The happy little days of the Ye family

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is called the Xiaonian. The Xiaonian is usually regarded as the beginning of the New Year.

People in the village have begun to prepare New Year's goods, sweep dust, offer sacrifices to stoves, etc., and prepare for a clean and happy New Year, which expresses people's good wishes to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and to welcome good luck and receive blessings.

This day of the New Year is a day for sweeping dust. Celebrating the Little New Year means that the Spring Festival is not far away. On this day, people usually do a thorough cleaning, commonly known as sweeping the dust.

Every household in the village has to do a general cleaning on this day, cleaning all kinds of utensils, removing and washing bedding and curtains, sweeping the Liulv courtyard, dusting away dirt and cobwebs, and dredging open ditches and ditches. Everywhere is filled with an atmosphere of joyful hygiene and cleanliness to welcome the New Year.

Old Mrs. Ye took off all the bedding at home and took them to the creek at the end of the village to wash them.

Although there is a well at home, it is more convenient to wash large items such as quilts in the creek. You can also chat with other washing women in the village.

Mr. Ye used a hoe to clean out the silt and fallen leaves in the ditch. The cleaned silt and fallen leaves are good fertilizers. Mr. Ye poured half a bucket of heavy silt into the manure pit. It will be a good fertilizer in the beginning of spring.

There were some withered and yellow weeds at the door, and Mr. Ye also cleaned them up.

Ye Mu tidied up in the kitchen, cleaning out the plant ash from the stove, filling it with a dustpan and pouring it into the latrine. She washed all the pots and pans with plant ash, wiped the stove clean, and then cleaned the sides of the kitchen. Every corner is cleaned.

Father Ye and his two sons moved the tables, chairs and other small items in the house to the yard. Ye Donglin went to the backyard to fetch a bucket of water. Ye Xilin found two rags, and the two brothers wiped the things in the house together. clean.

Father Ye took a long bamboo pole, tied a clean small broom on the top of the bamboo pole, swept down the spider webs on the roof and corners, then changed to a new broom and cleaned the house.

Ye Qingqing is responsible for the general cleaning of the front and back yards. Ye Qingqing will clean the yard every two or three days. The front and back yards are relatively clean, and Ye Qingqing cleans them up in a short time.

The day of Xiaonian is also a day for offering sacrifices to the stove. On this day, people in the village will place delicacies such as candied melons and cakes on the table in front of the Stove King Statue. The old portrait of the Kitchen God must also be replaced and a new portrait of the Kitchen God "invited" from every household should be affixed.

On the day of Xiaonian, there is also the custom of eating stove candy. People believe that Stove Sugar is very sticky, and using sugar as a sacrifice to Stove Lord can stick to the Stove God's mouth, making him unable to speak ill of others or make mistakes after he ascends to heaven. And because of its sweet taste, Stove Lord will say more good things after his mouth becomes sweet after eating the candy.

Since childhood, there has been a big market every day in the town.

After a year of hard work, every household happily begins to prepare New Year's goods. The stalls selling pastries, fruits, firecrackers, lanterns and couplets are very popular, and there are people buying New Year's goods on the three floors inside and outside every day.

Thanks to the Chinese New Year, Ye's two small stalls are also doing very well.

Father Ye and Ye Xilin are in charge of the food stall, which sells braised meat, chestnuts and dried fish. Everyone was more generous at this time, and Father Ye was still able to sell a pig's head and a pair of sewage every day.

Dried fish is dried whole fish, which means it is good and decent when used as gifts during the New Year, and it sells very well. Chestnuts are relatively common and the price is a little more expensive than usual, so not many people buy them.

The chestnuts were picked in Xiaohoushan during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The prices were good during the New Year, so Mrs. Ye specially kept them to sell at this time. The persimmons were originally planned to be sold at the end of the year, and they were sold in advance when there was a temple fair.

Mr. Ye and Ye Donglin are in charge of the grocery stall. The stall has brightly colored fashionable fabrics that Mr. Ye specially imported from the county. There are many kinds of gouache, hairpins, hairbands, and headbands. The stall is surrounded by beautiful girls and daughters-in-law. .

Ye Donglin hurriedly helped the guests look for things, answering from time to time how much this thing cost and how much that thing cost. Mr. Ye was responsible for introducing things and collecting money.

Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing finally completed the embroidery on the second day of the New Year.

Ye Mu made a small screen with four sides. The small screen was embroidered with the scenery of the four seasons, including pictures of busy farming in spring, pictures of lotus picking in summer, pictures of autumn harvest, and red plums in the snow. Although the four-sided screens were relatively simple embroidery pictures, However, it took Ye Mu more than 2 months to embroider four pictures.

Ye Qingqing embroidered the same picture of Guanyin as before.

However, Ye Qingqing's embroidery has improved significantly this time, and the embroidery thread and silk used for the embroidery are relatively good. The overall embroidery this time looks much better than the last time.

Early the next morning, Grandma Ye drove a donkey cart with her second aunt and second cousin to Ye's house to pick up Ye's mother and Ye Qingqing to sell embroidery in the county.

In the past two months, Grandma Ye has tinkered with two new kinds of silk flowers. This time she went to sell new silk flowers. Ever since she started making silk flowers, Grandma Ye has been in high spirits every day.

The second aunt embroidered the picture of Guanyin sending her son. This embroidery pattern is the most common embroidery pattern. Many people embroider it, but there are also many people who like it because it has a good meaning.

The second cousin made the same hundred flowers picture as last time, and the little girl also made a lot of progress this time.

The two little girls have learned a lot of embroidery techniques, but now they mainly lack experience and need more practice to embroider better. It will take several years of practice to make such an outstanding embroidery pattern as Ye Mu.

Shopkeeper Li was very happy to see Ye Mu and others. The end of the year was the best time for business, and he was worried that the embroidery shop would not be able to sell enough embroidery.

The first thing Shopkeeper Li saw was Grandma Ye’s silk flowers. Last time, Shopkeeper Li asked someone from the embroidery workshop to make a batch of the silk flowers that Grandma Ye brought. The sales were pretty good. This time, Grandma Ye brought new silk flowers. happy.

Grandma Ye brought two different kinds of silk flowers, each with 20 flowers. Shopkeeper Li looked at them one by one and nodded with satisfaction.

"Ms. Ye, one pattern is worth one tael of silver, and two patterns are worth twenty taels of silver. The silk flowers you brought here are priced at 20 cents each. The total of the pattern and silk flowers is twenty taels and four cents. You can take the silver."

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Li."

Grandma Ye happily took the silver and carefully put it into the middle layer of her clothes.

The four-sided screen made by Ye's mother got 11 taels of silver, and the second aunt's picture of Guanyin sending children got 8 taels of silver. The embroidery patterns they made this time were relatively simple, but at the end of the year, the prices of things increased, and the prices charged also increased. Some.

The two little girls’ embroidery has improved significantly compared to last time, and the embroidery thread and silk cloth used are relatively good. The overall embroidery looks much better than last time. Shopkeeper Li smiled and said:

"The sisters have improved a lot in their embroidery this time. If they practice for another two or three years, their embroidery skills will probably be able to catch up with Mrs. Ye's. I'll take both of these two pictures for 3 taels of silver."

The last embroidered picture was only 2 taels of silver, but I didn't expect that it could be sold for 3 taels of silver this time.

The embroidery thread and silk fabric used this time were better, and the cost was about 800 yuan, which meant that the embroidery made 2 taels of money this time. The two sisters were so happy that they could only giggle.

Several people came out of Lijia Embroidery Workshop and started shopping for new year goods.