Zhao Xiu didn't wait until it was almost dark for the family sent to the Guangping Palace, and he was still worried about what was going on. Unexpectedly, the family replied: "The prince personally came to tell the little one, thank you for the crab sent by the girl, and thank you for the girl's reminder." The girl's kindness, he was impressed, but he didn't know how to repay. I wanted to give the girl a return gift, but I didn't know what to give, so I had to ask the girl to take care of it and let him think about it for a few more days. ”

Zhao Xiu was surprised: "I didn't say I wanted to return the gift, besides, didn't he return the gift a long time ago?" How can you say that? ”

The family couldn't understand it, so Zhao Xiu let him go down, and after thinking about it for himself, he still couldn't understand what Gao Zhen meant. But she didn't dwell on it for long, and she put it aside.

The second day is the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15. The Zhao family's small house was busy early in the morning. Playing reunion cakes, worshipping ancestors, and decorating the yard, the whole family was too busy to spare their hands, and specially pulled a group of male and female servants from the old mansion of the Hou Mansion to help.

Zhao Qixuan's family spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in the capital, and came over after having lunch and taking a nap. At first, he just accompanied the Zhang family to talk, but later saw Zhao Xiu and Lu's mother directing their families in the front yard, and came back from time to time to ask Zhang's opinion, Zhao Qixuan's wife Ma Shi couldn't sit still, and hurriedly took the initiative to ask for help.

The preparations for the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner began two days ago, and today is the day, and all I have to do is to decorate the yard. The fashionable flowers used to decorate the yard are all from their own villages, and they are sent over after a pot is arranged beautifully, and they only need to be placed in a certain order. Actually, it's not very troublesome. All kinds of lanterns and lanterns hung at home have been bought back a long time ago, and they are hung under the porch with bamboo poles, just waiting for it to be a little brighter when it gets dark. The matter of worshipping the ancestors, Zhang personally took Zhao Wei to cook. Zhao Xiu went to the kitchen to see tonight's menu and ingredients. Ma turned around and found that he actually had nothing to help with, so he squeezed into the kitchen and had to cook two specialty dishes himself, so as to honor his uncle and grandmother.

Zhao Qixuan looked at this busy scene, and felt that he couldn't treat himself as an outsider, so he took the initiative to take his son out. I went to the market and bought a few lanterns and came back, and bought a few packets of beef with sauce and duck with sauce. His son Zhao Huai saw the "rabbit master" sold in the street store and bought a few as well. I'm going to take it back for my aunt and sister to play with.

The so-called "Rabbit Lord" is actually a kind of clay doll, because the protagonist of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the moon, and in myths and legends. There is also a jade rabbit living in the Moon Palace. Therefore, there is a custom that the Mid-Autumn Festival must use the rabbit lord for the moon. However, since this dynasty, the rabbit has gradually become a favorite toy for children, and various colors have come out. Zhao Huai brought back a few rabbits from the Zhao family's small house, some sat on the unicorn, some sat on the gourd, and even one was dressed as a majestic general, and under the seat was a majestic tiger, and the tiger had the word "king" on its forehead.

As soon as the rabbit that Zhao Huai bought came home, he immediately became the new favorite of the girls. Zhao Yuan hugged a big one. Giggled: "When I came out in the morning, I saw this being sold on the street." There is no such thing in the south, I have wanted one for a long time, and I am afraid that my mother will not be happy. Now that my brother has bought it, I can play. ”

Ma complained a little that his son spent money indiscriminately: "Just have one, where can I use so many rabbits when worshipping the moon?" "In the past, the family was in financial distress, and the mother and son were eager to break a copper plate into a three-petal flower. Now that the family has money, her husband is generous, and her son has never had less pocket money in his pocket, she is about to start worrying that her children will develop the habit of spending lavishly. Especially in the fancy world of the capital, she really has an inexhaustible heart.

Zhao Qixuan smiled and said to her: "Although my son has bought several, each one has a different meaning. For example, this rabbit who sits on a tiger should be given to Brother Wei, because the tiger is the king of beasts, which means that the person who gets him will be a generalissimo and a general in the future, and the family business will definitely be prosperous; And what about this one who sits on the unicorn, because of the allusion of the unicorn spitting out the book, who gave birth to a son, some people often say that it is a unicorn, which means that the son of this family will study for the imperial examination in the future, and he will have a great future, isn't it worthy of our Huai Ge'er? ”

Ma heard that this doll had such an auspicious meaning, but changed his attitude: "Really? Then we have to welcome this rabbit who sits on the unicorn back to be worshipped. Zhao Huai was embarrassed. Sitting on the unicorn, the rabbit master, in fact, he planned to give it to his little uncle Zhao Wei. Zhao Wei also studied for the imperial examination. But now that his mother said this, it made it difficult for him to give it away.

Zhao Xiu was listening interestingly, so he asked, "Is this thing still so exquisite?" What about this gourd-sitting one? Could it be that it refers to the blessing of both blessings? ”

Zhao Qixuan stroked his palms and smiled: "That's what Fulu Shuangquan means!" My sister is really thoughtful. ”

Zhao Yuan on the side played with the rabbit master in his hand, and suddenly said in surprise: "Brother, look!" This rabbit's mouth can move, and he can beckon! Zhao Xiu hurriedly leaned his head over to take a look, and sure enough, the rabbit's mouth was up and down, it could be opened and closed, and the elbow joint could also be moved, which was really thoughtful.

A few people studied it around the rabbit master. When Zhao Wei walked out of the main house, he saw them chattering, and he was a little helpless: "The auspicious time has come, come and worship the ancestors, it's not too late to joke for a while." ”

Everyone hurriedly put down the things in their hands and poured into the house to worship their ancestors under the leadership of Zhang.

The ritual of worshipping ancestors in the Mid-Autumn Festival is very simple, kowtowing and putting on incense, which is almost the same, but the moon worship ceremony at night is much more grand.

As soon as the sky was dark, the colorful lights in the courtyard were lit up, illuminating the yard brightly, reflecting the pots of flowers placed around, colorful, and colorful, which was really indescribably beautiful. Ma saw that the moon came out, and hurriedly went into the house to report to Zhang, and Zhang ordered the ladies to go to the courtyard to worship the moon.

In the courtyard, the sacrifice table has already been placed in the direction of the moon. There is a "Moon Palace Code" hanging high on the top, in fact, it is the statue of the moon god, which is specially sent by the scholar's shop, and there is also a rabbit master, and various offerings such as moon cakes, osmanthus wine, and fruits cut into lotus petals. Among them, the sacrificial table is placed in the middle of a large "reunion cake" with a diameter of one foot long. In fact, it is also a kind of moon cake, but it is very large, and there is a big red Fushou mark on it.

There are customs in the capital. Men do not worship the moon, and women do not sacrifice to the stove. Therefore, first of all, the Zhang family led the Ma family, Zhao Xiu and Zhao Yuan, as well as the mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law of the family, to incense and kowtow, and after that, Zhao Wei, Zhao Qixuan, and Zhao Huai came to bow to the moon god. Zhao Wei also made a sacrificial text in advance, read it in public, and waited for the moon sacrifice ceremony to end. Along with the Moon Palace code, thousands of pieces, ingots and other things, they were burned together, and gently put into the copper bucket next to the sacrifice case.

After the moon festival is over, the family feast can also begin.

The weather was excellent today. The bright full moon hung in the night sky, and there were not even a few stars in sight, and the cool breeze was moderately warm and cold. The Zhao family's family banquet was placed under the tree in the main courtyard. There is no need to divide the men's table into women's tables. Sitting in a group of six and looking up at the moonlight is wonderful.

The dishes on the banquet are also very rich, in addition to moon cakes, there are chicken, duck, fish and crabs, fruits also have lotus root, watermelon, betel seeds, sand fruits, tiger carts, begonia fruits and other seasonal fruits, as well as nine small plates of various dried fruits, what melon seeds, walnut kernels, pine nuts, almonds, fried peanuts, raisins, preserved peaches, candied fruits and so on. The wine includes the aged wine brought by Zhao Qixuan, the home-brewed osmanthus wine and the fruit wine sent from Zhuangzi. The family happily eats and drinks to their heart's content. Even Zhang took a small sip of half a glass of osmanthus wine, and added a few red halos to his face.

Zhao Xiu smiled and picked the crab meat for her, and taught Zhao Yuan how to make eight crabs, Ma Shi was eating other dishes, but the corner of his eyes glanced over and followed the learning, and after a while, he also took a crab and began to try to pick it, but he couldn't use it with his hands, and couldn't help laughing: "This crab has such a hard shell, and you have to be careful of being stung by it when you catch it, and it is so troublesome to eat, but I don't know why people in the world still love to eat it." ”

Zhao Xiu smiled: "Although its shell is hard, the meat is still very delicious, before I have eaten it, who knows that there is such a delicacy under this ugly and hard shell?" It can be seen that nothing can be judged on its inwardness based on its appearance alone, and the first person to eat a crab is also a warrior. ”

The crowd laughed. Zhao Qixuan took the crab in his wife's hand and picked one for her. He is a man who eats and drinks outside all the year round, and is much better at this than his wife. Ma saw that he was doing well, so he simply let her husband wait for her.

Zhang instructed everyone: "Although this crab is delicious, it is a cold thing, don't eat too much." Adults can drink a little bit of roast bar, and children can also drink a little fruit wine. It was brewed by the people on the Zhuangzi, and the sweet one was not intoxicating. If you're really drunk, you can just sleep here all night. ”

The crowd responded in unison. Zhao Yuan mentioned yì again: "It's almost finished, it's boring, why don't we make a game?" ”

Zhang asked her, "What game do you want to make?" Don't run around, you've just finished eating. ”

Zhao Yuan said: "How about guessing the riddle?" My brother bought a book of riddles, and I brought it with me. ”

Zhao Xiu felt a little interesting: "Then guess the riddle." ”

Zhao Huai said: "Our brother and sister have already seen it, and they know the mystery, so it's not interesting to guess." The yard next door to our house is a Quanzhou person, I met his son in the morning, said that his brother was going to play with the moon cake in a few nights, said that he was playing with moon cakes, and I also listened to the rules. Why don't we also learn who is the champion, okay? ”

This time, Zhao Yuan was not happy: "This is a game played by you boys, is it possible that my little aunt and I can still take the top prize?" It's not interesting to tell. ”

Zhao Qixuan also said: "There are no moon cakes used by Bu Zhuangyuan at home, how can I get it?" People from Quanzhou want to use a full box of moon cakes, there are sixty-three. Neither did the dice. ”

Zhang smiled and said: "There may not be no dice, if you ask the people in the family, maybe you can get a few pairs out." But I've never seen this game, and I don't know how to play it, but everyone has eaten almost, and the reunion cake that just sacrificed to the moon should also be used to share it. From now on, our family will be reunited, and those who are harmonious will be happy. ”

Ma hurriedly went to get the reunion cake, Zhao Xiu went over to help her, and when she was busy, someone in the front yard suddenly came to report: "Someone is coming from the palace, the old lady, the little marquis and the girl are going to greet her." ”

Zhao Xiu was very surprised, looked back at Zhang's family, and Zhang's family hurriedly asked: "The moon cakes and imperial wine rewarded in the Mid-Autumn Festival Palace have already been given, why are there people here tonight?" Could it be that the emperor remembered the widows of our old ministers at the palace banquet? ”

When the three of their ancestors and grandchildren packed up and went to the front yard to greet the palace envoy, the envoy said: "Our family is ordered by the queen mother to come to give gifts to the eldest girl in the palace for the prince of Guangping." Miss Zhao, please take the order. (To be continued......)