Chapter 131 130. Lei Li was completely fascinated by him
With the blessing of heaven, there are no taboos.
The people of the Dayou Dynasty believed that humans were conceived from water and stood upright on the earth. From this, three major gods and countless minor gods evolved. Tianguan Dadi was one of the three major gods and was a very important part of the Dayou Dynasty culture.
"The Great Emperor of Heaven is in charge of the blessings and auspiciousness of the heavens. He can grant people good fortune and happiness, and can bless them with good health and longevity."
Lei Li, a native of the Dayou Dynasty, was naturally more familiar with the Three Officials than Zhou Yi. He said as he hung a string on the entrance to the main hall.
"'May the Heavenly Official bless you, and there are no taboos' is a blessing. It means that you are blessed by the Heavenly Official, and may good fortune and health always accompany you. Your life will be safe and smooth, and you will be able to easily resolve any situation you face."
"On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Heavenly Official Emperor descends to the earth to bestow blessings. People pray for the Emperor's protection by hanging characters for "blessings," posting red scrolls with the words 'good fortune and abundance' or 'blessings from the Heavenly Official,' and praying for blessings."
"Yes."
Grandma sat making a string with colorful ropes. "In the past few years, when we didn't have money, it was hard to even come to the temple in the county town to worship the emperor. Now that we have money, we must celebrate the festival well and add more blessings. Our lives will become more prosperous."
There were already quite a few of them next to her, in all sorts of colors, including an incense stick, a stool facing upwards, an elephant's eye piece, a square win, a chain, a plum blossom, a willow leaf, and a heart-shaped plum blossom.
This is also one of the customs of the Lantern Festival.
Hang colorful strings on people's belts, trees, window frames and bed curtains to please the Heavenly Emperor who has come to the world, and more blessings will be bestowed upon the people.
Rich families would also add colorful tassels, jade pendants or gold and silver to express joy, auspiciousness and wealth.
Silk nets are not only made for praying during the Lantern Festival.
On weekdays, women and husbands in the countryside would make many cords with colorful ropes and send them to the town market or the county town to sell. They were not expensive at only five or ten cents each and were especially popular among people in the county town.
The cords can be hung on carriages, window frames, and fan handles as decorations, or they can be made larger to hold fans, cloth towels, and handkerchiefs, and several can be strung together to hang on belts.
When my grandmother went out for a walk on the street, she saw young ladies and ladies from wealthy families decorating their waists with silk cords. When they turned around and took a step, the silk cords swayed and fluttered in the wind, showing their elegance and grace.
However, Lei Li disliked the fancy and cumbersome belts and thought they were inconvenient to use when working, so he didn't like to use them. Even when his mother asked him to, he would only hang a simple one on his belt. Zhou Yi was even less interested in these decorations.
"There are also the Zhongyuan and Xiayuan festivals, and the seasons of the Earth God and the Water God must also be celebrated well."
Liu Ye'er helped her make lace, but her skills were not as good as her grandmother's.
When she lived in the countryside, she had to work in the fields every day, cut grass to feed chickens and pigs, herd cattle, and take care of the medicinal herbs dug by Lei Li. In her free time, she made shoes for Lei Li and mended his torn clothes, so she had little time to make lace.
My grandmother has a large family, so there is someone to share the farm work and daily housework, so I have more time to make lace and embroider. She has become very skilled and has learned many new tricks.
But in the village, few girls and boys wear silk cords on their bodies unless it is the New Year. First, it interferes with work; second, it easily scratches the threads and makes them uneven; third, it is too conspicuous and too pretty to be laughed at.
Liu Ye'er imitated her mother in making a heart-shaped plum blossom lace, saying, "The Earth God is the great immortal official who governs the mountains, rivers, and land. He can even forgive our sins in this world. We must worship him sincerely, because the pepper harvest depends on the Earth God."
The Earth God is regarded as the patron saint of a peaceful and prosperous life and a good harvest.
The Water God is in charge of all matters concerning the spirits of rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as the periods of drought and flood disasters. This involves both the living and the dead. His duties include rescuing spirits from natural disasters and liberating ghosts from the netherworld. He is responsible for eliminating disasters and misfortunes for people with bad luck.
——In addition to those who often deal with water fishermen, gamblers also particularly like the Water God. When they lose money, they worship the Water God, and when they win money, they worship the Emperor of Heaven.
After listening to it, Zhou Yi felt that it was similar to the Three Officials of modern Taoism. Taoism explains that the universe is divided into three realms: heaven, earth, and water, which are respectively managed by the Heaven Official, the Earth Official, and the Water Official. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, people used the Three Officials to match the Sanyuan Festival.
The Dayou Dynasty also has the saying and folk culture that "the nine qi of the Shangyuan bestow blessings on the Heavenly Official, the seven qi of the Zhongyuan forgives the sins of the Earthly Official, and the five qi of the Xiayuan relieves the disasters of the Water Official."
The local people also set the birthdays of the Three Officials as the 15th day of the first lunar month when the Heavenly Official bestows blessings, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month when the Earthly Official forgives sins, and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month when the Water Official relieves disasters. These three days are called the "Shangyuan Festival", "Zhongyuan Festival" and "Xiayuan Festival".
Zhou Yi had read some folklore records before and remembered that Wu Zimu of the Southern Song Dynasty said in his Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty: "The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is the day when the Heavenly Official bestows blessings."
He remembered the travelogue that he liked very much in the old book that Lei Li bought. In addition to the landscape, it also recorded some folk culture. Because it was well written, he also looked for other travelogues by the author after reading it.
"The travelogue I read before said that the people of the Dayou Dynasty liked to worship the Heavenly Emperor the most, followed by the Earthly God, the Water God, the Goddess of Marriage, the Goddess of Childbirth, and then the local earthly immortals, mountain immortals, and water immortals."
"It also says that the favorite gods vary from one prefecture to another. The people of Xiling, Dongyuan, and Songyong all prefer the Earth God. The people of Baihui and Nanjiang River worship the Water God more. Zhongchuan and Beijing both prefer the Heaven God the most."
But the Emperor of Heaven is generally the most famous and popular, and everyone wants good luck and blessings.
"It should be."
Lei Li had never been to other prefectures, so he didn't know what the people there liked to worship, but Xiling did prefer the Emperor of Earth and the Emperor of Heaven.
The Tianguan Temple and Diguan Temple in the county town are the largest, magnificent, with carved beams and painted rafters. The area is prosperous and there are endless streams of pilgrims. It is much more lively than the Yinyuan Niangniang Temple they had visited.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi hung up the ribbons made by their grandmother and Liu Ye'er at home, and the family members also wore them around their waists, with colorful tassels tied on the ribbons.
Sister Huaer also wanted to imitate the girls and boys from wealthy families and wear more pendants around her waist, but she was small and too many pendants would make her look cumbersome and ugly, so she pulled her father Liu Guo to ask Nanny Fang to dress him up.
"Grandma's lace is so beautiful, how can we not hang a few more?"
Sister Hua'er, a smart little girl, giggled and said, "Daddy is handsome and tall, it would be nice to hang a few more! And Sister Xiaohua! Can Aunt Ye'er hang some too?"
"I won't hang up now."
Liu Yeer smiled and waved her hands, "Old people are laughed at for trying to be pretty, so ask your father to get a few more. Xiaohua, too. A beautiful young lady like you deserves some bright colors. Peach pink, goose yellow, pomegranate red, and apricot yellow are all beautiful too."
“It doesn’t need to be that much.”
Xiaohua was surrounded by elders and was being dressed up. She was a little shy, but she opened her hands obediently.
A sixteen-year-old girl is in her prime.
She wore a pomegranate skirt with an apricot yellow and peach pink necklace, and had a clever and lively hanging bun, simply adorned with a few silver hairpins with flowers, which made her look pretty and radiant.
"Look at our little flower, so pretty and charming. Who knows which man will marry her in the future."
Willow Leaf laughed and joked.
Xiaohua was a little shy, but then she said boldly, "I don't want to get married. I want to make money with Prince Li, and then find a good-looking man I like to marry into."
Three-legged frogs are hard to find, but two-legged men are rare, right?
After talking with Brother Li, Xiaohua no longer cared about whether or not to get married. She would just find someone she liked and marry him. If she had too much money to spend in the future, she could find not just one, but two or three!
She knew that the wealthy businessmen in the county had many wives and concubines. Those men could marry them if they had money, so she could naturally marry one too if she had money.
If anyone treated her badly, scolded her, or hit her, she would not give him any money. She would have him beaten up and kicked out to avoid wasting her money.
This idea is quite bold.
Lei Li was very appreciative. He patted Xiaohua on the head and said that she was a teachable child.
Zhou Yi heard these words and looked at Lei Li with sorrow for several days. He even took out the medicinal jade that they had agreed to use occasionally and tried to appease Lei Li with an embarrassed face.
——He knew that Lei Li had no intention of falling in love with someone else, but he couldn't help feeling a little jealous and having some wild thoughts.
——Maybe a little postpartum depression?
Lei Li was bewildered by Zhou Yi's strength and skills during those days. He was having fun every night and spending every day in Wushan, feeling a little dizzy.
Just as he was wondering how he got it and whether he could get more, Zhou Yi returned to "normal" on his own and righteously demanded to restrain himself, leaving Lei Li completely confused.
After hearing Xiaohua's words, Lei Li somehow thought of Zhou Yi again. As soon as his eyes drifted over, he saw him asking him seriously,
"What's wrong?"
"fine."
Lei Li shook his head with a sly smile in his eyes. He seemed to know why Zhou Yi had been acting abnormally in those days.
—
Although today is the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, there are no holidays in the Dayou Dynasty.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi still had to go to work at "A Sichuan Restaurant". In the morning, they hung up the silk thread and pasted up the red couplet that read "Heaven Official Blesses You with No Taboos". After breakfast, they went to the restaurant and gave him the covered silk thread.
Grandma and Liu Ye'er made a lot of nets, and Liu Guo also made some. Seeing that the house was decorated and the family members had some, they gave the rest to the servants in the house and the employees in the restaurant.
Naturally, some were given to Meng Luo and Chen Xiangrang, and some were also sent to Zhu Dafu's family and Miao Fulang's family.
The colorful string cord is not worth much.
The more complicated and larger silk threads only cost a few cents, but they were all made a fortune because of the blessing of the Heavenly Emperor during the Lantern Festival, or because the master remembered them. The servants and employees who received the silk threads were naturally happy.
Especially the servants in the mansion.
They already received extra bonuses for working in the mansion during the New Year, and they were also given a share of the dumplings and rice dumplings made by the host on the first day of the New Year. The rice and meat in the dumplings and rice dumplings were real, and it was a face-saving thing to take them back to eat at home or to entertain relatives.
Now there are also silk nets, and those with large families have been given several. They are all secretly happy that they have been blessed by the Emperor of Heaven and have such a good master.
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