Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1493: Changes in the Market Before the Lunar New Year
After listening to what his mother said, Han Li wondered who was calling him. The person walked over, picked up the phone and started talking.

"Hello, I'm Han Li."

As soon as Han Li finished speaking, Hao Hongmin's voice came from the other end of the microphone.

Hao Hongmin called mainly to reminisce with He Mi and the others. Because it was an international long-distance call, the two of them chatted for a few words, and then Han Li handed the microphone to the Yun sisters, He Mi and the others.

Hao Hongmin talked about the New Year celebrations in Hong Kong on the phone, and the Yun sisters talked about the temple fairs in the old city, and how there is nowhere to go and nothing exciting to see now.

In the past, there were eight major temple fairs in the city, and countless smaller ones.

The eight major temple fairs are: borrowing gold ingots from the God of Wealth Temple, ringing the big bell in Juesheng Temple, tying dolls in Dongyue Temple, touching the monkey spirit in Baiyun Temple, watching the fire judge in City God Temple, watching lanterns in Chongyuan Temple, drying treasures in Fire God Temple, and the Jiadi Temple Fair.

Coupled with the large number of small temple fairs, it can be said that once the twelfth lunar month begins, if you want to go to a temple fair, you can go from the first day of the twelfth lunar month to the second day of the second lunar month.

After handing over the microphone, Han Li ignored what they said and sat aside, chatting with his father with a cup of tea.

When Han's mother was teasing her grandson, she glanced at her son who was sitting next to her as if nothing had happened and said nothing.

Next, Han Li's family of more than ten people left home in a mighty procession and headed towards the nearest Chang'an Avenue and Xidan.

If we talk about the best and most comprehensive place to buy things in Beijing nowadays, it would still be the Qianmen Street and Dashilan area.

However, during this period before the New Year, there are really a lot of people going there to buy things and go shopping, and things like shoes getting squeezed off are common there every day.

When the store closes for cleaning, the shoes that were pushed away and no one claimed could fill a dustpan.

Han Li and his companions came out to have fun and relax. They were accompanied by three children who just loved to run around and two pregnant women who were in their third trimester of pregnancy, so they would not set foot in crowded places.

However, because it is close to the end of the year, even in the Xidan area there are still many people out shopping and buying New Year's goods.

Han Li had to keep an eye on the two pregnant women and three children. Although he was not physically tired, he was mentally exhausted, so whenever he came to a place where they could rest, he would take everyone to rest slowly.

I would take my family to eat whatever I came across, such as Aiwowo, fried liver, sausage, Suhezi, candied haws, noodle tea, bean flour cake, hot noodle fried cake, etc.

In fact, Han Li was just using the slogan of eating to let everyone slow down and relax.

Although shopping today was tiring, I have to say that the situation in Beijing this year is better than in previous years.

For example: Although the colors of people's clothes this year are still mainly black, gray and blue, there are many more other colors than in previous years.

The little girls are wearing bright red coats and cotton-padded jackets, the older girls and young wives are wearing red sweaters, yellow sweaters, white scarves, various hair accessories, and so on.

There are also many girls whose clothes are still of the original style, but have obviously been modified from the previous loose style to make the clothes more fitting and better able to show the body lines.

The supplies in the mall are also much richer than in previous years, with sufficient quantities of food, cloth, ready-made clothes, shoes, toys, and electrical appliances.

The places with the most people in the shopping mall, besides the counters of fabrics, ready-made clothes and electrical appliances, are the candy and grocery counters.

In previous years, all kinds of cakes, biscuits and candies were rarely seen and would be sold out as soon as they were put on the counter. This year, all supplies were met. The most purchased items were large walnut chocolate, plum candy, egg-flavored biscuits, crispy biscuits, special cakes and chocolate sticks. These are very face-saving items to bring out when visiting relatives during the Chinese New Year or entertaining relatives and friends.

It was already past three in the afternoon when Han Li and his family returned home after shopping. It was impossible for them to eat because they had been eating all kinds of snacks along the way.

Those who were shopping enthusiastically and didn't feel tired just now, all had tired looks on their faces when they returned home, and didn't want to move after washing their faces.

However, under the supervision of Han Ma, everyone drank a bowl of brown sugar ginger water before being allowed to rest.

Fortunately, the three sons fell asleep on the way back, so they didn’t need anyone to look after them, which allowed everyone to concentrate on resting.

Han Li was also able to relax his extremely tense mood, but he did not lie down on the bed to rest like the others. Instead, he took his teacup and went to the west wing to read a book.

During dinner, Han Li had a drink with his father. After dinner, the father and son took the three little ones to play in the yard.

Led by Han Ma, the others cleaned up the kitchen and prepared to worship the Kitchen God with their families.

Although folk customs dictate that men do not worship the moon and women do not worship the kitchen god, such matters are generally the business of the men in the family.

However, in the current situation, these behaviors are considered bad actions and bad thoughts.

If he didn't offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God, Han's mother would worry about her son's days far away in Hong Kong.

As for the Kitchen God sacrifice, Han's mother didn't want to involve her son, who had a bright future.

Therefore, Han's mother decided to take the women in the family to quietly worship the Kitchen God to give herself more comfort.

Han's mother asked her second sister and the others to close the door, and placed several plates of different candies, a plate of braised meat, a plate of southern fruits, and a plate of rice cakes for the Kitchen God and his wife.

In addition, there are also things prepared for the mounts of Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess.

Cut the rice straw, sprinkle some cornmeal on it and put it on a plate, add a bowl of water, and finally burn three incense sticks while muttering softly.

"Twenty-three, the sugar melon is sticky, the Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess are going to heaven to take up their posts, eat a sugar melon to moisten your mouth, say more good things and don't mention bad things.
May the gods bless us with good fortune, and may our Han family be safe and prosperous, and our children be successful in their careers."

Han Li didn't know that his mother had secretly started burning incense for him. At this moment, he and his father and three sons were chasing the dog outside the gate.

24. Clean the house. Today, the whole family will first clean the place where my parents live in Mianhua Hutong.

Of course Han Li didn't need to do this kind of housework. The most he could do was move the furniture.

Most of the time, Han Li took the children to chat with the neighbors in the alley.

25. Grinding tofu. In this era, no one knows how to grind tofu by themselves.

However, most people in Beijing will buy tofu to eat on this day. Tofu means "blessings", and eating tofu today symbolizes good fortune in the new year.

Han Li did not eat tofu at home today. He had breakfast at home, put the task documents assigned by Liu Lao into his bag, and with the help of the Yun sisters, he put on his hat, gloves, and scarf, and rode his bicycle to the west.
(End of this chapter)