Hsieh Hyun-chen had said that there wouldn't be any trouble until New Year's Eve. Even though Hsieh Hyun-chen had said so, Mu Mingtang still felt that it was better to be careful. Ever since she discovered the mysterious fragrance ball, she no longer used incense in her room. Moreover, she was very careful about the ventilation and clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
Hsieh Hyun-chen was right. November ended smoothly without any accidents. During this month, Hsieh Hyun-chen didn't have to be on guard against any underhanded methods, nor did he have to bear the psychological burden of going crazy for no reason. His body recovered very quickly. Mu Mingtang could feel that Hsieh Hyun-chen's condition had improved significantly, and this was the result after he pretended to be sick.
It was the twelfth lunar month and the end of the year was approaching. The New Year's atmosphere was getting stronger and stronger. People hung up red lanterns on the streets, and the prince's residence was also busy purchasing New Year's goods.
Mu Mingtang was infected by this atmosphere and unconsciously became happy. There were hundreds of servants in the prince's residence, so she didn't need to worry about purchasing. She only needed to move her mouth and order the dishes she liked. Moreover, there were only two masters in the prince's residence, her and Hsieh Hyun-chen. Mu Mingtang didn't need to entertain her in-laws' relatives, nor did she need to care about her mother-in-law and sister-in-law's attitude. She also didn't need to worry about money. She was in charge of everything in the prince's residence, big or small. She could do whatever she liked, and it was very comfortable.
After Hsieh Hyun-chen came out, he saw Mu Mingtang sitting on the secondary arhat bed with his head down and cutting something. Mu Mingtang saw that he was awake and said, "You're finally awake. You're still talking about me. I think you're the one who doesn't sleep at night and doesn't wake up in the morning. I woke up with such a big commotion, but it didn't wake you up. "
"Who said that?" Hsieh Hyun-chen sat across from Mu Mingtang and picked up the thing on the table to look, "I woke up when you moved this morning. I just didn't move."
Mu Mingtang didn't believe this and continued to cut the window flowers in his hand. Hsieh Hyun-chen looked at it for a while and asked, "Why are you cutting this?"
"It's New Year. Of course we have to cut the window flowers." As Mu Mingtang spoke, he had already cut one. He put down the scissors and presented the finished product to Hsieh Hyun-chen as if he was presenting a treasure. "Look, does it look good?"
Mu Mingtang was cutting a fish. The fish's scales were distinct and lifelike. What was even rarer was that they were asymmetrical. Hsieh Hyun-chen smiled and nodded. Suddenly, he noticed that Mu Mingtang's hand had turned red.
Hsieh Hyun-chen immediately held Mu Mingtang's hand and looked at it carefully. The web between Mu Mingtang's thumb and forefinger was rubbed red. It was obvious that it was caused by holding the scissors for a long time. Her hands were slender and fair, so the marks on her hands were very obvious.
Hsieh Hyun-chen's heart ached when he saw this. He said, "What kind of pattern do you like? You can have the servants go out and buy it. Why do you have to cut it yourself?"
"How is this the same?" Mu Mingtang said, "The process of preparing for the New Year's festival is what I look forward to the most. There's nothing special about New Year's Eve. What's really precious is buying New Year's goods with the family, cleaning the house, and cutting new clothes. "
After Mu Mingtang finished speaking, he quickly glanced at Hsieh Hyun-chen. Seeing that Hsieh Hyun-chen was still looking down at the red marks on her hands, he quickly said in a low voice, "What's more, this is our first New Year's."
Before the age of twelve, Mu Mingtang was the happiest during New Year's. This was because it was only at this time that her father was no longer busy with business matters. Her mother would also smile and take her to make clothes and buy snacks. What Mu Mingtang liked was not the new clothes, but the fact that her parents were by her side when the new clothes were made.
Later, when Xiangyang City was destroyed, her carefree life in the boudoir was also gone. She spent the next few New Years running around. When the escape finally ended and they settled down in Chenliu, Granny Zhou was so tired that she fell ill.
That New Year's, Mu Mingtang not only had to run around to make ends meet, but she also had to take care of the sick. She was mentally and physically exhausted. However, Granny Zhou did not make it through and passed away during the New Year.
After that, she went to the Jiang family to celebrate the New Year. Speaking of which, this year was something she had not seen in a long time. In peace and stability, she wholeheartedly looked forward to the New Year.
She sat in a warm and tall house. She did not have to run around to make ends meet, nor did she have to worry about money. Just like when she was a child, she did not have to worry about anything. She only had to look forward to the New Year. Beside her sat her savior, the person she liked when she was young.
She really did not have any more dissatisfaction. She only wished that she could close her eyes and live until her hair turned white.
Mu Mingtang thought that Hsieh Hyun-chen did not notice. In fact, how could he not notice?
Hsieh Hyun-chen once heard Mu Mingtang talk about her exile and adoption by the Jiang family. At that time, he felt that this little girl did not have an easy life. Now that he heard it again, his heart ached for her.
She looked forward to the New Year so much. She must have experienced many twists and turns, and that was why she especially cherished peace and stability. Hsieh Hyun-chen felt sorry for Mu Mingtang. In fact, he also did not celebrate the New Year seriously for a long time.
He did not lack anything since he was young. He came from a good family, was talented, and had a gentle and beautiful mother who cared about him very much. Xie Yi was very strict with him, but Guo Rong liked him. He was not stingy with his praise and teachings. He did not lack material things, nor did he lack love.
In the past, Hsieh Hyun-chen took all of this for granted. His every day was free and easy, so he did not pay attention to the New Year. Until Madam Yin was killed by Emperor Gong of the Later Jin Dynasty, his family fell apart in an instant.
Guo Rong remarried, Xie Yi supported him, and Hsieh Hyun-chen also established his own residence. He was always busy with foreign affairs and never cared about these things. Naturally, the New Year atmosphere in the prince's residence was very faint. Speaking of which, Hsieh Hyun-chen could not remember the last time the family was lively and everyone was busy with something.
It was probably when Madam Yin was still alive.
Hsieh Hyun-chen sighed silently. He did not let go of Mu Mingtang's hand. Instead, he took advantage of the situation and held Mu Mingtang's hand. He asked, "We need to make new clothes for the New Year. What style do you like?"
"Making new clothes again? I just made a batch the day before yesterday. "Mu Mingtang was really a bit worried. Now, she had more clothes than she could wear. The prince's residence's storeroom was full of cloth. Every few days, the palace would reward her.
The emperor wanted to give face, so the rewards would definitely not be bad. Once the emperor gave them out, the empress and empress dowager would be too embarrassed to look and would also give some things out. The result of this was that the storeroom would never be used up. Mu Mingtang did not even have time to wear the cloth rewarded by the palace, not to mention that Hsieh Hyun-chen would call people in from outside from time to time. He was too lazy to look at it, so when he bought something, he would just take a page from beginning to end.
Mu Mingtang changed clothes every day. There were still many clothes squeezed in the wardrobe that she had never worn before.
Hsieh Hyun-chen said matter-of-factly, "The day before yesterday, I made clothes for the twelfth lunar month. Now I'm making clothes for the New Year. How can it be the same? In the afternoon, I'll have someone send in this month's trendy cloth to choose … Forget it, don't choose. Have them send in two bolts of each type. "
Mu Mingtang stared at this wastrel and was speechless for a long time. She sighed and said, "I know you have good intentions, but when my parents took me to make clothes when I was young, they would go shop by shop. They didn't buy a whole cart of clothes like you do. I appreciate your good intentions, but you really don't have to. "
She did not want to choose anymore. It was too tiring.
Hsieh Hyun-chen was not convinced by her words, "I can also take you out. I'm afraid that you'll find it troublesome to go out, so I'll have someone send it in for you. If you want to go to the shop to look, it's easy. Come, set up the cart in the afternoon. "
"Sigh …" Mu Mingtang hurriedly stopped him, "There's no need."
The maidservant was about to respond, but when she heard Mu Mingtang's words, she paused. They looked left and right, not knowing who to listen to. Hsieh Hyun-chen held Mu Mingtang's hand firmly and said, "Listen to me, set up the cart."
"Yes."
Mu Mingtang saw that he was determined to be a wastrel and could only sigh. He tried to negotiate, "If you really want to go out, then don't go to the clothing shop."
"You don't like it?"
"It's too tiring to choose the patterns. My head hurts just looking at it. However, we haven't bought the lanterns for the Lantern Festival. Why don't we go look at the lanterns? "
Hsieh Hyun-chen did not care. In the end, he was not the one who had to think. He nodded happily, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Mu Mingtang said that it was too troublesome, but when she knew that they were going out in the afternoon, she still excitedly prepared. In fact, ever since she came to the Capital, she had not gone out seriously many times. When she was an adopted daughter of the Jiang family, she was not the biological daughter, so she did not dare to ask for anything. After she married and came to the Imperial Residence, she never went out because she was worried about Hsieh Hyun-chen.
She had been in Tokyo for two years, but she had not seen much of Tokyo's prosperity.
This time, Hsieh Hyun-chen was going out, so it was completely different. Mu Mingtang did not have to worry about the time and distance, so she was in high spirits the whole morning. Hsieh Hyun-chen saw that she was so happy and felt gratified, but more than that, he felt sorry for her.
In fact, it was his fault. He should have accompanied her a long time ago.
When Prince An and Princess Consort went out, the servants were very busy. Hsieh Hyun-chen was previously imprisoned and could not go out. Everyone had a tacit understanding of this. Later, when his iron chains were removed, no one dared to mention the matter of confinement. Of course, the Emperor did not want Hsieh Hyun-chen to run around, but who dared to say anything?
So now that Hsieh Hyun-chen said that he wanted to go out, no one dared to stop him. However, they could not really do nothing. They quickly called in the Imperial Bodyguards and surrounded Hsieh Hyun-chen inside and outside in the name of protection. In addition, there were also a lot of honor guards, maids, servants, and old women.
Mu Mingtang and Hsieh Hyun-chen sat in the carriage. Behind them, there were many servants and soldiers. It looked majestic and mighty, almost as if the Emperor was going out on an inspection tour. But of course, Mu Mingtang did not care about this. She heard the carriage rumble as it slowly drove out of the Imperial Residence and turned into the street. Mu Mingtang could no longer hold back her curiosity. She secretly lifted the curtain to take a look.
The shops on both sides were lined up in rows. The banners were high and low, and the sound of hawking could be heard. It was very lively. Dongjing had a population of millions. Now that it was close to the end of the year, one could imagine how lively the streets were.
Mu Mingtang could not bear to blink. Sure enough, calling the shop owner to take a look at the Imperial Residence was different from going out to shop in person. Just this lively atmosphere alone was enough to make one unable to take a picture.
There were also many people performing acrobatics on the streets to attract the audience to buy things from the stalls. Just on the way, Mu Mingtang saw quite a few. When she saw something strange, Mu Mingtang could not help but pull Hsieh Hyun-chen over to take a look.
Hsieh Hyun-chen just looked at her and smiled gently. If Mu Mingtang saw something exciting and pulled him over, Hsieh Hyun-chen would lower his head to take a look and nod in agreement.
These were all things that Hsieh Hyun-chen was used to seeing. She did not think that there was anything strange. But then again, after not seeing each other for a few years, there were more and more things in Dongjing. Hsieh Hyun-chen really felt that she seemed to be a little behind the times.
Because of Mu Mingtang, their carriages were constantly stopping. There were constantly servant girls and manservants running to buy things from both sides of the street. The street, which was not wide to begin with, was blocked by them. Of course, the pedestrians on both sides of the street had complaints. However, when they looked up and saw the neatly arranged weapons in front of them, as well as the shining swords of the imperial bodyguards, they did not dare to say anything and took a detour.
However, there was no lack of children who curiously stared at the gorgeous carriages in the middle of the street from their mothers' arms. There were even young women who enviously looked at the well-dressed servant girls moving things from the carriages behind them. When the bystanders saw this, they only did a rough calculation and were speechless.
"Which family's wife is going out to buy things so extravagantly?"
"The carriage is decorated with gold. It must be the wife of some duke or marquis."
"More than that!" An experienced and knowledgeable person pointed at the imperial bodyguards on both sides of the carriage and said, "Do you see that? Those who are wearing swords are at least relatives of the imperial family."
Swords were ceremonial swords, and only imperial guards could wear them. Ordinary people did not even dare to think about having imperial guards as their guards.
At this moment, Mu Mingtang did not know that her trip had caused such a big reaction outside. She bought many novel things that she had never seen before. Satisfied, she put down the curtain and said, "Alright, we still have to go see the lanterns. Let's not delay business. Let's go."
The coachman received the order and drove the carriage forward, turning into another street. However, their group was too large. Mu Mingtang's and Hsieh Hyun-chen's carriages had just turned the corner, and the large group behind them had not yet completely moved over. They just happened to bump into two groups of people.
It was also a coincidence that the carriages of three influential families appeared on the same street at the same time. Dongjing had a lot of people and a lot of land. It was different from Chang 'an's neat and tidy 25 streets. Dongjing was originally smaller than Chang' an, but at this time, it had more people than Chang 'an. As more and more shops were built, one could imagine that the streets would become narrower and narrower. Originally, when only one carriage was moving, the pedestrians on both sides would give way and it would be peaceful. But now that three carriages appeared together, it was completely not enough.
The other two groups were moving in the same direction. Although they were slow, they could still move. However, Mu Mingtang's and Hsieh Hyun-chen's carriages suddenly cut in from the side of the road. They were going in the opposite direction and coincidentally blocked the way. At this moment, they could neither advance nor retreat. No one could move forward.
The three families had brought many servants with them, and they immediately blocked the entire street. The pedestrians on both sides squeezed with difficulty. The coachman tried his best to control the irritated horses and replied, "Prince, Princess, there are two carriages in front. They are blocking the road. We can't pass."
Mu Mingtang sat in the carriage and could feel how crowded it was outside. She did not have any ideas and asked Hsieh Hyun-chen, "The road is blocked. What should we do?"
Hsieh Hyun-chen did not care at all and casually said, "Simple, let them retreat to the side of the road and make way for us."
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