Chapter 202 201. The New Year Ends with the Sound of Firecrackers
This year's winter seems to be particularly cold.
The snow fell heavily last night and continued to fall this morning. Lei Li got goose bumps as soon as he stretched his arms. He stayed in bed for a long time before getting up slowly.
Liu Ye'er was cooking, Lei Dashan was knocking off the icicles on the eaves, Zhou Yi was sweeping the snow in the yard to make a path, while Xiao Shengjiang and Sister Jingsheng were making a snowman in the yard.
The eyes and mouth were poked out with black chess pieces, the cheeks were red as if they were powdered, the nose was a small branch, and the hands were also branches.
Two unwanted old clothes were wrapped around the round body, a long red scarf-like cloth was tied around it, and a red lantern was placed next to the snowman.
It looks quite cute.
Lei Li watched with interest for a while and thought to himself, it has been a long time since the village has had such heavy snow. We can even make snowmen and have snowball fights. No wonder it is so cold.
"Are you cold?"
Seeing that the enthusiastic little ginger had finished building the snowman, Lei Li waved his hand and called the little ginger over. While asking him questions, he took off his wet gloves and covered his cold little hands with his warm big hands.
“It’s not cold!”
Little Jiang was so excited that his face was as red as a snowman. "Sister Jingsheng and I are making a snowman! It's such a big one! It took us so long!"
"Really?"
Lei Li smiled and praised him generously, "Our Jiang is so talented that he can even build a big snowman. He's really good at it. Next time I build a snowman with my sister, can Daddy come too? Let's build a bigger snowman."
"OK!"
Little Ginger nodded excitedly, his eyes shining brightly, as if hiding many little stars.
As he spoke, Lei Jingsheng had already changed his wet gloves and put on a pair of dry and thick ones, and brought his new pair of gloves to Xiao Shengjiang.
These gloves are made of rabbit skin.
The Lei family has several sets of skills.
It's okay for adults to wear woolen gloves because they have long fingers and it doesn't affect their work too much. But for children like Xiao Shengjiang who have short fingers, their fingers become even shorter when wearing woolen gloves, and when they clench their fingers, they look like a woolen ball.
Little Ginger is wearing a snow-white rabbit fur hat and a furry rabbit fur collar. Even his little hands have become round fur balls. He is immersed in a soft, warm, furry and extremely cute feeling.
Looks like Heisha's puppy, less than a month old.
Black Demon and White Demon are both male dogs. They have been raised in the Lei family for several years. They have grown into majestic big dogs and have many friends of the opposite sex in the village.
Before winter came, Heisha brought back a little white dog. The Lei family thought it was his new girlfriend, but they didn't expect that the dog came home specially because she already had a child.
By this time, the little white dog had given birth to five or six puppies. Except for one with black fur and black tongue like Heisha, the other puppies all took after their mother dog, with beautiful white fur, pink noses and paws.
Plush moaning.
It will make your palms itchy.
Little Ginger loves these puppies very much. He goes to see them several times a day and touches the cute puppies secretly - because his father won't let him.
The puppies were born not long ago and the weather was too cold to take a bath. There were also a lot of bacteria on the mother dog's body and in the doghouse.
It’s okay if adults have strong immunity.
Little Ginger, a four-year-old child, must be more careful. If he gets infected with germs or gets sick, or if he is accidentally bitten by a dog, it would be a serious matter.
Little Ginger, who likes to touch puppies, now rubs his father's palm like a puppy. Lei Li is amused and laughs secretly.
“……?”
Little Ginger looked up at his father and smiled, not knowing why, and also gave him a sweet smile.
"Let's go have breakfast."
Lei Li patted little Jiang's head and took his little hand to the main hall, while Lei Jingsheng also smiled and took the brother's arm, half leaning on him, and skipping into the main hall.
At this time, Zhou Yi had also finished sweeping the snow and put down the big broom. He patted the snowflakes on his body and said,
"Dad, let's go have breakfast."
"Okay."
The sun came out slightly at noon.
The Lei family went to the courtyard to bask in the sun, and many villagers also went to the courtyard to bask in the sun, and they started chatting across the fence. I don't know who brought it up first, but they said that the port in the county town was much busier this year, and merchants were returning earlier than last year.
"It's getting cold early this year, so shouldn't we come back earlier?"
"That's true. It's already so cold here, so it's bound to get colder in the north earlier. Maybe the river in the county town will freeze over."
"I don't think so. That big river rarely freezes over, and it's not this cold this year. It won't be impossible to get around... Their boats are big enough."
"Come to think of it, we haven't bought any New Year's goods yet. Let's go to the county town together tomorrow to take a look?"
Many people echoed.
If you go to the county town together, you can take a bullock cart. If you are alone or with two people, people are too lazy to make a trip with a bullock cart to earn a few dollars. Chartering a car is another matter.
"Why--"
One of the men asked the Lei family, "Aunt Ye'er, are you going to the county town tomorrow? Let's go together? If there are more people, we can sell more things and get a cheaper price!"
“No!”
Willow Leaf also raised her voice and answered that she was making shoes for little Ginger. Children love to run and play in the snow, and their shoes get wet and dirty quickly. She wanted to make two more pairs so that the shoes would not get dry when it gets cold.
"We're all going tomorrow, you guys go!"
Tomorrow, their family of six will go to the county town to buy New Year's goods. One horse carriage is just enough for them. If there are more people, it will not be possible because there will be no room to put the New Year's goods.
"That works!"
"It's so windy and snowy, why don't we go to the county town together tomorrow? We can go shopping separately when we get there so we can look after each other on the way."
Liu Ye'er thought about it and nodded in agreement. They agreed to go to the county town together at noon tomorrow. She also asked Lei Li if he wanted to buy anything. She wrote it down today and bought it all together tomorrow.
"You shouldn't be missing anything. Buy some candies and milk bars. Ginger loves them."
Lei Li agreed with his mother, but he was thinking in his heart, this winter is cold and early, the foreign tribes on the grassland must be having a hard time, so they come to our country to burn, kill and loot, right?
The next day, Lei Li went to the county port and heard the answer to this question from the merchants who came from the east.
Since the beginning of winter, foreign tribes have indeed come to the Dongyuan border to harass several times, but they were all minor incidents and nothing serious has happened for the time being, at least not like the previous massacre of several villages.
certainly.
This was the situation when these merchants left Dongyuan. They don’t know whether the situation has become worse now.
Although I am a little worried that the turbulent situation will affect my business, I am not too bitter. After all, it is not completely impossible to make money. At most, I can make fewer trips to the border county.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi listened without saying anything. They picked out the New Year's goods they wanted to buy, paid the bill and left.
When we returned to Sanlihe Village, the carriage was almost filled with bags of all sizes, most of which were special foods from Dongyuan Nanjiang, such as the sticky and crispy nougat.
Little ginger likes to eat this very much.
The little guy is small and has small teeth, but they are very sharp. He takes a bite of nougat and chews it, and can eat it with relish for half a day. He still giggles when the teeth are stuck.
A piece of nougat ginger can last for a long time.
As the New Year is approaching, the doors and windows are replaced with new couplets and window decorations, as well as exquisite flower lanterns. The joy of the New Year in the Lei family and the village is even greater.
finally.
The year ends with the sound of firecrackers.
We set off beautiful fireworks last night and set off firecrackers that crackled and exploded this morning.
The puppies at home all hid away whimpering, but little Ginger wasn't afraid at all. He covered his ears with his little hands and looked around with curiosity and excitement.
When the little guy saw some children in the village picking up single firecrackers, he also wanted to pick them up, but Zhou Yi felt it was unsafe, so he coaxed Xiao Shengjiang to go play somewhere else.
Based on the custom of giving New Year's money in Zhou Yi's hometown, the Lei family has also developed the custom of giving New Year's money in recent years, but the money inside does not necessarily contain money.
The festive red envelopes sometimes contain a gold leaf, sometimes a small gold ingot, sometimes a small jade pendant, and sometimes a small purse.
It's a little expensive when converted into silver, but not to the point of being precious.
certainly.
The villagers are reluctant to spend this money on their own children. They cherish a silver bracelet very much, so how can they do this every year?
However, Lei Li and Zhou Yi gave money to all the children in the family, including Xiao Shengjiang, Xiao Bao, Tao Ge'er, Xiao Erhua, and Lei Jingsheng - the little girl has not married yet, so of course she is also a child.
Liu Ye'er's elder brother and sister-in-law are not as close to Lei Li as before, but the village chief and his aunt have taken care of his family for many years, so the twins Niu Jinjin and Niu Yinyin also receive a red envelope every year.
Niu Dashu is a carefree person. He was happy to see his children receive red envelopes without thinking too much about it.
His wife Niu Xiaoxiao was very embarrassed, but her family didn't have anything special to offer, so she gave the Lei family's children the shoes she made herself.
Both Xiao Shengjiang and Lei Jingsheng have it.
Although the pattern doesn't vary much, the stitches she made are very dense, making it very sturdy and durable. Sometimes she also pairs it with a matching tiger hat, which makes little ginger look particularly cute and fresh when worn.
People from other villages would also visit the Lei family, bringing home-grown vegetables, meat from slaughtered pigs, a few eggs, and so on.
When people in the village visit each other, they only bring these few things. If they give too many or too expensive things, they will feel bad about it, and others will not dare to accept them and will have to return them.
However, Mr. Gui was generous this year and gave Xiao Shengjiang a silver bracelet.
"Thanks to you, my Tiger Boy can go to private school and study with a teacher this year. Such a great thing, giving him a silver bracelet is nothing!"
Mrs. Gui was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling.
The teachers in those private schools did not accept all children. In addition to the tuition fee, they also looked at the child's qualifications and even his family background.
Some children who have real talents and are rather stubborn are not even accepted by landlords and gentry, as they are considered stupid, unable to learn, and difficult to teach, and will ruin their reputation.
But his son Tiger Boy first went to the village school for two years and had a basic foundation. After the teacher tested him, he thought he was pretty good - at least better than those children who knew nothing and were spoiled by their families, so he accepted him.
Gui Fulang was overjoyed.
He could almost imagine what his own Tiger Boy would be like when he gets into high school. Even if he couldn't pass the imperial examination to become a juren, he could still pass the examination to become a scholar and become a teacher, and he would never have to worry about his life!
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