Chapter 36: Spending New Year's (2)

  The next morning, Mrs. Liu started busy in the kitchen. Mainly preparing for tonight's offerings and a day of New Year's Eve dinner for the whole family. These few days are the most tiring days for women in a year, especially for families with hundreds of relatives, ancestor worship, visiting friends, offerings, New Year's Eve dinner, all food and supplies are prepared by the women in the family. Men do not enter the kitchen, this is a custom that has been passed down for thousands of years.

  Fortunately, the old willow family has a small population, with only a few rooms of distant relatives who are not necessarily coming during the New Year. Mrs. Liu does not need to prepare too many things, and compared to others, it is much easier.

  Ancestor worship requires wine, meat, grain and incense. The wine should be served in large bowls, the meat should be served in whole pieces, the grain should be piled high, and the incense should last a long time. From New Year's Eve to the end of the Lantern Festival, every day new dishes are prepared, and the incense is kept burning continuously. All these are not small expenses, but few people will complain when it comes to ancestor worship.

  In the morning, Wang Zhihong sent someone to deliver the 120 taels of silver to the Liu family, which brought a pleasant surprise to Liu Yitiao. Previously, he thought that Wang Zhihong would give him the money after the new year, but unexpectedly, Wang Zhihong had it delivered on New Year's Eve. From this point, it seems that Wang Zhihong has gained quite a bit of benefit from this.

  But all this has nothing to do with Liu Yitiao anymore, what's most practical now is getting the money.

  A few days ago when the oxen were delivered, Liu Yitiao was considering whether to order a few plows for future use in opening up wasteland and tilling the soil. However, at that time there was a big gap in his finances, so he had to put it aside first. Now that he has money, these things need to be put on the agenda again.

  Liu Yitiao is now a small landowner with some wealth. For things like sowing, reaping and ploughing, the basic production equipment must be well-prepared, and only the best will do. Otherwise, if someone has cattle but no corresponding tools, isn't that a joke?

  It's now the early days of the Taotang era, and most farmers use straight-shaft plows. The old Lius have one too, and Liu Yitia has studied it several times, concluding that this era is too crazy - can such a plow really be used for farming?

  The straight-shaft plow is not only cumbersome and labor-intensive to use, but also extremely difficult to turn around or back up. The lack of sufficient flexibility will greatly affect the efficiency of farming, making it completely unsuitable for rapid land reclamation and cultivation.

  So Liu Yitiao wants to get the 30 mu of wasteland ready before spring plowing, he must make some improvements to this tool.

  As for how to change, Liu Yitiao has been thinking about this problem for several days.

  He recalled that when he was studying the chapter on ancient farming tools in history class, his history teacher had given a detailed introduction to the curved-share plow of the late Tang Dynasty.

  It seemed that the teacher had brought a model of a curved share plow to let each student understand its structure and advantages over other plows. And according to the model, he also explained in detail the manufacturing process of the curved share plow and the use of each component.

  At that time, most students didn't notice and thought the curved share plow was already advanced enough and no longer needed to be understood so clearly. Unfortunately, Liu Yitiao also thought this way at the time.

  So after one class, he only remembered the rough shape of the curved share plow and knew it was composed of eleven parts. As for what those parts were called, he had no idea.

  Relying on his remaining memories, Liu Yitiao drew the rough shape of the curved share plow on paper. Now he can only ask some experienced masters or blacksmiths to try it out and see if they can make the curved share plow based on this drawing.

  But now it's just the Lunar New Year, everyone is busy with worshiping ancestors, visiting friends and relatives, so no one can come to work. Everything has to wait until after the Lunar New Year.

  Liu Laoshi took a bowl of rice paste from the kitchen and began to stick the red paper and door gods. The door gods were stuck on the main gate, and the red paper was stuck on the small gates and side doors.

  Wait until nightfall, hang two large red lanterns at the main gate and the main door of the hall, light up the red candles inside, and keep them lit until dawn the next day. This is also a traditional custom passed down from ancient times, which is said to be used to scare away the "Xi" beast that only appears on New Year's Eve.

  The day passed quickly, and in the midst of Liu Xiaohui's cheerful laughter and chatter, it flowed into dusk.

  Liu Laoshi once again drove Liu He's wife to the main house, and led Liu Yitiao and Liu Ertiao brothers in the kitchen to welcome the stove god who was sent to the Western Heaven by them during the Xiaonian.

  The ceremony to welcome the Kitchen God is much simpler than seeing him off, or it can't even be called a ceremony. It's just lighting two incense sticks and re-hanging the newly bought or borrowed picture of the Kitchen God.

  Then they start worshiping their ancestors.

  Liu Laoshi first placed the offerings, then lit a stick of incense and bowed three times in front of his ancestors' spirit tablets. He knelt down on the ground, muttering to himself as he prayed for his ancestors' protection and blessings for the safety of his family. After finishing, he stood up and stepped aside.

  Next are Liu He's family, Liu Yitiao, Liu Ertiao, and Liu Xiaohui. In order of seniority from high to low, they take turns burning incense in front of the case, kowtowing, and paying homage.

  After the whole family finished worshiping, Liu Laoshi led the family to the courtyard and let Liu Yitiao light up the bamboo bought in the morning. After listening to the crackling sound of the burning bamboo for a while, he said: "Alright, let's have our New Year's dinner!"

  As soon as Liu Lao's words fell, Liu Xiao Hui and Liu Er Tiao rushed to the dinner table in the main hall. Tonight's dishes are the most abundant throughout the year. It's no wonder they would be so eager and happy. Moreover, at this time, no one will speak out to blame them, the New Year is just what the children need to bring joy.

  The New Year's Eve dinner was missing dumplings, which made Liu Yitiao feel that it lacked some New Year's flavor.

  This afternoon he wanted to go to the kitchen to wrap a few, but as soon as he entered the kitchen door, he was driven out by Liu He's wife. Making New Year's Eve dinner is women's patent, and men in the family are not allowed to intervene. Liu Yitiao wanted to propose some ideas, but after being scolded by Liu He's wife, he didn't dare say anything else.

  Liu Yitiao poured a cup of wine for Old Liu, brought it to the front of Liu Laoshi and said: "Dad, I represent myself, Second Brother and Little Sister to toast you a glass, thank you for your guidance to us three siblings over the years. We wish you and Mom health, longevity! Forever young!"

  "Ah, good, good, I'll drink this wine!" Old Liu had never heard such a fresh phrase before, and he thought his child was sensible, so he happily took the cup and gulped down the wine in one swallow.

  Lao Liu's capacity for liquor was shallow, and after downing a single cup of wine, his entire face turned red. He picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of food, saying: "Thanks to the blessings of our ancestors, I, Liu Fengkai, have been fortunate enough to have all of you as my descendants in this life. Especially you, Ah Yi, having you in the Liu family is a blessing for me, Liu Fengkai!" Then he raised his wine cup and said: "Come on, let's take advantage of today's joy and drink a few more cups together, father and son."

  "Yes, Father." Liu Yitiao raised his wine cup and clinked it with Old Liu's before downing the drink. He was about to have another round with Old Liu when Mrs. Liu interrupted from the side, "You two shouldn't drink too much, you still need to stay up late tonight for the New Year's Eve vigil, what if you both get drunk?"

  "Oh, right, we still have to stay up late tonight, let's drink a little less." Old Liu put down his wine cup and said to Liu Yitiao: "We'll drink again tomorrow, let's eat first."

  Liu Yitiao nodded, he also knew some customs of staying up late on New Year's Eve, but really, did they have to stay up till dawn?