Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 258 Prepare for a rainy day and steal the handle
In Qing'an, there is a saying of staying up late on New Year's Eve, that is, the lights stay on all night long on New Year's Eve, and people gather and talk all night long. This is called "zhaoxihua", which means that the wealth will be abundant in the coming year, and it also symbolizes driving away all evil plagues.

But these days, supplies are not very abundant, such as candles and electricity. Moreover, staying up all night is too exhausting, so it is better to turn off the lights and go to bed early. After all, there are still a lot of things to do on the first day of the new year.

At five o'clock in the morning, Qing'an Village was completely silent. Only the red lanterns were hanging high. There was no sound of firecrackers, and every household turned off the lights.

Xu Ning was lying on the edge of the kang in the west room, listening to the sound of Xu Feng sleeping soundly on the edge of the kang, unable to fall asleep anyway. It's not that Xu Feng made the noise, but that he had some feelings...

As for my feelings, it is nothing more than being lonely in the past life and the rest of my life. In this life, I have regained family harmony, father is kind and son is filial, brothers are respectful to brothers...

Basically everyone has this kind of sentimentality. Xu Ning is not a hard-hearted person, and there is nothing wrong with being pretentious.

It wasn't until about four o'clock that Xu Ning squinted and woke up again to hear the sound of "ding-ding" firecrackers in the village, as well as the conversations of Wang Shujuan, Han Fengjiao, Yang Shuhua and others in the outhouse.

Xu Ning opened his eyes and saw Li Fuqiang, Wang Biao, Wang Biao and Liu Tianen standing on the edge of the kang, looking down at him.

"Oh shit!" Xu Ning was shocked.

"Haha...Second brother, have a great New Year!"

Xu Laowen smiled and said: "Ziyan, Yinhe, you two go for a walk with your second brother, and come back after you finish your walk."

Wang Erli grabbed Wang Biao's arm and said, "Don't be a bastard. Do you know what it means to prepare for a rainy day? You are still pretending to be a cultured person. How can your uncle say that you can do it?"

Wang Biao lowered his head and muttered: "I'm a little embarrassed."

"Uncle, let's go to Lao Chang's house first, then go home and stay there until noon," Li Fuqiang said.

Xu Laowen sat on the edge of the kang, crossed his legs and commanded: "Dalong, let me take you from house to house. Don't forget to take Biao to your Uncle Jiang's house."

I ate earlier than usual this morning because I had to go to various houses later to say New Year greetings and so on.

Xu Ning rubbed his face and entered the east room. He saw Xu Laowen staring at him with squinted eyes and twitching the corners of his mouth, as if he wanted to say a few words to silence him. However, he remembered that it was the first day of the new year, so he suppressed the words. .

"Haha, you're just kidding."

"Put the table down!" Liu Lizhen shouted.

"Hey, let's stay home and sleep peacefully." Xu Ning waved his hand.

"Haha, I said I would tuck my second brother under the quilt, and he was indeed tucked in!" Liu Tianen laughed.

"Second brother, happy New Year!" Meng Yinhe said hello with his teeth bared.

Wang Biao and others laughed twice and said hello.

Immediately, Meng Ziyan and Meng Yinhe also joined the team. They were the largest group in the village, because they needed to move around almost everyone.

Immediately, Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu and others who were standing on the ground in the west room walked towards the outhouse. Li Fuqiang asked: "Hurry up."

"go quickly."

After the meal, Liu Lizhen hurriedly combed her hair twice. She had only rubbed her face since she got up in the morning. Although her hair was not very messy, there were still some stubbles. She applied some cream on it and that was it.

"okay."

Inside the house, Liu Lizhen and Xu Laowen walked out of the door, greeted each other with smiles, and chatted with Meng Ziyan hand in hand.

At this time, two people walked in at the entrance of the courtyard, it was Meng Ziyan and Meng Yinhe.

Xu Ning stood up, pulled up her clothes, and turned around: "Happy New Year, why are you so early, you scared me."

The two tables were already set with bowls and chopsticks, as well as two or three plates of freshly cooked dumplings and some hot and cold dishes.

Xu Ning turned around and saw Xu Feng, glanced at Xu Long, and asked, "Feng, is your second brother handsome?"

After they left, Xu Ning didn't care about the bedding on the kang. He put on his cotton-padded jacket and pulled his cotton shoes and ran to the latrine. When he came back, he saw Wang Shujuan wiping the kang with her butt stuck out. She must come here today. There are many people. After all, Xu Laowen and Liu Lizhen are quite humane in the village and can get along well with anyone.

"Uncle, I haven't been there in previous years, so..."

"Jun!" Xu Feng jumped up and shouted.

Li Fuqiang said with a smile: "It's late, it's almost half past six, why are you so sleepy? My aunt called you several times, Feng also called you several times, we came over and pushed you twice, but you didn't wake up "

"Haha, okay, my Phoenix is ​​also very delicate!" Xu Ning raised her chin at Xu Long.

Wang Erli, Han Fengjiao, Liu Daming and Wu Qiuxia also went home respectively.

Xu Ning stood in front of the base cabinet, grabbed a wooden comb and smoothed his hair. Xu Long entered the room and muttered: "This guy is a prodigal."

"Uncle, let's go. We'll be back in a while."

"You go first, I have to wash my face and go to the latrine."

Liu Lizhen opened the door curtain and said: "Get up quickly, it will be time to get married soon, don't wait any longer."

Xu Ning put on his clothes, took down the curtains, and saw Xu Feng and Jin Yumantang walking their dogs on a leash in the courtyard, having a great time.

Xu Ning went to the west room, filled two small baskets with melon seeds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and sugar, and sent them to the kang in the east room. He glanced at the wall clock and it was already past seven o'clock.

"It's time to put on clothes. I'm not a child either..."

"Fengdu got up earlier than you, how could you lie down on the quilt on the first day of junior high school?" Liu Lizhen rolled her eyelids, then retreated to the outhouse and ignored him.

In the east room, Xu Long stood in front of Wang Shujuan, urging her to hurry up. Wang Shujuan hurriedly applied some cream and colorful red, and then walked out with Xu Long and others.

"Okay, come here early at noon, come around ten o'clock."

Then a group of people said hello to each other, and Xu Ning patted Meng Ziyan on the back and said, "You two, go inside."

Immediately, Li Fuqiang and Yang Shuhua led Jinyu Mantang away. In previous years, he would sit at home and not go anywhere. This year is the Chinese New Year in the Xu family, and he has become in love with Chang Danian again, so he has to get his wife. The kids go for a trip.

New Year greetings mainly highlight the human touch. Xu Ning and others first went to Du Shoucai's house and cracked some melon seeds in the house. Before they could warm themselves up, they stopped by Lao Huang's house next door.

Lao Huang's family is a fishing and hunting family. Wang Biao borrowed Bongbingzi. Lao Huang's two sons have a daughter. The daughter is one year younger than Liu Tianen. Why did you come to his house? Because Huang Liguo and Liu Daming had a good relationship, the two were not kowtowing brothers, but Huang Liguo took care of Liu Daming everywhere and played very well when he was a child.

Then he went to Meng Zizi's house. He sat there for more than ten minutes, drank two sips of tea, and then got up and left.

This afternoon, Xu Ning and others left more than a dozen families, such as Zhang Yinshan, Lao Jiang, Lao Zhao, Yan Jinbao, Lao Tang... These people are more or less related to Lao Xu's family, such as Lao Tang, Lao Tang and Lao Tang. The relationship between Zhao must start from Xu Ning’s grandfather’s generation.

At about half past nine, a group of people returned to Lao Xu's house. At this time, there were fewer people coming to the house. Meng Ziyan and Liu Lizhen chatted a lot. As soon as Xu Ning sent Meng Ziyan and Meng Yinhe out, he and Wang Hu went to Chang Danian's house together.

The reason why I didn't go there first was because there were many people, and Chang Danian was a person who liked purity.

He and Wang Hu stayed at Chang Danian's house for more than half a day before getting up and walking home.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we mainly walked around to say New Year's greetings to each other. The whole afternoon passed, and the rest of the time was basically idle, except for talking about mountains and rivers, or playing poker or mahjong. There was a layer of melon seeds, hazelnuts and pine nut skins on the floor of the old Xu family's east house, but no one picked up a broom to sweep the floor. Sweeping was not allowed on the first day of the new year. There is a saying that it was because they were afraid of sweeping away their wealth.

In the afternoon, there was some leisure time. Liu Lizhen and others were lying on the kang to catch up on their sleep, Xu Laowen and others were catching up on their sleep in the west room, while Xu Ning and her children played poker at Lao Wang's house.

After dinner in the evening, when Li Fuqiang, Liu Daming and others were about to go home, Liu Lizhen asked them to serve the leftovers and cold dishes, and also brought them some cooked venison, roe deer, wild boar meat, and hooves. ,liver.

The next day, the Xu and Wang families went to Du Shoucai's house early. Although Zhao Yue'e had prepared the dishes last night, she still had to work hard for a while to stew and stir-fry.

With the help of Wang Shujuan, Liu Lizhen and Han Fengjiao, Zhao Yue'e could relax a lot. The old ladies were chatting while preparing the dishes. It seemed that the dishes would be finished soon, but when she looked up at the wall clock, it was already 12: noon.

There were also two tables in Du Shou Cai's house. The gentlemen could drink at the table on the ground, while the ladies and children sat on the kang, watching the guests having fun and laughing.

Xu Laowen and others really drank a lot today. They drank until the sky turned dark. After a ten-pound pot of loose wine was wiped out by the six of them, Du Shoucai took out five bottles of Daqu.

Although I was in a daze after drinking and staggered on my feet, I didn't vomit because the alcohol was dissipating as I drank for a long time.

Xu Ning led Wang Biao and Xu Feng back home early to burn the kang. When Xu Laowen and others came back, it was already past nine o'clock.

The third day of junior high school, morning.

Liu Lizhen cooked the dumplings freshly. She cut some meat and tongue into them, mixed them with two plates of cabbage hearts, and had a simple bite with pickles. After several days of big fish and meat, Xu Ning and others were also tired of eating them. According to Xu Feng, Even going to the latrine is difficult, and I can't get out even if I work hard.

The four members of Wang Erli's family ate at Lao Xu's house because they had to go to Wanye today. They had just finished eating. Wang Hu was moving things into the car with Xu Ning, Wang Biao and others at home. Li Fuqiang , Liu Daming’s two families came over.

This time Wang Erli went to Wanye mainly to discuss Wang Hu and Guan Hua. Based on the plan he discussed with Xu Laowen:

After the two families finished building the house and Xu Ning and Meng Ziyan got married, they hurriedly asked Wang Hu and Guan Hua to do things. If the things were done early, the Wang and Guan families felt at ease.

So in addition to a large fruit box, a box of rice cakes, a box of canned food, five kilograms of kelp, tobacco, wine, sugar, tea, rice, flour, oil, etc., there was also a set of clothes that Han Fengjiao had made for Guan Hua.

After Wang Erli and his family of four got into the car, Xu Laowen patted the car door and said, "Slow down on the road."

Xu Ning said: "Second uncle, if you get tired, just let Huzi drive. He is now very good at handling."

"Yeah, you guys go back. You should be home on the evening of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year."

Liu Lizhen nodded: "I know, I will prepare food for you when the time comes, so hurry up and go."

Immediately, Wang Erli stepped on the accelerator to drive the car forward. Wang Hu, Wang Biao and Han Fengjiao were all crowded in the passenger seat. This is a straight-row seat, and four people can sit side by side.

Everyone turned around and entered the main courtyard. Liu Lizhen pointed to the stoves piled next to the fence and said, "Which of you has time to re-build the stove outside? It was still smoking the last time. Who did it?"

Liu Daming smiled and said: "I'm fighting with Qiangzi. What's going on, sister, where's the smoke coming from?"

"There's smoke everywhere." Liu Lizhen said angrily.

Li Fuqiang smiled and said: "Auntie, my uncle said he worked as a bricklayer..."

"He has done a lot of work. He worked as an apprentice for your uncle before."

"Hahaha……"

Everyone in the hospital put their hands in their sleeves and laughed with trembling shoulders.

After entering the house and drinking some tea around the edge of the Kang, Liu Daming dragged Li Fuqiang to the courtyard and built the stove again.

Xu Laowen saw that his brother-in-law was rough at work, so he stood aside and gave instructions. After setting up the stove, Li Fuqiang lit the fire and tried it. When there was no smoke around, he sat down on the big pot and filled half of the pot with water...

Xu Long held the aluminum basin and threw the pieces of meat into the large pot. After boiling the pot, he skimmed off the foam and then added the condiments.

At nearly 10 o'clock, Liu Lizhen was cutting meat strips and cubes, preparing for fried meat, while Yang Shuhua was holding fish meatballs.

At this time, four people walked in from the courtyard gate, and they were Meng Laizi's family of four.

Xu Ning's sharp eyes hurriedly called out to his parents and rushed out to greet them. If he didn't show off now, when would he show off?
A group of people welcomed the four members of the Meng family into the house and made tea, water, melon seeds and candies. Then Liu Lizhen sat on the kang and chatted with Liu Fenfang and Meng Ziyan.

During this period, Meng Ziyan and Xu Ning were flirting with each other. When the two mothers were not paying attention, Xu Ning secretly rubbed Meng Ziyan's little hands, making her face flushed and a little shy.

At this time, the parents of the two families chatted about building a house. Xu Laowen meant to ask Xu Ning to do it, because he was the only one in the whole family who was idle.

Liu Lizhen didn't refute after hearing this. She just turned her head expectantly to look at Xu Ning who was flirting with Meng Ziyan. She just happened to see the two people's little moves. Meng Ziyan was frightened and quickly took her hand back, lowered her head and clasped her fingers. .

Xu Ning, however, remained calm and said, "What are you asking me to do? Building a house is a big deal, so why shouldn't the mainstay of the family make the decision?"

Xu Laowen said unhappily: "Why do you have to work so hard? Now the main pillar wants you to build a house, why can't you do it?"

"Okay, let's wait until then. What kind of building do you and my mother want to build?"

Liu Lizhen said with a smile: "Any kind of building is fine. As long as it is enough to live in and the fire does not emit smoke, I am quite content."

"Okay, wait for me to study it. Uncle Meng, let's see which of your apprentices has time to furnish some furniture for my house and my second uncle's house."

Meng Laizi nodded: "It's all easy to say, just one sentence. Is the homestead on the edge of a mountain? There is no electricity over there, and we have to run a wire."

Xu Laowen said: "I talked about this with my elder brother yesterday. We need to set up two telegraph poles to pull out the wires..."

It doesn't cost much to erect telegraph poles these days, because Qing'an has a lot of pine and birch, which are good materials for telegraph poles.

The only thing you need to spend money on is buying wires. The current wires are not copper wires, but aluminum wires. They cannot drive high-power electrical appliances at the same time and can only light a lamp.

Then, the parents of the two families talked about Meng Yinhe again. Meng Zizi said that he would be allowed to learn carpentry in the second half of the year, and he would have to go to school in the first half of the year. He had to get his junior high school diploma.

"Er Ning, what do you think?" Meng Laizi asked.

Xu Ning said: "Uncle Meng, haven't we talked about this before? I definitely support you. If Yinhe doesn't study hard, you will kill him."

Liu Lizhen said with a smile: "Oh my God, the Milky Way is so big and your Uncle Meng hasn't even touched it, so why are you cutting it?"

Liu Fenfang said: "This kid is not doing anything right all day long. Didn't you give him a floral shirt last time? You asked his sister to change it into a cotton-padded jacket. On the first day of the new year, he has to wear a floral cotton-padded jacket to go out to pay New Year greetings. He is so stupid." Damn it, this guy makes me angry..."

Xu Ning laughed: "Hahaha, Yinhe is quite fashionable."

Liu Lizhen rolled her eyelids, raised her hand to hammer her old son's arm, and gritted her teeth and said, "I learned it all from you! Look at the whole village, there is no one who can play the zither better than you."

"Why not, my dad?"

Xu Laowen stood up and waved his hands, "Get out of here, you can blame me for anything."

"Hahaha……"

In fact, the Chinese New Year is about visiting relatives and friends. Everyone gathers together to have a good time, talk to each other, or talk about national affairs and people's livelihood, or chat about family problems. Anyway, it's all about being happy...

(End of this chapter)