Poor Family

  Chapter 47 New Year's Ancestor Worship

This New Year's Eve dinner was extremely depressing, no one in the Hu family said anything, Li Yanqing hurriedly finished a bowl of rice, ate two pieces of bacon, then picked up a bag of bones and said, "Uncle, I'm going back first. "

  Hu Sheng nodded, "I may not be able to run with you tomorrow morning, so run by yourself!"

"I will!"

  Aunt Hu hurriedly served him a bowl of food to make him hungry at night.

   "Thank you, ma'am!"

   "Brother Qing!" Aunt Hu chased him out.

   "Auntie, what's the matter?" Li Yanqing stopped and asked.

Aunt Hu said to him calmly: "My aunt knows that you are a sensible child, but you don't understand some people's ways of the world. You can't tell anyone what you saw today, not even your father. Do you remember what my aunt said? "

   "Don't worry, ma'am! Qing'er understands in her heart."

  Li Yanqing ran home with a bowl in his hand. Just as he threw the bone to Dahei, Li Er and Li San came to him to set off firecrackers. Li Yanqing was bored at home alone, so he went with them.

That night, every household in Liwen Village was laughing and laughing, and there were firecrackers everywhere. Li Yanqing was especially popular. Every household saw him and pulled him in to eat a piece of bacon or a bone. Even Li Er and Li San followed suit. He was naked and his pockets were full of candy.

  But Uncle Hu's house was very quiet, and the lights in the house went out as soon as it got dark.

  Li Yanqing stood on the haystack and looked at Uncle Hu's house, with a lot of emotions in his heart. Uncle Hu's house is a small microcosm. One leaf can tell autumn, and the turbulent years of the Song Dynasty are coming.

  . ． ． ． ． ．

At five o'clock, Li Yanqing got up to run again. He walked through the woods and ran south along the Yongji Canal. At this time, the Yongji Canal was completely frozen, and boats of all sizes were frozen in the water. The drifters of life also temporarily moved to the shore, set up shacks, and waited for the spring to come.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. According to the custom, every household has to worship their ancestors, even these poor drifters. Every shack is busy offering sacrifices to ancestors.

  Li Yanqing ran southward for 20 miles at a stretch, and to the south was another small town, Zhangji Town, with 20 or 30 households, much smaller than Lushan Town. There was only one dilapidated inn, surrounded by large forests and grasslands.

  Today, Li Yanqing was the only one running alone, which was a little unaccustomed to him. He looked around while running. It was around five o'clock in winter, and the sky was still dark.

  There are already a few sparse pedestrians on the official road, which is still much less than usual, after all, today is the first day of the new year.

Li Yanqing suddenly saw a whistle stick carrying a wine gourd by a bush by the side of the road. He hesitated, walked slowly, and then saw a man on the grass, that was the man from yesterday. She sleeps here with a small bundle under her head and Fan Yang hat on her face.

   It's not that this man doesn't have money, and he can go to Zhangji Town to stay for a mile to the south, but this man would rather sleep in the open. ． ． ． ． ． ．

  Li Yanqing saw that his foot moved, so he didn't dare to think about it, and ran northward at a faster pace.

Of course you don’t need to go to school today, but Maoshi is exactly at six o’clock in the morning. The Li family will start worshiping their ancestors. His father repeatedly told him not to be late. A quarter of an hour later, he didn't have time to go back to the village, so he ran directly to Lushan Town.

  The newly repaired ancestral hall is much larger than the original one, but the layout has not changed. The building is exactly the same as before, mainly because the courtyard has become bigger.

The inside and outside of the ancestral hall were already crowded with hundreds of members of the Li clan. People from Lushan, Qianshan, Wencun and Songhe Sifang all rushed to the ancestral hall, as did people from the county, and some even came from Come back from the field.

Ding Xingwang, a member of the Li family, multiplied from four males to more than 300 people in just over a hundred years. This is also a microcosm of the social stability and economic development of the Song Dynasty. appeared gradually.

  The ancestor worship hadn't started yet, and the clansmen gathered together to chat in twos and threes. Only the dozen or so clansmen who participated in the preparations for the ancestor worship were extremely busy, coming in and out continuously.

At this time, Li Yanqing saw his father, Li Daqi, who was sitting at the door in charge of registration, surrounded by more than a dozen tribesmen. Although his father looked a little tired, his face was flushed and he was very excited. After years of being left out in the cold, he finally got attention this year. Of course he felt very at ease.

  Li Daqi also saw his son, he pointed to the yard with his pen, and told Li Yanqing to play in the yard first, he was too busy to come and say hello.

Li Yanqing walked into the courtyard, the courtyard was full of lanterns, it was as bright as day, and it was crowded with clansmen just like the outside, and there was a man in his thirties sitting under the old locust tree, surrounded by a large group of teenagers and young people with.

   "You don't know that the capital is full of money. For us, it takes two or three years to save ten guan money, but for the people of the capital, it is the money for a meal."

People around exclaimed, everyone's eyes showed envy, Li Yanqing knew who this person was, he was a clansman from Qianshan Village, his name was Li Dongdong, according to his fourth uncle Li Daguang, he seemed to have opened a teahouse in the capital, He is a well-behaved person in the clan, and he just came back from the capital to worship his ancestors.

  Li Yanqing also curiously huddled among a group of teenagers, listening to what he had seen and heard in the capital.

   "It's the Ching Ming Festival, and pumpkins are just on the market. How much do we sell for a pair of fresh pumpkins?"

   "Ten pennies at most!" A teenager said.

   "But you know how much it sells in the capital. A pair of fresh pumpkins that have just hit the market cost thirty taels of silver."

  The people around were in an uproar again, and Li Feng waved excitedly: "Then let's quickly transport the pumpkins and sell them, wouldn't we make a fortune!"

  Li Yanqing couldn't help but sneered and said, "After two or three days, ten cents won't be worth it anymore."

  Li Feng recognized Li Yanqing, blushed, and quickly turned away, pretending not to see him.

Li Dongdong smiled and said: "This little brother is right. People in the capital just want to save face. Few families can afford pumpkins worth thirty taels of silver. Some big families don't eat them after buying them, but tie them with red strings. Hanging it in front of the gate means that they are rich and can afford to buy new pumpkins, and in a few days there will be a lot of pumpkins on the market, and a pair will only cost six or seven dollars.”

  At this time, Li Wengui came out of the main hall with a livid face and shouted, "The time is coming, let's start queuing up!"

Of course, it is impossible for two or three hundred people to enter the main hall to worship. Only a few elderly clansmen can enter the hall to worship, and everyone else worships in the courtyard. Even children under the age of twelve cannot even enter the courtyard and can only stand. outside the courtyard.

   The courtyard was in chaos, everyone was looking for teams in each room, but Li Yanqing was about to sneak out, since he was not allowed to enter the courtyard under the age of twelve, of course he had to go out.

At this time, someone patted him on the shoulder, and when Li Yanqing turned around, it was Li Dongdong from just now. There are not so good Spring Festival couplets in Beijing, but it is a pity that I knew it too late, otherwise I would have made a small fortune this year."

  Li Yanqing understood what he meant, so he said with a smile: "I probably wrote seventy or eighty pieces this year! Copy them down, won't I be able to make money next year?"

   Li Dongdong's eyes narrowed into slits with a smile. This is a good idea. This kid is smarter than himself, and he is also good at doing business.

  He thought for a while and said: "On the fifth day of the first lunar month, I want to set up a few tables of wine at home. Brother Qing will come too! I invite you to sit at the main table."

   "How can I sit at the head table?"

   "Don't care about the seat, just come!"

  Li Yanqing also had some ideas, and just in time to communicate with this Uncle Dong, he agreed with a smile.

  At this moment, Li Wenyou squeezed over, "Qing'er, why are you here? I've been looking for you everywhere."

Li Dongdong hurriedly saluted the patriarch, but Li Wenyou ignored him and pulled Li Yanqing aside, "You will also enter the main hall to worship later, if Du Baozheng says something nasty, just ignore him, everything is up to me call the shots."

Li Yanqing knew that the patriarch and brothers were having conflicts for him again, so he said: "The patriarch forgot what I said, the matter of the great ancestor must not be publicized, there are many people in the clan, if some gossip gets into the ears of the government, it will cause trouble It’s fine, I’ll stay outside! It’s not breaking family rules, and you don’t have to worry about everyone’s comments.”

   What Li Yanqing said made sense, Li Wenyou was a little embarrassed for a moment, he was worried that the spirit of the great ancestor would be unhappy.

  Li Yanqing then took out the copper plum, the leader of the Boys' Association, and handed it to him, "Put it on the altar, and Dazu won't blame the patriarch."

  Li Wenyou was overjoyed, Li Yanqing was thoughtful, he quickly took the copper plum and said: "It's up to you, you worship in the courtyard, don't go out."

   "Go to the patriarch! I know."

  Li Wenyou hurriedly left with a few instructions, but Li Yanqing turned around and walked out of the courtyard. He still had to kowtow to worship in the courtyard, so he didn't want to! Still more comfortable outside.

  More importantly, Li Yanqing was in a hurry to go back to the village. The man he saw on the road still made him worry. He had to rush back to remind Uncle Hu that the man had not left Tangyin County.

  'Boom! ’ A bell rang in the ancestral hall, it was time for Mao, and the ancestor worship ceremony began. Li Yanqing took the opportunity to leave the ancestral hall and ran towards Li Wen Village.

   Book friends who still have recommendation tickets, please vote for Lao Gao!

  (end of this chapter)