Lujiazhuang is a very simple and typical northwest courtyard with many ancient manors. There are hundreds of families of the Lu family, and there are no outdoor households or miscellaneous surnames.
Lu Nianzi introduced to Ye Ming in the car: The ancestor of the Lujiazhuang clan was moved here from another place during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. After hundreds of years of reproduction, many children of the Lu surname went to Huguang again. Going to Sichuan, going to the west entrance, moved many branches, only the branch of Taizu of Secretary Lu, has been thriving in Lujiazhuang, but has not moved away, and has developed into the current family with thousands of people and hundreds of households. The Lu family's house.
This branch of the clan lineage of Secretary Lu's family, whose ancestor, Emperor Chongyuan, was once a Hanlin in the Xianfeng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty. Later, he became the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. From the generation of Secretary Lu's father, their clan lineage has always been a family of farming and reading. , it is also the only scholarly family in Lujiazhuang.
However, starting from Secretary Lu's grandfather, their clan lineage was not prosperous, and by the time of Secretary Lu, it had been a single generation.
However, because Secretary Lu and his ancestors have been kind to others for generations, often helping the poor, they have very good relations with the tribesmen, and have also been unanimously supported and respected by the tribesmen. Therefore, Secretary Lu's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father, all of them are It was the patriarch recommended by the Lu clan of Lu family in Lujiazhuang. Originally, people from Lujiazhuang also wanted to recommend Secretary Lu as the patriarch, but because he has been an official in the capital and rarely has the opportunity to return to his hometown, he chose another one. An old man closest to Secretary Lu, the clan corpse, served as the patriarch.
Since Secretary Lu is the largest official in Lujiazhuang in hundreds of years, even greater than his Gaozu and the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites Chongyuan, the people in Lujiazhuang are proud of him. This time, Secretary Lu’s father’s eighty-year-old birthday was taken seriously by people in the clan, and they prepared for sacrifices and graves early.
Therefore, when Ye Ming and his friends walked to the entrance of Lujiazhuang, the village folk band had already been waiting there. The moment Ye Ming and his friends stepped into Lujiazhuang, drums and music were heard, firecrackers were deafening, and the cadres in the village were The elders of the clan all came out and bowed to Secretary Li, Ye Ming and others, and welcomed them into the village according to traditional customs.
Secretary Lu's old house was built by his grandfather. It is a courtyard with blue bricks, gray tiles and white walls. It is antique and elegant. At the gate of the courtyard, a pair of mighty bluestone lions squatted high in the middle of the gate. There are three large gilded characters engraved on the black lacquer plaque: "Rongyitang". There is a couplet under the plaque: "Loyalty and integrity are passed down from generation to generation, and poetry and calligraphy are the longest." The horizontal banner is made of four large characters: "Cultivate goodness and virtue."
After entering the courtyard, there is a small garden inside, with a stone corridor leading to the main hall behind. This main hall is actually the ancestral hall of Secretary Lu and his sect. There is also a couplet at the door: "Don't forget to be filial and friendly, and the housekeeping service." , I also hope to write poetry and books to carry the ancestral whip." The horizontal banner is "careful to pursue the distance".
Lu Nianzi told Ye Ming: All these couplets were written by grandfather, and the central meaning was: I hope that my children and grandchildren will pass on the world through poetry and books, and will not fall into the world, and will not forget the fundamental reason for farming and reading to pass on the family.
When Ye Ming entered this ancient courtyard, he felt a very strange feeling in his heart. He always felt as if he had been to this place before. He always felt that the things in this courtyard looked very familiar, just like a person who had been away from his hometown for many years. The wanderer who came back to visit his ancestral hall felt the same. This feeling of familiarity surprised him, but he was not sure.
So he secretly said to Lu Nianzi: "Sister, why do I feel like I have been to this big mansion? Many things in it seem familiar to me, as if I have seen them in a dream. Just the same thing, what's going on."
When Lu Nianzi heard these shocking words suddenly appear, she was shocked and wondered if this was the legendary telepathy.
So she quickly smiled concealedly and said, "Xiao Yezi, our big mansion can see similar houses in many movies and TVs, so I guess you remembered the scenes in movies and TVs, I feel like you have been here before, so don’t think about anything, hurry up and go into the main hall.”
As he said that, he took his hand and came to the main hall, pointed to the photo of her grandfather on the shrine directly in front of the main hall and said, "Look, that's grandfather. You can kneel down and bow to him first, kowtow to him a few times, and let him Recognize your grandson first.”
Ye Ming saw that a large altar had been set up in the center of the main hall, with various sacrifices placed on it: a whole pig, a whole sheep, a chicken, a liter of rice, a plate of glutinous rice, and three plates of fruit.
Several old men stood on both sides of the table with solemn faces, their hands drooping, and their eyes were staring at Ye Ming tightly. There was also a set of musical instruments on both sides of the main hall, including gongs and drums, suona, flutes, and cymbals. Several musicians sat on both sides. On the stool, you are ready to play music and mourn.
Ye Ming first walked to the front of the shrine, knelt down on a mat, and bowed three respectfully. Then, Lu Nianzi and Zhang Linjiang also went over to kowtow. Next, Chen Mengqi, Li Wuan and others went to Mr. Lu's portrait. Kneel in front of you.
After Ye Ming retreated to the door of the main hall, he carefully looked at the offerings on the altar and guessed that what he was going to hold today was the most solemn "pig and sheep sacrifice", which means that there would be a whole pig in the offerings. , The whole sheep, this is the most solemn ceremony to commemorate ancestors in ancient times.
After everyone knelt down and worshipped, a clan elder of the main priest came over, bowed to Ye Ming, shouting in a strong local accent: "Please ask the main priest to enter the seat and play music."
With this shout, the bell and drums suddenly rang in the main hall, and the music was melodious. The clan elder of the main priest guided Ye Ming to stand beside a mat in front of the altar, and then shouted again: "Leju, please kneel down. .”
Ye Ming quickly knelt on the mat and hung his head down. He listened to the priest's elders in a long tone to read a essay on the 80th birthday of the latent life written by Secretary Lu for his father.
After reading the sacrificial text, the priest shouted again: "Bless,."
Ye Ming quickly bent down and bowed. When he heard the priest shouting "Xing," he straightened his waist, and then he said "Wai, Xing,." He kept bowing three times, and then shouted: "Flat, The priest went from the west stairs to the shrine and knelt."
Ye Ming quickly stood up, came from the west to the shrine, knelt down again, bowed three times again, and then retreated from the east.
It was like this that the sacrifice ended three times in a row.
Lu Nianzi had already prepared two thousand yuan in cash for him. After he completed the sacrificial ceremony, he stuffed the money into his hands and signaled him to put it in the red painted wooden plate containing rice on the altar. This is for the Lord's sacrifice. and the band’s “sacrificial fees”.
After the sacrificial ceremony, the clan elders took Ye Ming to the ancestral tomb outside Lujiazhuang and directed him to visit Mr. Lu according to the etiquette, and the entire sacrificial ceremony was over.