On the last day of the eighth year of Xianchu, the snow was covering, and the villagers of Zhangjia Village hung lanterns in front of their homes.

After every household pasted the couplet, Li Xiaofei took Hongrui and the children to the bamboo forest to cut a lot of bamboo, and built a large bamboo shed more than two zhang high with thick bamboo and bamboo branches in the middle of the main road in the village. Li Xiaofei and some adults cut off a lot of bamboo tubes with knots at both ends of the thin bamboo and piled them aside, and the children ran over and asked, "Brother Li, what are these thin bamboo tubes for?"

Li Xiaofei picked up a gesture: "This bamboo tube, called firecrackers, also called firecrackers, wait for us to burn a fire at night." If you throw a firecracker into the fire, it will crackle and explode. This firecracker is used to scare away the beast."

As soon as they heard about the Nian Beast, the children were very interested, some asked about the size of the Nian Beast, some asked if the Nian Beast had horns, some asked how many legs the Nian Beast had, some asked how many heads the Nian Beast had, and some asked if the meat of the Nian Beast was delicious. The adults were asked by the children before and after, and they couldn't tell the appearance of the Nian Beast, and the smart children suddenly realized that the adults had not seen the New Year Beast.

After the firecrackers were ready, the children followed the adults home to worship their ancestors and burn paper money. Li Xiaofei also set up a spiritual seat in the courtyard to commemorate the people of Lijia Village, and there was also a spiritual seat next to Zhang Sheng's.

Li Xiaofei poured three jars of wine on the ground: "Folks, the first two jars of wine are for you, I hope you will all be reincarnated in a good place and a good family, and live a peaceful and happy life for the rest of your life." The third altar of wine is to worship Brother Zhang Sheng, I hope that Brother Zhang will not have to fight in the next life, be a rich son, marry a good wife and have a bunch of children. Hongrui watched from the sidelines, and after Li Xiaofei kowtowed, he got up and asked her, "Sister, don't you have anyone to worship?" Hongrui leaned on Li Xiaofei's shoulder: "On Chinese New Year's Eve, there is no one who does not miss my relatives, but I have been adopted by the Xiao family since I was a child, and I still don't know my background, so there is nothing to worship."

The two were telling each other about the past, and there were many villagers outside the door, including those who sent preserved fish, chickens and ducks, bacon, red dates, lotus roots and dried lotus seeds, ant sauce, wheat rice, corn, perilla leaves, cabbage, lettuce, tofu, rice wine and rice wine, in short, it was piled up in the yard. Hongrui and his wife took out money to ask for money, and the villagers ran back home one after another. Li Xiaofei looked at the red paper left over from the couplet, and had an idea: "Sister, wrap these red papers with copper coins, write the word blessing on the outside, and give blessing bags to the children when we set off firecrackers at night, so that the villagers will not refuse", Hongrui smiled happily: "Xiao Mansion has long had such a bag, but it is not called a blessing bag, it is called a red envelope, and it is indeed a good idea to give red envelopes to children." Li Xiaofei smiled: "Okay, it's called a red envelope, my sister really knows a lot"

The husband and wife wrapped hundreds of red envelopes, washed their hands and went to make a fire together to cook Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.

After the Chinese New Year's Eve meal was ready, there were ten dishes on the table, a plate of perilla leaf mixed with cured fish, a plate of pig's head meat, a large bowl of stewed lotus root with large bones, a cup of red date lotus seed porridge, a plate of ant sauce mixed with wheat rice, a plate of braised carp, a plate of fried cabbage, a plate of lettuce, a plate of glutinous rice steamed chicken, and a plate of tofu. Li Xiaofei reached out to take the pig's head meat, and was hit by Hongrui with chopsticks: "You have to wash your hands, you have to use chopsticks, look at what you are hungry", Li Xiaofei retracted his hand and picked up the chopsticks to hold the meat: "The Chinese New Year's Eve rice made by my sister is really fragrant, this is the best meal I have eaten in all these years", Hongrui sneered: "Poor boy who has no knowledge, Xiao Mansion's Chinese New Year's Eve meals have sixty-four plates, and there are many pots of soup and stew, ordinary chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, pigs and fish are made in different ways, only take chicken tongue duck palm beef tendon sheep liver pig loin fish brain, and the rest are lost." Then there are wild geese, hares, pheasants, roe deer, and then bear's paws, abalone, bird's nest, shark fin and ginseng soup, etc.", Li Xiaofei asked while swallowing meat: "I haven't seen most of what my sister said, but I'm curious about what this fish brain is used for?" Hongrui picked up a piece of tofu: "Fish brain is used to make tofu, Princess Han has a secret, that is, she has never eaten real tofu, haha", Li Xiaofei also laughed happily, the two of them drank rice wine while eating, and before they knew it, it was evening.

After eating the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, Li Xiaofei and Hongrui each carried a bamboo basket full of red envelopes. When the husband and wife arrived at the bamboo shed, the villagers had already brought dry firewood and bamboo to pile the bamboo shed to a height of four or five zhang, and the villagers greeted them: "Xiao Li, come quickly, if you don't come to light the fire, we will freeze, this fire wants you to light", Li Xiaofei took the torch and reached in to light the bamboo shed, and everyone jumped hand in hand around this big fire. Hongrui pointed to the neatly stacked bamboo tubes: "Children, one person takes two firecrackers and throws them in the fire, put two and come to my sister, my sister will give you blessings and red envelopes", the children happily replied: "Okay, beautiful sister"

"My beautiful sister wants to leave one for my brother, he's too young to walk"

"Beautiful sister, I'm going to leave one for my sister too, she won't set off firecrackers yet"

Hongrui laughed: "You have them all, you are too sensible, and you know that you can leave one for your younger brothers and sisters, don't worry, everyone has a share"

Li Xiaofei also began to give blessings to the villagers and red envelopes: "Uncle will be healthier next year, and the harvest will be better."

"Auntie will grow stronger next year, cook more fragrant, and the most important thing is that she can hold a grandchild"

"The eldest sister will give birth to a big fat boy next year, and the eldest brother will earn more money next year"

"Everyone is safe, happy, healthy, and long, and the best wishes are given to everyone"

A blessing accompanied by the crackling of firecrackers, and a red envelope and everyone's thanks and laughter. Zhangjia Village is brightly lit and reflected in the surrounding snow, which is peaceful and festive.

Chen Hongyi Liu Jian Xiao Qian celebrated Chinese New Year's Eve in the military camp outside Yingchuan City, and Xiao Qian invited sixty cooks from the Xiao family early to cook Chinese New Year's Eve dinner for the sergeants. Sixty cooks, fourteen chopping vegetables, fifteen washing vegetables, eighteen stir-frying, ten stewed soups, and three setting recipes. This time at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, Xiao Qian ate real tofu, Xiao Qian was surprised: "How is today's tofu different from the tofu in the house", the cook replied: "Princess, there is not enough fish, so the tofu made is different, please don't blame the princess", Xiao Qian smiled: "Today's tofu is much better than before, how can I blame you?" ”

Except for Chen Hongyi, the others were confused, Chen Hongyi did not wait for everyone to ask questions and toasted: "Wang Ye and the princess have a thousand golden bodies, eat today's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner with me and the rest of the army, this glass of wine we will congratulate Wang Ye and Princess together, wish them wealth and eternal enjoyment, more than every year, guests of the four seasons, and a healthy life", all the sergeants responded together, and blessed Liu Jian Xiaoqian and his wife.

In Jinling City, it is also a lantern show, Xie Rui organized a rich businessman family to make a lantern festival in the city, and the whole city was dressed up magnificently, and people enjoyed the flowers and lanterns in the city, as if they had returned to the peaceful and prosperous times many years ago.

Liu Xuan led a group of internal eunuchs to enjoy the lanterns on the tower of the palace gate, looked at the light of the city and said to the chief manager Qin Zhong: "I'm afraid it took a lot of money to buy the lanterns, otherwise where would there be such a weather in this ruined Jinling City?"

Qin Zhong hurriedly returned: "Your Majesty is wise and martial, the new dynasty naturally has a new atmosphere, as far as the old slave knows, this lantern festival did not cost a penny from the treasury, it was all raised by Xie Sikong from the wealthy merchant family."

Liu Xuan looked at the crowd in the distance: "If only some of you could find money like Xie Rui, half of him is a talent."

Xie Rui couldn't hear the emperor's praise for him, and at this time he was drinking with the three prime ministers on the left and right. The four of them praised each other and drank a few more pots of wine.

In short, the eighth year of Xianchu finally had a good ending, and it seemed that a prosperous era was coming.