Three and a half women in four courtyards

Chapter 74

Hongdao came to see His Majesty the Four Emperors this time mainly to discuss this year's "Laba She porridge".

From the four emperors sent people to invite Xie Hao and Sai Diao to the courtyard of Cong's family.

We sat together in the living room to discuss the porridge meeting in Saihan Temple.

This was the first gathering of the four compound families who had gone down to the ground after the Japanese devils handed over the guns from the Lianzhuang Association.

The four courtyards are the founding members and main members of the Lianzhuang Association.

According to the regulations, when encountering major issues, each compound should send out a representative to discuss together.

Hou Mingli from the Hou Family Courtyard went to Duolun, and asked Hou Zhang to participate in the discussion.

"Wuliangguan!" At the beginning of the meeting, Hongdao first gave a gift to everyone, "The Labashe porridge meeting is a great charity for planting good roots and blessing fields. Pray, this year, I would also like to ask all benefactors to offer some snacks, so as to achieve your blessings, salary, longevity, jubilee, and wealth, and to make good fortune."

"Oh, what the Taoist priest said is true. It's just..." Sai Diaochan was the first to speak after hearing this, and she paused and said, "In previous years, our Diao family compound should have paid for the porridge meeting for the temple. Money, it’s time to provide food and food, and there is no shortage of effort. But this year is a disaster year, and the rich man’s family is also short of food. I heard a letter from the people in the Liangzhufu that the streets of the Liangzhufu are full of tubes (streets) Beggars fleeing from famine. If word of our porridge meeting is spread, all beggars in Chilechuan must come to Daxigouchuan. If the streets are full of beggars dragging dog-beating sticks, then our Can life be peaceful? I heard that there are beggars in the Liangbu Mansion in groups. Residents on the street dare not open the gate when eating. Once the gate is opened, the beggars come in like flies. (Flooding in), grabbed all your food and ate it."

"Oh? Damn, are you so powerful?" Xie Howao opened his eyes wide after hearing this, "If people are hungry, they can really do anything. Disaster victims are also mobs sometimes! But, The Labashe Congee Festival in Saihan Temple is a big event every year, and everyone from ten miles and eight villages watch it. You said that it was very prosperous in previous years, but if it doesn’t happen this year, it’s not justified.”

In fact, Xiaihao has his own little Jiujiu in his heart.

"Ang, if we want to do it, we need to open a few more porridge sheds." Cong Sihuang said, "Giving porridge is not only a way to plant good roots and blessings, but also a way to relieve the hungry people. Since Boss Ma said it, the hungry people are full." The street is full, and the only thing we can do is to give those poor and hungry people a bowl of porridge to drink and warm them up."

"Oh, I'll listen to elder brother." Hou Zhang touched his stomach, glanced at Bao Yixian and said, "give up porridge to plant good roots, and accumulate some virtues for future generations. Let's watch my sister-in-law boil eagles and cook the old eagle's Rats are snatched and kept until they have nothing to eat. At that time, I thought, if we have land, if we eat the tenant’s rent, isn’t that just stealing food from the mouth of the big eagle? You snatch it When you are hungry, it does not hate you, because it has food in its stomach. When it has no food, you give it some of the savings, but it is grateful and remembers your kindness. The hungry people are no longer hungry, and they will I won’t go into the courtyard to grab food. Ah, to be a human being, you really have to know how to be willing.”

After listening to Mrs. Hou and Zhang, Hongdao nodded, and said, "Every benefactor said it makes sense. Beware of what benefactor Ma said. There are members of the Lianzhuang Association in every courtyard, so send more Manpower, it is also necessary to maintain order on the scene and prevent chaos among the hungry people."

The four courtyards have their own concerns.

However, Sai Diaochan was the only one who disagreed with continuing the Labashe Porridge Fair.

According to the rules and regulations of the Lianzhuang meeting, where the minority obeys the majority, the Labashe porridge meeting in Saihan Temple is destined to continue.

On the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, each family set up congee sheds on the square in front of the gate of Saihan Temple.

The porridge sheds are provided by the courtyards themselves to store rice and firewood.

Each compound also arranges its own manpower, and recruits members of the Lianzhuang Association to be responsible for the on-site order of their respective porridge sheds.

Early in the morning on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, before the sky is bright, the Laba porridge pots in each porridge shed have already released the aroma of rice porridge.

The mixed smell of big yellow rice, small yellow rice, and red kidney beans seemed to spread all over Chilechuan at once, and hungry people with their families rushed to Saihan Temple one after another.

Just as Sai Diaochan expected, the hungry people from Chilechuan all gathered in the small valley of Miaocha in Daxigouchuan.

Hunger makes a lonely valley suddenly lively.

The Labashe porridge meeting in Saihan Temple has a tradition and is well-known.

People will come to the temple early on this day to ask for a bowl of porridge, get some blessings, and sell some New Year's goods by the way, preparing for the New Year.

The Laba Congee Club is called the Congee Club in name, but in fact the porridge shed of the Congee Club is just a decoration, and most of them are small merchants and hawkers selling New Year's goods.

Looking around, along the temple gate of Saihan Temple, there are vendors selling vermicelli, fireworks, incense, and thirteen incense.

Most of the most popular ones are those selling mao nike and fried soybeans.

Everyone bought something casually, and walked around while eating, just like going to a temple fair, just to create a lively atmosphere.

But this year's porridge meeting is different from previous years.

Most of the visitors in previous years were local tenants and poor people, and of course there were some wealthy landowners.

But this year, most of the people who came here were hungry people who came all the way from Shanxi (far away), and they were all unfamiliar faces.

They were not interested in the stalls of small merchants and hawkers, and only rushed towards the porridge shed.

More and more naked figures and hungry eyes dilute the warm, peaceful, joyful and lively scenes of the Labashe porridge meeting in previous years, and the whole temple is full of hunger and cold.

But the whistling mountain wind, like the howls of evil spirits from the eighteenth floor of hell, came from time to time.

Six porridge sheds were set up in a row in the Congjia courtyard close to the temple gate, followed by three porridge sheds in the Hou family courtyard, two porridge sheds in the Gong family courtyard, and two porridge sheds in the Diao family courtyard. A porridge shed.

Next to the two porridge sheds in the Gong family compound, there are stalls for Mao Ni and fried soybeans.

The things on the stalls are not for charity, but for those who watch the excitement.

In front of the porridge shed is a long line of porridge begging.

Those hungry people holding big porcelain bowls had yellow and emaciated faces, and their eyes were fixed on the porridge pot in the distance.

Seeing someone taking porridge from the porridge pot and drinking it as they walked, some hungry people's throats moved unconsciously.

On both sides of the long line, there is only one person ten paces away.It was the members of the Lianzhuang Association who were maintaining order and avoiding crowds of hungry people and looting accidents.

"Buddha's voice is few, but the fragrance of beans is lingering; magpies remind the night, and the copper pot is like the wind." In front of his porridge shed, looking at the scene in front of him, the four emperors said to themselves with emotion.

"Now the Buddha's voice is still there, the bean fragrance is still there, but the magpie has quietly lost its voice, and the Laba porridge in this pot can't stop the cold wind! It's the ragged clothes and the thick bowl begging for food!" From the four emperors After all, I am a scholar, and I feel a little sad when I am touched by the scene.

(End of this chapter)