On the 23rd, the sugar melon sticks.
On the 24th, sweep the house.
25. Grinding tofu
On the 26th, go cut the meat.
On the 27th, kill a chicken.
On the 28th, let the dough rise.
On the 29th, steam buns were made.
Stay up all night on New Year's Eve.
This is a children's rhyme that has been passed down in Huichuan County for hundreds of years.
While we may not do exactly what the nursery rhymes say every day, it's time to steam buns, stew meat, clean the house, and buy new shoes and clothes.
Huichuan market is held every five and eight days, with the last market day being the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Early in the morning, people from all over the county gathered on Huichuan Central Street.
Families struggling financially want to sell some goods to prepare for the Lunar New Year, while those who are relatively well-off engage in a major shopping spree during the holiday!
Li Jin's family of eight went out early in the morning to purchase supplies for the Chinese New Year.
Upon arriving in the county town, Li Jin took a basket containing a braised pig's head and two watermelons to visit his old comrade-in-arms, Tang Yunping, the deputy director of the Huichuan County Water Resources Bureau.
Zhao Sufang led the children to the market to buy things.
They went straight to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy new clothes for Li Lan and Zhang Huan for the New Year.
When they arrived, they were wearing a worn-out cotton-padded coat and trousers. For the past month or so, their clothes had all been Zhao Sufang's and Li Ping's old clothes.
Zhang Huan has become very lively and cheerful in the past month. She and her fifth aunt, Li Ping, held hands and commented on the fabrics displayed on the counter of the supply and marketing cooperative one by one.
Li Lan seemed a little absent-minded, so Li Xiangdong quietly asked her, "What's wrong, sister? Are you worried about Yongxing?"
Li Lan said, "I feel a little uneasy."
Li Xiangdong held her warm hand and said, "Big sister, you need to know that you are not alone now. You still have your parents and me."
A warm feeling washed over Li Lan, and she smiled, saying, "I understand. From now on, my brother will be there to support me."
"That's right! Hurry up and help Mother choose fabric!"
Finally, Li Lan and Li Zhen chose a maroon denim shirt and a black denim trousers for Li Lan.
For Li Ping, Zhang Huan, and Li Yan, the fabric chosen was pink floral print polyester; for Li Jiabao and Li Xiangdong, it was grass green cotton; and for Li Jin and Zhao Sufang, it was navy blue denim.
They bought another ten catties of cotton and a length of black corduroy to make trousers and shoe uppers.
Li Jiabao paid close attention to fireworks and firecrackers, and bought a lot of Didi Jin (a type of firecracker), snap pops, sky rockets, firecrackers, and electric firecrackers.
Firecrackers were very cheap at that time. For example, Didi Jin firecrackers cost three cents a pack, with twenty sticks in a pack.
Li Xiangdong bought ten boxes of pastries, which contained carefully selected pastries such as horn-shaped pastries, honey-glazed pastries, jujube paste pastries, sachima, peach pastries, and steamed cakes.
Aunt Lan's eyes immediately fell on Li Xiangdong, and she beckoned to him, "Xiangdong, come here!"
A few days ago, Li Xiangdong sent her family braised pig's head, sausages, and bok choy, but she hasn't returned the favor yet!
These past two days, someone delivered a lot of greenhouse vegetables to President Yu, such as tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers, which will be enough for Li Xiangdong to eat during the Chinese New Year.
So before they even had a chance to browse the market, just as they left the supply and marketing cooperative, everyone's hands were already full of things.
The market was packed with people. Li Zhen and Li Yan sat on a small cart looking at things. The two of them were wearing fox fur coats, so they weren't cold.
Zhao Sufang bought more than a dozen large blocks of tofu, five catties of vermicelli, six bundles of glass noodles, dried daylily buds, and dried shiitake mushrooms from home. With these, she had all the ingredients to make vegetarian dumplings.
Li Xiangdong asked his mother to put the things in the car first, and then he went to the meat stall and bought eight catties of mutton to prepare for hot pot for the New Year's Eve dinner.
He had just paid when he heard two familiar voices behind him.
"Hey! Isn't this Li Xiangdong?"
"You dropped out of school to sell mutton at home?"
Li Xiangdong turned around and saw that it was his two junior high school classmates.
The tall one with a small head is named Wei Changrong, and the short, chubby one is named Xu Lixin.
Wei Changrong's father was the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, and Xu Lixin's father was a captain under Wei's father.
The two were bored today and came to the market to stroll around. Each of them was holding a candied hawthorn stick when they saw Li Xiangdong holding a piece of mutton with oily twists in his hand.
Today, Li Xiangdong was wearing an old cotton-padded coat and trousers. His hair was blowing wildly in the wind, and his hands and face were red from the cold. He looked quite disheveled.
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Are you deaf?"
Seeing that Li Xiangdong ignored him, Wei Changrong impatiently pushed him.
"Brother Changrong, Li Xiangdong is busy with his business, he doesn't have time to talk to us! If he can't sell any mutton, will he have nothing to eat when he gets home?"
Xu Lixin offered Wei Changrong a sarcastic remark, while giving Li Xiangdong a disdainful once-over.
They didn't have much conflict with Li Xiangdong, mainly because Li Xiangdong was more handsome and attracted more attention from the girls in the class than the two of them.
snort!
During the Chinese New Year, Li Xiangdong couldn't be bothered with these two hooligans. In his memory, although they were sons of officials, they didn't do well in life later on.
After paying the stall owner, Li Xiangdong took the mutton and was about to leave.
Wei Changrong stretched out his foot to block Li Xiangdong's path and said coldly, "Did I say you could leave?"
Xu Lixin snatched the mutton from Li Xiangdong's hand, "You poor wretch, do you even know how to eat mutton?"
Li Xiangdong laughed in anger, "Are you two planning to rob me outright?"
Wei Changrong said smugly, "You can talk now? Beg me, and I'll let you go!"
People who were shopping nearby noticed something was wrong with the three and walked around them, quickly forming a circle around them.
Outside the circle were onlookers, while inside were Li Xiangdong and his two companions.
"It's Chinese New Year, and I'm too busy to play with the dog. Hurry up and give me the mutton!"
Li Xiangdong dislikes being made a fool of.
I wasn't bullied by them in my past life, so I certainly won't be today.
Wei Changrong looked around, "Where are the dogs?"
Xu Lixin was taken aback, then whispered, "Brother, he said we're dogs!"
Wei Changrong was furious. "Damn it, how dare you, a poor kid, curse me?"
When Wei Changrong stretched out his hand in front of him, Li Xiangdong grabbed his wrist, skillfully pulled his arm over and pressed it behind him, then pushed him forward, and Wei Changrong staggered towards the crowd.
Xu Lixin rushed to stop him, but it was too late.
When people saw Wei Changrong coming, they hurriedly stepped back. Wei Changrong lost his footing and fell flat on his face.
Hahahaha~
It's unclear who started laughing, but a loud burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.
Xu Lixin quickly helped Wei Changrong up; fortunately, his front teeth weren't knocked out.
The two men stood up, pointed at Li Xiangdong, and said, "You just wait!"
Originally, I wanted to embarrass Li Xiangdong, but who would have thought I would lose face myself!
Li Xiangdong picked up the mutton that had been thrown on the ground and walked through the crowd to find his mother.
Seeing that there was no excitement to be had, the crowd laughed for a while and then dispersed.
After reuniting with his family, Li Xiangdong bought a large bunch of hawthorns and candied yams and shared them with everyone before pushing his cart home.
Before he could take two steps, two men in police uniforms strode over and shouted, "Hey you, stop right there!"
Snap pop
Electric firecrackers
Skyrocket
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