New Year’s Eve (1)
After the previous incident, Mu Mingtang became very restless. However, Xie Xuanchen said that there would be no trouble until the New Year. Although he said so, Mu Mingtang felt that it was better to be more careful than nothing. Since she discovered the puzzling aroma ball, she didn’t use incense indoors and paid more attention to ventilation, clothing, food, housing and transportation.
November ended smoothly without any incident as Xie Xuanchen predicted. So without having any psychological burden of going crazy without warning, Xie Xuanchen’s body also recovered quickly.
It was the twelfth Lunar month[1], and because the New Year was approaching, the atmosphere was filled with New Year vibes. Some people hung up red lanterns on the road, and the palace was also busy buying New Year’s goods.
Those changes made Mu Mingtang happy, and she didn’t need to worry about preparing for the New Year. There were many servants in the palace to do such work, so she just needed to move her lips to order the dishes she liked. In addition, she and Xie Xuanchen were the only two masters in the palace, so she didn’t have to worry about her mother-in-law, father-in-law or any other relatives. This made Mu Mingant extremely comfortable.
After Xie Xuanchen woke up, he came out from their chamber, and saw Mu Mingatng was sitting in the second room, lowering her head and cutting things.
“Oh, you are finally awake. You said that you could not sleep peacefully because of my movements. Today, I woke up with such a big movement but I still couldn’t wake you up.”
“Who said that?” Xie Xuanchen sat opposite Mu Mingtang, picked up the things on the table and read, “I woke up when you moved in the morning, but I didn’t move.”
Mu Mingtang didn’t believe him and still cut paper cuttings[2]. Xie Xuanchen looked at it for a while and asked, “Why are you cutting this?”
“They are for the New Year, of course, you have to cut paper cuttings. Look, doesn’t it look good?” She took a finished product and showed it to Xie Xuanchen as a treasure.
Mu Mingtang had cut a fish, and the scales of the fish are distinct and realistic. Xie Xuanchen nodded with a smile, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he noticed that Mu Mingtang’s hands were red.
After seeing that, he became worried, so he immediately held Mu Mingtang’s hands to take a closer look. Her fair and slender fingers were covered with red scissor marks.
“Look at your hands, why do you need to do those things? Let the servants go and buy what you want.”
“Xie Xuanchen, how can it be the same? The process of preparing for the New Year is the most important. I’m looking forward to it. Today is New Year’s Eve, so buying New Year’s goods, cleaning the house and making paper cuttings with the family are very precious things.” Mu Mingtang said.
After Mu Mingtang finished speaking, she raised her head and glanced at Xie Xuanchen quickly, seeing Xie Xuanchen still bowing his head and kneading her fingers, she said in a soft voice, “Besides, this is our first New Year.”
Mu Mingtang suddenly recalled how she spent the New Year when her parents were alive. It was the happiest time for her because it was the only time that her father was not busy with business, and her mother would make new clothes for them. Those memories were the most precious.
Later, Xiangyang was destroyed, and her carefree boudoir life was gone forever. She had spent the next few New Years on the way to escaping. Finally, she settled down in Chenliu with Granny Zhou. But when Granny Zhou got ill, Mu Mintang had to run around to make ends meet to take care of her, so they could not celebrate that year’s New Year.
After that, she went to Jiang’s house but could not spend the New Year as she wished. So, she was wholeheartedly looking forward to celebrating the New Year this time in peace and harmony.
This time, she was living in a warm house without worrying about money just like when she was a child. And beside her, she was still staying with her saviour, whom she liked when she was young. She was very satisfied with her current life and looking forward to spending this New Year with Xie Xuanchen.
Translators Notes:
1. The twelfth Lunar month – The twelfth lunar month, known as the removal of the moon, has the meaning of removing the old and clothing the new. The twelfth lunar month is the last month of the year. In the pre-Qin ancient calendar, it is also called removing the moon, which means removing the old and clothing the new. ↵
2. Paper cutting is the art of cutting designs out of paper and then gluing them to a contrasting backing or a transparent surface (e.g. a window). It is customary for people in northern and central China to paste red paper cuttings on doors and windows. The image of an auspicious plant or animal typically provides the theme of the New Year’s paper cutting. ↵