After breakfast on New Year's Eve, the family sent Huo Erhuai away in a carriage.
Huo Xi hesitated for a long time and asked Ms. Yang if she could go to the incense shop today and if there would be any taboos about burning paper money in the courtyard.
Yang understood immediately and felt very distressed. She took her hand and said, "Let's go, Mom will take you to buy together. We are burning paper in our yard. What can others say?"
"Thank you, mother."
"Thank you. It's my mother who didn't think carefully."
On New Year's Eve in the capital, even in the outer city, it is lively and bustling, with a flourishing scene of singing and dancing. Tomorrow is Zhengdan, with lanterns hanging high everywhere, people walking on the street with their families, their clothes and shoes are new, and everyone's face
Everything was filled with joy.
Most of the shops on the street are open, but the incense and coffin shops have been closed a few days ago. Every shop is busy and festive, so if you are the only one who keeps the shop open, you may not be scolded as bad luck.
After walking a few streets, I found a half-open incense and candle shop. This shop was half-open not for business, but because the backyard was the home, and the front door was still half-open for entry and exit.
Even if the business comes to your doorstep, the shop owner happily sells two sacks of incense candles and sends the customer away with the copper plate in his hand.
"Xi'er, are these enough?" I don't know how many people Xi'er will burn for, and it's not easy for Yang to ask.
"That's enough, mother." Huo Xi saw that she was carrying Huo Nian on her back and was about to pick up a sack of incense candles, so she reached out to take it.
Yang refused, "It's not heavy, my mother can handle it."
Yang Fu threw the sack onto his shoulder: "It's very light. When my sister gets tired, I can help her carry it."
"That's right, don't worry about it, just lead the way."
Yang said, looking at the small figure of Huo Xi who was leading the way, and wondering if the child was feeling sad, she thought about it and said, "How about my mother takes you to the Dabaoen Temple tomorrow to burn incense, and also give some to your family?"
A everlasting light?”
Huo Xi was a little moved, thought about it, and then shook his head.
"It's better not to go. It's estimated that the people in the city will rush to burn incense before dawn tomorrow at Da Bao'en Temple. Every year, the place is crowded with carriages and horses for ten miles, blocking the whole road. We won't join in the fun."
Yang had only heard of it but had never been there, so he asked curiously: "Is it really blocked for ten miles?"
Huo Xi nodded: "Well, some people send their servants to occupy a good position in front of the mountain gate in the early morning. Before dawn, all the cars and horses in the city are rushing there. There are cars and horses all the way, and the wheels can't even roll around.
We stopped again and couldn't cover several miles in an hour. It's so cold in winter that people can sweat inside the carriage."
Yang and Yang Fu opened their mouths after hearing this. Why would they rush to burn incense when burning incense is not enough?
"It's faster to take the water route," Yang Fu said.
"Many people choose the water route, but the river is blocked even at Zhengdan."
Huo Xi said: "Isn't there a river in the city called Jinxiang River? That river leads to the temples outside the city, because people go there to offer incense. Later, the river was renamed Jinxiang River. We went there that day.
Picking up guests in the river."
Mrs. Yang clicked her tongue after hearing this: "Then let's not get crowded with rich people. After the New Year, mother will take you to the temple to light the everlasting lanterns."
"Um."
After returning to the courtyard, Mrs. Yang led Huo Xi, hugged Nian'er, and burned incense, candles, paper money, paper clothes, horses, paper people and other items in the courtyard.
While burning, she muttered: "Mother Xi'er, don't worry. Erhuai and I will treat the two children as our own and let them grow up healthy and safe. Don't worry.
Sister will take good care of them for you..."
A gust of wind blew here and there, picking up some black ash, whimpering and swirling around Huo Xi and Huo Nian higher and higher, and finally dissipated with the wind.
Huo Nian looked at the black ash blown up by the wind and stretched out his little hands to catch it, while Huo Xi shed tears looking at the black ash blown away by the wind.
In the Governor's Mansion in Peiping, Zhang Wenbi was also burning paper money.
While throwing paper money into it, he muttered: "Xinrou, why have you not come into my dream for so long? Are you blaming your husband?"
The flames in the copper basin grew stronger and stronger, and almost touched Zhang Wenbi's beard and hair. Zhang Wenbi retreated reflexively, staring at the flames rising up in the brazier, and was stunned.
"You must blame your husband." Zhang Wenbi stared at the copper basin and lost his mind.
After a long while, he mechanically threw paper clothes and money into the copper basin: "I don't know if you have a son or a daughter in your belly. Whether it's a younger brother or a younger sister, my daughter will definitely be a good sister. With them by your side, you won't be too tired."
Too lonely..."
Thinking of the sweet time with his wife in the past, Zhang Wenbi had tears in his eyes.
After returning to the study, he sat in silence for a long time. He took out a bunch of golden bells from his sleeve and touched them again and again: "Nanny, this is your seven-year-old gift. Daddy keeps it for you. Daddy will remember it every year and give it to you.
You prepare a gift, so dad won't forget it."
After fussing for a long time, he opened the secret compartment of the desk, opened the painting box, and put the golden bell in.
On New Year's Eve, the small courtyard in Qionghua Lane was warm and warm, and the wind and snow did not invade.
Looking at the large table of dishes, Yang looked excited: "It's been ten years. Our family hasn't had such a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner in ten years."
Yang Fu held up his chopsticks and looked left and right, not knowing which one to eat first: "Sister, you have made too much. My brother-in-law is not here, how can we finish it?"
Chicken, duck, pork, fish and shrimp, as well as vegetables and soup, the table was full. His sister must be rich and confident, her fingers are so wide.
"If you're not satisfied with some of the food, why don't you still eat salted fish and pickled vegetables like last year?" Yang glared at him.
Yang Fu quickly picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth: "Then I won't. I'm not stupid. I won't eat this big table of food, but eat salted fish and dried vegetables." He made a face at Yang.
"Then you are so stupid." Yang shook his fist at him.
"Aren't I afraid that the leftovers will be wasted?"
"Today's meal is all about leftovers." Huo Xi drooled as she looked at the large table of dishes. Her mother's cooking skills were getting better and better.
"Ah, why?" Yang Fu was puzzled.
"Uncle, haven't you heard that there is always a surplus every year? Having a surplus means life is better and there will be more food next year."
"Ah, is it true? Why did my sister never say that?" Didn't he and his sister and brother-in-law eat all the food every year? He would have leftovers, and his sister would scold him for being wasteful and even beat him.
"We didn't even have enough to fill our stomachs before, so there's still more left!" Yang glared at him.
"That's right. Let's just leave a little on each plate today, so we can have more every year." After Yang Fu said this, he asked Huo Xi to sit down. You and I eat happily with one chopstick at a time.
Huo Nian was hugged by Yang. He looked at this and that. He couldn't eat the food on the table. He was so anxious. The egg custard that Yang fed was no longer fragrant. He turned his head and refused to eat, staring at it.
Drooling over the big fish and meat.
"Why is Nian'er drooling again? His scarf is wet again." Yang Fu dipped his chopsticks in some vegetable juice and put it into his mouth, looking like a greedy little cat.
He was slapped away by Yang.
Nian'er just opened her mouth and stretched it out, but instead of eating, she pouted at Yang in aggrieved manner, whether she wanted to cry or not.
"If we don't want to eat, Mom will feed us delicious eggs."
The little thing turned his head away from eating, looking at the large table of delicacies with persistent eyes and saliva dripping.
"This little greedy guy is drooling all over the floor. Sister, you should let him have a taste."
Yang wiped Nian'er's saliva with a smile on her face: "Nian'er may have teeth, so he can't control his saliva."
"Growing teeth?"
Yang Fu and Huo Xi were stunned, and hurriedly ran over to open his mouth to take a look. Sure enough, they saw a white tooth on the lower gumline.
"Ah, Nian'er has grown teeth, so my sister will give me delicious food." Huo Xi looked at the table, found a vegetable stem, rinsed it in the soup again and again, and handed it to him.
Nian'er reached out to take it, stuffed it into her mouth and started sucking it. She even made a smacking sound and smiled at everyone. She was so satisfied that she looked so cute.
The capital was enjoying the New Year's Eve dinner happily, but a dilapidated house in the middle of Sichuan looked quite miserable and deserted.