Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The busy first year of Yongle has finally come to an end. Except for the unlucky officials who cannot go home for the New Year and have to work overtime, all the central ministries and temples of the imperial court have been completely shut down.

Amidst the sound of firecrackers, Jiang Xinghuo personally locked the lock on the President's Reform Affairs Office. The iron lock clanged against the door, and the bronze animal-faced door knocker swung.

"Open the door again on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."

Unlike when Lao Zhu was still alive and had a holiday, Zhu Di was much more generous. Regarding the holiday, he not only gave it to himself, but also to others. With a wave of his hand, he moved it from the 30th day of the new year to the 15th day of the first lunar month.

In Zhu Di's words, everything that should be done this year has been done anyway. After a year of hard work, what's the matter with a few extra days off?

In various ministries and temples, if there are officials who live far away and can come back and forth in six or seven days, usually as long as the officials are not too unkind, they will basically let people leave early on the basis of New Year's Eve. It takes two days, and if your home is in the capital, you can leave half a day early.

Jiang Xinghuo belongs to the type of "strict self-discipline and lenient towards others", so he persisted until the last moment, but gave holidays to his subordinates.

"It's been a year of hard work."

Jiang Xinghuo said as he turned around and looked at Guo Jing and Chai Che, who were responsible for posting Spring Festival couplets.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't know that the two young men he picked up from the imperial prison and captured by Ji Gang would have a smooth career in the future. After all, unless they were particularly famous people, even if they became high-ranking officials of a certain dynasty, records would be recorded in In the history books, it is still difficult to be remembered by future generations.

But no matter what, Jiang Xinghuo saw their work.

Chai Che is dull, but he cannot be called honest, more like he is quick in action but slow in speech, and is decisive when the opportunity arises; Guo Jing is tactful in dealing with things, with some flexible little thoughts, but a little indecisive.

"It's hard work for the national teacher." The two people said quickly.

"Next year the yamen will be adjusted and reorganized, and some agencies will be included."

Jiang Xinghuo's words made the two of them brighten up, but before they could think any more, Jiang Xinghuo took out four more gift boxes from the carriage.

"Two of you, take it back to your relatives and friends or eat it yourself."

Chai Che looked at the box in front of him at a loss, but since Jiang Xinghuo stretched out his hands to hold it up, he couldn't let others just hold it up, so he quickly took it over, while Guo Jing seemed to have thought of something and said hurriedly: "I wish the Imperial Master good luck and good luck in the new year and everything goes well."

“Wish you a Pepsi.”

Guo Jing was stunned, and quickly pulled the chariot to salute and watched Jiang Xinghuo leave.

This is Jiang Xinghuo's bad taste.

But in fact, if you are a well-read person, you will know that Guo Jing’s words are not actually spoken words, but come from the poem "Tan Chun Ling· Sheng Ge Jian Cuo Hua Banquet Qi" written by Zhao Changqing in the Song Dynasty. The full text is "Sheng Ge Jian Cuo Hua Banquet Qi" , Happy New Year, New Year, thin hands and fine green hair, gentle breeze blows in, the flags are more beautiful, I wish you good luck and everything goes well after the New Year." Naihe Jiang Xinghuo's reading Even if I read it before reading it, I might not be able to remember it, so I assumed that what Guo Jing said was auspicious.

"Pepsi-Cola. That's a pretty good word. Everything can be happy."

Guo Jing lifted the two gift boxes in her hands and said to Chai Che, who was mumbling, "Do you know what these are?"

"How do I know?" Chai Che rolled his eyes.

Guo Jing explained with a rich expression: "It was given by the palace, but ordinary officials really can't get it. We are gathering with people. Hey, if you put it this way, a discerning person can see it at a glance. Isn't this a grand occasion?" ? The Imperial Master is here to support the two of us."

"Is it valuable?" Chai Che was a little curious.

Guo Jing shook her head and said: "It's not worth much, mainly because you can't buy it outside. The big box below is called the 'Pepsi Lucky Box'. It contains persimmons, dried lychees, dried longans, roasted chestnuts, cooked Dates; I don't know the scientific name of the small box above, but the palace people usually call it "chewing ghost". They are all high-quality Gaotang donkey meat, which is smoked in the palace. They say that dragon meat is in the sky and donkey meat is underground. Dragon meat is ours. I can’t even think about it, but donkey meat would be quite tasty, wouldn’t it?”

Chai Che instantly understood the latter. This is an official joke, because the official dialect of the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu Dynasty was Fengyang dialect. The Shandong and Huanghuai generations called donkeys imps, so chewing donkey meat was called "chewing ghosts".

Chai Che regretted a little at this time and said: "I forgot to say some auspicious words to the Imperial Master, and I didn't give anything as a gift."

Guo Jing suggested: "If you really want to give it away, just go there on the first few days. The Imperial Master doesn't necessarily need anything expensive, so just show your sincerity."

"That's okay"

Jiang Xinghuo, who was in the carriage, didn't know what the two subordinates were discussing in the cold wind. It had warmed up for a while after the snowfall some time ago, but the temperature suddenly dropped recently. The road was literally worse than snow, and the little gray horse was completely unable to ride.

"Is this the lantern festival prepared by the inner court?"

Looking at the busy craftsmen, eunuchs, and palace maids on both sides of Taiping Street, Jiang Xinghuo not only felt the strong flavor of the year, but also felt the aura of prodigal family.

Everyone knows that firewood and rice are expensive. Such a grand lantern festival can be said to be a joy for the whole city, but the money spent cannot be stopped. If converted into silver, it would be at least two to thirty thousand taels of silver. This was twenty to thirty thousand taels in the early Ming Dynasty!

In addition to all kinds of lights and fireworks, there are also colorful beads and red silk hanging on the trees beside the street, as well as lotus lanterns floating on the river next to it.

As the saying goes, "The deep rock of the Immortal Palace is named Taixia, and the precious lanterns are decorated high and low; the agarwood trees are connected with three pearls, and the colorful knots and branches are shining on the four sides." Such a scene was even during the prosperous Tang Dynasty when Tianbao was in full swing. gave in.

As for the lantern festival held in the palace to entertain envoys from various countries, it is even more shocking. A giant fireworks landscape will be built. Because the shape of the entire structure is similar to "Ao", it is called "Aoshan Lantern Festival".

Jiang Xinghuo didn't stop Zhu Di from spending money. The big blood-sucking insect just wanted this bite. As for the card, he just gave it to him.

As for whether it costs money or not. When the empire is at its peak, any move to promote and demonstrate national power is actually worthwhile from a political point of view. As long as it is not too much taken advantage of, Jiang Xinghuo thinks it doesn't matter.

If you become the emperor and hundreds of chiefs from ten kingdoms come to court, how can you live in such a miserable state? That's definitely not possible. Everyone wants their home to be rich and respectable. Even the poorest family has to clean it up and decorate it with a few pieces of red paper during the New Year, let alone a big empire.

I was thinking wildly all the way and soon arrived at the gate of Duke Rongguo's mansion.

Unlike the Wei Guogong Mansion and Cheng Guogong Mansion next to it, which were decorated with lanterns and colors, this place was relatively low-key, but tall red lanterns were still hung to show the celebration.

Most of the guards and soldiers in the mansion are from the north, so they all do not go home. They are also in the mansion during the New Year. However, if the accountants, coachmen, servants, purchasers, etc. do not live in the mansion, they will be in the city. Those who live at home will be on duty until evening today. After receiving the reward, they can go home and watch the New Year with their families.

After crossing the front hall and the middle hall, the atmosphere of life is particularly strong in the back hall.

Jiang Xuan wore an apron outside her cotton-padded jacket and was busy with a few cooks and maids.

Usually they eat in the small kitchen. There is a mute cook in the small kitchen who cooks for the old monk all the year round. Jiang Xuan usually cooks for them even if she doesn't go to school. The taste of the food Jiang Xuan cooks may not be in line with the taste of today's nobles. Trendy, because he doesn't know how to cook complicated things, and he doesn't have a lot of big fish or meat. He basically cooks home-cooked dishes, but he has a special appetite for the old monk, so Jiang Xinghuo also eats them.

In addition to the small kitchen where they eat, there is also a large kitchen, because there are so many mouths to eat, so many necessary guards in the house, and a mess of accountants, servants, and gardeners. Jiang Xinghuo can't tell what they all do. He doesn't usually appear in his living area. Anyway, there are a lot of people, and there are dozens of people in total. It can't be compared with the hundreds or even hundreds of servants in other Duke's mansions in this area, but after all It can be considered a "big family".

"Hey, Xiaoxuan, what are you making delicious food today?"

Jiang Xuan was startled, then raised her head: "Brother, you are back!"

Then he started chattering about the dishes. Seeing her showing off seriously, Jiang Xinghuo began to regret why he talked so much. He shouldn't have given her this opportunity at all.

“Fresh winter bamboo shoots in season, fried pork slices with winter bamboo shoots, so delicious!”

"Then these are pigeon eggs. Peel the pigeon eggs, coat them in a layer of egg liquid and fry them until golden brown. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on them."

"One basket of lettuce and two baskets of chestnuts. They will be fried later."

"There are still more than a dozen fish. Zhuangzi from other families gave us a lot of them."

The nobles of the Ming Dynasty generally purchased a large number of farmlands. These farmlands were cultivated by tenant farmers and managed by stewards. The farmlands were not necessarily farmland, but could also be woodlands, mulberry forests, and river ponds. These farmlands were divided into summer and autumn. A small part of the rent is monetary rent, such as copper coins or treasure notes, while the vast majority is rent in kind, that is, wheat, rice and other grains, or chickens, ducks, fish, various game, and even cloth and handicrafts.

Therefore, during the holidays, not to mention the level of the Duke, even the earls, there is no end to the fresh ingredients. This is the reason why "the rich wine and meat are smelly, and the roads are frozen to death".

As for fruits, there aren’t that many in season in the winter, but there are still a lot of citrus and pears saved in the fall.

After listening to Jiang Xuan's rambling, Jiang Xinghuo took an orange and stuffed it into her hand.

"Don't move around here."

Then he left by himself.

Jiang Xuan gave him a strange look and continued to lead the cook and servants to cook.

"Uncle Mute, please cook a special meal for the old monk."

The rickety old man with slightly frosty temples turned his neck and nodded with a smile. The knife in his hand was as stable as a machine tool and cut out a row of cucumber shreds.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Walking into the backyard, Jiang Xinghuo saw several children leaning on the wall on ladders and watching something. The leader was Yu Qian.

"Master!"

When Yu Qian saw him, not only was he not as scared as an ordinary child, but he motioned for him to come over and take a look.

Jiang Xinghuo carefully looked at the ladder and stepped on it after making sure that it would not be pulled away and fall.

He didn't know if anyone would do anything to those two little girls, Jing Qing.

It's strange to say that when we were young, people would jump around, no matter how far they jumped or how high they jumped from. Like a silly bear, his athletic ability and agility are not as good as before.

Several children had a telescope in their hands, and it looked like they had taken it out of the warehouse. Jiang Xinghuo held it up and took a look, and then he saw that in the Duke Chengguo's mansion next door to the left, a troupe was setting up a stage to sing.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, opera has gradually become the most popular entertainment program. Although there is no Peking opera now, there are many types of opera in the south. In the Ming Dynasty, especially in the capital Nanjing, on festive days such as the New Year, usually All capable families hire a troupe to sing operas, and they have to sing continuously every day during the Chinese New Year. Famous opera troupes have been booked months in advance by the families of the royal family, nobles, and ministers. If it's too late, just go up and sing by yourself.

For ordinary people, there is also a relatively popular form of opera entertainment, that is, temple fairs.

No matter where the temple fair is, it is all about eating, drinking, and having fun, especially from the Qinhuai River to Mochou Lake, which is even more spectacular. The level of folk opera troupes may not be very high, but the atmosphere must be lively enough, anyway. Listen, when there are more people, no matter how loud the roar is on the stage, you won't be able to hear it.

In addition to singing and opera, the Qinhuai River Temple Fair also has a variety of jugglery performances by jugglers, those who perform jugglers, those who break boulders on their chests, those who swallow swords in their throats, those who do somersaults, and those who jump through fire rings. You can get whatever you want. Of course, it is also a feast for pickpockets. That's it, after all, there is no mobile payment at this time, and you have to carry a wallet when you go out.

"What is this staged? Can you tell?"

""Changban Slope"!"

"Chang Ban Slope", also known as "Bao A Dou", is a traditional opera from Hubei Province. Watching the actor walking around waving a silver gun on the stage, he said "Zhao Zilong" seven in and seven out to the actor playing the miscellaneous soldier. , Jiang Xinghuo felt more familiar the more he looked at it.

Isn’t this guy Zhu Yong?

The co-author could not go to the battlefield, but it was fun to go to the stage by myself.

But should I say it, a fancy gun in Zhu Yong's hands is really dazzling and really beautiful to watch.

"Why don't you just go next door and watch. It's boring to climb up the wall and you won't hear a sound."

"Great!"

Jiang Xinghuo ordered Wang Bin to take the children to the theater. The old monk in Duke Rong's mansion was annoyed and didn't like the excitement, so he didn't invite the theater troupe.

But the old monk felt annoyed because he had seen the prosperity of the world, but how old was the child? You can’t stop letting people read it after you’ve finished watching it.

Of course, protesting is useless. After all, the mansion is not in his name. Regardless of the relationship, the owner's wishes must be respected.

Jiang Xinghuo's sleeve was pulled.

"That one is for you."

One of Jingqing's daughters was as quiet as a mosquito at this time.

Looking at the neatly embroidered sachet that had been embroidered with great effort, Jiang Xinghuo was stunned and wanted to say something.

"The country has laws"

"Your father was a loyal minister."

But after thinking about it, his mind went back and forth, looking at the two little girls' faces that were a little red from the cold. These were either stern words or some emotional words. In the end, Jiang Xinghuo still didn't say them out, just touched them. Touch her little head.

Her sister grabbed her hand and wanted to leave, but Jiang Xinghuo suddenly spoke.

"Go back inside and put on your gloves and hat before going."

Yu Qian seemed to have noticed something. Jiang Xinghuo said without mercy: "And you, put on your cotton pants. You are still young now. When you get older, you will know what it feels like to have leg pain."

Yu Qian, whose trousers were somewhat empty, knew he was in the wrong and did not dare to talk back. Seeing the little kids leaving a series of footprints like duck paws in the snow, Jiang Xinghuo breathed out.

The cold wind was filled with white mist, which slowly dispersed.

Belonging be damned.

Jiang Xinghuo, who had not smoked for many years, suddenly felt something was wrong. He touched his pocket and found only a sachet that was still warm.

"Damn no cigarette."

Jiang Xinghuo sighed and continued walking into the house, thoughts flying in his mind.

Not everything in the Duke's Mansion was as bright as it was during the day. Under the afterglow of the lantern, Jiang Xinghuo looked at the dark and familiar corners, and suddenly thought, if this was a martial arts novel he wrote, then this time he should A heroine who was bewitched and brainwashed by the bad guys appeared and came to assassinate him.

Jiang Xinghuo thought again that he had indeed made a lot of contributions to the literary and artistic circles of Ming Dynasty. Not only did he insist on writing (banyun) various novels during off-duty hours, but he also cultivated a large number of loyal readers through "Ming Pao". In addition, he even The department in the president's reform affairs yamen that was responsible for Ming Pao maintained a group of writers who were responsible for providing content, allowing many down-and-out literati to regain their jobs.

"What is this, old man?"

Looking at the lights in the house, Jiang Xinghuo pushed the door open and entered.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Gong was no longer engaged in superstitious activities, but was painting New Year pictures seriously, and the table next to him was already full of Spring Festival couplets.

There are New Year's arrangements for the New Year, but let's not talk about anything else. The Spring Festival couplets must have a meaning.

"Back then, I wrote Spring Festival couplets for Emperor Taizu Gao."

Well, Jiang Xinghuo really felt it was a pity.

From the time he traveled to the present, in almost all aspects of his life, he has been shrouded in the shadow of one person, this person is Lao Zhu.

It was a pity because Jiang Xinghuo had never seen Zhu Yuanzhang alive, and there was ambiguity in his words. He had never seen Zhu Yuanzhang dead, and had only been to the grave.

But no matter what, no matter what he does, it seems that he can't do without Lao Zhu's influence.

Most of the people he came into contact with had no memory of Zhu Yuanzhang, because the people he came in contact with were usually in the class that was dealt with by Lao Zhu. But surprisingly, few people had any dislike for Zhu Yuanzhang. Mostly fear.

Think about it, a person has been dead for five or six years, and when people mention him, they are all afraid. What kind of residual power is this?

And even this small Spring Festival couplet in front of me is still inseparable from Lao Zhu.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang had a hobby, which was posting Spring Festival couplets.

In fact, the earliest Spring Festival couplets existed in the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was not a popular custom across the country at that time. In fact, it was during the period of Zhu Yuanzhang that Lao Zhu liked this thing very, very, very much. He used three special couplets because it was very popular. There are few things that Lao Zhu loves so much.

Anyway, according to rumors, Lao Zhu’s family was extremely poor when he was a child, and his daily life was too hard. He only felt a little happy during the Chinese New Year. Although he could not afford new clothes and could only eat a little meat, But the family still tried its best to create a New Year atmosphere. The cheap, bright red Spring Festival couplets became Lao Zhu’s most profound memory of the New Year’s Eve as a child.

After becoming emperor, Lao Zhu not only wrote and posted them in the palace, but he also required every household in Nanjing to post a Spring Festival couplet on the door. He would personally patrol the city to see if the couplets were posted. It is precisely because of his persistence for more than 20 years that posting Spring Festival couplets has become a widely spread custom from Nanjing to the whole country.

"You old man also wrote Spring Festival couplets for Emperor Taizu Gao?"

"of course."

Yuan Gong put down his pen and said with a smile: "Emperor Taizu Gao believed that even the poorest people should have the right to celebrate the New Year. Therefore, a considerable number of Spring Festival couplets were written and rubbed by officials from various ministries and temples who were good at calligraphy. Okay, then use movable type printing to print it out from the Imperial College Printing Office and distribute it to the people in Nanjing for free. I did this job when I was the Minister of Civil Affairs in the Hongwu Dynasty."

"Why don't you see it now? Maybe I didn't pay attention." Jiang Xinghuo was a little confused.

"I was crippled by that boy Jianwen."

Yuan Gong said disdainfully.

Well, I wonder where Zhu Yunwen is celebrating the New Year at this time.

If he hadn't died, he was probably drinking from the northwest wind in a ravine.

Of course Jiang Xinghuo doesn't believe in karma. He has seen too many good people who have no good rewards, and he has also seen too many bad people who have died well. But just for Jianwen, how many coins can you make by printing some free Spring Festival couplets? Okay now, if you don’t want others to celebrate the New Year happily, now you don’t want to celebrate it yourself either.

The more he understood Emperor Jianwen's ruling measures under the "all-powerful government", the more Jiang Xinghuo felt that this boy deserved to lose the throne.

Although Zhu Di had problems of one kind or another, sometimes being a little petty, bloodthirsty, and violent, for the country, Zhu Yunwen was really beaten in all aspects.

When Zhu Di became emperor, he was much stronger than Zhu Yunwen.

At that time, Yao Guangxiao advised Zhu Di to "be more white on the king"; Yuan Gong met Zhu Di and said, "If his beard passes the navel, he will be crowned the great treasure, and he will be the emperor of peace for twenty years"; Zhang Yu suggested, "I can just sit back and wait? Seize the Nine Gates" , Kill Sansi!".

The three sentences of these three people were even evaluated in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life as "The founder of the world began with Yao, settled with Yuan, and became established with Zhang. However, if it is not Yao, it will not be cute, if it is not Yuan, it will not be decisive, and if it is not Yuan, it will not be cute. If Zhang Ze doesn't get together, isn't it God's will that the words of these three people come to pass?"

Jiang Xinghuo only said: "Then give me a look."

"I'll tell you the truth in prison. You can't see through it. Random calculations will create a secret that will backfire."

At the end, Yuan Gong added: "I only have a few years to live, please let me go."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at Yuan Gong and suddenly asked again.

"Is what you told His Majesty (Zhu Di) true?"

Yuan Gong laughed loudly. The life experience of this old man is legendary. He was a young man who was rich and wealthy, but his family was suddenly destroyed. After leaving home, he traveled across the country and across the country. He even crossed the sea on a floating boat and went overseas to seek immortality. When he came back, he lived in temples and even worked as an official. The minister later left with his seal, avoiding the major cases of the Hongwu Dynasty, and allowed the Yan King Zhu Di who he inspired to ascend the throne.

Zhu Di summoned Yuan Gong last year and worshiped him as the Prime Minister of Taichang Temple. He rewarded him with crowns, uniforms, pommel horses, elegant clothes, treasures, and a house. Unfortunately, Yuan Gong didn't know whether he disliked the official for being too young (compared to the former minister of the Ministry of Personnel) or Not wanting to wade into this muddy water again, I refused directly and was only responsible for assisting Zhang Yuchu in running the workshop.

If there is no Jiang Xinghuo, then in the near future, in the second year of Yongle, when Zhu Di was appointing the crown prince, he had been hesitating between the three princes and asked Yuan Gong to meet the three of them, and Yuan Gong would give the crown prince to the eldest son. Zhu Gaochi looked at his face and said, "He is the emperor." When he looked at Zhu Zhanji, the eldest grandson of the emperor, he said, "Long live the emperor." This gave Zhu Di another reassurance from the perspective of feudal superstition.

"If you believe it, it's true." Yuan Gong's answer is very interesting, a bit similar to what you will see if you believe it.

Jiang Xinghuo was depressed for a moment, as he was led astray by these mysterious things.

In fact, he should have known better.

"Wait a minute, is there something wrong with you, the doorkeeper?"

The statues of door gods Jiang Xinghuo saw were usually military commanders, and they were usually posted on the gates facing the street. The purpose was to suppress or block bad things from coming in from the outside, so they all carried eighteen kinds of weapons. Swords, guns, swords, halberds, axes and axes. Because "Journey to the West" has just been published by Jiang Xinghuo, the pair of door gods Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde have not yet become popular. Now Zhao Yun, Zhao Gongming, Sun Bin and Pang Juan are generally used as door gods.

Yuan Gong said with a smile: "This is our Taoist door god. This door god is called Shen Tu, and the other door god is Yu Lei. It is a Taoist legend that there is a big peach tree in Taoyudu Mountain, which stretches for three thousand miles. There is a golden rooster on the top and two on the bottom." The gods, one is Shen Tu and the other is Yu Lei, hold reed ropes and wait for the ominous ghosts, which are the genus of birds. Every day, the sun is shining on the golden rooster, and the rooster crows loudly, so all the roosters in the world begin to crow. The golden rooster flies down and eats all the evil ghosts. The ghosts are afraid of the golden rooster, so they all run away, and the world is at peace."

"The two gods Yulei are responsible for catching. After catching, they tie a reed rope and hold it with a tiger. Therefore, they should stick to the door gods, decorate peach figures, hang reed ropes, and draw tigers on the door. Two lanterns are placed on the left and right sides of the door to symbolize The tiger’s eye is used to dispel bad luck, suppress evil and drive away evil spirits.”

"It's so."

Jiang Xinghuo was slightly popularized in folk culture.

"What about this one? Hanging it on the window?" Jiang Xinghuo asked uncertainly, looking at something cut out of red paper. It looked a bit similar to window grilles, but there were differences.

It is true that he does not know everything. In this era, there are still many things he does not know, which may not be worthy of special study. But in today's situation, there is nothing urgent and I don't want to think too much, so it is good to understand it.

"It's not hung on the window. It's called hanging Qian. Like the door god statue, it's also hung on the door. According to legend, Jiang Ziya made his wife the god of poverty and told her to 'return as soon as she sees a problem', so she cut it with this one." Use paper to block her, usually with patterns of the Eight Immortals."

Jiang Xinghuo, who had learned a bunch of useless knowledge, said goodbye to the busy old craftsman with a slightly complicated mood, and then walked to the backyard.

There were no twists and turns next. I changed my clothes in my room, and then followed the people in the house to dress up and decorate everywhere. At least the places where there are frequent activities should have a New Year atmosphere.

Then comes the New Year’s Eve celebration.

However, because it gets dark early in winter, there are still several hours before the turning point, and there are other rituals scheduled.

The main thing is to worship gods.

The gods worshiped have nothing to do with Buddhism and Taoism. The most important of them are the "Five Sacrifice Gods" including the Kitchen God. What are the "Five Sacrifice Gods"? In addition to the Kitchen God who "leaves on the New Year's Eve and returns on New Year's Eve", there are also the House God, the Earth God, the Door God and the Xing God. For people, this is what life involves, and the people do not expect that the "Five Sacrificial Gods" can really provide them with What to bring, not to mention what faith, in fact, it is not so much worshiping God, but worshiping yourself, hoping that you will have good luck in the next year and start a new year. Of course, in most cases, new One year should not be much different from the past.

"Every year at this time, on a blue planet on the edge of the third spiral arm of the Milky Way, the carbon-based organisms in the country with the oldest history will hold a huge sacrificial event to celebrate the completion of another revolution of the planet."

Looking at the people who were solemnly offering sacrifices, a sentence suddenly flashed in Jiang Xinghuo's mind.

Because he doesn’t believe it, he doesn’t worship.

Regarding this kind of superstition that is not a matter of principle, Jiang Xinghuo will definitely not stop others from worshiping, and these "gods of days" are actually treated well. They usually have brand-new statues of gods, not every year. Reuse.

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo has encountered even more outrageous things. Once when he went on an inspection, he met an old farmer who directly worshiped him. "Fertilizer Immortal" has become the word he least wants to mention.

But fortunately, as his influence in the temple gradually intensified, at least the people he often came into contact with knew that Jiang Xinghuo didn't seem to like him, so no one mentioned this title (meme).

"Since the Imperial Master doesn't want to bow down, then come and serve it!"

Facing the crowd's instigation, Jiang Xinghuo frowned and took the sheep's head and carp from the chef's hand that were placed on the pallet.

"What is this for?"

"Welcome the God of Wealth."

Well, it’s different from Jiang Xinghuo’s memory. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a specific process of offering sacrifices to the God of Wealth on New Year’s Eve. These two things, from what they said next to them, seemed to mean good luck and abundant abundance every year. , although Jiang Xinghuo didn't realize for a while that there was any connection between "sheep" and "auspiciousness".

After finishing the rituals of worshiping various gods, it is time to distribute money.

First, reward money is given to the accountant, cook, servants, etc., and then New Year's money is given to the children.

The reason why I gave reward money to other people in the house first is so that they can go back to reunite with their families. After all, it takes a while to walk. If you live on the other side of the city, even if it takes a long time, you can't delay it. People stay up with their families to celebrate the new year.

The custom of New Year's money can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties. However, at that time, children were given special large copper coins with the words "Long live the Qianqiu" and "Go away and eliminate evil". In today's Ming Dynasty, this has become They are real copper coins. The purpose of giving lucky money to children is to protect them from evil spirits in the new year, so it is also called "evil money."

After handing the last large bunch of copper coins to Yu Qian, Jiang Xinghuo cut the red rope and tied it in a knot on his wrist.

After completing these rituals, New Year's Eve has begun. The meals have been prepared long ago and are kept on plates or basins to prevent them from cooling. At this time, it is time to eat and stay up together, waiting for the arrival of the New Year.