Oh no! Seven kids at the start, all yellow and skinny.

Chapter 289 Chinese New Year

After several busy days, Lunar New Year's Eve finally arrived.

In the past, everyone would flock to the town, not only to buy New Year's goods, but also, most importantly, to buy couplets, since scholars were a rarity in this era.

But today there's no need to buy couplets anymore, because there are plenty of learned gentlemen in the red-tiled courtyard.

When Yunyi was rummaging through someone's storeroom, she also brought in two large rolls of red paper, which she used to write couplets for everyone.

The sun was shining brightly that day, so everyone set up all the desks on the school playground. Xiao Tai'an led everyone, and anyone who could write came over to help write.

Even Xia Gang, the village chief's youngest son, came over.

Usually, once a piece is finished, someone will come over and happily take it away, then paste it on their own door.

Yunyi stopped in front of Dabao. This boy may be young, but his calligraphy already has a lot of style.

"Mom, I'll write a picture of a hundred blessings for you." Da Bao looked up at Yun Yi, his eyes shining.

"A picture of a hundred blessings?" Yun Yi raised an eyebrow slightly. "A hundred different styles of the character '福' (blessing)?"

"Yes." Da Bao nodded. "Can you stick it on the door of your room then?"

"Okay." Yunyi nodded.

Da Bao happily began to write.

Writing a hundred "Fu" characters is not easy, let alone a hundred different "Fu" characters. Moreover, he also laid out the layout on a square red paper, so it would take at least half an hour to finish writing them all.

"Mom, I can write too, you can paste mine." Little Qibao ran over with the "Fu" character he had written.

"Little Qibao is so amazing!" Yunyi took a look and immediately gave a thumbs up. "I'll stick it on the door when I get back."

"What about your brother's?"

"Two doors, and one sticker on each door."

Little Qibao happily rushed over and hugged Yunyi's leg: "Mom is the best."

"What about ours?" Er Ya and the others rushed over. "We wrote ours too."

"Put them all on." Yunyi was immediately overwhelmed, but she wasn't discouraged. "If there's no room on the door, there are still walls. Er Ya's will go on the headboard, San Ya's will go on the wall at the foot of the bed, and Si Bao, Wu Ya, and Liu Bao's will go on the windows. What do you think?"

"You've done a good job," Er Ya snorted. "It's settled then."

Yunyi couldn't help but rub her head; this proud little girl.

"Boss, your letter." Just then, Shen Ying ran over with a letter in his hand. "It's from the capital."

Yunyi took it and saw that it was written by Ning Xingchen. She quickly opened it and couldn't help but smile.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Jinghan walked over. In fact, ever since he returned to the village, his eyes had been following Yun Yi all the time. However, he saw that she was getting along well with the children, so he didn't want to disturb her. That's why he came over now.

Yunyi handed the letter directly to him.

After taking a look, Zhou Jinghan couldn't help but laugh: "Third Brother, is this a case of... trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead?"

"I remember the Liu family of the Duke of Dingguo has already fallen into decline, right? Many of their previous properties have been sold off. It seems that only the Taotie Restaurant, which was part of the Duchess's dowry, is still doing well. But even that is a struggle to maintain such a large Duke's mansion."

Zhou Jinghan nodded: "Indeed." He paused for a moment, "My third brother was determined to scheme against those who could help him, but he never expected..."

"According to the ancestral rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a prince can have one principal wife, two secondary wives, and countless concubines and maids. So, having more women is not a loss."

"That's what they say, but the Liu family is not just ordinary impoverished. Liu Shan is shameless, like a bloodsucking leech. Just you wait and see, as long as Third Brother dares to bring Liu Lingling into the household, that's the beginning of trouble."

"I guess you could say I got what I wanted." Yun Yi nodded with a smile, took the letter the other party handed her, folded it, put it back in the envelope, and then put it into her spatial storage while tucking it into her bosom. "It's not really our business."

“Then…” Zhou Jinghan suddenly hesitated for a moment, “Then I also wrote the character ‘福’ (fortune). Will you put it up in your room?”

Yunyi's lips twitched: "Are you jealous of the children?"

"I..." Zhou Jinghan's face flushed slightly. "Is that not allowed?"

“Okay.” Yunyi nodded. “Then write it down. I’ll definitely post it.”

Zhou Jinghan laughed.

Finally, all the Spring Festival couplets were written, and every household pasted up the bright red couplets. The village was covered with big red "Fu" characters, something that had never happened before.

Da Bao's "Hundred Blessings" picture, along with the "Fu" characters from several other treasures, and even Wang Qiao'er and other children from the village wrote "Fu" characters, all of which were then given to Yun Yi.

Yunyi didn't refuse. Instead, she led everyone back to the courtyard. Instead of going back to her own house, she cleaned up one of the screen walls at the second entrance and pasted the character "福" (fortune) on it.

"This is our family's 'Hundred Blessings Wall,' what do you all think?"

Everyone applauded; it was a great idea.

"Auntie Mei, tell Carpenter Huang and the others to put a cover on this screen wall so it won't be afraid of rain."

"Okay!" Liu Mei quickly replied.

In the afternoon, every household began preparing for the reunion dinner that evening, killing chickens, chopping meat, and making dumplings.

After dark, every household begins to worship the Kitchen God, then opens all the doors and begins to kowtow and pray at the main gate to welcome the new year.

After the New Year, people gather together for a reunion dinner, followed by staying up all night to welcome the New Year.

Yunyi took out the firecrackers and fireworks she had brought back and handed them to Dabao and the others. They set them off in the open space at the entrance of the village, which made the children extremely excited.

Because there were so many fireworks, no one felt tired. Before long, it was midnight, and some people even felt they hadn't had enough. After all, in the past, they had to go to town or even the city to watch fireworks, but today, they had a great time.

Yunyi prepared many red envelopes, distributed them to everyone, and then went to sleep.

As a result, I felt like I had just fallen asleep when I was woken up by the noise outside.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is a day for people to exchange New Year's greetings.

Yunyi prepared a basket of copper coins and instructed Lao Zhou and Liu Mei to give two coins to each child who came in.

The children were ecstatic. They started by coming alone, then in pairs, and finally in groups. Some of them had even come three or four times before.

Yunyi didn't mind, but Er Ya was unhappy.

He stood at the door with his hands on his hips and said, "Dog Egg, you've come four times already."

“Donkey Egg Bro has come three times already, why don’t you say anything to him?” Dog Egg retorted.

"None of you can come here again." Er Ya reached out to stop them. "Otherwise, I'll have the monkey and the wolf bite you."

"You..." Dog Egg and Donkey Egg were frightened upon hearing this and could only quietly withdraw from the New Year's greeting group.