Strange Life of a Cat

Two days after Zheng Tan came to Jiao's old house, he finally knew what the "new year taste" that Jiao Yuan said and had been thinking about all the time was.

In Jiao Yuan's definition, the taste of the New Year is the smell of firecrackers.

boom!

After the sound, the children cheered.

Zheng Tan lay on the roof tiles of the old house, looking at a vegetable field in front of the old house, Jiao Yuan took Xiaoyouzi to watch some children in the village set off firecrackers in the open space.

This kind of thing is strictly controlled in the city, and it is not allowed to be left indiscriminately, but after coming here, there is no restriction, and you can put it as you want. This kind of gadgets are sold in towns and village markets, and they are cheap enough . Simple firecrackers and the like, some older boys can even make them by themselves.

The children got to know each other as they played. Except for catching rabbits, Jiao Yuan took Xiaoyouzi to play with them with firecrackers. Most of the time, Xiaoyouzi just stood by and watched. For her, this kind of thing was relatively unfamiliar. , Fireworks are different from firecrackers and firecrackers, and watching is different from setting them off by yourself. Including Zheng Tan, their experience is only watching fireworks in the square. When Zheng Tan was still a human, he had asked someone to buy a lot of fireworks to pick up girls, but he had never played with a variety of firecrackers like these children.

This can be regarded as a kind of folk entertainment that has been passed down for thousands of years. Unfortunately, the degree of danger is high, the environment is polluted, and the control in big cities is strict. Many children living in big cities rarely come into contact with this kind of entertainment. Even if they play, they just play some games. It is just a "gadget" in the mouth of the children in the village. The villagers don't care much about the children. These children have been exposed to this kind of things since they were young. They are very skilled and play a lot of tricks.

Jiao Yuan obviously played with them every time he came here to celebrate the New Year. Although he is in junior high school now, he is just a kid in his teens with a lot of fun. The little ones are playing, and the parents should rest assured.

"Try this!"

A seven or eight-year-old child took out a dilapidated small aluminum pot from nowhere, knocked it upside down on the ground, and put a firecracker in it. Squatting down and lifting the aluminum pot, the child lit the fuse with the burning incense, got up and ran after lighting it.

Xiaoyouzi, Jiao Yuan and others standing in the distance covered their ears.

Zheng Tan, who was lying on the roof and looking over there, also raised his paws to cover his ears, the sound of the firecrackers was too loud, and his own hearing is good now, the sound was indeed very impactful.

boom!

The small aluminum pot was raised high, about 10 to 20 meters. It's a pity that those children are not very satisfied, saying what they say is not very powerful.

Zheng Tan looked at the aluminum pan that fell from the sky, and it was deformed.

These brats are really brave.

"There are not many big ones left, let's play with the small ones and save some money, otherwise we won't have anything to play today." A child about Jiao Yuan's age said. He was holding a box in his hand, which was full of firecrackers and the like.

The other children also had cardboard boxes of different sizes, but the firecrackers inside were not as big as his.

"Small ones are not fun." A child about eight years old muttered.

"Why isn't it fun? Look at me!"

A child looked around the surrounding vegetable garden, asked for burning incense, and then walked to a vegetable garden not far away with a firecracker box.

Because it is still far away from the fields of each family, some open space around the house has also been reclaimed, and some people have built vegetable gardens surrounded by fences.

In the vegetable garden that the child ran to, the Chinese cabbage was growing just right. During this period of time the weather was fine and the temperature was quite high. Moreover, the winter in this place is not as low as tens of degrees below zero like in the north, and it will not snow in warm winters.

Finding the best growing Chinese cabbage, the child broke off the cabbage leaves, put a smaller firecracker in it, lit it with incense, and ran away.

Since it was a small firecracker, the children didn't run too far, and didn't even cover their ears.

Zheng Tan only heard a bang, and then saw the Chinese cabbage that was growing well, but the cabbage leaves were broken.

It really is a bear kid. If the owner saw this, he would probably be so angry that his chest would hurt.

Knowing that this matter should not be done too much, the older child called the child who was still trying to fry Chinese cabbage over, and did not let him harm other people's Chinese cabbage.

It's not that my own cabbage doesn't feel bad when it's fried, it looks good, but if my own cabbage is fried, these children will probably whip it with sticks.

"What are you frying if you don't fry cabbage? Are you going to fry fish?"

"No, yesterday we were scolded for frying fish. You can only go to ponds and rivers where there are no fish to fry, and you can't go to fishponds."

"What fun is frying without fish?!"

Several children were having a heated discussion over there, and Zheng Tan was amused. These children blew up a few fish in the fish pond yesterday, and the owner saw big fish with white bellies in the fish pond. I was so angry that my lungs were about to explode. There is such a commotion every year, these brats don't remember to eat, they don't remember to beat, and they continue to fry after being beaten.

So, when a bear child meets firecrackers, it will be a disaster.

Just as Zheng Tan was thinking, there was another solution over there.

The target was a water tank in the corner of a vegetable garden.

There is also running water in the village now, but most people still prefer to use well water, and every family has this kind of pottery water tank to store water. The water tank in the corner of the vegetable garden should have been there for a long time, the water in it was very cloudy and smelled bad, it was probably used by the owner to water the flowers and vegetables.

"Hey, I suddenly thought of a story in a Chinese book." Said a child.

"I know! I know!" A brat raised his arm and wiped his nose with his sleeve, "That's called Sima Guang's bomb!"

Zheng Tan, Jiao Yuan, and Xiaoyouzi: "..."

So enlightened!

The level has been upgraded, even more ruthless than Sima Guang.

After frying the Chinese cabbage and frying the water tank, these brats are really good at tossing.

A child took out a small firecracker the size of an adult's little finger, covered with a layer of plastic, and with a pointed end. I heard from these children that they are called "torpedoes". They are waterproof, big and small, and have different explosive powers. They use this kind of fish when they fry fish.

After lighting the "torpedo" with incense, the child pinched it and threw it into the water tank. Throwing too early is easy to extinguish, and throwing too late is more accidental. As experienced players, they are familiar with this skill.

The others stood farther away. Although the firecracker was small, the water in the water tank was too smelly, and these children didn't want to be splashed with smelly water.

I don't know if the water tank is too old to be bombed, or the "torpedo" is too powerful, in short, Zheng Tan saw a hole in the water tank. The smelly black water inside flowed out from the hole in the body of the water tank, and the stench scattered.

The kid who lit the firecrackers didn't have time to run too far, and was still splashed with water. He smelled bad, so he hurried back to scrub.

It's almost time for lunch, and the firecrackers on hand are almost set off. The brats go back to their homes. After eating, they stock up and continue to play.

Jiao Yuan exchanged some snacks with a few children for some firecrackers, etc. There was no way, even if he had pocket money, he couldn't buy firecrackers for a while. There were no canteens and shops around here, and even if there were, there were not many types of firecrackers. It's just an inconvenient place, you have to go to the market to buy things.

When exchanging firecrackers and firecrackers with these children, Jiao Yuan deliberately picked some with longer fuses, and when he went back to play with Xiaoyouzi, he was not at ease if the fuses were short. Jiao Yuan is self-aware, although he is older than those snot-wiping kids, but in terms of experience, he is not as good as them.

When we returned to the old house, Mother Jiao was cooking lunch in the kitchen.

The kitchen is an old-fashioned stove, the kind used to light firewood, and the pot is also a big iron pot, which Mr. Jiao likes to use. The coal stove is now used to cook stewed vegetables and fried meatballs, lotus root clips, etc., and it is not used very much on weekdays. Now it's only on fire during the Chinese New Year.

Jiao Yuan took out a stick of incense, put it into the stove and lit it.

"What are you ordering this for?" Mother Jiao frowned.

"Set off firecrackers." Jiao Yuan replied.

"Be careful not to get hurt, and don't scare Heitan." Mother Jiao worried.

"It's okay, Heitan is not afraid at all, it has been watching us play this morning, and it even knows how to cover its ears." Jiao Yuan grinned, and after lighting the incense, he and Xiaoyouzi went to the backyard of the old house to play.

The advantage of the countryside is that the place is large and there are few restrictions.

There was a tall stack of firewood in the backyard, some fir trees were planted sporadically, and the weeds and leaves on the ground had been cleaned by Mr. Jiao long ago.

There is also a water tank here, but Jiao Yuan doesn't dare to blow up his own water tank. In order to buy new year's goods, Mr. Jiao bought some fish and put them in this water tank. He marinated the fish yesterday, cleaned the water tank, and put it away. A little water was left there, and it was not touched for a while.

The old lady sat at the back door of the kitchen frying lotus root folders, and looked at the two children in the backyard from time to time. Although the children in the village often played with firecrackers, her grandson was different from the gangsters in the village. He had little exposure to firecrackers, so the old lady was worried.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the pile of firewood and looked down.

Jiao Yuan poked a small hole in the ground with a metal stick, inserted a small firecracker in it, and let it stand upright so that it was easy to ignite.

After being ignited, the firecrackers made a "pop" sound.

These are smaller firecrackers, Jiao Yuan dare not play with big ones in his own yard, the first is dangerous and it will scare the elderly. He just had a hand addiction.

In their own backyard, Jiao Yuan and Xiaoyouzi let go a lot, and each played with a stick of incense and lit firecrackers.

After playing for a while, Xiaoyouzi looked at Zheng Tan who was climbing on the pile of firewood, and said, "Heitan, do you want to play?"

Zheng Tan moved the tip of his tail, it seemed that his paws were itchy.

"Here, Heitan, you can come and play too." Jiao Yuan stood on tiptoe and passed the incense in his hand to Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan looked at the incense, turned his head, and jumped off the pile of firewood.

Xiaoyouzi took out a tissue to wrap Xiang's end, and handed it to Zheng Tan.

Still Xiaoyouzi is considerate.

Zheng Tan bit the stick of incense wrapped in a tissue, and walked towards the firecrackers that had been placed.

The corner of Jiao Yuan's mouth twitched, his cat's cleanliness is really awkward.

When lighting the fuse, Zheng Tan felt a little nervous. Although it was a small firecracker with little power, he had too little experience of this kind, so he was a little excited. When sparks came out from the fuse, Zheng Tan turned his head and ran away.

Snapped!

Successfully ignited.

The old lady who was sitting in the house frying the lotus root clips picked up the fried lotus root clips with a colander. While draining the oil, she took the time to look at the situation in the backyard, and happened to see her son’s precious black cat holding a At the scene of lighting firecrackers, my hand trembled suddenly, and a few lotus root clips in the colander fell out to the ground.

The big yellow dog squatting next to it flicked its tail jubilantly and quickly rolled the lotus root clips on the ground into its mouth, which was not too hot.

(Supplement 1.30)