Chapter Fifty New Year

  In Fengxian, the local customs and etiquette for the New Year were not complicated at first, but in recent years, they have been influenced by the surrounding areas of Suzhou and Songjiang, and the rituals have become more and more complex. Starting from the tenth month, every few days there is a new ritual to follow, and many things need to be prepared. By the time New Year's arrives, the customs are even more elaborate, with rules governing what to eat and drink, what to wear, what activities to do, how to greet people, what gifts to give, and what taboos to avoid. Different industries and villages have their own unique customs, and various banquets and temple fairs follow one after another, so the county town has been bustling with activity since the tenth month began.

  But all of this has nothing much to do with Zhao's second house.

  The Zhao family's second house was in mourning, and according to custom, there would be no celebration for the New Year. However, thinking that it was still a holiday after all, Zhang ordered the family members to thoroughly clean the house, prepare rich offerings for the ancestral tablets in the northeast corner of the main hall, add several pots of fresh flowers and plants in the hall and courtyard, write spring couplets on blue paper and post them on the door, trying to add some festive atmosphere to the New Year.

  On New Year's Eve, Zhao from the main house came to take Zhao Wei, the only male heir of the second branch, to the ancestral hall next door to worship their ancestors. As a female family member, Zhang was not allowed to enter the ancestral hall according to custom and could only kowtow outside, but as the most respected elder in the clan with filial piety on her side, the main house did not dare to trouble her and let her stay at home. Zhao was too young to participate, so she didn't need to go either. The grandmother and grandson sat at home, chatting while watching Lu Ma and Autumn Leaf happily carry dish after dish of New Year's Eve dinner onto the table, waiting for Zhao Wei to bring back the sacrificial dishes distributed by the clan, and they could start eating soon.

  This was probably the coldest and quietest New Year's Day Zhang had spent since marrying into the Zhao family, but her mood wasn't bad. With only two grandchildren, a grandson and granddaughter, and her most loyal maid by her side, she didn't have to face the cunning concubines and illegitimate children, nor did she have to guess at the thoughts of those cheap grandchildren and their wives, nor did she have to serve her husband who would get drunk and make trouble. She was much more relaxed now. The only regret was that her son and daughter-in-law had left this world, unable to let her enjoy the happiness of family reunions.

  As she thought about it, tears welled up in Zhang's eyes again. Zhao was the first to notice: "Grandma?" She tugged on Zhang's sleeve, her eyes filled with concern. Zhang's heart warmed, and she discreetly wiped away her tears, smiling warmly at her granddaughter: "It's okay, let's eat."

  Zhaowei also discovered her grandmother's unusual behavior and cleverly brought her the dishes she loved to eat every day: "Grandma, eat."

  Zhang smiled and responded, picking up her chopsticks to take a bite. She felt that tonight's dishes were even more delicious than usual.

  After finishing the New Year's Eve dinner, Qiuye and Bilian had tea. Zhangshi then sent Bilian and Luma back home to reunite with their families: "On this big New Year's night, I won't let you have a peaceful time, hurry back home and gather around the stove to keep out the old year, it's only right that you spend it with your family." Luma hesitated for a moment, but ultimately couldn't put her mind at ease about her husband who was still unwell, so she agreed and left with her daughter. The house was then left with only Qiuye attending.

  "Has Mr. Lu's wine and dishes been arranged properly? Let the servants in his house be careful, don't be slow."

  The autumn leaves lowered their heads, and their faces turned slightly red: "Don't worry, madam, I've already instructed them, and we won't be slow in serving Mr. Lu." She glanced at Zhao Wei secretly, then gathered her courage to say: "Wei brother told me earlier that this is the first time Mr. Lu has spent New Year's at home, away from his hometown, with no one by his side to take care of him. His winter clothes are old and worn out, and he doesn't even know how to get new ones made. He asked me to make two new cotton-padded jackets for him. I thought two sets wouldn't be enough, so I had the seamstresses make four new outfits, including shoes, socks, hats, and cloaks, all of which were sent over together."

  "Your thoughts are thorough, and it's only right that it should be so. I had been thinking of following the precedent set by our ancestors in the Hou Mansion when they invited Western scholars, and offering him 200 taels of silver per year, as well as two sets of clothes for each season. But considering he was sent by the King of Guangping to stay behind and protect us, and that he has an official position, I thought that treating him according to the precedent set by Western scholars might be too meager, and that at the very least, it should be doubled. However, since he politely declined, I didn't want to force the issue. Now that Rui'ge has brought it up and wants to show respect to Master Ru, and Master Ru has accepted, then it's all for the best. From now on, let's follow this example. Rui'ge has done well this time, and in the future, he should continue to show respect to his elders."

  Zhao Wei saw her grandmother praising herself, excitedly with a red face, two eyes curved in a smile, loudly responding: "Yes, grandma!"

  Autumn leaves stood respectfully on the side, her face even redder. Although those four sets of clothes were nominally the responsibility of the needlework department, in fact half of them were made by her own hands and delivered personally by her. Lu Yunpeng initially refused as well, but after she spoke to him for a while and stared at him steadily for a good long time, he accepted them. Afterwards, whenever someone else tried to send things to him, he wouldn't accept them, but if it was her sending something, he would take it. What this meant, she didn't dare think about too much, only fearing that Zhang Shi would find out and scold her.

  She knew that the two of them were of different status, and she didn't dare to have extravagant hopes. As long as he was at the Zhao's house, she would be content if she could make a couple more clothes for him and take care of his daily life.

  Autumn leaves burned several foot stoves and sent them to the feet of the three people, letting them warm up and chat while guarding the years. She herself sat on a small stool beside the stove, watching the tea water on the small fire stove. On a long winter night, the two children couldn't hold out and fell asleep one after another, with Zhang Shi covering them with small quilts, feeling warm in her heart.

  In the past, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the three generations of the family would get up early and eat rice cooked with sesame oil and drink sugar tea made from honey dates. They would wear new clothes, but without any bright colors, and they would only eat vegetarian food for the whole day. Although they knew there wouldn't be any guests coming over, Lu's mother still brought her daughter over early in the morning to help Autumn Leaf prepare the nine-dish platter, just in case some relatives might drop by later.

  Zhang's family accepted the kowtows from their grandchildren and gave each of them a red envelope, after which people from that branch of the clan came to pay their respects.

  The guests who arrived were Zhao Wei's husband and wife, son of the great elder master Zhao Yuande. They also brought a pair of children, their eldest son Zhao Yuan was four years older than Zhao Wei, and their daughter Qing Jie was the same age as Zhao Wei. Both children were well-behaved and polite. Although Zhang Shi disliked Zhao Yuande, she quite appreciated her nephew Zhao Wei. Zhao Wei's wife, Shen Shi, came from a renowned family in Songjiang and was known for being virtuous and polite, which pleased Zhang Shi. Therefore, when Zhang Shi saw them arrive, she didn't put on a long face, although her attitude was somewhat lukewarm, it could be considered harmonious, making the young couple feel a bit surprised and delighted.

  They let the two children go and play with Zhao Wei. Zhao Yuan was also reading a book, his talent was still passable, he knew that Zhao Wei's homework was good, so he quickly pulled him over to talk about things in the book. Zhao ? could only talk to Zhao Qing sister, this little girl had a normal IQ level, couldn't be considered very good communication, but her personality was quite likable. Zhao ? thought that she should also learn how ancient young girls spoke and acted, so she played with her some popular local games for young girls, Qing sister said some childish words, and she listened with a smile. The adults talking in the main room looked over and felt that they got along pretty well.

  Afterwards, Shen often brought two children over to sit in the second house.

  The old master of the Zong house has made a mistake, offended Zhang's family and lost face in front of the whole clan. The position of the head of the clan is now precarious, and the third house's old master is waiting for an opportunity to pull him down. Now, with Zhang's tacit consent, the clan members' respect for the old master has long been gone. However, the Zong house is still the Zong house, and Mr. and Mrs. Zhao do not want the position of head of the clan to fall into other hands. They can only show more respect to Zhang's family and hope that they will let the Zong house off easy. The old master's mistakes are now hard to make up for, but in the future, clan affairs can be handed over to his eldest son, Zhao.

  The Zhang family never made a statement about this, but they didn't dislike Zhao and Shen either. They were happy to let their children come over to play, so the rest of the clan naturally got the message. The old master of the third house only disliked Zhao Yu, not having any bad feelings towards Zhao, also tacitly acknowledging the situation. After the new year, Zhao Yu was quietly marginalized and rarely asked about family matters again. Although he felt a bit resentful in his heart, he didn't dare say much. He had been outmaneuvered by Zhao Jiong's wife, could only admit defeat, but fortunately, the position of clan leader eventually fell to his son, so it was as if he himself had grown old and could enjoy a peaceful life.

  After the New Year's Day, Zhang let Wang Si Ping arrange a few people to go back to Beijing with Lu Changxiu to deal with the house and property. Meanwhile, Lu Yunpeng also received the latest news from Beijing about the follow-up of Zhao Jiong and Jiang's case.

  Zhao Kuang did not live to reach the capital, when he was taking a boat along the Grand Canal to the border of Shandong Province - near where Zhang's mother and son fell into the water - his boat also encountered an "accident" capsizing. According to the investigation by local officials, it was due to encountering rare large floating ice blocks. The boat capsized slowly, almost everyone on board safely transferred to another boat behind, but the imperial envoy found that in the chaos someone made a mistake and lost Zhao Kuang - the rough servant responsible for taking care of him only took care of himself escaping, when others asked, he said he had already rescued the person, so no one else discovered it in time. When they returned to the original boat to check, Zhao Kuang was already submerged in water.

  He was drowned alive because of paralysis, he had no way to move at all.

  But the imperial envoy felt that something was not right, Zhao Jiong was a recidivist and should be strictly guarded. He was originally not in the lower hold, but was placed on the same floor as the imperial envoy's residence. However, when he drowned, he was found inside the lower hold. If he hadn't been moved to another location, perhaps someone would have discovered that his servant had run away earlier. The imperial envoy wanted to capture the servant for questioning, but it turned out that the man had been stabbed to death in a secluded corner at some unknown time.

  What's going on? Is someone going to kill Zhao Kuang?

  The local government had investigated the case of Zhao Jiong's overturned boat at the behest of Prince Guangping, and on that day, the person in charge of salvaging the sunken ship and corpses reported an important clue: The knife wounds on the servant's body were almost identical to those on Chuncao's corpse, making it highly likely that they were killed by the same person.

  The imperial envoy immediately thought of the escaped guard under Chiang's command.

  (It's about to go on sale, I hope everyone can continue to support me and support "The Door of Beauty")