The word "Shangxiang" seemed to echo in Shen Kan's heart, and it did not disperse for a long time...

In fact, the level of the whole congratulatory essay is probably a little higher than that of ordinary literati, but this is an article written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself when he first founded the country to trace the ancestors.

There was cigarette smoke in front of the spiritual seat, and Shen Kan, who was standing on the side of the brothers, knelt down and bowed respectfully to the ancestors of the Shen family with the whole family, and there was no impatience on his face.

Because the later generations are also surnamed Shen, there is no trace of resistance, and the respect is completely from the bottom of the heart.

Even so, he breathed a sigh of relief, and said in his heart that it was over, and stood for more than an hour.

At this time, the old man turned around, and said in a deep voice like a bell: "Today I have to set the rules, where I am in the same sect, the moon wheel is one person to be incense." New Year's Day must be gathered, Spring and Autumn Festivals must be gathered, and nothing is avoided. Hmph!"

After speaking, Shen Han flicked his sleeves and left angrily, leaving the big guy looking at each other.

Shen Kan swept the vacant positions in front of him, not only his parents were not there, but the second uncle and his wife were not there, and even the fifth uncle and third brother did not come back, no wonder the old man was angry.

"Let's disperse first." After Shen Jiayou finished speaking, he and his wife hurriedly chased after their mother.

"It looks like next year's house is going to be lively." Shen Kan said to himself.

Later, the family walked out of the ancestral hall, and in front of Shen Kan was the fourth brother Shen Zhuo, and behind him was the sixth brother Shen Li, one with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and the other with a natural black face.

Shen Kan admires this fourth brother very much, because he was born with filial piety, you must know that he was not born to the second aunt, but to the concubine. What is commendable is that he is not only extremely filial to his second aunt, but also extremely friendly with his half-brother Shen Wei since childhood.

It is said that his biological mother has long since died, and he has been raised by his second aunt since he was a child.

The sixth brother Shen Li is an honest little fat man, the same second son as Shen Zhuo, but the difference is that he is the fourth aunt's own son. It's just that the eldest son of the fourth uncle died early, and he was not born like his father and mother at all, and he was not loved by his father since he was a child.

In ancient times, the demeanor and appearance of the scholar were very important, and this was also a society that looked at faces. Thinking that the appearance and figure of the Shen family are generally good, it is reasonable that Shen Li, who was born fat and dark-faced, is not welcomed.

is not loved by his father, so Shen Li has not liked to laugh since he was a child, and his grades in reading are average.

Shen Li has an advantage - Shanyi, perhaps related to his withdrawn character, he never leaves his chess game all day long, and when he plays chess at a young age, the Shen family has almost no opponents, and he is quite famous in the local chess world.

In addition, among the brothers of the same generation, there are twelve-year-old Shen You and twelve-year-old Shen You, both of whom are concubines, and they don't seem to be anything special, and they are very inconspicuous in the family.

Even so, people are still children at a young age.

It is difficult to have no estrangement between non-mothers and compatriots, and Shen Shi will never walk with Shen You.

Looking at them, Shen Kan's gaze revealed a hint of strangeness, because he thought of his half-brother who had never met!

Shen Kan only knew that the brother's name was Shen Zuo, he was about eleven years old this year, and he was not a concubine, but a concubine.

At first, Shen Kan didn't know that "Concubine" was a matter of Shenma, but later after checking the book, he learned that Maid was referring to the dowry girl, that is, the maid who married with his mother.

In ancient times, the status order was dependent, the dowry maid was close to the hostess, and the natural status was above the concubine, which had a clear legal guarantee in the Tang and Song dynasties, and the difference between the concubine and the concubine began to gradually be confused in the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of law, the wives and wives of officials can enjoy the corresponding titles, while concubines are not eligible. In fact, what woman would be willing to be canonized by her girl? Which official's wife will report to the court?

But in any case, the status of the concubine is a little higher in the family, especially the loyal henchman of the hostess.

Shen Kan guessed that firstly, which man did not steal, secondly, when he reached a certain age as a Beijing official, taking a concubine was like a success indicator of buying a car, and the old lady may have lifted the maid for many years into the house out of the intention of not flowing into the fields of outsiders.

It stands to reason that Shen Zuo should also be sent back to study, probably the old couple hopes to have an heir under their knees, maybe the old lady is selfish and does not want her concubine to come back to be educated, so she is determined to leave people in the north.

The above are all Shen Kan's speculations, and he doesn't know what the facts are, in short, there are four children in the family, two sons and two daughters, except for him, everyone is under the knees of Chenghuan in the capital, and there is always an illusion that he is the concubine.

The highlight of the winter solstice is a worship of ancestors, a reunion banquet on the night of the winter solstice, rich people must eat all night, and those who have no money must prepare as much food as possible.

In the flower hall, there are several rosewood tables of the Eight Immortals, and men and women sit separately. Everyone sat down and was busy cleaning their hands and rinsing their mouths, while Shen Kan stood at the door resignedly, waiting for the fourth aunt's orders.

Zhou's and Sun's concubines served Shen Han and his wife with a few concubines, and the daughter-in-law was not qualified to enter the table, so she had to wait until the day she became her mother-in-law.

"Let's serve." The old lady of the Shen family, Gu Shi, commanded.

Shen Kan watched the maids pass by one with black lacquer plates in front of them, one by one Wujiang cold dishes, and the cut kohlrabi was white; The salted cabbage stalks pickled in fragrant greens, and the coriander with Wujiang's specialty black tofu shredded with coriander, are all authentic Subang cuisine, which can be described as Jiangnan delicacy under the essence of "never getting tired of being fine".

Later, the indispensable mutton pot was served, using Hu sheep, one of the Mongolian sheep subspecies, and served in an open oven to keep the mutton hot for a long time. The mutton is dark red, fatter and more tender than goat meat, the entrance is fat but not greasy, and the smell is very small.

The highlight is the famous "Snow Crab Bucket" of Subang cuisine, in addition to ten dishes such as duck with eight treasure sauce, steamed anchovies, braised pork ribs, steamed lamb, pine nuts Dongpo meat, camellia and pheasant slices, and jade ball soup, which means perfection.

After the first ten dishes, there are four hot and cold dishes waiting to be served. Dim sum is Shih Tzu wonton, Sixi rice cake, and the indispensable winter solstice group.

Just looking at it, Shen Kan's saliva is about to flow down, the three meals since the crossing are really bad, and no one in this era is not worried about the festival.

Even the Shen family is the same.

On weekdays, the Shen family pays attention to food and does not sleep or sleep, but tonight they let go of the rules, and they saw the family talking and laughing and tasting food lively.

Mrs. Zhou, the lady of the big house, looked at the girls who were looking forward to wearing them, and said with a smile: "Okay, you all go back to reunite." Brother Mu, is the food box ready?"

"Ready." Shen Kan cheered with them in his heart, and he could finally sit down and eat meat.

Sending the maids away, leaving only Cai Dong and others who didn't have to go home for reunion, Shen Kan just wanted to find a place to sit down, but he didn't want to poke out a pretty face from behind the screen, it was Shen Peiwen, the eldest sister of the long house, who beckoned to him, and Shen Kan had to walk over when he saw this.

The eldest sister Shen Peiwen has always been favored by her grandfather and grandmother, and Shen Shi is the most favored eldest grandson.

Shen Peiwen was born with a goose egg face, heavy eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and her complexion was naturally white and greasy, and everyone in the village who had seen her said that she was the first beauty in Shenjia Village.

Today's Shen Peiwen lightly applied grease powder on his face, tied a jasper hairpin to the newly pulled crescent bun on his head, and obliquely inserted a soft-winged golden butterfly with burnt gold and emerald, the butterfly wings had two trembling silver wires, inlaid with two snow-white pearls, and it was eye-catching.

Inside, he wore a pipa placket with a yuan color pipa trim, jade satin, pure white lining, and a large inlaid and rolled hibiscus skirt.

The white wrist is covered with a silk silver bracelet, and the whole person is exceptionally elegant and moving. The girl sitting next to her was Shen Peiwei, the second sister of the second room, and the two of them competed for beauty, and their faces were good at winning.

Shen Peiwei wore a fancy shawl with egg white and eight treasures from Jinling Embroidery Village, and a long skirt with Yuan satin gold silk embroidered with lady figures and landscape lace.

Combed a four-fold Ruyi cloud head, a whale bone polished on the head, and inlaid with a jade gold hairpin. The peculiar thing is that the bones are beaten into double swallows, and the tail is embellished with a ruby in the shape of an emerald begonia.

On the chest, he wore one hundred and eight finely carved Tuanshou Grand Lama Sal incense beads, a sterling silver tiger ring in the middle, and then a bluestone birthday card in the middle, twelve short silver ropes fell, and each wrist carried a pair of eight-treasure tortoiseshell bracelets with red gold and silk.

Shen Kanxin, who walked over, said Good guy, this is the demeanor of a daughter in Suzhou to be married, and I don't know which man will be cheaper.

"Eldest sister, what's the matter?" Shen Kan asked in a low voice.

"Old Five, do you want to eat?" Shen Peiwen asked with a smile.

"Yes!" The current Shen Kan of the food is very honest.

Shen Peiwen smiled lightly and said: "You said a word of admiration for Suzhou today, the wording is novel, but we don't believe it, now please talk about this winter solstice group, and please sit down if you say it well."

Shen Kan looked at the bowl of dumplings brought by the second sister Shen Peiwei, red and green, presumably smooth and sticky when he took a bite, and under the hunger, his throat couldn't help but grunt.

The question is, I don't know what to say?

Looking at the pair of Suzhou beauties in front of him, Shen Kan had an idea, pointed to a bowl of wontons on the table and said with a smile: "Wontons originate from Xi Shi, why don't I talk about Suzhou women!"

At this time, the cousins on the table looked over one after another, and the second sister Shen Peiwei frowned and said, "Don't say those indiscriminate bastards outside."

"No, it won't." Shen Kan is very confident in himself, "I just want to say one thing, the women in Suzhou are made of water." ”

"Made of water?" Shen Peiwen's eyes lit up, and he looked at Shen Peiwei with satisfaction, and turned his head, "Please explain!"

"Why is it made of water?" Eight-year-old Shen Yuqin asked innocently, "But I like the metaphor of water very much, I like water." ”

"Go, go, what's fun for a little kid." Shen Peiwen said.

"Humph!" Shen Yuqin pursed her lips angrily and turned her head.

Shen Kan said: "Since the Song Dynasty, Suzhou has the reputation of Suzhou Lake, the world's foot, because of the dense network of Suzhou Creek, it is the center of the waterway in the south of the Yangtze River, the most dense area of rivers in the world, the irrigation is convenient, the fields are fertile, the four seasons are warm, there is the water town Zeguo, the land of fish and rice is called. Therefore, Suzhou women have drunk Taihu Lake water since childhood, and eaten Dongting tea, all year round, their ears and eyes are all water, so there is the purity, agility and softness of water in the endowment from the inside out.

What girl doesn't like to be complimented on? What's more, Shen Kan praised it all at once.

Almost at the same time, the girls of the Shen family at the table all bloomed with soft smiles.

On the next table, the fourth wife, Sun, said to Zhou: "Sister-in-law, Brother Mu is getting better and better at talking. Listen, compare Suzhou women to water! If he is good at studying, he will definitely be an amorous son who is drunk and lying in the flowers in the future. ”