Chapter 344 Scenery
"Thank you, Uncle Yan. I'll write it first."

After greeting Yan Bugui, He Yuzhu took his brothers and sisters back to the east wing.

Then he brought a table out of the house.

After grinding the ink, I first wrote a couplet for the front door: [As time goes by, people get older; spring fills the world with blessings; another year of green grass and red apricot blossoms for ten miles.]

Then he took out a square piece of red paper and wrote a big "Fu" character on it.

It seemed that the writing was quite good, so he applied paste on it and asked Li Qingshan and He Yushui to take the couplet and the Fangfu scroll and brought them to the gate of the courtyard.

First, the couplets were neatly pasted on the door frames on both sides of the gate.

Then stick the square blessing character upright on the door.

Unlike the "Fu" character that is pasted upside down in random places decades later, the "Fu" that He Yuzhu pasted is pasted upright, and is called Zhengfu Doufang.
It means opening the door to welcome blessings and good fortune.

In fact, at this time, the door blessing and the blessing on the head when entering the door are pasted upright, and only the blessing inside the house is pasted upside down.
Even the small characters for "Fu" on wardrobes, rice jars, cabinets and other furniture must be pasted upside down.
It means that small blessings will not fall and big blessings will not come.

Just after he had pasted the couplets and the Chinese character for "Fu", He Yuzhu heard the voices of several neighbors.
"Zhu Zi, Old Yan started writing couplets so early today?
It’s no wonder that his calligraphy is getting better and better, especially the character for “Fu”, which now looks particularly festive, like the Chinese New Year.”

Hearing the sound, He Yuzhu just turned his head,

He Yushui, who was standing nearby, heard the neighbors saying that her brother's handwriting was good, and immediately couldn't help but correct him.

"Uncle Wu, this couplet and the word 'Fu' were written by my brother himself."

Hearing He Yushui's words, several neighbors were suddenly a little surprised. They looked at He Yuzhu and then said,

"No way, it was really written by Zhuzi?
So, Zhuzi, you didn't miss out on studying during the years of fighting on the front lines. Your calligraphy is now better than Old Yan's."

At this time, He Yuzhu also saw clearly the people who came. They were Wu Dafu and several neighbors from the courtyard next door.

Hearing their praise,
Seeing that they were holding red paper in their hands and their pockets were bulging with melon seeds and peanuts, He Yuzhu shook his head and said as he made way for the door.
"My handwriting is still not as good as Uncle Yan's, I still need to practice more.

Uncles, Uncle Yan has already set up the table in the yard, please go in quickly."

Although He Yuzhu had opened the door and told them to hurry in, Wu Dafu and several neighbors who had arrived at the courtyard early with their belongings were not in a hurry at this time.

Not only did he not move his feet at all, he also begged for mercy.
"Don't worry, Zhuzi, let's talk about it. Since your handwriting is better than Lao Yan's, why don't you help us write it?"

After Wu Dafu finished speaking, the others also echoed with a smile,
"Yes, yes, yes, Zhuzi. In the past few years, Old Yan helped us write every year. How about you help us write this year?"

Although these neighbors spoke very politely and had smiles on their faces,
But He Yuzhu didn't want to disrupt Yan Bugui's business for a few melon seeds and peanuts. What's more, these neighbors didn't even mention the melon seeds and peanuts in their pockets, and it was obvious that they were planning to get them for free.

Since he didn't even want to give this little reward, He Yuzhu naturally refused without hesitation.

"No, uncles, since you have been asking Uncle Yan to help write couplets and blessing characters in the past few years, it is better to follow the previous rules now.

Well, I still have couplets and spring scrolls for several rooms in my house that I haven’t written yet. I won’t go into detail with you. I’ll go back and get busy first.”

After saying that, He Yuzhu no longer paid any attention to these neighbors and walked straight into the courtyard with He Yushui and Li Qingshan.

Seeing He Yuzhu and his siblings enter the yard,

Wu Dafu and his neighbors immediately said indignantly,

"This Zhu is really something. He doesn't even want to help with such a small favor. We really misjudged him!"

"Of course, look at how good his handwriting is. It's just a piece of cake for him to write the couplets for us. He is not willing to help us with such a small matter. We really misjudged him."

"He is still a cadre, but he really has no awareness at all."

However, they also knew that they could not do anything to He Yuzhu, so after muttering a few words, they walked into the courtyard helplessly.

As soon as they entered the front yard, they saw a table placed at the door of the east and west wing.
He Yuzhu at the door of the east wing was writing couplets with a brush, while Yan Bugui at the door of the west wing was standing behind the table warming his hands with a ceramic teacup.

Seeing Wu Dafu and the other two coming in, Yan Bugui, who felt that he had a competitor, quickly greeted them.
"Old Wu, Old Zhang, quickly bring the red paper over. I'll write it to you first!"

After hearing Yan Bugui's greeting and seeing that He Yuzhu, who was concentrating on writing, had no intention of paying attention to them, Wu Dafu and the others could only walk towards Yan Bugui.

"Old Yan, please write it for us quickly so that we can take it back and paste it when we are done."

After that, Wu Dafu made another request.

"Old Yan, your calligraphy today cannot be worse than the one on the pillars at the entrance to the courtyard, otherwise we will deduct your writing fee."

Hearing this, Yan Bugui immediately became unhappy.
Just now, when He Yuzhu and his two siblings were walking out with the couplets and the word "Fu" that had not yet dried, he could already see the words on the couplets clearly.
I know that He Yuzhu writes much better than him.

Now, hearing Wu Dafu and his men's request, they were naturally very unhappy.

"Old Wu, we've been doing this for so many years, why are you making so many requests today?
Hurry up and take out all the papers you have prepared.

I'll write it to you first. If I delay it any longer, until the neighbors come over, I may not be able to handle it."

While Yan Bugui and his friends were arguing at the door of the west wing, a few neighbors came in from the courtyard gate. As soon as they came in, they also praised Yan Bugui like Wu Dafu and his friends did at the beginning.
Then I learned from other people that the couplet and the Chinese character for "Fu" at the gate of the courtyard were written by He Yuzhu.

Then he also asked He Yuzhu for help, and also never mentioned any compensation.

It happened that He Yuzhu had just finished writing a character for "Fu". He was smearing paste on the back of the character and smilingly refused the neighbors.

Then he pasted the word "Fu" neatly on the door of the east wing.

Seeing that the neighbors wanted to use He Yuzhu's writings for free, and then being rejected by him without hesitation, Yan Bugui said,
"I asked you guys whether you guys are still writing or not.
I won't be able to take care of you guys when someone comes later, so don't talk about first come first served."

(End of this chapter)