Golden Fishing Village

Ao Muyang was depressed because he became a lonely man again after Lu Zhizi left.

He was in a daze for a while and basked in the sun for a while. When the warmest time at noon passed, he put on his clothes again and prepared to leave.

He stood up and looked at the general and was about to wave, but was surprised to find that there was money in the bowl held by the general, including a 1.5 yuan steel coin and a few 1 yuan green banknotes...

"Did you eat money?" Ao Muyang was stunned.

The words of the people next to him made him even more stunned: "Aren't you a beggar? Seeing that you are wearing so little, I thought you were begging for money with a dog."

The general wagged his tail and ran to the person who was talking, stretched his neck and handed over the plastic bowl of stinky tofu.

The man took back the one yuan he had prepared, and hurriedly left with the child, muttering: "People's hearts are bad, and they come out to pretend to be beggars to cheat money at such a young age."

Ao Muyang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Who pretended to be a beggar? Wasn't he just a little depressed just now?

There was little to do in winter, and the New Year was coming soon.

Ao Muyang gave Zhong Cang a holiday in advance and asked him to go to the hospital to accompany his wife.

Zhong Cang's wife is named Wang Xia, a very simple woman with a mild temper. She doesn't like to talk and likes to smile. She is quite similar to Zhong Cang.

The cost of the operation was in place, and the hospital quickly arranged for her to have the operation, so that she is expected to go home for the New Year and don't have to stay in the hospital all the time.

Hongyang District attaches great importance to the festival of Xiaonian. There is a local proverb called "Xiaonian Eve is bigger than the night of the 30th, and Xiaonian is earlier than the early first day of the new year."

Families with a large population usually start preparing for the festival the night before Xiaonian. The reason for this is that local migrant workers basically return home on Xiaonian, and fishermen also stop their boats before Xiaonian to prepare to rest for a few days to welcome the New Year.

The local custom is to eat dumplings on Xiaonian. On the night before Xiaonian, the whole family gathers together to make dumplings, which becomes an activity. This leads to the fact that most local young people, both men and women, have a unique skill in making dumplings.

Ao Fugui came to call Ao Muyang to make dumplings together. Ao Muyang didn't like staying at other people's homes during such a reunion festival. The reunion of other people's families made him feel more lonely.

So he rejected Ao Fugui's invitation and stayed at home to make dumplings one night in advance.

Ao Zhibing had no one at home, so he stayed too. The old man and the young man gathered at a table.

The old people were very particular. Ao Muyang meant that the two of them could just make some dumplings together. As a result, the old man put on airs and said, "This won't work. The rules left by our ancestors can't be broken. This is the end of the year. We have to end it beautifully."

So Ao Muyang went to mix the stuffing, and old man Ao Zhibing went to prepare some things.

Ao Zhibing went home and took two round bamboo plaques, which are called Pu Luo in the local dialect. They are specially used to place dumplings and Yuanxiao.

Pu Luo has been used for too long, and there is even a layer of patina on it. The light illuminates the hall.

The old man put some lettuce leaves on top, and Ao Muyang put the dumplings on the leaves after wrapping them. This has a meaning. The homonym of "lettuce" is "making money", which means getting rich.

In addition, brown sugar and honey are also added, which also has a meaning, called sweet and sweet, and there are 10 pairs of new chopsticks, which means "perfect".

The old man prepared these things very seriously, and Ao Muyang laughed beside him. Don't say it, after someone was so busy, the atmosphere of family festivals came.

He steamed a big mackerel and prepared to make dumplings with fish fillings. This is also a local feature. Rely on the mountains to eat the mountains and the sea to eat the sea. The local fish dumplings, fish buns, seaweed dumplings, etc. are very famous.

The steamed mackerel exuded a fragrance. After cooling slightly, he sliced ​​the meat from it with a knife. This fish has no other fish bones except the main trunk bone in the middle. The fish meat is rich and suitable for making dumplings.

Ao Muyang prepared the filling and the old man also kneaded the dough.

He rolled out the dough and made dumplings, while the old man was kneading other things beside him, such as gold ingots, rice pounding tools, puppies, etc. People who didn't know thought that the old man was still childish, but in fact, this was also a local custom.

Ao Zhibing kneaded the dough while muttering: "Knead a gold ingot, knead a silver dollar cake, make a lot of money; knead a rice pestle, knead a rice mortar, and have a good harvest of sweet and salty grains; knead a puppy, knead a big dog, watch over the house and protect the courtyard to ensure safety..."

The general and the queen flower lay on the sofa. The old man muttered for a while and then laughed. He kneaded the dough according to their appearance. One of them had a tuft of hair on his head, which looked like a general.

The sun sets early on winter nights, and the sky quickly darkens.

Dumplings are not eaten that night, but in the morning. In the morning, when it was still dark, the sound of firecrackers rang.

Ao Muyang got up and set off firecrackers, and then the old man made dumplings. The division of labor was clear.

As soon as the firecrackers sounded, the house was in a mess.

The general and the queen ran around, and Ao Muyang thought they were scared, but when he looked back, he felt that the two naughty kids were excited.

The head of state was indeed afraid of the sound of firecrackers, and he got into the bed with only his butt sticking out.

The queen stood at the head of the bed, and when the firecrackers sounded, she cried: "Quack! Quack!"

Ao Muyang made dumplings with several kinds of fillings last night. The leek and shrimp dumplings were his, the seaweed and tofu dumplings were Ao Zhibing's, the fish dumplings were the head of state, and the mutton and beef dumplings were the general and the queen. The queen found that there was no dumpling for her, so she just picked up a dumpling and pecked at it for a few times. She thought it tasted bad, so she threw it away and continued to quack with the sound of firecrackers.

After the Little New Year, there were only a few days left before the New Year, and at this time, there were more temple fairs and annual meetings.

Ao Muyang had not had such an experience for several years, so he made an appointment with a few people in advance to go to the town to attend the New Year's Fair.

The town's New Year's Fair was in Niangen, so it would be fine, so he went to the fishing ground again.

As soon as he stopped the boat at the fishing ground, the tiger suddenly emerged from the water with a big fish in its mouth.

Ao Muyang was shocked when he saw it: a bluefin tuna!

"Did you bring trouble to the fish in our fishing ground?" he asked in shock.

Upon closer inspection, he found something was wrong. The fish was smaller, just over one meter long.

Suddenly, he understood that the school of fish had not left, and the tiger had gained something again!

It's a pity that this fish is already dead. I don't know whether it was hit by a tiger or suffocated to death. As long as it fell into the tiger's mouth, the tuna would definitely not survive.

Looking at the tigers showing off their power around the fishing boat, Ao Muyang smiled and threw a piece of beef down.

Although this tuna is dead, it is a precious seafood after all and is still very valuable.

He went to take a look at the floating objects, and found that the fish, squid, etc. hanging below were gone!

Seeing this, he felt a little regretful. He was still too impatient. The method of catching tuna proposed by Lu Zhizi was very effective and really attracted a school of tuna.

In this way, he attached squid and fish meat to the fish hook under the floating object, and then stayed in the nearby sea, trying his luck to see if he could encounter another school of tuna.