Quick Wear: Passerby A's Daily Life of Eating Watermelons

When we came out of the breakfast shop, the sun had already risen to the middle of the sky. There were more and more people in the market. The sounds of hawking and laughter were heard one after another. It had not been so lively for several years. After the family walked around, their bags were full. Jiang Yue and the twins were carrying a lot of things. After walking out of the alley, Chen said, "Put the things in your hands in the car first, then have lunch and buy other things."

After putting the things away, they found a restaurant with a large flow of people. They waited in line for a while before it was their turn. They ordered a few dishes to taste. Jiang Yue felt that they were not as delicious as Chen's. After the meal, they put things away twice before buying all the New Year's goods. During the New Year period, many merchants from all over the world gathered in the capital. Chen bought all the food that could be stored. He would probably have to wait until the New Year to buy again.

When they returned home in the evening, the twins were asleep. After sending them back to their room, Jiang Yue wanted to help pack up, but was then sent back to the room by Chen to sleep. A few days later, it was New Year's Eve. Normally, this day would be used to worship the ancestors, but the situation did not allow it now. Father Jiang could only find a room in his house to set up the ancestral tablets, and the family bowed and kowtowed.

After bowing, Chen took her three children out. Father Jiang was alone in the room, talking to the ancestors about what had happened this year, and then apologized to them, saying that he could not go back to burn paper this year. This has happened every New Year since they came to the capital. This is the custom now, and every household does it this way.

After paying homage to the ancestors, it was time to eat. Today's lunch was very sumptuous. There were only five people in the Jiang family, so they set up a large table. The dishes were huge, with large bowls and plates. There was stewed chicken with mushrooms, braised pork, braised fish, stewed pig's trotters, fried cabbage, leeks and eggs, fried bacon, etc. It made people drool just by looking at it.

For the staple food, dumplings are a must during the Chinese New Year. Chen has already brought a bowl for each person. After everyone sat down, Jiang's father said a few auspicious words and started eating. Chen chatted with Jiang's father while eating, and also watched the twins to make sure they didn't get choked while eating fish. From time to time, she also picked up some dishes for everyone. Jiang Yue responded from time to time, chatted with Jiang's father and Chen, and poured Jiang's father a glass of wine.

The family happily finished their meal and chatted for a while. After clearing the table, they did not go out for a stroll. Today, everyone was busy celebrating the New Year, so it would not be nice to disturb others. The next day, when Jiang Yue was still sleeping, the two children came in to celebrate the New Year. First, Lili woke Jiang Yue up, and after she got dressed, she called Xuanxuan in. After the two stood side by side, they raised their little hands to greet Jiang Yue: "Happy New Year, sister!"

Because the two of them were so sweet and kept saying auspicious things, Jiang Yue gave each of them a tael of silver as New Year's money. After Jiang Yue packed up, the three of them went to Jiang's father and Chen's room to wish them a happy new year. When they got there, Jiang's father and Chen had already gotten up. The three of them said as soon as they entered the room, "Happy New Year, Dad and Mom!"

Then they knelt down and kowtowed to their parents. After they finished kowtow, Jiang's father and Chen helped the three children up, saying with a smile, "Hello to you too, everyone is well." After the New Year's greetings, Jiang's father took out three red envelopes and gave one to each of them. After that, the family was affectionate for a while, and then the twins ran out to wish New Year's greetings to Bai Ze and other neighbors. Jiang Yue was already fifteen years old, and it was not appropriate for her to go to other people's homes to wish New Year's greetings.

After talking for a while, Jiang Yue went back to the house to watch TV series. Children from other families in the village came over one after another to pay New Year's greetings. The process was to say some auspicious words and kowtow, and then Jiang's father would give some copper coins, a few candies and dried meat. By noon, most of the children in the village had come, and Jiang Yue's brother and sister also went home. They were afraid that Chen would confiscate their New Year's money, so they went back to the house to hide the money when they came back.

Now I have the New Year's money but I can't spend it. I can only spend it when I go to the city. During lunch, Chen suddenly said something: "Master, Xuanxuan is already seven years old. It's time to find a teacher to teach him to read."

Father Jiang drank a glass of wine, thought for a while and said, "I will go and ask Brother Bai tomorrow. His child is the same age as our Xuanxuan. I will see what his plan is. It would be best if the two families can be together, so that the child can be taken care of."

"Well, you can go ask tomorrow. Also, the situation is not peaceful right now. Should we go to the capital or the countryside to find a private school, or hire a teacher to come to our home? Or, we can open a private school in the village and hire a teacher. There are more than a dozen children in the village who can go to study."

It was not easy to make a decision at the moment. The teacher said that Bai Ze could take over, but the main thing was that if Jiang Xuan was going to take the imperial examination in the later stage, then the puppet would not be suitable. After all, the imperial examination was not something you could pass just by being talented. It was all about human relationships and worldly wisdom. It was better to find a reputable teacher.

Of course, if it comes to just learning knowledge, then probably no one can compare to Bai Ze. Moreover, with the heroine, the butterfly, around, steam engines will have appeared decades later. If learning the Four Books and Five Classics fails, you can learn other things. If that doesn't work, you can go and help the heroine.

Jiang Yue remembered that the heroine's health was not very good, because she had lost too much energy when she was a child and was often sick. After she came to the capital, she tried to feed her some elixirs to nourish her body.

A few days later, it was the Lantern Festival, which is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Today, the families of Jiang's father and Bai Ze went to the capital. They found a restaurant to eat rice dumplings at noon and admired the lanterns at night. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Jiang's father and Bai Ze went to visit the prince's mansion. They saw that there was no hope for the prince, so they mainly visited the housekeeper to ask if he would still order peaches this year.

Jiang Yue and his family were waiting for Jiang's father and Bai Ze to come back at the inn. Unexpectedly, when they came back, they brought a lot of bags. After Chen and Jiang Yue took the things, Chen asked Jiang's father, "Why are there so many things?"

"I met the prince by accident. It was a gift from the prince. When we were visiting the butler, the prince happened to have something to ask the butler, so he met with me and Brother Bai, and also placed an additional order. Before leaving, he asked us to give away a lot of things, which were all given by other officials during the New Year. He gave them to us because he didn't like them, hehe."

Seeing Jiang's father so angry, Chen hit him a little, then looked at the gifts, they were all good things. She asked some questions like what the prince looked like, whether he had any majesty, etc. After Chen calmed down, the family packed up and set off for home.

By the time spring ploughing season was approaching, the problem of the children's schooling was finally solved. After discussion, Jiang's father and Bai Ze decided to open a private school in the village. What they were currently lacking was a qualified teacher. A few days later, a suitable teacher happened to be found. This teacher was a retired graduate of the Imperial College. He had liked to come to the village to play, enjoy the flowers and fish. It just so happened that he wanted to settle down here and the village was lacking a teacher, so the two sides hit it off immediately.