The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu.
This year's Spring Festival in Xinghua was duller than in previous years. The villagers' vitality was greatly weakened and they naturally lost their splendor in previous years. However, the Xinghua Army was newly established, and the new military commander was absolutely unwilling to see such a scene. He recruited a large number of idle farmers to rebuild the city walls of Xinghua, in order to give the people of Xinghua a way to survive and earn some money to support the New Year and the coming year. Prepare for life.
On the street, the official came forward to find merchants to buy lanterns and decals for decoration. They bought Spring Festival couplets and distributed them to the villagers for free. Even several towns below Xinghua did the same thing. The government intentionally creates a festive atmosphere to make people forget the sadness of the festival. It also hopes that through the government's comprador approach, people can earn more money. Don't look at these Spring Festival couplet stickers and the like. These can solve many employment problems, and Allowing people to make more money is indeed not just a superficial effort.
In this way, people throughout Xinghua gradually forgot the sadness of the year and began to enjoy the joy of this festival. The joy of the Spring Festival lingered over Xinghua again.
The county town also has several larger markets in the countryside. The streets are decorated with colorful tents and people are bustling to enjoy them. The villagers began to go around to pay New Year greetings, visit relatives, pull out a few feet of new cloth to make themselves new clothes, carry various snacks and snacks sold on the street, and carry colorful festival items. Some were riding horses and others were walking. , when people are happy, there is celebration everywhere. In many places, social fire pits and wooden opera stages were set up early, just to sing a play for everyone to feast their eyes on.
"Yi Niang, don't be busy with things at home today. Change into clean clothes and go out with me later."
"It's New Year's Eve. If you don't stay at home, where else are you going?"
Yi Niang is a little bit resentful of him. She has been running around for a whole year, and everything is so thrilling. It is the last day of the year and she still needs to take a breath!
"Where's the box that Gao Gan sent last time? Take out the money and you can go out with me later."
Senior cadre? Yi Niang was stunned for a moment, thinking of the box under her bed. Why did Liang Chuan touch the money today?
The two couples changed into clean soap blue plain clothes. There was no color at all. It was just a very ordinary farmer's linen and coarse cloth. It was completely different from the new clothes of people on the road. It made people feel a little strange. The two of them took the big bag of silver and went out alone without anyone else, braving the cold wind during the Spring Festival.
Along the way, the villagers kept saying hello to Liang Chuan, and all of them sighed inwardly. Sanlang was different. Others had become prominent, and they wished they could still wear beautiful clothes at night, but Sanlang was still wearing burlap for the holidays.
"Haven't everything at home been bought neatly? Is there anything missing?"
"It's not about shopping. The family should be together during the Chinese New Year, but they can never be reunited. Their homes may be deserted. Let's go and sit there."
Hanging peach charms, pasting door gods, pasting New Year pictures, pasting window grilles, pasting Spring couplets, pasting hanging tags, worshiping ancestors, worshiping gods, eating spring cakes, every household has a smiling face and is very busy. There is a pile of firecracker debris in front of every house. During the Chinese New Year, a red firecracker is fired to clear away the bad smell.
Along the way, hot mist floated out of the chimneys of every house. The rich bought more food and wine, and the poor had been frugal for a year. When the New Year comes, it's time to enjoy it. Every family is trying different methods of frying and cooking, so they don’t have to eat rice bran vegetables anymore. They also want to eat rich meals during the Chinese New Year.
The children were holding hands and happily playing games around the field, singing songs: "Twenty-five to paste the windows, twenty-six to stew the meat, twenty-seven to kill the rooster, twenty-eight handfuls of dough, two Nineteenth Spring Festival couplets..."
When life has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes, people will temporarily forget the worries of food and clothing and enjoy this spiritual pleasure.
Seeing Liang Chuan coming, the children stopped respectfully to say hello to Liang Chuan, and each of them said, "Hello, Dean." Most of these children are children from the academy. They respect their husband and Liang Chuan. When he met Meng Liangchen, he called him sir, and when he saw Liang Chuan, he said hello, dean. The academy will not reopen until next year, so now is the happiest time to have fun.
Liang Chuan led Yi Niang to the door of a house. This was an ordinary house in Helu. In other houses, the noise in the house could be heard before anyone arrived, but this house was surprisingly quiet. The ground at the door of other people's houses is covered with red cannon paper, and new peach charms are hung on the door, and new Spring Festival couplets are posted on the door gods, but this family has none.
There were two white pairs taped to the door. There was no smell of fireworks at all, but it looked more like a funeral had just been held.
"Third brother, this family..."
This feeling of poverty is engraved in Yi Niang's bones. In the past, when she and Liang Chuan were at their worst, the whole world was celebrating the Spring Festival happily. They were the only two people abandoned by the world without having enough to eat. , even after the Spring Festival.
"Their son was killed in the mountain people's rebellion. Although they still have sons at home, how can they be happy during the New Year when someone dies in the middle of the year?"
Liang Chuan and Yi Niang came to visit the families of those killed in battle.
They are undoubtedly sad this year. The whole Fengshan is immersed in the joy of the New Year, but the families of these fallen brothers cannot be happy. Others have replaced the Spring Festival couplets, red paper and red window stickers, but they cannot. The green couplet stickers White couplets, white hair and black hair.
The children at home were killed in the battle, and these family members were very angry at first. It was Liang Chuan who took their children to die. But then the tragedy in Chihe made them see clearly that they were not going to die, but to defend their hometown. If a good man does not go to war, he will end up like the people of Chihe. When there is a war, there will be casualties. Three No one in the village dared to blame Liang Chuan anymore. The mountain people would rob and kill people when they saw them behind the scenes. If they didn't pick up their swords and guns, they would have become lonely ghosts long ago.
Moreover, what Liang Chuan did was considered benevolent. He used his own money to pay pensions to the families who died in the battle. This was Liang Chuan's own money. It was everyone's business to protect their homeland, but it became Liang Chuan's own business to pay. There is no such truth underneath.
The villagers in the three villages could not tell the truth. They only thought about Liang Chuan's good qualities, and no one dared to say anything bad about Liang Chuan.
Liang Chuan saw that there was someone at home, so he asked Yi Niang to take five taels of silver, and then walked in. Yi Niang followed Liang Chuan in small steps and knew the purpose of Liang Chuan's trip. She thought she was buying something to bring so much money. Now she calmed down and deeply understood Liang Chuan's feelings with a heavy heart. good intentions.
Only now could she understand what Liang Chuan said, that the money was not his own, but belonged to everyone. Liang Chuan had planned from the beginning that the money would be used as pensions for these families who had lost their children.
When the family saw Liang Chuan arriving, they were stunned for a moment. Then they looked at Liang Chuan's outfit and the expression on his face. They could no longer suppress the sadness in their hearts. During the Spring Festival, the sound of crying could be heard hundreds of meters away, and everyone felt the same. bitter.
Liang Chuan sat with him and Yi Niang stood. The two of them didn't say much. Talking more was useless and seemed to be false benevolence. They gave the pension to them and prepared to leave. They have already collected it once, how dare they collect it again! This is obviously making money from dead people, why don't you let people poke their spines?
Liang Chuan persuaded him. This was his own intention. He wanted to express it but there was no other better way, so he had to accept it. They just took the money.
No one in the world cares that their family has lost a son. Only Saburo Xiaoyi will remember them. This is the gap, this is the level.
Liang Chuan went out not long after he sat down. I took Yi Niang to visit each of the three villages and the families with the deceased. When we first recruited people, we considered that only those with two boys in the family would be hired. If something happened to just one boy, the family would be doomed.
It wasn't until all the money in the bag was scattered that the two of them slowly walked home.
"No matter how much money you make, what's the point? A well-organized family is the happiest thing."
Liang Chuan seemed to be talking to Yi Niang, but also seemed to be talking to himself. After a day of walking, I felt a little depressed, and I unknowingly infected Yi Niang. I gently put my hands around Yi Niang's waist and touched her hard.
Yi Niang looked around nervously. This was in public. No one around her reached out and patted Liang Chuan's big hand: "You're so bad. You can't make trouble again when you go home. You can't do it here!"
Liang Chuan became more and more enthusiastic the less you wanted him to, so he still moved his hands up and down, groping around Yi Niang's waist, and whispered softly in Yi Niang's ear: "Why not!"
The artist's face turned red with embarrassment, and she whispered, "I won't pay attention to you anymore." Then she ran away for a while.
"Hey! Where can the goblin run away!"
Liang Chuan showed a pig-like look on his face and chased the art lady in front of him like a madman on the road in the field. He didn't know where he thought the flower-picking thieves had come to commit the murder in broad daylight.
How could Yi Niang outrun Liang Chuan? Liang Chuan caught up with Yi Niang and hugged her, making Yi Niang surprised and happy. This occasion was too unrestrained, but Liang Chuan's expression really made people laugh. .
"Ouch", Yi Niang suddenly felt nausea in her chest. She ignored Liang Chuan, bent over and retched, tears came out, and small beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Liang Chuan didn't see anything wrong with Yi Niang. Why did she suddenly have an emergency when she was fine? What Liang Chuan is most afraid of is that these family members will get sick. Now they have money but no medicine. If they are not careful, they will be separated forever!
Liang Chuan was as anxious as an ant on a pot. Seeing Yi Niang's face turning pale, he wished he could suffer for her.
"What's wrong, Yi Niang, please tell me what's wrong!"
Yi Niang didn't know whether he really didn't understand or pretended not to understand, so she gently patted Liang Chuan's arm with her little hand: "I have it!"
"Yes, what do you have? You are trying to kill me!" Liang Chuan is most afraid of hearing about any illness. He understands these people. If there is any big thing, they will worry him and dare not tell him.
"She's pregnant!" Yi Niang's face turned crimson.
"Pregnant?" Liang Chuan murmured twice, and his brain short-circuited for a moment before he realized it. He was so ecstatic that he picked up Yi Niang and spun around three times, and kissed Yi Niang several times: "Really? Really? Really? Tell me, Yi Niang, if I am going to be a father!"
If Liang Chuan is the sky, then Yi Niang is the earth. It was Yi Niang who gave Liang Chuan the motivation and courage to live. The two formed a family, and gradually Xiaochai, Yang Xiu, Shen Yuzhen and others joined in, but Liang Chuan was still missing something. He always felt that he was not from this world, but it was different now. He had his own flesh and blood. Just like a bond, separate him from the original world and make him stay!
Liang Chuan's voice was like a rolling torrent, spreading in all directions, as if he wanted everyone to share the happiness at this time with him.
