The sun is shining brightly on the city walls, and the sounds of people in the busy city are rhyming. Buyers on the market need to be diligent in learning, and their hearts are full of emotions and thoughts.
On the way back to Xiaonian, Xinyi left the village and asked. Perhaps I will remember my fellow villagers farewell, with smiles and worries.
Everyone will have a simple meal in the evening and continue cooking at dawn the next day.
After the meal, the head of the village took Hanhan to Xuancheng, while the others returned the car.
People who know how to make carts now have work to do. The number of livestock in the village has increased, so many carts are needed. When the carts are not hitched, the animals are free, but if they are hitched, they cannot be without carts.
In Xuancheng, the village chief went to get a long road guide and took the soy sauce beef to get it.
The villagers followed Zhu Wentian to redeem the pawned things, but the profit was not much.
The village charges a high price, so the profit is five cents, five percent a month.
When there are 10,000 fen, a month is 500 fen, which is 16 fen and 6 cents a day. Because the time is too short, Wanwen receives 17 fen per day.
This little money is nothing compared to what you can earn from 'investment'.
When the village commanders meet, he opens a bunch of road guides, which are valid for three months.
This is the credit of the soy sauce beef, otherwise it would only be open for a month.
That is to say, you can leave the house within one month, but not more than one month.
Even if you can't walk? If you can't get out, come back and start again.
"Buy, buy. Hey hey hey!" Zhu Wentian invited everyone to buy livestock again.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon, the weather is cold, people feel uncomfortable, and livestock can get sick if they are not careful. It is still early for spring, and there are many people selling.
Especially if the big animals gave birth to small ones last year or the year before, and they don’t look good this year, they should be sold.
The price of such livestock is low, but the price of pigs has increased. Pigs must be killed during the New Year, and the prices of poultry have also increased.
Zhu Wentian bought it. It is better to keep the money in his hands than to buy labor force.
Medicinal materials from medical clinics and drug stores can be purchased according to the situation.
Red paper, salt, various beans, glutinous rice, brown sugar, iron nails, iron wire, iron ingots, working tools...
Zhu Wentian spent according to the budget of 100,000 yuan, but the villagers didn't say anything and just tolerated him.
Money is earned by people. How much can people use for themselves? Isn’t it for the village?
One hundred thousand yuan was not spent, so Zhu Wentian went back to buy pens, ink and paper. He didn't want to buy an inkstone. He could make one in the village, just get a stone.
He doesn't need the inkstone under the inkstone, the ink is like oil, the water is stored and the ink is exhaled, and the children in the village don't need such high-end products.
Ink also does not require good ink, as long as it can be written, the same is true for paper.
Zhu Wentian wanted to teach children to read. In the Ming Dynasty, knowledge changed destiny, and academic qualifications also changed destiny.
The imperial examination will start next year. If you pass the examination, the court will give you money and you will be exempted from taxes and service.
Zhu Wentian hopes to use this to change his personality as a fool. It's too tiring to be a fool all the time.
When the time comes, just say it was taught by the Mountain God, what? Who dares to question my identity as a village guard? Or are you questioning the Mountain God?
"If it doesn't work out, I'll stay in the sacrificial hall for a few days, and I'll just tell my ancestors about his dream," Zhu Wentian thought as he sat in the car on the way back.
"Hmph, hey, hey," the pig who was lucky enough to ride in the car continued to scream, not satisfied! Look at the other livestock following suit.
***
Time flies by in the blink of an eye, and in a blink of an eye it’s the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, celebrating the New Year.
This is the south, the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is Xiaonian, and the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is in the north.
It doesn’t matter which day it is, what matters is that the New Year is busy and lively.
Small New Year activities are different in each region, but the stove worship is almost the same.
Cleaning and preparing things for the New Year. The so-called stove sacrifice is actually observing the condition of the stove pit.
Cracks must be repaired, and stove dust blockages must be cleared.
Sacrifice to the stove means repairing it in time. Don't let the stove break. The Chinese New Year is coming soon. How can you cook if it breaks?
If you want to repair a crack on the stove, the mud should be slowly dried, five or six days is enough.
This is why we sacrifice the stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month to set aside time.
Many folk traditions are scientific and cannot all be regarded as feudal superstition.
The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in the south are due to the difference in temperature, and the time required to check the condition of the stove and remedy the drying are different.
It was the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in Zhu Wentian's village, and he followed the sacrifice to the stove.
Someone in the village drew pictures of the Stove Lord and wrote Stove Couplets, and everyone was beaming with joy.
The new clothes for the New Year were ready, and the village chief found Hanhan to try them on and put them on when he was celebrating the New Year.
"Hanhan, the village is your home. One day you go out and are wronged. Don't be afraid. Go back to the village. You are the guardian of our village!"
When the director was trying on Zhu Wentian's clothes, he suddenly said this.
Zhu Wentian suddenly raised his head, looked at the village leader, and smiled: "No, not going, in the village, hehe, hehehe! Always in the village, hehehehe!"
The head of the village was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Okay, okay! Now that we have money, we will make you a nice outfit in the spring. The village guard should be the best."
…
'Hi! Hi...'
The villagers of Xiaqiu Village watched on. The workers were shirtless and pushing big logs while the village was extracting oil.
Zhu Wentian doesn't need to teach you this, the village can do it. In the past, I didn't have money to buy beans, and I didn't have time to plant them in large quantities.
Everyone squeezed the oil from the soybeans they bought, and there were still soybeans and other beans left over. Each family shared some and grew their own bean sprouts to eat during the Chinese New Year.
These beans were bought with money from the minister, calculated based on population.
In other livestock pens, there are also people feeding the livestock, labor for next year, and sheep for milk production.
The ewes are all pregnant, and the people in the village hope to give birth to babies soon.
Horses are the most difficult to take care of. They have to be fed once in the middle of the night. It is cold and they will lose weight if they are not fed.
Zhu Wentian wants to take action, he is so strong! The villagers don't need him, so you can rest and eat your candied haws.
Zhu Wentian had no choice but to watch from the sidelines, holding a bunch of candied haws in his hand, a mixture of hawthorn and yam.
The temperature in the village at night is sometimes below zero degrees Celsius. In the middle of the night, he asked his friends to come over and make candied haws.
The candied haws, replaced with white sugar, were made in the middle of the night according to the local temperature and will melt tomorrow.
But there is no problem with rock sugar. It is still strong at more than ten degrees above zero.
In the middle of the night, I put candies on the candied haws, and when I smashed them, large pieces fell out, which did not melt at room temperature. This is rock candy.
Happy friends! We are free to eat sweets. Why are the large candies in the photos so sweet?
The adults in the village did not eat the candied haws, but they still found it sweet when watching the children eat it.
***
On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people in Xiaqiu Village drink sheep soup. It’s not a festival, it’s about the sheep.
Zhu Wentian bought back a large number of sheep, including five rams. Two of them were completely defeated in the competition, which was the competition process of mate selection.
The villagers did not give the two rams a chance to make a comeback, and the remaining ones were enough.
Plus three ewes who firmly rejected all the rams, double selection was unsuccessful, sorry!
Five sheep were enough to eat, and the village worked hard to feed them for a long time! There is more meat than when you bought it.
"Yichang, Yichang, you are here, oh! We have traveled a long way!"
Feng Gui, the head of Xihe Village, came again, still with two followers.
Zhu Yichang is learning to cook mutton soup from Hanhan. Making mutton soup is also a technical job. Opening and closing the lid of the pot depends on whether you want to make soup or make mutton fat.
Lamb legs, lamb chops, etc. must be taken out in advance after being cooked, otherwise the meat will 'fly'.
"Are you here? It's time to drink mutton soup. The village bakes special pancakes. It's not appropriate to drink soup and eat rice."
The village chief said hello very calmly. He was not trying to show off. His village was so wealthy, so what should he do?
"Sit, sit, hey hey!" Zhu Wentian stood up and invited him, who was sitting at the main table.
Feng Gui nodded to the two people who followed him, and they ran to the table at the end and sat down.
He himself sat at the table. Someone brought a bowl with mutton offal and mutton, and a few dozen minutes later someone else brought soup with mutton fat in a ladle.
There was no pepper. Pepper was too expensive and the village was unwilling to buy it.
But there is sweet garlic, which goes well with mutton soup.
"Yi Chang! I'm not asking you where the money comes from in the village. I just want to say that based on our relationship, can we borrow some livestock next year?"
Feng Gui is envious and jealous! Where did Xiaqiu Village get the money? A large herd of livestock.
The head of the village nodded vigorously, and at the same time took out the wine and poured it for the other party: "I rent cattle from your Xihe Village in Xiaqiu Village, and you give me face. Your Xihe Village rents livestock from my Xiaqiu Village, and I give you face in the same way."
He made it clear, I am not using your village's cows in vain. Do you want to use mine in vain?
"Yeah! Rent! Hehe!" Zhu Wentian expressed his support, holding a sheep's front leg and chewing on it.
The hind legs are not good, there is too much meat and it is too much to eat and it is a waste.
His support stunned Feng Gui for a moment, so how could he answer the question next?
