A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 22 Local Customs: "Welcoming the Guests"

Days passed by like this. With nothing else to do, Zhang Niu replaced the small wooden sign that read "Happy Abode" in front of his door with a large, round rock from nearby. The rock had been sitting there unused since the mountain was cleared. Zhang Niu simply asked someone from the village to bring it back. It was free, after all.

An elderly stone carver in the village was hired to help carve the four characters "Happy Abode" on a round stone. He then carefully traced the carving lines with red paint. The nearly three-meter-high boulder stands beside the pond, its imposing size visible from afar. It has now become a landmark on Zhang Niu's contracted land. The flamboyant Zhang Niu had originally wanted the old man to carve it into a statue, preferably one that resembled him. This left the old carver speechless. He'd never seen such a request before. He simply ignored it, telling the exasperated old man, "If I were to carve this boulder by myself, it wouldn't be finished in a year." He then slunk away.

Two hundred ducklings used to seem like a lot, but now that they've grown up and molted, the number feels far too small. I'll call the orchard owner and ask him when he'll have time to buy me eight hundred ducklings. Just meat ducks, not the egg-laying kind. I've been raising these ducks for almost two months now, and they should be ready to sell in about a month. I haven't fed them much feed, and each duckling is already about four pounds. They haven't even had a minor illness like the flu. It's been a very worry-free experience.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, several large villages near Zhangjia Village, including Zhangjia Village itself, would hold welcoming ceremonies. Zhang Niu wasn't sure when these ceremonies would begin. His grandfather's generation had already started them. Back then, the village's wild children were the happiest because they would all have to play the roles of little boys, wearing ancient long robes.

The welcoming ceremony began at five in the morning. The sound of firecrackers could be heard early on. Seven altars were set up along the way. Beside them burned two enormous incense sticks, as thick as an arm and as tall as a person. They burned from morning until midnight. Zhang Niu, seeing this for the first time, was amazed to learn that incense could be made so tall and huge; it was quite frightening.

Starting with the first table, the tables were piled high with local delicacies, stacked densely all the way to the last table. Parents would usually tell their children, "These are offerings to welcome the gods. If anyone takes them, the gods will come after them that night." The children, frightened, would nod repeatedly.

After that, people would gather at the open spaces chosen by each village to watch performances. Those who preferred a more refined experience could watch "The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" or "The Old Master Carrying a Sedan Chair." Young people, on the other hand, enjoyed watching acts like breaking stones on their chests, martial arts, and breathing fire, which drew cheers from the surrounding crowd. On the day of the welcoming ceremony, there were also many vendors selling snacks: sesame cakes, wontons, fried rice cakes, duck necks, bananas, and other treats popular with children. Zhang Niu also bought several skewers of fried taro and mushrooms for his younger sister. However, there were so many customers that the fryers couldn't keep up with the demand.

In the morning, Zhang Niu took his younger sister to look around. For her, this was a big holiday. She could see acrobatics and other things that she rarely gets to see.

In the afternoon, the procession begins, passing through several large villages in the vicinity. Every household lines the roadside to watch, and children join in the excitement, mingling with the crowds.

In the evening, everyone carries small lanterns to the temple to welcome the gods; it's the final activity of the welcoming ceremony. A long, human-shaped dragon leads to the temple on the mountain.

Everyone kept quiet on the way; the only sound on the winding mountain path was the soft rustling of footsteps. The temples on the mountain are said to be very popular and efficacious, with many worshippers year-round. I don't know if it's true or not.

Once everyone brings back their prayers from the temple, the annual welcoming ceremony is considered complete. This annual event is primarily a prayer for a bountiful harvest and smooth sailing in the coming year—a tradition that has continued for many years.

The fruit seedling vendor delivered the ducks the next day in his utility truck. The back of the truck was loaded with cages of ducklings, making a quacking sound. This attracted the ducks by the pond, who also started quacking, creating a chorus of quacking.

Move the duck cage to the duck shed. Surround it with small wooden boards and leave it like this for now. Later, move it to the larger space to roam freely for a few days. After that, the ducklings will be much easier to raise and less likely to get sick.

After moving the duck cages, Shengming from the village happened to ride his tricycle to Zhang Niu's place to borrow a water pump, saying that his own had just burned down. He'd heard from others that Zhang Niu had a new one on the mountain, so he hurried up here.

It turned out that the pond not far from Shengming's house was about to be drained. It hadn't dried up last winter, and this year he wanted to drain it as soon as possible so he could sell some fish for a good price.

With the orchard owner's tool cart on hand, they loaded Shengming's tricycle and water pump onto it and headed straight for his pond.

Shengming's pond is located next to the dirt road outside the village. When I arrived, there were already quite a few people by the pond; it turned out they were preparing to pull in the first nets to catch fish. The fishing nets, already untied, could be seen along the pond's edge.

After installing the new water pump, Shengming said it was much more powerful than his old one. You could tell from the outlet pipe; the new pump had a much stronger flow. The old one had a much smaller outlet. Once the water level dropped a bit, they could lower the nets to haul in the fish. With three people at each end of the net, pulling fish from the seven or eight acres of pond was relatively easy.

Zhang Niu and the fruit seedling vendor stood on the bank, where many wild children watched. When it was time to haul in the nets, the villagers would throw a handful of small, unidentifiable fish onto the bank for the children to take home and keep as pets.

In the blink of an eye, the people on the other end had already pulled in more than half of their net, while the people on this side continued to cast their nets. The net was pulled in just two or three meters away from where it was cast. Shengming was lucky today. The net didn't sink halfway through. A sinking net is when the net bag is full of mud, and the more you pull, the more it gets heavier. Eventually, it becomes so heavy that you can't pull it up. At that point, you have to swim to where the net is sinking and lift it up. As soon as you lift it, the fish escape. A sinking net means there aren't many fish left in the net.

The area covered by the fishing net gradually decreased. Many large fish inside the net kept leaping out of the water. Some were even lucky enough to leap directly out of the net.

Zhang Niu, who was on the shore, ran over to help pull the nets as they were being hauled in. Today's catch was huge. Looking at the large fish jumping around, the net must have contained at least two or three thousand catties of fish. They threw the bamboo poles and fishpond into the water so that they could free up their hands to create a fishpond to hold the fish.

Once the fishponds are all tied to the bamboo poles, drive the fish from the fish bags into the fishponds. This way, you won't have to bother picking the fish out of the net later.

The fishmongers wouldn't arrive until the afternoon, so Shengming had to stay by the fishpond, worried that passersby might steal a few. After Zhang Niu and Guo Miao were about to leave, Shengming selected two largehead carp, each weighing about ten pounds, from the pond for them to take home and eat.

It took me ages to finish writing this first update. I'm still asking for recommendations and favorites today. My favorites count is pitifully low. I hope everyone will support me.