The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Blessed people, every day is an auspicious day.

On the third day after Zhou Hexuan came to San Francisco, Situ Meitang opened an altar for him and held an induction ceremony.

This morning, the Loyalty Hall at Wuzhou Hongmen Headquarters opened. In front of the hall, there is a "Five Ancestor Tablet" offering sacrifices to the "Statue of Emperor Guan".

The items on the incense hall include incense burner, official umbrella, seven-star knife, seven-star sword, Hong stick, ink fountain, etc. On the case, there are abacus, Hong lamp, ruler, scale, mirror, scissors, peach branches, bead strings, wooden fish and so on. Another bridge is set up under the case, paved with copper and iron plates.

These items are all symbolic. For example, the scale represents justice and selflessness, the mirror can reflect people's good and evil, the ruler is used to measure the words and deeds of Hongmen disciples, and the peach branch represents the three-way friendship in Taoyuan. In order to have peach branches available every time the incense hall is set up, Hongmen even planted dozens of peach trees.

Zhou Hexuan stood guard outside the hall, only hearing the shout from inside:

"Open the altar!"

"Congratulations Xiangchang!"

Situ Meitang was the first to enter, and after worshiping the Five Ancestors and the statue of Emperor Guan, he sat on the dragon head throne in the front.

"There is an alliance certificate!"

"Mengzheng" is the witness at the time of the oath. Like "Xinfu", it is also a first-class position, usually held by the elders of the Hongmen.

Here we need to make it clear that for newcomers to worship in Hongmen, it is enough to be witnessed by an ordinary "white flag" (one of the white paper fans, in charge of the law). But Zhou Hexuan is different, he is a "Xin Fu", "Xin Fu" is an outsider who directly sits on a high position in Hongmen, and the "Alliance Certificate" must witness and record the ceremony.

"Please invite the punishment hall!"

The "Punishment Hall" belongs to the inner hall, which is responsible for the criminal law within the door.

"The auditorium is welcome!"

Hongmen has etiquette, and the auditorium is responsible for this.

"Please protect your sword and seal!"

"Guardian" and "Huyin" also belonged to the highest rank members of the Hongmen, and saw two old men holding a sword and a big seal respectively, walking up to stand behind Situ Meitang.

"I invite all hall masters and incense masters to take their seats and watch the ceremony!"

More than a dozen Hongmen bigwigs walked into the Loyalty Hall together, and sat down in their own chairs according to their identities and seniority.

This is just the prelude to the ceremony, the main drama has not yet begun.

I only heard the shout from inside: "Please Xinfu!"

Zhou Hexuan walked in with big strides, and saw the elders of the Hongmen, the hall masters, and the incense masters sitting on the left and right. Situ Meitang's Xiangchang sits at the top, with the sword guard and the seal guard standing behind him, the head of the punishment hall and the hall of auditorium stand below, and the master of the ceremony stands at the bottom of the hall.

Situ Meitang asked: "Where is the recommender?"

Hongmen needs a referrer to join the club, and Liang Dingjiang, the deputy leader who came back from Seattle, got up and said, "Here!"

Situ Meitang asked: "Who is Xinfu's surname, where is his native place, and what contribution has he made to my Hongmen?"

Liang Dingjiang said: "Xinfu's surname is Zhou, his name is Hexuan, and his character is Mingcheng. He is from Zhili. This gentleman is a world-renowned university student, highly respected by Americans, and greatly boosts the prestige and ambition of our Chinese. I implore the Lord Xiang to grant him the new blessing of Hongmen. bit."

Situ Meitang nodded and said, "Yes!"

The head of the punishment hall asked: "I am here to announce the thirty-six oaths of the Hongmen. The first oath, to enter my Hongmen, your parents are my parents, your brothers and sisters are my brothers and sisters, your wife is my sister-in-law, and your nephew That is my nephew. If you don’t respect this example, if you don’t think about it, you will break your oath and be destroyed by five thunders! The second oath, if there are parents and brothers, they will die for a hundred years and be buried without silver...Zhou Hexuan, do you wish? Obey the Thirty-Six Oaths?"

Zhou Hexuan said: "I respect the oath."

The master of the criminal hall said: "If you enter my Hongmen, you must not commit the ten taboos in this world. One taboo is to seduce the second wife; , Emperor Guan does not worship; the five taboos forget righteousness at the sight of profit, and do not respect the morals of the world...Zhou Hexuan, are you willing to abide by these ten taboos?"

Zhou Hexuan said, "I am willing to abide by it."

The Master of the Criminal Hall also said: "Those who enter our Hongmen must not collude with officials, bully brothers and sisters-in-law, betray siblings, steal inside and out, molest sisters, wreak no harm on wives and children, shrink back when something happens, and reveal secrets." ...do you remember?"

Zhou Hexuan said: "Keep it in mind."

The head of the punishment hall continued: "If you violate the above taboos and oaths, you will be punished with three swords and six holes. Can you please?"

Zhou Hexuan said, "It's clear."

The headmaster of the auditorium said: "When you enter my Hongmen, you must abide by the etiquette..."

This man talked about Hongmen etiquette for a long time, and also taught Zhou Hexuan some Hongmen incisions, and the ceremony finally entered the final procedure.

In the yard outside the Zhongyi Hall, there was the sound of gongs and drums, which was called "lion dance for auspiciousness".

Then someone brought a bowl of wine, Zhou Hexuan cut his palm, blood dripped into it.

The pigs, cattle and sheep outside the door began to scream wildly. This is to kill three animals, and only important members will be so grand when they join.

After Zhou Hexuan drank the blood wine, Situ Meitang shouted: "Use the seal to open the treasure!"

"Guardian" drew his sword out, "Guardian" opened the seal box, and left the Hongmen seal on the alliance oath document provided by "Alliance Certificate", and Zhou Hexuan also signed on it.

Situ Meitang shouted again: "Reward!"

The Hongmen disciples who were in charge of the preparations and were busy with the initiation ceremony entered one after another. Zhou Hexuan nodded his thanks to them one by one, and began to distribute red envelopes.

Situ Meitang shouted again: "Thank you!"

Those Hongmen disciples who had received the red envelopes lined up in a row, saluted Zhou Hexuan collectively and said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhou, for the reward!"

Situ Meitang continued to shout: "See off the guests!"

Hongmen disciples lined up to leave Loyalty Hall.

Situ Meitang announced with a smile: "Courtesy!"

The entrance ceremony was finally over, and all the bigwigs of the Hongmen stood up one after another, and came over to congratulate Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan's initiation ceremony was too grand. Generally, Hongmen Hall accepts younger brothers, just invite tea, give red envelopes, and seal red packets. It doesn't need to be so complicated at all.

Situ Meitang held Zhou Hexuan's hand, and everyone went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

The banquet was paid for by Hongmen, and Zhou Hexuan, the "Xinfu", was welcome to get started. Hongmen is not like the Green Gang, where they call each other brothers when they first started. However, Zhou Hexuan is a "Guest Qing", so everyone still calls him "Mr. Zhou". As for those ordinary disciples of Hongmen, Zhou Hexuan was honored as "Uncle Zhou".

Zhang Mouzhi, the father-in-law of "Uncle Zhou", was also treated as a distinguished guest, and even their entourage was included in the banquet.

Sun Yongzhen sat at a table with a few ordinary disciples, and he said cheerfully, "Sir, this time it's a good time."

Lu Dafu, the entourage that Zhang Mouzhi brought to the United States, said: "Yes, today is really an eye-opener. I didn't expect to worship Hongmen like this."

Disciples of the Hong family asked about Zhou Hexuan's deeds one after another, but Sun Yongzhen was not good at speaking. If his younger brother Sun Yonghao was present, Zhou Hexuan would definitely be blown away.

As for Zhou Hexuan, after the banquet, he took his father-in-law to visit Situ Meitang alone, and talked about avoiding the (harmonious) condom factory, hoping that Hongmen can help a lot.

The "Chinese Exclusion Act" in the United States only restricts Chinese immigration, and does not prohibit Chinese from setting up companies and factories in the United States. But the United States discriminates against the Chinese for sure. If you want to open a factory, it is best to have a local gang to take care of it, and Hongmen is a very suitable backer.

In order to make friends with Hongmen, Zhou Hexuan also spent his money and directly donated 10,000 US dollars. He also promised that the future contraceptive (harmonious) condom factory will give priority to recruiting Chinese employees, which is very attractive to Hongmen.

Situ Meitang helped them with an idea: "If you want to set up a factory, the first choice is naturally in California. This is the headquarters of Hongmen headquarters. I guarantee that no one will dare to find fault. If you want to open a factory in the east, I suggest New York. I There is an old friend named Roosevelt, he is the governor of New York State, I can introduce you.”

Zhou Hexuan was sweating, the future US President Roosevelt was actually an old friend of Situ Meitang...