After a while, they finished pasting couplets at Yang Chuxia’s house, and then took out another roll. "Let’s go paste the ones at your house."
"We’ve already pasted them at my house," Ye Zi’an replied.
"You already pasted them? That was fast!"
Ye Zi’an laughed, "Yesterday evening, Third Aunt gave me the couplets. This morning, Qingrui and I pasted them, set off firecrackers, and then came over."
"In that case, let’s go to the old house. Fugui and the others are pasting couplets there." Yang Chuxia almost forgot she had servants at her old house to do this.
Such a task could be completely left to Fugui and the others, but she thought that participating in the joyous event would be more fun for her.
When they arrived at the old house, Yang Da’an and Yang Xiaochuan were also pasting couplets.
"Sister Xiaxia, Brother Zi’an." Yang Qingbao was following his father, pasting couplets at the entrance of the old house, and called out when he saw Yang Chuxia and Ye Zi’an.
Seeing that Yang Chuxia brought couplets, Yang Da’an grumbled, "I’ve already pasted them at your house."
Entering the courtyard, Yang Chuxia looked at her house and indeed, the entrance was decorated with pasted couplets, as well as the principal room where Old Yang had lived.
Yang Xiaochuan saw Yang Chuxia and Ye Zi’an enter with red paper in their hands and snorted coldly.
Glancing at Yang Da’an, he jabbed, "Shamelessly buttering up others with cold faces, don’t you find that humiliating?"
He didn’t like seeing Yang Da’an helping Yang Chuxia’s family paste couplets, thinking that Yang Da’an was trying to win favor with the third branch of the family.
Yang Da’an naturally heard him and glared at Yang Xiaochuan. Then he went back into the room. Yang Chuxia also heard, but she was in a good mood for the New Year and didn’t want to bicker with someone like Yang Xiaochuan.
Seeing that the couplets were all pasted, and with nothing else to do, she called out to Yang Qingbao to come play at her house later, and then went home with Ye Zi’an.
At the doorway, Yang Qingrui and his brother were picking up unexploded firecrackers, along with a few other village kids.
Yang Chuxia went inside and brought out some melon seeds and peanuts, giving each child a share.
Then she went inside to help Ms. Wang, who had been busy in the kitchen since the morning. In the countryside during the New Year, there wasn’t much entertainment apart from eating and drinking.
Ms. Wang started preparing various dishes early in the morning, and by noon, the table was full of food.
Yang Chuxia had originally invited Uncle Niu and the others to celebrate New Year with them, but he insisted that there were no such rules for servants joining in with the master’s family celebrations.
Later, Ye Zi’an also mentioned that they might not feel comfortable joining them, so Yang Chuxia prepared a share of New Year goods for them early on, allowing them to celebrate on their own.
"Are you going to stay up all night tonight?" After lunch, with nothing else to do and not needing to help Ms. Wang, Yang Chuxia was extremely bored, so she dragged Ye Zi’an to his house to hang out.
"We’re probably supposed to stay up all night."_Ye Zi’an casually flipped through a book. "My Third Uncle and his family certainly will, so we youngsters can’t go to bed before them."
Yang Chuxia absentmindedly folded some paper, feeling unbearably bored.
Celebrating New Year in ancient times was indeed too dull.
"Next year, I’m definitely going to invite a theater troupe to our village."
"Do you like listening to operas?"
Yang Chuxia shook her head, "I’ve never heard one, so how can I know if I like it? The main thing is that a theater troupe is livelier. Otherwise, it’s eating day in and day out, and I can’t help but feel like I’m just waiting around to die."