Chapter 273

There is a custom of offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God during the Winter Solstice locally; a small sacrifice for the Winter Solstice, and a big sacrifice on the eve of the Little New Year.

After rolling the Tang Yuan, Lin Xiuqing boiled them and filled four bowls, placed two bowls under the stickers of the Kitchen God and his wife, and placed two bowls at the door.

There were also oranges and olives, gold ingots, three cups of tea, three cups of rice wine, and two flowers had to be inserted into the incense burner.

There is a saying: "Oranges are round, olives are pointed, the Kitchen God and his wife will ascend to heaven after eating."

In previous years, they broke feudal superstitions, and the village didn't dare to do anything. In the past few years, after the reform and opening up, it has been revived, and some old customs have been slowly picked up again.

After setting up everything to be sacrificed, Lin Xiuqing lit 8 incense sticks, bowed three times, and then inserted three into the incense burner in front of the Kitchen God and his wife, still using her left hand to offer the incense.

Then she went to the door, where a small bamboo pole had already been inserted next to the stool with two bowls of Tang Yuan. After bowing three times, she inserted three more.

The remaining two had to be inserted at the door, one on the left and one on the right.

After finishing, she called Ye Yaodong to set off firecrackers.

At this time, the sound of firecrackers also rang out intermittently in the village.

Next door, Ye Chenghai rushed to grab the job of setting off firecrackers, but didn't expect that when he set them off, he didn't run far enough, and the firecrackers exploded directly on his clothes, burning a hole.

Now it's over, and a round of noisy clamor began again.

"Fortunately, I didn't say I wanted to set off firecrackers..." Ye Chenghu patted his chest and said luckily.

Ye Yaodong patted the back of his head. "Get inside, time to eat."

After the meal, Lin Xiuqing took the gold ingots that had been sacrificed for a while to the door to burn, using a discarded small iron pot. The ashes left over from burning these gold ingots can be sold for money.

They also have to be burned on the eve of the Little New Year and New Year's Eve.

The sacrifice lasted until dark, and after the incense was all burned, Lin Xiuqing collected everything, and the pot containing the ashes was also brought into the house.

The two children followed behind, waiting to eat. "Mom, can the olives be eaten now?"

They had been eating oranges every day for the past few days, so they were no longer rare.

"Eat, eat."

"What about the Tang Yuan?"

"Later, I'll put in some cabbage and shrimp, boil them in the pot again, and give them to you as a midnight snack."

That's right... Tang Yuan are boiled savory, there is no filling inside, and they are also very delicious boiled savory.

The two children nodded happily.

For two consecutive days, Ye Yaodong saw the two sister-in-laws looking worried.

Now you know how to worry?

Fortunately, he stopped them from continuing, otherwise they wouldn't be able to eat or sleep even more now.

There have been some rumors in the village these past few days, all guessing what business Ye Yaohong is doing outside, and why he beat his wife after hearing she was reported as a ten-thousand-yuan household? And beat her so miserably, and left impatiently the next day?

Although many people were guessing there before, the villagers' questioning was less, and envy was more. Now, only some who invested money are still taking the initiative to speak for Ye Yaohong.

They have to speak for him; they all invested money. If something really happens, they will really cry miserably.

Speaking for him can also bring some psychological comfort, although in reality, they are also very unsure in their hearts.

It is more likely that everyone is regretting it miserably, but they are still holding on hard.

Ye Yaodong strolled around the village as a morning exercise before going home to eat. Just as the postman was delivering the newspaper, he took it casually.

During this time, he had developed the good habit of reading the newspaper every morning. Even if he went out to sea, he would read the day's newspaper for a while when he returned at night.

As he walked into the house, he flipped open the newspaper, and the striking headline immediately surprised him.

"The First Corruption Case of Reform and Opening Up!"

"XXX Death Penalty!"

Is this the start of the crackdown on the "smuggling tide"?

After the reform and opening up, the long-silent land suddenly opened its doors. At that time, everything was waiting to be done, but people were full of expectations and hopes for the future, so in terms of living expenses, everyone no longer considered only food and clothing as before, but also began to pursue variety and new trends.

However, the awkward thing was that various daily necessities were particularly scarce at that time, such as black-and-white televisions, video recorders, watches, motorcycles, etc., many of which could not be bought even with money, which allowed many lawbreakers to see "business opportunities."

Therefore, the southeast coastal areas went crazy.

The situation of "workers not working, farmers not farming, students not attending classes, and cadres engaging in private interests." Some areas even smuggled pornographic videotapes from overseas, and various (erotic) entertainment venues grew rapidly in secret.

He paused and browsed through it roughly until Lin Xiuqing called him several times to eat breakfast, and then he slowly walked to the table.

"What are you looking at, so fascinated."

"The first corruption case after the reform and opening up was tried publicly yesterday, and it's directly in the People's Daily today. You eat first, I'll take a look."

Lin Xiuqing said indifferently: "What does it have to do with us? We are just ordinary common people, why do you care so much? You haven't even recognized all the characters, yet you keep the newspaper in your hands all day long."

"Hey... don't bother me, don't bother me... let me finish reading first..."

He even turned his back to her specifically.

But after a while, he turned his head again. "What character is this?"

Lin Xiuqing rolled her eyes. "Didn't you think I was nagging? Now you're asking me again."

"Oh, hurry up and tell me what this character is?"

"The 'bao' in 'profiteering'!"

"Got it."

"Hey, wait..." Lin Xiuqing grabbed his sleeve again. "There is a saying circulating along the coast of Guangdong Province: No matter what new model of car arrives in Hong Kong today, it can appear on our streets tomorrow..."

"I'll read it first, you eat yours, I'll let you see it later."

Ye Yaodong turned around and continued reading.

Lin Xiuqing had no choice but to feed the children first.

After he read it back and forth twice, he put down the newspaper and had no intention of looking at the content of other sections.

In his previous life, he only heard that smuggling along the coast was crazy in the ten-plus years after the reform and opening up, but he couldn't read and didn't pay much attention to current events, so he didn't know it was really this crazy.

No wonder Lin Jishang's family was so rich in his previous life, the richest in the village.

I guess they will restrain themselves from now on, right?

He still wanted to ask him to get a net hauler, but he didn't know if it would be easy to get. At this time, the focus was on developing heavy industry, and marine engines had not yet been popularized, so small fishing boats basically relied on manpower.

This can only be talked about later. Anyway, he won't go out to sea before the New Year, and after the New Year, he will have to wait until at least after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Seeing profiteering, it would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted. But he originally had no great ambitions, and in both lives, he had no great aspirations, only thinking about his wife, children, and a warm bed, being content with small wealth.

The greedy thought was only momentary.

Thinking that he had earned a lot of money by his own labor in the past few months, there was no need to take risks. If he was caught in a crackdown, he would have to sit in prison until the bottom of the prison was worn out.

Why bother? Could it be that he was reborn just to go in and roll yarn?

Walking the right path is quite good.

Although he is sometimes a bit sloppy and not very serious, his values are still correct.

After Lin Xiuqing finished feeding the children, she picked up the newspaper beside him to read, and after reading it, she whispered: "Is Lin Jishang that?"

She poked the newspaper...

"Shh... just know it, don't say it out loud."

At first, when he sent watches to their house and talked in riddles with her husband, she was very suspicious.

Then seeing him deliver sewing machines and bicycles in the middle of the night, her heart was filled with twists and turns, but she just didn't ask.

"No wonder it involves so much, it's all profiteering, and it's all traded in silver dollars. I can only blame the current shortage of materials; many people have money but nowhere to spend it."

"Hmm, just look at it, it has nothing to do with us. It should be that the New Year is coming, so they are executing them before the New Year, and they will definitely crack down severely next."

Speaking of this, he also associated it with Ye Yaohong.

I don't know what he did with all the money he collected? He couldn't just hold it in his hand and spend it, right?

"What do you think the eldest cousin's husband did with so much money? Could he have gone smuggling too?"

"Hard to say, let's see."

He took the newspaper back, intending to look at other sections, but saw a corner written that "mouse clubs" had appeared in the Taiwan area, warning the masses to be vigilant and not be deceived.

The thing "mouse clubs" fear most is the breaking of the capital chain. As long as the capital chain is not broken, they can cheat new money to pay off old debts, rolling over and over, getting bigger and bigger.

The newspaper only left a small section, what's the use?

There are many illiterates now, and it's not like every family subscribes to a newspaper. The money of uneducated rural common people is the easiest to cheat.

Ye Yaohong's behavior is almost like a mouse club. Fortunately, he has a "smart" wife, otherwise there might be more unlucky people in the village.

After understanding it in his heart, he didn't intend to report it.

I guess if the village committee sees this mouse club in this issue of the newspaper, they should also have a number in their hearts, and if they think about it, they can match it and know they have been cheated.

In normal lending, who gives such high interest?

Before, it was just the second sister-in-law's small-scale propaganda, and no one in the village committee paid attention to it, and everyone was not that idle, but the ten-thousand-yuan household matter a few days ago was undoubtedly another advertisement for Ye Yaohong.

He was in the limelight, and there were many people sending him money, so of course there was more discussion in the village. Being at this cusp, it's hard for the village committee not to think more.

Sure enough, that afternoon, someone from the village committee went to Ye Yaohong's house to understand the matter, but was blocked by Ye Yaohong's mother. She had been blocking visitors for the past few days.

In the end, of course, she couldn't block them. As soon as the village committee entered the bedroom, they were shocked by the bedridden eldest cousin's wife.

That bruised and swollen face showed at a glance that she had been beaten not lightly. I heard that the eldest daughter had been taking care of her for the past two days, and the side of the eldest daughter's face standing by the bed was also swollen from being slapped.

As for the younger ones, I heard they were running wild outside at the time, so they didn't know anything and weren't beaten.

The injury that was originally covered up by Ye Yaohong's mother was suddenly exposed.

Even the three words "mouse club" spread throughout the village, and some families who invested money were suddenly so angry that they jumped, rushing to the door to curse and force them to return the money...

Ye Yaodong sat at home and could hear the whole village boiling over.