The twenty-ninth was for ancestral worship; the thirtieth was for family reunion.
With Second Master and the three elder cousins present, this New Year was especially lively.
In ancient households, whether days were prosperous or not could be seen from the number of people keeping vigil for the New Year.
The Yang family had passed several cold and cheerless New Years. Inside and outside the house, there were altogether only Great Master and Ninth Brother as male members.
No matter how many daughters there were, it didn’t feel lively.
This year was different.
Second Master led the nephews in pasting spring couplets and setting off firecrackers inside and out.
They also led the group to raid the kitchen for fried foods—fried meatballs, fried little fish…
This prompted Great Madam to scold with a laugh: “You’re master of your own household now, yet still act like you never grew up.”
The daughters were also infected with happiness. Led by Fifth Miss, the younger girls all held cotton cloth tigers and played with each other, along with various toys—sheep bone knucklebones, beanbags, backgammon…
Normally, these daughters of great families had to conduct themselves with stillness and propriety. Even someone with Fifth Miss’s temperament only dared to play backgammon.
These jumping and hopping games could only be brought out to play during the few days of New Year.
The young ladies all played until their heads were covered in sweat.
Great Madam, Second Madam, Third Miss, and Fourth Miss were much more refined.
Third Miss and Fourth Miss formed one group, playing dominoes with Great Madam and Second Madam. Later, when the two elders became engrossed, they simply gave face to the concubines and everyone sat down to form a foursome, letting Third Miss and Fourth Miss go aside to play dominoes together.
Great Master was instead at leisure, so he had the three sisters from Huansha Cove pound his back and knead his feet while he rested with closed eyes in the inner room.
Great Madam had time to instruct the younger generation: “When coming and going, move more quietly. Your father has labored all year—these few days are the only time he can rest.”
“Yes.” The young ladies’ loud responses instead disturbed Great Master in the inner room, causing his slight snoring to pause.
Great Madam couldn’t help but laugh. “Truly more hindrance than help.”
Great Master wasn’t angry though. Instead, he called Third Miss inside to chat idly with her.
Inside and out, harmony and happiness prevailed.
In the evening, banquets were opened in the western side room and western corner room. After everyone ate merrily, they divided into several groups—some played mahjong, some threw dice, all using golden melon seeds as stakes. They didn’t care about winning or losing, just seeking festive liveliness.
Seventh Miss also mixed in with her sisters, throwing dice with them to compete for red. She lost all her golden melon seeds early on, while Fifth Miss had good luck with a small pile of golden melon seeds before her.
Sixth Miss also lost quickly. As her chips gradually disappeared, she pulled Seventh Miss, and the two struck simultaneously, swift as lightning, snatching back a handful of golden melon seeds from Fifth Miss.
Third Miss was amused to great laughter, and even Fourth Miss showed a smile. Dage and Hongge laughed so hard they pounded their chests and stomped their feet. Fifth Miss angrily pinched Sixth Miss’s waist. “Spit it out, spit it out! Watch me not tear your mouth apart!”
From past to present, spanning a hundred years, everything had changed, yet this New Year atmosphere would never change.
When it was nearly midnight, the whole family gathered to wrap dumplings and yuanxiao.
The Yang family were Northwest people serving as officials in Jiangnan. Northerners ate dumplings at midnight, while southerners ate yuanxiao. The Yang family simply made both, eating some of each—adapting to local customs while not forgetting their roots.
Second Master taught Hongge in gentle tones.
“Use the tiger’s mouth to pinch the top, then press hard, both hands working together.”
While speaking, he wrapped a neat little dumpling.
“Try it?”
Hongge was after all a boy, careless and clumsy, and actually tore through the freshly rolled dumpling skin.
Even Sixth Miss, who usually threaded needles with the most skillful hands, couldn’t wrap a proper dumpling.
Great Master, Great Madam, and Second Master all produced perfect ingot-shaped dumplings with each pinch.
Watching the maids carry away the crooked dumplings the children had wrapped, Second Master was moved to reflection.
“In the past, how could the family afford such extravagance? Though we weren’t short of money, we absolutely didn’t dare waste resources… I still remember the first year Sister-in-law married in, the dumplings she wrapped fell apart as soon as they hit water, eventually becoming a pot of paste. Didn’t Elder Brother still steel himself to add vinegar and drink it all down? On New Year’s Day, he went into the outhouse and wouldn’t come out…”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Great Madam laughed so hard she couldn’t hold the dumpling in her hand. The winter mushroom and dried shrimp filling scattered across the table.
“That was over twenty years ago!”
Her gaze toward Second Master grew tender. “When I first married in, Second Uncle couldn’t even recognize a single character. All day he mixed with the lowest scoundrels in the clan, didn’t dress properly, wore a torn jacket hanging open, exposing his oily black belly!”
Looking at the impeccably dressed Second Master now, the children laughed until they couldn’t move.
Great Master also rarely had the interest to reminisce.
“How could we have imagined we’d have such good days now?” He spoke to his children about remembering past hardships. “The family altogether only had a dozen or so hectares of land, the harvests weren’t good, and every year we had to go to the clan leader’s house to fight lawsuits, demanding back the farmland the clan had embezzled.”
“Had to manage the livelihood and study at the same time… Back then your Second Uncle was just a child. Before the provincial examination I still had to arrange selling grain and fight with the tenant farmers. I entered the examination hall dizzy and disoriented. A big drop of ink fell on the rice paper. My heart turned cold right then: I’d soiled my examination paper, this time I probably couldn’t pass.”
The children all listened with great interest.
From birth they had lived in silk and jade—how could they imagine the Yang family had such a destitute past?
“So I just threw caution to the wind.” Great Master’s face gradually radiated a hidden brilliance. “Criticizing current affairs, laughing and raging… Never expected it would actually suit my examination supervisor’s taste. Though I’d soiled the paper, he stubbornly promoted me to pass the juren examination. He also recommended me to submit my papers at your maternal grandfather’s residence.”
Great Qin’s imperial examinations tested not only the eight-legged essay but also poetry and prose.
This tested not just talent but also the examinee’s connections. At that time, Imperial Tutor Qin was at the height of power. That Great Master could submit papers to the Qin family—it had to be said he’d received tremendous favor.