On New Year's Eve, the first thing a group of servants did upon waking was to sweep and clean the courtyard, removing dust and dirt to keep the house clean.
Today we also put up Spring Festival couplets. However, in ancient times, people wrote the couplets on wooden plaques and hung them up.
The Marquis, however, went to the palace early in the morning to participate in the exorcism ritual, which symbolized driving away evil spirits and plagues.
Officials, wearing masks and embroidered clothes, played roles such as judges, Zhong Kui, little sister, the earth god, and the kitchen god. There were nearly a thousand of them, and they walked along a fixed route to "bury evil spirits".
After the ceremony, the palace's "New Year's offerings" arrived: four sheep, two bags of rice, two bags of flour, and two bushels of rice wine.
After receiving the imperial gifts, the household also began to distribute gifts, giving each person a red purse embroidered with the character "安" (peace) in the center, filled with two hundred coins, symbolizing good fortune and peace.
Today's reward meal includes dumplings, filled with mutton, which is Wang Yan's favorite.
But there weren't many dumplings. The main dish was a soup called "Bo Tuo," made by mixing water with flour, rolling the dough into long strips, then pinching them into small pieces about ten centimeters long, and finally shaping them into a willow leaf boat shape with upturned sides and a concave middle.
Then it was placed in the cooked soup. Wang Yan and the others received the mutton soup, which was seasoned with shredded green onions, salt, ginger, and vinegar.
The soup is slightly spicy and tangy, refreshing and appetizing. After drinking a big bowl of mutton soup dumplings, you'll feel warm all day long, even on such a cold day.
As expected, there were no restrictions on the maids and servants going to play at the side gate in the evening.
Wang Yan also went along with the crowd. On New Year's Eve, the peddler did not rest and still came carrying his load.
The street near the corner gate was bustling with people, almost as lively as the markets outside.
The peddler's pole was full of novel and fun trinkets, such as hairpins, combs, pearls, silk flowers, gauze flowers, glass beads, shoes, bamboo ware, and so on.
One of the lanterns was a bamboo rolling lantern, which Wang Yan found fascinating. The candle was placed inside the bamboo ball and rolled around without going out.
Seeing that it looked simple and fun, Aunt Wang bought one for her. Wang Yan played with it all night, even rolling it around in her hands while soaking her feet in her room.
Wang Ying was a few years older and not interested in such trinkets, so Aunt Wang bought her a comb.
The sandalwood comb was edged with silver and decorated with a ring of pearls. It was beautiful and exquisite, costing two taels of silver each. Wang Ying held it in her hands, admiring it dearly.
Since her brother didn't come, Aunt Wang didn't buy him anything. He went out with Steward Wang from the mansion to deliver relief money to the poor.
They would wrap up silver ingots and go to poor people's homes, picking out coins from inside windows or cracks in doors, making sure to deliver the money without the people's knowledge, and then leave quickly.
This is also a characteristic of this era; during festivals, wealthy families would do good deeds and charity in this way.
One person from each of the young masters' and young ladies' rooms was sent to accompany Steward Wang through the streets and alleys to distribute alms and provide relief. Wang Xing was sent out by the third young master.
Afterwards, the group strolled along the entire street until the sound of firecrackers was heard, at which point they dispersed.
Back in the courtyard, the third-class maids could go back to their rooms to rest, while the second-class and above had to stay up all night with the masters of each courtyard.
Sister Qingqian came out to gather pine branches to burn incense. Seeing how sleepy they were, she gave them a wink.
So Wang Yan and her roommates secretly drank a hot water bottle, slipped back to their room, covered themselves with blankets, and slept soundly.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the younger generation in the family began to come and pay their respects, and the maids also received a lot of reward money.
The Crown Prince, in particular, prepared ten purses, each containing a small silver ingot weighing one or two taels.
Even Wang Yan got two, and Yingjie and her family each got half a bag of silver melon seeds. It was a really good year.
They had no shortage of food or money, and every maid, regardless of rank, would receive a plate of "Good Fortune" fruit, made last night with persimmons, oranges, and cypress branches, in each room.
Don't underestimate this piece of fruit. People use embroidered cloth or Chinese knots to bring good luck and prosperity.
Only wealthy families like the Marquis's mansion could afford to eat fruit on a winter night.
Wang Xing was praised by Steward Wang for his excellent work last night. The Marquis, his wife, and the second master were all present.
The third young master felt honored and rewarded him with half a bag of gold melon seeds. Aunt Yang also rewarded Wang Ying with a pair of gold and jade hairpins.
Wang Ying carefully put it in her makeup box, intending to give one to her sister.
To my surprise, when I checked again the next morning, it was gone.
It's strange. Manjing has been promoted to first-class maid and has already moved out, but she hasn't been promoted to second-class yet. Now she's all alone in the house.
She thought she had accidentally bumped into it and dropped it somewhere, but after searching the whole house carefully, she still couldn't find it.
Wang Ying was extremely frustrated. Even when Wang Yan came to call her to eat hot pot, she was still worried about where the hairpin had fallen. She didn't even feel like eating the hot pot.
Grandma Sun was the head chef, and today they were eating authentic "Bo Xia Gong," a dish popular among people at the time.
Chop up a dead rabbit, slice it thinly, add a radish, a few garlic sprouts and ginger.
Marinate the thin slices cut from the dead rabbit with salt, light soy sauce, white pepper, and Shaoxing wine for 15 minutes. Chop the rabbit bones into small pieces and marinate them as well.
Heat oil in a pot, sauté ginger and Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant, add the marinated bone fragments, stir-fry until fully cooked, then add water and simmer for 15 minutes.
They ate to their heart's content, and after they finished, Aunt Sun brought out several bowls of crispy cheese.
Dessert after the meal lifted Wang Ying's spirits. She happily took two bags of spicy strips back to Moyuan Courtyard.
She ran into Chun'er, who had been smiling, but when she saw her, she froze for a moment, then her expression changed, and she quickly lowered her head and ran away.
Wang Ying found it strange and called Xingzi over to ask, "Did you see Chun'er enter my room this morning?"
Kyoko asked in confusion, "No, but I didn't see her eating lunch with us. What's wrong?"
Wang Ying told him about losing her jewelry.
Moreover, Chun'er noticed that her reaction was clearly abnormal, but if she hadn't gone to her room in the morning, then she would be wrongly accusing her.
Xingzi's heart skipped a beat, and she nodded. "Sister, let's look again. Maybe we left it somewhere."
That evening, she took a basin of water home to soak her feet. It was cold now, and while soaking her feet, Xingzi casually asked Chun'er…
"Where are those agate and turquoise earrings that the girl gave you last time? Can I borrow them? I'll trade you those pearl earrings you like."
Chun'er brought out the makeup box and opened it. Xingzi glanced at it and saw that the two hairpins were not there.
The next day, Wang Ying searched the room carefully twice more, but still couldn't find it, so she had to give up.
But the next day, someone sent a message to Granny Wang, and brought in three more locks, replacing all the locks in the house.
The vanity case has also been moved to a different location, and this time it's placed much more discreetly.
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