The little man on the apex

It was already very late at night, and the watchmen in the village rang the gong three times, one slow and two fast.

The pen holder in Yan Heyi's hand was almost finished, he wrapped the pen holder carefully with cotton cloth, then stood up and moved his aching limbs.

"The moonlight is so beautiful tonight." He couldn't help sighing in a low voice.

After tidying up the tools, Yan Heyi turned around to go back to the house, only to see a thin man leaning on the threshold, sleeping soundly with his head tilted.

The outer robe on his body has fallen to the ground, leaving only a thin layer of inner clothing, and he has no shoes or socks on his feet, and his whole body is shrunk into a ball.

Yan Heyi was slightly surprised for a moment, then smiled unconsciously.

He walked forward, squatted beside Yuan Xi, held his breath and stared blankly at his flushed cheeks from deep sleep.

After a while, he gently picked up Yuan Xi and walked slowly towards the back room.

Yuan Xi was held in Yan Heyi's arms, as if he had just caught a cold, and suddenly felt a source of warmth, he couldn't help shrinking into his arms, and pressed his head tightly against Yan Heyi's chest.

The sleeping person hummed indistinctly, Yan Heyi subconsciously walked slowly until she reached the bedside, even a little reluctant to put it down.

After tucking Yuanxi in the quilt, Yan Heyi reached out her hand like a ghost, trying to scrape the tip of his nose, but she reached out in mid-air and stopped in time.

He warned himself in a low voice: A gentleman should be dignified and upright, restrain himself and return to propriety.

Yan Heyi was at a loss for what he thought were the so-called evil thoughts that suddenly rose up in his heart.

He went back to the yard and fetched a basin of well water.

The well water was extremely cold at night, Yan Heyi soaked her face in the water, then calmed down, went back to the house and fell asleep.

-

After getting up the next morning, Yuan Xi sat in the yard with his chin resting on his hands after washing, staring at the underside of the roof raptly.

Two swallows are making a nest with mud in their mouths.

Although Ping'an Village is located in the southern part of the country, it is very close to the northern part of the southern part of the country. The climate is clearer and more suitable than that of the southern part of the country, so migratory birds will also fly here in spring.

It is said that when the vernal equinox comes, "the mysterious bird arrives, and everything grows", and the mysterious bird is the swallow under the eaves.

The vernal equinox arrives.

Yan Heyi was still busy in the kitchen, went to pick some wild amaranth yesterday, and it was just right to eat today.

In southern China, amaranth is called spring vegetable, which must be eaten on the vernal equinox. Some people call it Artemisia chunbi.

Take out a piece of tender tofu, cut it into small cubes, then blanch the wild amaranth in boiling water, and cut some minced garlic for later use.

After the oil in the pot is hot, add the minced garlic and stir fry. When the garlic is fragrant, pour in an appropriate amount of water, then put the tofu cut into small pieces, add a spoonful of soy sauce and a pinch of salt, add amaranth after boiling, and cook When half a cup of tea is served, turn off the heat and add a few drops of sesame oil.

The combination of green and white warms the body and moistens the intestines, which is called "spring soup".

Wash the bean sprouts, leeks and garlic sprouts and cut them into finger-length pieces. They can be eaten raw or cooked. They are rolled in pancakes and served with bean paste or egg sauce. They are called "spring pancakes".

At the dinner table, Yan Heyi served Yuan Xi a bowl of amaranth and tofu soup. Watching him drink it up, he still muttered: "There is a saying in the past: "Spring soup pours the dirty, cleans the liver and intestines, and the whole family, young and old, is safe and healthy." Just you and me, I hope Yuanxi can be safe and healthy after drinking spring soup. "

Yuan Xi instantly felt that the bowl of soup in his hand was sacred, and hurriedly added: "I hope my brother is also safe and healthy, and we are all safe and healthy."

Yan Heyi smiled.

Yuan Xi raised his head and drank the soup in the bowl until there was not a drop left, then obediently went to fill another bowl, and said solemnly: "I want to drink a lot of soup, so that I can be safe and healthy."

After eating, Yan Heyi conjured two red eggs out of nowhere, and handed one to Yuan Xi: "Let's compare and see who can stand up the eggs."

Yuan Xi suddenly wanted to win and lose. As a result, he held the egg in his hand and whispered a few words to it, and then put it on the table very carefully, and the egg stood up easily.

Yan Heyi's one stood a little twists and turns, and it fell down a bit before it stood firmly.

Yuan Xi said happily: "Yes! I won!"

Yan Heyi smiled dotingly: "You won."

The vernal equinox is here, and the eggs are pretty.

On this day, day and night are equally divided, cold and heat are equally divided, and the sun is located at 0 degrees of the yellow longitude. If you can stand an egg on this day, it will be a good omen.

Yan Heyi got up early and boiled two red eggs in the kitchen. She tried it secretly first, and gave Yuan Xi the one that was easier to stand upright.

He is always willing to coax him.

The two of them were washing dishes together in the kitchen when they suddenly heard someone shouting at the gate of the courtyard: "Mr. Yan, is Yuan Xi there? Yuan Xi—Yuan Xi—"

Don't look, it must be the puppies from the private school who are here.

Yan Heyi took the bowl and cotton cloth from Yuan Xi's hand, and said softly, "I must have come to you to compare eggs. The children in Ping'an Village have this custom. Go and play, and take your egg."

Yuan Xi's heart had already flown outside, and now with Yan Heyi's permission, he went out without looking back.

Perhaps it is because of nature, the children are quite afraid of Mr. Yan. When they are not going to school on weekdays, except for their own adults who ordered "go and send these eggs to Mr. Yan", or "Mr. Yan fell and hurt his leg, you can help pick them up." They are not likely to take the initiative to come to Yan Heyi for work such as chopping firewood with water.

At this time, they were hiding behind the fence, poking their heads out to peep inside, and seeing only Yuan Xi coming out, they were relieved immediately, surrounded them one after another, grabbed Yuan Xi's sleeves and ran out.

When they came to a piece of flat ground at the east end of the village, the children stood or sat, and all took out an egg from their sleeves or purses.

On Gouwa's egg, a doll's head was drawn crookedly with a charcoal pencil, and Xiaoyue's egg was tied with a colorful rope in the middle.

Yuan Xi's eggs were red, and they should have been dyed by Yan Heyi with the red ink of batch homework. After holding them for a long time, Yuan Xi's palms were also stained red.

Perhaps it was a special phenomenon of the vernal equinox. These eggs stood up easily, and it was impossible to tell the winner for a while.

Gou Wa suggested: "Let's blow on the egg to see whose egg is the most stable, can we?"

Everyone agrees.

So, a group of children and Yuanxi, who was half a year old, puffed up their cheeks and blew their own eggs, and no one was thinking of cheating, they all blew hard.

Soon, Gouwa's "Baby Face" fell down, another boy's "Tortoise and the Hare" also fell down, and then Xiaoyue's "Colorful Rope"...

At the end of the comparison, only Yuanxi's red egg remained unmoved.

A child was a little suspicious, so he went to blow Yuanxi's red egg by himself. No matter how hard he tried, the egg remained motionless.

Xiaoyue said impartially: "Okay, brother Yuanxi won!"

Gouwa looked at Yuanxi with admiration: "Brother Yuanxi, you are so amazing that you even have an 'Egg King'. It seems that you are the luckiest person among us!"

At this moment, if Yan Heyi was present, seeing that the red egg she picked had become the "egg king" gloriously, she would be proud.

The game of vertical eggs soon got tired of playing. Some children simply licked the ground, peeled off the skin and ate it. Carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief and stuffed it into the purse.

A few people squatted on the ground and started playing tic-tac-toe, while Yuan Xi, together with Xiaoyue and the others, kicked shuttlecock in the open space.

The last time the pheasant was not finished, and Xiaoyue's wish of plucking the feathers of the pheasant to make a shuttlecock was not fulfilled, so she casually said something to her parents when she went home.

His father also doted on his daughter, he found many beautiful chicken feathers from somewhere, and made a shuttlecock for Xiaoyue overnight.

Yuan Xi doesn't know how to kick shuttlecock. Yuan Xi seems to have never seen the games and gadgets played by the children in the village since they were young, and they always feel fresh.

Gouwa asked in surprise: "Brother Yuanxi, didn't you ever play with these when you were young? Could it be that you have been locked up in a private school all this time?"

His tone and eyes seemed to be full of pity, as if he was imagining the scene of Yuan Xi being locked in the room to study, and being slapped on the palm of the hand by the master when he mispronounced a word.

Yuan Xi's eyes were a little dodgy, and he only said vaguely, "The family is strictly controlled", and then sank into the game again.

However, he is clever and clever, and he can learn it just by watching other people play it once. No, in less than a quarter of an hour, Yuan Xi has become a master of shuttlecock kicking among the children again.

Yuan Xi kicked dozens of times in a row, and the children beside him stopped talking. They all held their breath and counted for Yuan Xi in a low voice.

"31, 32, 33, 34..."

Finally, in the sound of "forty" from the crowd, Yuan Xi's feet tilted, and the shuttlecock drew a skewed arc in the air and landed on the nearby field ridge.

Yuan Xi ran to pick up the shuttlecocks, but saw a stick stuck in the four corners of each field. When he got closer, he saw that it was a thin bamboo string full of glutinous rice balls.

Seeing Yuan Xi squatting there motionless, the children immediately gathered over and asked with concern: "Brother Yuan Xi, what are you looking at?"

Yuan Xi pointed to those glutinous rice balls and asked, "What are you doing?"

The children clamored to explain, and after listening for a long time, Yuan Xi finally understood: this is also a custom in the beginning of spring, stringing solid glutinous rice balls that do not need to be wrapped with thin bamboo branches, and inserting them in the four corners of the field. On the ridge, it can prevent sparrows from destroying crops. People in the field call it "sticky sparrow beak".

In order to prevent the children from looking at him with that pitiful and puzzled look again, Yuan Xi didn't act very surprised this time. After everyone finished speaking, he kicked the shuttlecock again to divert their attention.

The wind was very light, a gray silk ribbon was tied in Yuanxi's hair, it was bought when he went to town with Yan Heyi last time, and now it is fluttering up and down as he kicks the shuttlecock.

The wind is really light and clear.

Yan Heyi is drawing a spring cow picture in the yard.

This is also one of the things to do on the vernal equinox day, which is to draw scenes of farmers leading oxen working in the field on yellow or red paper, and then lead by people who are good at speaking and singing, to give Every household in the village will send a piece of paper, and then say some auspicious words such as "good luck in spring farming" and "best harvest in autumn", commonly known as "Shuo Chun".

There are not many people in the village who can write, and the only one who can draw is Yan Heyi, so the job of drawing spring cow pictures every year naturally falls on him.

The person who sent the picture of the spring cow was Niu Er in the village, the "Chun Guan", which is also a rather prestigious title.

The sun rose at noon, and because of yesterday's lesson, Yuan Xi returned home before noon.

As soon as he entered the door, he took out the red egg and exaggeratedly told Yan Heyi about the glorious deeds of the "egg king" who killed the world. Yan Heyi, who was still painting, listened and raised the corners of his mouth.

The author says:

Gouwa: The boss's "Egg King" is so majestic!

Yuan Xi (old face flushed): This name...is it really good?