On New Year's Eve, when I first got up in the morning, the sky was overcast and there was occasional rain at the foot of the mountain. As the sun rises, the weather becomes clearer and people's mood becomes lighter. The most important festival of the year has finally arrived.
He drank a lot of rice wine last night, but Liang Chuan didn't dare to sleep in the morning, so he got out of bed early in the morning to see if there was anything he needed to do.
When the Song Dynasty came to China, I didn't think about doing any earth-shattering great deeds. Instead, I was immersed in such a peaceful atmosphere and couldn't extricate myself. How wonderful. How could I have the power to dominate the world? I didn't think about it in my previous life. If you're doing well, you're not just a Bi Ma Wen at the bottom of the ruling class.
Doesn't he enjoy such days? You have to drag your family and family to disrupt the country, the country, and the government and the opposition. That's what you are capable of. It doesn't seem to be the case. Who thinks that life is long, and Ansheng's life is hard to live by.
The sound of firecrackers was heard everywhere, and a special smell of firecrackers filled the air, breaking the silence of the small mountain village. Children were running around in the fields, holding a small firecracker picked out from the firecracker scraps in one hand and a stick of incense in the other hand, lighting the fuse of the firecracker, blowing up vole holes and ditches, playing. What a joy. Today is probably the happiest day of the year for children. Adults give them a few coins to buy candies and small toys. As long as they don't make any mistakes, they usually don't care about it. They are free and free.
Every household makes paste and pastes Spring Festival couplets. After a year of wind and rain, the red color of the Spring Festival couplets posted last year has faded to white. They take off the old Spring Festival couplets and paste the new Spring Festival couplets. They all look forward to the new year. Can have a new look!
The artist at home has already boiled the paste, adding a little water to the flour, making it neither too thick nor too thin. The paste was ready to be used immediately. Liang Chuan took a look and saw that the Spring Festival couplets had not been written yet, and the red paper was empty!
Liang Chuan hurriedly called Ye Xiaochai to help cut paper together. Ye Xiaochai is very ingenious and does these delicate tasks in an orderly manner. After folding the long Spring Festival couplets in half, she quickly cut them out with a clatter of scissors. Originally, no one would post couplets on the gate of He's ancestral hall, because it is a public house, and few people would consider it as their own home to post couplets. But now that Liang Chuan has moved in, he treats it as his own home anyway.
The gate of the ancestral hall is very tall. Liang Chuan asked Ye Xiaochai to cut out a large couplet that was five feet long and about one foot wide. But he had trouble writing it. Liang Chuan’s handwriting was too ugly. If he wrote it and pasted it on the gate of the ancestral hall, it would be damaged. People's faces.
Liang Chuan handed the pen to Ye Xiaochai and asked her to write the Spring Festival couplets. Ye Xiaochai said: "My boss, I can write, but you have to tell me what to write. I can write but I don't have ink in my stomach."
Liang Chuan smacked his lips, thought for a while, and said: "Come on, I tell you to write, the first couplet is Chaoyun Chaoyun Chaoyun Chaoyun Chaoyun Chaoyang Chaoyang retreat..."
"Wait!" Ye Xiaochai picked up his pen and followed Liang Chuan's reading, preparing to write. He could still write the first two words, but he was completely confused by what Chao Chao Chao Chao said later, and shouted hurriedly: "Slow down, I didn't understand, which one How to write Chao?"
Liang Chuan said with a smile: "The front is facing the clouds, the back is the seven rising suns, and then the character retreat. How to read it depends on your personal understanding."
Ye Xiaochai followed Liang Chuan's instructions and wrote slowly on the red paper. I didn't expect Ye Xiaochai to have this skill. The ancients said that a woman's lack of talent is virtue. This is not true. Wouldn't it be better for a woman to have both talent and political integrity? That handwriting is many times better than Liang Chuan's. Liang Chuan thought to himself, if this was done with a hard pen, he would not lose to her, hum!
"Okay, where's the second line?" Ye Xiaochai raised his pen and asked.
"In the second line, long water long long long long long flow, long water, and then seven long characters, and then a flowing character for flowing water! This one is simple."
The upper and lower couplets were symmetrical, but as expected it was still such a strange couplet. Ye Xiaochai wrote carefully and said, "Who can write such strange couplets? Who can understand what you write like this?"
"People who can read and understand more deeply are awesome people? Most people don't know what a word is when the pole falls down, and they don't expect them to understand it. Do you understand this is called a gimmick? This couplet is From now on, it will be an advertisement for our house. When the new house is built, we will ask Master Zhao and the others to carve this couplet on the pillar at the door!"
Awesome? Gimmick? advertise? Ye Xiaochai was confused after hearing this, but she could just write whatever Liang Chuan said, why bother with so much!
"Our family is well-educated. We can't hang up firecrackers to bid farewell to the old year, and gongs and drums to celebrate the new year. That would be too pricey."
Liang Chuan happily took the couplet and pasted it on the door frame. This couplet was adapted from the Shanhaiguan Jiangnu Temple couplet by Wang Shipeng, the champion of the Southern Song Dynasty. Later, there seems to be a similar couplet in Sichuan, but the most famous couplet with the same character is this couplet. Today, I borrowed it from the predecessors, no, it should be the light of the descendants. Come and shine on your lintel.
After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, lanterns must be hung. There are candles in the lanterns. There is no need to light candles during the day. At night, the candles are lit, and red lanterns are hung at the door of every house, which is festive and auspicious.
Today, an extra pot was set up in the yard to stew deer meat. Several stones were built up. The firewood underneath was burning brightly, and the aroma of the meat filled the house. The villagers of the He family will come to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors today.
Most of the villagers in He's family use bamboo baskets to hold a few dishes to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. The quantity of the dishes is not much, and the quality is average. A few fresh fish are considered a good family, and most people eat a plate. Carrots, a plate of tofu, green vegetables, and some cheap jujube fruits were put on the table. There are few that really have big fish and meat.
Most of the He villagers who came to worship at the ancestral hall today will be surprised. One is that there are people posting Spring Festival couplets at the door, and then there are people cooking meat in the yard. The meat smells so fragrant. There are actually people living in the ancestral hall. It looks like the girl who begged for food a few years ago and her beggar husband. Why did the two of them live here? He Baozheng is responsible for managing the ancestral hall on weekdays. Does he have any objection?
They noticed that the food at Yi Niang's family was not only rich in food, but also big in fish and meat. There were also several jars of wine placed on the wall. The life was quite prosperous. Looking at the past, the entire He Lu family was living in a tight situation. Why did these two Does a little beggar live such a happy life?
Yi Niang prepared the food and wine for the sacrifice, put them in a bamboo basket, and called Liangchuan. She carried them on a pole and prepared to go to pay homage to the Earth God first.
The progress of the new construction is quite fast. The masters are already busy doing carpentry work. Doors, windows, beams and columns need to be carefully carved, so it takes more time than laying bricks and walls.
Zhao Fafa saw Liang Chuan coming, stopped what he was doing, and took the initiative to come forward with a few juniors to greet Liang Chuan: "My boss, tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year. I wish you and Yi Niang a happy New Year first."
Liang Chuan led Yi Niang, and the two of them stood together closely. They both returned gifts to the masters. Liang Chuan took out the silver from his arms, and each master gave one or two pieces of silver. He said, "Masters, today is the day. New Year's Eve is supposed to be a day for family reunion, but you want to build a house for me, but you can't go back. It's really frustrating for all the masters. This is a little bit of lucky money, and everyone is asking for good luck!"
When the masters saw that Liang Chuan was so generous, they felt warm in their hearts. They were all complaining about not being able to go home during the Chinese New Year, but Liang Chuan's care and concern and giving them new year's money moved them quite a bit. They couldn't remember how many times they had never met such a good owner, who was so polite and generous to them.
They didn't dare to accept Liang Chuan's new year's money and kept pushing it back. Liang Chuan insisted on giving it to them, but several old masters couldn't push it away. The last one received one tael of silver, Zhao Fa received three taels, and the other young apprentices each received fifty cents. Under the command of Zhao Fafa, all the young apprentices in Luocheng came one by one to receive their New Year's money. Everyone was so happy that they smeared their lips like secrets and said auspicious words to Liang Chuan and his wife.
After celebrating the New Year, Zhao Fafa asked them to go back one by one and do what they should do. Liang Chuan asked Zhao Fa: "What are your plans tonight?"
Zhao Fafa said: "Today is thirty, and the host family must be lively and lively. We old guys will not disturb the host family's reunion."
Liang Chuan said: "Oh! You must come to my place today. I have already told Yi Niang that we will work hard to make big fish and meat tonight, and we will have enough wine and meat. We will not be able to go home if we are not drunk today! Don't worry, other young apprentices, I will let you go later. Tingchang also went to buy some wine and meat. Their disciples are free to eat and drink, and we should also eat and drink happily! We must come at night!"
Liang Chuan called Zhao Tingchang to go to Fengshan to buy wine and meat. There was a lot of meat for more than forty strong men, but Liang Chuan was happy. He was thirty years old and could not eat meat so that others could not even drink the soup. Taste, and besides, it doesn’t cost much to buy something like this. I’m afraid even Zheng Tu in Fengshan will stop selling meat on New Year’s Eve.
Liang Chuan took some money and asked Zhao Tingchang to arrange it by himself. He didn't care how to buy meat and vegetables. But if Liang Chuan hears rumors about Zhao Tingchang's gambling again tomorrow or gossips about everyone's unsatisfied eating, he will let Zhao Fada take care of it. you.
After giving out the new year's money, Liang Chuan and Yi Niang prayed devoutly and burned incense in front of the Land Master, praying for the smooth completion of their new house, praying for good weather in the coming year, and praying that next year would be even better. After putting incense, burning the tin foil money, collecting the offerings, we went home.
He Baozheng also wanted to come to the ancestral hall to worship his ancestors. Although he was illiterate, he was not blind yet. After looking at the Spring Festival couplets at the door, it was obvious that several characters in the couplets were exactly the same! It must be Liang Chuan's fault again. After worshiping the ancestors, he was about to go home, and he happened to see Liang Chuan coming back. He glanced at the meat and vegetables in Yi Niang's bamboo basket, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said, "Boy, did you write the Spring Festival couplets at the door? "
"He Baozheng, do you know how to appreciate it?" Liang Chuan replied with a smile.
"I don't know how to appreciate it, but why do you seem to have written seven or eight words that are exactly the same? Is there such a couplet?"
"Of course, you can't understand that there are others. You will know later! By the way, I will have good wine and good food here tonight. Come to my place for New Year's Eve dinner tonight!"
