Chapter 93 Happy New Year Whether you have money or not, you should get a haircut during the New Year. At that time, few people in rural areas had the habit of going to barber shops. Instead, they would usually have a manual clipper, which was common in three or five shops. At that time, "The Ordinary World" had not yet been published, and Hu Delu of Shigejie Commune had not yet designed fashionable hairstyles. The Li family's hair was cut by Liang Yuemei. Li Juan and Li Qiang also got new clothes and they were just waiting to put them on after New Year's Eve. At this time, even if the family is poor and cannot afford cloth to make new clothes, they will wash the clothes for the children and try to wear clothes with fewer patches during the New Year. As New Year's Eve approaches, sporadic firecrackers can be heard occasionally. Li Qiang was the most popular kid on the team these days - Li Long unpacked the 100-shot firecrackers he had bought in Wucheng and let him take a handful at a time, then lit a jasmine incense stick and held it in his hand before going out to set it off. At this time, both boys and girls were very persistent in their pursuit of firecrackers. The small firecracker with a hundred shots had a very small amount of gunpowder, and Li Long dared to hold it in his hand and set it off, so he was not worried about being blown up. On the contrary, the electric firecrackers set off when making dumplings on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year are quite loud, so you still have to be careful at this time.
This New Year, many families are thinking of the kindness of the Li family - thanks to Li Long, many families in the team can add one or two more hard dishes to their reunion dinner tables this New Year. Whether it is wild boar meat, yellow sheep meat, sheep offal, or fish, they were rare during the Chinese New Year in the past. But now, they are more or less available. Even if they went to Xiaohaizi to break ice holes to catch fish, it was Li Long who started it first. Although other families did not sell fish, or did not dare to sell them, at least they knew how to eat fish and had fish to eat. It would be very prestigious to have a big carp on the New Year’s Eve dinner. There are quite a few young people visiting Li Long these days. After seeing the leather jacket in Li Long's room, Xu Haijun envied him for a long time - this leather jacket costs more than 40 yuan in the department store, which is equivalent to an ordinary worker's monthly salary. It is really difficult for ordinary people to afford it. But it's made of otter skin on the outside and processed fluffy fur on the inside, plus a fur collar, so it looks fashionable and is indeed warm. "Xiaolong, you have changed a lot in this period of time." Xu Haijun said with emotion while sitting on the kang, "Not to mention the money you have made, you have seen a lot outside, and even the way you speak is different." Xu Haijun came alone today. He brought twenty bullets and wanted to exchange them for four pounds of yellow mutton. Li Long naturally had no objection. There wasn't much else at home, just a lot of meat. "It is said that if a tree is moved, it will die, but if a person is moved, he will live." Li Long said with a smile, "If you go out and have a look, you will naturally become different after you have gained more experience." "I've never been out, so I don't dare. At most, I just wander around the county town. I'm not like you, who can wander around Wucheng and Shicheng at will." "Then I'm pulling in the fish, and someone in Ma County is catching them. What should I do if I don't go to Shicheng? People are forced to do things. If you don't push yourself, how do you know it won't work?" There were no other entertainment facilities these days, so Li Long could only read books to kill time. This made him miss the days when he watched videos and read novels on his mobile phone in his previous life. "By the way, I heard that Wu Shufen and Gu Ermao broke up again. Didn't she come to you to get back together?" Xu Haijun asked in an ambiguous tone. "What's the point of getting back together?" Li Long waved his hand. "A good horse never turns back. She can't come, and I can't go." "Why? She is so beautiful, and you don't care about her?" Xu Haijun was a little surprised. "She is so beautiful, why don't you pursue her?" Li Long asked back. "It's true that she is beautiful, but it's also true that her mother is difficult to deal with." Xu Haijun now regards Li Long as a confidant and tells the truth.
"I'm not thinking about that." Li Long shook his head. "Making money is the most important thing now. I think I understand that as long as you make money, whether you are a worker or a farmer, you will be in great demand." "You're right." Xu Haijun said with a smile, "My sister-in-law has been saying these days that she wants to introduce you to a good match." "Forget it." Li Long smiled, "I have high standards now, and I don't like ordinary people." It was already dark when Xu Haijun left. Li Long knew that Xu Haijun was a very noble person. He went to high school, although he did not graduate, but his vision was different from that of ordinary young people in the team. He always had a kind of noble attitude of "everyone else is drunk but I am sober", and then he really joined the army. It was March when the conscription started. Xu Chengjun was the team leader, and Xu Haijun had attended high school and had no health problems, so he had a good chance of joining the army. However, Xu Haijun's words did serve as a reminder to Li Long. His sister-in-law had been saying from time to time these past two days that the aunts and sisters-in-law in the team were really trying to introduce Li Long to potential partners, all of whom were their relatives or something. Most of them have an impression of Li Long, and people rejected him before they even met him. Although he is not a beauty lover, he should at least be able to like the look of the girl. New Year's Eve arrived amidst all the chaos. The Li family's custom is to worship their ancestors on New Year's Eve. He and Li Jianguo went to the main road outside, picked a crossroads, made a circle in the snow, cut a hole in the southeast, and then burned paper in the circle. "When I was a kid, I would go to my ancestors' graves to burn paper on New Year's Eve, but now I can only do it here," Li Jianguo said with emotion. "I don't know if our ancestors can receive it." After burning the paper, the two brothers went home and had dumplings at noon on the 30th. Before eating dumplings, post Spring Festival couplets. Because of Li Long's ability, the Li family made two kinds of dumplings this year: wild boar meat and cabbage filling and mutton and cabbage filling. Li Jianguo also found a few brand new coins from the cupboard, washed them, and Liang Yuemei put them in the dumplings, saying that they would see who could eat them on the first day of the new year. After eating the dumplings, Li Qiang couldn't wait to ask Li Long to open a bag of small firecrackers, and then rushed out with a stick of incense. "Look at what he can do!" Liang Yuemei couldn't help but say, "I don't know what to put away." "As a boy, there's nothing wrong with him running around." Li Jianguo said with a smile. For the New Year's Eve dinner, as Li Long suggested, the family had braised meat, mixed cold dishes, and stir-fried hot dishes. The whole family was talking and laughing happily. In this life, Li Long drank wine for the first time. The more famous wines sold here are Gucheng and Baiyang. Li Long only drank two glasses before stopping. He still remembered that he had to go out to fire the cannon after midnight. Li Qiang insisted on following him. He reluctantly followed Li Long until twelve o'clock, then put on new clothes and followed Li Long to the door. Li Long first lit a firecracker and threw it out. Then they heard two "bangs" outside before they came out. Li Long placed four firecrackers in a row in the yard and said to Li Qiang: "You order two on the west side, and I order two on the east side. Make sure they are lit. Don't worry, they won't explode on you." Li Qiang felt a little nervous when looking at such a thick cannon. But boys can't be cowardly at this time. He saw Li Long had gone over to prepare to light the cannon, and immediately came to the westernmost cannon, squatted down, nervously stretched out his hand, and used the incense in his hand to touch the cannon's twist. After finally lighting it, he turned around and ran, but saw Li Long lighting the second one, so he had to go back. "Bang-bang-pa-bang-pa..." A series of loud noises exploded in the night sky. The new year has arrived. Li Qiang nervously looked at the firecrackers exploding in the air, thinking that he could have a good time blowing them up with his friends tomorrow.
I actually fired such a big cannon! Li Long was thinking, I have been here for almost a month, I hope everything goes well in the new year! (End of this chapter)
