heads are pure, and adults can do what they say, and they don't know how to ask "why". At that time, he still didn't know why the child couldn't watch it.

The cracks in the doors of the old houses are relatively large, through which you can successfully observe any disturbance in the lobby.

The candlestick on the small square table has been lit, and there are three burning incense sticks on it.There was a loud sound of firecrackers coming from the valley out of the village, and after a while there was another sound, which was a little closer.

Uncle Yuan's house next door probably also started offering sacrifices, and there was another cannon shot from the other side of the col.

After a while, Yuan Dashan came back and set off a cannon at the door of the house, which made the hearts of the two brothers tremble.

Fangge and Yuan Song stood one by one, and the other squatted. The two brothers squinted their eyes and looked at the lobby through the crack of the door. Du Lijuan stood outside the door to help Yuan Dashan at any time, and her sister Yuan Tang stood at the door with a crack. , peeking openly.

Yuan Dashan had already burned the paper in front of the small square table, and now he was chanting something to the square table, with the burning incense in his hand, he said while praying, and after the worship, he walked slowly around the big wooden table, While walking, he said some wishes and expectations, and hoped that the ancestors would bless them. There was a half-filled glass next to each bowl of rice on the table, and Yuan Dashan refilled some wine for the ancestors from time to time.

When he had finished speaking, he stood aside and waited quietly, probably waiting for his ancestors to finish their meal, Fang Ge thought.

A few minutes later, Yuan Dashan went to the small square table and burned a handful of paper, saying: "My ancestors, eat and drink well, now you can go back."

Then, he got up and walked towards Xishan. After a while, there was a cannon sound from Xishan, and the ancestors were sent away.

When Yuan Dashan came back, the head of the family started to move the bowl, and Du Lijuan stepped forward to remove the bowl and chopsticks from the big wooden table and put them on the kitchen table.

After the whole family sat down at the dining table, Yuan Dashan said: "Dinner!" Everyone started to move, as if they had just come out of the sacrifice.

The New Year's Eve dinner is very rich, including almost all the dishes that are not usually eaten. The people in the mountains are busy all year round, it seems that it is just for the New Year's Eve meal.

Yuan Dashan poured himself a bowl of baijiu and took a sip from time to time. The children opened a bottle of drink bought by their father.

"Come on, let's lift it up and touch it, wishing our children health and happiness, and a better and better new year!" Du Lijuan picked up the drink in front of her and touched it with everyone, smiling cheerfully.

"Thank you mom, mom and dad have worked hard! I wish you both good health and all the best in the new year!" Yuan Tang said emotionally, holding a bowl of drinks in both hands. She is the eldest in the family. see it.

"Thank you, Mom!" The Fang Ge brothers hurriedly echoed.Xiao Fangge put down the bowl in his hand, knelt on the stool, and bowed earnestly to his parents, "Mom and Dad, thank you for your hard work, thank you for raising me so well and treating me so well, I will always In my heart, you will always be my parents!"

"Good boy!" Sitting next to him, Du Lijuan stretched out her hand to gently stroke the top of his head, with a loving expression on her face, "Good boy, you will always be your parents' child." As she spoke, her voice trembled a little.

"Come, come, let's eat. For those who celebrate the Chinese New Year, eat more." Yuan Dashan picked up a piece of glutinous rice and pig intestines, put it into a square bowl, and nodded in a gesture.Dad knew that this was Ge Ge's favorite dish, and Ge Ge could eat a lot every Chinese New Year.

After eating this New Year's Eve dinner for a long time, people in the mountains would go to their dens as soon as it got dark, so they stopped eating supper after the New Year's Eve dinner.

In winter, the sun sets early, and when it’s over, wash the dishes and tidy up, it’s already dark.After washing up, the whole family went upstairs and nestled in Yuan Tang's room, ready to watch a DVD.

Du Lijuan lit a kerosene lamp and went to the storage room to take out various New Year's goods such as melon seeds, peanut candies, etc., filled a plate full, and took a large plastic bag to hold garbage.The family sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, eating snacks, watching the newly borrowed "**** Princess", and laughed together when they saw the funny parts. The sister said that the actress' eyes are so big and beautiful, and asked the brothers which one they like actress.

"The second female, the first female is too skinny, I like to be as quiet and sensible as my brother." Yuan Song shouted to express his point of view.

"I like female number one, she's beautiful and cute!" Fangge said shyly, and then slipped into his mother's arms, shy.

"Obviously the second female is pretty, but brother, you have bad eyesight."

"You have bad eyesight. Can you see if female one's eyes are bigger? I like big eyes, what's wrong?" Fangge came out of his mother's arms, turned his head and choked with Yuan Song.

"Little kid knows what a fart, what do you like or not, don't make noise, watch TV." Farmer Yuan Dashan spoke. For him, watching TV is a very luxurious thing, and this mountain-like old man is unexpectedly special. Cherish this time.

Fangge's seven-year-old ended in such a peaceful and peaceful environment, and when he woke up the next day, it would be a brand new year.