In winter, a piece of snowy white; wind, walking gracefully; cold, not feelings; who says helplessness, flowers bloom.
The plum blossoms in Zhangjiazhuangzi had already bloomed a few days ago, but not as many as today. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wrapped themselves up early in the morning and ran to the plum blossom bush together.
In order to be able to smell the fragrance of flowers, the two took care of their noses, covering their noses as tightly as possible. When they reached the place, they took off the satin cloth in front of their faces and they sucked vigorously.
"Xiaobao, have you smelled it?" Wang Juan asked Zhang Xiaobao with his eyes closed, looking intoxicated.
Zhang Xiaobao was also inhaling hard, using the kind of nose, and after a while, he said: "Listen to the truth or to the lie?"
"Let's talk about the fake first." Wang Juan was still intoxicated.
Zhang Xiaobao warmed his nose with his hands, which was red because of his inhalation. "It smells so good, it makes people feel that this kind of smell should not be described in any language. I smelled a strong breath, and smelled something that made me unforgettable. Memories, smelled the fragrance from the ancient times, smelled... ”
"You can tell the truth." Wang Juan interrupted Zhang Xiaobao's lyricism.
"The truth is, the place where we are standing is the upper hand, and the wind mixed with some small edelweiss flicks from behind us, making the pink and white plum blossoms sway gracefully, bringing the breath of spring, and taking away the flowers. Pollen, take away..."
"I just said, why didn't I smell it? It turns out that I was standing in the wrong place. I will remind you soon. Follow me to sniff, go, and change over there." Wang Juan's intoxicated face changed and he pulled Zhang Xiaobao to the other side of the flower bush. Walked away.
"There are still two days to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Today is the twenty-eighth lunar month. Isn't county magistrate Jia ready to do it? Wouldn't it be at 30?" Wang Juan held his nose, which could not smell anything, with his hands, feeling dull. The voice came out.
Zhang Xiaobao is more serious than Wang Juan. He has blown his nose three times, and his eye circles are red. I don’t know if it’s pollen allergies or being frozen. He turned his head, avoiding the direction of the wind, and said, "Fuck him, I I don’t believe that they dare to send people over to fight and kill, go, and see how bad we are preparing for the New Year."
…
In a flat place between Wangjiazhuangzi and Xiaoqiao, that is, beside the market, there are many dealers busy at this moment.
Pieces of wooden boards were erected and inserted into each other to form simple houses one after another. These simple houses had at least two doors, and some even had four doors next to each other.
In these rooms, there are tables and chairs, as well as pots made by many people for shabu-shabu, and a place slightly separated by dozens of steps next to it is specially placed with charcoal. This is the most abundant thing in Zhangjiazhuang. Collected a lot in the county, so that the price of charcoal in the county rose by at least three tiers.
It seems to have caused inconvenience to the people in the county, but in fact, many people with labor in the family get some money, cut trees and burn charcoal, and then they can sell it to Zhangjiazhuang, or to be precise, Zhang Xiaobao.
At the beginning, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan discussed the matter. This might give the county magistrate Jia an excuse to attack. After all, prices have risen. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan don’t care. The kind let the yamen here help the charcoal-burning people to collect it, saving intermediate links.
The main reason is that two people think that doing so will reduce the number of trees a lot. Later, there is not so much vegetation here. In the places where the trees were cut down, no one replanted at all, and they did not want to replant. If it’s landed, this is a newly opened one and can enjoy tax-free treatment.
So many simple houses are Zhang Xiaobao's solution to solve the problem of not being able to go home during the Chinese New Year. Except for the two masters who need to offer sacrifices to the masters, other villagers do not need to do this. Some of them even only know where the ancestors came from. , And it’s not clear who is going up, the genealogy passed down by word of mouth has changed a little and disappeared.
During the New Year, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn’t know who to go to. No matter which one they went to, the other would be too deserted. Zhang Xiaobao decided to spend this year together. The dealer’s own food can be eaten by himself or shared with others. Eat in exchange.
In addition to these, Zhang Xiaobao took out a lot of meat from his own warehouse, and prepared to cut it into slices when the time came, and invited the farmer to eat hot pot. With so many people together, it was naturally very lively. Even with Shuiyunjian there can be a guy there. Change back and forth.
"Okay, these houses are enough, plus the market houses, we can celebrate the New Year together." When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan came here, a person in charge of the construction site shouted to the surrounding farmers.
The villagers put down their work and looked at the houses around them. They all had happy smiles on their faces. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was when everyone spent time together. At that time, there were torches and various snacks everywhere. It's not as rich as it is now.
This year I didn’t expect the master’s family to do the same for the New Year. When the time comes, it will be more lively than before on the 30th night.
"Is it all right now? It's not far from the water and the cloud, and you can even send the things you made here. When the firecrackers are set off, they are on both sides of the bridge. The only regret is that you won't be able to deploy fireworks. You can only use gunpowder, and the things that are exploded are the same. What kind of magnesium powder should be put."
Zhang Xiaobao looked at everyone's beaming expressions, and felt happy. The whole family is a big family. Not only the adults are happy, but the children will also play crazy.
Wang Juan was also imagining the scene of the New Year. It was much more lively than before. At the beginning, he spent his own house. When he set off a firecracker, he had to go to a designated place outside and set his own. Not so many people would gather together. Have a meal.
The people who came to the home to pay the New Year's greetings held precious things and said hypocritical words. How could it be compared to the present? The smiles of the dealers were not pretended.
Thinking of this, Wang Juan exhaled comfortedly and said, “Yes, it’s really good. The adult from the court doesn’t have to worry about being served. I’m wondering, you’ve heard of any adult not at home for the New Year. Do you run into other people's restaurants?"
"No, I have never heard of it, maybe it is not written in the book? Passed down from generation to generation, history always has some deviations. For example, some things that happened in our place have long been lost in the trend of history, except for the real experience. People who have been past, who knows what lies behind something?"
When Zhang Xiaobao thought about this incident, he felt a little moved. Finding the truth of the matter was the most difficult thing.
"Follow him, anyway, let's be lively here. Let others worry about other people's affairs. I don't know what the county magistrate Jia is doing now. We didn't give him anything to see him off, only a catty of fungus and 300,000-ring firecrackers. ."
Wang Juan doesn’t care about those things anymore. What she has to do now is to enjoy this kind of life and maintain it with Zhang Xiaobao. I have not had a comfortable day, and I am restrained everywhere.
Zhang Xiaobao also felt funny when he thought of the county magistrate who was here to make a lot of money, and said: "In addition to the original money in his family, he should still have about seven thousand taels of silver left on hand now. After the Chinese New Year, he has to give it to his back. Someone from you send some? Lose him.
Originally, he was prepared to do good things and help Sanshui County develop. Waiting for Sanshui County to prosper and his political achievements accumulated enough. When he rises up, he will give him a sum of money. I never object to having the ability. Corrupt officials who can do practical things for the people.
Cheng Xianling was greedy, but he was greedy for small money, but he never imposed any additional taxes, nor passed the position to let the government officials corrupt in the homes of slightly wealthy people. The most important thing is that he knows the current affairs. After he got on the line, he always defended us and helped the people get rich through us. "
"Yes, yes, county magistrate Cheng is really good. He knows his position. Since we gave him money, he will not collect money from others. As long as we don't raise money, no one will hold him accountable, even if we leave. At that time, he brought thirty thousand taels of silver, and no one said he was a corrupt official.
The county magistrate Jia is different. He didn’t take office, so he wanted to make money. Not talking about what the county middle school would do for the people first, and he didn’t come over and ask him what he could do. He was directly hostile, with the purpose of destroying us. Then, how can such a person not clean him up? "
Wang Juan also looked filled with righteous indignation. She put herself in the position of the strong, thinking that the new county magistrate must first maintain a harmonious relationship with Wang Zhang’s family and take the initiative to surrender. She felt With Zhang Xiaobao there, she was right to do so.
Zhang Xiaobao also deeply believes in Wang Juan’s thoughts. Everyone has their own place. Why not think about finding people to cooperate with, but suppress them? I have already shown enough sincerity here. The house was repaired, things were given away, and there were all kinds of hints.
After these things were done, the surname Jia still didn't change his original intention, so he was worried about the money, or he had to follow his method to think about it, learning from the county magistrate, what do you want? There was no shortage of money, a lot of things, and he was sent to the capital to be an official in one breath to help get his political achievements.
A Beijing official is better than a local official. It is an honor to be an official in the capital.
"Hey... After running the county magistrate Jia, I hope I can find someone in the county to top it up. I can't always transfer from the outside. It's really not easy to use."
Zhang Xiaobao touched his face with his hand, and said quietly there.
"Then you thought of running his way?" Wang Juan really didn't know how to get a county magistrate away, not to mention that when the county magistrate came, it was welcomed by so many people.
"Give him an imperfect performance, and he will leave." Zhang Xiaobao winked at Wang Juan and said.