Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Chapter 423 Congratulations on your prosperity

When Wu Lang heard the tune that Li Ping was humming, he found that the style was obviously different from the tunes he often heard outside. Instead, it was very similar to the styles of several tunes that his brother had sung in front of them. Therefore, Wu Lang did not fall for it. He turned around with a smile and asked Ye Changyan, who was smiling slightly.

"Brother, the song that Brother Pingzi hummed seems to be very similar to your style."

Li Ping raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised that Wu Lang could guess that the song was from Ye Changyan just by the tunes he hummed unintentionally. He stared at Wu Lang in disbelief.

When Wu Lang saw Ye Changyan giving him a knowing smile, he gave Li Ping a smile with some contempt.

"Brother Pingzi, you are so mean. You are using the tune you learned from my brother to deceive me."

Suddenly everyone at the scene started laughing, but Li Ping didn't blush at all. Instead, he laughed innocently.

On the New Year's Eve in Shigu Lane, bursts of singing were heard from the courtyard of Cai Mansion. One moment they were singing the recently popular "Who Would Have Thought That a Man Would Be the Number One in the Imperial Examination", and the next moment they were singing the melodious "Bai Suzhen Under the Qingcheng Mountain". As midnight approached, a cheerful song "Congratulations and Get Rich" was also sung in the courtyard.

But no one knew who was so thoughtful, but in the following few days, the song "Gong Xi Fa Cai" was sung in the streets and alleys of Shengjing. It happened to be the Spring Festival at that time, and this song was really suitable for the occasion.

With the arrival of midnight, the ring of time stepped into the new year and came to the 28th year of Tianyuan.

Everyone who was still singing in the yard heard the crackling sound of firecrackers in the streets and alleys. They realized that the New Year had arrived. Wu Lang and Xing Wang excitedly ran to get firecrackers. Young people like Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng all ran to the yard to prepare to set off firecrackers. Only Mr. Cai, Ye Xiaozheng and the Lian couple stayed in the house, sitting around the charcoal stove, their faces full of happiness and joy.

After the firecrackers were set off, the New Year's Eve party was officially over. Zhen Shen and several maids were still awake. They had prepared hot water for everyone to soak their feet early. After everyone soaked their feet, they went back to their rooms to sleep.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, young people like Ye Changyan did not get out of their warm beds until dawn. Lian got up early and made dumplings for everyone with the help of Zhen Shen and others. According to the custom in Yuzhou Prefecture, she put a copper coin in one of the dumplings.

According to the practice of previous years, all of Cai Lao's disciples are going out of the city today to visit the grave of his wife Xiao. Ye Changyan, Liang Jingcheng and three senior brothers in Beijing have already made an appointment to go out of the city today to visit the grave of their master's wife.

Everyone was holding bowls full of dumplings and looking at them carefully. However, Li Ping didn't know the reason and scooped up a dumpling and put it directly into his mouth. As soon as Li Ping chewed it, he felt something hard hitting his teeth.

"Ouch!"

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Li Ping. Li Ping took out the hard object that was hurting his teeth from his mouth with some confusion, but everyone came over. Then Li Ping saw that everyone was looking at him with envy, but Li Ping was confused.

"Brother Pingzi is really lucky. He got to eat the glutinous rice balls wrapped with copper coins at the first bite."

Wu Lang's words made Li Ping even more confused. Only then did he listen to Ye Changyan's brief account of the custom of wrapping copper coins in the glutinous rice balls. After hearing the reason, Li Ping burst into laughter.

"It seems that I will have good luck in the new year?"

Wu Lang nodded with some jealousy on his face. Li Ping was very happy. He scooped up another glutinous rice ball and put it into his mouth. Then he couldn't help but praise Lian's good craftsmanship. The glutinous rice balls were soft, sweet and very delicious.

After eating the dumplings, Mr. Cai took out the red envelopes he had prepared long ago. Wulang and Xingwang, who received the red envelopes first, were so excited that they kept saying auspicious blessings to Mr. Cai.

When Li Ping received the New Year's red envelope from Mr. Cai, his face was full of joy. Although he knew last night that Mr. Cai would give him a New Year's red envelope, his heart was still filled with joy when he received the red envelope in person.

In Li Ping's impression, apart from the Empress Dowager, his father and his mother, he seemed to have never received any red envelopes prepared for him by others, and the joy in his heart was truly reflected on his face.

Soon, Ye Xiaozheng and Lian also took out the red envelopes they had prepared long ago. Li Ping received three red envelopes at once, and seemed to suddenly understand the joy that Wu Lang had just shown. However, such seemingly ordinary happiness was something he had rarely experienced in his twenty years of life.

After eating the glutinous rice balls and receiving the red envelopes, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng had to rush outside the city to visit their master's wife's grave, so Li Ping offered to leave. Ye Changyan and others didn't want to try to keep him, as they couldn't let Li Ping go with them to visit Xiao's grave.

Not long after Li Ping left, Zhu Yuchun, Zhao Mubai and Ji Yunting came to Shigu Lane with their children one after another. They took the offerings and incense, candles and paper that they had prepared long ago, and got on the carriage and left the city.

Originally, Mr. Cai said that Ye Xiaozheng had just recovered a little, and the weather was cold, so he asked him and Lian to stay at home. However, Ye Xiaozheng and Lian insisted on going to talk to their sister-in-law and burn a stick of incense for her to show their gratitude.

Ye Changyan also expressed a similar idea, so Mr. Cai didn't try to stop him. He just told Aunt Zhen to prepare two more hot water bottles.

The emperor heard from Qiu Bao that the Fourth Prince first went with Ye Changyan and others to Cai's farm in Sanyuan County, and then went to Cai's family in Shigu Lane, where he had a New Year's Eve dinner with Ye Changyan and others, and stayed in Cai's house to celebrate the New Year together until the next morning, when he left Cai's house. The emperor nodded slightly.

Later, Qiu Bao mentioned that the Fourth Prince had eaten a glutinous rice ball wrapped with copper coins for the first bite early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The emperor was a little confused for a moment, but when he heard Qiu Bao explain that this was a custom in Yuzhou Prefecture, he could not help but reveal a faint smile on his face.

Si'er happened to get the only bowl with copper coins in it out of the eleven bowls, and he got to eat the unique glutinous rice balls at the first bite. If it is true as the custom in Yuzhou Prefecture says, Si'er is going to have good luck. Does that mean that letting him get in touch with Jing Cheng and Ye Changyan is a good start?

The emperor was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, and at this moment an idea suddenly emerged in his heart: Could this be some kind of hint from God?

The emperor came to his senses. Although he felt that this idea was a bit absurd, he felt a rare sense of relief in his heart.

Then Qiu Bao reported that the Fourth Prince was at Cai's house that night with Liang Jingcheng, Ye Changyan and others, singing all night long. There was a particularly appropriate tune called "Congratulations on Getting Rich". The emperor thought that the tune had a beautiful meaning, and hoped to use it to pray for good weather, peace and prosperity in the new year. So he asked Qiu Bao to spread the tune, and he hoped that people in the streets and alleys of Shengjing City would sang along.