Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

We had a family reunion dinner at the old house on the 30th of the month, and then the family went back to their own home.

The New Year's Eve dinner at Zhang Youtie's house was prepared by Aunt Ma and Sister-in-law Zhou, along with the other women in the family.

Madam Liu rewarded the group by providing three tables of food and drinks on the other side of the pond, telling Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma to take them to enjoy the festivities themselves, and that they didn't need to be served here, but could simply relax and celebrate the New Year. Everyone kowtowed in gratitude for their mistress's kindness and then happily went off to eat and drink.

Here, only the family of four remained in the small house. They sat around the table, enjoying a warm and intimate New Year's Eve dinner. After dinner, the family played Connect Four, a game taught to them by Xia Yu. This game made the New Year's Eve vigil less tedious. When the hands of the pocket watch reached past midnight, they heard firecrackers outside. Zhang Youtie opened the door and set off firecrackers with Changyun before the family went to bed.

The next morning, before Xia Yu even got out of bed, she heard the servants outside wishing Liu a Happy New Year. Liu distributed red envelopes she had prepared in advance to everyone, adults and children alike. The money in the envelopes wasn't much, just for good luck. The servants' bonuses had already been given out before the New Year, so they could have some money to buy things.

After breakfast, the family dressed in their newest clothes, ready to go out to pay New Year's visits. Zhang Youtie and Changyun's attire was nothing new. However, the new jackets worn by Liu Shi and Xia Yu were made with great care by Aunt Ma, much more exquisite than their usual clothes. Liu Shi's collar was trimmed with snow-white fur, echoing the silver hairpin in her hair, giving her an air of nobility. Xia Yu's collar wasn't trimmed with rabbit fur, but she wore a rabbit fur scarf around her neck. The fluffy scarf made Xia Yu's face appear even more delicate and lovely, and the pendant of a silver necklace was faintly visible beneath the scarf.

Uncle Ma hunted the rabbit on the mountain behind the town and took it to a tanning shop in the county town to have it processed. On the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, he brought back the processed rabbit skin, and Aunt Ma hurriedly made these two jackets.

The four of them had just stepped out when they encountered children from the village coming to pay their respects for the New Year. Liu was generous; she gave each child a copper coin, placing it in the pockets hanging around their necks. Now that Changyun and Xiayu were older, the siblings had, in previous years, also visited every household to offer New Year's greetings, just like these little kids. Some would give the children a copper coin, while others would put a piece of candy or a homemade roasted snack in their pockets—in short, never letting the children leave home empty-handed.

Along the way, they encountered several groups of children exchanging New Year's greetings. Among them, they even met Dongyu from the old house. The child's face was flushed from running, and she wore newly bought silver cloves on her ears. There were already three copper coins and a few candies in the pocket around her neck. Liu also smiled and put a copper coin in her pocket, telling her not to get separated from the crowd and to hurry home after exchanging greetings.

"Okay, I understand, Third Aunt." After saying that, she ran off with the group.

They walked slowly, because they kept running into villagers along the way, and every time they met, they would exchange New Year's greetings. Xia Yu found everything very novel; these lively scenes were rarely seen in modern times. Modern people are always too busy; even visiting relatives is a rushed affair—they drop off gifts in their car, sit for a short while, and then move on to the next house.

They walked and stopped along the way, finally arriving at the old house. The whole family was standing in the courtyard, apparently having just received a group of children who came to pay their respects for the New Year. Wang Shi hadn't had time to bring the fruit platter inside yet.

Zhang Youtie and Liu first paid their respects to their parents, then the brothers and sisters-in-law exchanged New Year's greetings. Changyun and Xiayu knelt respectfully on the ground to kowtow to Old Master Zhang and Liu. Liu gave each of them a red envelope. Xiayu clutched the heavy red envelope in her hand and put it in her pocket before going to pay her respects to her eldest uncle, second uncle, and two aunts. Wang gave each of them a red envelope. Li was still in her postpartum confinement period and couldn't come out, so Zhang Youyin distributed the red envelopes she gave to the children.

Although Zhang Chengwen and Qinghe are the fourth uncle and aunt, they are not yet married, so they don't have to give red envelopes to the children. Instead, they receive red envelopes from their older brothers and sisters-in-law.

After everyone finished exchanging New Year's greetings, Xia Yu noticed that Liu Shi's hair was neatly combed and styled into a bun at the back of her head, with the silver comb her mother had given her securely placed in it. Her aunt wore a pair of silver earrings, the lotus design perfectly matching her name—one of the same gifts Liu Shi had sent the day before. Her eldest sister also wore silver earrings, but in the shape of forsythia blossoms. Her aunt wore a plain silver ring, and Qiu Yu wore silver lilac earrings, just like Dong Yu's. Xia Yu thought about the New Year's attire of modern women, and then looked at the women before her—the love of beauty knows no age or time.

After a happy day, Xia Yu wanted to play Go with her parents and brother again that evening, but Liu Shi was clearly distracted.

She wandered around the room, seemingly unsure of what to do. Touching and fiddling with everything, Xia Yu had never seen her mother like this before.

"Mother, are you looking for something?" Xia Yu couldn't help but ask.

"..." Madam Liu did not hear her daughter's words.

Zhang Youtie knew why she was like this, and said to Xia Yu, "Changyun, Xiaxia, go to sleep early. We have to visit relatives at Grandpa's house tomorrow."

"Ah!" Zhang Youtie's words startled Xia Yu slightly. This was the first time she had heard their family mention Liu's maternal family so openly. Liu hadn't returned home for the traditional festivals of wheat harvest and the Mid-Autumn Festival, leading her to wonder if her maternal grandparents' family had disappeared. Hearing her father say this now proved that her maternal grandfather was still alive. Seeing Liu's expression, she swallowed all her questions and obediently went back to her room to sleep.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, before dawn, Xia Yu heard her parents bustling about in the yard. She wanted to go out and see what they were doing, but she was too sleepy to keep her eyes open, so she turned over and went back to sleep.

"Xiaxia, Xiaxia, are you awake?" Liu's gentle voice rang out from outside the door.

"Mother, I'm awake," Xia Yu replied to her mother, just waking up from her sleep.

"Get up quickly, we're going to your grandpa's house today."

"Okay, I'll get up now." Hearing Liu's words, Xia Yu was no longer afraid of the cold and sat up abruptly from the quilt.

I put on the new clothes I wore yesterday. Holding the rabbit fur scarf in my hand and my toothbrush cup, I went out of the room.

In the courtyard, the mule cart was already harnessed. Uncle Ma was cleaning the mud off the wheels, while Aunt Ma was carrying things into the cart.

After quickly washing up, Xia Yu sat down at the dining table, took a bite of a large steamed bun, and drank a sip of millet porridge. She glanced at her mother, who was still busy at work, and couldn't help but ask Changyun...

"Brother, is Grandpa's house far from here?"

Changyun thought for a moment and said, "I can't remember clearly, it seems to be quite far. I remember once when I arrived at the place, it was past lunchtime."

"Oh, that's really far." Xia Yu muttered to herself after hearing Chang Yun's words, and then lowered her head to eat.