The Kitchen God came before dawn, and the sound of firecrackers was loud, urging us to open the door early. The new painting of Zhong Kui was hung up first, and the bright red spring invitations were sold for gold.

The incense of the Atractylodes lancea in the furnace wafts around, and the yellow paper tablets of the gods have the title of the Heavenly Lord written on them. The ashes of the burned paper are not even swept away, and as the sun sets, people are drunk and fall down with their clothes on.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is New Year's Day, and people's task on this day is to pay New Year's greetings.

At four o'clock in the morning, Zhao Hao was woken up by Zhao Shouzheng, and then kowtowed to his father and wished a happy new year.

After the father and son had washed and dressed, they came out and sat down in the main hall to accept New Year greetings from their younger generations, guards, and servants.

Today, all the students took off their usual black cotton trousers and jackets and put on the New Year clothes that their master had tailored for them at Yunjinji in Dazhalan.

The eldest senior brother wore a white jade hair crown with a red tassel, a scarlet satin round-collared robe with an open hem, a scarlet gold-woven satin belt, a gourd-shaped jade pendant hanging from his waist, and black deerskin warm boots with gold patterns.

The other junior brothers also wore the same hats, clothes, jade pendants and boots as the eldest brother, but they were different in color. The second junior brother wore orange, the third junior brother wore persimmon yellow, the fourth junior brother wore green, and the fifth junior brother wore sky blue.

Zhao Hao naturally did not forget his two nephews, and made the same suits for them. They were also distinguished by color... Zhao Shixi was blue, and Zhao Shizhen was purple.

When the seven people stood in a row in the hall and kowtowed to their master, uncle and grandfather, Zhao Hao was so happy that he almost burst into laughter.

"Okay, you are all good kids..." Zhao Shouzheng took out the red envelopes he had prepared long ago and gave one to each person.

Then Zhao Hao also gave a red envelope.

After the seven people stood up, the eldest brother said proudly, "Everyone, can you see the secret of the dresses that Master customized for us?"

"Then what else can't you see? The spectrum." The second brother glanced at it proudly, and the three brothers and Zhao Shizhen said:

"You haven't learned it, have you? Let me tell you, this light is divided into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, and violet, which correspond to the colors of our seven uniforms."

"Wow, so that's how it is..." The third and fifth junior brothers, who had been obsessed with "Geometry", exclaimed, wondering when they could make up for this lesson.

Zhao Shizhen was deeply moved. It turned out that my uncle treated me and his disciples equally. It seemed that I didn't need to feel so inferior...

"Uncle, you are so nice. I promise to be obedient in the future..." Zhao Shixi cried even more.

Although he didn't dare to say it out loud, he always felt in his heart that Zhao Hao looked down on him and treated him like a servant.

Today he realized that he was wrong. It turned out that in his uncle's eyes, he, his apprentice, and Zhao Shizhen, whom he valued, all had the same status.

It was only because I was so useless that my uncle beat me... Zhao Shixi thought silently.

Little did they know that Zhao Hao just wanted to gather a group of gourd brothers, so he gave him a body to fill the number.

"Well, if you study hard in the future, your uncle will naturally treat you better." Of course, a good teacher should not miss any opportunity to influence others. Zhao Hao smiled kindly and said:

"You've been doing well lately, so I'll give you two days off during the New Year. Relax and have a good time."

"Hey, thank you, uncle!" Zhao Shizhen was so excited that he touched the bills in his arms that were almost frayed, thinking that he could finally spend them...

~~

After the disciples and nephews left, Gao Wu and Cai Ming led a group of men from Caijia Lane in, and they all knelt on the ground to wish the master and the young master a happy new year.

More than a dozen loud voices rang out at the same time, almost blowing the roof off.

"Okay, everyone has worked hard over the past year." Zhao Shouzheng happily helped Gao Wu up, holding his hand and said, "I'm really sorry that you can't spend the New Year with your family."

Gao Wu looked at his old boss silently, unable to speak for a long time.

Zhao Hao knew that it was too difficult for Brother Gao to say such empty and polite words...

He took out red envelopes and gave them to the guards one by one, and also helped Gao Wu out of trouble.

Nowadays, the dozen or so men from Caijia Lane are no longer the temporary helpers as before.

Before leaving Jinling, Zhao Hao signed a five-year guard contract with them. They had become the official guards of the Zhao Mansion - they had uniform clothing, generous welfare benefits, high compensation for work-related injuries, and big red envelopes during festivals.

You won’t find another job like this even with a lantern.

After the guards left happily, about 20 people including the mansion's housekeeper, cook, maids, etc. also came in to kowtow and wish a happy new year.

Although they were originally hired by Zhao Jin, Zhao Hao also made it clear to them that after the father and son passed the imperial examination, they could make a two-way choice.

So even though they are in a state of panic these days, they are actually being more careful and working harder.

Therefore, Zhao Hao was quite satisfied with them. In order to celebrate the New Year, each person also received a red envelope.

Of course, it’s much smaller than the one given to the guards…

After accepting the New Year's greetings from his family, Zhao Shouzheng stood up and said, "I'm going to the porridge factory for you. If you leave later, you'll be blocked at home by people wishing you a happy new year."

"Well, I'll go out as well." Zhao Hao nodded and said to Calabash Brothers, "You can all go and pay New Year's greetings. Only one of you can stay at home to receive guests."

The apprentices and nephews retreated in response, and the room suddenly became quiet.

Zhao Hao said to his father, "Why do I feel like I've given one less person?"

"Is there?" Zhao Shouzheng didn't feel anything.

"Yes..." Fang Wen protested indignantly, then showed up and said aggrievedly, "I haven't received the red envelope yet."

"Hey, where were you just now?" Zhao Shouzheng quickly gave him a red envelope.

"I kowtowed together with Brother Gao and the others..." Fang Wen took the red envelope and packed the luggage for the master to go out.

"Kid, who can see you if you mix with them?" Zhao Shouzheng said with a smile, "Stand forward next time, remember that?"

"I was afraid to stand in front of people, so I stood back unconsciously..."

The two of them went out while talking, and Zhao Hao smiled and said to Zhao Shizhen, who was temporarily acting as his servant: "Let's go too."

~~

Gao Wu drove Zhao Hao out of Chunsong Hutong.

Zhao Hao planned to go to Wu Shilai's house first.

Of course, we should wish the eldest princess a happy new year first.

But the eldest princess and her family went to the palace last night to spend the new year with the emperor, and were tossed around by red tape all night, so they naturally needed to make up for their sleep after returning home.

Therefore, everyone knew that the Princess's residence would not receive any visitors on the morning of the first day of the New Year. The Princess was afraid that her son would make a wasted trip, so she sent a message the day before, asking him to go somewhere else to pay New Year's greetings first.

Just come to the house with his father for lunch.

Zhao Hao went straight out of Chongwenmen and saw people on the street wearing new clothes and hats, happily visiting each other for the New Year. Even the carriages and horses were cleaned and wiped, and the rich even changed the carriage covers into festive red and green colors...

There are no unsightly shabby shacks, no ragged vagrants, and no beggars harassing passers-by. The cityscape has indeed changed a lot.

"I think Lord Xu should be very satisfied..." Zhao Hao lowered the car curtain with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"But, my mentality is a bit dangerous..."

There were few cars on the first day of the New Year, and before I knew it, I arrived at Wu Shilai's house.

After exchanging New Year greetings with Wu Kangyuan, he took Zhao Hao to the back house to meet Wu Shilai.

"My uncle hasn't gotten up yet." Wu Kangyuan whispered, "He was busy all night in Shuntian Prefecture and didn't spend the New Year at home."

"What happened?" Zhao Hao asked casually.

"Ah..." Wu Shilai came out with dark circles under his eyes, sighing and saying, "Isn't it because of those refugees?"

"What's wrong with them?" Zhao Hao's ears perked up when he heard the word 'refugees'.

ps. The third update is here. Please give me your monthly votes and recommendation votes~~ In addition, the next three chapters will be very interesting if you read them together with the first two stories of the Spring Festival Special. Of course, you can still read it without reading it together...