"Mom, I'm going to level the ground with my dad. You can take a look at the Huangjing in the dustpan."
After playing with Huang Jing, Zhang An went out after telling his mother.
Zhang Jianguo got up early in the morning and took Dahei and the rake to the new house and had already gone to the ground.
Zhang An came to the backyard, took the rake from his father's hand, took a breath, and then started to drive Dahei to rake the ground.
After the loess pulled back yesterday was paved here, the area that Zhang An planned to use as a vegetable plot was already more than 20 meters above the ground in the backyard.
This scene reminded Zhang An of an elementary school text called Dad’s Vegetable Garden.
"Dad, we need to pick up some stones later and build a circle around the land. Otherwise, if it rains, mud and water will flow everywhere."
Zhang An held Dahei's reins with one hand and held the rake with the other, smoothing the fluffy loess back and forth.
Because this piece of land was dug by Zhang An and others and pulled over to spread. The ground is too fluffy and it will be fine after a while, but it is also the most suitable for growing vegetables.
"Hmm, there are still a lot of stones left in front. I can pick them up later and build a circle. Now the mud has been covered."
In one morning, Zhang An had almost leveled the ground.
If Zhang An's father, Zhang Jianguo, might have been slower, because if he held Dahei, Dahei wouldn't dare let go and run because Zhang Jianguo couldn't keep up with him.
But after switching to Zhang An's palm rake, Dahei started running freely, and sometimes the rake flew up. Zhang An had to put a few big rocks on the rake to weigh it down.
After leveling the ground, Zhang An also used a rake to remove a lot of grass roots and fine stones.
Finally, Zhang An and his son built a circle of stones around the vegetable field before it was completed.
Over the past few days, all the furniture and beds have been delivered. It’s time to wait until Zhang Jianguo and Wang Fang find someone to move in to the new house.
Originally, Zhang An planned to just move in directly, but the village was very taboo about these things, and Zhang Jianguo and Wang Fang also paid special attention to them, so Zhang An let them do it.
Anyway, the family is just waiting to see when the time comes and they can just move in and not hold a banquet.
On that day, ask the relatives at home to come over and help cook the bottom of the pot, just to show their appreciation.
As soon as Zhang An and his son walked out of the yard, they noticed a tractor dragging a bunch of big guys into the village.
The father and son were just about to go back for dinner, but they were caught on the spot.
It turns out that these are the rice beating machine and flour grinding machine that Zhang Xinmin bought at home.
For such a big guy, it would cost a lot of money to buy two new ones.
However, Zhang Xinmin's family helped Changqing Village directly enter the era of electric mills from the era of water mills.
"Brother Damin is preparing for a big fight, and I don't have to worry about no one coming to grind the rice and flour."
Zhang An looked at the machine and it didn't look like it was new, but it was in good condition and probably looked like 70% to 80% new.
"I'm not worried about this at all. Water milling is extremely slow. After grinding, you have to sift the rice bran when you get home. Where can I find a rice thresher? The rice is threshed out and the rice bran is well separated. There must be someone willing to use it.
"
What Zhang Xinmin said is reasonable. There are probably many people in the village who are willing to come to his house for rice.
After all, their rice mill costs one hundred catties per dollar, and if they don’t want the rice bran, they can sell it to him.
But Zhang An feels that few people in the village are willing to sell rice bran because everyone raises pigs, and rice bran is a good thing to feed pigs.
That is to say, the price of electricity has been reduced now. If it were before, this dollar would be enough for the electricity bill.
If you charge one dollar now, you can still make some money.
Soon, the old man of Zhang Xinmin's family found many people to come over.
Together, everyone lifted the two machines on the tractor from the road to the empty house next to his canteen.
A machine weighs hundreds of kilograms, but it is not easy to lift at all, mainly because it is too big.
But there was strength in numbers, so everyone shouted slogans, one, two, three, and he was carried inside in a few seconds.
The rest of the installation work is left to the person who came with the machine.
"Xinmin, we will go back after the move is finished."
Nothing happened, so Zhang Jianguo told Zhang Xinmin and prepared to leave.
"Sit a little longer, Uncle Jianguo, I haven't poured you any tea yet."
"Stop working, we are going home for dinner."
When I returned to the yard, I saw my mother still cooking.
"Mom, why don't we fry some black bean chili pepper to eat today? Our black bean sauce has already been dried."
When Zhang An came back from Zhang Xinmin's house just now, he smelled someone cooking spicy black bean sauce, which brought out the glutton in Zhang An's stomach.
As soon as I got home, I talked to Wang Fang who was still cooking.
"Okay, you go to the garden and pick some green peppers and I'll fry them for you."
When Wang Fang heard that her son wanted to eat it, there must be a hundred people willing to cook it for him.
Moreover, it doesn’t take much time to stir-fry green peppers with black bean sauce, just wash a few green peppers and chop them.
Just stir-fry it with the black bean paste and it won't take more than a few minutes.
In the blink of an eye, August is coming to an end.
The day after tomorrow is July 15th, which is also known as the Ghost Festival or Ghost Festival.
According to legend, on the first day of the seventh lunar month, the Lord of Hell opened the gates of hell and released all the ghosts to wander around the world.
Let them visit their hometown and descendants at this time, while the living worship them during this period and let them enjoy the incense offered by their descendants.
But in fact, most Han families in the area take out the memorial tablets at home on the first day of July and then send out the deceased elderly people with less packages on July 14th. Only some ethnic minorities
It’s July 15th.
If there is a newly bereaved elderly person in the family, they cannot seal this kind of baggage, but can only seal a white bag without a cover.
Only old people who have been deceased for more than three years can present a envelope with a cover.
There is no ancestral hall for the Zhang family in the village. Each family has its own ancestral hall. Each family has a large tablet with all their ancestors on it.
Some people are very exaggerated. They start recording from the first generation of their ancestors, and their rankings are filled with information.
A few days ago, Wang Fang took out the paper money and seal paper she bought at home last week and began to bask in the sun.
So today Zhang An's family will start bringing the dried seal paper and paper money to seal the package.
The number of seals is quite large, because as long as the ancestors were related to each other during their lifetime, they must be given away. However, those who are directly connected will be given more gifts, and those who are further away will be given less.
Every year at this time, every household has to seal several large baskets.
When he was very young, Zhang An was taught how to seal and write envelopes by his family's second master Zhang.
The paper money sealed inside represents the money burned by the family to the ancestors, so many people are worried that their elderly people will be angry because they have no money to spend, so they seal a bunch of bags and burn them.
After sealing the paper money with sealing paper, write the sealing message on the front.
Just writing this made Zhang Anke's mind almost unable to turn around.
Because just this title issue is enough to study for half a day.
But after writing it twice more, Zhang An became familiar with it and asked him to write it every subsequent year.
It is for this reason that Zhang An's calligraphy is pretty good.
After dinner, Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo were responsible for sealing the packages, while Zhang An set a table next to him and started writing.
This year Zhang An's family sealed one or two hundred seals, and it took Zhang An an afternoon to finish them.
The completed bags need to be tied together back to back with straw ropes torn from rice dumpling leaves.
Between the two bundles tied together, a piece of money for the groom and two pieces of paper money to be paid to the groom need to be placed.
This is considered a baggage, and the main purpose of the groom who inserts it is to ask them to deliver the paper money to the corresponding person according to the name on the baggage after the baggage is burned.
After evolving into later generations, some people began to print Ming coins and sell them to everyone specifically during this period or during the Qingming Festival. People bought the Ming coins produced by Tiandi Bank and sealed them in their bags.
"Anzi is writing a package, have you finished it?"
Zhang An was about to finish writing his own, and his second uncle came over with a large basket of bags.
"It will be finished soon, there are still a few left."
After I finish writing my own, I will also write for my second uncle’s family.
This is not over yet. After writing about the second uncle’s family, I still need to write about the third uncle’s family.
Sometimes I have to help some nearby neighbors to write together. Zhang An said that he has to write thousands of packages a year, and his hands are still very tired.
"Zhang Bin, come here and watch your brother write. It's time for you to start learning. Your brother was already writing by himself before he was in junior high school."
When Zhang An was writing, Uncle Zhang called his son over to study. This matter really requires someone in the family who knows how to do it, otherwise he would be in trouble.
The adults of their generation are worried that if they ask outsiders to write, if they are not very good at it, they will not be able to get it to the elderly if they make mistakes. Then, other elderly people will have money to spend down there, and their own elderly people will have money to spend.
No, that would be extremely unfilial.
When writing such a package, it is okay to just write for yourself. But if you have just finished writing for yourself and want to write for someone else, you should pay attention to the title and signature of Yang Shangxiao.
No, Zhang An just got used to writing about his own family, so he almost wrote his second uncle's name as his father's.
For example, the ones from Zhang An's family and the two uncles' families are relatively easy to write, but in the end, the maternal family members of the two families need to write separately. At that time, they will have to look at the tablets copied by their families.
Zhang An wrote and taught Zhang Bin all the way.
My father and three brothers were all kidnapped, and none of them are very good at writing.
Fortunately, Mr. Zhang had been teaching Zhang An back then, otherwise he would have had to ask Mr. Zhang or Mr. Zhang to help him write it now.
Before I finished writing about the second uncle’s family, the third uncle’s family also brought it over.
Zhang An wrote from the time he finished his meal in the morning until he finished his meal in the evening, and there was still a part left.
This kind of work is really tiring, mainly because my hands are so sore.
Zhang Bin watched Zhang An write part of it, and also tried to write a few. Finally, he felt that his handwriting was too ugly, so he did not continue.
The younger brothers and sisters behind them don't pay much attention to writing now. When they usually use pencils, their writing is a bit sloppy, and the teacher doesn't pay much attention to it.
Zhang Bin's hard pen writing was OK, but his soft pen writing was unreadable.
In the past, Zhang An and his friends were forced by their teachers to write well and correctly. They had to write in regular script.
When Zhang An came home from school, he was pulled by Mr. Zhang to practice calligraphy.
Therefore, Zhang An's correct handwriting took many years of practice.
The people in the village are only of Zhang An's generation. No matter how well they read, they can still write neatly.
"Let's eat first, then write after you finish eating."
When Wang Fang prepared dinner, there were still dozens of unwritten items left in the basket.
"Mom, don't worry, there are dozens left here. I'll put them away after I finish writing them."
There were only a few dozen left, so Zhang An gritted his teeth and insisted on finishing.
At night, my hands are sore.
On the night of July 14th, after worshiping the ancestors, and after dinner, it was time to burn and deliver bags.
At the entrance of Zhang An's courtyard, Zhang Jianguo had built a fire pit with several stones, and Zhang Jianguo began to build it with his sealed bags.
The same thing is done at the door of every house in the village.
After the base is built, start lighting the fire from below and start burning.
Adults will take out the corn cobs, potatoes, and sweet potatoes from home and burn them together in the pile of bags.
It is said that eating the food cooked on the fire for burning furoshiki can make you healthy and eliminate all diseases.
The baggage was burning at home, and suddenly there was a frightening cry from nearby.
It shocked everyone who was burning buns nearby.
The old lady Li across the door was frightened. She kept saying that she always provided good food and good food to her family's ancestors, and begged them not to scare her.
This old woman usually does a lot of bad things, and she has a ghost in her heart.
But I have to say that the sudden sound really scared a lot of people, especially today, when everyone was burning buns.
The village was filled with smoke and the wind was blowing, and it was hard not to think of those things.
After calling for a few times, I heard nothing more.
Just when Zhang An thought it was gone, he suddenly screamed again.
The sound was a bit miserable, and the scream was creepy.
Zhang An frowned, followed the sound with a flashlight, and Zhang Jianguo behind him and Wang Xinrong from his second uncle's house in front of Zhang An's house also followed.
Walking up the ditch at the door, Zhang An searched for a long time and found a long and large lump of something in the ditch, which looked fleshy.
Zhang An took a branch and gently moved the large mass. At first, he thought it was Tai Sui.
It turned out that this guy could move. After being poked by Zhang An with a branch, his flat head, long tail, and four short legs emerged, and he planned to run away.
"The enthusiastic horse made me jump. It turned out to be a big four-legged snake."
When he saw this thing, the good-natured neighbor cursed him, thinking that his ancestors had appeared.
"Something's wrong, something's so wrong. This four-legged snake would never enter the village no matter what I told you before. Why is it here this time and it's so big?"
Zhang Jianguo thought for a long time and didn't figure it out. This thing is very afraid of people and usually won't crawl into the village.
That is, when the water rises, they will appear in river ditches, otherwise they are usually found beside streams or caves in the mountains.