Wait for Mrs. Zhang, mother and daughter to kneel in front of the spirit.

The housekeeper of the deacon in front of the spirit waved his hand at the servants outside, and the county magistrate of the Republic of Ping'an County paced the square steps, brought two retinues dressed as masters, and walked in.

He offered incense, bowed again, and took out a half-written and half-white sacrificial text to read.

The sacrificial text is written beautifully and exaggeratedly, and it seems that a lot of thought has been put into it, but it is a pity that the mourning hall is not a place to discuss the Tao.

"Uh......h Woo......"

Zhang Meixi heard the pile of people behind her, and hummed a long sad tone in achime.

The first person kneeling in front of the spirit is his current father, Uncle Zhang, the second is his mother-in-law, Mrs. Zhang, and Zhang Meixi herself is kneeling in the third.

The fourth is a well-behaved and naïve little boy, seven or eight years old, this is the temporary younger brother, the third young master of the Zhou family, the righteous son of the father just recognized, used to temporarily act as a grandson, and to give the old lady a spirit flag on the way to go......

In the back pile, the aunts and wives of the family, both grandfathers and fathers, knelt down in a large area, there were always twenty or thirty, and they were all famous.

Speaking of which, the people in this old house of the Zhang family are too thin, and the serious master can count them with a slap, the old lady, the old lady, the uncle, the eldest wife, and the eldest girl Zhang Meixi.

Now that the old lady is gone, the owner of the Zhang family is one less, to be exact, there are two less, the third-generation only seedling granddaughter has also gone with the old lady, and now the kneeling on the mat is a girl of the same name who was worn a hundred years later.

The county magistrate who came to worship the old lady was surnamed Zhang, although he had the same surname as the Zhang family, he had no friendship before, because the county magistrate had only been parachuted in for more than a month.

Although County Magistrate Zhang has only seen Uncle Zhang's once, and Mrs. Zhang has never seen it once, it does not affect his gorgeous and smooth writing of this sacrificial text, which is extremely sad.

After the memorial was recited, it was incinerated in front of the spirit, and the county magistrate Zhang Wen Yan comforted the Zhang family to mourn, and Mrs. Zhang and Zhang Meixi followed to salute and thank you.

Zhang Meixi raised her head slightly, and saw that the county elder was in his fifties, wearing two round thick glasses, wearing a black cocoon silk horse coat, and a big thumb-thick gold chain was tied on the horse coat, and the gold chain hung obliquely, guessing that it should be a pocket watch.

The county magistrate Zhang is very interested in talking to the uncle of the Zhang family, but helplessly people are guarding filial piety, and it is not good to delay people's "sorrow for filial piety", and when I asked about the old lady of the Zhang family, the reply I got was that I was too sad, sick in bed, and could not see guests.

So I could only say a few polite words, and soon a polite and thoughtful housekeeper came up to guide me to drink tea, so I had to reluctantly follow out. When I arrived at the teahouse, I saw that the guests were accompanied by high-ranking officials from the transportation bureau of the prefecture, but I didn't feel that I was neglected.

The guests exchanged a few pleasantries, and the conversation in the tea room naturally revolved around the ringing horses with artillery and muskets.

The lunar calendar in Ping'an County, Jinan Prefecture here, just the beginning of autumn, the summer heat has not yet receded, it is commonly known as the autumn tiger weather, the heat is bursting for a while, and the water is boiling.

Although this year is a year of great drought, the Anshui River that runs through Ping'an County is still quite powerful, and the water level is still three points left, and the Zhang family is most willing to spend money to repair the ditches, and the water irrigation is not as good as the dry land that depends on the sky for food, so the loss of summer grain is only 50%.

The Zhang family was benevolent, and reduced the tenants' rent by 20%, and allowed them to deduct it when the autumn grain came down.

For the county residents of Ping'an County, they don't care whether the Qing Dynasty is dead or the Republic of China is rejuvenated.

Unexpectedly, there was a thunder on the ground, and there was a sound of horses and artillery bombing the courtyard wall of the Zhang family's compound, killing an old lady.

All of a sudden, people panicked, but fortunately, the Zhang family quickly dealt with the ringing horse, and held a funeral on a large scale, and the flowing water table was really set up like flowing water.

When everyone in Ping'an County saw the posture of the Zhang family's funeral, their hearts settled down again.

At this time, if you look down from the sky, the Zhangjia compound is a large compound with a small compound in it, a square structure. There is Qingping Mountain on the back, and there is the long flow of the Anhe River in front, which is a good place for livable feng shui.

The blue brick house of the past is now a filial piety shed with a filial piety shed, cloth curtain after cloth curtain, as if suddenly a heavy snowfall, a new outfit, and mixed with the singing of various musical instruments, gongs and drums, suona...... Or alternately, or in unison, to announce a great sorrow to the world.

The old lady of the Zhang family, who was sick and couldn't get up, in the mouth of everyone, did not wear filial piety now, so she wore homely clothes and sat on her own kang, although her body was thin and skinny, her waist was straight and her eyes were shining.

Old lady Zhang took a sip of tea and said to a rich-looking old monk sitting on a big chair under the earthen kang:

"Monks, Taoist priests, nuns, Taoist aunts, and foreign priests each invited fifty, the old lady has been sick for more than ten years, and it can be regarded as a relief.

The old monk was not surprised when he heard that the old lady of the Zhang family arranged for a foreign monk to come to the Catholic missionary to recite the scriptures, because the old house of the Zhang family had done a lot of ridiculous things over the years.

The old monk replied with a smile on his face: "Amitabha." ”

Under the big kang, four or five capable housekeepers wearing filial piety clothes bent over and said yes again and again.

A woman in her thirties who looked festive and dressed in filial piety clothes leaned on the kang head, and carefully picked up the teapot to add Mrs. Zhang's five-point full tea to seven-part full.

Old lady Zhang stretched out her hand and put it on the teacup, did not pick it up and drank it, and said in a low voice:

"Everything in the funeral must be properly consummated, and there is nothing inappropriate and satisfactory in our old Zhang family, except for this Dingkou ......"

Old lady Zhang said the most painful part, so she stopped talking, raised her hand and took another sip of tea, calmed down for a while, and suddenly turned her head to the woman standing underground and said:

"You go to the front yard and tell the big girl, you can't always kneel, you hurt your kneecap, and you have to tell the big girl to eat dinner with me."

The middle-aged woman who got the order answered crisply, turned around and went out to the kitchen to order.

Now the big white things are done in the courtyard of the Zhang family, the flowing water banquet is placed, the large kitchen, the small kitchen, the inner kitchen and the outer kitchen, all of which are connected to work.

The tenant helpers also called more than a dozen, among which there was a cleanest daughter-in-law, who was lucky enough to go to the chef of the kitchen to help, and heard Aunt Li come to order, and the old lady and the aunt had dinner at the same table in the evening.

The daughter-in-law who helped the cook muttered:

"Our Shandong rules, there has never been a woman on the table."

I saw that Aunt Li came over and replied to her with a very face-saving sentence:

"Love hi yell, this Zhang family doesn't have such rules. The eldest girl of the Zhang family has been a single seedling for several generations, and she will inherit this big business in the future, and she will give birth to a husband, which is an ordinary woman. ”

This Aunt Li finished ordering the kitchen, and walked straight to the front mourning hall, and passed the order of the old lady of the Zhang family, so that the eldest girl does not have to kneel, the days are long, don't get hurt, go to the back hall to rest.

Zhang Meixi's body and mind were not in tune enough, and after listening to Aunt Li's words, she just responded to Mu Mu, but Mrs. Zhang next to her answered:

"Let the old lady bother, Aunt Li. Labor you. ”

Zhang Meixi reacted at this time, this is the old aunt who was waiting close to Mrs. Zhang, who has a lot of face, and is half an elder.

Aunt Li saw that Mrs. Zhang was willing to agree to her, and she was happy, but she reacted suddenly, she didn't dare to smile on her face, and slowly retreated to the mat at the back of the crowd and knelt.

A guest came to worship, and Aunt Li followed the sad He Ming.

"Uh......h Woo......"