After a few days of uproar in the village, except for the victim who still went to Ye Yaohong's house every day to curse, the people who came to watch the fun became much quieter. After all, they still had to prepare for the New Year.
In fact, some of the victims were relatives. Although they cursed at them, they really didn't do anything excessive. Besides the villagers, there were also people who wanted to take advantage of the situation, which made the situation chaotic.
But the people had already been arrested, and scolding was of no use. After a few days of scolding, everyone went about their business. Even Miss Ye, who was able to get out of bed, did not dare to go out, and the whole family did not dare to go out.
I heard that children would be beaten by their peers when they go out. Every day when they go out, they come back with bruises on their faces and bodies covered in mud, as if they had rolled in the mud.
Ye Yaodong was helping his wife dry sweet potatoes when he heard Ye Chenghai come back and vividly describe how the two children in Ye Yaohong's family had been beaten.
Lin Xiuqing paused while cutting sweet potatoes and shook her head, "The children have to bear the consequences of the sins committed by adults."
"Otherwise, why would there be a saying that a son pays his father's debt?"
"I don't know what the sentence will be. I heard that they have received a detention notice. Even my second cousin has been arrested. My aunt's eyes are swollen from crying. My uncle said he would go to the county to see if he can visit her. A good family has been torn apart like this, leaving only an orphan and a widow."
"So it's better to work hard and earn money, and don't be so ambitious."
Lin Xiuqing glanced at him and said, "Yeah, you're right. It's good to work down to earth. As long as you are willing to work, it's never too late."
Ye Yaodong listened to the meaningful words, laughed a few times, and hurriedly rushed to do the work, "I'll do the cutting, I'll do the cutting, you go wash your hands and take a break, you've been standing for so long, your waist must be sore, right? Ye Chenghai, help your Third Aunt to take a rest over there."
"Ah, Third Aunt can't walk by herself? Why does she need help? She's not Auntie..."
"You want a fight, huh? Just do what I tell you to do. Why are you talking so much?"
Lin Xiuqing glared at Ye Yaodong and said, "You are the only one who is always bothering me!"
"Go take a rest, there's not much left."
Ye Yaodong took the knife from her hand and imitated her movements to slice the potatoes and dry them in the sun. He did not put away the knife and cutting board until he had finished cutting the whole basin of sweet potatoes.
Dried sweet potatoes are also a rare snack for children. Everyone gathered around Zhu Bian and asked when they could eat them. Those who couldn't wait to reach out their hands were patted by him.
"They taste better when they are dried. Otherwise, throw a few into the stove first and roast them when you cook rice at noon. They will satisfy your craving and smell delicious when roasted."
A group of children slobbered, then went home to steal sweet potatoes, covered them with mud, and stuffed them all into Ye Yaodong's stove. They didn't dare to take the ones from their own family...
Since there is a Charizard at home, how dare they do anything else? They will be beaten and starved of food. Now only Uncle San’s house is relatively safe.
Then one noon, all the children gathered around the stove waiting, asking from time to time, and ran over again after dinner, staying at his house all day.
Moreover, for several days in a row, his house was their base camp. They quarreled every day and would come back again after a while after being driven out. Ye Yaodong even regretted it. Why did he roast sweet potatoes for them
It is not until the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, when everyone stays at home, because there is too much food to eat from the Kitchen God offerings.
Ye Yaodong also rode his bicycle to the town early in the morning to buy fruits, candies and other things for the Kitchen God offering. He needed to put out ten things, including apples, oranges, sugar cane, grapefruit, candies, olives, rice cakes, candies, fried sweet potatoes, and New Year candy, as well as Tianjin ingots, three kinds of tea, three kinds of wine, and a bowl of water.
There is no regulation on what kind of sacrifice to use; any auspicious meaning is fine; any eight or ten kinds will do.
The children were all very excited and were waiting to eat after the Kitchen God offering ceremony.
Food that has been eaten by humans cannot be used to worship the Kitchen God. On the day of the Little New Year, families will buy New Year candies, and greedy children will find ways to eat them. The candies used for worship must be placed in advance to avoid this situation.
Whether offering sacrifices to ancestors or gods, never use food that has been eaten, so as to avoid counterproductive results.
Although New Year's Eve is the beginning of the new year, the Little New Year has officially kicked off the Chinese New Year celebrations and is called "busy year", which means that people start to get busy preparing for the Chinese New Year.
Preparing New Year's goods and cleaning up to welcome the new year, except for some families that suffered heavy losses, every household in the village is immersed in a busy and cheerful atmosphere.
After offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God and burning the gold ingots, the offerings are removed and that is the happiest time for the children in the family. The thing that children look forward to most throughout the year is the Chinese New Year.
But Ye Yaodong felt that the sea surface was a little different when it got dark
He looked up and felt the "blue tears" when the sea water washed over him.
Upon closer inspection, a sliver of blue light and shadow suddenly appeared in the waves. "Ah? It really is Qing~"
"Ah? What?"
"Come out and take a look."
Lin Xiuqing wiped her hands and came out after hearing the voice. "What's the matter? It's already dark. Why are you asking me to come out instead of coming in?"
"I asked you to come out and watch the sea together!"
"Are you crazy? It's freezing cold and you don't even want to go inside. Why are you asking me to come out and look at the sea? It's not like I've seen it before."
As soon as she walked out of the door, she wanted to turn back and go in, too lazy to pay attention to him, but he stopped her and said, "Take a look!"
"What are you looking at...huh? Blue? What's going on? Why did the sea water turn blue?"
Lin Xiuqing was halfway through her words when she looked up and saw a wave of ocean coming up, creating a blue wave that looked quite beautiful.
"This is called Blue Tears. I didn't expect a red tide to occur in the middle of winter!"
In fact, it is not called blue tears yet. The villagers think it is a kind of red tide, because every time this thing appears, there is basically nothing to harvest if you go out to sea.
"Blue Tears" is a bioluminescent phenomenon and a type of red tide that is naturally distributed along the coasts of Fujian Province and Taiwan.
Its initiator is dinoflagellates or sea fireflies. Most blue tears are represented by fluorescent algae.
This type of Noctiluca is easily aggregated locally due to the influence of tides, wind and water currents, and will produce light blue fluorescence when stimulated by external stimuli.
Generally, late spring and early summer are suitable for the reproduction of Noctiluca. When the density of Noctiluca in the sea water is high, it is easy to form "blue tears" visible to the naked eye.
Unexpectedly, red tide also appeared this winter, which is not a good sign.
The explosive growth of Noctiluca scintillans usually starts from January to February, spreading from south to north. It starts in Hainan, then Guangdong Province, then Fujian Province, and gradually spreads northward.
During the time he was speaking, blue wavy lines appeared one after another, and the two children in the family saw that their parents were outside and ran out.
As a result, when I looked at the sea level, I shouted in surprise, "Ah, our sea has turned blue, so beautiful~ Brother Hai, Brother Jiang... Come out quickly..."
The children from the two neighboring houses were eating the sacrificial offerings. When they heard his call, they ran out of their homes. Then there were bursts of exclamations one after another, and the adults in the house were also attracted and ran out.
"Ah? It's the red tide?"
“Why did a red tide suddenly occur?”
The children jumped up and down happily, "It's so beautiful! Our sea water has become glowing."
“It’s blue.”
"Dad, can we go down to the beach?"
"The tide is rising. Why are you going? It's already dark."
"But it's so beautiful..."
"Just watch from the shore."
Ye Yaodong touched his chin and said, "Fortunately it's blue. If it was red, it would have had a big impact."
It's not that bad. There weren't many fish farmers back then, and no one goes out to sea now because everyone is taking a break for the New Year. It doesn't have a big impact on everyone, except that we don't know when the waves will subside.
Lin Xiuqing also said at this time, "It's quite beautiful, but aren't red tides all red?"
"It depends on what kind of marine life caused it. There are all kinds of colors."
"Will there be a bunch of dead fish washed up on the beach tomorrow?"
"It's just blue tears. Noctiluca scintillans is non-toxic and won't kill fish."
"That is not bad."
Everyone was standing at the door watching and discussing it curiously. Red tides don't occur every year, and this was the first time anyone had seen a blue one.
Several children filled their pockets with snacks and ate while looking at the scenery, they were very excited. It was also the first time for them to see the "Blue Tears".
Even with their noses running due to the sea breeze, they were still reluctant to go into the house. Later, they were scolded and beaten by the families inside, so they were dragged back and told to wait until the next day.
The next morning, everyone ran to the village with their pockets filled with New Year's candies and shared the "blue tears" they saw last night with their friends.
They told the story vividly, gesticulating and describing it with their limited adjectives, which made a group of children scream and laugh, and the adults also knew about it.
After dinner in the evening, most of the village people ran to the beach to wait.
When night fell, the blue tears were still there. The waves washed out blue ripples, and the waves hit the reef area, which also brought out a dazzling blue light.
The children didn't understand the origin of this phenomenon, they just thought it was beautiful, and they jumped up and shouted happily.
However, the blue tears phenomenon did not last long, only three days. When everyone came out to see on the fourth night, they were gone and had subsided.
Although it does look good, the villagers also breathed a sigh of relief as long as it does not affect everyone's trips to the sea after the New Year.