When I looked back, I suddenly became one year old again. The children clapped their hands, happy to have a new year.
For the Chinese nation, the Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year, no matter which dynasty it is.
Although Emperor Taizu strictly required his ministers not to take a holiday before the New Year's Eve in the afternoon. But in counties like Fuyang, after the small New Year, the yamen is in a sheep-herding state, and only one person is left on duty every day. The rest are on duty.
After being busy for many years, I almost never come to the Yamen anymore.
However, in view of Wei Zhixian's obedience to the law and abiding by the law, it is still necessary to organize the yamen. Therefore, Wang Xian stayed in the yamen until the 30th of the New Year. After listening to the county magistrate's last lecture of the year, he was able to go home to celebrate the New Year.
On the street, children were chasing each other with firecrackers, and from time to time one would fly into the sky, making a crisp sound. All the shops were closed, and there were festive and auspicious Spring Festival couplets on the shop floors, and there were red firecracker skins on the ground. Home
Everyone is preparing for the New Year's dinner, and the aroma of various bacon and candied fruits wafts to the streets, mixed with the smoke of firecrackers, creating a smell called New Year's Eve.
In the past, every Spring Festival was the saddest day for Wang Xian, because he had no relatives and nowhere to reunite, so he could only celebrate the New Year at a friend's house. He felt the atmosphere of family reunion, but it was impossible to blend in because he was always an outsider.
But this year was different, because he had a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, and a sister. He had a family! The loneliness and self-pity that appeared every year and gnawed at his heart was gone, replaced by a kind of eagerness and excitement.
——That kind of spiritual involvement made him involuntarily speed up his pace and stride towards home!
"I'm back!" After entering the alley, I opened the door and saw that the walls, doors and even the water tank at home were all marked with conspicuous inverted '福'. Dad was moving the door frame with the help of the silver bell.
Spring couplets are pasted on it. My mother is frying fish, Lin Qing'er and Hou are kneading rice balls, and Wang Gui is cleaning the main room.
Feeling the strong New Year atmosphere at home, Wang Xian shouted loudly: "I love you!"
The father and mother opened their mouths in shock, the younger sister's eyes widened, and Sister Lin blushed with embarrassment...
"It's full of nonsense!" I picked up the broom that fell on the ground, threw it on his head and said, "Hurry up and sweep the main room!"
"As you command, dear old lady!" Wang Xian caught the broom and waved it like a naughty boy: "Sweep the house, sweep the house, how can you sweep the world if you don't sweep the whole house!"
"Is this kid getting sick again?" The father looked at him blankly and asked with worry on his face.
"Bah!" the old woman said angrily: "It's Chinese New Year, please say something auspicious!"
.
By the time the house was ready, it was already past lunch time. But how could there be a lack of food in the new year? Besides, Lao Wang’s family is not what it used to be...
After eating some fried fish and bacon to fill up my stomach, someone from Wangjia Village came to pick me up. On New Year's Eve, I had to pay homage to my ancestors and keep them awake, so I naturally had to go back to Wangjia Village in the countryside.
The Wang family and his son are now very popular in the county. The relatives of the Wang family usually compete with each other to fawn over them, but now that they came to take them home for the New Year, it was even more intense. In the end, it was the most respectable men and women in the family who got this one.
A glorious mission.
Only then did Wang Xian understand why his mother had asked him to put on his new New Year scarf, silver lake silk waistcoat, black rat leather jacket, and foundation warm boots in advance... When he looked at his father and mother again, they were brand new inside and out.
With mink fur upper body, they look like a pair of rich and wealthy ladies. Xiao Yinling wears a Zhaojun hat, a jade flower headband, a pink skirt, and a velvet cloak.
Ten beauties.
Ahem, it turns out it’s to return home in glory...
Naturally, Wang Gui and Hou Shi also put on new clothes. Only Lin Qing'er was still in mourning and it was not suitable to wear red and green. However, she wore a silver cloak over a white skirt. Although she was plain, she was more refined. She stood side by side with Xiao Yinling.
Together, they are like a white chrysanthemum rising into the sky, making everyone in the Wang family's eyes wide open.
"Ahem." The father coughed and kicked the young man wearing a Confucian shirt and a scarf: "Do you think of your aunt like this?"
"Oh, it turns out she is the new aunt. Grandpa, did you tell me earlier? Why am I so unfamiliar..." The young man was obviously older than Wang Xian, and he smiled shyly at Wang Xian: "Second uncle, you are so lucky.
."
"Let's go and play." A burly middle-aged man behind him pushed him away, then pushed the golden mountain and fell the jade pillar, kowtowed to Wang Xingye and his son and said: "Grandpa, uncle, I will take you back to celebrate the New Year!"
Several women also knelt down, but the young man just showed off and said with a playful smile: "The clothes my grandson just put on..."
He is a scholar, and Wang Xingye will not argue with him. He nodded and said, "Well, it's getting late, let's go."
The family went out carrying large and small packages of gifts, greeted the neighbors, and went straight to the pier.
The pier was no longer as busy as it had been a while ago. Only a few awning boats were parked. The family boarded one of them. The middle-aged man took off the cable, held the pole with Wang Gui, and slowly drove away from the county town.
The boat was sailing on the river, the women were talking in the cabin, and the men were chatting on the deck.
The young man wearing a Confucian shirt is called Wang Jin. He is quite handsome, but his eyes are wandering around, which always gives people the impression of being cunning. His family is from a wealthy family. He has been studying since he was a child. He is also smart and is the smartest person in the village.
There is hope that he will pass the examination as a scholar. He entered the competition for the first time last year and ended up failing as a scholar. However, he was not yet twenty years old and had plenty of time, so he still excelled.
The middle-aged man who was punting the boat was called Wang Tong, and he was one of the five village heads in Wangjia Village. He would be the village head next year. He was looking sad at the moment, and he stopped talking several times.
His father was so upset for him that he cursed: "If you have something to say, say it, and if you have something to say, let it go!"
"Hey, Fourth Grandpa," Wang Tong looked at Wang Xian and whispered, "I have something I want to ask my second uncle for."
"What's going on?" There is no word for democracy in Lao Wang's family, so Dad asked directly for Wang Xian.
"The yellow list will be re-edited next year." Wang Tong is less than ten years younger than Wang Xingye, but there is no way, seniority is there, "Second uncle, can you think of a way to let your nephew miss this year?"
"He is from the household, and you are in charge of the office." The father said: "Besides, Lijia's official, even the prime minister's family cannot avoid him. He has only been in the Yamen for a few days, what can be done?"
Wang Xian was secretly moved after hearing this. His father really understood the difference and did not cause trouble for his son. Hearing his father say again: "Besides, re-editing the yellow book. What a fat job, but you want to escape. Are you stupid?"
Is it?"
"It's a fat job, but it's also a job that offends people!" Wang Tong said depressedly: "Look at the attitude of the county master, he will come for real next year. We are in charge of two villages here, and the Wang family village is all related.
We can't afford to offend Yujiazhuang, and since I can't complete the errands specified above, I have no choice but to jump into the river."
"Haha..." Wang Xingye looked at Wang Xian, and the father and son smiled knowingly, then turned to talk to Wang Jin, ignoring Wang Tong who dared to do whatever he wanted to do. Wang Tong's face turned red, and he had to interrupt: "Please give me a second uncle.
Please help me, please relax our requirements when revising the pornographic book."
"Next year the Yellow Book will be edited by the elder himself, so he can't do anything about it." Wang Xian shook his head and said. But there is nothing in the world that he can't do about. The reason why he said he couldn't do it was because he and Wang Tong were not familiar with each other. Why? Do him this big favor?
"Think of a way, second uncle." Wang Tong begged: "In Wang's village, there are either your uncles or uncles, but also your nephews and grandchildren. If this is done, not only will your relatives praise you, but you will also have face in front of your ancestors." !”
When it came to saving face in front of his ancestors, Wang Xingye's attitude also changed: "Xiao Er, you will see next year and help if you can find a way. Anyway, the wealth will not go to outsiders."
"Yes." Wang Xian sighed and said. National cadres are so aware. It would be strange if nothing happened in the Ming Dynasty. However, the slander is the slander, and you still have to help when you are busy. This is an era when patriarchal laws are greater than national laws. To protect the interests of your own clan, you will be forced to do so. Take it as a matter of course. If you are selfless in this matter, you will be scolded as a pig by your uncles, uncles, nephews, and grandsons. "We have decided to make a plan next year. You can go find me."
"Okay!" Wang Tongxing grinned.
.
Wangjia Village is not far from the county seat, but within a short meal, the boat is close to the village pier.
Standing on the boat, brothers Wang Xian and Wang Gui were stunned by the sight before them. They saw that the simple trestle at the head of the village was densely packed with people.
"The whole village, old and young, came to greet Fourth Grandpa and two uncles." Wang Tong threw the cable to the shore, and the people on the trestle caught it and pulled the boat to the shore to stabilize it.
"That's not the case..." Wang Xian said to Wang Gui dumbfounded: "Even if my father is an official now, he is just a ninth-grade sesame official. If he gets a Jinshi, he will be almost the same."
Wang Gui grinned and said philosophically: "Things are rare and valuable."
Wang Xianshen thought that it was said that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there had not been a single black gauze hat produced in Wangjiacun.
Looking at Dad again, he took off the leather hat on his head, revealing a black gauze...
"My dear father, can you not be so shallow?" Wang Xian groaned helplessly.
But Dad obviously understood better what the fellow villagers wanted to see. When he revealed his veil, he indeed attracted loud cheers from the shore.
Wang Xingye was the first to step onto the trestle and bow down to his third uncle and several elders. Before he could even make a move, he was supported by seven or eight old hands at the same time. I wonder how the old people could be so agile?
After the greetings, the relatives picked up the Wang family members one by one, as if they were carrying fragile items. This was fine for a pregnant woman named Hou, but it was also like this for my mother, who couldn't bear it.
"Can we not do this?" I threw away the hands of the sisters-in-law, and jumped off the boat by myself: "I have never heard of anyone who becomes a Shangguan's wife and can't walk!"
The clan members naturally knew her temper. In the past, they would have laughed and scolded her, but now they all laughed with her and did not dare to say a word nonsense, which made me feel so lonely.
What's even more outrageous is that it's only half a mile from the dock to the village, and the clan members actually arranged a sedan chair to carry them back...