portable space

The aroma rose in the kitchen, and Zhang Taiping asked: "What are you doing? It smells so good?"

Cai Yazhi replied: "Let's steam buns and steam some flower cakes. No one came here during the Chinese New Year in the past, so we didn't prepare flower cakes. Last year, people came to pay New Year greetings but didn't give them flower cakes, so I'm preparing them this year."

superior."

There is a custom here of giving gifts in return for flower cakes. In fact, the so-called flower cakes are nothing special. They are still made of white flour, but they are not in the shape of ordinary steamed buns, but have some patterns around them. The most you can do is put two jujubes or two jujubes on top.

raisin.

"Who is inside?" Zhang Taiping asked.

Cai Yazhi replied with some embarrassment: "Sister Zhang Xiu, Lu Feng, and Ling'er were nearby to help. Originally, the younger sister was also inside, but she ran out to set off cannons. The two of them also planned to steam buns before the year, but they said they were at home.

Come and steam with us if there are fewer people."

No matter how few people there are, one pot can still be eaten. This is obviously to help Cai Yazhi, seeing that she is pregnant and unable to work.

Just as she was talking, Zhang Xiuxiu poked her head out of the kitchen and shouted: "Whoever wants to eat steamed buns should hurry up. Steamed buns are the best when they are freshly steamed. They are not as delicious when they are cold."

A few people walked in and found that the bedding on the large kang connected to the pot and stove in the kitchen had been lifted up. The pots would be missing for at least half a day today. If they didn't take it off, the bedding might be burned. The whole room was full of people.

The water vapor makes people feel like walking on the clouds, embroidered with the fragrance of various steamed buns.

Zhang Taiping asked: "What kind of buns are there?"

Zhang Xiuxiu said with a smile: "There are vegetables, meat, bean paste, and brown sugar and white sugar. What do you want to eat?"

"There are quite a few varieties." Zhang Taiping asked, "What kind of stuffing is the dish?"

"There are radish vermicelli and leek and eggs."

"We are going to open a steamed stuffed bun shop. The variety is really complete." Zhang Taiping laughed and said, "Where are the dishes? Let me try the steamed stuffed buns." Generally speaking, men are interested in sweet buns such as sugar buns, bean paste buns and so on.

I'm not very interested in it. What I like to eat is vegetable buns and meat buns.

"There is a dustpan over there. There are marks on it. Go and look for it yourself." Zhang Xiuxiu pointed the direction to him.

Zhang Taiping walked by, and the dustpan was filled with steamed buns that were only a little bigger than a child’s fist. No one in the mountain village had ever steamed such small steamed buns. They were all fist-sized buns. He picked up one and looked at it and stuffed two.

There was no problem getting it into my mouth, so I asked in surprise: "Why are the buns so small this year?"

Zhang Xiuxiu replied with a smile: "There are more women than men in each house, and there are also many children. The steamed ones are too big to be eaten and difficult to handle. If they are small, it is convenient. If one is not enough, you can just eat a few more.

"

Zhang Taiping said helplessly: "Okay." It only took a moment for the four buns to go into his stomach, but there was not much feeling in his stomach. He shook his head and thought, "The buns are really a lie to children." He didn't dare to do this again.

He opened his belly and ate, lest he could finish the vegetable buns and meat buns by himself, he threw two more into his mouth and stopped.

There was no one to take care of the hard firewood placed under the stove. The three of them were all busy next to the chopping board.

Cai Yazhi felt very embarrassed and said to her younger sister, "You can help me too."

The little girl nodded and said, "Yeah, I'll help you in a moment. Let me try two buns first."

Zhang Taiping said to the three people who were busy: "Stop and eat a few steamed buns before you start working. It's not in a hurry."

Zhang Xiuxiu said: "The fire below is simmering, so you can quickly cook it and put it in the pot without anyone taking care of it. Then you will be free and it will not be too late to eat."

It didn't take long for the aroma of bread in the kitchen to attract all the little animals in the house, and naturally the first one to come in was Wukong.

It did not forget about hygiene. It first washed a hand on the washbasin stand at the door, and then jumped to the dustpan where the buns were placed to get started. However, Zhang Taiping, who was standing next to the buns, patted his hand.

Wukong looked at Zhang Taiping with confusion, wondering why he couldn't eat the steamed buns even though he had washed his hands.

Zhang Taiping said: "Bring over your bowls and chopsticks."

Wukong didn't waste any time and immediately ran to get his bowl and chopsticks. He tentatively put his chopsticks into the dustpan and picked out a bun. Seeing that Zhang Taiping didn't stop him, he immediately happily picked up six of them and put them in the bowl.

Zhang Taiping laughed and scolded: "You are a greedy guy, if you can't finish it after taking so much, be careful and I will deal with you."

"Zhizhi." Wukong shouted and pointed in the direction of the door. His companion was leaning his head to look inside.

Zhang Taiping smiled and said nothing, thinking that he would leave it to his companion to take with him.

Outside the kitchen door was not just a little monkey, but also four big dogs, a few parrots, a few little foxes, and a little purple squirrel with a big tail, all running back to join in the fun as if they smelled the New Year.

If all the animals were full, there would be no hope of keeping so many buns for the owner. Zhang Taiping just gave each animal a bun to let them have a taste of the New Year. Only Wukong was the one.

The guys who can do it themselves take advantage and can eat as much as they want.

The steamed buns were steamed until the afternoon. After a little tidying up, it was time to make dinner. Zhang Taiping cooked the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal was a reunion dinner in the traditional sense, so it was particularly rich. Zhang Taiping cooked it.

There are more than a dozen or nearly twenty dishes, everything from running up mountains, swimming in water, and flying in the sky.

However, before eating, one must first invite the gods. Zhang Taiping went into the back room to light the incense in front of the ancestral hall, and then set off a large number of firecrackers, thus inviting the mourning hall back.

He said to Yaya beside him: "Come, kowtow to your grandpa and grandma." After saying that, he knelt down first.

Yaya also knelt down beside him and kowtowed a few times, imitating his example.

Back in the front room, Zhang Taiping was about to wave hello and start dinner. Cai Yazhi said with a smile: "Don't worry, there are still two gods who haven't been invited back."

"What other gods are there?"

"The Kitchen God and the Kitchen God didn't even invite the Kitchen God back."

Zhang Taiping patted his head and had really forgotten about this matter. Usually on the night of the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, during the cooking time, the old Stove God and Stove Goddess statues were replaced, and then replaced with new ones.

The half of a horse carrying grain is burned, which symbolizes that the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God ride up to heaven to tell the Jade Emperor about the family's deeds, and invite him back on the thirtieth night, and at the same time bring back the blessings in the new year.

And a good harvest.

Cai Yazhi asked her little sister to go to the stove, light the incense in front of the Kitchen God and the Kitchen Goddess, put some food on it, and asked Zhang Taiping to set off a bunch of firecrackers, so that the Kitchen God and the Kitchen Goddess were invited back.

"Don't worry, there is also the God of Wealth." Cai Yazhi said with a smile when she saw Zhang Taiping and Cai Xiaomei preparing to sit at the table.

"And what about the God of Wealth?" Zhang Taiping saw that she was holding a portrait of the God of Wealth and was about to put it on the wall above the big cabinet, and said, "I don't know if you are planning to worship the God of Wealth this year. If you know, buy one from outside."

It's gold-plated, it looks good that way, and it also shows sincerity, doesn't it?"

Cai Yazhi shook her head, placed three sticks of incense in front of the God of Wealth, and said, "Our family respects the God of Wealth and does not seek to make a fortune, but only asks not to lose money." This means that the assets in the family are enough now, and we do not need so much.

I just hope that nothing like what happened to Wang Peng's family will happen, so I can save money and eliminate disasters.

After worshiping the God of Wealth, Zhang Taiping asked: "Are there any other gods? I also worshiped them too." He himself had no objection to worshiping gods, but as long as it made his wife feel at ease, it didn't matter if he worshiped a whole room of gods.

"No more for now." Cai Yazhi shook her head and said.

"Then let's have dinner!" Zhang Taiping said with a wave of his hand.

Lu Feng and Xiao Tiantian were a little deserted during the New Year, so Cai Yazhi forced them to come over to have a meal together. Xiao Yuer's father was still there a few days ago, but he had something to go out for the past few days. Only the little girl and Zhang Xiuxiu were left, and they came over to have a reunion dinner together.

The old man sat on the main seat, and the family sat on both sides of him, filling a large round table.

At this time, the sound of firecrackers came one after another in the village, indicating that other families had also invited gods to have a reunion dinner.

This year is a year of great harvest for the village, and this reunion dinner will definitely bring joy and reunion.