Approaching the end of the year, every household in Jinling City buys New Year's goods.

Soon, it was Chinese New Year's Eve.

Chu Tianxiu and Li Yu, as well as Zu'er and Di'er, prepared for the New Year in Yu Garden, asked the servants to clean up, and then used red New Year paintings and window flowers to decorate the main room, study, and wing room of Yu Garden with joy.

This Yuyuan is the small home of the four of them, so it is natural to take care of it carefully.

Out of Yu Garden, it is the big family of Pingwangfu.

The huge Pingwang Mansion has already been cleaned up by the chief manager of Qian with the stewards and all the servants, and the red lanterns woven of red silk cloth have been hung up.

In the evening.

Inside and outside the palace, the lights are dim. The sky was covered with snowflakes and white flakes, and the children were happily frolicking in the palace, chasing snowflakes, which was very festive and lively.

Outside the gate of the Pingwang Mansion, two huge lanterns are hung high. On the bronze door, the door gods of Shen Tu and Fan Lei have been pasted.

On both sides of the gate of the palace, there is also a pair of Spring Festival couplets written by Chu Tianxiu himself.

"Yuan Ri. In the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu. Thousands of households always replace the new peach with the old one. ”

Chu Tianxiu looked at the red and festive Spring Festival couplets and was quite satisfied. Although there are no firecrackers to put off, it is beautiful to think about.

Today's Chinese New Year's Eve, there is a big reunion dinner, and almost all the children of the Li family and the members of the foreign family will attend, and the main courtyard is crowded with many people.

Pingwangfu Li is the Longxi County Wang clan since Qin, the ancestors were Qin Longxi County Shou, General, Di Daohou, Longxi Hou, after the death of Qin, followed Xiang to fight the world, but was named King Ping, and then migrated to Jinling Imperial City with the emperor, becoming the head of the top ten gate valves in Jinling.

The head of the Li family, Li Rong, the king of Ping, is only one female county lord Li Yu.

However, there are hundreds of disciples of the Li family, most of whom have become the personal soldiers of the Ping Wangfu, or recommended to enter the court as military generals. Relying on the shadow of King Ping, many of the children of the Li family have the position of officials.

In the main hall of the royal mansion, a Chinese New Year's Eve banquet has been set up.

In the open space outside the main hall, there were hundreds of tables and tables for the children of the Li family and their families.

The rest of the servants were scattered in the rest of the courtyard and ate the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner together.

The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the royal palace is to be eaten together.

Li Yu, Chu Tianxiu, Zu'er, and Di'er came to the main hall of the palace.

But I saw the second lady sitting in the main seat, and an old general with frosty temples and wearing armor sat in the guest seat in the hall, and did not see Li Rong, the king of Ping.

"Hey, General Song, why are you free to come here on Chinese New Year's Eve?"

Li Yu was surprised.

"County Lord, the last general is here on the order of King Ping!"

The old general smiled, quite kind, but his eyes looked at Chu Tianxiu behind Li Yu, and he looked at his son-in-law with the look of an old man.

Chu Tianxiu was a little strange, who was this old man?

Looking at this armor outfit, it should be at least the identity of a four-rank general. Military generals above the third rank even have the opportunity to attend large-scale court meetings, and these fourth-rank generals are obviously quite not low.

When Zu'er saw the old general, he was extremely happy in an instant, pounced on him, and shouted sweetly: "Daddy, why are you here?!" ”

Chu Tianxiu instantly understood.

No wonder he always felt that Zu'er, Di'er, and the two of them were completely different from the other maids in the palace, and even wore mink coats on weekdays, just like Miss Qianjin.

It turned out that Zu'er was the daughter of the old general.

But for some reason, she was the personal maid of the county lord in the Pingwang Mansion.

He quickly thought of a possibility.

This old general of the Song Dynasty is not from the generation of King Ping's generals?

If this is the case, then it is not surprising that King Ping commanded a lot of troops in his early years, and there were many pro-soldiers who followed him for generations, not all of whom were children of the Li family, but also had foreign surnames, and they followed King Ping to make military exploits and were promoted to generals.

This kind of family will always maintain a very close relationship with the main family. will let the children continue to follow the descendants of the main family from an early age, the son of the family will follow the son of the main family, and the daughter of the family will often marry the daughter of the main family together.

The Song family is obviously a prominent generation of generals in the Ping Palace.

Because of this, Zu'er's status in the Ping Wangfu is not comparable to that of ordinary maids, and she only obeys the county lord Li Yu, and even the chief manager of Qian can't control her.

Chu Tianxiu was a little suspicious, what was Di'er born in? Her face doesn't look like a person from the Central Plains, but something like someone from the Western Regions.

I don't know how she became the maid of Lord Li Yu.

The old general showed his kindness, stroked Zu'er's little head, and said with a smile: "The prince ordered my father to go to Yanzhi Mountain, and I don't know how long it will take to come back." No, Dad came over to have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner with you, and he was going to leave overnight. ”

"Leaving tonight? Why is it in such a hurry, but something happened in northern Xinjiang? ”

Li Yu was taken aback and asked.

"The county lord. This year, it snowed heavily in northern Xinjiang, and the Xiongnu were quite ready to move, plundering many merchants in the Western Regions. Although there were no major wars, there were more attacks than in previous years.

Yanzhi Mountain is the throat of the Western Regions, and it is also the place of Danshan Horse, where many war horses are raised. Since beating my Great Chu more than ten years ago and taking Yanzhi Mountain, the Huns have always held a grudge and wanted to snatch it back.

The prince is not very worried about the situation over there, so let the last general go over there to take a look and understand the situation on the spot, just in case! ”

Old General Song shook his head and said.

"General Song has a lot of experience in fighting with the Huns, so it's good to go and see it in person."

Li Yu nodded, glanced at her father Pingwang, and couldn't help but wonder: "Erniang, where is my father?" ”

"There was something in the palace, and the emperor urgently summoned him. It is estimated that I will come back very late, so let's eat first this Chinese New Year's Eve! ”

The second lady said.

Li Yu nodded and didn't ask any more.

The second lady and Li Yu, as well as Chu Tianxiu, the son-in-law, led all the children of the Li family to worship their ancestors in the main hall of the palace, worship the gods of heaven and earth, incense, and various tributes.

According to the royal custom, the ancestors are sacrificed in the ancestral hall on Chinese New Year's Eve.

However, Li Rong, the king of Ping, went to the palace, and I am afraid that he will return very late in the evening.

The second wife, Xie Liyuan and Li Yu, are not suitable to worship their ancestors in the ancestral hall of the palace. The other men in the palace are not the main branch of the Li family, and they cannot worship in the ancestral hall on behalf of the prince.

Therefore, the second lady can only lead the people to display tributes, pigs, sheep and fish on the table in the hall, and the bells ring to eat, and sacrifice to the ancestors and the gods of heaven and earth.

"Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, let's start the table!"

After the sacrifice, the second lady said.

Everyone took their seats in the hall and was preparing for the Chinese New Year's Eve feast.

The chief manager ordered the servants to serve hot delicacies one after another.

But I listened, in the courtyard outside the main hall, there was a crisp sound of "crackling~".

"Firecrackers?"

Chu Tianxiu was stunned for a moment.

He searched for so long on Changle Street and didn't find firecrackers, why did he suddenly have them in Pingwang's mansion?

He immediately put down the dishes and chopsticks and strode out in surprise.

However, in the huge courtyard of the palace, a group of Li teenagers and children swept a clearing in the snow, built a large bonfire, held some dry bamboo knots in their hands, and threw them into the fire.

The children cheered.

"Firecrackers!"

"Banish the plague god!"

The bamboos exploded in the fire, and a large "crackling" sounded.

Chu Tianxiu was stunned for a while, turned his head back, and wanted to cry without tears.

Firecracker!

It's really a "bamboo".