allonlinenovel Chapter 154 Good Omen
Chapter 154 Good Omen
On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Ye Changyan opened his eyes when he heard the sound of firecrackers outside.
Last night, we all learned to sing "Young Man Has Great Ambition and Does Not Worry" together. Once everyone got excited, they couldn't stop and sang until almost the hour of Chou.
Even the brother and sister Fang Xiaotong and Fang Xiaomei were singing along. Not to mention, these brother and sister were only slightly inferior to Liang Jingcheng in learning to sing.
If we talk about the one with the worst singing skills here, it would have to be Wulang. He kept singing in different accents and just couldn't find the right pitch. Erniu had no problem singing along with everyone, but once she sang on her own, she kept forgetting the lyrics.
On this New Year's Eve, staying up all night is a tradition in Yuzhou Prefecture. Even Mr. Cai and Ye Xiaozheng stayed up until midnight. After the firecrackers rang out at midnight, they soaked their feet again and went to rest.
Along with the sound of firecrackers shaking the sky, a group of young people sang and laughed until the sound of firecrackers that drove away the Nian beast stopped at midnight, and then the group of young people stopped.
Old Cai still slept in Ye Changyan's room, Lian and Erniu slept in one room, Wulang and Ye Xiaozheng slept in another room, and Fang Xiaotong and Fang Xiaomei, brother and sister, slept on the floor, one on the east side and the other on the west side.
Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng slept on the bed in Wulang's room which was three feet two inches wide and five feet seven inches long, which in later generations was actually equivalent to a bed that was one meter two inches wide and one meter nine inches long.
The tall Liang Jingcheng curled up the whole night. Although it was warm for the two of them to sleep close together in this cold winter, their bodies could not stretch out, and sleeping for too long would easily cause blood circulation problems, leading to soreness and numbness in the body.
Ye Changyan decided that after the new year, he would go to the carpentry workshop and ask the carpenter to make a few larger beds for his family.
Seeing Liang Jingcheng curled up in his arms like a lazy cat, with his unique body fragrance emanating from him, Ye Changyan was intoxicated for a moment.
It was not until another burst of firecrackers sounded that Ye Changyan came back to his senses from his trance and smiled with satisfaction.
Ye Changyan gently supported Liang Jingcheng's head with his left hand, then carefully pulled out his numb right hand. He gently lifted up Liang Jingcheng's leg that was resting on his right leg with his left foot, and finally he was free from Liang Jingcheng's grip.
Ye Changyan supported himself with his left hand and sat up. A gust of cold air penetrated into the quilt. Liang Jingcheng, who was curled up, was stimulated by the cold wind and woke up. He heard a burst of firecrackers outside and saw Ye Changyan sitting on the bed and getting dressed.
"What time is it? Why are there firecrackers so early in the morning?"
"It should be almost noon. It is a custom in Yuzhou Prefecture and Yizhou Prefecture that people go up to the mountains to visit their ancestors' graves on the first day of the Lunar New Year. So the sound of firecrackers this early in the morning should be the firecrackers set off by the villagers when they go to visit the graves."
Ye Changyan explained to Liang Jingcheng while putting on his clothes. After he put on his shirt, he got out of bed and put on his pants.
"Later, I will go to visit my grandfather's grave with my father and Wu Lang. My grandfather fled to Wanshou County when he was young, so there is only my grandfather's grave here. We stayed up so late last night, you should go back to sleep, we will be back soon after visiting the grave."
As he spoke, Liang Jingcheng nodded, turned over, covered himself with the quilt and continued to sleep.
Ye Changyan carried the sacrificial items prepared in advance, Wulang supported Ye Xiaozheng, and the three of them went out to visit the old man's grave.
Along the way, we met villagers going to visit their ancestors' graves. We greeted each other briefly and wished each other a Happy New Year.
The old man of the Ye family was buried on the Sickle Mountain. The father and his sons met Ye Xiaowen and Ye Xiaowu on the mountain, who brought Dalang, Erlang and Silang, and also came to visit the old man's grave.
Ye Xiaozheng took out the red envelope that Lian had prepared in advance.
"Come, come, Dalang, Erlang, Silang, this is the New Year's money given to you by your uncle and aunt."
Ye Xiaozheng's move was somewhat unexpected to Ye Xiaowen and Ye Xiaowu. In previous years, before the family was divided, the money was managed by the old lady, and the brothers and sisters-in-law had no habit of giving New Year's money to the children. Now that the third room was divided, they didn't expect that they would even think of this.
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Ye Xiaowen and Ye Xiaowu's faces, and then they listened to Ye Xiaowen say.
"Sanlang, Wulang, come to the old house to pay New Year's greetings later. Your grandmother and two aunts have prepared New Year's money for you."
Dalang, Erlang and Silang took the red envelope from Ye Xiaozheng. It felt heavy in their hands and all three of them looked very happy. There were probably about a hundred or eighty coins in the red envelope. In previous years, their grandmother would give everyone twenty coins as New Year's money.
"Da Lang, this is the New Year's money for Da Niu, you help her keep it first."
After coming down from visiting the graves on Sickle Mountain, Ye Xiaowen invited Ye Changyan and others to the old house.
"Uncle, the teacher and senior brothers are still at home. We will come over tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings."
Then everyone went their separate ways and went home.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Ye Changyan's family ate glutinous rice balls.
"Everyone, pay attention. There is a copper coin inside one of the dumplings in this bowl. Whoever eats the copper coin will have good luck and success in the whole year. So everyone should eat slowly to avoid getting hit by the copper coin."
While serving dumplings to everyone, Lian spoke to everyone with a smile.
After hearing what Lian said, everyone's faces were filled with anticipation. They all wanted to eat the copper coin, hoping for good luck.
Ye Changyan picked up a bowl in the corner, and suddenly an intuition came to his mind. His intuition told him that the glutinous rice ball wrapped with copper coins was in the bowl in his hand.
"Teacher, come, eat from this bowl. This bowl was scooped up first and placed on the edge. It cools down faster. This bowl won't burn your mouth if you eat from it."
Ye Changyan changed his mind and handed the bowl of dumplings in his hand to Mr. Cai. Ye Changyan hoped that Mr. Cai could get this good luck and stay healthy, happy and safe in the coming year.
"Okay, okay, then I'll eat this bowl."
As he spoke, Mr. Cai took the bowl handed to him by Ye Changyan, picked up the spoon, scooped a glutinous rice ball into his mouth.
"Oh, what is this?"
As soon as Mr. Cai took a bite, he found that there was something wrong with the glutinous rice ball, as if there was something inside it.
When everyone heard this, they turned to look at Mr. Cai, only to see him take something out of his mouth. Everyone looked closely and burst into joy.
"Old man, you are so lucky to have eaten this copper coin in your first bite."
Ye Xiaozheng, who was sitting next to Mr. Cai, was just about to reach out to pick up the bowl in front of him when he saw Mr. Cai take out something with a light yellow luster from his mouth. It was exactly a copper coin.
"Hahaha…"
For a while, the entire main hall of the Ye family was filled with laughter and joy. Everyone was praising Mr. Cai for his good luck and wishing him good health and good luck.
"Okay, okay, this is the first time I've come across such a lucky start. Taking advantage of the meaning of this good start, I've prepared lucky money for the children. I hope they will make progress in their studies, be healthy, and grow up happily!"
As he spoke, Mr. Cai took out six red envelopes and handed them to the children present, including Fang Xiaotong and his sister. This made Fang Xiaotong and his sister feel a little embarrassed, and they did not dare to accept them for a while. After seeing Ye Changyan nodded at them, the brother and sister carefully accepted them.
Lian also took out the New Year's money that she had prepared in advance and handed it to the three children and Liang Jingcheng, and then gave the reward money that she had prepared in advance to Fang Xiaotong and Fang Xiaomei.
The children were happily eating the dumplings while counting their New Year's money.