Chapter 10 fireside

Four people, warming their hands around the brazier. Mom, with me, with the ninth younger sister, with the sixth younger brother, that's four people.It was already eight o'clock, and the spring roll seller on the street hissed and yelled loudly, it had already passed twice.Regarding sleeping, we always focus on Jiumei, and we belong to the category of being dominated by others.When we saw her bow her head and lay on Ma's lap, we didn't wait for orders, and we didn't hold out hope any more. We asked Miss Chunxiu to be our companion, and we sent her to sleep in the big room across the way.The so-called us, of course, refers to me and my sixth brother.

Usually from 8:00 to 9:00, Jiumei will not be able to support her no matter how happy she is. But it's a different matter when you prepare something for midnight snack.Put the bird's nest tip into the porridge, and we will eat the bird's nest porridge, put the lotus seeds in, and we will eat the lotus seed porridge again.Although the number of bird's nests produced is not very large, we always say that the amount of my sixth brother and I can outweigh Jiumei and his mother, no matter who is alone.But according to my mother, Jiumei is always hungry, so cook something for Jiumei for supper.In name, we are entrusting Jiumei's blessing, so we all hope that Jiumei will not have enough to eat for dinner every day, so that we will be hungry at night, and we will be rich together.We are also very smart, if we are sure about the night snack first, we will have a stomach for dinner. Probably this matter has never been noticed by my mother, but Jiumei can't hide it.

"Mother, cook some porridge for Lao Jiu." If the Sixth Brother’s proposal is not rejected by my mother, then I brag about Chunxiu’s girl, “Chunxiu! Cook porridge for Miss Nine and add lotus seeds, hurry up!” Sometimes, mom would also say that there is no more sugar, or that I am too full tonight, how can Lao Jiu be hungry? "When encountering such bad luck, we have no choice but to prepare to fall asleep. "Jiumei, you said you were hungry, you want to cook pigeon eggs and eat them." "I do not!" "Tell us, tomorrow I will go to Lao Duan to buy a big golden spinning top for you."

"..." Recited mother, told Jiumei very lightly, asked her to lie for us once, and once tasted delicious pigeon eggs boiled in rock sugar.This is always the worst thing about me (that's how my mother criticized me) instigating my sixth brother to talk about it, and using the golden top as a bribe.Jiumei's spinning top broke down, so she readily agreed.After eating the pigeon eggs, the golden gyro was still on the mouth, and Jiumei ignored it even if she complained. At the time, I thought it was not a bad idea.But on another occasion, when the sixth brother had finished speaking, she would also go to Mom's side, turn Mom's head, put her mouth next to Mom's ear, and chirped about our plan.At that time, those of us who wanted to bribe Jiumei could only blush, apart from crying and arguing that we had never said anything to Jiumei.The result was beyond our expectation, Mom still asked Chunxiu to do the food as we hoped.From this point of view, what mother said before was all for my sister, and it was obviously coaxing Jiumei.However, it is also true that Jiumei received the whole family—especially the mother’s double love and affection—because she was the only child at home.Because of my mother's selfish love, my third aunt also laughed at us.What made us dissatisfied was that our grandmother often told many aunts that we were not cute.

This time again in the anticipation of a midnight snack.I cooked the duck porridge with the leftover duck broth from the day, and when I heard Chunxiu girl drop a pair of chopsticks into the copper pot outside and stir them, it seemed to smell a little fragrance again. Mom was afraid that we would not be allowed to go out for inspection because of a cold. The sixth brother was very anxious by the brazier. "Chunxiu, isn't it alright?" asked the girl in a pompous manner. "No." "Don't take a nap, let it make a crust!" "No." "Fan the fire quickly, the fire will go out, that's why it's so slow!"

"No, I'm fanning!" When the sixth brother was helpless, when the ninth sister was not paying attention, he snatched the elementary calligraphy lesson in her hand, and read it aloud as if he wanted to show his skills in front of his mother. "Mom, I can recite everything. Look at me and close my eyes." The eyes were indeed closed, but in the fifth lesson, "wolves and wild dogs-" they opened them. "You talk big! Second brother, hold the book in your hand for me, and I'll recite it," Jiu Mei continued to recite it loudly. In front of the gate, the noodle seller is knocking on bamboo clappers, chanting all kinds of thrilling slogans, luring people there.We already know that this person is the famous He Er from the sound of bang bang.It sells dumplings; it also sells noodles, but it is famous for dumplings in the city.For three copper dollars, you can have dumplings and noodles, and you have to eat Feng brand Xiangtan soy sauce.His oil chili is also excellent.Every time my eldest sister comes back from school, she always eats spicy dumplings without soup.Because damn it forbid, we can only see with our eyes.

Then He Er, as usual, endured for a while, then picked up the burden again, beat bang bang all the way, and headed towards Nanmentuo, the voice of shouting gradually became weaker, and finally only the small but clear voice remained. Distinctive watchful sound. In front of the gate, because of its spaciousness, it is common for some snack sellers to rest in front of the gate.Needless to say in the daytime, there are also those who fry fried dough sticks and glutinous rice cakes under a "parasol king" (that's the name given by Lao Jiu).At night, you can still hear an announcement from time to time that some burden has stopped when passing by, gongs, bang bangs, just slogans, and there is little rest.This kind of sound is extremely uncomfortable to our ears.Under each sound is attached a food that is enough to make us salivate, and we are used to distinguishing the types of food from various notifications.We feel sick when we hear such sounds, and lonely when we don’t hear them.The most exciting thing is that the eldest sister comes home on Saturday. With her, we can try almost every kind of snack that passes by the door.

Not long after He Er left, a tin candy seller rested in front of the door again, knocking on a small gong. I know that the size of this gong is just like my small round inkstone, and it is tapped casually with a red rope hanging from my hand.Perhaps someone had drawn lots there, and when the gong stopped, the sound of a bamboo stick stirring in the cylinder could be heard.Heard talking again, but not very clearly.The sugar seller is from another place, for example, from Hubei.Because I often hear him say "Where is your family"; only the population of Hubei cannot do without "Where is your family", that is what Boss Chen has known since he has been in Wuchang for a long time.

Before he came here, I didn't seem to have seen a sugar seller walking all over the streets and alleys beating a small gong like that.The most special thing is that when he rests somewhere, he puts a one-legged stool under his buttocks to sit on, and then melodiously beats the small gong.Because we admired the particularly interesting one-legged stool, we rushed out when we heard the clanging sound during the day.Another time, the sixth brother asked him to let him sit and watch. We wondered why it would not fall down, and thought we had such a piece. We could sit and eat and play every day, and we could also carry it to the third aunt’s house to show the fifth sister and the others. .

The large wooden square plate is divided into many areas.One type of sugar is displayed in each section.Some have the same color and style but different taste, and some have different shapes but the same taste.There are mints wrapped in red and green paper into small triangular packets, which taste cool and sweet.There are slices of candied ginger with a slightly spicy taste.All kinds of round and triangular fruit candies, ten big ones and five pieces, two small ones and one piece.Lotus root candy is really like a small lotus root, with holes and knots.The red pepper candy is as big as a real red pepper. You can bite off the tip and the stalk and blow it as a horn.The eggplant candy is much smaller than the real eggplant, but it has the same color and form. It is also very sweet when you pour the tea into the hollow of the eggplant and then pour it into your mouth.There are also sugar bodhisattvas made of molds: the smallest one is as big as a thumb, and the big one is like a God of Wealth holding a whip or a belly-bellied arhat. A catty of sugar is not enough to make one.The man from Hubei put the bodhisattva in the middle of the plate, and all kinds of candies and small bodhisattvas were placed around them.Between the big Bodhisattvas, another small bottle was placed, with flowers of the four seasons and clouds painted on the bottle.In the bottle, put rose, orchid, pomegranate, camellia, chrysanthemum, plum and various grass flowers in season.

After Yuan Xiaolou, the chief of the police station, took out the candy lottery very generously.There are six sticks from one point to six points each, and these six six thirty-six bamboo sticks are bundled in a small bamboo tube wrapped in brass skin and painted with gold. The drawing method of "Passing the Five Passes" is that a small coin can only get one little Bodhisattva.If you use copper coins, if you pass the five levels three times and the victory still belongs to you, then the God of Wealth holding the whip in the middle of the plate will belong to you.It seems difficult to pass the five passes smoothly three times; but every day when the Hubei people go home, the pair of big gods of wealth can't go home together, it seems that it is not so difficult. After waiting for a while, the lottery outside was still stirring. The sixth younger brother had already flown out of the gate to the plate. I said, "Lao Jiu, listen!" I knew that Jiumei still had more than forty small coins in her pocket. In fact, Jiumei opened her ears to listen. "Let's go." Jiumei promised me with her eyes. She grabbed her belongings in her front pocket, looked at her mother and said honestly and docilely, "Mom, let me buy some mints!" "They want to eat, don't listen to them." "I don't want to draw lots," Jiumei explained very cleverly, knowing that Mom was afraid that we would draw lots. "Then I can't eat the porridge after a while!" Jiumei, who didn't want to eat sweets at first, took out the hand that was counting money in her pocket very naturally after her mother said. Mom said it must be Liu Sheng's instigation.Of course, this is too wronged Sixth Brother.The sixth brother was busy arguing, saying that he was thinking of other things, and he didn't even say a word. If it was him, it would be really wronged. It is true that the sixth brother said that he was thinking of other things.He thought of many things that were surprisingly fierce...how could the life-like God of Wealth with a long beard riding a tiger be empty inside?Why is that big-bellied arhat just as fat as the candy seller Yang Nushan!Why must the vase be surrounded by four little Bodhisattvas? After the sound of the lottery tube stopped, the beautiful gong sounded again. In less than twenty beeps, the one-legged stool will be put away, the plate will be put on the head, and there is no need to hold it up, and you will be happy to beat the gong and go to the door.After arriving at the entrance of the road, he put down the wooden plate on top, and a group of children who were smearing their mouths with spicy water from Bao's mother's vinegar and radish bowl flew over like bees and surrounded them, throwing money indiscriminately, making a noise. Cursing, taking advantage of the victory, they removed several bodhisattvas, big and small, from the plate.Seeing that the Bodhisattva followed the children and walked away, he put away the one-legged stool again, filled his heart with joy, put money in the plate, and ran home quickly.When I get home, I have to prepare all kinds of sugar that will be used tomorrow. The God of Wealth will do it again, and the little Bodhisattva will also make up the five hundred. The sugar customer was worried about the loss of the God of Wealth, and he stared at and enviously at the group of prodigal children who were about to die twice and still didn't go home. The sugar customer really put away the stool and left. "The diced sugar has gone to the door!" the sixth brother said abruptly. "Come here every night," I went on. "Mom, that's a guy from Hubei. No matter who you meet, he belongs to 'your family', just like Mrs. Chen's boss. I hate his kind of respect." Jiumei took the book from my hand. The class rushed over, "Mother, there is also a sugar seller in this book." Mom didn't make a sound. The Hubei guy really left.Before the duck porridge arrives, we all feel lonely.