Zhou Yiding looked back at Xu Hongbing and said, "Ah! I think Old Xu is about to cry."
Zhou Huaian: "You didn't see clearly, it's not that she's about to cry, she's already crying."
The two shook their heads, both unable to understand Xu Hongbing. They thought that the child was sick and could be cured by surgery, so why was he still crying?
Zhou Huaian and his companion entered the town and bought some candy and canned food from the supply and marketing cooperative. When they saw some malted milk and White Rabbit that did not require tickets, they bought some more. They took the goods to the hospital to see Xu Hongbing's son, and then came out to buy firecrackers from the firecracker workshop.
Zhou Yiding picked up a box of firecrackers that looked like they were in a matchbox, "Youngest, look at how to light the firecrackers!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "Give me a few more boxes of this! Also, give me a few boxes of these sky rockets, a few 10,000-shot red-drops, and firework sticks..."
Fireworks sticks are foreign stuff. In the past, I could only see others setting them off when I went to the town to watch a movie during the Chinese New Year. I didn’t even have the money to buy firecrackers at that time…
Zhou Yiding saw that he had only taken two handfuls, so he picked up two more and said, "Give me two more. I'll go to your house to set them off when it gets dark."
The two of them picked a lot of things, which totaled nearly thirty yuan. The boss was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He found a bag for them to carry and saw them off politely.
…
Yang Chunyan woke up from her nap and saw that Zhou Huaian had not come back yet. She thought he had gone to the river to fish. She looked at the glutinous rice flour drying in the yard and suddenly found herself suddenly idle. She was a little uncomfortable.
The old man walked into the yard with a pipe in his mouth, "Huaian hasn't come back yet? Your mother and the others have entered the village, and Jiang Yu and the others will come to collect their wages later."
He thought that the youngest guy had to be tied up like a cow, so as to prevent him from going out and fooling around again.
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "It's okay. He said that when he left. I'll just give it to them."
At the entrance of the village, Zhou Jiakang waved to his friends proudly, "Lin Daniu, I'm going to Ning'an. Ning'an's house is so tall! I also bought balloons and a five-section long gourd..."
A group of children ran after the tractor, "Zhou Jiakang, tell your old man to stop, we want to ride the tractor..."
When Zhou's mother saw a child fall, she hurriedly asked Zhou Huaijun to brake the tractor, "Slow down, stop and wait for you!"
Zhou Jiakang proudly reached out to the snotty-nosed boy, "Lin Daniu, I'll pull you up, hurry up and climb up."
"No need, I can climb up by myself." Lin Daniu grabbed the car trunk and tried several times but failed. Finally, Zhou Huaishan pulled him up.
When the other children saw that they had room for themselves, they all followed, and soon the bed of the cart was full of little radish heads.
Zhao Huifang said with a smile: "In the future, if you see a tractor from another village, don't just get on it casually. We might even take you away and sell you off!"
"Aunt, we know Ieyasu and you. Your family is the Zhou Laoyao family that collects truffles!"
Lin Daniu raised his hand and wiped his nose. "My mother said that if you are sold by kidnappers, you can never come back."
Seeing that his cuffs were polished to a shine, Li Qiuyue suddenly felt a little nauseous and quickly covered her face with a scarf.
The tractor arrived at the intersection of the old house, picked up Jiang Yu and others, and stopped at the door of Zhou Huaijun's house.
Zhao Huifang and her two sisters-in-law did a big shopping today. The women bought new leather shoes and woolen coats, and also bought neat Mao suits for the men in the family.
Mother Zhou carried the baby on her back into the yard and said to Yang Chunyan cheerfully, "You two even forgot to buy the door gods. Take them and ask Huai'an to put them up."
"Huaian hasn't come back yet, I'll post it after he comes back."
Yang Chunyan took it with a smile, opened it and took a look. She saw that Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong in the picture had their eyes wide open and looked fierce, as if they were ready to fight any ghosts that dared to come to them at any time.
Door gods are the gods who guard the door of every family in Taoism and folk beliefs. People stick their statues on the doors to drive away evil spirits, protect the home, ensure safety, help with business, and bring good luck. They are very popular patron saints among the Chinese people.
According to traditional customs, on the eve of the Spring Festival, every household is busy pasting couplets and door gods, praying for family harmony and career success in the coming year.
Throughout history, door gods have always been a symbol of righteousness and military power. The ancients believed that people with unusual appearances often have magical qualities and extraordinary abilities. They are upright and kind-hearted, and catching ghosts and demons is their nature and responsibility.
The oldest door gods to date are Shentu and Yulei, who are said to be able to catch ghosts.
It is said that in ancient times, the brothers Shentu and Yulei lived on Mount Dushuo. There was a peach tree on the mountain, and the shade of the tree was like a canopy.
Both brothers were good at catching ghosts. If an evil ghost came out to harass the people, Shentu and Yulei would capture it, tie it up and feed it to the tiger.
Later, people painted images of Shentu and Yulei on two pieces of peach wood and hung them on the left and right sides of the door respectively to drive away ghosts and evil spirits.
Mother Zhou took out the rib meat from the back and put it in a basin. "Your Aunt Jiang and the others are here too. Pay them their wages."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan took out the account book and said to Jiang Yu and the others, "I worked a total of 22 days this month, 2.5 yuan a day, exactly 55 yuan."
Jiang Yu and the others smiled and nodded, "Yes, yes!"
Yang Chunyan gave the money to the five people, and gave them a piece of meat and two bags of brown sugar respectively, "Aunt, you have worked hard these days."
Jiang Yu and his friends were carrying meat and candy, and their eyes were wrinkled with laughter. "It's not hard. We hope we can have work every day next year!"
Jia Chunhong said with a smile: "If there is still work in the second half of next year, come and find us!"
Yang Chunyan felt that the few people worked hard and didn't talk much, so she smiled and nodded and said, "Okay, I will definitely find you!"
After seeing Jiang Yu and the others off, he paid the wages of his family members. Since his family members didn't give him any holiday gifts, he just gave them a red envelope.
After all the wages were paid, Zhou Huaian rode his bicycle into the yard, put down the bag and began to show off, "Yan'er, look, I bought a lot of firecrackers, including sky rockets, fireworks sticks..."
"Pa~" Zhou's mother hit Zhou Huaian and said unhappily: "You might as well use the money to buy a few pounds of meat! You bought so many firecrackers, and you only heard a bang when you lit them, and after they exploded, you'd have no money left..."
"Mom, why are you like this?" Zhou Huaian rubbed his back with his backhand and looked at her speechlessly, "It only cost less than 30 yuan in total, and half of it was 10 cents. It's New Year's Day, don't you feel uncomfortable if you don't beat me?"
"Listen to what you're saying." Zhou's mother glared at him and grabbed him a few more times, "You only spent less than 30 yuan? Why don't you calculate that this money can buy more than 20 kilograms of meat..."
"Just because you've made a few bucks, I forget how hard it was when I had no money! That's thirty yuan! Why don't you calculate? Thirty yuan can buy more than two hundred kilograms of millet. Your mother and your husband can eat white rice for several months."
"..." Zhou Huaian wanted to say that there was plenty of millet at home, and he could feed her even if he ate it for a year. However, seeing her distressed look, he did not retort and turned to walk towards the main room.
Zhou's mother: "Look, it's the same as before. He said a few words to him and then went back to his room to lie down..."
Yang Chunyan hurried forward to hold her back, "Mom, Huai'an knows he was wrong. Don't be angry on New Year's Day. He is usually very frugal. He never smokes a single cigarette of the good cigarettes we bought when there are no guests. He always smokes Chun Geng cigarettes."
She understood the old man's feelings. She felt bad when he bought a few dimes of firecrackers for closing and opening the door during the festival. Suddenly, when she heard that he bought dozens of yuan of firecrackers, it would be strange if she didn't get angry...
Luo Haili also stepped forward to persuade her, "Aunt, you kept praising your cousin in Ning'an! Look, you said it yourself, the first month of the lunar year is taboo, and the last month of the twelfth lunar month is taboo. Don't be angry, let your cousin go and put up the door gods..."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother looked at Zhou Huaian who was standing in the main room with a sullen face, and felt a little uncomfortable. She thought she shouldn't scold him at this time, but she couldn't put down her face, so she turned and walked towards the kitchen.
Luo Haili winked at Yang Chunyan and chased after her to persuade Zhou's mother.
Zhou Huaian went into the house and threw himself on the bed. He felt uncomfortable. He thought that it was the New Year and other holidays. He had moved into a new house and made a lot of money this year. He just bought some firecrackers to celebrate. It was not worth it for you to keep pestering him and making a big fuss about it...
Yang Chunyan entered the room and saw him lying on the bed with his head in his arms. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, pulled him and gently advised him, "Don't be angry. There's no point in being angry with your own mother."
"She got angry because she heard you say it was less than 30 yuan and thought you didn't take the money seriously. Besides, mom was right. A 30 yuan firecracker would be gone in a flash. To be honest, I feel bad for spending so much money on firecrackers."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian thought about it and felt that what he said was wrong. He held her hand and rubbed the calluses on her fingers with his fingertips. "I'm not angry, but I feel uncomfortable because it's always like this. I don't even ask a question and I feel uncomfortable."
"Stop rubbing, it's itchy." Yang Chunyan pulled her hand back, "If you're not angry, get up and put up the door gods. This is our first year celebrating the New Year in the new house, so we have to celebrate happily."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian sat up and hugged her, "We met Old Xu in town. He almost cried when he talked about his son being hospitalized for hernia surgery. Yiding and I bought some candy, canned food, and malted milk to visit him. He was so small, it was really heartbreaking to see him."
Yang Chunyan patted his hands and said, "Look, it's not easy to raise a child!"
Zhou Huaian bit her cheek and said, "You are taking this opportunity to teach me a lesson again!"
Yang Chunyan lowered her head and stroked the baby in her belly. "No, I really feel it's not easy, especially for a mother."
Seeing this, Zhou Huaian reached out and touched the baby, "Is our son well behaved today?"
"He's always been very well behaved!" Yang Chunyan stood up by the bed and held him, "Let's go and post the door gods!"
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian got out of bed, took her in his arms and walked out, "I'll put up the door gods and go find my third brother to ask about the White Bone Demon!"
Yang Chunyan thought about it and said, "Call the third brother over to ask him. Don't let the third sister-in-law hear it, otherwise she will cause trouble out of nothing."
"I understand."
The two went to the kitchen and saw Zhou's mother preparing cured pig's trotters and wine and food for the evening.
She looked up at Zhou Huaian, then lowered her head again.
Zhou Huaian walked up to her and smiled, "Mom, don't be angry. I won't buy so much next year."
Zhou's mother nodded, thought about it and said "hmm". (End of this chapter)
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