Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1243 Epilogue : Just Be Happy

It’s winter solstice, and it’s snowing lightly.

Early in the morning, Daiyu was heard shouting in the courtyard: "Xiren, Xiren, come here to receive your reward!"

It's a holiday today and Xiren doesn't have to go to Xianglou, so she planned to sleep in.

Hearing the shout, she quickly got dressed and opened the door, only to see Baochai standing outside holding something.

"So many?" Xiren was quite surprised.

Baochai said, "We three are new here this year, so we will give you a new coat, a hat, and a pair of phoenix shoes as a reward for the winter solstice."

There is a tradition of giving shoes as gifts during the winter solstice.

Initially, the daughter-in-law made new shoes by hand and gave them to her parents-in-law. Later, it evolved into the elders giving shoes and hats to the younger generations.

Especially for shoes given to children, there are tiger shapes, phoenix shapes and so on, so there is no need to worry about breaking the rules.

Xiren went back to her room and put on her new coat, new shoes and new hat. When she went out to the yard, the snow had stopped. She jumped up and down with joy, feeling indescribably happy. This was much better than the life in Lanruo Courtyard.

"Watch the fight!"

Baochai threw a snowball at him.

Xiren dodged quickly and then ran away while shouting: "Oh, I won't play this, it will dirty my new clothes."

"Baochai, stop messing around." Daiyu scolded while standing under the eaves.

Baochai asked back, "Why do you care about me?"

Daiyu said, "You soiled Xiren's new dress. Do you want to pay for it with yours?"

Baochai thought about it, threw away the snowball and went to wash her hands. But she felt embarrassed and kept a cold face and didn't talk to Daiyu.

Xiren hurried over to thank Daiyu, and then went to please Baochai.

When she was in Lanruoyuan, she would only wear decent clothes when she followed Zhao Jingjing to entertain guests. If there were no guests, she would wear old clothes discarded by the old people.

Who made her too young to generate income for Lanruoyuan?
Xiren was so happy about her new clothes, new shoes and new hat today that she was afraid that Baochai would get them dirty with snowballs.

"Xiren, come out and play with us." Cherry came to the outside of the courtyard without anyone knowing when.

Xiren hurried over to greet him and send him winter solstice blessings: "Sister Cherry, where are you going to play today?"

Yingtao said, "Everywhere in the garden is open. Cuju and shuttlecock will stain your clothes, so we decided to play hand shuttlecock. Oh, Daiyu and Baochai, you can come too."

"Okay, okay." Baochai ran out excitedly.

Daiyu wanted to decline and stay in her room to study, but she was afraid of being seen as a loner, and she really wanted to have some fun, so she followed him reluctantly.

There is joy everywhere today.

This is not only true in Princess House, but also in the whole country.

As long as they were not homeless, even the lower class people celebrated to their heart's content. If they could not afford new clothes, they would at least make a pair of new shoes for their children.

Xie Yan and Zhu Tangxi were currently receiving the emperor's guests.

Officials from all over the country received their holiday benefits two days ago.

As for the prince consorts and princesses, the palace sent special people to greet them and deliver the Winter Solstice benefits.

Zhu Tangxi also offered prizes to passers-by and eunuchs who came to give gifts.

After sending the visitor from the palace away, Zhu Tangxi, dressed in new clothes, was supported by her husband and returned to the inner house: "Are you really not going to the party today?"

"It's more important to stay at home with my sister." Xie Yan's skill in living off his sister became more and more profound.

Zhu Tangxi said, "We should still go. Today we can make an exception and go to Lanruoyuan. If Liu Lang refuses invitations every time, no one will invite him again in the future. If it gets out... people will think I'm being too strict."

Xie Yan smiled and said, "Let them talk whatever they want."

Zhu Tangxi was happy, but also a little uneasy: "I am pregnant this year and it is not convenient for me to go with Liu Lang to keep the appointment next winter solstice."

"Okay, I'll take the kids there next year." Xie Yan said.

Zhu Tangxi then started to laugh.

Starting from the winter solstice, there will be gatherings every nine days, for a total of 81 days. The gatherings are small, usually with only nine people.

As the saying goes, the cold is gone in nine days.

After eighty-one days, it will be spring and the flowers will bloom, and farmers will prepare for spring plowing!

This is how the words "Nine Nines", "Three Nines", "Four Nines" came about.

Back in the house, Xie Yan warmed his hands by the fire and said, "It's still warm at home. Who would go out in this weather? Prince Consort Li will have to endure hardship today."

Zhu Tangxi smiled and said, "I guess in ten years, Liu Lang will be the one who suffers."

"Can you turn it down?" Xie Yan asked.

Zhu Tangxi shook his head: "The emperor's grace is great, it's best not to refuse."

Although today's winter solstice court assembly has been cancelled, the winter solstice sacrifices are still going on.

The son-in-law Li Chang was ordered to preside over the sacrifice on behalf of the young emperor.

Although the scale of the sacrifice is not large, it still takes a long time.

When Prince Consort Li gets older, the task of performing sacrifices on behalf of the emperor will most likely be handed over to Xie Yan.

"Qingluan, Zifeng, hang up the Jiujiu Xiaohan Tu!" Zhu Tangxi shouted.

Zifeng carried the bench and placed it under the wall of the main room.

Qingluan was taller, she stood on a stool carefully, took down a painting hanging on the wall, rolled up the scroll and handed it to Zifeng, and hung up another painting called "Nine-Nine Days to Get Rid of the Cold".

This painting was created by the princess herself. It shows a plum tree with nine branches, each with nine plum blossoms.

For the next 81 days, color a plum blossom every day, and color the plum blossom in different colors according to the weather of the day.

You can also just draw a plum branch with nine plum blossoms, each with nine petals, and fill in color one petal at a time.

In addition to filling in the pictures, there is also a way to fill in the words.

You can fill in nine characters or eighty-one characters. Someone with a very high literary level can even fill in eighty-one characters into a palindrome.

Xie Yan looked at the newly hung painting and exclaimed, "Sister, your painting is really good."

Zhu Tangxi was very pleased to hear this and said: "How about I teach Liu Lang how to paint after the spring?"

"Let's practice the piano first. It's better not to bite off more than you can chew," Xie Yan said. "Life is still long. When we get old, I will definitely learn all the arts of music, chess, calligraphy and painting from my sister."

"You only know how to say this to coax me." Zhu Tangxi said with a smile.

Xie Yan hugged her and asked, "Do you like listening to it, sister?"

Zhu Tangxi smiled so much that her eyes narrowed into two crescents: "I like it. I never get tired of listening to it. Liu Lang, please say more in the future."

Qingluan and Zifeng were busy hanging paintings, but they were suddenly fed a mouthful of dog food without any warning!
They wanted to drag the princess away and throw themselves into Xie Laoliu's arms.

"The sun is out, the sun is out!"

Outside the house, a maid shouted with joy.

Xie Yan said: "I'll go for a walk with my sister."

"Ah."

Zhu Tangxi likes taking walks more and more.

Since she became pregnant, every time she went for a walk with her lover, he would carefully support her, which made the princess feel like she was a treasure, and her lover was afraid that she would fall to the ground and break.

The servants in the front house are very busy today. Many of them are sent out to deliver gifts. The kitchen is also busy preparing delicious food, and gifts must be exchanged between each other to celebrate the festival.

The maids in the inner house were very idle, as most of them were on vacation and all the gardens were open for them to play around.

Xie Yan supported the princess for a walk, and from time to time they met maids playing and joking. They were all wearing new clothes, laughing and talking happily, and the happy atmosphere was very contagious.

"No need to be so polite, just have fun today." Zhu Tangxi said to the maids who came over to greet him.

"Yes!"

The maids bowed and retreated, but after a few steps they began to laugh again.

There were screams coming from the front. It turned out that a maid was standing on a swing and was pushed into the air by two friends on the left and right. She was not afraid of falling down!

Xie Yan looked at the beautiful sight of the maids playing in front of him and thought that it was really nice to be like this.

Unfortunately, there are countless poor people starving and freezing across the country at this time.

Xie Yan couldn't understand why he thought of those things, and suddenly felt a little lost.

This kind of mood really spoils the mood.

Xie Yan still had a smile on his face, pretending nothing had happened, and began to tell jokes to the princess: "Sister, do you know Yang Yixiao?"

"Is he a Bachelor of the Royal Society?" Zhu Tangxi asked.

Xie Yan said: "Yang Yixiao first took the imperial examination, but failed three times in a row. He then practiced martial arts, shot an arrow at the training ground, and hit the drummer, and was expelled. He then tried to do business, but encountered a swindler the first time, a robber the second time, and a bandit the third time. He could only go back to farming, but there was a severe drought one year, a severe flood the next, and locusts the next year."

Zhu Tangxi couldn't help laughing: "This person is so unlucky."

Xie Yan continued, "He went back to study medicine and learned a lot. He wrote a good prescription, took the medicine, and died."

"Hahahaha!" Zi Feng burst into laughter.

Xie Yan said: "He arrived at the underworld and waited for the King of Hell to come. Yang Yixiao became impatient and asked why the King of Hell had not come yet. The ghost replied: The King of Hell laughed wildly after reading your file and fainted in the back hall and has not woken up yet."

Zhu Tangxi and Qingluan both laughed out loud.

Zi Feng's reaction was the most outrageous. Her laughter turned into the sound of a goose, and she stood there laughing so hard that she couldn't straighten her back.

Xie Yan was already confused by her, was there any need for him to show such support?
After laughing for a while, Zi Feng seemed to recover. She covered her stomach and said, "Oh no, I can't hold it anymore. I'm dying of laughter. The King of Hell...hahahaha...the King of Hell also...hahahaha..."

Laughter is contagious. Qingluan, who had stopped laughing, started laughing again because of Zifeng.

"Has she always been like this?" Xie Yan asked curiously.

Qingluan pointed at Zifeng and said, "She can't stop laughing once she starts."

Xie Yan couldn't help but look at it a few more times, mainly because when Zi Feng laughed, the waves in his chest were rising and falling, which was spectacular.

Zhu Tangxi couldn't help but laugh twice more: "Where did Liu Lang hear this joke?"

"I forgot, I can't remember who said it." Xie Yan made it up.

Zhu Tangxi smiled and said, "Fortunately, I am not Zi Feng, otherwise I would have laughed so hard that I would have had a miscarriage today."

Zi Feng stopped laughing for a long time again: "Your Highness, this is too funny, can I go tell them about it?"

"Go ahead." Zhu Tangxi said.

Zifeng immediately ran to the maid who was playing nearby, and started talking with gestures. Before she finished telling the joke, she started laughing again.

She ran around like she was presenting a treasure, and wherever she went, there was laughter.

Xie Yan told this joke to cover up his emotions, but Zi Feng's crazy behavior made him feel better.

That's great.

Make the people around you happy first, then make more people happy.

(End of this chapter)