Chapter 349 Encourage
"Okay... okay! Zhiye, get up quickly, the ground is cold." The old man went to help Liu Zhiye with a happy face.

While brushing the snow off his body, he asked with concern: "Are you cold? Go to the kang and warm up."

Liu Zhiye smiled calmly at the old man and said, "Grandpa, this little bit of wind and snow is nothing to me. When I was in the Northern Dynasty, I experienced even worse cold than this."

However, he said he was not cold, but he still sat on the kang obediently. As soon as he sat down, the warmth of the kang quickly permeated his whole body, making him feel extremely comfortable instantly.

"Hiss! Comfortable!" Liu Zhiye felt all the fatigue in his body disappeared in an instant.

"Dad! My dad is back..." Liu Zhiye was excitedly embraced by Xiaoxian. She hugged her father's neck tightly and rubbed her tender face against Liu Zhiye's face affectionately, revealing the deep love between father and daughter.

"Dad, why did you come back just now? Xiaoxian is so sleepy from waiting. Can you hug Xiaoxian and go to sleep, okay?" The little girl begged Liu Zhiye, blinking her long eyelashes.

Liu Zhiye kissed his daughter's little face and said lovingly, "Really? Is my eldest daughter going to sleep?"

Xiaoxian nodded, pretending to be listless, as if saying, "Please carry me away."

"Pfft!" Gan Ning couldn't help laughing. "Don't be fooled by her. This little thing just wants to be alone with you for a while. She slept all afternoon and was woken up by firecrackers at night."

Liu Zhiye gently pinched Xiaoxian's cheeks with both hands and said, "Really, my eldest daughter, do you miss your daddy? Do you want to play with your daddy?"

Xiaoxian was "ruthlessly" exposed by her mother, so she simply stopped pretending and laughed as clear as a bell, "Hahahaha..."

"Dad, can you take me out to play?"

Liu Zhiye tapped her nose with his finger and said, "Not now, it's too late. Besides, we still have to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year!"

"When dad gets off work, dad will take you to the amusement park, okay?"

The little wise man was young and smart, "Okay then! Daddy, you have to keep your word. I really want to go to the amusement park..."

Liu Zhiye knew very well that he should not rashly agree to children's requests. Once he made a promise, he would fulfill it and never let the children down.

So, he said to Xiaoxian with a serious expression: "Then let's make a pinky promise, okay?"

Sure enough, Xiaoxian smiled and clapped his hands, saying, "Okay, we'll make a promise for a hundred years, and we won't change."

So, amid the cheerful onlookers of their family, the father and daughter started interacting with each other in tacit understanding.

"We'll make a promise to each other for a hundred years, and we won't change..."

The father and daughter played for a while.

Xiaoxian asked curiously, "Dad, why do we have to stay up all night during the Chinese New Year?"

Seeing her curiosity, Liu Zhiye also wanted to teach her something through entertainment. He silently organized his words and said, "This is actually related to some legends. Do you want to hear it?"

"Okay, okay, tell me a story, daddy will tell me a story." Xiaoxian was very happy when she heard that she could listen to stories again. Children all like adults telling them stories.

Even Liu Zhiruo, who was standing by, became excited instantly after hearing this. She also liked to listen to her family members sitting together and telling stories or talking about things in the past.

"Brother, if you had said that earlier, I wouldn't be sleepy anymore."

The same was true for Gan Ning and her two sisters-in-law. On this quiet night, the lack of entertainment made them equally keen on talking about the past and the present, and looking for some fun in life.

Seeing that his family was ready to listen, Liu Zhiye took a sip of hot tea, cleared his throat, and then began his story for the day.

"Let me first talk about what is staying up all night. Staying up all night, also known as staying up all night, shining the year, etc., has a long history. The Han people have the habit of staying up all night on New Year's Eve, commonly known as "staying up all night".

This tradition has a long history, dating back about two thousand years.

On New Year's Eve, the main folk activities are lighting fires and staying up all night to welcome the new year. That is, all the houses are lit with candles, and the whole family gathers together to welcome the new year.

On New Year's Eve, candles are lit all night long, which is called "lighting up the waste". It is said that if candles are lit like this, the family will be rich in the coming year.

In some areas, staying up all night is called "Shou Sui", which means that on New Year's Eve, the whole family gathers together, eats the New Year's Eve dinner, lights candles or oil lamps, sits around the stove and chats, staying up all night, symbolizing the expulsion of all evil plagues and diseases.

At this point, Liu Zhiye saw that Xiaoxian was too young to understand, and the others had little interest in the popular science content, so he went straight to the point.

"Legend has it that in the Beihe Cangzhou area, every household is busy from the 23rd to the 30th of the twelfth lunar month. They also stay up late on the night of the 30th, which is called "staying up all night." This custom is related to the Kitchen God..."

"When people saw that the Kitchen Goddess had returned and brought back many good things for the New Year, they lit incense, paper money and firecrackers to welcome her. This was the fifth watch of the New Year's Eve.

In order to commemorate the Kitchen God and remember her kindness, people worship the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year and stay up on the 30th night, which is called "staying up all night". This is to wait for the virtuous and kind Kitchen God to return to the world from heaven.

Xiaoxian opened her eyes wide and listened attentively to Liu Zhiye's story, but she still felt unsatisfied. She asked eagerly: "Dad, please tell me another one, I haven't heard enough!"

Liu Zhiye smiled and said, "Well, Dad will tell you another story. In the ancient times, there was a vicious monster. People called it Nian."

"Every New Year's Eve, the Nian monster would crawl out of the sea to harm people and animals, destroy farmland, and bring disaster to people who had worked hard for a year.

In order to avoid the Nian monster, people would close their doors early on the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month before it got dark. They would not dare to sleep and would wait for dawn. They would drink to kill time and to give themselves courage.

People would wait until the Nian beast stopped coming out on the morning of the first day of the new year before daring to go out. When people met each other, they would bow and congratulate each other, and be thankful that they had not been eaten by the Nian beast. This went on for many years without any incidents, and people relaxed their vigilance against the Nian beast..."

…………

The family was telling stories, and Deng Ru and her sister-in-law were busy heating up the food to perfection, filling the air with aroma.

At the same time, my uncle also carefully warmed a pot of fine wine, ready to spend this warm time with his family.

Tonight, the guys decided to have a good drink. Since Liu Zhiye didn't have to get up early for work tomorrow, they just enjoyed this rare time together.

In front of the elders, Liu Zhiye bowed respectfully and wished a happy new year on behalf of his two younger brothers who were unable to return home for some reason.

He spoke sincerely, wishing the elders good health, success in everything, and all the best. Then, he raised his glass and shouted, "Cheers!" His voice was loud and full of respect and blessings for the elders.

People in the old capital would stay up until the fifth watch on New Year's Eve.

Therefore, there was still plenty of time, and they enjoyed the food leisurely, chatting from time to time, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

"Zhiye, were you going out to study last year?" said the uncle with a smile.

Liu Zhiye nodded and responded, "Yes, uncle, I will go to study for a year and a half."

"Have you arranged Xiao Ning's job transfer?"

Gan Ning said at the side: "Uncle, I have done it. I just received the transfer notice, and I haven't had time to tell him yet."

"Last year, I started working at the Liujiazhuang Youth League Committee, so I can be closer to home and save myself the trouble of traveling back and forth."

Deng Ru was very excited when she heard the good news. She said with a smile, "That's great. It's a blessing for the whole family to be able to work and live together in the village."

"Hey, that's Zhitai. He's still abroad now. I don't know how he's doing."

"I don't know what the foreigner's dumplings are made of. Zhitai has been picky since he was a child..."

"Hahahaha..." Liu Zhiruo and several sisters-in-law burst into laughter when they heard this.

She couldn't help but teasing her mother: "Mom, foreigners don't celebrate the Spring Festival, let alone make dumplings. Your joke is really funny, hahaha..." Amid laughter, the atmosphere at home became more harmonious.

Deng Ru was stunned and said in disbelief: "What? Foreigners don't celebrate the Spring Festival and don't eat dumplings. What's the point of living? There's nothing to look forward to all year round!" Liu Zhiye was amused when he saw this. He explained to Deng Ru: "Mom, foreigners also celebrate the Spring Festival. Their Spring Festival is Christmas, which is on December 12th of the Gregorian calendar. They don't eat dumplings, but turkey."

Deng Ru suddenly realized, "I told you! How can people not celebrate the Chinese New Year? It turns out that the days are different. But eating chicken during the Chinese New Year is the same no matter where you are."

Liu Zhiye was speechless, "Oh, you are right..."

“Hahahaha…” Liu Zhiruo and the others laughed even more.

After all, the old man was old and weak. After insisting on waiting for Liu Zhiye to return, he hurriedly ate a few bites of food and went back to his room to rest.

The three of them continued to drink. Liu Zhiye was extremely busy in the second half of the year. Although the troops were stationed in Liujiazhuang, he was like Dayu who controlled the floods. He passed by his home three times without entering and devoted himself to his work.

Liu Zhiye has been busy with other things recently and has no time to take care of the trivial matters at home and the progress of Liujiazhuang. At this moment, he just took this opportunity to get a deeper understanding and grasp the latest developments.

"Uncle, how is the income of our village farm this year?"

After hearing this, the uncle's face was filled with a proud smile. He said simply and clearly: "Even if you didn't ask me, I would have told you that this year's breeding industry has ushered in a bumper harvest!"

By the end of the year, the farm had successfully sold more than 10,000 pigs. In addition to meeting the orders from major enterprises and institutions, it also provided 300 high-quality pigs for the garrison.

At the same time, in order to give back to the villagers and village enterprises, the farm generously distributed 1,500 pigs as welfare, allowing the villagers to share the joy of the harvest. "

"Other poultry farming also hit new highs, with 5,000 sheep and 1,000 cattle sold, 100,000 ducks, 500,000 broiler chickens, and 400,000 laying hens being raised."

"For the whole year, the total income from the breeding industry is 832.5 million yuan, and it is expected to exceed million yuan next year."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhiye quickly raised his doubts: "Blindly expanding the breeding industry is risky. Do we have enough feed reserves?"

The uncle said solemnly: "You can rest assured that our current farming methods are no longer completely dependent on grain crops. In fact, alternatives such as wine troughs play an important role in it."

"In addition, our village also has an oil press factory. The residues left after oil pressing, such as peanut residue and soybean residue, no longer contain a lot of oil, but they still have certain nutritional value and can be used as feed raw materials."

Liu Zhiye nodded slightly, thinking in his mind: "The breeding industry, planting industry and industry are advancing in parallel. This year, the total output value of our village has probably exceeded 200 million yuan."

Liu Jingzhai also said: "At the end of the year, our teachers assisted the village in completing the calculation of the total industrial and agricultural output value this year, with a total value of 2.885 million yuan."

“This number ranks sixth among all regions in Beijing, higher than MTG, Fangshan and other counties.”

"After the latest census, the population structure of our village has become clear. The total number of residents with local household registration has reached 2.52, and the number of migrant workers has reached 5.78.

In addition, there are 7862 foreign teachers and students, injecting new vitality into the village. It is worth mentioning that our village also has a large garrison force of more than 5000 people, and their family members have settled here. ”

"This year, our per capita income hit a new high of 1754 yuan, ranking first in the city, and probably in the country as well."

Even though Liu Zhiye was mentally prepared, he was still shocked, "Wow! The population has reached 100,000 so quickly?" He had thought that it would take a few years to break this number.

"That's true. All major factories have expanded their production capacity this year. Coupled with the sudden arrival of troops, the village's permanent population has exceeded 100,000 ahead of schedule." Uncle nodded.

He then said, "Our third phase of the winery project is already insufficient. Once it is completed, we will immediately start the fourth phase."

"It must be said that our [Wild Mountain Wine] is very popular now. Those [Old Russians] have requested to increase the export volume. The supply is simply insufficient to meet the demand."

My uncle was right. Today, "wild mountain wine" is a household name and is affordable.

It has evolved from a low-alcohol wine to the popular blue-bottle Erguotou with a high alcohol content; from a single variety to more than 20 main products; from a total output of less than a ton to a total output of more than 3 tons; from being sold only in Beijing to being exported to more than a dozen countries and regions...

The rise of "Wild Mountain Wine" has overshadowed the old wineries in just two years, which is undoubtedly a vivid manifestation of ideological liberation.

Moreover, in the fiercely competitive market, it has quickly emerged with its unique ideas and strategies and become a rising star in the industry.

Moreover, "Yeshan Winery" did not rest on its laurels.

“How can traditional liquor innovate in inheritance and develop in innovation?”

“How to cultivate and forge unique new quality productivity in an ancient brewing workshop?”

Winemaking is a traditional craft with a long history. It not only contains profound cultural heritage, but also embodies rich craftsmanship wisdom.

From the invention of the old yellow mud cellars for Luzhou-aroma liquor and the application of distillation technology, to the continuous breakthroughs in the research on the fermentation mechanism of wine-making microorganisms, in the process of continuous leaps in human productivity, the productivity of the liquor industry has continued to evolve in line with the development of the times, innovating in inheritance and developing in innovation, bursting out with an ancient yet young vitality that lasts forever.

"How to brew more comfortable and healthier liquor is a question we must answer, which requires scientific research and close cooperation among all departments of the company.

This is not only the work of the Wine Design Center, Wine Research Institute, and Microbiology Institute, but also the joint task of the Production Department, Production Workshop, and Quality Inspection Department, and it is also the focus of our company's scientific and technological innovation." Liu Yuanhai, head of the winery, said.

In the prosperity of the village, "Yeshan Winery" has emerged as a leading enterprise leading the trend. This winery is steadily moving towards a formal large-scale enterprise, and its influence is expanding day by day.

At Liu Zhiye's suggestion, the winery cooperated with major universities to establish the country's first wine research institute and microbiology research institute.

This laid a solid foundation for the formalization of "Yeshan Winery".

As the production scale of "Yeshan Winery" continues to expand, related supporting manufacturers have also emerged.

For example, glass bottle factories, ceramic factories, etc. were established one after another.

Later, it was discovered that these factories only provided supporting production for the wineries, and their product lines were quite monotonous and lacked diversity.

The leaders of these two companies are visionary people. After careful consideration and field investigation, they resolutely decided to expand the original glass bottle factory into a more comprehensive glass products factory and ceramic products factory.

The production lines of glass factories are gradually expanding, from the initial glass daily necessities such as wine bottles and medicine bottles, to flat glass, and now to the new field of optical glass.

The ceramic factory is not only involved in the production of daily necessities such as pots, pans, and bowls, but has also expanded into decorative materials such as tiles.

Nowadays, they have turned their attention to more exquisite handicrafts, such as blue and white porcelain, exquisite porcelain, and pastel porcelain, and are committed to the research and development and innovation of these traditional handicrafts.

In Liujiazhuang, the "Hardware Factory" developed rapidly along with the "Yeshan Winery". This was the first time that Liujiazhuang entered the heavy industry field, marking a major change in its industrial structure.

The "Hardware Factory" in Liujiazhuang was large and comprehensive from the beginning, producing locks, hardware tools, construction hardware, household hardware, etc.

Since its birth, it has continued to maintain a strong production momentum and has now entered a new stage of the second phase of the project.

The "Hardware Factory" keenly captured the market's eager demand for bicycles, decisively entered this field, and specially set up a branch factory to focus on the production of bicycles.

This move undoubtedly opened up a new market for the hardware factory and also heralded a new chapter in Liujiazhuang's industrial sector.

Education, which Liu Zhiye cared about most, was also flourishing everywhere, with the establishment of "College of Traditional Chinese Medicine", "College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry", and "Branch of No. 2 Middle School" one after another.

Liujiazhuang is once again in the midst of a boom, actively preparing for the formal establishment of its third technical school - the "Technical School", heralding that a new chapter of education is about to begin.

In addition, Liu Zhiye also set his sights on several universities in Beijing that were about to relocate.

The relocation is aimed at alleviating the pressure on the capital, decentralizing non-capital functions, and promoting the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

For example, thirteen agricultural, forestry, land, mineral, oil, water and electricity engineering colleges, including Xiaguo University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Architecture and Industry, Beijing Institute of Light Industry, Mechanical College, Electric Power College, Water Conservancy and Hydropower College, Geological College, Mining College, Agricultural University, Agricultural Mechanization College, Forestry College, and Railway College, were moved out of Beijing.

If we can successfully attract one or two universities to settle in Liujiazhuang, it will undoubtedly inject immeasurable vitality into the development of this land and push it towards new prosperity.

(End of this chapter)