The world is broken, the cubs mend it

The brightly colored feathers at the tail of a rooster can be plucked and used to make a shuttlecock for your children.

Most of the families in the village would buy firecrackers together and set them off. At noon, crackling sounds could be heard from outside.

Yuanyuan stood at the door and watched curiously, holding a small bowl with a chicken wing in it.

There were red couplets pasted on the old wooden door, and two majestic-looking gods were printed on the door painting.

"Come back and have a good meal."

Chen Jiahe pushed the child's back and asked her to sit back at the small table and eat more food.

"Dad, are there any more cannons on the ground?"

Yuanyuan looked at the red confetti scattered on the ground, some of which seemed not to have exploded.

"Don't pick up cannons from the ground to play with."

Chen Jiahe served her some soup and placed it next to her. Every year she would pick up firecrackers from the ground to play with, but she would end up lighting them before she could throw them away and they would explode into pieces in her hands.

"I picked it up and played with Sister Yingying."

"That's not OK."

"..."

Seeing her father so serious, Yuanyuan pouted unhappily and ate the rice in the bowl with big mouthfuls.

The greatest pleasure for children in the mountains during the Chinese New Year is to set off firecrackers and watch fireworks. Occasionally, family members will spend money to buy the children a small box of firecrackers or firecrackers.

Yuanyuan doesn’t have any of these. Her father doesn’t allow her to play with firecrackers.

Before we finished our meal, we could hear lively sounds coming from the yard. Several older children came to pick up firecrackers on the ground, and they came along with quite a few in their hands.

Wang Jiaqiang stood far away and watched his companions picking up the trash. Ever since Chen Jiahe hit him with a broom last time, he had a psychological trauma and didn't dare to come over.

After lunch, Yuanyuan put some candy in her pocket and went to play with Yingying and Lele.

Wang Lele also had a lot of firecrackers in his hands. He didn't eat much for lunch. He put down his bowl and went out to pick up firecrackers.

In addition to the firecrackers in his pocket that fell out when the fire started, he also had two small boxes of firecrackers.

When he went to the market with his parents a few years ago, in order to buy two boxes of firecrackers, he lay on the ground and cried for a long time. He was slapped twice on the buttocks, but fortunately he succeeded.

Yingying also had a lot of cannons, which were picked up by her brother Wang Shuo, who gave her a lot of them.

"Yuanyuan, didn't your father buy you a gun?"

She usually has the most gadgets, and her father always buys her delicious food and drinks.

“No…” Yuanyuan didn’t even know there were firecrackers when she went to the market.

"Then I'll give you some of mine to play with. Just do it lightly like this..."

Wang Lele took out a firecracker, placed it on the phosphorus paper on the side of the box, and carefully explained how to light the firecracker.

"I won't share mine with you. This kind of thing is easy to explode."

The firecrackers in Wang Yingying's hands all have fuses. Such firecrackers need to be ignited with old-fashioned lighters, which is somewhat dangerous.

The little girl stared at Lele's hands seriously. Although she didn't really light it after the one instruction, she already understood how to operate it.

After making sure that she understood, Lele gave her the firecracker box.

Yuanyuan picked up a firecracker, clenched it with two fingers, and scratched the box hard. A yellow flame ignited on the top of the firecracker.

"for you!"

She stuffed the lit firecracker into Lele's hand, thinking that would be all right.

"..."

Wang Lele stared at the smoking firecracker in his hand. His mind went blank and his limbs reacted first. He quickly threw the firecracker away.

bang——

The firecrackers exploded directly in the air, and confetti fell from the sky.

"Are you going to blow me up, sister?"

Lele's heart had never beaten as violently as it did just now, fortunately the firecracker didn't explode that quickly.

"Sorry…"

This firecracker wrapped in black paper was different from the one that was lit at noon. Yuanyuan just wiped it as he taught her and it was done.

"It's okay. Throw this away after you wipe it. Don't put it in my hands."

Wang Lele finally understood why adults said that the Nian beast was afraid of firecrackers. Who wouldn’t be afraid if it was placed in the palm of their hand?

"I understand. I won't put it in your hands."

Yuanyuan nodded in understanding. She understood it when she saw the firecracker explode just now.

"Let's go to a spacious place to set off fireworks. My brother said we can't set them off next to the straw stacks."

Yingying took the two of them to the main road. There were many straw stacks and corn stalks nearby. It would be terrible if they caught fire.

The three little guys walked forward together and met Wang Jiaqiang on the way. The enemies were particularly jealous of each other when they met. They looked at each other fiercely and then parted ways.

"Uncle Chen is still the best. After we beat him up last time, he won't dare to mess with us again."

Wang Yingying had been bullied by him many times in the past, and it was useless for Aunt Wang to go to his house unreasonably, as everyone suffered a lot.

"They dropped the cannon on that."

Yuanyuan turned her head and saw them throwing firecrackers onto the corn stalks. Sister Yingying had just said that this was not allowed.

"Don't worry about them. They won't listen even if we tell them."

Wang Lele held her little hand and walked forward. Those were grown-up kids, and if he spoke to them he would be scolded for meddling in other people’s business.

"..." Yuanyuan turned her head and looked at their backs, and decided to tell them: "Don't throw the cannon on that, it's not good."

"none of your business?"

"Stop meddling in other people's business!"

"..."

The result was just as Lele expected, the older children didn't take kids like them seriously at all.

Wang Jiaqiang cursed and spit out a few dirty words because of what happened before.

"I told you to ignore them, but you didn't believe me. Now you know I was right."

Wang Lele sighed. She had good intentions but it was a pity that she was treated as a donkey's liver and lungs.

The village is full of dirt roads. The main road is relatively flat, with fields on both sides and no combustible materials around.

Wang Lele placed the firecrackers on a stone, lit them, and ran back quickly. The three little ones squatted beside him, covering their ears and watching the firecrackers explode.

A wisp of white smoke rose in the distance, followed by a raging fire, and the shouts of adults came from the direction of the village.

“There’s a fire in there!”

Yuanyuan held Yingying's hand and stood on tiptoe pointing forward, as if they could hear someone crying.

"Oh! Isn't that Aunt Wang's house? Why is there a fire?"

Wang Yingying recognized whose family it was at a glance, and her eyes became more and more furious.

"Let's go and take a look!"

Wang Lele loved to watch the fun, so he ran towards the direction of the fire and waved to the two of them in front to follow him.

The three of them ran to Aunt Wang's house, and there were already quite a few people gathered in the yard.

Several young people were constantly fetching water from the well to put out the fire. Yuanyuan stood on the outer circle and saw his father fetching water.

"Don't run around, just stay here."

Chen Jiahe glanced at her and gave her instructions, then followed Ma Zi to fetch water.

He was originally reading a dictionary at home when Ma Zi came over and asked him to put out the fire. When he heard it was Aunt Wang, he was not very willing to help.

Then he thought again that the fire was a matter of life and death, so he ignored all the grudges and picked up the carrying pole and followed them.

I heard that a few children lit firecrackers and stuffed them into a straw stack. After the firecrackers exploded, they left. Unexpectedly, the straw stack actually started to catch fire.

The straw stack at Aunt Wang's house was right next to the wall, and now half of the wall was on fire. It was too late when it was discovered.

The villagers had to fetch water by themselves, and the round trip took a long time, and the fire became increasingly out of control.