Chen Tianhua spit out a chicken bone that had been chewed with meat from his mouth, opened his big greasy mouth and said angrily:

"To make you happy? Did you find out when brother lied to you?"

"No, no, I dare to doubt my brother. What I mean is this, yes... I can't believe it, hehe..." Youjuan quickly shook her hand and explained.

"Gen'er, is it okay to go to school? Youjuan is so old and she has to start from scratch? As a girl, Yi Niang thinks it's okay."

Xue Wanzhen's ideas are still relatively old-fashioned. In her heart, she does not agree with Youjuan, who is sixteen years old at the turn of the year (a false age), and she still goes to a private school in the town.

"Well, grandma, I'm just a little sister. She's smart. She's not too old now. She can at least be able to read and count after studying for a few years. This isn't a high requirement. She can follow me in the future.

Maybe she can marry a good husband, otherwise she will be an illiterate country girl again."

Chen Tianhua was half teasing and half sighing from the bottom of his heart.

Popularizing education and generally improving the quality of the people is a very important thing nowadays. Literacy and literacy have a far-reaching impact.

Besides, men and women need to be equal. People like Liu Yufang, Li Shuzhen, and the second young lady of the Fan family were all emerging educated women in the late Qing Dynasty.

"Oh brother, why are you talking about going to my husband's family? I won't get married. I will stay with my grandma all my life." Youjuan blushed and leaned her head on her mother's arm.

"Okay...Mom is reluctant to marry you off, haha..."

Xue Wanzhen stroked the little girl's blushing face lovingly, turned around and asked doubtfully, "By the way, Tugen, which private school do you want Youjuan to study in?"

"It's like this. I took advantage of the opportunity of writing Spring Festival couplets the day before yesterday to tell my third father about this matter. He said that Shuangqi Academy can join the class and let Youjuan go to study. She is just a little older and is afraid that Youjuan will be embarrassed.

There is no problem in township schools.”

"That's good. I'll listen to you. Your ideas always come... Come on, eat more fish and meat and less rice."

"..."

The family ate and chatted, and more than an hour passed unknowingly. The vegetable soup was reheated once it had cooled down.

When the meal was full, my mother put away the dishes and stopped washing them. After a busy year, it was time to rest on New Year's Eve.

The eldest sister Tingjuan brewed a pot of tea. It was the West Lake Longjing tea that Chen Tianhua bought from Shaoxing City.

A fresh and mellow tea fragrance floats in the room with the heat, making it very refreshing, like an air purifier in later generations.

Each of the three of them had a hand heater to keep them warm. Chen Tianhua alternately put his hands into the sleeves of his cotton coat to keep warm, and together they listened to his mother's anecdotes about his childhood.

This is how they prepared to keep vigil.

At this time, firecrackers were set off in the village outside. The sound of firecrackers came near and far away, and it was very lively.

Along with the crackling sound of firecrackers, beautiful smoke bloomed in the sky from time to time, and sometimes red fireworks appeared, like red apples laughing happily in the sky.

Each household in the countryside only has one firecracker, and wealthy families should set off a long firecracker, which means ten thousand firecrackers.

Then there are thousand-gun cannons, and then there are hundred-gun cannons...intertwined with each other.

Those from really poor families may even skip setting off firecrackers.

It can be seen that the length of firecrackers set off by each family on New Year's Eve is also an epitome of the family's quality.

Society is a kaleidoscope, and sometimes you can't even pretend to be fake. Everyone in the same village knows exactly what their financial situation is.

After the firecrackers, people who have a little money will set off some cannons or fireworks similar to those of later generations, which are considered high-end luxury goods in the countryside nowadays.

The flavor of the New Year in the countryside, apart from eating and drinking behind closed doors, is the crackling of firecrackers.

Listening to the continuous sounds, from one house to another, from one village to another, the countryside is boiling like an ink painting.

This was Chen Tianhua’s first New Year’s Eve in the late Qing Dynasty.

"Youjuan, take out the firecrackers that my brother bought from the city. It's our turn to set them off!"

"Yeah, brother!"

Youjuan held thousands of firecrackers and placed them on the edge of the road outside the door with some difficulty.

"Brother, come and let it go!" Youjuan shouted excitedly outside.

"Well, grandma, I'm going to light firecrackers!" Chen Tianhua said hello to his mother, jumped up in the excitement of drinking, and scurried to the bluestone slab by the lake.

Together with Youjuan, he took the firecrackers out of the packaging box and spread them flat on the road.

Oh my god, these ten thousand firecrackers are quite long when spread out.

He bent down and lit the firecrackers with a match, then jumped away quickly.

The firecrackers crackled immediately, and Youjuan was so frightened that she covered her ears and ran to the door of her house.

Mother and eldest sister Tingjuan both went out to watch, their eyes filled with tears of joy.

The neighbors all looked out from the cracks in their doors to see which house was setting off such long firecrackers.

Thousands of firecrackers are a symbol of status and wealth.

Chen Tianhua's family is located on the edge of Henghu Lake, which belongs to Xibutou Village and Dongbutou Village. This area is full of ordinary households, at most a few rich farmers.

In the past few decades, no one has set off more than a thousand firecrackers.

Aunt Zhang's family is considered a rich and wealthy farmer in Henghu, but I haven't seen his family let go of thousands of letters, at most a few hundred letters.

Chen Tianhua lit and released tens of thousands of firecrackers in such a high-profile manner. In the hearts of these villagers, it was a signal that the carp would leap over the dragon's gate.

The villagers have mixed feelings in their hearts, including envy, happiness, jealousy...

Aunt Zhang's family felt very uncomfortable.

A family that was on the verge of extinction miraculously survived and got better and better. Not only did they pay off their debts and start a fishery business, they also dared to do good deeds for the villagers, which was said to be a sign of good deeds.

I wonder where this money came from?

At this time, fireworks were lit in the sky. Chen Tianhua saw that they were soaring cannons, which were called flower tubes and third-level waves in the late Qing Dynasty.

This should be in the wealthy area of ​​Guazi Lake. I don’t know which wealthy family is placing it.

Seeing such beautiful fireworks, Youjuan immediately took out the flower tube she bought in Shaoxing City and said, "Brother, we have some, let's set them off quickly!"

"Um!"

Chen Tianhua took the flower tube and lit it on fire. After a while, with a "bang...", a firework flew up and immediately bloomed in the sky.

This flower tube is blue. When it blooms, it looks like flowers blooming proudly in the beautiful night. They stay briefly in the sky, and then sprinkle down to the world, just like countless small raindrops in the sky laughing with joy.

"Hehehe, our fireworks are the most beautiful!" Youjuan clapped her hands and jumped up and down on the stone pavement by the lake.

Even the eldest sister Tingjuan was pointing at the sky at the door with a smile on her face. Although she couldn't hear, she could see the beauty and beauty.

Seeing the fireworks set off at Chen Tugen's house, many people on both sides of the lake went out to watch the fun, especially the children, who were very happy.
Chapter completed!