Although winter in the capital was cold, it was still quite lively. Snow started falling during New Year’s Eve, and, while there were some breaks in snowfall, it continued to snow now and then until the sixteenth of the first month.

This was the first time the Yu Family celebrated the New Years at the capital. Zhu Junyang no longer acted as aloof and cold as before. Instead, he had morphed into the ideal son-in-law around his future wife’s family. He was warm and considerate to them as he took them around the capital to take in the sights.

On the fifth day after the New Years, there was a temple fair at Baiyunguan Temple that was located in the suburbs of the capital. The whole group of them went to attend the fair to sightsee and participate in ‘sacrifices to the gods’, ‘sacrifices to the ancestors’, ‘hitting the golden coin to ask for wealth’, ‘touching the stone monkey’, and other common temple activities. On the eighth day after the New Years, there were festivals and plays at some of the more wealthy suburbs around the capital. Zhu Junyang asked around and found the suburb with the most festive activities and brought the Yu Family there to watch performers on stilts, parade floats, festive drumming, folk dancing, banner dancing, lion dancing, small carts, bamboo horses…they were all able to participate and enjoy the celebrations. Everyone had loads of fun. The most festive moment, of course, was the lantern festival...