The little man on the apex

Yuan Xi sat cross-legged on the bed, holding the wooden box containing the money in his arms, his eyebrows frowned extremely tightly.

Yan Heyi thought it was funny, so she also put on her cotton shoes and went to bed, hugged him from behind, and kissed his earlobe lightly first, "What's wrong? What is my Yuanxi worried about?"

"Brother," Yuan Xi turned his face, and perfunctorily pecked Yan Heyi's lips, "Chinese New Year is coming soon, shall we give lucky money to the children in the private school? Brother Yu, do we have to give it too?"

"Yes," Yan Heyi took his hand and gently kneaded it, "Go to the town some other day to exchange silver for some copper plates, then buy a stack of red envelopes, and seal some for each of them, it doesn't need too much, it's a kind heart. "

Yuan Xi turned around and faced Yan Heyi, stretched out his fingers and counted earnestly, "There are eighteen children in our private school, including Brother Yu, that's nineteen. How many copper plates does it cost?"

Yan Heyi looked into the wooden box Yuan Xi was holding, took out three heavy silver ingots, and placed them in Yuan Xi's hands, "The big one is 50 taels, and the other two are ten taels. There are still so many pieces of broken silver in it. If you exchange them for silver ingots, you can get several yuan and ten taels. You don’t need too much New Year’s money. live."

"That's right." Yuan Xi stroked the 50 taels of silver ingot in his hand with his fingertips, with a satisfied expression on his face, "Since my brother let me manage the money, I have been stingy a lot, and I am not willing to take the silver from this box." .”

"Yes," Yan Heyi rested her chin and stared at him intently, "Look at you little money fanatic, you say you are buying new bowls and chopsticks for the Chinese New Year, you hold on to the money and don't let go, but when you see the candy shop, you don't know what to do." Very generous, which one of you hasn’t tasted any new crisp candies?”

Yuan Xi licked the corner of his mouth, and looked at Yan Heyi seriously, "But, crisp candy is really delicious."

Looking at him like this, it seems that "delicious" is really an irrefutable reason.

The next day, Yuan Xi generously took out a large handful of broken silver from the box, carefully packed it into his purse, and followed Yan Heyi to the town to buy new year's goods.

An old man set up a shed in Dongshi, and sold red paper for writing Spring Festival couplets and red envelopes for lucky money. The two picked out red envelopes with hollowed-out paper-cuts on their heads, and then bought a stack of red paper. There was Yuanxi at home. With such a calligraphy of "everyone", it is natural to write a few more Spring Festival couplets.

I went to the dim sum shop and bought several large bags of various snacks, and went to the candy shop to buy some of the various crisp candies on display. The two of them carried the large and small bags into the familiar noodle shop and had a warm meal. for lunch.

As soon as I came out of the noodle shop, I happened to meet Steward Yu leading Brother Yu wandering in the street. Brother Yu hadn't seen them for several days, and his short legs jumped quickly into Yuanxi's arms Li, "Sir, I miss you all."

"Let's go to my house and have a look. Daddy has arranged a lion dance team and is practicing in the yard. It's very lively."

"go Go."

Regardless of what the two of them said, Brother Yu took Yuan Xi's hand and walked forward. Yan Heyi and the housekeeper smiled at each other, and quickly followed.

The Zhou Mansion was really lively. There were two red lanterns hanging at the main entrance. As soon as you entered the door, you saw a group of strong men, wearing golden and red clothes, with a long "big lion" on their backs. Jumping and churning on scattered wooden stakes.

Standing aside and watching for a while, Brother Yu pulled Yuanxi and the others into the second gate. A long table was set up in the middle of the courtyard, and several servants were carefully cutting the red paper on the table with scissors. He bent down to guide them, raised his head and saw Yuan Xi and the others, and hurriedly greeted them.

"This little clever ghost really invited the two gentlemen here," Zhou Yuanwai led the two men to the chair brought by the servant, sat down with them, and took Brother Yu into his arms, "Just now I planned to ask the gentlemen for some Spring Festival couplets, and said that the housekeeper would pick them up tomorrow, but I didn't expect the two gentlemen to come here."

He chatted a few words with him, and stopped talking. He walked over and took some cut red paper, and waved to Yuanxi and the others, "Since the two gentlemen are here, you will have to suffer, write a few more There are many words in the house, and it’s worthless if you can’t finish writing them.”

Seeing the golden ink block on the table, Yuan Xi immediately became interested, got up, rolled up his sleeves, and smiled at Zhou Yuanwai: "Sure, write as much as you want, but you have to work hard and grind the ink."

Zhou Yuanwai laughed, "I am extremely happy to be able to serve you sir."

After speaking, he dripped a few drops of water on the inkstone, picked up the golden ink block and ground it carefully, tried it with a pen, and made a gesture of invitation to Yuanxi.

"Brother," Yuan Xi turned his head and smiled at Yan Heyi, "You come to make a match, and I will write, okay?"

"Okay." Yan Heyi was very familiar with these auspicious couples, and she was able to do it at her fingertips. Yuanxi was soaked in ink, followed his reciting in a leisurely manner, and wrote a stack of red paper in a short while.

Butler Yu hurriedly ordered a few more long tables to be moved and put them together, all of which were covered with written Spring Festival couplets.

Member Zhou stared intently at the words written by Yuan Xi, but he didn't dare to get too close to touch his arm, so he kept a distance of more than half a foot from him, and stretched his neck to look this way.

While watching, he patted Brother Yu who was stuffing snacks into his mouth, "Mr. Tong, study hard. If you can learn one-tenth of what you can learn from Mr., you will already be great."

"Oh." Brother Yu nodded seriously, and continued to stuff the remaining half of the dim sum into his mouth.

Zhou Yuanwai shook his head helplessly, and continued to stare at the words written by Yuan Xi. Butler Yu hurriedly grabbed Brother Yu's arm, "Master, sir is busy, let's come here for some snacks, the peach blossom cakes I just bought this morning , with red bean paste inside, it’s delicious.”

All kinds of snacks were placed on the table, among which several pale pink dim sums were made into the shape of blooming peach blossoms and placed on a sapphire-like porcelain cup.

Brother Yu stretched out his hand and stuffed one into his mouth, his eyes narrowed after eating. Butler Yu brushed him off the crumbs of the pastry on his vest, and brought him another cup of hot sweet water, "Master, slow down!" Let’s eat, drink sweet water and let’s go.”

"This is delicious," Brother Yu put it in the housekeeper's hand, lowered his head and drank a big mouthful of sweet water, "Keep it for Mr. Xi, he will definitely like it."

After writing the Spring Festival couplets, Yuan Xi and Yan Heyi took Brother Yu to the street to play for a while, but they couldn't resist Zhou Yuanwai's kindness, and had dinner with them in the mansion.

As it was getting late, Steward Yu prepared a carriage and accompanied the two of them back home.

-

On New Year's Eve, Yuan Xi got up very diligently, busy with Yan Heyi.

Set up an iron basin on a small stove, add flour and water, stir a little bit, and it becomes a thick paste.

Yan Heyi used a brush dipped in the paste, and carefully brushed the door frame a few times.

Just posting a Spring Festival couplet, Yuan Xi was so excited that he and Yan Heyi had to post it on one side, and the horizontal comment in the middle had to be posted by two people together.

After pasting up several couplets on the door of the house and the gate of the courtyard, Yuanxi began to paste the word "Fu" everywhere.

A sheet was pasted on the side of the well, on the firewood pile, in the hut, on the head of the bed, on the stove, and on the screen in the house. Yuan Xi still had a thick stack left in his hand. He was addicted to writing and writing that day, and went home So they filled the red paper they bought.

Yan Heyi said, let him post it as he likes, and Yuan Xi posted all the free places inside and outside the house, and at a glance, it was full of the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

On the eaves at the entrance of the main house, there were two red lanterns hanging. The lantern frame made by Yan Heyi and the red paper pasted by Yuanxi were not delicate, but they both thought they were better looking than the ones sold in the town.

In the afternoon, after eating, Yan Heyi put on her apron and began to prepare croquettes.

He mixed a large pot of pork stuffing, and steamed half a Budouzi sweet potato. After peeling and crushing, he added some flour and sugar to make sweet potato stuffing, and prepared to fry sweet potato balls.

The oil in the pot was crackling, and Yuan Xi didn't dare to get close to join in the fun, and sat by the stove to burn the fire obediently.

The smell of fried things was not concealed at all. Tuanzi smelled it in the yard, and scratched the door frame greedily, but was afraid of the sound of fried things, so he hesitated to come in.

The sweet potato balls were fried, and they were golden. Yuan Xi couldn't wait to get them, but Yan Heyi patted his hands, "The freshly fried sweet potato balls can't be eaten right away, they're hot inside."

He pinched one, and gently opened it. The inside was soft and golden like soft cheese. He put it near his mouth and blew it carefully before feeding it to Yuan Xi.

"Madam is delicious, brother!" Yuan Xi started making a fuss, stood up and kissed Yan Heyi on the face.

Just like this, eat while frying, and when the meatballs are fried, put them in the big dustpan to dry, Yuan Xi has eaten until his belly is round.

He sent a large plate of two kinds of meatballs to Aunt Gu, but Aunt Gu caught her, stuffed a pouch full of crispy candies in his jacket, and carried two pieces of fried fish and fried chicken on his arm. block of baskets before being put back home.

That night, all the people in Ping'an Village were watching the new year at home, and the whole village was brightly lit. After Yan Heyi and Yuanxi had a reunion dinner, they snuggled up on the bed, roasting chestnuts with a small stove while reading a storybook.

As soon as midnight arrived, there was crackling firecrackers outside, Yuan Xi leaned over and kissed Yan Heyi hard on the cheek, "Brother, Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year, Yuanxi."

The two also went to the yard to set off firecrackers, and Tuanzi didn't know whether it was excitement or something, so he jumped into the chicken coop and made a fuss. .

Firecrackers fell on the red paper all over the floor, Yan Heyi gently pinched Yuanxi's chin and kissed it, someone was setting off fireworks in the distance, the red and green fields were illuminated, as if there was a spring on earth in the sky.

Yan Heyi carried Yuan Xi horizontally onto the bed, and then got into the bed, held his face and rubbed it a few times, then opened the bedside cabinet, and took out a new crimson jacket, "Here Let's see if you like your new year's gift."

Yuan Xi unfolded the jacket, and saw that on the chest of the jacket, there was a little rabbit eating carrots crookedly embroidered.

He pointed to the little rabbit on the top, and it took him a long time to say anything, "Ah—brother, when I was a child, I embroidered this little rabbit on my clothes!"

"Besides, why is this exactly the same as in my memory? The eyes are one big and the other small, and the nose is a bit crooked. It's really exactly the same—"

Yan Heyi really didn't know whether Yuanxi's words were complimenting herself, so she could only tell the truth, "This... I embroidered it myself, I thought it was very simple, but after studying with Aunt Gu for several days, I still managed to embroider this look."

"I like it so much, brother." Yuan Xi put his arms around Yan Heyi's neck and kept kissing him on the cheek, "My aunt's embroidery is like this!"