The modern fortune-telling history of a small shopkeeper

Chapter 264, Zhang Family Chinese New Year

It was New Year's Eve on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, and most of the people who went out in the village had already returned home.

During the holidays, the family is nothing more than looking forward to the return of the husband and children who are working outside, and have a good year of reunion.

It used to be good to have two catties of pork at home during the Chinese New Year. Now life is getting better, and I have a large group of big roosters. Aunt Qiao is not willing to catch any of them and sell them. They are all kept for the family. The children came back to kill and eat.

This year, several families are still cooking New Year’s Eve dinner at their home. The family has been slaughtering sheep and chickens since noon. Thinking of the large number of people eating at home, after everyone’s discussion, they even killed two more chickens.The weather is cold now, even if you can't finish eating and leave it for tomorrow, it won't spoil.

They were also doing business in the town today and didn't come back until noon.

Business is good at this time, and their business people, all year round, just want to earn a little money, and the hard work is only half a day.At this time, the business is good, and things are selling quickly, and they can rest at home for a few days if they don't open their stalls during the Chinese New Year.

The boys in the family have not come back yet, and someone from the family drove to the town to pick them up.

"Why haven't those children come back yet? It's almost dark today." Mrs. Qiao was busy in the kitchen while paying attention to the sounds outside.

Huang Yan also stretched her head out and said, "Maybe it's almost here."

All the boys in the family have gone outside, and they haven't come back yet.Although they had already called back and said they were going home today, they hadn't seen anyone yet, so they felt a little worried.

At this time, the kitchen is dominated by women, and Mrs. Qiao's two daughters-in-law are also helping with work in the kitchen.

This waited until the evening sun was about to set before hearing the sound of the car coming back from outside.

"Hey, I must have brought someone back here. Let's go out and have a look." Mrs. Qiao shook off the flour on her hands, wiped her hands with a towel, and called everyone to go out outside.

"Okay, let's go." Huang Yan smiled and got up.

The two young daughters-in-law followed behind their mother-in-law, thinking that their husband was back, both of them had smiles on their faces.

"Auntie."

"Dad."

"Hey, I'm back."

A group of boys returned home, shouting happily when they saw their parents whom they had not seen for a long time.

"Brother, brother——" Seeing their brother coming back, the younger ones rushed towards him.

When Qiao Minglang got out of the car, he was surrounded by a group of children from their family. Even the package in his hand was snatched by the children to help him get it. He said a bit dumbfounded: "Don't move, let brother come take."

I haven't seen him for half a year, and the younger brothers and sisters in the family have grown a lot taller.

The most obvious ones are the two twins. He remembered that when he first went to study, the two children couldn't even walk well, but now they can run behind their brothers and sisters.

"Brother, let's get it too, we can handle it." Qiao Mingcheng was carrying a big bag in his hand, and he didn't know what was in it, such a big bag.But it's not very heavy, and he can lift it by himself.

Seeing that his younger brothers and sisters wanted to help, Qiao Minglang had no choice but to let them take it.

"Why did you guys come back so late? I'm waiting for you to come back and cook. You go and put away your things and come to the aunt's house for dinner." Aunt Qiao saw that all the boys in the family had come back, and smiled. Woke up and the crow's feet in the corners of his eyes became darker, and shouted at a group of boys.

"Hey, okay, ma'am, let's go home and put away our things." Qiao Minglang greeted his aunt and uncles, and took his younger brothers and sisters home first.

There are new couplets pasted on the door of the house, and the house doesn't seem to have changed much from the time he left last time.

After the family house was built, the siblings of Qiao's family lived back in their own home, instead of borrowing to live in someone else's house.

"Here are the new clothes I bought for you. I don't know how many children you have grown, so you should be able to wear them. There are also some stationery and a few books. Put them here, Second Sister, and we will use them at your place. Take it." Qiao Minglang took out the new clothes he bought for the children for the Chinese New Year, and he also bought a dozen pens and notebooks. These things were handed over to the eldest girl in the family, and the younger brothers and sisters would use them when they needed them. Go and get it.

I know that the boys at home are growing fast at this time, and the clothes they wore last year are a bit short this year.

They lost their parents, and he took care of the clothes and meals of the children in the family.Usually when he looks back from the outside, Qiao Minglang will also think about these things about the children, and he will remember to buy some clothes for the children when he comes back, not to mention that it is Chinese New Year now, he has prepared all these things in advance, and brought them with him when he comes back return.

During Chinese New Year, old people are one year older and children are one year older.

Adults don't like New Year's Eve, but children like it because they can have new clothes to wear and lucky money for New Year's Eve.

"This is our new clothes, thank you brother." Sanmei Qiao glanced at her elder sister carefully, suppressing the joy in her heart, not daring to be too happy, so as not to be told by her elder sister when she turns around.

"Okay brother." Qiao Xiaohui took the things her brother bought back, saw a bag containing stationery and books, took it aside and put it away.

"These were brought to grandpa and grandma, uncle and aunt..."

Qiao Minglang brought back a lot of things, some for the children of the family, some for grandparents and the elders of the family.He remembered that the old lady's health was not very good before, so he asked casually, "How is grandma? Have you seen grandma recently?"

"Yes, grandma came out to bask in the sun this morning." Sanmei Qiao took the candy given by her brother, peeled off the wrapper and stuffed it into the little sister's mouth, and was slapped by her sister.

Qiao Xiaohui glared angrily at the elder sister who stuffed candy for the younger sister, "It's almost time to eat, so you give them candy." How will they eat in a while?

"...Isn't it because I didn't eat so fast?" Qiao Sanmei felt that her second sister was getting more and more fierce.

The little girl who used to be gentle and quiet is now becoming more and more fierce.

In fact, it was also forced by the group of little devils in the family. The eldest brother was not at home, and the younger brothers and sisters in the family were under her care.Qiao Xiaohui realized that if she hadn't been more aggressive, this group of young people would not be afraid of her at all, so she couldn't control her at all.

Qiao Xiaobao waited for a long time with his mouth open, but he was a little unhappy when he didn't get the candy. He patted his brother's feet with an aggrieved face.

Qiao Minglang, who peeled half of a candy, looked at the elder sister who was a little bit scary, and quickly rolled back the candy wrapper, stuffed a handful of candy into the child's pocket, and discussed: "Put it in your pocket and eat it later." Let's eat after dinner, okay?"

Qiao Xiaobao touched his bulging pocket, feeling a little tangled in his heart, and finally nodded.

"Let's put the clothes away and come back to look at them. Let's go, first go to the aunt's house." After putting away the things, Qiao Minglang asked his younger brothers and sisters to carry the things he bought for their grandparents and elders, and held the hands of the two twins , led a group of children out.

Although she really wanted to see what the new clothes her brother bought for them looked like, Sanmei Qiao could only reluctantly put down her things and followed her brothers and sisters to the aunt's house.

***

After leaving their house, the opposite door is their aunt's house.

Now their uncles' homes are surrounded by brick walls. When they came back last time, the walls of their uncles' homes were not like this.This time when he came back and saw that the walls of several uncles' houses had been changed, Qiao Minglang thought about it for a while, and he knew the reason for it, thinking that it would be better.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw his grandfather sitting at the door. Qiao Minglang took his younger brothers and sisters over and called out "Grandpa."

"Hey, my good grandchildren are back." Grandpa Qiao had a rare smile on his face when he saw the grandchildren came back.Qiao Minglang sat down beside the old man and let his younger brothers and sisters play. He said a few words with the old man, "Didn't grandpa like this shredded tobacco last time? When I came back this time, I also brought some for grandpa. .”

As he spoke, he took out a small bag from the bag he brought over, which contained half a catty of shredded tobacco.

Qiao Minglang didn't dare to buy too many of these things for the old man, knowing that smoking too much would be bad for the old man's health.It's just that the old man liked it, so he brought some back for the old man.

As soon as he saw something he liked, the smile on Grandpa Qiao's face deepened, "Hey, good."

"Is this tobacco expensive?"

"Not very expensive."

"Abba, Minglang, Minglang, did you bring shredded tobacco back for your grandfather?" Uncle Qiao came over and saw his old father smiling. He hadn't seen his old father so happy for a long time.

It is no wonder that the nephew brought tobacco shreds back to the old father.

Qiao Minglang called out, "Uncle."

"The store over there is open until today?" Uncle Qiao sat down on the small stool and sighed deeply.He got up early and worked late every day. At his age, his body couldn't bear it.

But if you don't do this job, you don't make money, and you can't do it.It's more uncomfortable than taking his life without making money.

After taking the chimney handed by his old father, Uncle Qiao took a puff, and then slowly talked about some things at home. He talked about finding someone to come over to surround the wall a few days ago, "We are not usually at home, The original fence, anyone can step in."

"I discussed it with your second uncle and fifth uncle, and then I invited someone to come over and build a new wall."

Several of them usually go out to do business. There are only two old people and children at home, but there must be valuable things in the house.In the past, the house was just surrounded by a few bamboos casually, and outsiders came in as soon as they stepped on it, which was not safe enough.

This time, Uncle Qiao discussed with the other two brothers and invited someone to come over and build such a wall.Although you can't look up and see the neighbor's house like before, but with such a wall, it's not easy for outsiders to sneak in, and it's safer to keep the things in the house.

"Yeah, that's pretty good." Qiao Minglang nodded in response.