serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 250

Bursts of ritual and music came from Jia's ancestral hall.

"."

"prosper."

"Bye. Kowtow again!"

"prosper."

"Bye. Kowtow three times!"

"Xing. After the ceremony!"

Under Jia Jing's leadership, Jia Hu and others knelt down to the shrine surrounded by cigarettes, and stood up after paying their respects.

Coming out of the main hall, everyone followed Jiamu to the main hall, where the portraits of Ning Rong and other ancestors were hung. In front of the portraits were hung high brocade curtains, colored screens and incense candles.

Mother Jia led the female relatives in the hall, while Jia Jing, Jia Hu and others stood outside the door. Due to the heavy snowfall, a thick layer of snow soon accumulated on the ground.

The offerings for worshiping ancestors are still in accordance with the old routine of previous years, not only food and soup, but also wine and tea.

The procedure for serving the offerings is to pass the prepared meals to Yimen one by one, and Jia Yun, Jia Zhi and other Jia family children who are standing at Yimen will pick them up, and pass them one by one to Jia Jing who is standing on the steps. Jia Jing handed it to Jia Rong who was standing inside the door.

After Jia Rong received the offering, she passed it on to Qin, who in turn passed it on to Wang Xifeng, Wang Xifeng passed it on to You, You passed it on to Lin Daiyu, and Lin Daiyu passed it on to Mrs. Wang standing in front of the altar. Jia Daixiu and others discussed for more than an hour and made a decision.

Lin Daiyu saw the discomfort on Mrs. Wang's face at a glance, and passed the offerings to Mrs. Wang calmly. Mrs. Wang knew that it was not appropriate to show joy at this moment, so she took the offerings and passed them to Jia Mu, who put the food on the altar table with both hands , Mrs. Xing, standing on the west side of the altar, was responsible for cooperating with Mother Jia to arrange the offerings neatly.

After all the offerings were placed, everyone stood in their seats, and after Jiamu offered incense and bowed down, all the people bowed down to the portraits of Ning Rong and other ancestors.

After paying homage to the ancestors, Jia Jing led Jia Hu and other men to exit the ancestral hall, and then Jia Mu led the female relatives to Ning'an Hall to have tea and wait for everyone to kneel down and salute.

As the old saying goes, no matter how heavy the snow is, it can't stop the New Year. However, Dongcheng is completely silent at the moment. All the shops on the streets of the east and west cities are closed, and many people don't even have New Year pictures and couplets posted in front of their doors.

Suddenly, there was a sound of gongs in the wind and snow, and a servant from Shuntian Prefecture came knocking on the gong: "The market is open—business as usual, and the New Year's Day is over—"

As soon as someone opened the door, the guard knocked on the gong and shouted: "Your Majesty has an order, the business will continue as usual, the New Year is over, and the firecrackers will be set off—"

The street seemed to have become quieter, and suddenly the earth-shattering sound of firecrackers came from a shop.

The guard looked around and saw the door of a grocery store open, and an old man came out of the store crackling, holding a bunch of firecrackers propelled by bamboo poles.

Then, several common people set off firecrackers and set them off lively.

After a while, the whole street was lit with firecrackers, and many old people came out with their children to join in the fun.

The servant from Shuntian Mansion breathed a sigh of relief, knocked on the gong, and shouted loudly: "The market is open—trading as usual, and the annual certificate is over—" turned and walked to another street.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of the East City, the Concierge Courtyard is very deserted.

In the main room of the north house

Ebi, Wuya Ruixing and Xianghuang Banner Zuoling sat silently in front of a big brazier without saying a word.

Xiang Huangqi Zuo Ling couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and walked to the door and opened the thick cotton curtain.

A gust of cold wind immediately blew a lot of snowflakes in.

Xiang Huang Qi Zuo Ling was stunned, he found that there were many criminals standing in the back room, staring closely at this place.

Slowly lowering the door curtain, Zuo Ling with the yellow flag slowly walked towards his seat by the brazier, and after taking two steps, he shouted: "It's too much to bully! The two countries are at war, and if you don't kill them, the people who killed us will not be punished." Forget it, let us write a letter to ask for compensation. Now we are sent to arrest us, this is going to tear us apart!"

Wuya Ruixing put down the tongs in her hand, stood up, walked to the window and looked at the snowflakes falling outside the window, and said, "Countries talk about their strengths. Only when their strengths are equal can a conspiracy work."

After hearing what he said, Zuo Ling Xianghuang Banner couldn't help but cast a glance at O ​​Bi.

O Bi seemed much deeper than usual, he sat there leaning forward, his face full of contemplation, motionless.

Xianghuang Banner Zuoling turned his gaze to Wuya Ruixing again: "Did you think about this day when you were plotting against me?"

Wuya Ruixing smiled coldly, and asked, "Even if we didn't use you to pass false information to Shangjing, do you think that the veteran soldiers of Zhenghuang and Zhengbai flags can defend Shangjing? Don't be naive!"

The leader of Xianghuang Banner turned his gaze to E Bi: "Didn't the Emperor of Han want a list of spies lurking in Gyeonggi? Give it to him. The top priority is for us to be free. As for other things, we can take our time and think long-term."

Wuya Ruixing took the opportunity and said: "This is very reasonable. If we are trapped here, we will be really in danger. Especially those secret reports, they will definitely fall into the hands of the punishment department."

E Bi's expression softened, he stood up, and said, "Okay! I'm going to see the Han emperor now, and find out what happened in the capital by the way!" After finishing speaking, he went straight out.

In Ning’an Hall, four pots of open fires were burned with sandalwood, and there were also incense tripods in the hall, and open fires were also lit with sandalwood inside, and the whole hall was full of fragrance, warm as spring.

Jia Mu was bowed down by everyone, and she was sitting at the top having tea and laughing with several old wives.

Just talking and joking, the old mother came in and said: "Old lady, the aunt and wife's family are here to salute."

Jiamu smiled wryly: "Please come in quickly."

After a while, the old mother led Aunt Xue, Xue Baochai and Xue Baoqin in.

"Greetings to the old lady!"

Aunt Xue walked over with a smile on her face, saluted Jia Mu first, and then said to Baochai and Baoqin, "Kowtow to the old lady!"

Long ago, a girl put two kneeling mats on the ground. Sister Baochai knelt down and kowtowed to Jia Mu.

Mother Jia waved her hand: "Get up, get up quickly." Handing them the purse, she smiled at Aunt Xue and said, "It's hard for you to still think about me in this snowy day. Sit down."

Aunt Xue was busy saluting the old wives of Jia Mu’s generation, and then sat down with a smile: “It’s the end of the year, thanks to the old lady’s care for our orphans and widows, I came here to salute you. We didn’t What kind of unconventional filial piety, is to prepare a few things that the old lady likes to eat on weekdays."

Jia Mu smiled: "My aunt is bothering you."

Aunt Xue: "You're joking. We bothered the old lady."

Mother Jia thought for a while and asked, "Where is my brother?"

Aunt Xue sighed: "That evil one got drunk and lay dead at home."

Mother Jia understood, and asked again, "How does my aunt celebrate the festival this year?"

Aunt Xue replied: "Xue Biao serves his mother to take medicine at home, and we mother and three can just eat whatever we want later, how can we live?"

Mother Jia nodded: "In that case, my aunt will live with us, and it's fun for everyone to be together."

Aunt Xue was secretly happy: "This, this is so embarrassing."

Jia's mother: "The older sisters are going back to accompany their grandson and son, so the concubine should stay with me."

Aunt Xue was overjoyed, and quickly replied: "Yes." Then she said to Baochai and Baoqin, "Thank you, old lady!"

Mother Jia shook her hand: "Go and play with your sisters and sisters."

Baochai replied, "Yes." He took the Baoqin and walked towards Jia Hu and others.

Here Jia Hu is playing dice with their sisters, and it's Xiangyun's turn in this game. One bet is ten coins, and Jia Hu has already lost more than ten taels.

"Oh! I won, I won!"

Before Jia Hu could see clearly, Xiangyun grabbed the dice, grabbed a handful of money, and handed it to Cuilu without counting.

Jia Hu was bewildered, and suddenly saw Tan Chun sitting there laughing, and understood that this girl was cheating on her.

Baochai walked over holding Baoqin, and gave a little blessing: "Second brother."

"Ah."

Jia Hu nodded, gave them the purse that Hu Po handed over, and said with a smile: "There is still half an hour before the banquet, let's sit down and play together."

"Yes." Baochai took the Baoqin and sat down beside Xing Xiuyan.

After losing another round to Yingchun, Jia Hu looked at Baochai, "Where's your brother?"

Baochai hesitated for a moment, then replied, "I'm drunk, rest at home."

Jia Hu smiled.

At this moment, Lin Zhixiao's family hurried over and whispered something in Jia Hu's ear.

Jia Hu was slightly taken aback, threw the dice in his hand, stood up and walked out.

outside study

Yang Jian, the former doctor of the Ministry of Industry, stood by the door and waited respectfully.

The door curtain was raised, and Jia Hu strode in.

Yang Jian plopped down on his knees, kowtowed respectfully, then stood up and strode out.

Watching him go out, Jia Hu smiled. He heard from Jiao Da on the road just now that all the wronged officials were released. Not only were the officials reinstated, they were also given a lot of compensation. The right servant of the Ministry of Industry gave him an explanation.

A right servant of the Ministry of Industry is a pleasant surprise.

(End of this chapter)