Amid the crack of firecrackers, another year passed away; the spring breeze carried warmth into the Tusu wine.
On New Year's Day of Jinghe Year Sixteen, in the Capital.
Auspicious snow had fallen thick and fast since the previous night, only clearing at dawn.
By morning, heaven and earth wore the same white, and the city lay blanketed in snow.
The peachwood talismans beneath the eaves, newly hung, were covered with snow, leaving only half their red lettering exposed.
Red and white set each other off, the crimson more vivid, the white more pure. Welcoming the new year thus, one felt that even the cold season held beauty of its own.
Through the streets and lanes, firecrackers seethed, answering one another near and far.
Children chased each other, their footsteps crunching through snow amid laughter and shouts. Some households threw their doors wide open, letting the fragrance of Tusu drift out with the snow.
At West Peace Gate, the small courtyard of the Wei Residence was likewise buried beneath the night's snowfall, its grounds and steps all white.
The jujube tree bore its snow as though wrapped in white silk; jade seemed piled upon the well curb, gleaming in the morning light.
The newly pasted door gods, with crimson armor and frost-white beards, looked all the more imposing.
Fu Niang had changed into her new clothes early that morning: a pomegranate-red embroidered jacket with rabbit fur trimming its collar.
Standing beneath the covered walkway, she looked brighter still than the freshly replaced peachwood talismans over the door.
At that moment, she was setting out the feast in front of the hall with Qu Niang and Qingluo.
Cypress wine filled the cups, Tusu the pot, and the Five Pungent Plants the platter; freshly steamed sugar cakes were each laid