On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, I bid farewell to the old and welcome the new and swept the house.

Perhaps it is also the weather that makes us beautiful. Almost every year, the sun is shining brightly.

Let the common people dry the moldy pillow core and quilt covers, and sweep the feet of the door eaves and cabinets that have accumulated ash for a year.

Early in the morning, walking on the street, you can see some servants from merchants cleaning the dusted counter with dusters made of sorghum ears.

Fortunately, after cleaning, all the stores are still open as usual. It is because the number of pedestrians on the streets has increased instead of decreasing. Everything is because in the big square in front of Xijiazhuang, a couplet calligraphy competition has begun.

"Twenty-three, sacrifice and stop the stove; twenty-four, sweep the room; twenty-five, grind tofu; twenty-six, cut the meat; twenty-seven, slaughter the rooster; twenty-eight, slurry the dough; twenty-nine, steam the steamed buns; thirty-two, stoop the night, and twist the first day of the Lunar New Year."

In the crowd, a woman pulled a few children and sang festive nursery rhymes across the market. The children who were combed with red ropes were holding a string of candied haws made from red mountains. While licking them with relish, she tried to learn a sentence or two from the woman.

When the pedestrians saw that they were a group of childish children who had not yet escaped from their temper, they all took the initiative to give up. Many people saw that the children were cute, and even took out the snacks and candies they had just bought to tease them.

The woman nodded to the passers-by with a smile and walked straight to the center of the square with the children.

"Auntie, why did my father come here to practice calligraphy today?"

The woman held a pink and white porcelain girl in her left hand and asked pretty.

When the woman heard this, she looked down at her. Seeing a few sugar crystals stuck to the corner of her mouth, she habitually reached out and twisted the sugar crystals, put them into her mouth, and smacked her mouth, thinking that the candy in the inner city was sweeter than the one in the outer city.

"Don't worry, your father is so awesome. He was invited by the husband to be a man..."

"Judge!"

The woman had never read any books, but the boy holding the other hand jumped and reminded her.

The woman smiled: "Yes, yes, yes, Dalang is still awesome, just a judge, which means being very powerful. I heard from the butler that there are only three people in Shuofang who are qualified, and your father will take one."

"It's so good!" The little girl smiled and pushed forward with her toes, wishing she could see her father's heroic figure immediately.

In the crowd, someone heard their conversation, and first showed a look of surprise. After seeing the woman, he hurriedly came up to meet her.

"Aunt Yu is here, hurry up, please come here, my location is good, I can see Master Yu."

The woman was happy when she heard this, and was not polite. She had long been accustomed to such treatment, so she pulled a few children and squeezed over.

When everyone heard that it was Master Yu's family, they all politely gave up their seats.

At this time, on a wooden platform in the small square in front of Xijiazhuang, Fang Xingmu was announcing the rules of the competition with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, there were countless students and scholars who signed up in the crowd.

Everyone saw it clearly. There were three prizes on the platform, namely the first, second and third prizes.

There is one first prize, and the prize is a two-eight-bar, which is a new thing just launched by Xijiazhuang.

There were two second prizes, and the prize was a full-length mirror. Many male guests in the venue were pushed out by their wives to participate in the event, just for this mirror.

The third prize is twelve, and the prize is about ten exquisite small boxes. As for what is inside the box, everyone only heard that it is a new style of fragrant pan, but even fragrant pan is worth a lot of money.

Fang Xingmu looked at the contestants who were eager to try in the audience and smiled and said loudly: "Everyone comes here one by one. There are twenty tables on the field, and there are a pair of red paper and a few pens and ink on the table. A limited time cup of tea can be taken directly to the stage for the judges to comment."

Everyone in the audience will look at me and look at you. This first round must be a test round. Those who write first will always suffer a loss and explore the depth of the competition for others.

However, some people don’t believe in evil, or they simply have a skilled and brave person.

A few students dressed in the crowd bowed to the three judges on the platform and worshiped a respectful ceremony for teachers.

"The first round will be first for my Wenyi Academy."

Several students smiled at each other, and a middle-aged man led on the platform nodded, his face full of redness, and was very satisfied with the performance of these students.

Soon, a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old put down his wolf's hair and glanced at the waiter next to him.

Seeing this, the servant hurriedly came up and raised the couplet left and right.

On the high platform, Fang Xingmu recited loudly: "The kindness of heaven is as deep as the sea, and the virtue of the earth is as heavy as the mountain. This is a common magical couplet of heaven and earth. I also asked the three judges to comment on their calligraphy achievements."

Fang Xingmu guided everyone's eyes to the three judges, and the leader stood up and bowed to the audience.

In the crowd, several children suddenly screamed: "Dad, Dad, Ji'er is here!"

The middle-aged judge smiled gently at the girl who was held in the arms of a woman, and then said loudly: "I am honored by my husband and I am honored to be the judge of this couplet calligraphy competition. Yu is deeply honored, haha. However, in order to show justice, Yu does not judge his disciples more. If you think you are well written, please sing it to show your love."

As soon as he finished speaking, there were indeed cheers from the audience. It was obvious that Master Yu had a good personality in Shuofang Dongcheng.

In the end, the twenty participants in the first round selected fifteen pairs and hung them on the platform. Compared with the next participants, if they can write better than these fifteen pairs, they will be replaced. If not, these fifteen pairs will be the first, second and third prize winners today.

The other five contestants saw that they were not selected and were in a depressed mood, they were about to leave the venue, but before they could take a step, the servant next to them stuffed a card.

"Is this?" The unselected scholar played with the card in his hand and looked at the servant curiously.

The servant explained respectfully: "This is a coupon provided by the title merchant He's Restaurant in this competition. Taking this card to the He's Restaurant can directly deduct 30% of the food. The event ends until Shangyuan Night."

"Oh! Can it really be worth 30%?" The unselected scholar was happy when he heard this and asked quickly: "Can Haidilao also deserve it?"

The servant nodded and replied: "Of course it can be worth it. Except for the drinks, all the consumption in the restaurant can be worth 30%. However, there is only one chance, and each meal is limited to one piece and cannot be used in combination."

Upon hearing this, the scholar dispelled his depression of losing the election, happily bowed his hand, and after thanking the servant, he hurriedly walked towards the crowd.

"Brother Wu, it's just a game, it doesn't matter if you lose... Uh, why are you laughing so happily when you lose?"

The scholar shook the coupon in his hand and said happily: "It saves hundreds of texts by writing a few words. What's wrong with me? Let's go, today I'll be in the Haidilao package at He's Restaurant 998."

"Ninety-nine-eight? Brother Wu, please be more at ease. If you eat too much this thing, you will have to spend more than half a month of hard life."

The scholar smiled and told the whole story of the coupon.

Hurry~

The classmate in front of him ran away completely.

I heard noises coming from behind.

"Register, I want to register..."

"Grave egg, don't squeeze me, I came first..."
Chapter completed!