The Chinese New Year is just over ten days away. This is Zhao Cheng's first New Year here. Even before the Little New Year, he can already feel the warm atmosphere.
Merchants driving donkey carts from other places gathered in the market in the south of the city. The donkey carts were filled with all kinds of new year's goods.
Zhao Cheng finished his classes in the morning and after lunch, he went to the market and bought something he liked.
Because he was celebrating the New Year alone, he was already alone. If there was no festive atmosphere, this year would be too deserted.
The New Year's goods at this time are also abundant. Although there are only two or three kinds of fruits, most of them are delicacies and game, or eggs that farmers have saved for half a year, or fat fish caught in the river. There are also newly brewed old wine and newly fried sweets.
Children who follow their parents can also get a few feet of new cloth to take back and sew robes.
The most important thing is firecrackers, which are indeed firecrackers. Cut the bamboo into sections, put gunpowder inside, seal the two ends with mud, leaving only a fuse. It is easier to make than the paper rolls, but the cost is quite high. Pricey.
Firecrackers were still in their primitive stages, so there was no need to think about fireworks. Even so, Zhao Cheng bought a lot of bamboo tube firecrackers to go back to experience the joy of setting off firecrackers.
In addition, there are also mahogany talismans that can be bought and nailed on the door to ward off illness and ward off evil.
Of course, Zhao Cheng did not forget Tongle. He bought the raw materials early, such as grass jelly, plumeria, chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, etc. He also prepared a lot of sugar and started making herbal tea.
Originally, he wanted to make some Coke, but unfortunately there was no caffeine, no coca leaves, and no baking soda.
Simply make herbal tea. Staying up late during the New Year is one of the must-have programs, so something refreshing is essential.
When he returned home every afternoon, Zhao Cheng began to fiddle with the ingredients and dosage, and tried and tested and compared the taste. Finally, he determined the formula based on grass jelly, supplemented by licorice, and appropriate amounts of chrysanthemum and honeysuckle, and began to cook it.
Because the weather is cold, the brewed herbal tea will neither spoil nor freeze into icy lumps when placed in the side room.
The brewed herbal tea has a long aftertaste and is sweet in the mouth. A glass of it can be cool and refreshing, and the effect is very good.
Zhao Cheng went to the market and bought six porcelain jars. After filling them respectively, the mouth of the jar was sealed with wax paper and the jar body was pasted with red paper. After a little thought, he wrote a poem by Pei Di: A sip of clear cold water, High flavor and plenty of flavor.
Two altars were sent to Dashunzhai, two altars were sent to Liu County Cheng next door, and two more altars were sent to Zheng Yucheng's house.
There were still a lot of raw materials left, so Zhao Cheng simply boiled them all and put them in a large jar and stored them in the west wing.
In addition, it was the New Year's Eve dinner. Zhao Cheng went to Dashunzhai to eat almost every day. No matter how delicious the meal was, he would get tired of it, so he still made the New Year's Eve dinner himself.
Boneless chicken, shredded jade mushrooms and bamboo shoots, Qinghe carp, stir-fried bracken, pepper-flavored pork ribs, crystal elbow, stir-fried river shrimp...
By the time Zhao Cheng was almost ready, the New Year was approaching.
At this time, there is a strong sense of ritual during the New Year. On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, people worship the Stove God, saying good things from heaven and ensuring peace in the lower realms. Zhao Cheng also placed sugar ingots, fried rice candies, peanut candies and other items on the statue of the Kitchen God next to the stove.
In the next few days, Zhao Cheng no longer went to Zheng Yucheng's place, and he didn't even go to Dashunzhai often. The stove at home was burning hot, a few lanterns were hung up, and he practiced calligraphy and played the flute at home every day. ,sleep.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, a light snowfall shrouded Qinghe County in a world covered in silver.
Zhao Cheng picked up the broom and swept the snow in the yard into a pile, making it into a snowman. Zhao Cheng put the barrel upside down on the snowman's head and used the broom as the snowman's hand, which looked similar.
"Snowman, Snowman, the task of keeping the New Year's Eve this year will be left to you. You have to guard the door for me and don't let the Nian beast break in. Do you hear me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a "dong" sound coming from the corner of the courtyard wall near the east wing. Zhao Cheng picked up the wooden shovel and walked over, only to see a person lying under the corner.
Although the hair hanging down covered half of his face, Zhao Cheng could still recognize at a glance that this person was wearing his own clothes. Who else could it be if he wasn't Xia Ying?
The last time he rescued Xia Ying by the river, he found a penetrating wound on Xia Ying's shoulder. But this time, there was another long wound on her leg, which she tied with a strip of cloth. There was a large amount of blood on her pants.
The penetrating injury was most likely caused by a crossbow. Zhao Cheng didn't ask in detail last time. After all, it was someone else's private matter and had nothing to do with him.
This time Xia Ying came over the wall, obviously to avoid the eyes and ears of others. Zhao Cheng was a little strange and a little depressed. What kind of business did Xia Ying do?
The last time I rescued someone, I did it out of a humanitarian spirit, not because I wanted to get into trouble. This woman came here after being injured every three days. Could she be treating this place as a safe house?
Zhao Cheng reached out and patted Xia Ying's face: "Wake up, hey, wake up!"
Xia Ying didn't react at all. It seemed that she had exhausted all her energy to escape here. After climbing over the wall, she couldn't hold on and fell down.
Zhao Cheng sighed, he really wanted to die without saving her, but he was afraid that she would die in the yard. He had no choice but to carry her back into the house for the time being and treat the injury a little. He hoped that Xia Ying would leave as soon as she woke up. He didn't want to spend this New Year in fear.
Putting Xia Ying on the bed, Zhao Cheng estimated the injury on her leg. It should be a scratch caused by a weapon like a sword. Such a wound is long and deep, difficult to treat, and may require stitches.
It is not difficult to suture a wound. As long as you know how to tie knots and dare to do it, it is no different from sewing a quilt.
The most important thing was to stop the bleeding, as well as clean and treat the wound. Zhao Cheng had at most learned some first aid knowledge for survival in the wild, but he didn't know if it would come in handy.
He prepared a basin of hot water, a needle, a long piece of cotton thread, steamed gauze, a jar of soju, and a pair of scissors.
After washing his hands repeatedly, Zhao Cheng began to treat Xia Ying's leg injury.
Fortunately, the wound was longitudinal and did not cut off the muscles and fascia. Otherwise, Zhao Cheng really wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Use scissors to cut Xia Ying's pants to fully expose the wound. Then use hot water to clean up the blood around the wound.
At this time, the wound had not yet scabbed. After cutting open the trousers and the cloth bandaged by Xia Ying, blood started to flow out again.
Zhao Cheng first cleaned the wound on her leg with soju, then began to put the needle on the fire for a while, disinfected it briefly, and then began to suture the wound.
When the fifth stitch was stitched, Xia Ying had already woken up and saw that Zhao Cheng was piercing the skin of her leg with a needle, and it seemed that he was sewing up the wound.
She asked in shock: "What are you doing!"
Zhao Cheng replied to her angrily: "I've been too busy recently, so I'm looking for some trouble for myself."
