Chapter 23 - 023 New Year
What was discussed that day, Li Xianglu never asked for an answer, always saying it had nothing to do with her, but she vaguely felt it absolutely related to her.
However, thinking about it was pointless. Literacy classes would end before the New Year, and a small exam was to be taken; everyone had to pay 50 cents for the exam paper.
In mid-October, when Li Jianqing went to Jigu Commune, he still had two yuan left after buying notebooks and pencils. The exam fee was not even worth mentioning, he definitely paid it.
Li Xianglu was curious and asked, "Mom didn't take it away?"
Li Jianqing said with a chuckle: "Of course, she wanted to take it, but I didn't give it to her. I said it was all spent."
Li Xianglu looked at her third brother with a bit of amusement. With the exam approaching, she needed to make time to review with Li Jianqing. The junior high in the township would be recruiting new students next April, and Li Jianqing would be attending junior high. His current knowledge was insufficient; they needed to borrow some textbooks and give him extra lessons in math.
This year's Lunar New Year came early, just a few days after New Year's Day, and Guanzhong people placed great importance on the New Year.
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, they worshiped The Kitchen God. Now it's a new society, those New Year's customs were feudal superstitions, not to be believed, and could not be performed openly. Hence, each family carefully, secretly placed offerings on the kitchen's stove, kept it simple and quickly cleared it away once done.
After the twenty-third, the New Year began. At that time, material conditions were poor, so don't even think about making fried meatballs or fried lotus root slices. Families in better situations would steam some yellow steamed buns, which meant mixing millet with some wheat flour to ferment, then stuffing them with red bean paste or brown sugar.