Lujiazhuang is a very quaint and typical northwest courtyard that retains a lot of ancient villages, and there are hundreds of families with the surname Lu, and there is no outdoor household and miscellaneous surname.

Lu Nianzi introduced to Ye Ming in the car: The ancestor of the Lujiazhuang clan moved here from other places during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, through hundreds of years of reproduction, many children surnamed Lu went to Huguang, Sichuan, and Xikou, and moved away a lot of branches, only the Taizu of Secretary Lu has been thriving in Lujiazhuang, and has not moved away, and has developed into the current Dazhuang courtyard with a population of thousands and hundreds of households.

And this branch of the Lu secretary's lineage, its ancestor Chongyuan Gong was once the Hanlin of the Qing Xianfeng Dynasty, and later the official to the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, to the generation of the Lu secretary's father, their lineage has always been a farming and reading heirloom, and it is also the only scholarly family in Lujiazhuang.

It's just that starting from Secretary Lu's grandfather, their lineage is not prosperous, and by the time Secretary Lu arrived, it had been two generations of single transmission.

It's just that because Secretary Lu and their ancestors have been kind to people for generations, often helping poor clansmen, and the relationship with the clansmen is very good, and they have also been unanimously supported and admired by the clansmen, so the ancestors, great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and fathers of Secretary Lu are all patriarchs elected by the people surnamed Lu in Lujiazhuang. That's why another old man who is closest to Secretary Lu's lineage was selected to serve as the patriarch.

Because Secretary Lu is the largest official in Lujiazhuang for hundreds of years, even bigger than his ancestor, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites Chongyuan Gong, therefore, the people of Lujiazhuang are proud of him, for this time Secretary Lu's father's eighty life, the people in the clan attach great importance to it, and they are ready to sacrifice and go to the grave early.

Therefore, when Ye Ming and they walked to the entrance of Lujiazhuang village, the folk band in the village was already waiting there, and the moment Ye Ming and they stepped into Lujiazhuang, the drums and firecrackers were deafening, and the village cadres and elders of the clan all greeted them, bowed to Secretary Li, Ye Ming and others, and welcomed them into the village according to traditional customs.

The old house of Secretary Lu's family, or his grandfather built, is a courtyard house with blue bricks, gray tiles and white walls, ancient sè ancient fragrance, elegant atmosphere, the gate of the courtyard squats a pair of mighty bluestone lions, hanging high on a black lacquer plaque in the middle of the gate, engraved with three gilt characters: "Rong Yi Tang", there is a couplet under the plaque: "Loyal and generous heirlooms, poems and books are long", and the horizontal batch is four big characters: "Cultivating goodness and cultivating virtue".

After entering the courtyard, there is a small garden inside, there is a stone road leading to the back of the hall, this hall is now actually the ancestral hall of the Lu secretary and their branch, and there is also a couplet at the door: "Do not forget filial piety for housekeeping, but also hope that poems and books are written by the ancestors." The horizontal batch is "cautious and chasing the distance".

Lu Nianzi told Ye Ming: These couplets are all written by grandfathers, and the central meaning is one: I hope that my children and grandchildren will pass on poems and books, don't fall into the world, and don't forget the roots of cultivating and reading heirlooms.

When Ye Ming entered this ancient courtyard, he had a very strange feeling in his heart, he always felt as if he had been to this place, and he always felt that the things in this courtyard were very familiar to him, just like the feeling of a wanderer who had been away from his hometown for many years and came back to pay homage to his ancestral ancestral hall.

So, he secretly said to Lu Nianzi: "Sister, how do I feel as if I have come to this big mansion, many things in it, I look very familiar, as if I have seen it in a dream, what is going on." ”

Lu Nianzi was shocked when he heard him suddenly say such a few earth-shattering words, wondering if this was the legendary telepathy.

So, she hurriedly smiled and said, "Xiao Yezi, in our big mansion, you can see similar houses in many movies and televisions, so I guess you think of the scenes in movies and television, and you feel as if you have been here, so don't think about it, hurry up and go into the hall." ”

As he spoke, he took him by the hand and came to the hall, pointed to the photo of her grandfather on the shrine in front of the hall, and said, "Look, that's grandpa, you go and bow to his old man first, kowtow to him a few times, and let him recognize your grandson first." ”

Ye Ming saw that a large offering table had been set up in the hall house, which was full of all kinds of offerings: a whole pig, a whole sheep, a chicken, a liter of rice, a plate of glutinous rice, and three plates of fruits.

Several old men stood on both sides of the table with solemn faces, their hands drooping, their eyes staring at Ye Ming tightly, there was a set of musical instruments on both sides of the hall, there were gongs and drums, suona, flutes, cymbals, and several musicians sat on the stools on both sides, ready to play music to help mourn.

Ye Ming walked to the front of the shrine first, knelt down on a mat, and respectfully kowtowed three times, and then, Lu Nianzi and Zhang Linjiang also went over and kowtowed, and then, Chen Mengqi, Li Wuan and others all went to kneel in front of the statue of Old Man Lu.

After Ye Ming retreated to the door of the hall, he took a closer look at the sacrifices on the offering table, and guessed that what he was going to hold today was the most solemn "pig and sheep sacrifice", that is, there would be a whole pig and a whole sheep in the sacrifice, which was the most solemn ceremony to commemorate the ancestors in ancient times.

After everyone knelt down and bowed, a patriarch of the main priest came over, made a gesture to Ye Ming, and shouted in a thick local accent: "Please take the seat of the main priest and play music." ”

With this shout, the hall suddenly rang bells and drums, and the music was melodious, and the patriarch of the main priest guided Ye Ming to stand on the edge of a cushion in front of the offering table, and then shouted again: "Stop, please kneel down the guest of honor." ”

Ye Ming hurriedly knelt on the mat, hung his head, and listened to the chief priest read aloud a text written by Secretary Lu for his father in a long tone.

After reading the text, the celebrant shouted again: "Pray." ”

Ye Ming hurriedly bent down and bowed, and heard the chief priest shouting, "Xing,." Then he straightened his waist, and then he said, "Worship, rejoice." After three prostrations, the celebrant shouted, "Flat, the guest of honor advances from the western steps to the shrine and kneels." ”

Ye Ming quickly stood up, came to the shrine from the west, knelt down again, bowed three times again, and then retreated from the east.

In this way, three consecutive prayers were prayed before the sacrifice was declared.

Lu Nianzi had already prepared two thousand yuan in cash for him, and after he completed the sacrificial ceremony, he stuffed the money into his hand and motioned him to put it on the red lacquered wooden plate containing rice on the offering table, which was the "sacrificial fee" for the main priest and the band.

After the sacrificial ceremony, the clan elders took Ye Ming to the ancestral tomb outside Lujiazhuang and instructed him to give the old man Lu the grave according to the etiquette, and the whole sacrificial ceremony was over.