Xiao Luolan got up early and got busy. It was only two days before her daughter's birthday and it was New Year's Day. She felt that time was tight. Tomorrow was the first day of the Lunar New Year. During the Chinese New Year in Youzhou, they would eat a snack called Fucai dumplings. , dyed with various flower juices, and filled with sesame candy filling or meat filling.
Xiao Luolan made a few steamers yesterday, and she also painted some patterns on the colorful dumplings, mainly peach blossoms and peonies. They are all festive colors, pink and tender, red and bright, very New Year's. Taste, I had homemade colorful dumplings for breakfast today.
The silver reward in the house and the new clothes for the New Year were also given out yesterday. Now everyone in the house is smiling, and the four personal maids around the mistress also got new clothes, a new lotus color, which made the four little girls look beautiful. The girl is becoming more and more delicate and pretty, which is pleasing to the eye.
Xiao Luolan smiled when she saw Chunhua and the others.
Xia He was the most beautiful of the four and the most out-of-the-box. She curtsied to the mistress and said, "Madam, Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year." Xiao Luolan really likes these four little girls. Chunhua is steady, Xiahe is lively, Qiuyue is quiet, and Dongxue is cold and arrogant. The four little girls all have their own characteristics, except that Xiahe was bought from outside when he was a child. The remaining three little girls who work as errands in the mansion are all sons and daughters of the clan. For example, the chef's spoon is Chunhua's father, Qiuyue's aunt is the person in charge of the embroidery girl in the mansion, and Dongxue's father used to follow her. Serve as a bodyguard beside Sect Master Zhou.
Dongxue Nu inherited her father's duties and was recommended to her side by her father, who also acted as a guard.
In short, after being in the mansion for a long time, Xiao Luolan was able to straighten out the relationships among the people in the mansion.
"Auntie, good morning!" Xiao Qingxue opened the bead curtain and entered the inner room full of energy, followed by Granny Cui.
"Good morning." Xiao Luolan stood up and waved her daughter to her side: "If we are going to the Zhou family's ancestral temple in the evening, you should follow Shen Zhi and follow what he does. Do you understand?" Xiao Luolan knew what he was going to do when the time came, and his daughter should be just like Shen Zhi when the time came.
"I know, Auntie, I will be obedient." Xiao Qingxue nodded and immediately stood up. The ancestral hall of the ancient powerful clans was still an important time to worship ancestors during the New Year. To be honest, she was quite interested. of.
"Madam, let me dress you up." Grandma Cui stepped forward and said with a smile.
After the maid in the house retreated.
Xiao Qingxue sat on the beauty table beside her and peeled a pear fruit to eat. While eating, she watched her mother-in-law dressing up. The Zhou family wore black to worship their ancestors. Then she thought about how to wear more serious clothes when worshiping their ancestors. The color of the clothes It can't be too flashy. Xiao Qingxue looked down at the pink dress she was wearing today. She remembered that she also had a dark blue dress in her wardrobe.
"Qingxue, do you want to change her clothes?" Xiao Luolan also noticed.
"Haha, don't be in a hurry. The ancestor worship will be held before New Year's Eve dinner. There is still one day left. It's not too late for the young lady to change in the evening. She is an unmarried young lady, so she can just dress more modestly." Cui The mother-in-law surrounded the madam, straightened her clothes, and said with a smile: "When the first day of junior high school comes, the little lady can wear whatever she wants."
"Madam and young lady, there is no need to be nervous. It was the same process in previous years, but madam will be more involved today." Seeing that there was no one in the room, Granny Cui said some personal words: "The clan wife of a big family must not celebrate the New Year on this day." When you are free, ordinary women can still talk and laugh, but I have to maintain dignity today, especially when worshiping ancestors."
Xiao Luolan pursed her lips. In fact, she was not busy yet, but she would do well and follow the local customs. Xiao Luolan would not challenge some ancient customs on a whim. That would be a dangerous thing.
Xiao Qingxue moved her position, lying on the dressing table and looking at her mother-in-law.
When Xiao Luolan saw her daughter, her eyes became softer.
My forehead feels a little cold.
Grandma Cui was ordering flower arrangements for Madam. The diamond-shaped flower arrangement outlined in light gold was slender, and the top was like the tip of a sharp sword, sharp and awe-inspiring.
"Originally it was black, but the sect leader didn't like it and thought it was not good to wear all black, so he asked someone to choose a gold one." Granny Cui said slowly.
Xiao Luolan couldn't help but laugh when she thought of Sect Master Zhou's little hobby of gold. A gold line was also outlined on both sides of her eyes. On the black skirt and sleeves she was wearing, The collar is also embroidered with strands of inconspicuous gold thread. In short, Sect Master Zhou can very well reflect his love for gold.
Xiao Qingxue held her chin up and looked at the laughing grandma, and also laughed. Her grandma was getting prettier and prettier when she came here.
Zhou Xu walked in with his son, and when he saw his wife's makeup, his face felt unusually warm, but his skin was dark, so nothing could be seen.
Zhou Shenzhi was also wearing quite formally today, a black long-sleeved robe with dark red stripes on both sides: "I have seen my mother." Then he looked at A-mei and smiled: "A-mei, it's time for you to change clothes. .”
"I'll change it in the afternoon." Xiao Qingxue replied with her eyes bent.
"Okay, it's still early anyway." Zhou Shenzhi asked, "I bought some firecrackers and fireworks, sister, do you want to play with them?"
"Okay." Xiao Qingxue didn't want to eat dog food with her father and mother anymore. Didn't she see that her father was already sitting on the couch?
Zhou Shenzhi took Amei out.
Granny Cui combed Madam's hair and then left.
"Madam looks so beautiful today." Zhou Xu stood up and kissed the side of Madam's face.
"Just wearing heavy ones." Xiao Luolan touched the complicated hair accessories on her head. Granny Cui put on many things for her.
"It's been a hard day, and I'll take it off after the ancestor worship is over." Zhou Xu said with a smile. He felt that the lady dressed up like this was more noble and beautiful than usual, full of inviolable awe, which made his heart itch.
Why is his wife so beautiful? Zhou Xu liked it more and more.
Xiao Luolan suppressed her expression, tried her best to maintain the sense of dignity that Granny Cui said, and practiced it in advance.
"At that time, Madam and I will recite the sacrificial words, burn the sacrificial words, and spread the wine. After that, the Zhou family will kowtow and then disperse. They will come to our place to pay New Year greetings the day after tomorrow. Then let Uncle Sun give them Just give me the new year's money." Zhou Xu summed up what he had to do in the past two days in just a few words.
After hearing this, Xiao Luolan was slightly puzzled: "Do I also want to recite the sacrificial words with you?" This seems to be different from what Granny Cui said.
The New Year rituals here seem to be recited by the head of the family, the head of a sect, or the respected elders of the clan. Although Xiao Luolan does not feel inferior, this is ancient times after all. If she goes up to recite it, will the people below know it? Think more?
"Of course we are together. My wife and I are the officiants this year, and we will be in the future." Zhou Xu held his wife's hand and said with a smile, "Don't worry, no one will say anything."
"Now, those people from the head branch of the Zhou family are cleaning the offering vessels and preparing offerings at the family temple." Zhou Xu said with a carefree smile: "To be honest with you, madam, the family temple is newly built. It has not been a few years ago, and the things in the ancestral temple in my hometown used to be They have all been moved to the family temple, and there are new ones and old ones.”
"It's nothing. We should respect our ancestors, so let's go and help." Xiao Luolan said.
"Shen Zhi and I just went there. It was just a formality. Madam only needs to be busy here. We will go there early in the evening." Zhou Xu made everything go smoothly.
"I'm with you in everything."
This was not the first time Xiao Luolan heard Sect Leader Zhou say this. She raised her eyes and looked at the man, and finally gave a soft hum.
Zhou Xu hugged his wife and kissed her several times.
After the family finished eating at noon, Xiao Luolan and Zhou Xu sat in the courtyard and looked at their daughter who was stepping on firecrackers not far away. Shen Zhi made a paper kite with his own hands. After playing with it for a while, her daughter ran to Shen Zhi to watch his handiwork. Taste it.
In the evening, Xiao Qingxue changed her clothes, and her family sat in the carriage and set off towards the Zhou family's temple.
The family temple is located in a remote and quiet mountain in Langge.
It can be seen that it was just built not long ago, the steps up the mountain are all new, and red silk is hung on the mountain, which obviously has been taken care of.
After Xiao Luolan entered the family temple, he saw dozens of rankings at a glance. It seemed a bit empty in Nuo Da's family temple. The most conspicuous place in the rankings was Zhou Zongzhu's parents and grandfather's family, plus many Xiao Luolan. Someone Lorraine didn't know.
Illuminated by white candles, the ancestral hall is not gloomy, but only has a sense of solemnity.
Five animals and three animals have been placed on the desk, tea, wine, brocade and silk, rice soup and paper, and an incense burner for offering sacrifices.
Xiao Qingxue also looked at the Zhou family's temple. She stood beside her brother, waiting for others to come.
After a while, all the descendants of the Zhou family's main family came. There were more people in the originally empty temple. The main family was in front and the branches were in the back. They were all men. They all knelt down with serious faces. Among them was the gray-haired Great Uncle, who stood beside Clan Leader Zhou and handed the sacrificial words to Clan Master Zhou.
Zhou Xu stood at a high place and recited the sacrificial words with his wife. Xiao Luolan took a casual look and found that most of them praised the merits of their ancestors.
The Zhou family below heard the voice of the mistress, and a few of them were unsteady. They wanted to look up, but were pushed down by people around them. Generally speaking, it was quiet.
Xiao Qingxue also followed her brother. Listening to the memorial speech, she unexpectedly found that Zhou Shiliu's eyes rounded up when she saw her mother. Among the people around him, he was the only one with the most obvious expression, and everyone else looked down deeply. Where is the head. .
It’s really feudal, Xiao Qingxue complained bitterly in her heart, and felt that Julius Lang was really stupid!
After Xiao Luolan finished reading the memorial speech, the Zhou family also stood up.
Zhou Xu and his wife offered incense together, then burned the sacrificial words, and finally bowed to their ancestors with great ceremony in front of the Zhou family.
"The ancestor worship ceremony is completed." The old voice of the Zhou family's eldest uncle echoed in the quiet family temple.
"The young master of the Zhou family, Zhou Shenzhi, will offer sacrifices again."
As the only young lady present, Xiao Qingxue felt that the expressions of some people in the Zhou family were simply wonderful, especially the older uncles and uncles, who were older and had many wrinkles on their faces, and their faces were green and white. It's so wonderful, I feel relieved after watching it for a long time. Who said women can't be included in ancestor worship? Auntie is sitting in a high position to accept their worship.
After Zhou Shenzhi kowtowed, he withdrew.
"The third prince of the Zhou family will offer sacrifices again." The voice of the great uncle was carried far away in the quiet family temple.
Xiao Luolan looked at Zhou's uncles below, her eyes slightly lowered, her expression as calm as water, unruffled, as indifferent and solemn as a goddess, with such majesty that people dare not make mistakes.
After the uncles helped people to worship, the voice of the great uncle came to mind again.
"It will be sacrificed again by Zhou Xuan, the head of the Zhou family."
Zhou Xuan stepped forward, followed by his sons. He bowed to the sect master, his wife, and the ranking chiefs of the ancestors and sects behind him, and said: "Zhou Xuan brought his eldest son Zhou Lingzhi, his second son Zhou Xiaozhi, and his sixth son Zhou Yanzhi." Worship the ancestors of the Zhou family."
After Zhou Xuan came Zhou Bin.
…
Xiao Qingxue knelt on the futon and felt that her legs were numb. There were many Zhou family members, and the uncle was so verbose...
Waiting and waiting until it gets dark, the ancestor worship is over.
On the way back, Xiao Luolan felt her neck was sore and her ears were buzzing. Zhou Xu took off some of the hair accessories on his wife's head to make her feel more relaxed.
"Okay, it's all over. You must be exhausted." Zhou Xu squeezed his wife's hand.
"It's okay." Xiao Luolan came back to her senses and rubbed her face: "Go home and have a New Year's Eve dinner and then stay vigil. This year is over."
"You can't forget the New Year's coins for the two children, Zhou Lang." Xiao Luolan curled her lips and smiled.
"Don't worry, Madam will never forget it either." Zhou Xu said.
After going home and eating the New Year's Eve dinner, there is a vigil.
Xiao Luolan looked at the moon in the sky. The family reunites and gathers together happily, and the dishes are all children like to eat.
One night makes two years old, and the fifth watch divides two years.
Xiao Qingxue was playing Cuju with her brother in the courtyard. When there were few people around, she played football. When she got excited, she even let Chunhua and the others join in.
Xiao Luolan took a sip of the sweet milk tea and felt very satisfied.
Zhou Xuxiao looked at this scene.
Brilliant fireworks rose in the night sky, illuminating everyone's smiling faces. Xiao Qingxue dragged her brother to set off the fireworks too, which lasted for almost half an hour, causing the air to be filled with the smell of fireworks.
Zhou Shenzhi looked up at the fireworks in the sky and raised the corners of his mouth.
At five o'clock, Zhou Xu asked the two children to come back.
Xiao Luolan watched him hand out New Year's copper coins to his children.
Xiao Qingxue sat obediently in her seat, and Zhou Shenzhi sat next to her sister.
"This is the new year's copper coin. Come here, my dear daughter." Zhou Xu waved.
Xiao Qingxue stepped forward.
Zhou Xu took out a jade New Year's copper coin from his brocade bag and gave it to her.
Xiao Qingxue looked at the small New Year's copper coin in her hand. It was made of jade and gold, and the small characters on it were very clear.
Xiao Qingxue took the new year's copper coins and kept them as if they were treasures.
Zhou Shenzhi was startled when he saw the New Year's copper coins.
When he was a child, he also had a lucky copper coin. Not long after he was born, his father specially asked people to bring it back from Yanmen Pass. Unfortunately, he was ignorant when he was young and lost it.
The New Year's Copper Coin is usually given by an adult when a child is born. When the child grows up, it is not easy to ask for it.
