The seventh month of the lunar calendar is also known as the ghost month among the people.
Legend has it that every year on the first day of the seventh lunar month, the gate of hell will be opened and evil spirits released. The gate of hell will not be closed until the 30th day of the seventh lunar month.
Therefore, in order to allow people and ghosts in the two realms of Yin and Yang to go their own way and not harm each other, the folk have always had the custom of setting up a festival in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. That is to say, paper burning and worship are performed on the first, second, fifteenth and last days of the Ghost Month of the seventh lunar month.
There are also many folk taboos about Ghost Moon. For example: women, children, the elderly and other people with insufficient yang energy are not allowed to go out at night, are not allowed to wear clothes with their own names embroidered on them, are not allowed to pat others on the shoulder, are not allowed to look back when walking at night, etc. …
In the past few days, the affairs of Lai Guofu and Lai Feiyan, the father and daughter, had made the whole White House very anxious. Therefore, there were some shortcomings in the "Pudu" ceremony on the first and second day of July.
Now it seems that the Hungry Ghost Festival, which is the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, is approaching, and everyone in the White House is working together to make the "Pudu" ceremony of the Hungry Ghost Festival a decent one. On the one hand, it is to help those lonely ghosts who are unable to enter reincarnation due to untimely death and are wandering outside to reincarnate as soon as possible and start a new life. On the other hand, I also hope that I can save the souls of the dead and hope that they will no longer disturb the living people.
While everyone in the White House was busy preparing the sacrifices for the Hungry Ghost Festival, a piece of news unexpectedly came from the palace: The emperor has accepted a concubine!
The emperor is now nearly fifty years old, in the year of his destiny. It is said that there are not a few concubines in the harem in these years, and there is no shortage of young and beautiful people. Why did he suddenly admit new people?
It is nothing new for the emperor to accept a new person into the harem, and there should not be such a big fuss. But the strange thing is that the concubine the emperor accepts comes from the common people! And according to people familiar with the matter, the one she accepted was a maiko! Moreover, it is said that as soon as this girl entered the palace, the emperor attracted her to visit her every day and loved her in every way. In just a few days, he promoted her from an unknown maiko to a full-fledged concubine!
This makes people want to find out what is the charm of this woman, who can actually charm the emperor who is nearly fifty years old and lose his soul!
Different from the simplified folk customs, the palace attaches great importance to the custom of setting up a festival for the ghost moon! After all, there are countless ghosts who died unjustly and in vain in that deep palace compound! Therefore, starting from the beginning of July, the palace will send people to collect opera troupes from the people, perform plays to reward the gods, and hold a grand "Pudu" ceremony!
As for the folk girl who, according to legend, rose to the rank of concubine in just a few days, she was brought in by the troupe. After the troupe sang the opera, she danced to relieve everyone's fatigue. It happened that her dance was seen by the emperor, and from then on, the issue of taking concubines began!
In fact, the emperor's inclusion in the harem is a royal matter. To outsiders, it is just a conversation piece after dinner! But the reason why this matter alarmed the former harem was that the "concubine" the emperor accepted was a maiko!
Having a maiko is a common thing for ordinary merchants, but for the royal family, it is a big deal!
Since ancient times, the emperor's harem has always refused to accept useless people. Looking at the concubines in the entire harem, the maternal clan behind them are all either rich or noble, and they are all useful to the court. Now, the emperor suddenly favors a maiko with no identity background. This matter is big or small! Speaking more broadly, if the harem is turned upside down, the previous dynasty will not be stable. To put it mildly, it is just the emperor's personal selfishness and does not affect others!
However, from Bai Yanqing's point of view, it has nothing to do with him whether she is a concubine or a concubine. Such an episode is of little importance to the Bai family.
Ghost Festival.
On the Ghost Festival, according to custom, ancestors are worshipped. One is to remember the deceased relatives, and the other is to burn some paper foil to give to the lonely ghosts.
Early in the morning, everyone in the White House was busy, preparing abundant sacrifices, paper foils, incense, etc...
Under the leadership of Bai Jingxuan, Bai Yanqing cleaned the Bai family ancestral hall cleanly. The ancestors' tablets were also wiped by their father and daughter themselves, and they did not pretend to be others at all!
At noon, Bai Jingxuan and his daughter respectfully brought out the tablets of their ancestors. Then the sacrifices are placed on the offering table, and incense is placed in front of each ancestor's tablet. Finally, a brazier is placed in front of the ancestral hall and a futon is placed on the ground.
After everything was ready, under the control of Bai Jingxuan, the only male member of the Bai family, the Bai family, in order of seniority and age, knelt down, kowtowed, and prayed silently, praying that the ancestors of the Bai family would bless the Bai family's safety and success!
Although Bai Furong was a married daughter, after she and the Lai family reconciled and divorced, Bai Jingxuan made the decision and admitted her into the Bai family's clan. Therefore, she and Lai Bizhi were also given by Bai Jingxuan during the ancestor worship on the Ghost Festival. Called over.
"Yan Qing, come here and order some paper."
After everyone kowtowed, they stood on both sides. At this time, Bai Jingxuan suddenly spoke and called Bai Yanqing to count the paper money. This move is unreasonable, because since ancient times, only men have lit fires and burned paper to worship their ancestors, and I have never heard of a daughter's family doing this.
Moreover, because of Ren's presence, she would never let women get their hands on these things. In Ren's view, when a woman marries and obeys her husband, she will not be able to join her natal family, and secondly, she will not be able to enjoy the incense of her natal family or receive the blessings of her ancestors.
But now, Bai Jingxuan only has one daughter, Bai Yanqing. Not to mention that she is not married yet, even if she gets married in the future, she will still be a descendant of the Bai family! Bai Jingxuan doesn't have so many taboos, so in his opinion, daughters can inherit the family's incense and bloodline just like sons.
"No! How can my daughter's family tarnish our ancestors?"
As expected, Ren opened his mouth to stop him.
Bai Yanqing was stunned and looked straight at Bai Jingxuan. Before he could speak, Bai Yanqing suddenly spoke on her own.
"How can my daughter's family tarnish our ancestors? Not to mention now, even in the future, I will honor our ancestors for our Bai family. Since I am the daughter of our ancestors, how can I tarnish my words? Grandma still has to be careful about what she says in front of her ancestors! Be careful. ...Today is the Hungry Ghost Festival!"
After Bai Yanqing finished speaking, she squinted her eyes and glanced at Ren, then turned her head and glanced at the ancestors of the Bai family. That look inexplicably made Ren feel a bit chilly from the soles of her feet! Ren was so frightened that she stopped talking!
Bai Yanqing stepped forward unhurriedly, and together with Bai Jingxuan, listed the Bai family as ancestors, burned paper money, and kowtowed. Until the end of the ancestor worship ceremony, Bai Yanqing followed Bai Jingxuan the whole time.
After worshiping the ancestors, it’s time for the family to gather together for a meal.
Just when everyone was sitting down and about to use their chopsticks, there was a burst of noise in front of the gate of Baifu! Not long after, a servant urgently reported that the concubine from the palace had come to the Bai Mansion!
Who is Libi? Why come to Baifu?
Everyone looked at each other, at a loss! What is the purpose of this sudden visit to the White House? Moreover, in the Bai family, except for Ji Jinchu, who was an old acquaintance of the deceased, there is no one who knows the concubines in the palace!
Just when everyone was confused, there was already a palace official over there with a high-pitched voice, shouting, "Empress Li is here!"
Seeing this, Bai Jingxuan led everyone in the Bai family to greet him.
When he saw the "Beautiful Concubine", not only Bai Jingxuan was shocked, but the entire Bai Mansion was also shocked!
This Concubine Li is not someone else, but Lai Feiyan who left in a hurry earlier!
Lai Feiyan... Libi!
Bai Yanqing suddenly seemed to have figured something out. She raised her head suddenly and glanced at Bai Jingxuan. The father and daughter had a tacit understanding and understood each other's meaning in each other's eyes!
Could it be that the legendary concubine who was favored by the emperor for many days, the folk girl who rose from an ordinary dancing prostitute to a sixth-grade "concubine" in just a few days, was actually Lai Feiyan!
That makes sense!
"Bold! Kneel down quickly when you see Empress Li!"
The palace attendant behind Lai Feiyan yelled at her throat.
Bai Yanqing suddenly felt a little pain in her head. She didn't want to rely on Feiyan!
"Who is bold? My father-in-law, my father is the prime minister of the first rank of the dynasty, how can he kneel down to a concubine of the sixth rank? Are these words spreading out to make people laugh at the emperor?"
As soon as Bai Yanqing said these words, the eunuch who suddenly choked had nothing to say.
"Oh? If that's the case, you, you guys, can't kneel down? Huh?"
At that time, Lai Feiyan had lost the submissiveness of the previous days, and had a bit of arrogance all over her body! She stared at Bai Yanqing, her eyes full of pride. Lai Feiyan probably thought that she could finally defeat Bai Yanqing this time, right?
"We? My mother is the daughter of a Zhengyipinzhenguo general. My father is the Prime Minister of the current Zhengyipin. I am the candidate for the prince's concubine appointed by the emperor! Concubine Li, guess, is it you who wants to kneel to me or me? Kneeling to you? Do you think you can bear my kneeling? "
Bai Yanqing sneered.
Lai Feiyan returned to the Bai Mansion today, didn't she want to show off her power? Then she really made the wrong calculation! She feels that Bai Yanqing is still as young and pitiful as she was when she was a child. Should she let her bully her?
"The people in front of you, one is your maternal grandmother, one is your biological mother, and the other is your biological sister. Who do you want to kneel down to you?"
Bai Yanqing turned against Lai Feiyan's army and forced Lai Feiyan to say nothing!
Of course it was impossible for Lai Feiyan to really let her mother and sister kneel to her in front of so many people! Wouldn't this kill her?
"I guess, Empress Li's concubine chose to return to the White Mansion today just to stage a family reunion drama with us, right?"
Bai Yanqing didn't think anything good could happen if Lai Feiyan came to Bai Mansion on the Ghost Festival.
As if Bai Yanqing had dispelled his idea, Lai Feiyan's face turned red and white. She waved her hand and dismissed everyone behind her, and then entered Bai Jingxuan's study with Bai Jingxuan's father and daughter, Ren Shi, and Bai Furong's mother and daughter.
Bai Furong, her daughter, and Ren had obviously not recovered from the shock just now. It was not until Lai Feiyan stood upright in front of them that they started to tremble tremblingly. They were about to kneel down and kowtow, but Bai Yanqing grabbed him and stopped him. .
Lai Feiyan chose to come back today, so she must have something to do. Bai Yanqing doesn't want to waste time on these red tapes. If they want to worship, then they can do it in private. Bai Yanqing doesn't want to see them groveling like this.
"Empress Li, please tell me if you have anything to say."
After Lai Feiyan severed her relationship with the Bai family last time, Bai Jingxuan finally saw through this niece. He didn't bother to deal with her, so he spoke directly and got to the point.
"It's true...it's nothing important...it's just that I want to catch up with my uncle, mother, and grandma to catch up on old times!"
Lai Feiyan was coy and tried to find something to say, trying to open up the topic under the pretext of reminiscing about old times.
Seeing Lai Feiyan being so coquettish, Bai Yanqing really felt helpless!
Dogs can't change eating shit. This is absolutely true!
