On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, when Tian An woke up naturally, Xiyou had already brought him the first set of festive red clothes of the new year, and also matched them with jewelry.
After Xiangtao and Lixiang helped Tian An wash up, Qiancheng brought today's portion of milk bird's nest and three or two pieces of cakes.
After Tian An had filled her stomach, Xiyou began to help her change clothes and put on makeup.
In the front hall, the third family and Aunt Xu's mother and daughter have arrived.
This year, Tian An is in charge of the family. He asked the sewing room to prepare three sets of new clothes for each of them, made of fine materials and with exquisite workmanship. The six members of his family and Aunt Xu and her daughter were now dressed in new clothes from head to toe, sitting neatly and properly in the front hall waiting for Tian An.
When the second branch was in charge, Zhao Ningsong bullied Zhao Ningyan because he was adopted. Not only did he greedily confiscate all the money Zhao Ningyan earned from business and kept it for himself, Wang followed suit. Even during the New Year, she casually made two ordinary cotton clothes for the whole family. The fabric was not as exquisite as the clothes made by Fu Yuma, Wang's nanny. She even despised the whole family for being not presentable and did not allow them to sit at the table for the New Year's Eve dinner. She only sent the maid to deliver a few dishes to them and let them eat in her own yard.
Although Aunt Xu and her son were better, they were just barely getting by on appearances.
This year, not only can they sit at the table and eat the exquisite and sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner with Tian An, they also have new clothes to wear, and several children also received generous New Year's money from Tian An.
So, early in the morning, the whole family came willingly to wait for Tian An.
"Good morning, everyone! It's all my fault for being oversleepy. I made you wait for so long!" Tian An was supported by Deng Xue. His voice arrived before he even showed up.
Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall immediately stood up and went to the door to greet him.
Jiang came forward affectionately and lifted her other hand: "You are already in a bad condition, so of course you need to get some rest. We have nothing else to do, so we got up early."
After Tian An sat down in the main seat, several younger generations came forward one by one with the first cup of tea of the New Year to wish him a happy new year and said auspicious words.
Then each of them received a bag of silver melon seeds from Tian An, which made the children very happy.
After the younger generations had passed, it was the turn of the maids, servants, and old women. Everyone wore new clothes, had smiles on their faces, and lined up in an orderly manner to wish their masters a happy new year.
Tian An waved his hand to ask them to stand up, and then asked Qingning, Xiyou, Qiancheng and Zhiluo to take out the red envelopes that had been prepared long ago and distribute them to everyone.
Then came the secret guards and bodyguards who remained in the mansion, and finally the few personal maids around Tian An, who were given New Year red envelopes by Tian An himself.
Just as the red envelopes were being distributed, the doorman arrived to announce that Zhao Ningsong had arrived with several children from the second wife's family. "They said they were coming to the ancestral hall to pay their respects."
Tian An sneered, perhaps the worship was fake, but the request for money was real! "Go back and tell them that the worship was already done in the ancestral hall yesterday, so there is no need to trouble Second Uncle. If Second Uncle is really too filial to express his filial piety, he can also set up his own ancestral hall in his current residence and offer incense to his ancestors all year round."
It is better for those who have been driven out not to come back.
Ignoring Zhao Ningsong's family, Tian An led everyone to do what they were supposed to do, and they were all having a great time.
Zhao Ningsong, wearing his old coat, was refused entry along with his two concubine daughters and one concubine son. Facing the heavy snow, he shouted curses at the door.
Tian An guessed correctly. He certainly didn't come to worship his ancestors. Not to mention that he was kicked out now, even when he was in charge, he had never worshipped them properly many times. But they were all dead people, so why would he bother?
He brought the children here today just to ask Tian An for some money in the name of the children to maintain the family expenses.
In the past, he never carried money when he went out. He would write down the bill for anything he needed to buy and have the storekeeper pay him at his residence. The day he was kicked out of the Duke's Mansion came so suddenly that he was completely unprepared, so he didn't have a single penny on hand.
When he was an official, he had some salary, but since he was dismissed from office, he has been idle all day and has no income at all. These days, he can barely settle down by relying on some valuables temporarily brought by my mother and several concubines.
But there are many people in the family, and not to mention anything else, the food alone is enough to make them stretched. In the past, they even complained about the three dishes and one soup that Zhao Yiming gave them, but since they came out, they changed from three dishes and one soup at the beginning to two dishes and one soup, then to one dish and one soup, and now they either have vegetables but no soup, or have soup but no vegetables, and they can only eat meat once every few days.
Even the New Year's Eve dinner was barely arranged after selling two servants. I wanted to shamelessly take the children to ask Tian An for some New Year's red envelopes, but I didn't expect to be stopped outside the door by that woman without any explanation.
After Zhao Ningsong cursed for a while, he saw the doorman coming out with a stick, and then he walked away with the child in shame.
As a result, as soon as they walked back to the small courtyard, they heard a commotion inside.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw his mother leaning on a cane and yelling. When Zhao Ningsong asked, he found out that one of his concubines had taken advantage of him taking the child out and ran away with the few silver coins in the family.
Zhao Ningsong was furious when he heard this. "This vicious woman, I will report her to the police and bring her back. Even if she dies, she must die by my hands, Zhao Ningsong. Don't even think about getting rid of me."
Zhao Ningsong said this and walked out, not noticing that the eyes of several concubines beside him were flashing with interest.
As soon as he left, the remaining concubines looked at each other and went back to their rooms. Since there were limited rooms in this courtyard, they all lived in one room with several people. They had no place to put the things they brought with them, so they packed them up as they did when they came. This saved them time.
In just a moment, Zhao Ningsong's mother saw the remaining concubines all carrying their bags and leaving the room.
The old woman saw that things were not going well and quickly stepped forward to stop them. "What are you doing? Are you trying to imitate that concubine Hong? I order you all to put your things back."
Perhaps because they had been tortured so badly by this old woman in the past, the concubines were a little scared at first, but when they saw that there was only an old maid by her side, they became bolder.
An older concubine even spoke up and challenged her, "Orders? Old Madam, do you really think this is the Duke's Mansion, where you can command countless maids and servants at your command?"
Then he looked at the concubines behind him and said, "Sisters, now the master has no official position and no livelihood, and the old lady only knows how to ask for servants. They now rely on selling servants to make a living. Once the servants are sold, I'm afraid they will have to sell us!
If you don't take this opportunity to leave quickly, you'll be sold out later!"
As she said this, she pushed the old woman away and strode out, but was stopped by her daughter before leaving.
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