In the blink of an eye, it will be the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, and it is the time of the New Year.
The Little New Year is also regarded as the beginning of the busy year. From this time on, people will begin to prepare New Year's goods, sweep dust at home, and worship the Kitchen God to prepare for the upcoming New Year.
Every household in Yangmei Town started to get busy.
The women stayed at home and began to clean up the dirt in the house. Children who like to play reluctantly follow the general cleaning under the instruction of their elders at home.
But being playful by nature, they only worked seriously for a while, and soon discovered the fun and started playing around.
The men came to the market in the town and started buying new year goods.
Although Yangmei Town is just a remote town, there are still more than a dozen small villages near the town.
As the New Year is approaching, the residents of these nearby villages and towns have gathered in the market and began to use their hard-earned savings for a year to buy the New Year's goods that they like.
Merchants from all over came to hear the news, bringing various goods with them and setting up markets in the town.
Because there were too many people attending the rally, the street market in the town was not enough. Some merchants simply set up simple sheds on a flat land outside the town and started doing open-air business.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Yuan also carried his own big backpack, filled it with smoked bacon, and started to set up a stall at the market.
The bustling market filled the open space outside the town. Countless people gathered inside, and the noise made people's ears ring.
Walking in the lively market, he found that there were various stalls here, including snacks and tea, needlework and fabrics, preserved fruits, wine and meat, couplets and cut flowers...
All new year goods that are useful for the New Year can be found here.
Lu Yuan walked around and found that most of the places in the market were already occupied. Only a few corners on the edges were still vacant.
But even for these vacant seats, there are those who are smart and have set up empty stalls in advance. Instead of selling goods, they rent these spaces.
It's okay if you don't rent, but there's no space left in the market for you to place your goods.
As for robbing?
If these people can do this business, of course there are people behind them. The biggest owner is the mayor. Can you beat them?
In response to this, Lu Yuan could only hold his nose while secretly cursing "skinny ghost" in his heart, paid the stall fee of 50 cents, and started doing business.
This year he had a lot of hunting results. Not counting the hares and pheasants, there were dozens of jackals, tigers, leopards and other large prey.
In addition to fur, these prey also contributed more than two thousand kilograms of bacon.
With so much bacon, Lu Yuan couldn't finish it if it was close to him, and it would spoil if left for a long time. Of course, he had to take this opportunity to exchange it for money.
"Bacon, cheap and delicious bacon!"
After placing the meat brought in the basket on the stall, he began to shout.
Soon, customers were attracted and asked, "How do you sell this meat?"
Lu Yuan glanced at the customer. He was a farmer in simple clothes. He probably rarely ate meat. Looking at the bacon, he drooled. He smiled in his heart and said, "This is bacon tiger meat, fifty cents per pound."
Hearing the price, the man was startled and quickly pointed to the next target: "It's too expensive, what about this one?"
"This is wild boar meat, thirty cents a pound."
"Is there any cheaper one?"
"Yes, this is wild yellow dog meat, it costs ten cents a pound."
"Okay, that's it. Give me two pounds."
Looking at the customer leaving with a piece of meat, Lu Yuan completed his first business.
Perhaps because it was sold cheaply, people kept coming to visit the butcher shop in the following days.
After a while, the cheap fox meat, wild yellow dog meat, wolf meat, leopard meat, etc. were quickly sold out.
Even the expensive tiger meat was heard by several big families in the town and they sent their servants to buy it.
This forced him to go back home again, take out another batch of inventory at home, and continue selling.
After three trips in this way, it took a long time, and two thousand kilograms of bacon were finally sold out.
As for the two hundred kilograms of meat left at home, Lu Yuan did not sell it and planned to keep it for himself.
After all, martial arts training takes a huge toll on the body and requires sufficient meat to supplement it.
One day's business made Lu Yuan another forty-three taels of silver, and his savings suddenly increased by one-fifth.
With a huge sum of money in his arms, he suddenly felt heroic.
After handing over his stall, he was not in a hurry to go back, but walked around the market.
The Spring Festival is approaching, and I will soon welcome the second New Year after traveling to this world.
Lu Yuan was short of money last year. In order to save money for martial arts training, he spent the whole year in a hurry. It can be said that it was extremely shabby.
But now that I have more than 200 taels of savings, I am no longer short of money. Of course, I have to treat myself well, which means I feel lonely.
I found a crowded tea stall in the market and had a variety of cheap and delicious delicacies. While enjoying it, I listened to the bragging and farting of the people around me. A whole afternoon passed like this.
After drinking and eating, Lu Yuan bought some preserved fruit couplets and fresh new year goods. He went to the cloth shop in the town and ordered some new clothes. He agreed to pick them up in two days before returning home leisurely.
When he got home, he didn't have any time to spare.
Since you have decided to have a good New Year, you must also take good care of the atmosphere and things you should do during the New Year.
The wives and children of other people in the town help with the dusting, so they have done the cleaning in the morning. Now in the afternoon the whole family can make the New Year's goods brought back by the husband and father, and enjoy the festival happily.
But Lu Yuan was a bachelor and had no one to help him with housework.
So after a busy morning, I couldn't rest in the afternoon, so I had to clean hard.
Fortunately, he was alone and there was nothing at home. Except for a few pieces of furniture, the kitchen area had too many stains due to frequent cooking, so it was relatively easy to clean.
After spending an hour, as the last basin of sewage arrived in the courtyard, Lu Yuan wiped his sweat and took a breath.
"Finally done."
Turning to look at the brand new room behind him, a smile appeared on his face.
Cleaning the house before the end of the year to prepare for a clean and happy New Year actually represents a beautiful meaning: saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, welcoming good luck and receiving good fortune, this is the simplest wish in everyone's heart.
Although he was a little tired physically after all this cleaning, Lu Yuan did feel that the depression and annoyance in his heart seemed to be expelled from his heart along with the dirt that was swept out of the house.
"Although I am a time traveler whose soul is in a foreign land, now I have a home of my own, I can make money by hunting, I can practice martial arts, and I am immortal. Everything doesn't seem so bad."
He laughed, opened the door and looked at the sky in the distance with deep eyes.
…
After the Little New Year, it’s New Year’s Eve.
Today is New Year's Eve.
In order to make himself feel less lonely, Lu Yuan met Sun Siwen and they spent the New Year together.
With two large food boxes full of wine and meat prepared in advance, he came to Sun Shusheng's home.
The reason why we spent the New Year at his house was mainly because Sun Siwen's family was big enough.
His family was originally a small landowner in the town, with hundreds of acres of fertile land, and a large house with ten rooms. It's a pity that the family business fell into decline in the end, and when it came to his generation, he encountered another scammer who couldn't get the title of scholar after taking the exam twelve times.
You know, the imperial examination is not a cheap thing, it is very expensive.
On a daily basis, I need to buy books to study classics, spend pens, ink, paper and inkstones to practice calligraphy. Before the exam, I have to buy question books from previous years to study the syllabus. To apply for the exam, I have to pay a huge registration fee.
After all, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone provided by the examination room cannot be scraped out of thin air, and they also cost money to buy.
Oh, right.
Today's imperial examinations still inherit the ancient recommendation system. If you want to register for the examination, you must be jointly recommended by at least two scholars to get the qualification.
Therefore, this recommendation fee is another expense.
"Brother Lu, you don't know that I take the imperial examination every year. Before the examination, I buy the imperial examination question booklet issued by Master Xueyu. A copy costs at least two hundred coins.
The academic edict is in charge of the academic performance of students in a county. Every year, the examination questions for the county examination are determined by the academic edict and the county magistrate.
The imperial examination question book he publishes usually contains some imperial examination questions for the coming year. I mean, any student who aspires to fame would dare not to buy it?
However, the academic edicts in this county are too greedy. Every year, three or five volumes are published. Just to buy the title book will cost one or two taels of silver.
In addition to the daily consumption of calligraphy practice, exercise booklets, pens, inks, paper and inkstones, it costs at least two taels of silver a year.
The registration fee for reporting a crime requires three hundred coins.
And because I repeatedly failed to pass the exams, all my classmates in the past were ashamed to associate with me, and no one was willing to guarantee my recommendation.
In order to qualify for the exam, I had to spend one or two silver each to ask two old scholars to vouch for me.
Every year during the imperial examination, accommodation expenses in the county, gatherings and socializing with classmates and literary friends..."
As late at night approached, Lu Yuan and Sun Siwen exchanged glasses and were still drunk.
Sun Shusheng seemed to have drunk a little too much. His face was red at this time. After drinking a full glass of wine, he slammed the palm of the glass on the table and said painfully: "In one year, I will need eight years just to study for the imperial examination." The cost of two silver coins.
If you include a year's worth of food and drink, that's more than ten taels. But I couldn't make any money, so I had to sell my property and maintain my studies.
I know how people outside see me. They say I am a prodigal and incompetent.
On the surface, those classmates called me brothers, but privately they were probably secretly mocking, disdainful, and unwilling to associate with me at all.
Yes, who can think highly of a guy who has taken the exam twelve times and still failed to pass the exam? "
Sun Siwen raised his head and looked at Lu Yuan in front of him, with a hint of gratitude in his eyes: "Brother Lu, you are the only one who is willing to have a true friendship with me and learn calligraphy from me. I probably have the only friend like you in my whole life. ”
Staring at him with sincere eyes, Lu Yuan's expression remained unchanged, but he felt a little ashamed.
In fact, he is not as sincere as the other party said.
The main purpose of making friends with Shusheng Sun is to gain high-end information from him, and to learn more from him.
Because as his study of the Liuyun Palm Technique deepened, Lu Yuan found that with his current knowledge, it was still somewhat difficult to fully understand this heart technique.
Mainly due to insufficient understanding of various ancient texts, as well as some vocabulary and dictionaries in mental methods, which are unique to this world. It is difficult to understand it thoroughly based on his knowledge in his previous life.
In this case, it is very important to find a teacher who has a deep understanding of ancient Chinese and is very familiar with various allusions.
Therefore, in the past year, every time Lu Yuan brought wine and meat to drink with Sun Shusheng, it was not for free, but for tuition fees.
In his opinion, the relationship between the two is still that of fair-weather friends.
"I just didn't expect that Brother Sun would actually treat me as a close friend."
Lu Yuan didn't know what to say about this.
Maybe it's because the other party has suffered too much discrimination and contempt. After a long time, my heart was affected, and I suddenly met a good friend like myself who didn't dislike him and could still talk to him, so I guess I became heart-to-heart right away.
"But having one more true friend might not be such a bad thing."
Turning to look at Sun Siwen, who was already getting drunker, a smile appeared on his face.
Being a stranger in a foreign land, I miss my family even more during the festive season.
Traveling to this strange world alone, how could Lu Yuan not feel lonely?
The feeling that no one in the world understands you is really not that pleasant.
At this time, I have one more friend I can talk to. Although I can't tell the real secrets in my heart, just drinking and talking on weekdays can relieve the depression in my heart.
'I recognize this friend. '
Lu Yuan whispered in his heart, and then heard Sun Siwen's drunken words, which were already somewhat confusing.
"This time, I must pass the exam. I want to show those who look down on me that I, Sun Siwen, can also be a scholar. I also want to take the exam to be a scholar, to be a Jinshi, and to honor my ancestors. Father, mother..."
While mumbling drunkenly, the person had already fallen asleep.
Just at this moment.
In the calm night outside, countless bright lights suddenly appeared, followed by a series of crackling explosions.
Everyone who had some extra money at home set off firecrackers at the right time.
It turns out that before I knew it, New Year's Eve had passed and the New Year had arrived.
Lu Yuan walked to the courtyard and looked at the long night sky. The bright moonlight hung high in the sky. The glue-white light fell down and fell on the snow that had just been laid on the clean courtyard tonight, shining a sparkling white light that was dazzling.
"Lu Yuan, happy New Year."
He whispered a New Year's greeting to himself, then smiled, picked up a firecracker that had been prepared in the yard, lit a fire and ignited it.
The crackling sound suddenly appeared in the courtyard, mixing with the thick sounds of the outside world.
The peaceful and peaceful town welcomes the new year.
One yuan begins again, and everything is renewed.
"Has New Year's Eve passed?"
While watching the firecrackers playing in the courtyard, Sun Siwen wondered if he was awakened by the sound outside. At this time, he also walked out in a daze, looked at the firecrackers being set off, and asked with a slight confusion.
"Yes, it's New Year." Lu Yuan turned around with a smile.
"Is that so?" Sun Siwen murmured, then looked at him and said with a smile, "Happy New Year then, Brother Lu."
Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Happy New Year, Brother Sun."
This year, after all, I am not living alone, there are people accompanying me.
I'm not alone.
he thought to himself.
