Chapter 123 Officials 3 Civilians 4 Boatmen 5
As students start their holidays, the Spring Festival is getting closer.
Hakka people usually worship the Kitchen God from the 23rd to the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month. There is a saying that "officials worship on the 23rd, ordinary people on the 4th, and boatmen on the 5th", which means that officials worship on the 23rd, ordinary people on the 24th, and boatmen on the 25th, commonly known as worshiping the Kitchen God.
This day is also called Little New Year.
In addition to offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, people also start cleaning the house during the Little New Year.
This kind of spring cleaning is basically only done once a year, and it takes the whole family, young and old, to work together for a whole day to clean the house inside and out.
This was also the case in Deng Shirong's family in previous years, but this year the family built a new house, and the eldest daughter usually takes good care of the new house. She would take down any spider webs she saw, and sweep the floor every day, keeping it relatively clean.
Therefore, this year's spring cleaning only requires a bit of dusting, which is much easier than in previous years.
The main reason is that there is no need to clean up the old house. Deng Shirong plans to plant the lychee trees as soon as possible after the New Year, and then demolish the old house. He then builds a water wall and then paves the cement floor. By then, the view will be wide and the open space in front of the house will be large enough to make the house look more beautiful and imposing.
When the Little New Year comes, it’s time for villagers to prepare New Year’s goods.
Shuangwang Market is held on the 2nd, 5th and 8th day of the lunar calendar, so the 22nd, 25th and 28th day of the twelfth lunar month every year are the days when people in Shuangwang prepare New Year goods.
Of course, life was difficult in that era, and it was impossible for people to go to supermarkets and go shopping like crazy as people did in later generations. They just bought some candies, biscuits, and melon seeds. If they were better off, they would buy some tea and pastries, and then serve them to guests during the Spring Festival.
This year was the first year that Deng Shirong celebrated after his rebirth, so he naturally attached great importance to it. On the 25th market day, he went out to buy candies, biscuits, dried fruits, candied fruits, melon seeds, cakes, etc. As long as it was something that could be used during the Spring Festival, he bought a lot of them in large and small bags, filling up the basket he brought out.
After coming back, all the children and eldest daughter-in-law were shocked!
Seeing the various New Year goods in Gu Luoli, Deng Yunzhen widened her eyes and asked, "Dad, why did you buy so many things?"
The first thing Deng Shirong did when he came back was to get the pipe, sit down and say with a smile: "Half is for entertaining relatives, and the other half is for your eldest brother and sister-in-law to take back to their parents' home on the second day of the New Year."
Zhang Xiuping felt warm at heart when she heard this. She could imagine how proud her father-in-law would be to buy so many New Year's goods for her to bring back to her parents' home. She was really nice to him.
…
The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Tile factory.
The two bosses, Deng Shirong and Deng Yungui, are discussing the holiday at the tile factory.
"Uncle Jiu, how many days of holiday do you think we should give the workers?" Deng Yungui asked.
Deng Shirong thought about it for a while and said, "We'll start the holiday after we pay everyone their wages, and then resume work on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. What do you think?"
Deng Yungui said, "Uncle Jiu, it's fine to take a holiday starting today, but we won't start work until the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. Isn't this a bit too long? The workers may want to start work earlier to make money!"
Deng Shirong understood what he said. Workers in this era were not like those in later generations. They would rather their bosses give them a one-month or two-month long vacation during the Spring Festival. Now everyone's conditions are not good. Maybe the workers all want to start work early to make money. If they are really asked to stay at home until the eighth day of the New Year to start work, they may not be happy about it.
Thinking of this, Deng Shirong said, "Yungui, how about we first distribute this month's wages to everyone, and then ask for everyone's opinions?"
Deng Yungui nodded and said, "Okay, then ask for their opinions."
After the two bosses reached a consensus, they gathered the workers together and began to pay them the last wages of the year.
Deng Yuntai worked less last month because he got married, resulting in an income of only over 180 yuan. This month he worked harder than in the previous months, so his income also reached a new high, earning 237 yuan.
Because his father said that all the money he earned would be saved by his wife, Deng Yuntai did not give it to his father after receiving his wages. Instead, he happily put it in his own pocket, making his childhood friend Deng Changyuan extremely envious.
After paying the wages, Deng Shirong said, "The Cylinder and Tile Factory will be closed from now on. Yungui and I have set two dates for the start of work next year. One is the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and the other is the eighth day. Which day do you want to start work?"
Deng Changbiao said, "Master, I will listen to you. We will start work whenever you say so."
Deng Shirong smiled and said, "It doesn't matter to me which day you want to start work. It mainly depends on your own situation. If you want to start work earlier, choose the sixth day of the New Year. If you want to start work later, choose the eighth day of the New Year. The minority should obey the majority."
"Jiugong, I'll choose the sixth day of the New Year so I can start work early and make money early."
"Jiugong, I'll also choose the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. There are many places in my family where I need money, so I'd better make money two days earlier."
"Uncle Jiu, let's do it on the sixth day of the New Year. My son is old enough to get married, so he really can't not work hard to make money."
“…”
The result was obvious. The workers all unanimously requested to start work on the sixth day of the New Year.
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After knowing everyone's thoughts, Deng Shirong made the final decision: "Okay, then we'll start work on the sixth day of the New Year."
…
After the Little New Year, every household is busy preparing for the New Year.
Before the New Year's Eve, people have to offer sacrifices to Baigong (the God of Land) and Huaguang (Huaguang Emperor, who is also the three-eyed Horse King in the legend). In the realm of double prosperity, every household will be blessed at the beginning of the year, and will have to repay the blessings at the end of the year.
After finishing all these things, it was already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.
On this day, Deng Shirong's family slaughtered the New Year pig.
The surgeon in charge was naturally Deng Shirong's brother-in-law Chen Dacong. They had been notified in advance, so around ten o'clock in the morning, Chen Dacong and his wife, and Chen Daming and his wife came to help.
Deng Shirong had already made arrangements for the New Year pig. Two pieces of pork belly were fried into braised pork, which he would bring back to his eldest son and daughter-in-law when they returned home on the second day of the New Year.
Then, one of my two brothers-in-law gave me a hind rump with pig legs. Basically, half of the pig's rump was dug out, weighing more than 20 pounds.
As for the third sister's family, Deng Shirong gave two front legs and the meat on them, which added up to about twenty pounds, and asked his eldest son to deliver it.
The rest is kept for family consumption during the New Year.
In those days, rural people did not have refrigerators, so the only way to preserve pork was to pickle it with salt.
Although Deng Shirong has a system space where time stops, and the food is put in the same state when it is taken out, and the preservation effect is ten thousand times better than that of a refrigerator, this must not be exposed to anyone else, so he can only follow the common practice and salt the pork that has not been eaten and hang it up.
As for the internal organs, they must not be kept. The best option is to eat them while they are fresh.
(End of this chapter)