At the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was no custom of sticking Spring Festival couplets in the New Year, only two peach charms engraved with the statues of "Shen Tu" and "Yu Lei" were nailed in front of the door, so as to ward off evil and drive away disasters, pray for blessings and avoid disasters.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, Chen Caozhi wrote a Spring Festival on two rectangular mahogany boards that had already been prepared in the form of "Zhang Qian Stele":

"New Year's celebration, Jiajie Changchun."

Ordered Laide to engrave the Yin text with a knife, then fill it with cinnabar, and nail the two pieces of spring couplets peach wood board and peach charm together at the gate of the West Building.

Before midnight, Chen Caozhi participated in the ancestral worship ceremony of the ancestral hall on behalf of the Chen family in the West Building, which lasted until the early morning of the first day of the new year, and then congratulated each other and blessed each other.

Early in the morning of the first day of the new year, Run'er woke up and saw a new brocade skirt on the eaves of the box in front of the bed, and a gold collar was pressed on the skirt, and the collar was decorated with a longevity lock and jade Ruyi, and the longevity lock was engraved with the words "Wishing longevity and health", and there were auspicious patterns such as fairy peaches, bats, goldfish, and lotus roots.

On the side of the small skirt and gold collar, there is a small gonghou, which is half smaller than the one in Ding Youwei's study next door, but it is also twenty-five strings and golden color emerald algae, and the production process is not sloppy at all.

Run'er was overjoyed, and she was about to hug Na Konghou when she got out of the quilt, and Xiaochan, who had already gotten up first, said in a loud voice: "Run'er's little lady is auspicious for the New Year, is Run'er a year older?" ”

Run'er hurriedly retracted the quilt again, opened her big bright and dark eyes, and said sweetly: "Sister Xiaochan is auspicious for the New Year, Sister Xiaochan should help Run'er get dressed-" The eyes kept looking at the Xiao Konghou and asked: "Sister Xiaochan, is this a New Year's gift from my mother to Run'er?" ”

Chen Caozhi's clear voice came from the corridor: "Run'er is up, Happy New Year!" Before the voice fell, the refreshed Chen Caozhi walked in with his nephew Zongzhi, smiled and bowed to Xiaochan and said, "Sister Xiaochan, Happy New Year!" ”

Xiaochan looked at Chen Caozhi with a smile, and said politely: "Caozhi Xiaolangjun is auspicious for the New Year!" Zongzhi Xiaolangjun is auspicious for the New Year! ”

Zong Zhi, who was dressed in new clothes, also said auspicious, and raised the little jade flute in his hand towards Run'er, and said diligently: "Run'er, look, this is the little jade flute that my mother gave me, I just tried it, my fingers can be pressed to the hole of the flute, and I can learn to blow xiao from Uncle Ugly." ”

Run'er stood on the edge of the bed, stretched out her arms and asked Xiaochan to help her dress her skirt, and her small mouth pointed at the little Konghou on the eaves of the box: "Run'er also has it, my mother's big Konghou Run'er can't play, this small one can be played, when I go back to see my mother, I will take this little Konghou with me, let my mother teach Run'er, Uncle Ugly said right?" ”

After Run'er's dress was neat and groomed, the three uncles and nephews went to Chen's mother Li's room to say goodbye and say good luck to her mother and grandmother.

Chen's mother, Li, looked at her tall and handsome son and a pair of grandsons who looked like beautiful people, smiled from ear to ear, and told Yinggu to prepare a reward, and the Chen family in the west building had New Year's bounties up and down.

Ran Sheng downstairs was shouting: "Xiao Langjun, Brother Lai De and I are going to light firecrackers, do you want to come and see?" ”

Chen Caozhi took his nephew and niece's men downstairs to see what kind of firecrackers Ran Sheng and Laide were setting off?

I saw a small bundle of slender bamboo poles in the hands of Laide and Ran Sheng, lit on a small fire, and the bamboo poles burned with a "crackling" sound, which turned out to be firecrackers.

There were many bamboo poles, and the sound of firecrackers was very loud, Run'er covered her ears and hid behind Chen Caozhi, sticking out her head to see De and Ran Sheng dragging a bundle of burning bamboo poles happily walking around the yard, which was expelling the plague god.

The east building, the south building, and the north building also come together to firecrackers, which is very lively, and the fireworks of the bamboo pole burning have a kind of ripe smell, Chen Caozhi likes to smell this smell.

The other clansmen on the third floor saw the peach wood spring couplets in the west building, felt fresh and festive, thought that it was a custom that Chen Caozhi learned from Wu County, and hurriedly imitated the hanging on the gate.

The patriarch Chen Xian ordered people to planed two large peach planks, and asked Chen Caozhi to write ten big characters of "New Year's Yuqing, Jiajie Changchun", and nailed them to the Qinggang oak gate of Wubao, which is very scholarly.

When the nearby villagers saw it, they also imitated it, so the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets on the New Year spread six hundred years in advance.

……

Since Chen Caozhi's father Chen Su began, the West Building Chen family believes in the Tao of the Heavenly Master, worships the Taoist Du Zigong of Qiantang County as a teacher, and the Taoist of the Heavenly Master worships the three officials of "heaven, earth and water", and the Shangyuan Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the birthday of the Emperor of Tianguan, and the disciples of the Heavenly Master Dao will hold a grand celebration.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, Chen Caozhi was ordered by his mother to go to the county seat, preparing to participate in the celebration of the emperor of Tianguan the next day, and by the way went to visit Feng Mengxiong's mansion.

At noon, Chen Caozhi and the four of them came to Feng Mansion in the west of the city, since the beginning of May last year, they have been to Feng Mansion, and most of the year has passed in a blink of an eye, but they still see the door, only the three old acacia trees in front of the door have lost their leaves, and there is no longer the scene of lush branches and leaves in May.

Feng Mengxiong was very happy to see Chen Caozhi, and immediately ordered the little maid to invite his wife Sun and daughter Feng Lingbo to come out to meet, Feng's wife Sun saw that Chen Caozhi's demeanor was better than before, and the more she looked at it, the more she was happy, and she looked at her daughter Feng Lingbo from time to time, and she was overjoyed.

Feng Lingbo was more restrained than the last time they met, he was uncomfortable, he sat for a while, and then went back to the inner courtyard, and Sun sat with him for a while, and told Chen Cao's master and servant to rest here for the night, and also went in.

Chen Caozhi felt the enthusiasm of Uncle Feng's family, and was a little reluctant, feeling that there were some things that had to be explained clearly, and Feng Lingbo could not be delayed, and after answering Feng Mengxiong's question about his studies in Wu County, he said: "Uncle Feng, the little nephew has something to say to Uncle Feng, please Uncle Feng don't misunderstand." ”

Feng Mengxiong was stunned for a moment, and said with a pleasant face: "If you have something to say, the Feng and Chen families have a family friendship, what misunderstanding can there be!" ”

Chen Caozhi said slowly: "Last year, Uncle Feng's family went to Chenjiawu to visit Jiaci, Jiaci was very happy, the little nephew returned from Wu County at the end of last year, Jiaci asked me to take Lingbo's sister's Nian Geng sticker to the early balcony of Baobao Mountain Gexian Weng Daoyuan, and asked the Taoist there to calculate whether Lingbo's sister's Nian Geng and my Nian Geng matched?" The little nephew was born on the first day of the first month of the winter month of the first year of Jiachen, and the sister of Ling Bo was born on the ninth day of the first month of the spring of the first year of the second year. With that, he put his hands on the mat and apologized profusely.

Feng Mengxiong was stunned for a while, he also knew that Chen's mother Li believed in the way of the Heavenly Master, and there were also disagreements between Nian Geng, but he didn't think that Chen Caozhi was deliberately prevaricating, he Feng Mengxiong was also the prime minister of Jiupin County, and his daughter Feng Lingbo was good-looking, Chen Caozhi had no reason to shirk, he could only say that he had no chance, shook his head and smiled: "There is no need to mention this matter again, Feng and Chen have a good relationship between the two generations, how can they have a dislike because of this matter!" Relax and relax, I'm still your uncle, and Limbo is your sister. ”

Chen Caozhi was very moved and once again gave a deep salute.

Feng Mengxiong entered the inner courtyard and told his wife Sun about this, Sun was disappointed and unhappy, but said: "It must be that Taoist priest has a shallow foundation and calculates arbitrarily, and it is not Ge Xianweng himself who calculates, since Chen's mother believes this, then I will find another Taoist to calculate another day——"

The girl's heart was extremely sensitive, and she said with a crying voice: "Mother, don't mention this matter again, Brother Cao Zhixian ——," calmed down her mood and said: "In the future, my daughter will be commensurate with his brother and sister." ”

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