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 month of the lunar calendar, 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 month of the lunar calendar.
Therefore, in order to allow people and ghosts in the two realms of yin and yang to do their own thing 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, on the first and second days of the ghost month of the seventh lunar month,
On the fifteenth and last day, paper burning and worship are performed.
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, because of the incident between Lai Guofu and Lai Feiyan, the whole White House was in a state of confusion, so the "Pudu" ceremony on the first and second days of July was slightly lacking.
Now it seems that the Ghost Festival on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is approaching, and everyone in the White House is making a concerted effort to make the "Pudu" ceremony of the Ghost Festival a decent one. On the one hand, they hope to help those who died due to accidents.
, the lonely ghosts who are unable to enter reincarnation and are wandering outside should be reincarnated as soon as possible and start a new life. On the other hand, we also hope that we can save those dead souls and hope that they will no longer disturb the living people.
While everyone in the White House was busy preparing sacrifices for the Ghost Festival, a piece of news unexpectedly came from the palace: The emperor has accepted a concubine!
The emperor is now nearly half a century 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 recruit new people?
It is nothing new for the emperor to accept a new person into the harem. It should not have made such a big fuss. But the strange thing is that the concubine the emperor accepted was from the common people! And according to people familiar with the matter, the one he 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, in that deep palace compound, there are countless ghosts who died unjustly and in vain! Therefore, since the beginning of July, together
, 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 legendary folk girl who rose to the rank of concubine in just a few days, she was brought in by the theater troupe. After the theater troupe sang the play, she danced to relieve the fatigue of everyone. But she was the only one who became a concubine.
Dance, let the emperor see it, and then the matter of accepting concubines later came into being!
In fact, the emperor's acceptance into the harem is a royal matter. To outsiders, it is nothing more than a conversation piece after dinner! But the reason why this matter alarmed the former harem is 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 influence of the emperor's harem has always affected the whole body. The emperor's harem has never accepted useless people. Looking at the concubines in the entire harem, the mothers behind them are all either rich or noble, and they are all available to the court.
place.now
, the emperor suddenly favored a maiko with no background, this matter is big or small! At the most serious level, if the harem is turned upside down, then the previous dynasty will not be stable. At the most small level, it is just the emperor's personal
It’s private and doesn’t bother 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 deceased relatives, and the other is to burn some paper foil to give to the ghosts.
Early in the morning, everyone in the White House was busy, preparing abundant sacrifices, paper foils, incense, etc...
Bai Yanqing, under the leadership of Bai Jingxuan, cleaned the Bai family ancestral hall cleanly. The ancestors' tablets were also wiped by their father and daughter themselves, and they did not touch others at all!
At noon, Bai Jingxuan and his daughter respectfully invited all the ancestors' tablets. They then placed the sacrifices on the table, placed incense in front of each ancestor's tablet, and finally placed a brazier in front of the ancestral hall. , put a futon on the floor.
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 to the ancestors of the Bai family to 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 she was admitted into the Bai family's clan. Therefore, during the ancestor worship on the Ghost Festival, she and Lai Bizhi were also given by Bai Jingxuan. 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 paper money. This move was 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 involved in these things. In Ren's view, when a woman marries and obeys her husband, firstly, she cannot join her natal family, and secondly, she cannot enjoy the incense of her natal family and receive the blessing 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 does not have so many taboos, so in his opinion, daughters are the same as sons. They can all inherit the family's incense and bloodline.
"No! How can my daughter's family tarnish our ancestors?"
As expected, Mrs. Ren spoke up to stop her.
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 should be careful in speaking 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 the Ren family, then turned her head and looked at the ancestors of the Bai family. That look inexplicably made the Ren family feel a bit chilly from the soles of her feet! The Ren family actually I was so frightened that I 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 as everyone was sitting down and about to use their chopsticks, there was a burst of noise in front of the White Mansion! Not long after, a servant urgently informed that the beautiful concubine from the palace had come to the White Mansion!
Who is Libi? Why did she come to Bai Mansion?
Everyone looked at each other, at a loss! What is the purpose of this sudden visit to the Bai Mansion? Besides, no one in the Bai family knew the concubines in the palace except Ji Jinchu who had passed away and was an old acquaintance. ah!
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! Don't you kneel down quickly when you see Empress Li!"
The palace attendant behind Lai Feiyan yelled at the top of his voice.
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 to a concubine of the sixth rank? Are these words spreading, not 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 she had a bit of arrogance all over her body! She stared at Bai Yanqing, her eyes full of pride. Lai Feiyan probably thought that this time, she could finally defeat Bai Yanqing, right?
"We? My mother is the daughter of a Zhengyipinzhengguo general. My father is the Zhengyipin Prime Minister of the current Dynasty. 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 authority? Then she really made the wrong calculation! Does she think Bai Yanqing is still the same as she was when she was a child, young and pitiful, letting her bully her?
"Of 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 the reason why Empress Libin chose to return to the White Mansion today is not 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 her 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, 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 and stopped them.
.
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 had finally seen 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!