Xiao Niangpi stood in the courtyard, watching the people sweeping snow, cracking firewood, and cleaning.
This winter is extremely cold and snowy. Lin Yueru stood behind her, stretched out her hand to cover her mouth and yawned. She's been a little sleepy lately.
They were only two months pregnant, so it wasn't obvious at all, but they both became more delicate at the same time, as if they needed help to walk. Mei Xiang was holding back a smile from behind.
Since the young lady became pregnant, she seems to have become a different person. You can't be too squeamish.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon, so I have to keep my home clean. Today is the New Year. As the saying goes, it is the New Year after the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. After today, it is officially the Spring Festival period.
This is the first Spring Festival that Xiao Niangpi has spent at home after she and Yang Fan got married. Xiao Niangpi takes it very seriously, so she gets up early to arrange various matters.
In the morning, we listened to the stewardship team’s report on one year’s work. In the afternoon, Spring Festival supplies were distributed to hired workers, tenants, and domestic slaves, and the master also paid rewards.
Even though Lin Yueru wanted to sleep in, she could only get up and follow the lady with Mei Xiang to have a private moment.
In the Ming Dynasty, the wife was responsible for the housekeeping. The master usually doesn't interfere much with family affairs. Mainly busy with various things of being an official.
The wife has the highest decision-making power over family affairs, and can even kill or kill domestic slaves. The power is frightening.
No one can veto the madam's decision except the master.
After one year of marriage, Tu Shanyue has already established absolute authority. From the military leaders to the tenant farmers, everyone fell silent when they saw Madam. No one dares to explode.
There are now more than one million slaves in Yang Fan's family, which is less than 300,000 households. In addition to those on their own land, there are also those from Duolun City on the grassland.
In addition to the Han people, there are also pirates and their families composed of Mongolians, Koreans, Japanese, Ryukyus, Southeast Asians, etc. In the Vladivostok colony, there are still a mess of people of various nationalities.
Such a big home is not easy to manage. It took a year for Xiao Niang's skin to be completely straightened out. Mainly relying on the assistance of the secretariat. Now there are thousands of people in charge of the household. Xiao Niangpi also assigned levels to them. There are five levels in total, with hierarchical management.
Zhang Jida ran over and said with a smile: "Madam, the hygiene of the house has been taken care of, and it looks brand new from top to bottom. Do you think the master will start the ceremony of worshiping the stove when he gets home?"
Xiao Niangpi nodded with satisfaction. It was the old servants at home who were comfortable and satisfied with their work.
"Have the pigs been killed? How have other food been prepared?"
"Replying to Madam, Donkey Dan has killed three big fat pigs. He is boiling water for the leg hair. He has made several baskets of sugar melons with the syrup he boiled himself. He has also fried potatoes and made shredded potatoes. The tribute will be served later. The Stove King and his grandma were so happy to take care of it that their teeth were glued together. When I reported on the work at the top, I couldn’t say a bad word."
"Well, you did a good job, and you will be rewarded. Each of you will receive a set of zodiac commemorative gold coins issued by Xinghe Bank during the Spring Festival this year."
"Mrs. Xie" Zhang Geda immediately became happy.
Now he is not short of money. The main reason why he is happy is that the owner's family values them and their dignity. He knew about commemorative coins. He made a thousand sets in total, which the master used to give gifts during the Spring Festival.
This year's Spring Festival is the Year of the Snake, and Xinghe Bank issued a set of limited edition commemorative gold coins. A set of 6 pieces in total.
The gold coin weighs one hundred grams, with an embossed Q version of six common Chinese snakes on the front, and auspicious words about snakes and exquisite patterns on the back.
"The master said that he will come back in the next year, but I don't know if it will be late. It is said that the master will be the host of the stove sacrifice." Xiao Niangpi touched her belly and murmured.
There is a folk saying of "sending off dumplings to the wind noodles". Because the Kitchen God will return to heaven to report work on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every household makes dumplings the day before to see the Kitchen God off.
The maids in the back house are now making dumplings under the leadership of Aunt Mei.
The wrapped dumplings are brought out with a curtain and frozen on the outside.
At that time, you can use it at any time, just put it in the pot and cook it.
There are more than 700 people in the house now, and there won’t be enough food if there are too few bags. If someone doesn't eat it by then, wouldn't it be a loss of face for the host family?
There is a saying that children should clean the house and sweep away all the dust in the corners of the room. It is said that the Stove Lord has a bad memory. This is a record of the good and bad things done by this family in the past year. As long as it is swept away, the Kitchen God will not remember it.
This can be regarded as not seeking merit, but seeking no faults.
The head of the family personally leads the whole family to worship the kitchen god. After the ceremony, the statue of the kitchen god and the horse are burned to show that the kitchen god has returned to heaven on horseback.
In order to enable the Kitchen God to speak sweet words, all sweets are used to sacrifice Kitchen Fruit, most of which are made into colorful puffed foods.
In fact, the most important activity on Xiaonian Day is not only offering sugar melons and cakes, but also changing the portrait of the Kitchen God. When the old portrait of the Kitchen God is taken off, every household also has to "invite" a new portrait of the Kitchen God.
While several people were talking, a servant ran in from the front yard and shouted: "Madam, the master's motorcade has arrived in Zunhua, and will definitely arrive home at noon." This was what Yang Fan had sent to Zunhua to come back quickly to report the news.
When I heard that Yang Fan was coming back, there was a sudden buzz of excitement in the yard.
"It's great that I can come back in time and celebrate the New Year with everyone." Xiao Niangpi said happily. "Hurry up and prepare the sugar melons and snacks. When the master comes back, we will start offering sacrifices to the stove. Then the banquet will begin."
According to custom, there are several things to do today. The first is cleaning, followed by cutting and pasting window grilles. Aunt Mei brought the maids to do this yesterday.
There is also the custom of eating sugar melons for both adults and children. The children all sang the nursery rhyme, "On the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, the sugar melons are sticky, and the Kitchen God will go to heaven the next day."
On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will return to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor the good or bad deeds of his master's family over the past year. Therefore, when worshiping the stove on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, everyone must eat "tanggua", which is "stove candy".
Kitchen sugar is a kind of maltose. When it is drawn into a long candy stick, it is called "Guandong candy". When it is drawn into an oblate shape, it is called "sugar melon" or "sugar cake".
Tanggua is an ancient traditional snack of the Han nationality. It is both a Spring Festival food and a sacrificial item for worshiping the Kitchen God.
In the past, it was said that on the 23rd day of the 23rd, we would worship the Stove King, and we would buy some candies made of maltose, such as Tanggua and Guandong sugar, as offerings. This was not only to ask him to speak kindly to the Jade Emperor when he ascended to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor, but also to stick it with sugar. He went to the Kitchen Lord's mouth to prevent him from saying more.
After finishing all this work, the banquet can only be held at two or three o'clock in the afternoon. Then the whole family will have a big meal.
The Yang family is rich and has always had good food and plenty of food and wine. Therefore, the servants all like to celebrate the festival very much.
When it gets dark, there will be an entertainment program. Everyone is looking forward to it.
Zunhua is the center of iron smelting, where an artistic performance called iron flower was developed from iron smelting.
The molten iron is poured onto the city wall, and the sparks explode into thousands of sparks. They are called "tree flowers" because they resemble a leafy tree crown. Their spectacle is no less spectacular than fireworks.
This kind of performance is very thrilling and thrilling. One by one, shirtless strong men throw red iron juice into the air, transforming into a unique landscape of fire, trees and silver flowers, which is mesmerizing to watch.
There is a special reason why everyone is looking forward to the master's return home.
It's a holiday starting today. The yamen is sealed today, and it will not be open again until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Therefore, today is the day when the master gives out a year's reward.
Everyone is looking forward to Yang Fan returning home. The children were all looking forward to receiving the reward money, and their parents gave some older children to buy candy figures and rattles.
