bayedsolid Chapter 290 discusses the two Chinese zodiac animals.
Chapter 290 discusses the two Chinese zodiac animals.
"The twelve zodiac animals, also known as the Chinese zodiac, are twelve animals that are matched with the twelve earthly branches of a great country called China to represent the year of a person's birth. They include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. This is the zodiac animal for each of us."
These twelve zodiac animals are the figurative representations of the twelve earthly branches: Zi (Rat), Chou (Ox), Yin (Tiger), Mao (Rabbit), Chen (Dragon), Si (Snake), Wu (Horse), Wei (Sheep), Shen (Monkey), You (Rooster), Xu (Dog), and Hai (Pig). Over time, they have gradually integrated into the folk beliefs of mutual generation and restraint.
"Moreover, there are rich legends about each zodiac animal in terms of marriage, life, and annual fortune."
This forms a conceptual system that becomes a figurative philosophy in folk culture, such as zodiac compatibility in marriage, temple fair prayers, and one's birth year.
This is the marriage proposal we receive when we reach a certain age; it includes our zodiac sign, date of birth, and time of birth.
Grandpa Xu nodded repeatedly: "Well said, more complete than the records."
Lin Lizheng nodded in agreement: "That's true."
Chief Sun nodded: "When the children get married, they must wear a wedding sticker, on which the children's birth dates and times must be written."
Sun Qingzhuang excitedly asked his mother, "Mom, did you remember when I was born?"
Yang Zhu nodded: "I remember. Your zodiac sign is Dog, and you were born at night. As for the exact time, you'll have to ask your grandma; she remembers everything."
Aunt Gu laughed and said, "A person's age and zodiac sign can be mentioned, but their birth time cannot."
The village head's wife nodded in agreement: "Yes."
Sun Qingdong threw himself into Yang Zhu's arms and asked affectionately, "Mom, what about me?"
Yang Zhu hugged him and said gently, "You were born in the Year of the Ox, and at noon. Your grandma said you are blessed and will never lack food."
Seeing that Gu Jingye's eyes were also dim, Aunt Gu quickly smiled and said, "Alright, let's hear Xiao Jin continue."
Dongfang Jin looked at them and also noticed Gu Jingye's unease and the sadness in his eyes. This child was still secretly saddened by the interaction between the children and their mother.
He chuckled and continued, "The book records that the animals of the twelve earthly branches and the animals that eat at five different times of the day are all domesticated animals. These include the Ox (丑牛), Sheep (未羊), Dog (戌狗), Rooster (酉鸡), and Pig (亥猪). The rest, below the dragon and tiger, are not for food..."
Spring is the king of wood, wood wins over earth, and earth rules the four seasons.
Birds of the four seasons: cattle belong to the last season of summer, dogs to the last season of autumn, therefore sheep can be eaten in spring.
Summer is ruled by fire, and fire overcomes metal, therefore the rooster (酉鸡) is suitable for summer consumption. Late summer is ruled by earth, and earth overcomes water, therefore pork and beef should be eaten.
Earth is the most revered of the five elements; the ox is the largest of the five domestic animals.
Of the four types of sacrificial animals, none are suitable to match the virtue of earth, therefore cattle are eaten in the late summer.
Autumn is associated with the element Metal, which overcomes Wood. Tigers are not edible animals, but dogs, which are hornless, belong to the tiger family. Therefore, dogs are considered food in autumn.
In winter, water reigns supreme. Water overcomes fire, and it is time to feed horses, but rites do not allow horses to be sacrificed, so pigs, being of the same kind, are fed instead…”
Dongfang Jin was speaking here, while Long Shiyi and A Ping were taking notes in their notebooks.
Lu Yunqing then interjected, "Xiao Jin, doesn't each zodiac animal have its own legend?"
Dongfang Jin gave him a thumbs-up: "Yes, but the story of the twelve zodiac animals is a bit long. We'll tell it one by one later."
Jun Qirui received a wink from Lu Yunqing: "Xiao Jin, tell us why we celebrate the New Year."
Dongfang Jin...
Why is this person joining in the commotion?
As soon as he asked the question, the others joined in, with Lin Yu saying, "Tell us one..."
Xu Changhua also shouted, "Tell us one..."
Sun Qingzhuang cupped his hands to his mouth, making a megaphone shape: "Auntie, tell me a story..."
Aunt Gu also chimed in, "Tell us about it!"
Looking at everyone's expectant eyes, Dongfang Jin smiled and said, "I don't know why we celebrate the New Year, but according to records, there is indeed a story about the origin of the New Year."
Lu Yunqing took the lead: "Alright, then you tell us about the origin of the year."
Dongfang Jin gestured for Ruyi to find it, closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them again: "Legend has it that in the ancient Chinese kingdom there was a monster called Nian. It had long tentacles on its head, was extremely fierce, and was inherently savage."
It climbs ashore every 365 days and devours livestock and humans.
To escape the "Nian" beast, people would flee to the deep mountains on New Year's Eve.
One New Year's Eve, an old beggar claimed that he could drive away the "Nian" beast, and the villagers let him stay with them with some skepticism.
At midnight, the "Nian" beast broke into the village and found that the old woman's house at the east end of the village had a large red paper pasted on the door and the house was brightly lit with candles. There were also loud noises coming from inside. This frightened the "Nian" beast, and it eventually fled in a sorry state.
People gradually discovered that "Nian" was afraid of red, firelight, and loud noises.
Therefore, every Lunar New Year's Eve, people would paste red paper, hang red lanterns, and set off firecrackers to drive away the "Nian monster".
From then on, every Lunar New Year's Eve, families would put up red couplets, set off firecrackers, and stay up all night to welcome the new year.
Ah Dong then spoke up: "We can't let every household set off firecrackers here right now."
Dongfang Jin...
There was nothing she could do about it.
She glanced at Lu Yunqing and saw him holding a teacup and looking at her. She pouted and thought, "Go find the emperor."
She doesn't have the final say in this world.
Gu Chenglin saw Lu Yunqing staring at his wife, lowered his eyes, and clenched his hands tightly. Couldn't this guy restrain himself a little?
Lu Yunqing: I was thinking about what your wife said about China. He is well-read, so why hadn't I heard of it?
Jinbao, who was standing next to Gu Jingye, was a clever little thing: "Auntie, why is the rat ranked first in the Chinese zodiac? The tiger is the king of the forest, but it's only ranked third."
Dongfang Jin smiled at the clever boy. The boy's original name was Xiao Yu, and he was from Dongzhou.
The child was sold by his grandmother because his mother was a daughter-in-law she disliked, and she desperately wanted her own niece to be her daughter-in-law.
Unfortunately, Jinbao's mother was chosen by his grandfather, and she was also a beautiful woman who died young, not long after giving birth to him.
His grandmother, in order to please her niece, secretly sold him to a slave trader when he was only five years old.
Because he always tried to escape, he was always caught, beaten, and then resold.
For the past few years, he has been like this: running away, getting caught, being beaten, and being sold.
It wasn't until he met them that he stopped thinking about it, especially since the people here all shared similar fates with him.
She collected her thoughts; how could she not know what this boy was thinking?
Gu Jingye was born in the Year of the Rat. Today, that kid Gu Jingye has been offline ever since Sun Qingzhuang and the others arrived.
But constantly being reminded of these things and feeling distressed isn't good, and she had no other choice.
Ruyi, [Why don't you talk to him?]
Dongfang Jin shook her head inwardly, [It's no use, Gu Chenglin still has to talk to the child.]
This kid is contradictory. You could say he misses his mother, but the hatred he showed at the beginning is gone from his eyes, and he looks indifferent.
You might say he doesn't miss his mother, but whenever he sees Shen Qihui and the Sun brothers interacting with her, he feels envy and sadness.
That's why I said we still need to talk to Gu Chenglin about this; only Gu Chenglin can help him resolve his inner conflict.
[Jin-jie, aren't you worried?]
What am I worried about? I've always remembered that I'm someone's stepmother, and I need to maintain the proper boundaries as a stepmother.
Gu Jingye is a boy, so I need to keep my distance from him.
We can satisfy his material needs, but as for maternal love? Let's forget about it.
Furthermore, I don't intend for him to support me in my old age. All I can give him are external things, and that's all—not something his birth mother could provide.
Don't overthink it. This child isn't bad. It just takes time, after all, it's a short period of time.
It seems he didn't experience that kind of maternal love from his birth mother either.
Ha! What could he possibly gain from the Gu family?