Subversion of Rebirth

The closer the Chinese New Year was, the more things Lin Xiao and the others had to be busy with.

Ever since Grandpa Xu had a positive evaluation of Lin Xiao's handwriting skills, the Lin family's Spring Festival couplets were all arranged by Lin Xiao.Neighbors and folks nearby saw that the Spring Festival couplets posted by Lin's family were beautifully written, and Grandpa Lin and the others always showed off this hardworking and outstanding grandson everywhere.

So the immediate consequence was that Lin Xiao was busy writing Spring Festival couplets for the folks in the ten days before the Chinese New Year.

Fortunately, he usually reads a lot of books, and he still has some pen and ink in his heart, and he can write many good Spring Festival couplets.In addition, some folks will specify the content of the Spring Festival couplets, so he is not in the embarrassment of exhaustion, but the piles of red paper are enough for him to be busy for a while.

While busy writing Spring Festival couplets, Lin Xiao also followed Mama Lin, helping to make zongzi, fried dumplings and other New Year food.

These old-fashioned customs opened the eyes of Pan Lingjia, who was following Lin Xiao's ass.Of course, Lin Xiao couldn't avoid being caught as a coolie.

The zongzi here in Guangdong are all wrapped with zongzi leaves grown by ourselves.A large piece of zongzi leaves was planted on the wasteland in front of Lin Xiao’s house. At this time, the ceramic factory next door had not been expanded, and the wasteland in front of Lin Xiao’s house was green with zongzi leaves. In the early days, there were delicious bamboo shoots to eat.

On this day, Lin Xiao took Lin Jian, Liang Shu and Pan Lingjia together to harvest zongzi leaves.

Mother Lin demonstrated once: "Hold the sickle, hold the leaf stem, and cut in the middle. Don't hurt the roots, because new leaves will grow out after a while. And remember to be careful not to give your hands to the leaves." It’s been cut. Whoever cuts the most leaves will be rewarded with the first delicious zongzi today.”

All the children responded excitedly, and got busy.

Mother Lin stood aside and watched for a while, then laughed.

Judging from the way the children harvested the zong leaves, one can clearly see the character of the child.

Lin Jian, the eldest son of her family, cuts the leaves every time he sees where he cuts them. He cuts a stubble in the east and a clump in the west. It looks very random and messy.On the contrary, the second son of her family is very organized in his work. After he chooses the direction, he cuts straight from one end of the zongzi leaf to the other.

As for Xiao Shu, the way he cuts the leaves is very interesting. Wherever Xiao Xiao cuts, he will cut it. Sometimes he will cut faster than Xiao Xiao in a childish way, but the result of being too fast is that some zongzi The leaves fell down sparsely, and after Xiaoxiao finished cutting her piece, she angrily picked up the leaks for him.

As for Xiao Jia, judging from his clumsy movements and inefficiency, this child must have never suffered at home. If it wasn't for Xiao Xiao's insistence on letting him come down to help, Mother Lin would rather let him sit aside, lest he help Instead, you hurt yourself.Looking at his waving trembling sickle, Lin's mother felt terrified.However, fortunately, the kid was able to persevere. Even if he moved a little slower, he never said he would give up.

Mother Lin looked at it for a while, and felt that there should be no accidents, so she turned around and went back to work.Before leaving, he asked his youngest son, Xiaoyu, to sit on the sidelines with a small stool and supervise, and report to her immediately if anything happened.

With the concerted efforts of everyone, this zongzi leaf was finally harvested.

As a result, Lin Xiao mowed the most leaves under the judgment of Xiaoyu referee.Lin Jian refused to accept, but the appeal was invalid. Who told him to cut the leaves in piles here and there, it was very laborious just to collect them, so it was incomparable with Lin Xiao's two neat piles of zongzi leaves.

After the zongzi had been harvested, Lin Xiao led everyone to trim the leaf stems, cutting off the leaf stems that had passed the scene, leaving only the wide leaves. If there were any withered and yellow parts of the leaves, they would also be cut off by the way.

This job is relatively simple, so they divide the troops into two groups, let some people cut the leaf poles, and some people pile up the trimmed leaves one by one and tie them up with ropes.

Because the leaves of the zongzi in the Lin family grow well, many relatives and neighbors will come to ask them to order some zongzi to go back home. Even the two married aunts also go back to their natal home to get them.

After the zongzi leaves that should be given away are tied up, the rest are used to make zongzi.The children put the zongzi leaves into a basket and took them to the well to wash.

A group of children each took a basket and walked towards Grandpa Li's house happily.Near Lin Xiao's house, only Grandpa Li's house has a well.The well water is warm in winter and cool in summer, and the well water in winter is warm, and it is not cold at all for washing things.

"Grandpa Li, we are here to borrow your well!" Before reaching Grandpa Li's house, Lin Jian's loud voice rang out.

"Hey, Xiao Xiao, Xiao Shu, Xiao Jian, you're all here? And you brought new friends?" Grandpa Li happened to be at home, and the children's play was heard from afar.

"Grandpa Li, this is my classmate Xiaojia."

"Hello, Grandpa Li~" Pan Lingjia greeted politely.

"Okay~" Grandpa Li's house has not been so lively for a long time, and a patient just came to see Tieda. He smiled and waved to Lin Xiao and the others, "The well is in the backyard, go there by yourself. Remember to be careful, don't fell down the well."

"Okay, thank you Grandpa Li! The rice dumplings are wrapped this afternoon, and I'll bring you some." Lin Xiao smiled.

The children then ran to the backyard to wash the zongzi leaves.

The well in Grandpa Li’s house is considered an ancient well. It is said that it was dug by Grandpa Li’s ancestors. Sometimes the neighbors would come to get some well water for home use.

It was the first time for Pan Lingjia to see this kind of ancient well. He saw that the top of the well was piled up with simple stones, which was only half the height of a person. Looking down from the well mouth, the well water below was dark, and only the well mouth and people could be seen. reflection, the rest is pitch black.

"Ajia, be careful, this well is very deep, it will be troublesome if you fall in." Lin Xiao pulled behind him.

At this time, Liang Shu, who looked at Pan Lingjia disliked, said beside him: "I heard that a child fell into the water in the next village a while ago. The adults climbed into the well and searched for a long time but did not find the child. As a result, One day...hehe..." Liang Shu's tone became terrified.

Both Lin Jian and Pan Lingjia flinched, but Lin Jian couldn't help asking curiously, "What's the result?"

"As a result, one day, people found that the children who went to play by the well on the day of the accident disappeared one by one inexplicably. People found the children's shoes or headdresses by the well, so people said that the drowned child was looking for a partner. They decided to fill that well."

Lin Jian swallowed his saliva: "Well, what then?"

Liang Shu was about to make up a horrific ending to frighten these two cowards, but at this moment Lin Xiao turned his head and gave him a glare, so he shrugged boringly: "And then? Then the well was filled."

"It's over?" Lin Jian and the others stared at Liang Shu in disbelief.

"It's over." Liang Shu nodded affirmatively.

At this time, Lin Jian and Pan Lingjia deeply felt the anger of being deceived by the unfinished story: "...you have a short story, you dare to make up a story to lie to us! Ajia, let's go up and beat him!"

Pan Lingjia nodded with the same hatred: "Beat him!"

"Okay, okay, have you guys had enough trouble? When you've had enough trouble, come and wash the rice dumpling leaves. I've pumped water several times, and you haven't done it yet?!" Lin Xiao, who had been in charge of fetching water by the well, said, All of a sudden, those restless little guys were calmed down, obediently picked up the brush cloth, and sat by the basin to brush the zongzi leaves.

"Don't listen to the nonsense of Xiaoshu. In fact, there are many folk legends about wells. People say that there is a dragon king living in the wells. Therefore, when digging wells, people usually ask gods to worship Buddha, and calculate the auspicious position before breaking the ground. After the wells are dug, every During the New Year and festivals, we must offer sacrifices to the Dragon King, and pray for the safety of the house and smooth sailing." Lin Xiao saw that the atmosphere was a little dull, so he opened his mouth to make a relief.

"Is the Dragon King really living in that well?" Pan Lingjia couldn't imagine how the Dragon King lived under the dark water.

"This is just a folk legend. It has been passed down as a custom. As for whether it is true or not, there is no way to know." Lin Xiao couldn't directly break the children's imagination, so he gave a vague answer.

"Idiot, there must be no mythical things like the Dragon King!" Lin Jian said contemptuously.

"That's not necessarily true~" At this time, Grandpa Li came over after finishing his work, and interrupted with a smile.

"what?"

"Tell you a true story. Grandpa Li also fell into this well when he was a child."

"Ah?! Really?" There are stories to listen to, and the children are very excited.And this is a true story.

"Of course it's true. Grandpa Li was only three or four years old at that time. Grandpa Li's family members were very anxious and immediately sent people down the well to search for me. However, they searched for a long time, but they couldn't find me." Grandpa Li sat by the well On the stone bench, his wrinkled hands rubbed the simple and smooth stone at the mouth of the well, as if thinking of something.

The children were startled: "Then, what happened next?"

"Hehe, don't be afraid, isn't your grandpa Li right in front of you now?" Grandpa Li smiled, the expression on his face caught in some kind of memory, "then the next day, my family found that I suddenly appeared in the On my own bed, I fell unconscious and held a small turtle in my hand. But the strange thing is that my whole body was dry at that time, and there was no trace of falling into the water at all.”

"Ah? Little tortoise? Is that the old tortoise that Grandpa Li has been raising?" Lin Xiao couldn't help asking. He had seen that old tortoise before. It was as long as an adult's arm, and it stayed motionless inside its shell all day long.

"Actually, according to the lifespan of a tortoise, that tortoise is not considered an old tortoise. It is an old partner who has been with me for decades~ My family members said that the dragon king in the well had appeared when they found out that I was fine. They also specially sent a turtle to take me back, so they worshiped the well for three months, thanking the Dragon King for saving my life. This little turtle grew up with me and became the old turtle in your mouth "Grandpa Li stroked his beard, looked at the pool with turtles not far away, and said with a smile.

"I like this story ~ Grandpa Li, please tell us some good stories!" Lin Jian, who likes to listen to stories most, begged.

"Hehe, okay, as long as you like to listen, I will tell another story about the Dragon King."

Therefore, the time for Lin Xiao and the others to wash the zongzi leaves quickly flew by in the story of Grandpa Li. It was not until Mama Lin came to the door (all the materials at home were prepared, the only thing left was the zongzi leaves), they were reluctant to part I went home with the washed zongzi leaves to make zongzi.