After the rain, the sky cleared up, and it was Wednesday, August 29, 1979.
This day is ordinary on the surface, but it is actually a very special day. Because the lunar calendar falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month - "Qixi Festival".
In a story known to both boys and girls, on this day every year, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet through the bridge built by magpies to comfort themselves from the pain of missing each other for the past year.
In the folk proverbs of the capital, there have always been sayings: "On July 7th, the river will be mated, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet for a while" and "July 7, there will be few magpies."
Therefore this day is also called our country's own "Valentine's Day".
In fact, it has a history of more than 2,000 years, which is much longer than Valentine's Day, which originated in ancient Rome in 270 AD. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14 every year.
And not only that, on this day, girls also beg the Weaver Girl to teach them skills, hoping that they can be as smart as the Weaver Girl, so as to gain the cultural connotation of a happy marriage and life.
So this day is also called "Qiao Qiao Festival" and "Girls' Day".
The content and form of traditional festivals are quite rich and interesting.
First of all, there is the worship process of "Worship the Double Star". The offerings include not only carved watermelons, "flower melons", "peaches", "smell-smelling fruits" and other seasonal products. Flowers are also placed in the vase. Rouge,
Cosmetics such as starch powder were put on the table, saying they were dedicated to the Weaver Girl.
After the sacrifice, the pollen sacrificed to Weaver Girl should be divided into two halves, half thrown on the house, said to be for Weaver Girl's use, and the other half kept for oneself.
Women in the past all believed that using the cosmetics shared with Weaver Girl could maintain their youthfulness and beauty.
Secondly, after worshiping the double stars, the elders of the family will give each of the girls gathered to worship a needle and a thread, and let the girls thread it at the same time to see who threads it faster and who threads the thread into the needle hole first.
Even begging for dexterity and wisdom.
In addition, the game of "throwing needles" is also popular. Some people set up water bowls under the flowers on the evening of the sixth day of the lunar month. At noon on the seventh day of the lunar month, women throw the needles they usually use for sewing or embroidery into the bowls, and the needles will float.
on the water.
If there are flowers, birds, beasts, cloud shadows, or something as thin and straight as a needle under the water, it is a symbol of "skill". It is called "begging for skill".
Because these shadows represent that the Weaver Girl gave her a clever embroidery needle, which can weave and embroider beautiful patterns.
But if the shadow of the needle under the water is as rough as rough, or bent and shapeless, it means that the woman who lost the needle is a "clumsy woman", because the Weaver Girl gave her a stone pestle. Therefore, it is often seen that "the woman may sigh, and the woman may cry"
.”
As for the rest, there are "happy spiders should be clever", "seed begets children", "worship Kuixing", "eat clever fruits" and so on.
Even in the past, opera theaters (theatrical circles) would mobilize crowds every Chinese Valentine's Day. Each theater would perform "Magpie Bridge Club", "Tianhe Pei" or Kun Opera "Palace of Eternal Life". Some would even lead a real cow to attract attention.
What is performed on the stage is called "playing according to the occasion".
Of course, these customs and activities are similar to the "Dragon Boat Festival". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were all called the "Four Olds" and disappeared. Today, only young children squat under the grape trellis to listen to the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on the Chinese Valentine's Day.
Just crying.
But even so, it must be said that at least this day was unusual for the Hong family.
Because as early as ten days ago, the repair work on the Hong Family Courtyard had been completely completed.
When Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin inspected the project, they couldn't find any faults at all, and they were so happy that they said it was well repaired.
In order to express their gratitude, the old couple came forward to invite a group of craftsmen to have a meal at "Jinyang Restaurant".
During the dinner, in addition to asking Hong Yanwu to pay everyone's wages, he also asked his eldest son Hong Yanzheng to prepare a piece of cigarettes and wine for everyone as an extra thank you gift.
I just didn't expect that Mr. Shan and Wang Hanping would not refuse cigarettes and alcohol, but still insisted on not taking any money and insisting on volunteering to help to the end, which made people feel very sorry.
Fortunately, everyone tried to persuade her, and finally Hong Yanwu said, "You two have to collect some carriage fares. Otherwise, it will be difficult to ask you for the things in the main courtyard later."
In this way, Mr. Shan and Wang Hanping reluctantly accepted the fifty yuan each.
Of course, this also means that they have accepted the new task by default and begun to plan the repair budget for the "Four Entrance Courtyard" on Shangzheng Road for the Hong family.
As for why he decided to continue building the house on his own initiative, and where the money for the subsequent construction would come from, Hong Yanwu had already thought of an excuse to explain to his family. When he returned home, he took out dozens of stamps to show to his parents and elder brother.
Hong Yanwu half-truthfully claimed that as early as the beginning of 1978, through getting to know He Jiefu, he discovered that the transfer price of "The Drunken Concubine" with a face value of three yuan was as high as three hundred yuan, and he realized that stamps had great potential to appreciate in value.
Moreover, he also discovered that stamps are not restricted by the state. This kind of transfer is similar to the trade of handicrafts. It has existed for a long time and cannot be regarded as speculation. Especially at that time, because the "Movement" had just passed, everyone felt that stamps before the Republic of China were "hot".
The transaction price is very low.
So he considered that most of these stamps were destroyed during the "Movement", so he began to collect these old stamps from before the Republic of China with the idea of praising scarcity.
I didn’t expect that I actually bought the right one.
In July last year, the stamp company resumed business for the general public after being closed for twelve years. Last year and this year, there were two official-led stamp price increases, which were equivalent to giving the "postal market" a shot of stimulant.
This directly caused the transaction price of stamps to rise sharply.
Generally speaking, in just one and a half years, the price of the entire market has at least doubled. But what surprises most people is that the prices of these old tickets from before the Republic of China, which no one wanted in the past, have increased the most.
The tickets in his hand have been flipped several times. When he bought them, the average price was about 20 to 31 yuan, and now they are 100 or 200 yuan. So, he only needs to sell the tickets in his hand and build a house later.
He can afford the money himself.
After listening to Hong Yanwu's explanation, Hong Lucheng, Wang Yunlin and Hong Yanzheng felt as if they had heard a story about a poor boy who fell down and picked up a gold ingot. No one expected that Hong Yanwu would become so famous without being able to escape.
A windfall.
Hong Yanzheng was the first to say, "I didn't expect it. I didn't expect that you are so lucky. You can pick up money just wandering around outside every day! I think you, the 'thief from home', will never starve to death in this life even if you don't have a job."
Oh. God prefers blind sparrows, I take good care of you..."
Wang Yunlin also said, "You child, your temperament and behavior are really puzzling. How come you have learned the skill of 'playing a small drum' without a teacher? With such an eccentric person like you, the Hong family and
The Wang family has never seen such seedlings grow..."
Only Hong Lucheng remained silent for a long time, but gave full affirmation.
"Don't say that. It's not easy for the third child to earn this kind of money. It doesn't just rely on luck and a little cleverness. Think about it, there are many people who know this, but how many people can think of it.
?How many people really dare to take action? Besides, the high price has been rising little by little, and it is even more difficult for the third child not to sell it in advance. This is not about eyesight, but vision!"
Well, I really didn’t expect that my father would give such a high evaluation.
Hong Yanwu was like a child who cheated to get 100%. He was beaming with joy and talking nonsense.
He actually said, "My parents are the ones who gave birth to me, and it is Lao Hong who knows me..."
As a result, the shocking words aroused great joy and sorrow, causing "Lao Hong" to immediately change his face, and his elder brother even gave him a slap on the neck on the spot. In addition, his mother scolded him, and the result turned into a shameful expression...
But having said that, after all, this calmed the doubts in the minds of parents and relatives, and it was a great thing that was the icing on the cake.
Then Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin were very happy, in order to celebrate the successful completion of the "first phase project" of the Hong family's old house, and the children in the family also missed the old house.
They made a decision. Simply, everyone would choose July 7th to come to the old house to celebrate. If the children were happy, they might as well stay there until school starts.
At the same time, they naturally wanted their old friends to watch the old house restored to its former glory, so they also extended an invitation to Shou Jingfang.
As a result, early in the morning, the Hong family's old house became lively again.
There is a group number: 244574974. Friends who like this book, come and join it.