v2 Chapter 113
This year’s winter snow falls late, but the New Year is still coming as promised. Before long to appreciate the white scene, red lanterns were hung all over the city.
This is a Spring Festival that has been violated for more than 50 years in Jurong City.
Although the progress of the reconstruction project is still short, the city still pays enough attention to the celebration. Under the unified dispatch, a large number of materials were continuously delivered from Cannes City and Changling, adding a strong New Year flavor to Jurong.
Lighting the lantern wasn’t enough, Cao Mi was busy with another New Year’s item—the couplet.
In the Sheng Dynasty, couplets were not yet popular. In addition to the common lanterns, there are also simple ornaments such as peach symbols.
The peach talisman with the door god’s name written on it gradually evolved into a couplet in the later years, and it only officially appeared in the Ming Dynasty in China.
Cao Mi felt that there should be a reason for the development of science and technology.
After all, the peach charm is made of peach wood, which is cheap and easy to obtain. But couplets need to be written on red paper. How can ordinary people easily afford red paper?
But now, the technology of the paper workshop under her name is very mature, and the cost of low-quality paper like red paper has been extremely low. Even if all the buildings in the city were posted, Cao Mi would not feel distressed at all.
Thinking that this winter will be a memorable day, Cao Mi moved the couplet out.
Nonetheless, when she explained the couplet to the three children, the three children were still at a loss.
Facing the doubts of several people, Cao Mi smiled and said: “It doesn’t matter if there is no such thing before, we make it and send it, and we will do it like this in the future, won’t it be good?”
“Those people shouldn’t be literate.” Qi Rui touched the words “lucky and wishful” on the couplet, looked at Cao Mi and asked, “Give these things to them… Is it really useful?”
Cao Mi paused for a moment when he studied the ink, and thought for a while, “No problem, I’ll let the people who send the couplets tell them the meaning on the paper when the time comes.
“Although they are from the Sheng Dynasty, in fact, most of the first half of their lives lived on the side of the Rong people. The Chinese characters on the couplet should help them deepen their feelings for the Sheng Dynasty.”
Qi Rui nodded and said, “Yes.”
On the other side, Cao Mi polished the ink, looked up for a week, and asked, “Well… Qi Rui, are you and the prince writing?”
Hearing the words, the twins came up a little unconvinced.
Qi Ran looked up at Cao Mi: “Mother, I want to write too.”
Cao Mi pondered in distress.
Couplets are not child’s play. She inherited the original handwriting, but the characters she wrote were still very general, so when she was about to make couplets a few days ago, she didn’t even think about writing them herself.
Recalling the lanterns made by the twins last year, Cao Mi was very sure that if the twins were involved, it would be a waste of materials.
So she squatted down and persuaded the two of them: “After writing the couplet, it will be posted outside the room.
“Let the lord help you write it, and it will be stylish when you post it!”
It was really useful to move out of Qi You, the twins thought about it, then turned around and went around Qi You.
Qi You glanced at Cao Mi lightly, looked at the pair on the paper next to him and asked, “Who wrote these?”
Cao Mi replied, “I wrote a few of them, but most of them were made by me, and I asked Master Lin and Master Di of a few children to help me think about it.”
Lin Yi and Di Zhe can be said to be the two people with the highest level of education in the city at present. When Cao Mi wanted a pair, the first thing that came to his mind was, of course, these two people.
And now looking at those pairs, Cao Mi also knows that his decision is right——
Even though she requires all pairs to be festive and festive, Lin Yi and Di Zhe can still write their own styles on this basis.
Lin Yi had been an official before and was demoted again, and he still remembered the Sheji in his heart. In the couplets he wrote, the words “Spring in the World” and “Family and Country Prosperity” appeared very frequently.
Di Zhe, who teaches children to draw, does not have such high aspirations. The couplets he writes are full of interest in daily life.
Cao Mi thinks that Lin Yi’s writing may be better, but she prefers the scene in Di Zhe’s couplet, which depicts the leisurely farmhouse, chicken feet and pig fat.
As for the few articles written by Cao Mi himself——
It was copied from several couplets in the yard of my own space.
She copied these out, just thinking of being a reference for the two masters.
At this time, seeing Qi You intently savoring the couplet she copied, Cao Mi felt a little embarrassed.
She tried to change the subject: “Cough, lord, why don’t you want some pairs?
“I saw that you were busy before, so I didn’t dare to bother you. But your literary talent is obviously as good as the two masters.”
Qi You glanced at her with a half-smile but not a smile, thought about it, and started writing.
There are so many people in the city, and a lot of couplets are needed. What Qi You and Qi Rui wrote in the palace were eventually used in the inner city and several military aircraft courtyards.
Cao Mi also found Zhou Xue and others who were good at writing, and wrote the couplet for the people in the outer city.
To her surprise, the couplet had a stronger impact than she expected.
Han Jia brought a few young men and went to the material point to pick up a few baskets of couplets and rice cereal, and transported them to a workshop near their residence.
In the workshop, a group of emaciated Sheng Dynasty survivors sat beside the village chief, listening to him tell the story of the past.
The village chief excitedly recounted the great past when his parents took the villagers to escape from the Rong hunters and found their habitat on the grassland.
Seeing Han Jia and his party coming in, everyone came back to their senses and came forward to help.
“Brother Han, Brother Han, let me come, you can go to the kang to bake and warm up.” The fifth stepped forward and took the wooden basket on Han Jia’s back.
Han Jia was also polite. After taking off the weight on his shoulders, he let out a sigh of relief and went straight to the hot kang.
The fifth took the others to move things over, and asked casually, “Brother Han, what is this?”
“Couples, rice paste.” Han Jia introduced: “Manager Rong Guan said that these are similar to peach talismans. If we each take a pair back, we will hang them on both sides of the gate of our house.”
When everyone heard this, they all nodded.
The village chief took off a pair and said in surprise, “Hey! There are words on it!”
He touched the couplet carefully and asked casually, “What does it mean?”
A small butler who followed Han Jia looked over and replied, “Heshun has a hundred blessings.”
Hearing the words, the village chief nodded and said “um”.
The steward observed his expression and felt that he didn’t understand, so he explained: “This is a very good auspicious sentence. Put it on the door, you can be harmonious and smooth, and you can enjoy blessings.”
Everyone understood this explanation.
Everyone began to come close together, looking at these couplets with a look of treasure.
“Oh… this is red paper, something that scholars can afford.” Someone said, “It’s much thicker than the red paper used to make lanterns!”
“These words will look good too! Cough cough… Although I don’t understand them, they are really beautiful.”
In addition to admiring the crowd, they suddenly heard the village chief sigh.
He touched the couplet in his hand and asked the steward: “We have been stuck outside the Great Wall for so long. It turns out that there are many things in the Central Plains that our fathers have never heard of.”
He shook his head, a little frustrated: “It seems that we really abandoned it for too long…”
Everyone in the house was a remnant of the Sheng Dynasty who was rescued only a few months ago, and was very touched by his words.
Everyone was sad, and the atmosphere around them instantly became heavy.
“That’s not the case!” The steward said quickly: “Where did you guys think, where are these things in the Central Plains?”
Seeing that everyone’s attention was attracted to him, the steward took the time to explain: “This is something that the princess ordered people to do a few days ago, and the people in the south have never seen it before!”
He held a couplet in his hand and said, “If the red paper hadn’t been sent by the princess, let alone you, I, who used to live in Cannes, would hardly see it.”
The village chief and his party were so surprised that they couldn’t close their mouths.
“Really, really?” the village chief confirmed.
The steward nodded sharply: “Don’t worry, I won’t talk nonsense!”
Everyone looked at each other, the original heavy atmosphere was swept away, and everyone in the room was full of surprises.
The village head hugged the couplet in his arms: “Hey! Then I have to go back quickly!
“This is something we refuse to share, but it must be posted early.
“By the way, Steward, what do these two words mean? Tell me again!”
Others also picked things out and asked in a row.
“Hey, take your time, take your time.” The steward quickly pulled Han Jia to help maintain the order of the scene, “I will read every one of them, why don’t you go back and post them first, and I will tell you one by one later.”
With his promise, the impatient person really left to go to work, and the house was instantly empty.
The enthusiasm of the people in the city was high, and before dark, there were almost festive couplets in black and red on both sides of each door.
The next day, Cao Mi even heard that some people are so rare in this thing that they are reluctant to stick them outside the door. They even went out to check the couplet several times at night with the lamp in hand, for fear that the couplet would be broken by the wind.
Such an incident has also added another beautiful talk to the history of rejection. Later, when the people in the city expanded with the power of King Beian and spread to the entire Central Plains, even to foreign countries, the couplet also spread.
When future generations talk about couplets, they can’t get around the legendary place of Jurong.
——
The joy in the first month lasted for a long time, especially the remnants of the Sheng Dynasty who lived in the outer city, seemed to want to make up for what they lost before.
Cao Mi saw that the snow was starting to melt, and while he was happy, he also began to count the time when Qi You was going to leave and go to Feng Rong with his fingers.
But what everyone did not expect was that the King of Bei’an had not yet left, but an uninvited guest was welcomed into the city.
“Chen, take the decree.” Rejecting the south gate of Rongcheng, Qi You- gave a big ceremony, and then took the imperial decree from the **** who passed the decree.
“Your Highness, please get up!” After finishing the necessary procedures, the **** Chuanzhi lifted Qi You up with a smile on his face.
He touched Qi You’s arm, the air and contempt in his demeanor squeezed out of the folds, it looked very funny: “In the future, the life of the old slave will depend on the prince, and the prince can take care of him. some!”
“Eunuch Li, oh, no, you should be called Li Jianjun now.” Qi You calmly freed his arm, turned around and made a “please” gesture: “The guard is here, please, in the city. The reception banquet has been prepared for you, and the supervisors are also invited to show their faces.”
“Hey, okay, okay.” Eunuch Li nodded, “I grew up around the capital since I was a child, and I have never seen a banquet in such a poor place outside the Great Wall.
“My lord has a heart, let’s go, let’s go and have a look.”
Qi You narrowed his eyes and nodded, and stepped forward to lead the way for everyone behind him.
In a place that Eunuch Li and his attendants couldn’t see, King Bei’an’s face suddenly darkened.
The author has something to say: there is one more chapter in the evening.
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 4 bottles of Tangli; 2 bottles of Shen; 1 bottle of Guyue Xihan and Songuo;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!