The Struggle of the Reborn Prince

Chapter 41 Chinese New Year (2)

After cleaning the house, the house has a new atmosphere, everything is clean and dust-free, fresh and pleasing to the eye. Palace lanterns are hung high everywhere, horn lanterns are hung in the halls, wall lanterns are hung on the walls, palace lanterns are hung indoors, in the garden pavilion, and silk lanterns are hung on the verandahs. Indoor palace lanterns

There are various silk lanterns in Hexuan Hall and there are many flowers in the hall. Although it is not New Year's Eve, it is already full of new year spirit.

When it got dark, lanterns were lit everywhere in the mansion. Zhao Tong, also wearing a python robe, a soft flipper hat on his head, and a formal suit, surrounded by everyone, came down to the ancestral hall and entered the small courtyard to the east.

Only men followed the courtyard. Women were strictly prohibited from entering, including chambermaids who were both male and female. They were all refused entry.

The person who officiates is naturally the head of the family. Although Zhao is young, he is also the head of the family, so he shouldered this 'big responsibility' without hesitation. Zhao was a little nervous when he entered the house. He didn't understand the rules here! In his previous life, Zhao Tan also celebrated the New Year in the countryside.

When I have seen sacrifices to the stove, it is usually his grandma who takes down the portraits of the Stove King and the Stove King's grandma that have been hanging in the stove for a year. The two gods have been smoky and smoky for so long that they are dirty and cannot be seen clearly. The grandma is next to the two gods.

Put some sugar melon on your mouth, chant a few words and it will set you on fire. After a while, you will put a new one on it. Let's watch the excitement, then have a big meal and that's it. There are no taboos or particularities at all, just

It's a joy.

This room is a place where ancestors and ancestors cook sacrifices. It is called the divine kitchen. Of course, it is also a kitchen, and it is the highest-level kitchen in the house. Zhao Tong looked up and saw the 'Kitchen Lord' hanging alone on the stove.

There is no Stove King Grandma nearby, I bet I don’t have a wife at this moment, and I am still a bachelor! An offering table has been set up in front of the stove, and tributes are placed in sequence, including longans, lychees, red dates, chestnuts, a few snacks, and fodder.

Water, incense candles and paper horses.

As soon as the door was closed, only the chief steward Zheng Fu and the third steward Zheng Shou were left beside him. "Your Majesty, please offer incense!" Zheng Fu said, passing three sticks of incense.

Zhao Tong took the incense, lit it on the candle, bowed three times, and murmured the two sentences he had learned when he arrived, "Thank you Stove King for keeping Xiao Wang's house safe, and report it to God after your death, and say more good things."

When you're done, put the incense on the incense burner.

"Your Majesty, please put this on the stove door!" Zheng Shou said in his ear, his voice was like a mosquito, as if he was afraid that the Stove Prince would hear it.

"Well!" Zhao Tong grabbed a handful of the things Zheng Shou handed over, and suddenly smelled the smell of alcohol. He put it under his nose and sniffed hard, and then twisted the loose things with his hands. He found that it was not

'Tanggua', "Zheng Shou, what is this!" he asked curiously.

"Your Majesty, this is the wine's dregs. The Kitchen King will report to heaven the next day on his work for the year, so he will bid farewell to him in advance and ask him to go to heaven to say good things. The wine's dregs will be smeared on the stove door, and he will be called "Drunk Commander". When the Stove King is drunk, he will

I will only say nice things!" Zheng Shou said in a low voice.

"Oh! Isn't this fooling the Japanese?" Zhao Tong understood. It was not fashionable to give the Stove Lord candy at this time. He was eating wine grains, but the intention was the same. They were all bribes. But you wanted him to drink it.

If it’s too much, why don’t we get him some wine? What’s the point of getting him some lees? I don’t know what the Stove King will think. Maybe he is also a contented and easy-to-dispatch god!

"Your Majesty, what did you say?" Zheng Shou didn't understand and asked, holding a basin.

"I didn't say anything, but I just felt that the Stove Lord was lonely squatting here alone. Let's find him a wife someday!" Zhao Tong said, grabbing a handful of wine lees and wiping them hard on the stove door.

.

"Um, ah?!" Zheng Shou hurriedly covered his mouth to prevent him from shouting on this solemn occasion. The prince was so good at troubleshooting that he wanted to be a matchmaker for the gods and get a wife. He secretly glanced at Zheng Shou.

Fu, it was so hard to hold it in, and my face turned purple.

"After the ceremony, please invite the Stove Lord to ascend to heaven!" Zheng Fu suppressed his voice and shouted. People in the yard heard the shout and lit the firecrackers that had been prepared. For a while, the crackling sound of the firecrackers was heard.

The two stewards took off the portrait of the Kitchen God, and Zhao Tong lit the portrait and the paper horse, ending the ceremony in a puff of green smoke.

Zhao Tong walked out of the house, and the whole house was blasting with firecrackers, soaring to the sky and the earth. At this time, the residents around the house were also offering sacrifices to the stove. The sound of firecrackers came and went continuously. After a while, the Stove King, who had drunk too much, rode on his horse.

Damn it, I wonder if there are people in the heaven who detect drunk driving. If you are imprisoned in the heavenly prison and sentenced to half a year, it may delay your time in the lower world.

After the firecrackers were burned out and all the lights were extinguished, the stove-sacrifice ceremony came to an end. The servants packed up the offerings. Everyone in the house, men, women, old and young, shared some to eat in order to get good luck and good luck. After dinner, it was a busy day.

The people also went to bed early, and the sound of bangs and the shouts of the night guards could be heard in the mansion.

Zhao Tong returned to his yard, changed out of his ceremonial clothes, took a hot bath, and entered the bedroom, only to find a fire flickering under the bed. "It's on fire." He jumped and grabbed the pot on the table.

The teapot is about to be smashed under the bed. This house is made of wood. It is dry and dry now, and a fire is no joke.

"Second Master, don't smash it, the lamp we lit is under the bed!" Hearing the shout, Guihua, who was on duty in the outer room, ran in quickly and saw the prince holding the teapot to smash it, so she hurriedly said.

"Why are you lighting a lamp under the bed?" Zhao Tong asked, frowning in confusion.

"It is the custom in the capital that lighting a lamp under the bed tonight is to 'illuminate the waste', to drive away filth and drive away ghosts!" Guihua took the teapot in Zhao Tong's hand and put it on the table.

"Oh, that's it." Zhao Tong nodded and said. He turned his face and suddenly saw the sweet-scented osmanthus who had made his bed. His nose suddenly felt hot and his throat felt dry. Osmanthus came in in a hurry and only wore small clothes. It was inevitable that the beauty of the girl would be exposed, which made Zhao Tong...

The old bachelor in his previous life was a little sad.

The New Year is approaching day by day. In front of the palace, there used to be only a few sporadic vendors selling goods, but now it has become a fixed market. People from the surrounding villages will come here to do business every time. The palace sends people to rush there several times.

, the effect was not very great. Later, after several stewards discussed it, they set aside an open space outside the gate of the mansion and let them operate their own businesses there. After a short time, it actually gained some popularity, and people from all over the countryside and eight villages came to it.

Come to trade and buy some home-produced agricultural products to supplement your family income.

Today is the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve, which is also the last market of the year. The government had already had a holiday yesterday, and everyone close to home went home to celebrate the New Year. Those who had paid off their debts, Zhao Tong, were also given two yuan each.

A pound of pork and five pounds of white flour are sent home for the New Year. Those who don't have a job can go out and buy some things today.

"Second Master, please don't go out. There are many people of all kinds waiting outside the door. It is inevitable that there will be some nightclubs among them. If there is anything wrong with you," Zhao Tao felt very itchy in his heart when he heard the shouting outside the house.

I had never spent money myself, but I wanted to go out and have a look. When I walked to the gate, I was stopped by the manager.

"I'll just go out and take a look. What are you afraid of at the door of my house?" Zhao Tong said, twisting his neck and looking at the bustling crowd outside the house.

"Second Master, you have to be on guard. Besides, the nursing staff have gone out and it's not okay if no one is with them!" The chief steward was still trying to persuade you, thinking that you were almost killed in your own garden.

, I can't let you out even if I die.

"Let the second master take a look with us. Nothing will happen if we all protect him!" Zhao Ren saw the prince's anxious look and pleaded for him. The last batch of vegetables in the greenhouse had been sold out, and the rest

They all left it to themselves to celebrate the New Year. They also had a holiday today. Everyone paid some money from the counter and wanted to go out and have fun.

"Nonsense, can you kids protect the second master? There are so many people outside, it's good if you don't get scattered!" Zheng Fu said with eyes wide open.

"Second Master, then don't go out. We will buy you whatever you like!" Zhao Xin looked at the boss's fierce look, stuck out his tongue, and said to Zhao Tong, looking like a big sister coaxing him.

Little brother.

"Yes, Second Master, whatever you want, we will buy it for you!" The boys all said one after another that the prince treated them well, like brothers, and they all said sympathetically when they saw his pitiful appearance.

"Forget it, you guys have fun, don't get separated, let's go back together!" Zhao Tao looked at Zheng Fu's determined look and knew that there was no chance of going out to play. He reluctantly looked outside the house and told the little boy

After a few words, he led the two little yellow men back with a slumped head.

Entering the yard, several Xiaohuangmen were picking up leaves that had fallen last night under the command of Fengxi. Seeing them, Zhao Tao sighed. These Xiaohuangmen were all a few years older than him, but they looked at Mu Mu with a sullen expression.

They were resigned to everything, just waiting to die, without any youthful vigor at all. They all entered the palace at a young age and became members of the royal family from head to toe. Their bodies suffered irreversible damage, and they were doing the most painful and tiring work, but they still

Enduring pain that is unbearable for ordinary people, without the king's orders, they can only live in this courtyard for the rest of their lives, unable to take a step out of the house until the day they can no longer work.

"The Chinese New Year is coming tomorrow, let everyone have a rest, let's play a game together today!" Zhao Tong shouted, asking the little Huangmen to gather over, looked at it and said: "Fengxi, there are a few people, you

Go and find everyone from the Winter Garden!"

"Yes!" Fengxi saw that the prince was interested in coming today, so he quickly agreed to go to the winter garden to call someone. He was quite smart, knowing that the prince was young, so the people he called were all teenagers from the Huangmen, and the older ones did not move.

.

"Okay, everyone, please listen to the prince's instructions and do whatever you are told!" Fengxi ordered the little Huangmen to stand together.

"Don't be restrained, everyone. We just played games together. Relax a little and laugh!" Zhao Tong directed everyone to sit in a circle, and he stood in the middle and said with a smile.

"Laugh, laugh, Your Majesty is making everyone laugh!" Looking at the dazed expressions of the little yellow disciples, Zhao Tong urged them when they were happy. Zhao Tong watched the little yellow disciples winking and grinning, trying to pretend to smile.

They look like they are crying, but they are not laughing. They have become numb in this repetitive life, and they can no longer laugh.