Whether or not one can receive a lot of money this Spring Festival, whether or not one can go out for a good meal, all depends on their own skill at snagging more red envelopes in front of the wealthy people’s doors.
The lion dancers don’t just perform in front of the wealthy families’ homes; they do the lion dance wherever they go, like estates and properties, greeting the new year with their lions.
Ordinary families give a little red envelope, and even a copper coin counts as money. The properties of wealthy families offer more than just a bit of money. When they see a big red envelope, they play longer, as that’s their rule and custom!
Ye Shiqi watched with great interest as the five lions competed for red envelopes; they were showing off their skills, starting with a contest of martial arts on benches and raised platforms.
"Good, very good, spectacular!"
The crowd outside the courtyard erupted into lively cheers, clapping and shouting in approval.
How could a place with a crowd be quiet? They had to compete with the musicians in volume.
After a year of toil, of 365 days, today was the most leisurely day for the farmers, a day for watching performances and meeting up with friends and brothers.
Besides playing cards and chess, today they would all casually carry some peanuts and melon seeds in their pockets, making a circuit around the crowd to enjoy the bustling scene.
Ever since Ye Shiqi came to the ancient times of this book, since her elder sister had taken her out to play, her gaze had observed the village houses.
It has been two years since then, and the village’s changes are nothing but significant!
Some of the houses that she had seen before, aside from those used for raising pigs and cattle, were thatched cottages. When the typhoons started in May, it was terribly dangerous; the thatched cottages without proper foundations could be blown away at the slightest gust.
When the thatched cottages collapsed, in the pouring rain, there was no shelter for the livestock.
The hardest hit were the elderly and the families with many mouths to feed; the young and the young children had nowhere to live, and the very oldest had a miserable time, being arranged by the family to stay in the thatched cottages.
The changes in the village over these two years were noticeable; many houses were converted from mud to brick, or to brick tile houses.
It’s possible for livestock to live in thatched cottages, but the situation for elderly family members improved slightly; they no longer had to live in thatched cottages.
The thatch houses, without protection from wind, rain, or the cold of winter, could only be left to the livestock.
Bushen Village was quite large, and given its many mountains and abundant land, it should have been one of the most desirable places for girls from other villages to strive to marry into.
It was easier to secure a wife than in some villages tucked away in the mountains, but even in such a desirable place as Bushen Village, there were quite a few bachelors.
If it wasn’t that one was too honest and not good at making money, it might be because they were held back by elderly parents at home, or were orphans and widows.
There were also some families with five or six brothers; after the eldest married, it became difficult for the younger ones. Without a house and without money, no matter how many brothers, they all shared one plight – "poverty."
Over these two years, she had seen changes, families with lots of labor power, especially male labor, began to build houses one after another.
They were not only making money by farming at home, but in the favourable conditions of the last two years, they were working in wood factories or on estates.
In homes where there was only one main provider, where the rest just ate their fill without contributing, even though the environment had improved slightly and they could eat a little better, there was no improvement in their housing.
A single person working to support the whole family has limited abilities. Being able to feed and clothe themselves was already commendable. Improving their housing was not even a consideration; at best, they could only fix the roof when the weather was better to prevent leaks on rainy days.
For clothing and housing, when people’s situations improve, and they live a bit better, they would start spending more on clothes.
From the excited crowd, one could see—from the men laughing heartily, the women, the blushing girls, the sturdy youths, the joyful teenagers, to the sniffling toddler—the exterior improvements and betterment of their family circumstances.
Even so, in this era without war and chaos, people who were poor still lived in peace.
Occasionally, outsiders would enter the village, only to be chased away by the patrolling youth accompanied by dogs.
Ye Shiqi had heard that over the last two years, several nights were marked by the busy barking of dogs.
As people in the village began to grow wealthier, it also became the best target for those thieves with itchy fingers.
The Ye family was also a target for thieves; at night, when the dogs in the courtyard barked, the family would wake up alarmed, light lanterns, rush out, and see shadows leaping over the wall.
Ye Shiqi heard that when her grandmother was burglarized, she cried and cursed those thieves vehemently.
There were also thieves who rummaged through her parents’ room, sadly unable to find anything valuable, let alone the house contract or land deed.
The couple was even more worried about the safety of their children, so they kept more mongrel dogs in the courtyard from then on.
Mrs. Lai, who was usually very stingy, even now during the New Year did not hand out red envelopes to the children. When she was robbed, while the family remained silent, some laughed inwardly at her cries yet dared not show it.
Hongji, as her son, only offered a few words of comfort, advising his mother to keep her money more securely in the future.
The couple felt relieved that they had entrusted all the important things to Wuwa.
Lately, with the construction of a larger house, the number of visits by thieves increased, but their food storage was hidden away in tunnels.