I farmed and built a villa in ancient times

Chapter 280

After pounding the glutinous rice cake and frying the puff pastry, on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, which is the day before New Year's Eve, according to traditional practices, everyone has to mobilize for a general cleaning to say farewell to the old and welcome the new.

The weather was beautiful on this day, and the morning sun hung in the sky early, dispersing the cold fog in the morning. The cold fog was exposed to the sun and turned into water droplets, which fell on the eaves and bricks.

Following Li Xiuju's instructions, Zhou Chenyu took Baoyu and Wanqiu to move all the things accumulated in the house, such as tables, chairs, boxes, pots and pans that tend to accumulate dust, to the well.

The three siblings each received a few items, washed them in one corner without touching the ground, and then moved them to dry under the dead tree outside the yard.

Zhou Chenyu and Wan Qiu were the farthest away from the well. After wiping the things on their hands, they shouted to Baoyu at the well, "Baoyu, bring some water to the sisters quickly."

"Sister, I knew you couldn't do it without me." Baoyu snorted, put down the rag in his hand, and brought up two buckets of water. Without saying hello, he picked up the water ladle and poured it directly towards their position. .

The water from the well flowed down from the furniture and splashed onto Huang Dou, who was watching the excitement, scaring the little guy so much that he ran around the room.

Zhou Chenyu looked at the wet clothes on his body and became furious. He gritted his teeth and cursed: "Zhou Baoyu, you are tired of living."

Baoyu looked at her ferocious expression and immediately gave in. He said with a playful smile: "Sister, sister, I was wrong." He quickly let go of the water ladle and obediently brought two buckets of water over.

"Would you dare to do this again?" Wan Qiu chuckled, helped him lift the bucket, and gently poured it onto the dirt on the tables and chairs.

Li Xiuju listened to the laughter coming from the well, shook her head helplessly, made a long broom to sweep away cobwebs, washed her hands, went straight back to the house, took out each child's bedding, and moved it to the bamboo poles in the yard to dry. Let's get some sunshine.

Zhou Chenyu saw her awkward movements in moving the bedding, and gave the work to Baoyu and Wanqiu. He walked over to help her, "Old lady, let me do it."

Li Xiuju looked at her considerate look, smiled sweetly, and said, "I've almost finished unpacking this quilt, and only the ones in your room are left."

"I'll take care of my room myself." Zhou Chenyu took the quilt and spread it flat on the bamboo pole. When he turned around, Li Xiuju was nowhere to be seen. She must not have listened to what she just said, and he stubbornly entered the room to help her take off the quilt.

"Is this person so stubborn even at this age? It would be nice to take a break." Zhou Chenyu muttered and slowly walked back to the room. When he walked to the door, he saw Li Xiuju standing quietly holding the gold hairpin in her hand. It doesn't move there.

It’s over.

"I bought this." Zhou Chenyu hurriedly walked in and explained.

Li Xiuju raised her eyes with a smile, looked at her nervous expression, and smiled lightly: "Chen Yu, mother knows you don't like these things, so why did you buy a gold hairpin?"

Zhou Chenyu retracted his outstretched hand angrily, lowered his eyes, and murmured: "Well, wasn't this a gift from Yang Xi?"

"Mom knows it." Li Xiuju smiled widely and carefully put the gold hairpin back and stuffed it into her hand. "If you don't dress up carefully, don't let him down."

Zhou Chenyu covered it in his arms, but smiled: "Didn't you say that I don't like these things? I don't wear them."

Li Xiuju's expression paused, and she squinted and scolded: "You kid."

"Oh, old lady, why are you talking about this during the Chinese New Year? Don't you still want to dry out your quilt? There is a lot of work today, so hurry up." Zhou Chenyu pretended to be serious and scolded, but Li Xiuju stopped talking. Looking at her, she smiled and said, "Okay, okay, mom, don't mention this, don't mention this, okay?"

After drying the bedding and basically clearing out all the debris in the house, the most important task left is to clean the dust, spider webs and other dirt on the roof beams inside and outside the house, as well as take care of the aftermath.

Baoyu was the tallest and the largest, so the job was naturally handed over to him.

Baoyu took off his clothes that were in the way and said inexplicably excitedly: "Go up to the room and uncover the tiles. Go up to the room and unveil the tiles."

"Go to the house to uncover the tiles? What do you mean by that?" Li Xiuju looked at his rash appearance and grabbed his clothes and pulled him back, "You're just going to sweep like this? Are you not afraid of getting dirty? Don't wear a hat. , watch out for spiders crawling into your clothes."

After saying that, Li Xiuju immediately found a knitted hat that was about to be scrapped and tied it on for him personally.

"It's better now, haha." Baoyu was ready, and couldn't wait to pick up a long broom with a bamboo pole tied to it and sweep it towards the beam. The fluttering dust fell like snowflakes, and there were two or three medium-sized dogs hanging in the middle. spider.

He stared at those little guys, showed a cheeky smile, and threatened: "Sister, look, what are these? Hey, they are going to crawl on you."

Zhou Chenyu said that he didn't have the guts to put the spider on her body, so he looked at him and said, "You let it go? Do you dare to let it go?"

Baoyu looked away with a guilty conscience and smiled beggingly, "Hey, sister, how dare I? Give me ten courages and I wouldn't dare to tease you."

Zhou Chenyu raised the corners of his lips, and for the sake of the Chinese New Year, he let him go for the time being. After sorting out the clothes to be washed by the stream with Wan Qiu, he went out soon.

When they went to the stream, there were people a few steps away from the stream. There were people from Hongmei’s family, Zhou Huilan’s family, and Uncle Niu’s family by the pine tree at the entrance of the village. There were also many new faces they had never seen before, as if they were all there for a moment. In the meantime, everyone in the village rushed to the creek.

But they all took the cleaning tools at home and squatted by the flowing stream, washing the dirt on the things while talking and laughing.

The adults were busy working upstream of the stream, and the children were not idle downstream.

Groups of children followed an older child. These children had put on new clothes in advance. They were holding freshly fried puff pastry or New Year's goods bought at home. They were eating and fighting for each other. People crowded on the shore to watch the older children frying fish.

"Watch it, stay away from me. If you are angry, you can go back and cry to find your parents." The eldest child lit a firecracker and threw it into the water, making gray bubbles pop out.

A few timid children immediately bit the fruit in their hands, took three steps back, covered their ears with both hands, looked nervously at the water, and were fully prepared. However, the firecrackers in the water only made a shallow "goo". "The sound was like scratching an itch.

The child sighed for a while, "Oh, that little sound, I thought it was so scary."

Zhou Wanqiu looked at the teasing sounds of the children, took a strong sniff of the smell of firecrackers, and said with a smile: "Sister, I didn't feel the smell of the New Year was strong a few days ago. Only when I smelled this strong smell of firecrackers today did I feel that it was real. It’s the Chinese New Year.”

Zhou Chenyu listened to the laughter of a family reunion by the stream, the sound of firecrackers in the hands of naughty boys in colorful clothes, and the long-lost sound of firecrackers in the village ancestral hall, with a relaxed and cheerful smile on his face, and said:
"Yeah, the New Year is finally here."

(End of this chapter)