Chapter 45 chapter Five

The Lunar New Year is the most solemn festival in the town, and the most solemn and enthusiastic celebration of the year. "October" and "May 1st" are also festivals and holidays. Most people in small towns don't take it seriously. Some families don't even eat dumplings, and most of them don't even buy meat.Only the Spring Festival is a serious festival - they think.At this time, every basic cell in the town's healthy body—the family—is unusually active, and the town's pulse beats faster unconsciously. The busiest ones are the housewives of every family.In their view, the festival is a review of the family's economic strength and must not be ignored.As a result, these industrious, simple and somewhat stingy housewives, who hold the economic lifeline of each family, threw away their old values ​​and ran to the market like crazy, selling pork, mutton, beef, large pieces, etc. The big ones are moving home, showing off their affluence to the small-town society with a kind of crazy fervor.Every housewife hopes to live better than others, and every housewife is using various forms to honor people.Their legs, hands, and mouths work twice as much, like a clockwork machine, running tirelessly.The town is happy because of them, and the festival is extraordinarily vibrant because of them.

Twenty-six seven started steaming steamed buns and croquettes.The steamed buns are steamed in more than ten pots, and they can often be eaten until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to celebrate the Lantern Festival.When croquettes, it is often necessary to fry some fried fruits at the same time.Almost every household in this small town cooks a kind of fried fruit, which is made of glutinous rice noodles and tastes crispy and delicious.It is also made with noodles, mixed with eggs and added with sugar. When it is just out of the pan, it tastes much more delicious than the three knives and fried sugar sold in food stores.

At this time, the firecrackers also began to explode in the dark sky, and there was a faint smoke of gunpowder in the dry and cold air.Children have traditionally been more interested in firecrackers than fish.It is the happiest thing for them to put a string of firecrackers when cooking dumplings on New Year's Eve.They can't stand their temper, and often disregard the advice of the adults, and immediately exercise their powers after becoming the masters of the firecrackers, as if they want to frighten time and make it go faster with the bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang of the firecrackers. . ...

It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when we came out of the town committee compound.The smell of meat, wine, and firecrackers wafting in the air reminded Fan Fulin of Chinese New Year.After his wife passed away, he lost interest in Chinese New Year—in fact, even if he didn't lose interest, this year would not be a good one.Among other things, he can't perform just steamed buns and croquettes, which are necessary for every family.Of course, I didn't have the heart to act in the early years.On the 27th and 8th day of the lunar calendar, he always buys a large piece of meat, fills it up and cooks it in a pot, eating it from before the festival to after the festival.When other families cook dumplings and set off firecrackers, he and his son take turns drinking to soothe their sorrows.Occasionally, the father and son would also play guessing games and follow orders, "Hello brothers, big hands" for a lively time.In the midst of the excitement, thousands of years of ethics are often confused, and in the drunken eyes that reflect each other, the son is not like the son, and the father is not like the father. It seems that the relationship between them is only wine.The son dared to rely on force to engage in a little hegemony, pinching Lao Tzu's nose and drinking.After the father loses his composure, he will put his arms around his son's neck and talk nonsense... This happens every year. Both the father and the son are used to it, and they don't think there is anything unreasonable. Many things in the world are customary!

However, this year, Fan Fulin is not going to be like this. He wants to celebrate the New Year in a lively and grand manner.He wants the people in the town to see that he, Fan Fulin, is also a person with nose and eyes, and he wants to go through people's festivals just like everyone else.As soon as this idea appeared, it had such a strong and persistent vitality that it made his heart jump when he thought about it.After Ruan Shijie left the labor insurance office, he also bid farewell to the clerks, and decided: go to the market immediately, and transport large pieces of fish and meat home like every housewife does.He also bought two hanging firecrackers, and put them upright once to drive away the bad luck and evil spirits that have been accumulated for many years.

Arriving at the most prosperous intersection in the town, to the west is the free market.Fan Fulin walked westward without hesitation. Along the way, his head was held high, his chest was straight, and he couldn't help but utter a few specious Beijing accents. In his opinion, today's sky seems a bit different from yesterday's sky, and the world seems to be much brighter all of a sudden. It turns out that the true nature of the world is not gray. From time to time, someone greeted him, and he also greeted others solemnly.The citizens of the small town became extra generous and merciful because of the festival, and the relationship between people seemed not to be as rigid and indifferent as before.

He thought of Ruan Shijie again.This seemingly powerful figure was nothing more than that. He contradicted him, contradicted him hard, and he couldn't do anything to him.He regretted a little, it seemed that he had lost something in the past years, at least something he had lost in front of Ruan Shijie.There was absolutely no need for him to call him fourth uncle, no need for him to nod and bow in front of him, and betray a dry laugh.Selling laughter and selling one's body are almost the same.For no reason, he thought of the prostitute whore, alas, in the past, he was so fucking useless!

Before the Cultural Revolution, he was not like this at all.In 1960 and 1961, he was still a model worker at the municipal level!At that time, people respected him, enlarged his bald photo, painted it with oil paint, and pasted it on the honor roll beside Meiyuan Road.He, too, was grateful to the people, worked hard, and made some contributions to the civilized process of this small town.He and his colleagues built the first two-story red light store in the town, and brought the term "building" into the chronicle of the town together with the real objects.However, since when did the progress of civilization in the small town come to a standstill?Since when did it start to go backwards?no one noticed...

After all, it was the twenty-seventh day of the lunar calendar, and the market was unusually lively. It was almost four o'clock, and various transactions were still being made.The busiest one is the meat market, crowded with people, bumping into each other, with constant noise, which inadvertently forms the center of the market.Fan Fulin went all the way, asked the price one by one, bought a piece of pork, weighed a few catties of mutton, tied it up and carried it in his hand.Squeezing into the fish market, the fresh carp kept winking at him. Fan Fulin couldn't resist the temptation, so he took out another ten yuan note and bought a big fish weighing four to five catties.

He returned with a full load and hurried home. Passing by the gate of Ruan's house, I felt a little flustered.He didn't want to panic at all, nor did he plan to panic, but he panicked!My heart skipped a beat, and my legs felt a little weak.In front of the first house of Ruan's house is the public water pipe of this house. Ruan Shijie's wife is washing meat and dissecting fish, her fat hands are soaked in cold water, and she is still muttering what.Fan Fulin instinctively felt that the rapid opening and closing of her thin lips seemed to have something to do with him.On the opposite side, Qian's bookworm's wife was meticulously washing a large bowl of radishes. Obviously, she was talking to her.

He deliberately slowed down. My heart is still a little flustered, and I don't feel comfortable looking anywhere.The nerves in charge of hearing became highly tense, and instantly entered a state of first-level combat readiness, ready to capture any information worth studying.A few broken words buzzed into his ears like blowflies: "Secretary Zhao...at night...for dinner..." Is there nothing else?No.Indeed not.This woman might not know about the firefight between him and Ruan Shijie.No, maybe Ruan hasn't come home yet!He began to think, should he say hello to this woman?Of course, greet each other on an equal footing.Coincidentally, at this moment, the woman from the Ruan family raised her head, and Fan Fulin opened her mouth, just about to call out to Fourth Aunt, but unexpectedly, that face was buried behind the woman from the Qian family. Did she know?Yes, Ruan Shijie may have returned long ago!He had an extravagant wish, wanting to take a look inside the gate of the Ruan family, just one look. Suppressing the beating of his heart, he bravely turned his less dignified head to the side, and glanced towards the Ruan's house from the corner of his eye.Ruan Shijie's figure came into his eyes, and he was sitting on the couch opposite the door, smoking a cigarette.Fan Fulin was startled, as if he had been shot suddenly, and quickly quickened his pace, ending this thrilling journey. The son and unmarried daughter-in-law are all at home. Fan Fulin breathed a sigh of relief, feeling more at ease.At this time, he had a feeling that it would be better to have more sons.How many courageous people there are! "Father, are you back?" The son greeted him graciously, and took the fish and meat from the father.The daughter-in-law was steaming steamed buns with noodles, and she also sent a greeting smile to the future father-in-law. "Father, Bai Ling brought some vegetables back from the restaurant, and I bought a bottle of Yanghe. Tonight, my father and I will make two cups!" Fan Fulin looked up, and sure enough, the table of the Eight Immortals, which was always gray and dusty, was exceptionally clean. There were four plates on the table, one plate of dry cut beef, one plate of steaming dog meat, one plate of peanuts, and another plate of meat. preserved egg.There was a rush of heat in my heart, it was the first time for my son to be so filial, and he couldn't bear it.He decided that in order to repay his son's kindness, he should also show a little bit, so he waved his hand: "Fan Hua, go, pick up the fish, braise the fish!" "Uncle, don't you keep the fish for the New Year?" said the daughter-in-law who hadn't passed the family yet. "Why do you have to keep it for the New Year?" Fan Fulin thought of the fish in the Ruan family's woman's bowl, and felt that the fish must be eaten. "For the New Year, I will buy it tomorrow!" "Decree!" The son carried the fish and touched the knife to the water pipe without even taking the basin.The mood is better, and the image of his son is more perfect in Lao Tzu's eyes. Fan Fulin feels that the son he concocted is not bad! The room was pitifully small, with two beds and an Eight Immortals table in a limited area of ​​12 square meters, and the small table for eating could only be placed in the kitchen at the back.Fortunately, there is a small yard outside the kitchen, and a small shed is built under the edge of the house for cooking, so the normal order of life can still be maintained.But what if the son gets married?It's not easy to draw a 38-point line among these twelve square meters, right? I thought about the house again. Make a pot of tea, sip it slowly, the thought of resentment arises spontaneously, a little bit of poor satisfaction and complacency, like mist under the scorching sun, disappears completely at once.Thinking back carefully, he was still extremely pitiful and insignificant, he hadn't done anything famous that day, and his satisfaction and pride had no practical meaning.Yes, he contradicted Ruan Shijie, but what was it?He couldn't move a hair on him.Zhao Shuang didn't find it, even if he found it, so what?Can he reassign a house to him?Can Ruan Shijie check out the house for him?joke!He is going to eat at Ruan's house tonight! He began to think, should he stop Zhao Shuang in front of his house, complain to him, and pester him?Does it work?Of course, it's not just a house problem... Furthermore, he even thought, can his son's fists also play a role?This kid sent several people to the hospital two years earlier. It's all crazy. Damn, don't want to!Today is drunk today, Fan Fulin decided: invite Liu Fushou and Qian Shuner to have a drink tonight, firstly to relieve the sullenness in his heart, and secondly to demonstrate to the Ruan family.He knew these two neighbors well, they didn't have a good impression of the Ruan family, and they supported him from the bottom of their hearts.This is enough. The son washed the fish, and the daughter-in-law took it to cook. The son sat down in front of the father. "Father, you smoke!" The son passes a filter to the front door. He doesn't smoke, but he couldn't hold back his son's sincere greeting, so he hesitated for a moment before taking it. The son lit it with a gas lighter. "Father, I need to discuss something with you!" "What's the matter?" "This... how do you say this?" The son seemed a little embarrassed. "What's the matter?" Lao Tzu became alert. "Father, Bai Ling...she has it again!" "What? Again?" Lao Tzu's head buzzed suddenly. "Tell me, what to do!" "Married, no house, no money, I... We discussed it, but still had a miscarriage." "Yes! You take your daughter-in-law to have an abortion, and I pay for it, isn't that the case? As soon as your butt pouted, I knew you were going to suck some donkey shit." "No! No! It's a loan! You know, I haven't paid much money this month..." Lao Tzu understands his son.It is always easy to forget the money borrowed by the son from the father, which seems to be an iron rule.At this time, the image of the son was eclipsed in Lao Tzu's eyes. "Fan Hua, what are you going to do if you go on like this? You don't go to work all day. In the past, you cheated the country. Let's not talk about it. Now, you are cheating your father. Isn't this a bit unconscionable?" "Father, don't worry, I borrowed money, and I will definitely pay it back next month. If you don't believe me, I... I'll make an IOU!" After all, Lao Tzu is Lao Tzu, after all, he is the father of his son.With a hard heart, he bleeds in pain. "Fan Hua, you don't want to borrow it, and I don't want you to pay it back. I just want you to work hard this month, don't fool around like a fool! In the past, I was wrong. If you continue to mess around, but you are wrong, here, twenty !" "Another ten yuan!" The son is welcome. I probably wanted to be a good person this time, so I took out another ten yuan. The son laughed. "Old man, interesting enough!" Fan Fulin suddenly felt that these words were particularly harsh, and he slapped the table with his bony hand, causing the plates to jump up. "What are you talking about?! Not big or small!" Grabbing his son's hand, he suddenly became emotional, and his eyes turned a little red, "Son, in the past, people looked down on us, and we didn't respect ourselves, and gave people a lot of talk. From now on, we can't do this anymore. You are about to get married, you are an adult, and you are going to be a father, you have to respect yourself, don't let others look down on you!" He sighed, "It's my fault too. Your mother died early, and I am a father. You bastard, you haven't even taught you the basics of being a human being. Of course, there is also the vicious 'Gang of Four'..." The smile on the son's face froze, he was stunned for a moment, and finally nodded.He felt that his old man, whom he depended on for life, was a little strange. "Go, invite you, Uncle Liu and Brother Qian, for me, and let's narrate, narrate together!" "Hey!" The son is gone.