Go back to the valley to farm

Chapter 335

Chapter 330
March is a busy month.

In addition to transplanting rice seedlings, we also need to order corn and raise sweet potato seeds.

There are too many folk customs about farming in the old days.

The first time you go to the field on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there will be a ceremony of "opening the plow".

Lichun wants to try Lei, tie the spring cattle, tie the mang god, pretend to be 28 nights, and carry the grass cow mango god in the field to parade and sacrifice.

Afterwards, the spring official paraded each family and continued to sing village songs. When they saw farming, they sang "24 Solar Terms"; "Meishan Spring" has patterns in every line.

After the seedlings are planted, gods and men will be invited to do a meeting to draw talismans to drive away insects. After the ceremony, there will be a society.

Afterwards, we have to catch fireflies. In the old days, fireflies were believed to eat the leaves of vegetables and damage the new mulberry leaves. They needed to light incense and fire on the trees in the field in the evening to drive away the insects.

Then, those who grow vegetables and hemp must "burn the head", that is, burn a layer of plant ash on the field, which is both a ceremony and fertilization.

Beans, peanuts, and garlic need to be "exposed", that is, all the shells of the pods are peeled off and scattered on the road, which means "the more you step on it, the stronger it is", and "firmness" is a good luck.

Those who grow lychee and longan must also "put bitter water" on the fruit trees.It is to use a knife to cut some small openings on the bark of the fruit tree when watering the fruit tree for the first time in spring to release the so-called "bitter water". Trust, my friend, Barto, the fruit will never fall when it bears fruit.”

It is said that the fruit tree that let go of the bitter water bears abundant and sweet fruit.

Then on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, you have to "marry a caterpillar", and use various kinds of paper to paste it into a cross, and write: "Caterpillar caterpillars, black and black, marry to Qingshan, and all species will become extinct."

In the middle, there are also customs such as grass man driving sparrows and painting white ash to drive animals away.

If you encounter drought, you must also resist drought.

There are many tricks to resist drought, such as doing rain festivals, singing celestial words, playing water dragons, singing rain dramas, driving drought demons, drying river owners, and many other tricks...

There are also offerings to the Bull King Bodhisattva, holding "Ox King Meetings", cutting hooves, piercing noses, training cattle, etc....

Generally speaking, the rules and regulations of farming customs are numerous and cumbersome, which reflects that in the era of low productivity and relying on the sky, villagers value and worry about a year's farming. From plowing to harvesting millet, every year Through such hard work and hardship, fear and fear.

Turning back to the gossip, the current situation of Lijiagou can be summed up with an ancient poem.

"Cuckoo Feifei advises to plow early, and pound the hoe to take advantage of the spring. The thousand-layered stone trees are walking far away, and the mountains and fields are surrounded by the sound of water."

Before the five members of Columbia University left, Li Junge made a meal of "soft hagi cake" for them as a way of seeing them off.

Ruan Hagi Baba is also called Qingming Baba, Ai Yuan.

In March, on the river beach and in the field, there are fluffy and tender soft algae growing everywhere. When the grass buds are picked back and boiled in alkaline water, the grass buds immediately become verdant.

The water contains alkali, and by the way, it can also remove the bitterness of the grass buds, leaving only the fragrance.

Then put the grass buds in the nest to make pulp.

Pour the pulp into a coarse cloth bag and squeeze it to get bright green fine straw pulp.

Put the pulp and glutinous rice flour on it, and then fill it with stuffing like making a pig’s cake. Put the grapefruit leaves in the same way, and steam the orange leaves in the upper and lower pots.

However, the method is different from Zhuerba. The rice balls are rough and cannot be rubbed, and they will leak when rubbed. They need to be shaped by pinching and patting.

Compared with such practical products as pig cakes, soft Hagi cakes are cuter and more beautiful. They are bright green and have the fragrance of spring grass, which is more popular with the group of five.

Li Junge prepared rich gifts for everyone. He didn't bring all kinds of dry goods for fear of being confiscated when he passed the customs. He only prepared insect tea, chicken fir oil, rice noodles, honey, ham, and sausage.

Then each person has a female red bag and a Qingming stone pendant.

Each lady got a suit of handmade clothes from Lijiagou, a pair of embroidered shoes, a sachet made by her grandma, and a hairpin made by an uncle craftsman.

Ayin gave them a spatholobus bracelet and a Miao silver bracelet.

The gentleman Li Junge gave each of them a pen holder, a bamboo trekking stick, and a Miao-style hunting knife.

In the evening, Er Zhun also came to visit a few people. By the way, he needed to send the group of five to Shubu, and he also had to go back to Shudu. It happened that each of them drove a car, so he could send people off.

Li Junge asked: "What are you doing in Shudu? You are so busy here."

Er Zhun said: "The lead actress in my TV series has some problems, I need to solve them."

Li Junge said: "Even the female number one has been decided?"

Er Zhun looked solemn: "It has been decided long ago, and the pre-practice and training have been done for a long time."

Li Junge asked: "Then what else can you not handle?"

Erzhun said: "You think I'm omnipotent? Emotional problems! How do you ask me to handle it? I mean let her come to Lijiagou to recuperate first. The little girl is really troublesome!"

Li Junge rolled his eyes: "Miss Qiu is also a little girl, I didn't see you talking about trouble!"

Er Zhun waved his hands: "Don't talk too far, when do you plan to leave?"

Li Junge said: "Tomorrow we will set off when we receive Master Liu and Sister Du. By the way, we will also take Liu Sanwa with us. I will throw him at Brother Liu to learn recipes."

The next day, Uncle Medicine Master and Uncle Orion picked up Master Liu and Sister Du at Jiuchangju, and sent them to Mulou B&B to settle down.

Uncle Pharmacist took Sister Du's pulse and said: "Well, the pulse condition is very stable, there is nothing to worry about, so let's settle down in Lijiagou. It is enough to rely on diet and conditioning. Don't be idle every day. Find some An easy job to do, which is good for both adults and children."

Sister Du said with red eyes: "Uncle Cai, you are our benefactor, I, I really don't know how to thank you..."

Uncle Pharmacist waved his hands and said, "This is the blessing of both of you, and you will be able to cherish the blessings in the future. You don't need to thank me. It just so happened that the geese in Piwa's family started laying eggs. These goose eggs are also a good food for puerpera. Don't stop when you have river fresh, so that the children born will be smart."

Master Liu smiled and said, "For decades, I have never expected that God will give me an heir. I am going to offer incense at Fawang Temple tomorrow. Thank you Buddha for pitying me. It's ten months old, and you said that I am in your house?" What can I do at Jiagou?"

Li Junge said with a smile: "Don't even think about fishing before June, you can just accompany Sister Du to look at the flowers and plants, take a walk on the mountain road every day, go to Pan'ao Township to buy vegetables and come back to cook, if not, you can also grow vegetables and serve them Crops, as long as the countryside is willing to do it, there are so many things to do. Hey! The small-footed silky chickens are raised, and it will be suitable for Du Jie when she is in confinement!"

Sister Du smiled and said, "Why don't Lao Liu and I tidy up the garden next to the wooden building. I just saw the garden of Uncle Bamboo Carpenter. It's really exquisite."

Li Junge said: "That's fine too. Many flowers in the mountains are blooming, and some Chunlan will be brought over from Lanchang at that time. But Sister Du, you can just prune and trim. You have to leave the tiring work to others."

Uncle Pharmacist said: "It's been a long time since I adjusted my daily routine in the past six months, so don't change it easily, keep it up, Liu Rong, you still have a day to hold your grandson."

Master Liu laughed loudly: "Oh, I really dare not think about this, I guess I will be in my eighties or nineties by then!"

Uncle Orion also laughed and said, "Eighty or ninety is nothing. There is more than one in our village who is more than 90. Look at the fourth ancestor, who is still practicing boxing and reciting books every day!"

After setting up Master Liu and Sister Du, leaving Uncle Orion and Uncle Medicine Master to chat with them, Li Junge rushed to the ancestral hall to pick up some foreign friends.

The two sisters hugged the fourth grandfather, tears streaming down their cheeks, reluctant to part.

Li Junge persuaded: "There is an organic room in the ancestral hall. If you miss the fourth grandpa, you can send WeChat and start a video. These fourth grandpas are already familiar with it. It's like chatting in front of you. It's not a problem!"

The fourth grandpa stroked the heads of the two sisters and said: "Yuxiang Yuhuai has been with me for half a year, and my ancestors and I are very happy every day. To be a person, you must be content, and you will not come back. When you arrive in the United States, take care of what you have learned in the past six months." One stroke, we must continue to be diligent over there, so we can’t let it go to waste.”

Aunt Bai and Fourth Grandpa bowed solemnly: "Mr. Li, thank you for your teaching during this time. Sihui has also gained a lot. We will come again when the rice is ripe. Then you can test us again and see Are we progressing or regressing."

The Fourth Grandfather smiled and said, "It's rare to have a foreign friend who has studied Chinese culture so deeply. We can't talk about teaching. We can be regarded as strengthening each other. Thank you for your education of Yuxiang Yuhuai."

A group of people walked to the pier with big bags and small bags, chatting while walking. Seeing this, the villagers all came to see them off, and more and more people gathered.

Especially the children, they are reluctant to part with their big brothers and sisters from abroad. During this period of time, these four did not lead them to do mischievous things, and they have already formed a deep fighting friendship.

Bai Dadu and they also came, rubbing against their legs, as if they also came to see them off.

When they came to Jiuchangju and met Liu Sanwa Si Xingzhun, the group of five hugged and bid farewell to the villagers one by one. You haven’t tasted the wild honey we dug together on the mountain some time ago, so take it with you and eat it on the road.”

Zongba and Yutou were pretending to be tough guys all the way, and now tears came down, and they touched the heads of a few village children and said: "When we come to harvest rice in September, Xiaosong, you will still lead us to play around ah!"

Xiaosong Xiaogang and the others chattered and said, "It will be more fun then, swimming, fishing, catching fireflies, making ice-powder jelly... You must come early!"

……

Wuxi No. [-] left the pier and started to drive towards Jiachuan City. The villagers stood on a slope and waved goodbye to them.

Looking at the crowd getting farther and farther and smaller, Aunt Bai sighed involuntarily: "Living in an indifferent city abroad, it is impossible to imagine such a big family like a village life. People's mental illness, most of the time It is caused by inner loneliness. In Lijiagou, it is almost impossible to taste the taste of loneliness. Even for an orphan like Master Huang, there are a group of people who care and love him when he grows up. They don’t see that he has any psychological problems. Such an ethical ecology is definitely a great contribution of the Chinese farming society to the world. Our ethics has not progressed for thousands of years, but has regressed..."

Li Junge also nodded and said: "It's not a step backward, it's just the great progress of science, people no longer need collective labor, collectively fight against the cruel nature, and collectively share huge survival risks, but it also eliminates the barriers and competition between people. The relationship is highlighted. This kind of great change in the way of life has occurred in just 200 years, but the corresponding ethical norms have not kept up. In other words, the way of getting along in this way has not yet matured and is still being explored by human beings. Among them. This has led to the emergence of various psychological and social problems, and up to now there is no cure for all diseases.”

Aunt Bai stopped talking and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)