Chapter 336: Sacrifice to the Kitchen God

Jia Zhang came out of her house.
First, I looked at the group of children who were eating candied melons around He Yuzhu, their eyes narrowed with happiness.
Then he looked at He Yuzhu and asked,
"What do you want from our Qin Huairu, Zhuzi?"

Seeing that it was Jia Zhang who came out, He Yuzhu did not inquire too much and smiled and talked about business.

"My brothers and sisters want candy,
Your Bang Geng is so small, I dare not give him candy, Aunt Zhang, you feed him yourself!"

Seeing that He Yuzhu asked his daughter-in-law to come out to share candy with their family's Banggeng, Jia Zhangshi walked forward and said with a smile,
"I thought it was something else, Zhuzi, it turns out it's about sharing candy!

OK, then give me the sugar melon, and I'll take it back and make sugar and boil water for our son Bang Geng."

Seeing Jia Zhang take the candy melon he handed over, then bend down and pick up Bang Geng, He Yuzhu asked,
"By the way, Aunt Zhang,

Didn’t an old man say last night that the steel mill would only work half a day today?
Why haven't Brother Jia and the others come back yet?"

"Why not? The steel mill has had a half-day holiday every year during the Chinese New Year.
Dongxu, Laoyi and the others haven't come back yet, maybe they are out buying candied melons.

I think he'll be back soon."

Hearing this, He Yuzhu nodded casually, exchanged a few words with Jia Zhang, then turned around and went home to help He He Daqing prepare the three sacrificial animals.

When He Daqing and his son were preparing the three sacrificial offerings at home, Xu Fugui and his son came back on their bicycles first.

Then I heard He Yushui and He Jianguo shouting,

"Dad, we're going to Uncle Xu's house in the backyard to eat candy. We'll be back soon."

Hearing this, He Daqing smiled and nodded.

"Okay, but you and Qingshan have to keep an eye on Jianguo. Let him eat candy, but don't let him get choked by the candy.

Got it? "

"I understand, Dad. Brother Qingshan and I will support Jianguo."

As Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong and the others followed Xu Fugui back one after another, the courtyard soon became a sea of ​​joy.
A bunch of little brats went from one house to another, constantly shuttling between houses.

Soon I returned home with half a pocket of candy.

"Brother, you eat too. Look, we got a lot of candy today."

Seeing his sister holding his pocket and putting a piece of candy to his mouth, He Yuzhu opened his mouth and looked down.

"Wow, they are really quite old. It seems that Uncle Da Ye and Uncle Xu bought a lot of candy."

Then He Yushui nodded vigorously.
"That's not it,

Uncle One, Uncle Two, Uncle Xu, and Brother Jia all bought as many candied melons as our family.
Only Uncle Yan in the front yard was still as stingy as before, and each of us got a little from his house.

It's just a little bit, not even enough for Jianguo to fill his teeth, he is very stingy."

When He Yushui talked about Yan Bugui, he scolded him while clenching his fist and making a small gap between his thumb and index finger.

At this time, He Daqing saw his daughter's gesture, smiled and shook his head, while admonishing,

"Yushui, it's okay for you to say this at home, but don't say it in front of your uncle Yan.
Do you know? "

"I know, Dad. I never say these things outside."

Seeing that his daughter was quite sensible, He Daqing nodded and continued to prepare the offerings. After finishing the offerings, He Daqing and his son sat down to rest, and Widow Bai took He Yushui and Li Qingshan to start cooking dinner.

Soon it was evening, and He Daqing placed various offerings in front of the Kitchen God statue.
He Yuzhu took the kettle off the stove.
Then wash the iron pot that was just used to cook and put it on the stove. After removing the moisture, put all the remaining sugar melons after preparing the offerings in it.

While He Yuzhu was melting the sugar, He Daqing had already arranged the offerings and lit the incense and candles.

Then the whole family stood obediently in front of the Kitchen God statue.

……

After reading the sacrificial text that had been handed down for thousands of years, He Daqing raised the incense in his hand to his forehead and led his family to bow three times to the Kitchen God statue.
Then put the incense in the incense burner.

After a while, the Kitchen God statue was taken down from the shrine, along with the couplets on both sides of the shrine: "May God bless us with good things and keep us safe in the world below."

Then he took out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick basket on the wall, and smeared some syrup from the pot on the mouth of the Kitchen God.
At the same time, he was chanting something.
"Grandpa Kitchen God eats candy. When he goes to heaven, he must say good things about our He family..."

After covering the mouth of the Kitchen God statue with syrup, He Daqing took the unburned incense and candles in front of the shrine outside the door, and began to burn the Kitchen God statue mixed with processed paper money.

After a while, he shouted to He Yuzhu who had just taken the pot off the stove,
"The pillars light firecrackers."

When the He family was worshipping the Kitchen God, every household in Beiping was doing something similar.

As the He family's firecrackers rang,

The sound of firecrackers in the city of Peking rang out one after another.

Children like He Jianguo were the happiest at this time. They covered their ears and laughed as they watched the firecrackers explode.

After the explosion, all the children rushed to the wreckage of the firecrackers and searched carefully.

He Yuzhu returned home and put the pot back on the stove.
Pour the tribute sugar melon into the pot,

When the sugar melons soften again, use a spatula to scoop them out and place them on the cutting board.

Then grab a handful of sesame seeds from the cupboard and sprinkle them on it. Use a rolling pin to press the sesame seeds into the dough while it is still hot, and then cut it into thin slices with a knife.

Seeing my son finish processing the remaining sugar melons,
He Daqing shouted to Li Qingshan, He Yushui and others who were picking up firecrackers in the yard,

"Yushui, Qingshan, bring Jianguo back for dinner. After dinner, ask your brother to take you to buy firecrackers."

When he heard his father say that he would ask his brother to take them to buy firecrackers after dinner, He Jianguo was the first to turn around and run back.

“Here comes Dad!

Brother, I'm going to buy a lot of firecrackers later."

As He Jianguo spoke, he ran to He Yuzhu, raised his hand and showed He Yuzhu the firecrackers that he had just found and had not exploded.

Looking at He Jianguo's pair of black little hands, He Yuzhu nodded and pulled him to the wash basin.
"Okay, okay, I'll buy you as much as you want later.
But you have to wash your hands first, and we can’t go out until we finish eating.”

"Okay, brother, pour me some water and I'll wash my hands right away."

As soon as He Yuzhu finished pouring the water, Li Qingshan and He Yushui came back happily. After washing their hands, the family started to eat dinner.

At the dinner table, He Daqing first took a sip of wine, and then talked about the next arrangements.

(End of this chapter)