I am your natural enemy.

Chapter 510: Annual Sacrifice, Accumulating Merit (5k)

On New Year's Eve, the sky was just getting light and the Wen Yan family was already busy.

The housekeeper is dedicated to his duties and can be considered the most hardworking person in the family. Of course, he is the first to get up on such a big day.

When Wen Yan got up, the housekeeper had already kneaded the dough and was ready to make dumplings.

The housekeeper was born in Guanzhong County. Wen Yan had lived in Guanzhong County for nearly twenty years. His habit was to get up on the morning of New Year's Eve to make dumplings and post Spring Festival couplets.

Although I used to complain about it every year, dumplings on New Year’s Eve, dumplings on New Year’s Day, dumplings on the fifth day of the New Year…

But after being out for a few years, Wen Yan still felt that it was at least worth a try to show his respect, so he decided on this matter yesterday.

The meat filling for the dumplings was prepared last night. After getting up this morning, I cut the onions and leeks and wrapped them into pork and onion and pork and leek. Finally, I also made a vegetarian dumpling with three fresh ingredients. Whoever likes it can have whichever one.

Wen Yan got the couplets from Fuyu Mountain again. It was not because he wanted them this time, but because there were the most of them in Fuyu Mountain. The last time he went there, a senior brother stuffed a bag of them into his pocket.

Writing talismans, composing scrolls, and copying scriptures are the basic skills of every serious Taoist priest in Fuyu Mountain. Even the most layman would not think that the level of a person with the worst calligraphy is not good enough to write a couplet.

Every year, Fuyu Mountain arranges people to go down the mountain to write couplets for the residents at the foot of the mountain for free.

This is not a big deal, and every year these disciples’ hands get sore from writing couplets, but they are still willing to compete for this spot.

The disciples who are selected are those who are recognized to have worked harder, made more progress, and have not made any mistakes in the previous year, and are good in all aspects.

Fuyu Mountain is not like other mountain sects. It selects disciples with good physique from a young age.

The selection of disciples for Mount Fuyu is basically based on fate, so there are naturally differences in talent. Ultimately, who is qualified to receive the ordination certificate depends on their daily accumulation.

For example, such a small thing as going down the mountain to write couplets is a small means of verification at the end of the year.

Wen Yan is now selecting couplets. The senior brothers in the mountains are afraid that they will not give enough or that the specifications and sizes are different, so the number they give to Wen Yan is enough for him to use for six or seven years.

He gave one set of the extra ones to the Zhao family, and also gave one set each to Gao Si, Fox Demon, Water God and the others. Most of them would not buy these things anyway.

The housekeeper said that you should stick couplets on the dumplings before putting them in the pot, and once they are done, the dumplings will be cooked.

Wen Yan was pasting couplets when he saw Zhang Laoxi's apprentice coming to the neighboring house to the east to paste couplets.

Zhang Laoxi is also miserable. He has been taken to special training for more than three months and has not been let down yet.

His apprentices haven't had a good time these days. I heard that every time they called Zhang Laoxi, he would speak very sternly and ask them to do an inspection after they came back.

By then, whoever has not improved his skills or has been lazy should quickly learn a serious skill and work hard.

When the master is in trouble, the apprentice cannot be spared.

Wen Yan can only occasionally see people next door now. Most of the time, Zhang Laoxi's apprentices are running around outside, practicing with their peers everywhere. When they have free time, they read books and make up for the lessons, for fear of falling behind. Their enthusiasm is really comparable to that of many high school students.

Seeing Wen Yan, Zhang Laoxi's apprentice hurried over to greet him and explained that he had been very busy recently and had not returned to the city, so he had not come to pay him a visit. He still had some work to do today, so he hurriedly took the time to come over and put up a couplet on the door to indicate that someone lived here.

Before the couplets were posted, Wen Yan received a message from Feng Yao.

Early yesterday morning, a strange beast was found and captured in Zhongyuan County. Later it was discovered that it was not the Nian beast.

At the beginning, everyone thought that the strange beast appeared at 11 o'clock in the evening, which was the midnight hour, and appeared specifically in the small town where fireworks were prohibited. It must be the Nian beast.

But Yan Zhikong of Laojun Mountain took action personally, and Niu Zhiqiang was also there. After catching the strange beast, they confirmed it many times and had to conclude that the strange beast was not the Nian beast at all.

It should be a strange beast that will appear during the Chinese New Year, and it is one of them.

This news came from the strange beast, because during this period, the luck is blazing, people's hearts are like fire, and all kinds of thoughts seem to be burning. It can basically be said that this is the most active period of the year for most of the strange beasts related to humans.

The strange beast refused to say who it was, but combined with that guy's ability, it could change the documents that had already been issued, so that the information in everyone's mind would be based on the modified ones.

Finally, the Lieyang tribe looked through the materials but could not find any matching records, so they asked a folk expert who specialized in studying these cultures for help, and he found the most suitable exotic animal, named the elephant.

This strange beast first appeared in Zhongyuan County, but later it was confused with a real elephant. After all, there were really elephants living in Zhongyuan County in the past.

There are very few records of this strange beast because it almost only appears during the Chinese New Year, and not every year.

It only appeared in some times when the social environment was relatively stable and the population was large, and most of the time it appeared in Zhongyuan County.

The number of times it appears is very rare, which makes it very easy to confuse it with the real elephants that once existed in Zhongyuan County.

The appearance of this strange beast is often covered up by the locals because from a human perspective, it is old-fashioned.

It will be attracted by the thoughts of the locals, and then gain strength, information and other things from them, and then help the locals to fulfill some of the simplest wishes that can maintain local customs and culture.

These are the reasons why the elephant beast was able to enter the local government office building as if it were an empty place, find the documents it was looking for easily, and modify the documents as if they were the template.

It never felt like it was doing anything wrong, it felt like it was doing the right thing.

The people in that small town were indeed very dissatisfied that others could set off fireworks but we couldn't.

The other documents that the strange beast had no time to modify at the time were generally of similar nature. They all seemed to have no major problems, but in fact, the local people had considerable objections.

Now that the elephant beast has been caught, the files that have been modified by it cannot be changed. We can only treat it as it has been from the beginning.

The local people were partying, and even some perceptive people could sense that something was amiss.

I think those merchants have problems in their brains. Before New Year's Eve, they don't get their licenses and buy more goods. By New Year's Eve, they can't replenish the goods. These few days are equivalent to several months of normal goods. They really don't want to make any money.

Some people felt it was strange, but no one thought there was anything wrong since no one set off firecrackers before New Year's Eve.

Of course, regulations are regulations, but every year there are still people who release them, and some small businesses will secretly purchase goods.

Now suddenly, everyone feels that the policy has been relaxed. At this time, no one dares to make a temporary rule saying that the policy cannot be relaxed. That would be pure trouble-making.

The big problem now is that Xiangshou said that there are several strange beasts that may appear during the Chinese New Year.

It doesn't know where the other brothers are, or whether they will come, and they may not even have a good relationship with each other.

The Xia Dynasty called it "sui", the Shang Dynasty called it "si", the Zhou Dynasty called it "nian", and the Tang and Yu Dynasty called it "zai".

Although they all generally mean one year, their origins are different.

Sui refers to the Jupiter, Si means sacrifice, Nian means the harvest of grains, and Zai means the renewal of all things.

Similarly, the strange beasts that appear during the Chinese New Year may have their roots in the concept of a year, but their ultimate temperament, strength, habits, etc. are all very different.

The elephant beast is a relatively gentle one, except that it is a bit stubborn, but everything else is fine.

The people of the Lieyang Tribe are now having a headache. They originally thought that there would only be one Nian beast, but they never expected that in the worst case scenario, there might be three or four types.

When Wen Yan saw the message from Feng Yao, he was speechless and replied.

“Do you think sending me these messages is any use?
This obviously requires people with cultural background to search for the root cause.

If you want to find out what a possible strange beast looks like, what its temperament is, and what abilities it has, you naturally have to find its roots first.

If you didn't tell me, I would think that one year, one year, and one year all mean the same thing most of the time.

I would like to work overtime, but it is not my turn to be a slacker."

Feng Yao didn't reply for a long time. After several minutes, he finally replied.

"I just told you because I was afraid you might be curious!"

"Happy New Year. Since you don't have the habit of eating dumplings, I won't send any to you."

"Today we have boiled chicken."

"I understand. It's impossible to finish eating the boiled chicken in the next half month."

"..."

Wen Yan happily put down the phone and prepared to eat.

Some dumplings and dishes were brought to the big guys who were offering sacrifices. While they were cooking in the pot, Wen Yan asked Quemao to send some to Gao Si as well while the dishes were not ready yet.

Originally, I wanted to invite Gao Si and a few others to come over to celebrate the New Year together, but none of them wanted to come in.

When the dumplings were put into the pot, the cat flapped its wings and flew back with the food box.

“Fat Fox and Shishi went to the store. I called them and they said they were busy in the store at the moment.

The fat fox said he wanted to accumulate merit, so he would give out 800 copies for free today."

"Well, where did she hear that? Does she have enough income to make that much?"

"I don't know. She said don't bother with her."

"Okay then, let Xiao Mo deliver them to the store. Just eat two, at least to show your appreciation."

The cat's whiskers twitched and he curled his lips.

"Why are you so obsessed with eating dumplings? Don't you dislike them?"

"Do people in Nanwu County like to eat boiled chicken during the New Year?"

The cat gave up the argument and started shouting that he was hungry. "Are you ready? I'm hungry. I want to eat the steamed beef with rice flour. I haven't even had breakfast yet."

There was a commotion in the house and then we started to eat. In addition to dumplings, there were also cold and hot dishes. Everyone eats differently, so we gave them different things.

Xiao Huo Miao always held a kerosene lamp to eat fire. The food that seemed to have the same taste to others, tasted very different to Xiao Huo Miao.

Wen Yan's house was very lively, and the same was true in another place.

There was also a group of people chatting in a small private chat room.

Don't eat onions, ginger and garlic: "It's so annoying. What's the point of celebrating the New Year? There are firecrackers and fireworks everywhere. It pollutes the environment."

Bone Itch: "Okay, just bear with it for a few days and it will be over. I haven't seen you fussing before."

Lao Hei: "It's New Year's Day, why are you arguing? Wait and see what's going on. I overheard a piece of news today that the Nian monster is coming."

"real or fake?"

"The same question."

Immediately, a bunch of divers began to bubble up below.

Lao Hei: "Hey, of course it's true. I heard from the people in that department that many of them worked overtime today because of this."

Don't eat onions, ginger and garlic: "Hey guys, move your stools and watch the fun. I heard that the Nian beast wants to eat two-legged sheep."

Lao Hei: "Where did you hear this rumor?"

Don't eat onions, ginger and garlic: "How can this be a rumor? My ancestors have seen it before, they ate two-legged sheep, and they also liked to eat Taoist priests. They prefer steamed or boiled food and don't eat spicy food."

Lao Hei: "Just listen to your ancestors' bragging. The Nian beast we are talking about actually appeared during the Dharma Ending Age. How could your ancestors be so awesome? They could actually see the Nian beast jump out and eat a two-legged sheep during the Dharma Ending Age?"

Don’t eat onions, ginger, and garlic: “Believe it or not, forget it, I witnessed it with my own eyes.”

Seeing that the two guys had started arguing, someone immediately tried to smooth things over.

Bone Itch: "Stop arguing. Anyway, let's see what to do with the Ministry and the mountains. Let's just have fun."

Lao Hei: "I don't want to argue. I'm just waiting to see the fun. No one knows where the Nian beast will land, what it looks like, how much it needs to eat to be full, and when it will disappear."

Bone Itch: "Hehe, hehe, no one knows about us, so no one in that department knows about it either, let's just watch the fun."

Don't eat onions, ginger and garlic: "Why didn't the group leader come out today?"

"do not know."

“I don’t know +1.”

Lao Hei: "Do you think the group leader will take the opportunity to go out hunting?"

"Hiss, you know what, it's really possible. Whoever disappears at this time and never comes back after the New Year, it's too normal and won't arouse suspicion."

Lao Hei: "It's bad, the group leader is careless. I overheard it by the water. The people in that department are very angry now. The group leader should not be discovered."

After they discussed for a few minutes, someone suddenly popped up.

I just love black long straight hair (group leader): "Don't talk nonsense, I'm busy with work, I don't have time, I'll talk to you later, if it works, we don't have to be so cautious."

Don’t eat onions, ginger and garlic: “It’s a pity that the old gourmets are gone, and the store has been ruined.”

"He's so high-profile, I thought it was once."

I just love black long straight hair (group owner): "Okay, close the group, I'm busy talking to someone, you all should keep a low profile recently, especially Lao Hei."

Lao Hei: "What's wrong with me? I'm trying to be as low-key as possible these days."

"What else? Didn't you notice that the wind direction in the Xijiang River has changed? Ever since the appearance of the little water god, the other water monsters have been more honest than the others, no matter what they say. I'm afraid you won't be able to hold back and cause your vagina to pump water."

Lao Hei: "They are so powerful, can they drain the river?"

"Old Black, stop talking."

“They really can.”

"They can't. A Guilong King has already awakened in Xijiang. You'd better be careful."

The others immediately tried to persuade him, and Lao Hei stopped talking immediately.

But after bringing up these topics, some people began to look at who hadn't bubbled up, and quickly advised those who hadn't bubbled up not to go out hunting.

……

On the other side, in the fried chicken shop on the street, Wang Jianjun was still preparing ingredients. Little Fox and Shishi had been watching TV series and reading novels in their spare time recently. They didn't know where they saw something, so they decided to do a good deed here today.

The little fox was also very cunning. He knew that if she started in the morning and said it was free, her income would definitely not be able to support her, and someone might even come specifically to get it.

In the afternoon or evening, she felt that this thing might be given to someone who was truly destined to have it and who needed it.

On the night of New Year's Eve, if someone in Nanwu County was not at home for the New Year and would not eat the chicken at home, would come out specifically to eat the chicken, and she would be willing to give it to them.

By the afternoon, there are actually not many people outside. All the shops that should be closed have closed, and everyone has gone home to celebrate the New Year. They will only open on the second day of the New Year.

But this opening is only available in some large shopping malls and the like, and small stores will at most open for half a day to show their appreciation.

When it was getting dark, the fried chicken shop had no business, and the number of passing vehicles on the street outside was much less than usual.

Wang Jianjun no longer goes back to his hometown. His whole family is here, and he is very happy about it. His wife also hopes that he can settle down there in peace.

Originally, this store was sold to Quemao, but without Wang Jianjun, the taste was not the same as before. When Wang Jianjun came back, he was invited back. After the Chinese New Year, the store had to expand again, and the stores next to it were all bought.

With Wang Jianjun's craftsmanship, such a shop is enough to easily support several people.

He was a customer who just came into the store and was told it was free when he checked out. Now the little fox quietly hung up a sign saying it’s free for a limited time, limited to one serving per person, and a drink will be given away with dine-in meals while stocks last.

However, there were customers when the sign was not hung up, but after hanging up the sign and waiting for more than ten minutes, no one came.

All the shops nearby have closed and the people have gone home. This fried chicken shop is the only one on the street with the lights still on.

A man with a backpack passed by here, saw the sign, was slightly startled, and lingered at the door of the store for a while.

The little fox was sharp-eyed and immediately opened the door.

The plan of accumulating merit that she had just learned could not fail at the very beginning. At noon, she was afraid that she could not afford the loss. At dusk, she hung up a sign, fearing that no one would see it. She also used a light sign, but no one came. The little fox was a little anxious.

"Would you like to try it? It's free, and drinks are free too."

The passerby hesitated for a moment and stepped in.

The little fox skillfully brought a cup of homemade milk tea.

"What flavor do you want to eat?

I recommend the original flavor. My master is very skilled and I still can’t learn how to make it.

My master is here today, and all the ingredients were prepared by him.

And, it’s free, and the drinks are free too.”

"Then let's go with the original flavor."

The little fox was in a good mood. She wrote the sign herself and even practiced calligraphy for it.

The freshly fried chicken was served, and the little fox took a small portion for himself and found a table to eat.

Wang Jianjun came out from behind and saw this scene. Even though he saw it often, he couldn't help laughing.

Wang Jianjun turned on the TV, tuned to channel 1, and waited for the Spring Festival Gala to begin.

He sat beside them with a cup of tea, looking at passers-by and asked casually.

"How does it taste bro?"

The passerby took a bite of the fried chicken and savored it for a long while before responding seriously.

“Very special and delicious.”

"Who is this brother?"

"I'm from Zhongyuan County. I'm going back too late. I won't go back. I'll start working on the bridge and levee repairs in a few days."

"Hey, then you're my fellow countryman, where are you from, brother?" Wang Jianjun smiled and his tone became much more friendly. No wonder he sounded familiar with the accent just now.

"Bian Jing." A passerby replied casually while eating fried chicken.

Wang Jianjun was slightly stunned and didn't react for a moment. Where is this Bian Jing? After thinking about it for a while, he remembered that Bian Jing seemed to be a name used a long time ago and it has not been used for a long time.

(End of this chapter)