Fennel said: "That's all there is to it." Mother, I'll accompany you to the procurement, right? ”

"No, it's enough to have Zhong'er with me, there's still half a day, so it's too late. It's time for you to go back and prepare the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the whole family is waiting for you. ”

Seeing that the crisis of her mother's family was temporarily over, Fennel felt a little relieved, and said, "Okay, I'll help cut some window grilles and paste them first, and then I'll go back." On the second day of the Lunar New Year, we came to pay New Year's greetings to the two elders. ”

Fennel cut window flowers, and Liang took Zuo Shaoyang out to buy New Year's goods. Because it was Chinese New Year's Eve, many shops were closed for the New Year, and they went around most of the city to buy all the needed. There are only three knives of meat, namely pork, beef and mutton, and these three knives of meat are almost as thin as kitchen knives, and they can pass through the light when they are lifted. This is to symbolize the use of three animals to worship the ancestors, otherwise, the Liang family would not have been ruthless in buying meat.

In addition to the three knives of meat, they also bought a small bag of black noodles, a gourd of soju, a few pieces of rice cakes, and a large luobu. There was also a pair of red candles, some incense, paper money, and a few firecrackers. There are also two peach wood board peach symbols, which are now Spring Festival couplets, but only the images of the two door gods are painted on the top, and the bottom is blank.

The peach charm is an object used to the door to ward off evil spirits in ancient times, and later people use peach wood boards to save trouble, write the names of the two gods of "Shen Tu" and "Yu Lei", or draw the images of the two gods, hang them on the door, and pray for blessings and disasters. The peach charm developed to five generations, and people began to write some couplet couplets on the peach charm during the Spring Festival, replacing the names of the gods and Yu Lei. developed to the Song Dynasty, and it became the current Spring Festival couplet.

The auspicious couplet written on the two peach symbols on the left and right of Guizhitang in the past is "Bamboo bursts are safe, and spring welcomes the new year." "It's written on a mahogany board, so naturally it can't be used anymore. Before the Tang and Song dynasties, the peach charms were changed every year, as evidenced by Wang Anshi's popular poem "Except for the Saying": "In the sound of firecrackers, the year old is removed, and the spring breeze sends warm people to Tu Su; Thousands of households said that they always replaced the new peach with the old one. ”

When I got home, Fennel had already pasted the fried curtains on the window and went back.

Zuo Gui has also set up the offering table, the ancestral tablets have been invited out and placed, and every household in ancient times had an offering table, which was generally set in the middle of the entrance hall. Usually worship the prince of heaven and earth, and use it to worship ancestors during festivals, but the offering table used to worship ancestors is much larger than usual. However, the lobby of the pharmacy is used for diagnosis, so the offering table is much smaller and located next to the counter. The pharmacy is closed on Chinese New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (except for emergencies), so large offering tables can be set up. Although there are very few things to worship ancestors, this posture is still bright.

While the Liang family was busy preparing the offering food and the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, Zuo Gui asked Zuo Shaoyang to take down the peach charm outside the medicine shop. Ready to get a new one. The new peach talisman was to be written with auspicious couplets, and Zuo Shaoyang placed the new peach plank on the long table. Zuo Gui's father was thinking about how to write while studying ink, but he didn't think about it after the ink was researched, so he casually asked Zuo Shaoyang next to him: "You say, what is good to write this year?" ”

Zuo Shaoyang didn't have much research on the Spring Festival couplets, but he remembered some Chinese medicine couplets when he usually read books, thought about it, and then memorized a pair:

"There are relatives everywhere in the frost, whether raw or cooked.

When the spring breeze comes, it is full of flowers, but it smells of herbs and wood. ”

Zuo Gui stroked his beard and read it back, shook his head and said, "No, no!" ”

"What's wrong?"

Zuo Gui said: "What does this raw rehmannia mean by rehmannia cooked rehmannia?" ”

"It's raw rehmannia and cooked rehmannia."

"Rehmannia? Who told you that rehmannia can be used medicinally when fried? ”

Zuo Shaoyang patted his head and remembered that Rehmannia was only recorded as a medicinal material in the "Collection of Materia Medica" in the Middle and Tang Dynasty more than a hundred years later. Before the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there was only one kind of rehmannia rehmannia, which was called rehmannia in Shennong's Materia Medica. No wonder Dad didn't know, and said, "I'll just say it casually, hehe." Couplets, don't be too serious. ”

"What don't you need to be more serious, if you don't study medicine, you will be able to kill people!"

Zuo Shaoyang heard that Zuo Gui was on the line, and he didn't dare to argue anymore, and said: "Then I'll think about it again." Well...... there is:

Peach, almond, gentleman, benevolence, benevolence to save people,

Heavenly Immortals, Phoenix Immortals, Immortal Immortals. ”

After reading this couplet, Zuo Shaoyang was a little proud, the couplet was formed with six flavor medicines, in which the peach kernel is the walnut kernel, the almond is called bitter almond in Chinese medicine, and the gentleman kernel refers to the anthelmintic medicine "making the gentleman" fruit, and the "Tianxian" Chinese medicine is called "scopole", and the impatiens are the impatiens grass. The couplet is composed of six flavor medicines, and it can cut into the hanging pot to help the world, and the highest level of the doctor who is benevolent and saves people can be called a wonderful couplet, but it is a pity that he did not come up with it himself.

He was proud, and suddenly saw Zuo Gui's father looking at him suspiciously, and was stunned for a moment, could it be that there was something wrong? I meditated in my heart, and suddenly kept complaining, walnut kernel and make Junziren as medicinal materials, both appeared after the Song Dynasty, and were not used as medicinal materials in the early Tang Dynasty. And the use of impatiens as a medicine was even more after the Ming Dynasty. No wonder Dad looked at himself obediently and said with a smile: "It's wrong, it's wrong, this is not good, I'll think about it again......"

Zuo Gui said: "You can't figure out which ones are medicines and which ones are flowers, it's really half a bucket of water clanging, alas! Don't use Chinese medicine, you can figure out the Chinese medicine first. ”

"Oh, then I think it's individual."

"Hmm." Although Zuo Gui taught Zuo Shaoyang a lesson, he was still a little surprised in his heart, his son didn't say the couplets before, and he didn't even understand the rhyme up and down, just now his son said two couplets in a row, although there are quite some incomprehensible points, but at least the battle is quite neat and rhymed, especially if he can use traditional Chinese medicine couplets, he can come up with two couplets in a row in such a short period of time, and he can be regarded as quick-witted, and he is secretly happy in his heart. Hold a pen and wait for him to think slowly, and don't rush him.

He didn't know that these couplets were written by Zuo Shaoyang at ordinary times, not by himself, so he was so quick to think. Zuo Shaoyang touched his chin and quickly went through the Chinese medicine couplet he remembered in his stomach, and finally thought of a pair, which was quite suitable, coughed lightly, and said: "

May the people of the world be free from disease,

Even if there is dust on the shelf. ”

"Good!" Zuo Gui couldn't help but praise: "This couplet is good, it sounds too vulgar, but it is elegant in the vulgar, and it is rare to have a high medical virtue of compassion for the common people." Hehe, it's just, it's written in our pharmacy with this pair, it seems like it's too much...... hehe"

Zuo Shaoyang said with a smile: "Dad, I think this is a true portrayal of you, your old man is kind-hearted, and he would rather feel poor than cheat and cheat people out of money." This pair is just right. ”

Zuo Shaoyang's horse shot was very useful to Zuo Gui's father, and he stroked his beard and smiled: "In this way, you can write this couplet!" ”

"Me?" Zuo Shaoyang was taken aback, he had only written calligraphy when he was in elementary school, and this calligraphy was simply unreadable.

"Well, you can write what you want, and see if your calligraphy is a little strong for my father." Zuo Gui handed the brush in his hand to Zuo Shaoyang.

Zuo Shaoyang agreed hard, took the brush, licked the tip of the pen lightly on the inkstone, and looked at the peach board in front of him with the pen, which his mother bought with money, just two pieces, the writing was broken, but there was no more. There is no way to get it back. He smiled bitterly and said, "Dad, why don't I write on the paper first, and after you finish writing, you can see that you can, and then I will write on the peach symbol, okay?" ”

Zuo Gui stroked his beard and glanced at him: "It's okay." ”

Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly took a piece of paper wrapped in medicine, put it on the long case, pressed the paperweight, hung his wrist and picked up the pen, and wrote laboriously one stroke at a time.

As soon as he wrote two words, he heard Zuo Gui scolding: "Okay! What do you write about? Chicken paws like a dog? You used to be ugly, but it wasn't so bad, what's going on now? Well? ”

Zuo Shaoyang held the pen and hung his head, not daring to answer.

Zuo Gui snatched the pen and snorted coldly: "The more you learn, the less you will grow!" What a useless thing! While reprimanding, he took a pen and wrote the pair on the mahogany board. put the brush aside and said coldly to Zuo Shaoyang: "What are you doing standing there stupidly?" Look, is it lively? Why don't you hurry up and hang up the peach charm? ”

"Oh." Zuo Shaoyang set up a bench, hung the two peach charms on both sides of the door, took a few steps back, and looked at Fangzheng, although the cheating applied modern couplets to cope with the father's inspection, but this calligraphy made Zuo Gui's father disappointed, and was reprimanded, thinking that ancient calligraphy is a compulsory course, and it seems that he has to make up for this lesson as soon as possible.