There is Room for Rebirth in the 1950’s

Compared with the capital city, the weather in Zhangjia Village in the northeast, thousands of miles away, is even more severe. At night, there is no ghost on the road, let alone every house closes its doors to worship the Kitchen God secretly.

According to legend, Lord Stove was originally a star in the sky. Because of a mistake, he was relegated to the world by the Jade Emperor and became the East Cook.

He sits in the middle of the kitchen stoves of each household and records how people live and behave. Every year on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Stove Lord will go to heaven to report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, and let the Jade Emperor reward and punish him. Therefore, on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, people will offer sacrifices to the kitchen god to send the kitchen god to heaven.

Zhangjia Village is located in the north of China. Unlike the south, the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month is the New Year's Eve.

The custom of men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove, so offering sacrifices to the stove prince is limited to men.

In the kitchen, Father Zhang chased away the women and children, took out a portrait of the Stove Lord from his underwear pocket, and pasted it respectfully in front of the stove, muttering, Don't blame me.

On a table set up in front of the stove, put candies, water, beans, moss, etc., and melt a toffee with fire and stick it on the mouth of the Stove Lord.

Originally, some years ago, Kanto sugar was used to stick the mouth of the Stove Lord so that he would not speak ill of the Jade Emperor.

But Father Zhang thinks that gods are also human beings, and he should prefer milk candy to Kanto candy. Since the Stove Lord is sweet, he must use the best.

I didn't see that since the Zhang family started using toffee, the days are getting better and better. For this matter, he has privately told the two old brothers since last year that they must use toffee.

Whether Uncle Zhang and the others believe it or not, most people are still unwilling to tell!

Father Zhang led the two brothers Zhang Guofu to kowtow three times on the ground, stood up and took off the statue of the Stove Lord and set it on fire together with the grass horse, kowtowed and prayed while burning.

After completing the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, Father Zhang signaled his wife and daughters-in-law to come in and clean up the mess. Even if each family tacitly pays homage secretly, it may not be conspicuous in front of outsiders, it is better to cause less trouble.

In the main room, Father Zhang sat cross-legged on the kang, took out a long pipe, took out the tobacco leaves from the basket, lit it, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled with half-closed eyes.

Father, are you comfortable?

Zhang Guofu smiled happily as he watched his second younger brother winking and thumping his father's back.

That's right, you'll be pounding all the time tonight.

Hearing this, Zhang Guofu couldn't help laughing anymore.

Father, are you two really going to the capital after the next year? Why don't you go, my eldest brother and I are both in the county seat, so we can discuss things with you and mother. If it's too far away, we two brothers can only be caught blind.

Zhang Guofu shook his head in disapproval: I can't go, Jiaojiao is happy, no one from our family goes there, it's not good. Father, you and mother will come back after staying for a few days.

Brother, do you think that this time will be the same as last time, and you will be able to come back after staying for a week or so in the past? Our little Wu writes every day asking if the food supply is running low, how is the health of the parents, and how is the capital? I see. , this time in the past two or three years, I will not be able to go home.

Father Zhang remembered what the old son said in the letter to himself about the Hutong yard where you can see the palace from the room, and about the little grandson who will not be close if you don’t bring him with you, so he grinned.

Father, don't worry about smiling. Think about what's in the capital? We still have your old brothers in our village, and you have a lot of old buddies in the county. What can we do in the capital?

Zhang Guofu heard that his father and mother are going to live permanently, so that's impossible! He was silent for a while, then looked at Father Zhang anxiously: Father, you'd better not go, let my mother go, take a look at Jiaojiao and come back.

Father Zhang rolled his eyes at him.

Hey, let the second brother and sister go there with mother.

No. She is similar to sister-in-law. Mother, don't go, dad, you go! Then you say you are worried about mother, as long as mother doesn't go to the capital, Xiao Wu dare not keep you.

Father Zhang was worried that the two daughters-in-law would hear it, so he glared at him: What nonsense! We have discussed it. After the first month, your mother will bring your daughter-in-law, and the three of them will come to Beijing. When Jiaojiao will have a baby soon, then I'll talk to my mother later. It's useless to worry less. Don't look at your uncle Zhou as a tender seedling, there is no shortage of people at home to take care of the confinement.

Zhang Laoer frowned. What are you girls doing? There is no lock on his mouth, and he will talk nonsense when he comes back. And his sister-in-law, although it seems to have improved now, who can guarantee the bottom line.

Father Zhang is an old man, so he couldn't see that his two sons disagreed. But what his family Jiaojiao said made sense, she should show some muscles for others to see, and she couldn't hide them.

The first two daughter-in-laws have temperaments, and they themselves know it. I just took it to Jiaojiao to teach me a few hands, and went to see the sperm of those people in the capital, so as not to implicate my son in the future.

Father, I'm going to see if my eldest sister can take a vacation and let her accompany my mother.

Father Zhang rolled his eyes at his second son: Turn back and let Lao Zhang be in charge of the house? Your elder sister can't leave, she has to take care of the house. Your brother-in-law is a good person, but I have no idea.

What about the second sister?

Father Zhang shook his head: The water thrown by the married girl. She has her own small family, and the child is still young.

Zhang Guofu's two brothers looked at Zhang's father in surprise. You must know that his father treats the five brothers and sisters equally, but he has no patriarchal thoughts.

Father Zhang hesitantly puffed on his long pipe, and said in a low voice: I plan to let your mother take your daughter-in-law to see the world. Only when this person has seen too many dangers and learned a lot, will she not dare to let her life go by.

The two Zhang Guofu brothers looked at each other.

I will write a letter to Xiaowu later, and he will understand what I mean. In addition to the man who needs to be able to stand upright, a family also needs the woman to be sensible and know how to measure. Only in this way can life become more and more prosperous.

After Father Zhang finished speaking, he shut up. Some things can only be realized by themselves, and it is useless to talk too much.

At night, Zhang's mother turned on the lamp in the bedroom of the main room and lay down next to his wife on the kang. Thinking of the surprised and happy faces of the two daughters-in-law, she felt a little uneasy.

Father, do you think you should discuss this idea with Xiao Wu first?

Father Zhang laughed and said, No, as long as your old son finds out that you brought his two sister-in-laws there, he will be able to guess his father's plan.

What about Jiaojiao, do you want to say hello to her first? I'm worried that this child will be so stupid that he doesn't know the family background and will take everything out.

No. Except for us, she can't trust outsiders.

That's right. I'm just worried that these two will fight each other.

Some time ago Brother Aguang told me that there was going to be another wind. I am not worried about our child, but about these two daughters-in-law. This time, you asked Jiaojiao to suppress the two people's thoughts for me, especially the elders. .”

The more you talk, the more mysterious it becomes. You should go together. I'm worried that it won't work.

Father Zhang patted his wife, I can't leave in the first month of the month. The village has been busy with work all winter, and it's almost over. What happens next, you have to keep an eye on it. This is your old son who secretly took the lead for the village. , I have to watch to keep him from getting involved.

And you also asked Xiao Wu this time, what will happen to the school after giving birth to a child? Really, we might have to take care of our little grandson. No matter how careful the servants are, they can't compare to us looking after the children ourselves.

Zhang's mother said so when she saw her wife, but she didn't persuade her anymore. My wife has a bill in mind, as for what kind of bill it is, she doesn't know, just listen to his arrangements.