Yongle eighth year, Gengyin, tiger.
The last day of the Year of the Tiger, New Year's Eve.
Perhaps because he was concerned about posting Spring Festival couplets on the house—it is his own house after all—Zhang Bi got up much earlier than usual!
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Lin Linyou with a pair of panda eyes, wrapped in a quilt, sitting motionless on a stone bench in the courtyard, with a trace of white frost hanging on the tip of his hair exposed in front of his forehead.
"Second brother! What are you doing up so early?" Zhang Ben was full of energy and greeted loudly.
Lin Linyou turned his head, looked at Zhang Bi, and silently blew out a wisp of white smoke from his mouth.
Zhang Bi thought it was fog, and saw a leaf rolled in his hand. The leaf was also smoking, but he didn't know what leaf it was.
Seeing that Lin Linyou was still spitting out continuous white smoke from his mouth, Zhang Bi was stunned: "You kid, you have practiced Qi to the point of going crazy, it's incredible!"
"Ahem." Lin Linyou coughed twice, and the last puff of smoke came out of his nostrils: "I'm angry."
"Why are you angry so early in the morning? Who made you angry?" Zhang Bi said, "Help me make paste and paste Spring Festival couplets!"
"I can't stand it, I can't stand it." Lin Lin said, "I just stayed up all night. I have to go to sleep for a while."
"How can you sleep in late on New Year's Eve?" Zhang Bi said, while fetching water from the well to wash up.
"I've only heard that you can't sleep in late on the first day of the first lunar month." Lin Linyou said, "I've never heard that you can't sleep in late on New Year's Eve. Besides, I'm not sleeping in late. I didn't sleep all night last night."
"What did you do last night? Did you become a thief?" Zhang Bi looked back and asked with a smile, "A flower-picking thief?"
"With my handsome appearance, do I still need to pick flowers?"
While he was talking, Lin Linyou's door creaked open, and Yue Rong walked out.
"..." Zhang Bi was stunned with his toothbrush in his mouth.
Yue Rong also saw Zhang Bi, said hello to the two of them, lowered his head and blushed, then quickly slipped past Zhang Bi, pushed open his own door and stepped in.
Like a thief, it turns out she is the thief.
"She, she..." Zhang Bi looked at Yue Rong entering the room, then looked at Lin Linyou, "You, you..."
"You are you, she is she, why is the eldest brother stuttering so early in the morning?" Lin Linyou smiled bitterly, flicked the leaf scroll in his hand, stood up with a yawn, and walked to his room.
At this time, Yang Fang and Ren Ran also got up. They said good morning to each other. Ren Ran went to the kitchen to boil water and make porridge. Yang Fang came towards Zhang Ben and the others with a bamboo cup to brush his teeth. Men, feel free to drink cold water. Just wash it off, washing it in cold water will make you feel refreshed.
What's more, even though it's the twelfth lunar month of winter, the well water is not ice-cold at all - this is all due to the geothermal heat!
"Third brother, didn't you say you wanted to sail to the West with Eunuch Zheng? One day you are going to do it. Remember to go to a place called Luzon Island (today's Philippines) and see the local indigenous islanders chewing leaves or holding in their mouths If there are empty reeds that are smoking, you can bring back the plant seeds that they chew or stuff in the empty reeds." Lin Linyou Balabala finished speaking in one breath and walked into the room.
Yang Fang had a question mark on his face. When he saw Lin Linyou's figure disappearing from the room, he turned to Zhang Bi: "Brother, what did the second brother say?"
"Talking in his sleep!" Zhang Bi looked at Lin Lin's leaves that were flying to the ground and still emitting a slight white smoke. "It seems that he is really sleepy." He was very curious about which leaf of which tree in the yard this belongs to. , and what could make the second brother so worried that he could not sleep all night.
Could it be that he slept with Yue Rong?
Then why are you still worried? Shouldn't it be a matter of popping champagne and celebrating?
Zhang Ben slapped his thigh fiercely: "I understand!"
"What?" Yang Fang squatted next to Zhang Ben and brushed his teeth.
"It's a smoke after the fact." Zhang Bi put his hand on Yang Fang's shoulder and smiled evilly.
"..." There were more question marks on Yang Fang's head.
"Is your wife cooking porridge?" Zhang Bi asked.
Yang Fang thought that she had finally said something that I could understand this early in the morning, and said without thinking: "Yes...brother, she is not my wife yet."
"Sooner or later!"
Lin Linyou got into the bed that still contained Yue Rong's body temperature and lingering fragrance, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes intoxicated: "It smells so good!"
Last night, Yue Rong cried while talking. As she cried, she fell asleep on his shoulder.
Although Lin Linyou was not a gentleman, and although he was greedy for her body, he still didn't bother to take advantage of others' danger.
So he put her on the bed and gently covered her with the quilt - he didn't even take off her night clothes for her, because he was afraid that he was not strong enough.
When it was almost dawn, he took out a quilt from the cabinet and sat in the yard holding the quilt. It was not that he was afraid that Yue Rong would misunderstand him, but that he was afraid that others would misunderstand him. After all, Yue Rong was a serious Ming Dynasty man. In a daughter's family, reputation is very important. You have insulted her reputation, but you have to be responsible.
She was in good health, but she had no plans to marry and have children in the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, Ming Dynasty has Jiaofangsi and Qinlou and Chuguan. They don't need to be responsible, they only need to pay. It doesn't matter whether he takes a wife or not.
…
Spring is all year round.
In the Ming Dynasty, both officials and common people were busy in the secular world for fame and livelihood. As soon as the New Year comes, you will be infected by the festive atmosphere, and you will be happy and forget about tiredness.
On New Year's Eve, at the end of the thirties, peach charms and spring stickers are posted in front of every house, door gods are posted on the doors, and paintings of the God of Fortune, Ghost Punisher, and Zhong Kui are hung indoors. The Eight Treasures of Gold and Silver, Western Scriptures, or yellow coins are hung on the bed like a dragon.
Ren Ran cooked a large pot of porridge, filled a bowl of paste, and asked Yang Fang to carry it to Zhang Bi.
Zhang Benzheng had set up a ladder and was tearing up old Spring Festival couplets blown by the wind.
It turns out that it was not only old memories that were blown up by the wind, but also old Spring Festival couplets...
I think back then, Zhang Bi was just a fat man who lived around eating, drinking, and doing nothing. After coming to Ming Dynasty for decades, he didn't expect that among the two brothers, he seemed to be the head of the family.
On the small square table beside there is a couplet of two door gods.
The two goalkeepers are Hu Dahai and Chang Yuchun, the two famous generals who founded the country. In addition to Shen Tu Yu Lei Yu Chi Qin Qiong, there are also many people who post Hu Da Da Chang Yu Chun. This is probably a reflection of their pride as a Ming Dynasty person!
Civil servants would also stick to Bao Zheng and Wen Tianxiang, using this to imply political ambitions and express their admiration and learning for their idols' noble characters such as uprightness, honesty, wisdom, bravery, loyalty and heroic spirit.
Zhang Bi was considered a military general, so it was normal for him to stick to the founding hero of his dynasty.
The problem is, his couplet...
"Brother, this couplet seems wrong!" Yang Fang held the paste and looked up at Zhang Bi.
"Couplet couplet, how can it be wrong? I wrote this myself, and you guys bought it, so I'm not satisfied with it." Zhang Bi looked down at Yang Fang, "How about it, big brother's calligraphy is okay! The dragon is flying and the phoenix is dancing, then To call someone free and elegant, the word really matches the person!"
"The words are pretty good." Yang Fang said, "It's just that the content means..."
Zhang Bi jumped off the bamboo ladder: "What's wrong with the content? I think the meaning is very good!"
As he spoke, he picked up the couplet and read it to himself:
First couplet: "Back then, three people in the small courtyard became tigers,"
Second line: "Tonight the Toad Palace is full of joy for the Jade Rabbit."
Horizontal comment: "Take the tiger and get rid of the rabbit!"
After reading it, he lightly dusted the couplet and smiled proudly: "Brother racked his breasts... I thought about it all night before I came up with it! Brother, I only discovered it today. It turns out that I am so talented." Hanlin The hospital is missing me, what a big loss it is!”
Yang Fangxin said silently in his heart: Can you stop boasting from Mrs. Wang?
"So, can you please explain to me the meaning of the couplet?" Yang Fang handed the paste to Zhang Bi.
Zhang Ben took the paste and took a sip first. There was paste in his mouth, and his speech was slurred, as if the paste ran from his mouth into his brain.
He lit the brush in his hand: "It means...the first couplet means that there used to be three grown men living in this small courtyard, and all three of us were tigers! We have tigers in our chests, and we smell the roses carefully!" At the same time, it also coincides with the coming Year of the Tiger.”
"Three people become tigers, that doesn't seem to be what it means." Yang Fang mumbled and retorted softly.
"I know that's not what you mean." Zhang Bi swallowed the mushy food in his mouth, "My wife's porridge is really good! Silky... Brother, I used a derivative of this idiom!"
"What about the second couplet?"
"You still don't understand the second line?" Zhang Bi said, "Now, we have four pretty little girls in our family. They are all as beautiful as flowers, just like Fairy Chang'e in the Toad Palace."
Yang Anxin thought that Ran'er was not delicate...
"But you are talking about the Jade Rabbit in the Toad Palace..."
"Why are you so stubborn? Do you have to fight?" Zhang Bi glared, "I used the jade rabbit to refer to Fairy Chang'e!"
"Okay!" Yang Fang nodded against his will, "So, if you move like a tiger, you can escape from a rabbit... I only know that if you move like a tiger, you can escape from a rabbit."
"It's good that you know. The meaning of Hengbiao is to include the seven of you and me. In the coming year, dragons and tigers will be fierce, moving like rabbits, full of vitality, vigorous and vigorous, rabbits will rise and falcons fall, and rabbit silk will attach to the girl!"
"Bunny silk attached girl?" Yang Fang still couldn't help but ask, "This doesn't seem right."
Woca, I didn’t expect this kid to know quite a lot of idioms despite not having read for a few years.
"Is there anything wrong?" Zhang Bi laughed playfully, "I am newly married to you, and you are attached to a girl with rabbit silk! This word is tailor-made for you. You have already taken off the clothes of a jade rabbit. Brother, isn’t my idea of moving a tiger out of a rabbit very appropriate?”
Yang Fang blushed slightly: "It's...appropriate."
"As long as it's appropriate... don't be inappropriate for now, just post Spring Festival couplets!"
