The last day of the first year of Wude, this is also New Year's Eve in the traditional sense. According to tradition, the court had been dismissed six days ago, and Emperor Li Yuan ordered that everyone go home to celebrate the New Year.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the procedures for celebrating the New Year were somewhat similar to those of later generations. There was a vigil on New Year's Eve and visits to relatives on Yuanzheng Day. However, there was no fixed order of visits at this time. Generally, relatives and neighbors walked around to cheer for each other.
Since Li Yuan had previously ordered that the prince who founded the mansion did not have to go to the palace to watch the New Year together, Li Zhiyun could also stay in the mansion to spend the first New Year with his beloved wife.
However, the procedures that need to be followed are indispensable.
Some of the rules seemed quite funny to Li Zhiyun. For example, Princess Chu ordered her slaves early on New Year's Eve not to take out the garbage on New Year's Eve and Yuanzheng, saying that this would lead to the loss of family property. Also, Princess Chu personally removed some clothes that were not worn
His shoes were buried in the courtyard. It is said that in the future, the heirs of the royal family will become high officials. That is, the so-called sons of Yinshou.
Li Zhiyun didn't believe this, but he found it interesting when he saw Princess Chu's serious expression.
"Husband, don't make trouble. If nothing happens, you might as well go and see how Da Nuo is preparing on my behalf." Goddess Yang said helplessly as her husband clumsily broke the colorful banners.
Today she is wearing a navy blue dress, a large cloak, a jade hairpin on her head, the jade rings under her ears are shining brightly, her lips are red and her face is as plain as jade.
As expected of my sixteen-beautiful little wife, she looks good in anything she wears.
"Uncle Zhao is watching over Da Nuo, so it's okay."
"Then please invite your husband to go back to the study and read. Didn't your father ask you to read more?"
Princess Chu disliked him a little, she just didn't do anything, and she also liked to make comments and ask weird questions.
For example, why don’t the colorful streamers use carp shapes?
How does she know this?
"On New Year's Eve, madam, do you want my husband to read a book on New Year's Eve?"
Princess Chu also found it funny. She pursed her red lips and said, "My husband, just watch and don't interfere. Don't ask too many questions."
"That's too bad, I'd better help you."
She was helpless and could only say: "Then please help me pass the things."
"Okay, okay."
Yu'er, Huan'er, Huaiyang, and the other three girls all laughed secretly when they saw King Chu being so obedient.
Goddess Yang was very skillful in her craftsmanship of the colorful banners, which was a few steps ahead of Li Zhiyun's. Without Li Zhiyun's help, she finished the colorful banners smoothly.
"Li Zhen, as soon as the waiting time is over, you will put up the colorful flags." Princess Chu ordered.
"yes."
Li Zhiyun asked garrulously, "What's the use?"
"I don't know." Princess Chu's face darkened. Why hadn't she noticed that her husband was so curious before?
Subsequently, the Prince of Chu's Mansion held a Da Nuo ceremony. This was a ritual to drive away the plague. The specific form of expression was that children wore masks of evil spirits, and then the wizards 'drove' them away, which represented that the plague was driven away.
Apart from.
Well, to Li Zhiyun, it seems like a stage play.
"Is the plague gone?" Li Zhiyun asked quietly in the princess's ear.
Princess Chu felt very tired. This question seemed like a question asked by a child, "Husband, I don't know."
After joking with Goddess Yang for a while, the concierge came to report that people from Prince Qin's palace were already waiting.
"Madam, the second sister-in-law and the others have arrived, it's time for us to set off."
"yes."
On New Year's Eve, we have to worship our ancestors. As a member of the royal family, Li Zhiyun naturally has to go to the Ancestral Temple to burn incense. For this ancestor worship, basically all members of the clan in the capital were present.
In the past, Li Zhiyun complained about the chaos and complexity within families such as the Wei family, Dugu family, and Dou family, but today he found that every room within the clan was equally chaotic.
There was no way, Li Hu was so fertile that he gave birth to eight sons!
Li Zhiyun once doubted whether Li Hu wanted to create an "Eight Pillar Kingdom".
Think about it, how many sons can these eight sons of Li Hu have, and how many great-grandchildren can these grandsons have.
When worshiping the ancestors, a large crowd of little kids, even with no hair on their head, came over to kowtow.
However, Li Zhiyun found it very interesting because he had never seen so many relatives gathering together to worship their ancestors in later generations.
Although, the blood relationship between some brothers of the same generation has begun to drift apart.
For example, the relationship between Li Zhiyun, Li Daoxuan, and Li Daozong. Li Zhiyun is a descendant of Li Bing, Li Daoxuan is a descendant of Li Hui, and Li Daozong is a descendant of Li Zhang. In other words, their three grandfathers are brothers, and their father is
Cousins, to the point where they can only be considered 'cousins'.
There is a saying that goes like this: one generation is a relative, the other is a representative, and the third and fourth generations cannot live together.
This means that in ancient times, the cohesion between clans was strong. In later generations, everyone could only say hello when they met. As for celebrating the New Year together, tsk, I'm afraid it would be difficult.
When their descendants pass through two generations and come out with five servers, everyone will basically be strangers.
When the royal family was worshiping their ancestors, other families were also worshiping their ancestors one after another.
Members of the Dugu clan, who are also members of a large family, gathered in the Dugu clan's ancestral hall, and the leader was naturally Dugu Zhen.
Li Hu was born, and the emperor's father-in-law, Dugu Xin, a professional householder, was no less generous.
That’s right, eight sons!
Dugu Zhen was the youngest, and also the one who lived the longest. He survived the death of several older brothers, took over the position of head of the family from his nephew, and became the Duke of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty.
The Dugu clan members are relatively scattered. A few of them are in Luoyang, but not all of them are in Chang'an.
After worshiping the ancestors, Dugu Zhen called several of the Dugu family's children to the darkroom.
Among the Dugu clan members present, in addition to Dugu Huaien and Dugu Xiude, there were also Dugu Sheng and Dugu Yanshou.
"Wynn, how's the injury?" Dugu Zhen asked.
After Li Mi was wiped out, Dugu Huaien managed to escape with his life. However, he was wounded by an arrow while escaping, and was sent back to Chang'an by Master Sheng Yan.
"It's not a problem." Speaking of the injury, Dugu Huaien remembered the unbearable humiliation, which made his whole face become gloomy.
Dugu Zhen naturally saw his changes, so he taught him a lesson: "When a man walks in the world, who can have smooth sailing? It is reasonable for you to have such difficulty."
Dugu Huai'en was dissatisfied and said: "Li Mi is ambitious. Li Yuan cannot possibly not know about it. He is seeking revenge for the last time he concealed it!"
"Li Yuan asked you to go by name?" Dugu Zhen asked in return.
Dugu Huaien fell silent immediately. It was really not Li Yuan who asked him to go.
Dugu Sheng, who is now the palace supervisor, knew some inside information and said: "No matter what, it is true that Li Yuan used Li to conspire to implicate Hua En this time."
Duguzhen asked: "Do you think Li Yuan's target is Hua En?"
"What does the master mean?" Dugu Yanshou asked.
Dugu Zhen didn't say anything, he just looked at them. The meaning is very clear. You all can give me a guess.
Everyone was silent for a while, but Dugu Sheng thought through it first. After all, he was a prisoner from the third-grade palace, and his intelligence was slightly higher than that of the other brothers.
"What does the head of the family mean, Li Yuan wants to take action against us?"
"What!"
Except for Dugu Zhen and Dugu Sheng, everyone else was furious.