On this day, Qian Yuning was sitting in the hall of Bicui Garden, watching Xia Ying and Dongxue peeling pomelo on the side, this pomelo road from Yongzhou is a good thing, as long as the skin is not broken when picked, there is no problem with keeping it for a month casually, which is very good in the winter when there is a lack of fruits. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Xia Ying was the most lively among the maids, and when she saw that her aunt instructed her and Dongxue to peel pomelo, she asked Qian Yuning for instructions, saying that she wanted to make a grapefruit lantern, could she let her peel it. Qian Yuning also thought this statement was very interesting, nodded with a smile, and agreed.

Xia Ying and Dong Xue got busy, first used a knife to come up on the navel of the pomelo, Qi Ping cut off the piece of the navel connected to the pomelo, and then slowly separated the pomelo peel and pomelo flesh with his hands, and finally carefully peeled the whole flesh out of the pomelo peel, and a complete pomelo peel and pomelo flesh were done.

Xia Ying found a needle and thread, knotted a few strands of silk thread into a thicker thread, chiseled a few holes in the grapefruit peel with a small knife, and threaded the thread through, her two hands were dexterous, kept turning over, and after a while, a grapefruit lantern was made, Dongxue rushed back to the house and took a half-burned candle to put it in the grapefruit peel and lit it, and after a while, the firelight came out, and the air emitted a sweet and sour fragrance of pomelo.

Qian Yuning was looking interested, Grandma Sun came in, whispered something in her ear, her expression suddenly became solemn, got up and entered the back room with Grandma Sun. Leaving Xia Ying and Dong Xue looking at each other, not knowing what was going on.

The two entered the house together, Qian Yuning sat on a chair and asked Grandma Sun, "What's the matter?" You just said something happened, what's wrong? ”

Grandma Sun leaned forward and said mysteriously: "Auntie, I heard that at the dinner tonight, the grandson of the eldest brother of the old marquis bumped into the young lady's Yunda girl, and I heard that there was blood out, and the young lady cried. ”

There was silence in the room for a while, Qian Yuning thought for a moment and asked, "What did the old marquis say?" ”

Mama Sun shook her head: "This slave doesn't know, but I heard that the old marquis has not punished anyone." A slave maid with a broken mouth said that she heard the little marquis say that it was not in the way, and some people said that the young lady and the little marquis quarreled after sending the big girl Yun back to Yuexuan. ”

Qian Yuning glanced out the window, it was very dark, there was no moon or a star in the sky, she turned her head and said to Grandma Sun: "When Mama went out, she told everyone in the yard that she was not allowed to go out of this courtyard during this time, and if anyone went out without permission, they were not allowed to come back. ”

Mama Sun responded and retreated cautiously, Qian Yuning walked to the window alone, looked at the night outside and fell into thought.

As the saying goes, twenty-three, the priest of the stove, twenty-four, sweeping the house, twenty-five, grinding tofu, twenty-six, to cut meat, twenty-seven, killing a chicken, twenty-eight, the dough, twenty-nine, steaming steamed buns, thirty-three nights to stay up, the first day of the New Year, twist and twist......

Naturally, the dignified Hou Mansion is not just about cutting meat, killing a chicken, and steaming steamed buns. On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the old marquis took the whole family, including Uncle Cui's family, to the big kitchen to worship the lord of the stove.

The big kitchen has already been cleaned up, just waiting for the old marquis to make sacrifices, the only tattered is the statue of the stove lord that the old marquis pasted last year, and this year the old marquis who is also the master of the house tore it off with his own hands, and then pasted a new idol with his own hands, so the people did not touch it when they cleaned.

I saw the old marquis leading a room of people respectfully with both hands to carefully tear off the statue of the stove lord on the wall of the big kitchen to put it in a brazier to burn, the wooden housekeeper on the side respectfully handed over a new statue of the stove lord with both hands, the old marquis took it and pasted it on the wall with the glutinous rice paste that had been cooked sticky in the big bowl on the side, and slapped it a few times to confirm that it had been pasted.

Paste the statue of the king of the stove, and then the sacrificial stove is the stove, the woman who sacrifices the stove can't go, only the man can go, so there is no woman in the big kitchen today, only the old marquis and a few gentlemen and wooden housekeepers and some male servants who are waiting.

When sacrificing the stove, the old marquis led everyone to kneel, and a raw chicken, a raw duck, a pig's head, three cups of osmanthus wine, a plate of apples, and a pomelo have already been placed in front of the statue of the king of the stove.

After the old marquis led everyone to kneel, there were words in his mouth: "God says good things, the lower world keeps peace, thank the God of the Stove, bless me, please order the God of the Stove to bless all the descendants of my Cui family with safety, and the career is smooth!" Disciple Cui Zhongyi and the men in the family bowed sincerely! ”

After speaking, the old marquis took the yellow paper money handed over by the wooden butler and the gold ingots made of hard yellow paper and put them in a charcoal basin in front of him and burned them, and after burning for a while, he began to lead everyone to bow three times and kowtow to the god of the stove, stand up and kneel down to kowtow three times, stand up and kneel down and kowtow three times, and stand up and kneel down to kowtow three times, enough to kowtow nine times.

After kowtowing, the old marquis poured three glasses of wine and water into the paper ashes in the charcoal basin that had been burned to ashes.

After the sacrifice to Vesta, time flies quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it is Chinese New Year's Eve.

On the day of Chinese New Year's Eve, from the morning, the maid and the maid and the other people were busy, mainly to make the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, to make one hundred and eight dishes, including eighteen cold dishes, eighteen steamed dishes, eighteen hot stir-fries, eighteen stews, eighteen pastries, and eighteen staple foods.

The people are busy, and the masters are not idle, they are all dressing up, and they must wear their most decent clothes at today's Chinese New Year's Eve reunion dinner.

In the Falling Moon Xuan, Shi Huiyun was choosing clothes for herself and Sister Yun's real brother, Cui Xiyun's mouth was fine two days ago, and now she is sitting at the table with a small bowl and happily eating the round red and sweet sugar gourds in the bowl.

Since the last time she was pushed when she ate the sugar gourd, and the bamboo stick was pierced into her mouth and injured, her mother did not allow her to eat the sugar gourd with the bamboo stick again, so she had to ask the maid to peel off one by one and put it in a bowl for her to eat again.

On the other side, in Bicui Garden, Qian Yuning was also looking for matching clothes for the two children, and she had to put them in her belly pockets, otherwise she would eat all over the vegetable soup residues later. Of course, there is also the little marquis sitting on the side waiting for her embroidered goshawk dress.

The reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve went smoothly, this meal, starting in the afternoon and eating until dark, this time, the banquet opened four tables.

The old marquis led Uncle Cui, two nephews, two sons, and four male grandsons Cui Jinhuan, Cui Jinlang, Cui Jinrui, and Cui Jinzhen to a table.

Mrs. Hou Ye led the concubine Cui Tan and her two daughters-in-law and a granddaughter, her daughter-in-law Shi Huiyun and granddaughter Cui Xiyun, and her two daughters Cui Shujing and Cui Shulan at a table.

The three aunts of the old marquis have a table, the six aunts of the little marquis and the two daughters of the concubine, Cui Xiyue and Cui Xiyu, and the son of a concubine, Cui Jinfeng, have a table.

The women's banquet has long been removed, the old marquis and their table are still drinking, the colder the night, the stronger the wine, the old marquis and Uncle Cui brothers drank a few glasses of belly, the conversation box opened, the two talked loudly, several cousins also talked, first polite, and slowly became acquainted.

After eating, Qian Yuning took the two children back to Bicui Garden, because she had to keep the New Year, she asked Dongxue to order two more charcoal pots to make the house warmer. After a while, I felt a little bored, and suddenly remembered Xia Ying's grapefruit lamp, so I asked her to peel one immediately and make a grapefruit lamp.

Qian Yuning gave the grapefruit to the maids and took it back to the house to eat, and asked Mama Liu to grab a handful of candy and preserved fruits for them, and the girls went back to the house happily.

The room was clean all of a sudden, Qian Yuning and Mama Liu coaxed the two children to sleep, and when they had nothing to do, they chatted around the stove while roasting their hands.