Then, in the blink of an eye, King Jinling was surrounded by people and disappeared into the crowd of people on the street.

On the other side, Wang Duocai, the shopkeeper of the "Game House", was beating his chest and sighing repeatedly.

Needless to say, he, as the banker, suffered a heavy loss when the market opened this time.

Because Zhu Xiuyuan’s odds were as high as 1 win and 10 losses, which he personally set.

Pay ten for one!

If we had arranged for one person to accompany five people, it wouldn't have been so miserable.

But if you pay ten for one... Zhu Xiuyuan and the others alone had to pay ten million taels for the more than one million taels they had put together!

This amount alone, and the principal deposited by King Ling to win, are not enough!

He also had to pay for it out of his own pocket.

Not to mention, there are also many other "retail investors" who bet on Zhu Xiuyuan to win.

Although these "retail investors" didn't stake much, they couldn't withstand ten times the compensation!

If someone else pledges one tael, he has to go with ten taels.

If someone else pledges a hundred taels, he must accompany him by a thousand taels.

If someone else pledges one thousand taels, he has to accompany him with 10,000 taels!

After such a calculation, Wang Duocai is in trouble this time. He will probably have to pay about 10 million taels in compensation!

So Wang Duocai beat his chest and stamped his feet, sighed again and again, and his whole body shrank.

The confident and calm smile on his face completely disappeared.

But even so, Wang Duocai did not run away.

Because he can't run away.

Yan Dashan had already arranged for people to keep a close eye on Wang Duocai, and his "Game House" had also been besieged by Zhu Xiuyuan's people.

He can't run away from the monk now, nor can he run away from the temple!

Nothing went wrong in the pursuit of compensation.

The king had accumulated a lot of money, so he could actually afford the compensation...

Zhu Xiuyuan, Han Qingshan, Liu Wencai, and Li Jiye made a lot of money, and the others also made a few taels...

Those who bet on Xiuyuan to win also got what they deserved, and everyone was happy.

…

After finishing the matter of claiming compensation, it was almost noon and it was time for lunch.

So Zhu Xiuyuan decided to go to Dong Yulou for dinner first.

In addition, Lin Bochang and other generals from the Shenlei Army were also invited. They have worked hard and are today's heroes. Today's meal is an invitation to them.

During the meal, Zhu Xiuyuan was unambiguous and directly issued a sign to each of Lin Bochang and others. With this sign, they could live and eat in Dong Yulou for free for one month. The number of days could be accumulated or given to others.

Then, the rewards promised by Dong Shuyu also followed.

Each person had ten kilograms of fried tea, plus five hundred taels of silver notes. Dong Shuyu kept his word and distributed it to each of them.

At this time, Lin Bochang and other generals were completely excited, and they could not stop shouting thanksgiving. This was really a huge windfall, and the smiles on their faces could hardly be filled...

After meal.

Lin Bochang led the generals back to the Shenlei Army camp.

Zhu Xiuyuan and the others had eaten and drank enough. They were drinking tea to relieve their tiredness while discussing the arrangements for the afternoon.

"Where should we go to play in the afternoon? Please feel free to speak." Zhu Xiuyuan asked with a smile.

"There don't seem to be any special activities in the afternoon. There are still hundreds of operas, songs and dances on the street. Those are actually not worth seeing..."

"How about... let's get together and play the card game 'Fight Corrupt Officials'?"

"No, it's the Lantern Festival, you should go out and play."

"That's right, then where should we go to play?"

Everyone was silent for a while, unable to find anything interesting.

You can go out into the city to play, there's not enough time.

You said you should go and enjoy the lanterns. It's not evening yet. Only at night when the sky is dark, the lanterns are most beautiful at that time.

"How about this? There are a few famous scenic spots outside the city, but they are too far, so we will walk around the capital. When it gets dark, we will go back to the mansion to eat and get ready, and then go out for a night tour to enjoy the lanterns. What do you think?

how?"

Zhu Xiuyuan finally proposed a plan.

"agree!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, around the capital, there are Mochou Lake, Xuanwu Lake, Nanhu Lake, Shenlie Mountain and other scenic spots. We can visit them one by one..."

"I'm a guest here. Brother Zhu, please make arrangements. The guest does as he pleases."

No one had any objections, so they set off, made some preparations, and rushed to Shenlie Mountain first.

Shenlie Mountain is located to the east of the capital. There are imperial tombs on the mountain. Some areas are royal hunting grounds and cannot be entered. However, there are also large areas for tourists to enjoy the scenery.

When Zhu Xiuyuan and the others went there, the mountain was also crowded with tourists.

Today is Shangyuan. There are many people going out to play in the city, and there are even more people going out to play in various places in the city.

Because this Healthy City is the capital of the Chen Kingdom, its permanent population is a terrifying number.

In addition, tourists from surrounding areas or all over the country come to the capital specifically to celebrate the festival, and the number becomes even greater.

After visiting Shenlie Mountain, they stopped by Xuanwu Lake.

It is very pleasant to go boating on the lake, enjoy the beautiful scenery, buy a pot of fine wine or fragrant tea, chat with a few people, or play the card game "Fight Corrupt Officials".

After playing for a while, they seemed to be catching up, and then went to Mochou Lake to enjoy the different scenery in the lake...

Unknowingly, the time came to the first quarter of Youshi, about five o'clock in the afternoon.

It's winter, and it gets dark relatively early. Although it's only about five o'clock now, the whole sky has already started to get dark.

So everyone ended their fun and returned to Jiangcheng Bofu in the city.

The two brothers, Li Jiye and Li Qingnu, did not go back to the inn where they were staying. They had dinner at the uncle's house, took a short rest, and prepared for the next activities.

During the Lantern Festival, the most exciting moment is at night.

However, before going out for a night tour to enjoy the lanterns, there is a special activity that needs to be done first.

This custom is called: Welcome Zigu!

Zhu Xiuyuan, Dong Shuzhen, Dong Shuyu, Dong Cheng who had returned from the Runzhou government office, and Li Jiye and Li Qingnu who were casual guests all participated.

They first went back to their rooms, changed into slightly worn clothes, and then gathered in the flower hall of the main residence. With Zhu Xiuyuan taking the lead, they all walked to somewhere in the mansion.

"Senior brother, who is this 'Purple Aunt' girl? Why do we wear old clothes to worship her?"

While everyone was walking on the road, Li Qingnu came to ask Zhu Xiuyuan because she didn't know the historical origin of the custom of "welcoming Zigu".

In fact, Li Jiye didn't know that, so he came over to hear the words, ready to listen.

Zhu Xiuyuan had learned a lot about the customs of the Shangyuan Festival, so he knew them very well. He cleared his throat and explained the historical origin of "Ying Zigu".

It turns out that there is an anecdote that Zigu was originally a concubine of a family and was jealous of the eldest wife.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he died in anger, so the people of the world prepared themselves to welcome him.

The curse said: "Zi Qing is not here, Mrs. Cao has left, and my sister-in-law can come out."

If you greet him by the toilet or the pig pen, he will feel serious about catching it, which is a sign of the coming of a god. It is said that the Meng family in Pingchang tried to greet him on this day, and Zigu walked through the house and left.

Since you have lost your clothes, this is the benefit.

According to this, "Purple Aunt" was originally a hard-working woman who was abused and died young. She had a low status, wore shabby clothes, and was active in toilets or pig pens. People regarded her as the "Toilet God".

"Welcome" on the day of death, on the one hand, it is to comfort the souls of the unfortunate ones, and on the other hand, it is to take this opportunity to consult the gods on matters such as marriage and marriage, in order to pray for peace and a good harvest.

Zhu Xiuyuan explained as he walked, and Li Qingnu and Li Jiye naturally listened with interest.

Dong Cheng, Dong Shuyu, Dong Shuzhen, etc. also listened carefully.

Although they had known this anecdote for a long time, it was interesting to hear this anecdote again on this special festival day while walking on the road to "welcome Zigu".

It was precisely because of this anecdote that they changed into old clothes, and the direction they went was also the pigsty in the mansion. This was all to increase the sense of ceremony.

Customs, to put it bluntly, aren’t they just a sense of ritual passed down from generation to generation?

In fact, you can also go to the toilet, but Zhu Xiuyuan found it smelly, so he changed it to a pigsty.

His Jiangcheng uncle's residence was too big to live in, so Zhu Xiuyuan started agriculture and breeding in it.

Raising pigs is one of them.
To be continued...