On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, all officials and ladies with titles had to go to the palace to pay their respects.
In the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion, only the old lady and Mrs. Liu were granted titles. Now Mrs. Liu was still ill, so only the old lady brought the masters of the fifth room, as well as Shen Nian and the second young master Shen Fan to the palace to pay tribute.
Although the second young master was born out of wedlock, he was only half a year younger than Chen Nian. Because he was not good at either literature or martial arts, he was sent by Wu'an Hou to the Wucheng Bingmasi to be a small leader.
When Chen Nian was not around, Xia Tian took Ningxiang and some maids to hang lanterns in the corridors of the courtyard and watched them paste couplets on the doors.
Half of the people will be left on duty in the afternoon, while the others will go home for the New Year holiday and come back on the first day of the new year to replace the others.
Ningxiang and Ningxue were not born in a family and had no home to return to, so they stayed.
Cuiyun, Cuixin and Cuiqiao are home-born children and have parents, so they were sent home to celebrate the New Year.
Leave Cui Ling on duty.
When Marquis Wu'an and his men returned from the palace, they led everyone in worshiping their ancestors.
After the ancestor worship ceremony, Wu Anhou took the lead in paying respects to the old lady, and then Shen Nian led other brothers and sisters to pay respects to all the elders in the family.
After the ceremony, the elders gave New Year’s money to the younger generations in the family who were not married.
Then everyone started to have a reunion dinner in the old lady's Ruixuan Hall.
This time, men and women sat on the east and west sides, and after the old lady and Marquis Wu'an gave a few opening remarks, everyone started to eat.
At the dinner table, everyone raised their glasses and said auspicious words and blessings to each other. The reunion dinner ended successfully in peace.
I don’t know if the Third Master’s words worked this time, but the Third Lady Ye just glanced at Xia Tian a few times and didn’t say anything sour.
Shen Lan also quieted down, probably because Liu and Shen Ke were not at the table, and without anyone to support her, she calmed down a little.
After the reunion dinner, Wu Anhou took Shen Nian and other male masters to burn incense and offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God.
The women, led by the second wife, chatted and laughed with the old lady.
Xia Tian didn't leave either, she just sat there with them, but no one talked to her.
After about half an hour, the old lady asked everyone to go back to their respective courtyards to celebrate the New Year and no longer have to accompany her.
Only the second and third wives were left in the room, and everyone else left.
The first thing Xia Tian did when he returned to Jinglan Garden was to send Ningxiang and others out and let them go eat first.
Today she used her money to book two tables of banquet in the kitchen for the people who stayed on duty at Jinglan Garden, as their reunion dinner.
Ningxiang, Ningxue and Cuiling finished their meal quickly and came back, mainly because they were worried that there would be no one to serve in the house and no one would be able to help their master when he needed them.
Xia Tian was sitting on the kang in the warm room, taking inventory of her current assets. Seeing the three people come in, she hurriedly called out, "Come here quickly, it's time to give out the New Year's money."
When the three heard that the lady was giving out money again, they happily hurried over. They didn't expect that they also got New Year's money.
Xia Tian took out the purses that Ningxiang and the others had embroidered in their spare time and stuffed one into each of them. The three purses were each filled with three silver coins weighing two taels.
He thanked the three people joyfully and kept blessing them.
The others were given 100 coins each, which were put in their purses, and Ningxiang and the other two took them out to distribute to everyone.
When everyone heard that this was the New Year's money given by the lady, they all thanked her loudly in the yard. The yard was filled with laughter and it was very lively.
Xia Tian was also happy to hear this. He got off the kang, put on a cloak, and stood under the eaves to admire the red lanterns in the yard.
Shen Nian hadn't come back yet, so she stood under the eaves for a while, felt cold, and went back into the house.
Ningxiang and the others arranged their duties in various places, and since there was nothing else to do, Xia Tian invited them to play mahjong together.
The few of them played happily until the beginning of midnight, when firecrackers started to pop in every yard.
Someone from the kitchen brought in more food, and just as it was set, Shen Nian came back.
Xia Tian didn't ask why he came back so late, and happily pulled Shen Nian to eat some more.
After finishing the meal, she stretched out her hand and looked at him with her big eyes blinking, "Where's my New Year's money?"
Shen Nian laughed, raised his hand and held Xia Tian's hand, pulled her to sit in the warm room, and then slowly took out an exquisite box from his sleeve pocket.
"Here, New Year's money."
When Xia Tian opened it, she found an exquisite ruby necklace inside, so bright and beautiful that it was almost dazzling.
She took it out, handed it to Shen Nian, and said with a smile, “Put it on me.”
Chen Nian put it on Xia Tian gently, and looked at it for a long time with a smile on his face.
My face is red when I see it in the summer, I don’t know if it’s because of the heat or shyness.
It was after midnight when Shen Nian returned to Lingyun Pavilion.
Xia Tian also let Ningxiang and the others go downstairs to rest if they had nothing to do.
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone had another meal together. The Second Lady arranged for a troupe of operas to perform on the stage set up in the mansion all day as usual.
Xia Tian also went to watch it. Although she didn’t understand much of the babbling, it didn’t affect her from watching the show from the audience for a whole day.
There were simply too few entertainment activities in ancient times, so how could one not join in the fun with such a strong festive atmosphere?
The Second Lady looked at the other girls and went back after watching for a while, but this girl watched with great interest from beginning to end, and there was more interest in her eyes.
The Second Lady has been very tired preparing for the New Year this month. Now that someone appreciates her work, she is naturally willing to say a few more words.
"I didn't expect that you also like watching plays. How is it? Do you understand it?" The second wife asked Xia Tian, who was watching intently, with a smile.
"Second Aunt, are you talking to me?" Xia Tian was quite surprised. After such a long time, this was the first time that the Second Madam took the initiative to talk to her.
"Well, I see you're quite engrossed in what you're watching, so I'm curious."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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