The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

After Laba Festival, it’s the New Year!

Zhang Ping'an sent New Year gifts to several colleagues he knew and had good relations with near Ze County, such as Lin Junhui, Tu Xiaowen, He Youcai, as well as his sixth brother-in-law who was far away in Yangzhou, and General Luo. The main point was that the gift was small but the sentiment was great.

After all, there are no good things to give on the front line.

Several people also made different degrees of return gifts according to the situation in their own counties.

The most special thing is the seafood sent by Lin Junhui, including dried shrimps, scallops, kelp, fish oil, etc., which are all very practical things.

My sixth brother-in-law sent me a lot of books, all of which he had specially exchanged with people in Yangzhou.

You can see that they put a lot of effort into it.

General Luo was the most simple and crude, and directly sent back a basket of high-quality smoked meat.

At this time, it is considered a very rare meat dish!

Before the ice formed, the soldiers took two days to go to the two large lakes outside the city to catch fish.

Kill the fish, clean it, and air-dry it, so that at least it can be considered a meat dish for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

With fish, meat, shrimp and rice, this New Year's Eve dinner is not shabby.

This was also the first peaceful year for the soldiers of Ze County on the front line, and everyone was in high spirits.

Although there are not many people, only more than 2,000 people, after a year of getting along with each other, they have gradually let down their guard.

In terms of lifestyle and habits, they are no different from ordinary people in the south, and they also carefully prepare New Year's goods and New Year's Eve dinner.

Worship ancestors, worship the Kitchen God, etc.!

The county town has gradually taken on the appearance it should have.

In the military camp, the cooks are the busiest during the Chinese New Year.

It’s so lively with pigs and sheep being slaughtered!

Liu Sanlang was so tempted that he went to help for a few days.

The butcher knife danced with great vigor, as if it were alive, leaving the onlookers in awe!

To express his gratitude, the cook specially left some pork offal for Liu Sanlang.

It’s not expensive, and you don’t have to worry about what others say about it.

The two are now very good friends.

For several meals in a row, the soldiers had pig dishes to eat.

On New Year's Eve, all soldiers were given New Year's goods according to their rank and military merits, such as sweet potato candy and sweet potato wine.

The New Year's Eve dinner was unusually sumptuous, living up to the promise of having fish, meat, and rice.

After eating, except for the patrolmen, everyone else sat in groups of three or five, drinking and singing together while keeping watch.

Or bragging or talking nonsense.

It has a bit of the flavor of the New Year.

I haven't felt this relaxed in years!

Some soldiers started crying while drinking, howling, "I miss home so much!"

"Me too, I miss my wife and son," someone responded.

Every festival makes us miss our families more, and this happens every year in the military camp during the New Year.

If you are at war, even the right to be sad will be taken away.

Zhang Ping'an, Lao Tu, Liu Sanlang and others happened to be patrolling here. They looked at each other, did not disturb each other, and left quietly to go other places.

After returning to the yamen, several people gathered together to keep watch.

The chef also prepared some side dishes.

The old bald man raised his glass and said, "Come on, drink! Today is New Year's Day. We have wine, meat and vegetables. Not bad!"

Zhang Pingan drank a glass just for the sake of courtesy. Since coming to the front line, he never let himself get drunk.

The same goes for Liu Sanlang, he is not a heavy drinker.

He was only wondering whether the post station could deliver the things he was sending home.

Since coming to the north, he also followed Zhang Ping'an and started collecting things that interested him.

For example, if he thought any stone, wood carving, or snack was beautiful, he would quietly collect it, put it together with letters from home, and have the people at the post station send it back to Lin'an.

At least it gives my family something to think about.

But the journey is long, and it usually takes more than two months to send a letter home. I don’t know if it can be delivered before the New Year.