Chapter 57 A Family Should Be Together

Lunar New Year's eve.

On this day, everyone in Bianjing city, big or small, would drink wine and knock on their doors, remove dust and dirt, clean the courtyards, change the door gods, hang up Zhong Kui, nail peach charms, paste spring plaques, and worship their ancestors. At night, they would prepare incense and flowers as offerings to welcome the gods, in order to pray for peace in the new year.

Yang Wenyuan got up early again and placed the peach charms he wrote himself at the gate of the marquis' mansion to welcome the New Year.

Afterwards, he went to the Yang Family Ancestral Hall with Yang Yuqing to sweep the shrine and worship their ancestors.

There are various offerings on the altar, including "Spring Plates" and "Orange Fighting".

"Setting up the spring plate" means placing uncut fresh vegetables on a plate, and then inserting incense sticks with paper flowers on top.

"Fighting Oranges" is to pile the oranges on the altar into a small pyramid shape.

The sound of orange is auspicious, so we pray for good luck in the coming year and a good omen.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner in the evening, the city of Bianjing welcomed a sleepless New Year’s Eve.

In the homes of scholars and commoners, people would sit around the fire and stay awake until dawn, which was called "Shousui".

Yang Wenyuan and his family sat in a warm house.

There were exactly four of us, so we got together to play mahjong and chat while playing.

"Normally, every family would send their children out to 'sell their dementia' to bring good luck. My sister Rujin is the youngest, so why not let her go?"

Yang Wenyuan still remembered Yang Rujin's prank, and said to Yang Rujin, whose face was covered with turtle notes, with a smile: "It's just that your face is covered, so others can't see it."

In this year, children in the family would go outside and sing nursery rhymes on the streets: "I'm selling stupid people. I'll sell you stupid people for a thousand strings of silver. I'll sell you stupid people for ten thousand strings of silver. When they're all sold out, I'll give you more. If you want to buy on credit, come with me."

Children use this as a joke, and it also expresses people's hope to become smarter in the coming year.

Yang Ruijin was already eleven years old, and would be twelve after today. Naturally, she did not want to be in the spotlight of this young child, so she made a face in public with her little face that could not be seen clearly, but no one noticed.

Still not satisfied, she used her two little hands to peel off the thick layer of turtle paper on her face. Yang Rujin said to Wen Yuan with a sneer on her face, "Cousin, you are just bullying me because I don't know how to play mahjong. If you have the guts, play draw cards with me, and I will definitely beat you!"

The slightly clenched fist fully demonstrated the girl's determination.

There was nothing else to do, so Yang Rujin came out to cheer him up, so Yang Wenyuan naturally agreed happily.

If you don’t bully your sister when she is young, when will you do so?

Yang Yuqing and Madam Chen watched happily from the side and did not try to stop them.

"But you can't hang any more small notes. You already have so many on your face. You won't be able to see them if you hang more."

"Then what shall we use as the bet?" Yang Ruijin must have won a lot among the sisters, so she was obviously very confident and looked like she was going to avenge her previous defeat.

"Um……"

Yang Wenyuan's eyes rolled and he immediately came up with a good idea.

"Changqing, go to the kitchen and get a piece of charcoal."

However, the following scenes are not suitable for Changqing and other female servants to watch.

After Yang Wenyuan took the charcoal, he cleared everyone out and asked Changqing and Yang Yuqing's personal attendants to guard outside.

Half an hour later.

Yang Ruijin had a sad face. She could clearly see the two little turtles on her cheeks in the dressing mirror held in Yang Wenyuan's hand. She looked like she wanted to cry but had no tears.

One on each cheek, just right!
Yang Yuqing was also watching from the side and was very happy.

But after noticing the pitiful look Yang Ruijin gave him, like a kitten caught in the rain, his face suddenly darkened and his body stiffened.

The daughter-slave nature hidden in the body explodes!

"I come!"

A quarter of an hour later.

Yang Yuqing, with a turtle-like face, had an unnatural expression on his face. He secretly glanced at his wife and daughter who were dancing with joy beside him, and immediately felt a little embarrassed.

It was a mistake. It must have been my own mistake!
I'm starting to understand everything!
"Come again!" Yang Yuqing had a solemn look on his face. He was determined to defend his dignity as a husband and father in front of his wife and daughter!
Less than half an hour.

"hateful!"

How come this guy is so strong!
Yang Yuqing died sadly with two turtles on his face.

Then, the three of them turned their attention to Mrs. Chen, who was drinking water and pretending to be calm.

"cough!"

Although everyone was watching, Mrs. Chen did not panic at all. She coughed lightly and said calmly, "Don't look at me. I only play mahjong. I don't know how to draw cards and I don't understand."

After the defeats of Yang Ruijin and Yang Yuqing, Mrs. Chen already knew that Yang Wenyuan was very good at drawing cards.

As the saying goes, play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses.

When the four of them were playing mahjong just now, Mrs. Chen found that Yang Wenyuan and she had won almost the same amount. Obviously, the difference in their mahjong levels was definitely not as great as when drawing cards, so Mrs. Chen refused to draw cards.

If you want to play, play mahjong!

Yang Wenyuan naturally didn't care.

You don't really think that just because you fought with those newbies from the Sheng family a few times, you think your skills are good enough, right?
Not to mention that Yang Wenyuan had already released the sea just now.

Although mahjong has a large element of luck.

But Yang Wenyuan has Yang Rujin's help on the left and Yang Yuqing's support on the right.

If you hide sand in your pocket, wealth will come to your home. If you have a tree behind you, the God of Wealth will visit you!
What can you use to fight me!

The result was obvious. Mrs. Chen couldn't beat any of them, let alone three of them, and was defeated in a short while.

Yang Wenyuan naturally didn't want to smear his aunt Chen, so he had to let Yang Yuqing, the commander of the Yangdu Army, come in person.

But I don’t know if it was because Yang Yuqing’s hands were shaking because of Madam Chen’s close gaze, or because his painting skills were not very good.

Or maybe both.

In short, the Yang Yuqing brand little turtle is obviously a disgrace to the turtle family. Not only is its body crooked, but even its lines are very rough, causing Mrs. Chen, who had just glanced at the dressing mirror, to immediately widen her beautiful eyes with a look of disbelief.

What is painted on my beautiful face?!

Yang Wenyuan drew a little turtle, but when it comes to you, you age rapidly, right? !
"Yang Yuqing!"

A deafening scream rang out from inside the house.

Then another voice came, "And you, Yang Wenyuan!"

"Ah?" Yang Wenyuan didn't expect that there would be an unexpected disaster.

I didn’t draw this!

Yang Wenyuan, who had already passed the blame on to others, felt that he was innocent, but he obviously did not understand that after Mrs. Chen raised her hand, he had become the target of public criticism.

Then, Chang Qing, who was guarding in the corridor, heard the sound of tables and chairs colliding in the room, as well as his young master's weak cry for help.

But Changqing had no intention of turning back.

He had followed Yang Wenyuan for such a long time, so he could tell that Yang Wenyuan's cry did not indicate a threat to his life, but rather some...

Chang Qing thought silently in his heart: Why does it sound a bit mean?

Chang Qing was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook his head to get rid of this rebellious thought from his mind.

I must have heard wrong!
About half an hour later.

The door behind Changqing opened a little, and half of Yang Wenyuan's face peeked out.

"Evergreen, Evergreen!"

Yang Wenyuan, who was holding the door with one hand and covering his face with the other, called Changqing over and said with his head down, "Go to the kitchen and get four basins of hot water."

(End of this chapter)