The cold is forced to clear the worship, and there is a wine banquet Jiaping.

What is the way of the heart, so as to comfort the feelings.

On the eighth day of the lunar month, in the middle of winter, the cold condenses the earth, and Zhu Ping'an's house puts wine and meat on the table to worship the gods and ancestors, and thank the gods and ancestors for their blessings. Early in the morning, Zhu's father led Zhu Ping'an and his eldest brother Zhu Ping'an to the old mansion with wine and meat offerings, and went to the ancestral hall after meeting his grandfather, uncle and others to worship his ancestors.

The ancestral hall of the Zhu family is magnificently at this time, the flagpole stone at the door floats with the flag raised by Zhu Ping'an, and there are couplets that have just been hung for a few days at the door, and the people in the village will respectfully worship when they pass by the ancestral hall of the Zhu family, and the grandfather is quite proud when he stands at the door, and when he worships the ancestors and the ancestors, his grandfather is full of the feeling that the Zhu family has made a fortune in my hands.

By the time Zhu Ping'an and his father and brother returned home, their mother Chen had already made a pot of particularly fragrant eight-treasure porridge with rice, millet, red beans, peanuts, lotus seeds, red dates, fungus picked from the mountains, glutinous rice, mung beans and other materials.

There is a particular thing in Xiahe Village, Laba porridge should be sent to relatives and friends as soon as possible after it is done, it must be before noon, and the sooner the better, the whole village is like robbing something, you send me a bowl, I will give you a bowl, it is roughly the meaning of robbing blessing.

Zhu Ping'an and his eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan were instructed by their mother Chen to carry eight-treasure porridge to deliver it from house to house, almost running the whole village. After sending off relatives and friends, Zhu Ping'an's family sat down to eat eight-treasure porridge, because his mother Chen boiled too much, and it is estimated that he will not be able to drink it in the remaining day or two, but it doesn't matter, the rest is good, and the rest means that there is more than every year, which is a good sign.

Different from the celebratory atmosphere of other people's families, after eating eight-treasure porridge, the atmosphere of the Zhu family is a little sad to part.

This day is the Laba Festival, and it is also the day when Zhu Ping'an left home and went to the capital to catch the exam.

Killing Matt's dark horse was placed by the Chen family on its back, causing this thing to look back frequently.

A large bag of air-dried jerky is more than 30 catties, which is Chen worried that Zhu Ping'an could not find food in the wild of Huangshan on the road, and he was stocked up to satisfy his hunger in an emergency, this big bag of jerky is mainly pork jerky and a small amount of rabbit jerky, about two or three catties of meat can produce a pound of jerky, just these jerky. Chen's cost almost a hundred catties of meat.

Because the weather is cold and the food can be stored for a longer time, Chen also specially fried a lot of cakes for Zhu Ping'an, and also packed a bag and put it on the back of the black horse that killed Matt.

On the food side, there are also some sun-dried preserved fruits. and Chen's pickled cucumbers and other vegetables for Zhu Ping'an to eat.

What was empty was the bedding and clothes, etc., and his mother Chen made five sets of clothes for Zhu Ping'an, plus a large bag of close-fitting clothes, etc., and Zhu's father tied them to both sides of the black horse that killed Matt, so that it would not affect the saddle.

As for the road guide, test certificate, qualification certificate, etc., Zhu Ping'an is placed closely. The silver tickets he carried were sewn to the inside of his clothes by Chen, and Zhu Ping'an carried a small amount of silver tickets and scattered silver.

Of course, the indispensable thing is the black board, and the practice of calligraphy is used to it, and the brush that practiced calligraphy Zhu's father remade a new one with the oxtail of the big black cow, and Zhu Ping'an also brought it.

In addition, there are some other daily necessities that are also scattered, including the herbs for various diseases that Zhu's father specially went to the town to ask the pharmacy to dispense, as well as the treatment of snake venom and beast bites and Jinchuang medicine.

The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan also went to the blacksmith shop in the town to create a slightly longer dagger for Zhu Ping'an's self-defense, designed a hanging on the saddle, put it in the saddle, and covered it with a mat.

"Hello. Bring an extra fifty taels of silver tickets. "When Mother Chen was packing up for Zhu Ping'an, she was worried that Zhu Ping'an's money was not enough to spend, so she had to give Zhu Ping'an fifty taels of silver.

Zhu Ping'an shook his head when he heard this, and comforted his mother Chen with a smile, "Mother, no need, I have brought more than a hundred taels of silver, which is enough, leave the money for my brother's marriage." ”

Before Chen could speak, Zhu Pingchuan, the eldest brother on the other side, who was putting something on the back of the black horse that killed Matt, spoke:

"Brother Wai. You just take it, our father and mother have two or three times more money for me to prepare for the marriage than before, it is already enough, and the poor family is rich. You just take it. ”

"That's it, you put it away, our family is not short of money." Mother Chen said that she was going to stuff the money into the burden that Zhu Ping'an was carrying.

"Mother, the money I brought is really enough. Besides, it's not safe to carry so much money on the road. Zhu Ping'an took a step back and shook his head.

"What about it. If you don't take it out, others don't know how much you bring. Mother Chen insisted on bringing the money to Zhu Ping'an.

Zhu Ping'an knows the situation at home, and the family has spent a lot of money these days, his mother Chen and Zhu's father are standard peasant ideas, and they have bought dozens of acres of land, and they have to carry out the landlord's road to the end, and they have spent a lot of money to buy fields; Although the family also received a lot of tenants, it also cost a lot of money to purchase cattle and farm tools, and to resettle tenants. The other is the expenditure of human affection, after Zhu Ping'an's middle move, everyone in the village knows that the Zhu family is developed, and there are many relatives, uh, such as uncles, etc., who come to fight the autumn breeze to borrow money and the like. Then there is the eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan's relatives, and there are still a lot of places to use money at home.

In addition, in addition to the money on the surface, Zhu Ping'an also has some private houses, the money left over from the children's test and the township test, the money for Baohang, and the money earned when the Li family audited the accounts.

"The money I brought is really enough, more than 100 taels of silver is enough for the people in our village to spend for many years, and I will go to the school for half a year. The mother will keep the money to buy more good things to eat with her father, and wait for her son to come back to earn a fortune for you. ”

Zhu Ping'an smiled and turned over on his horse and explained to his mother Chen.

"Mother doesn't want to give orders, I want you to have a safe and secure journey, just give your mother a safe home." Mother Chen said as she spoke, tears flowed down, and while wiping her tears, she instructed Zhu Ping'an to pay attention to matters along the way.

"Okay, don't cry, why are you crying, it's unlucky for you to cry on the day of the exam." Father Zhu said on the side.

"Zhu Shouyi, you say it again! It's not the meat that fell from your body, of course you don't feel distressed! When Mother Chen heard this, she stopped crying, and angrily reached out and pinched Zhu's father's arm.

"Okay, good, the more you cry, the more auspicious you are."

Zhu's father begged for mercy, and his mother Chen burst into tears and laughed, and the atmosphere in the courtyard was much better.

"Dad, mother, you must take care of your body, don't worry about your son, my son has been out many times, and he can take care of himself."

Zhu Ping'an rode on the dark horse that killed Matt, said goodbye to his parents, and asked his eldest brother to bother more when he went out:

"Big brother, I wish you a happy wedding in advance. Hehe, when the time comes, there will be a sister-in-law and you to be filial to our father and mother, brother, I will come back and contribute more. ”

In the Laba season, Zhu Ping'an drove his horse away from Xiahe Village and opened the road to Beijing to catch the exam. (To be continued.) )