In the seventh and a half months of that year, the people of Shizhai and the forest farm village next door gathered in the large Shizhai meeting hall, and everyone held wine bowls and worshiped their ancestors devoutly.

"Ancestors of the Luo family, today is the seventh and a half months, your descendants are here to toast you, toast tea, burn incense and paper, you all come to receive it. Bless the prosperity of our two villages and live forever! Luo Balin raised the bowl and expressed his heart to the tablet of his ancestors, and then he poured the wine on the ground, and the others also poured the wine on the ground, paying homage to the ancestors.

The ancestors of Shizhai and Linchangzhai are both surnamed Luo, but they are two opposite-sex brothers who are not related by blood, one is Luo Balin's grandfather Luo Xianshi, and the other is Luo Xianlin, who grew up with him, that is, the child that Luo Xianshi's father picked up outside.

Because he was less than three years old when he came, everyone thought that he was Luo Xianshi's younger brother, and both of them grew up under the care of the old village owner, married a wife and had children. took Luo Xianlin to establish the current forest farm village next door to the stone village.

Just a few years after the establishment of the village, the old village owner died, but before he died, he called Luo Xianlin to him, and said tremblingly: "Xianlin, I'm going, but I have to let you know that you are not my own child, but the child I brought back from Miao Village!" ”

"Daddy, what did you say? Am I a descendant of Miao Village? Luo Xianlin looked at the dying old village owner in surprise, and he didn't believe that he was not the son of the old village owner, and Luo Xianshi was not a brother.

"I wanted to leave with this secret, but I'm afraid that I will mess up the village in the future, so let you know! After I leave, you and Xianshi will unite and help each other, and carry forward the two cottages together...... Everbright! After saying that, the old village owner closed his eyes and left.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Luo Xianlin threw himself on the deceased old village owner and cried sadly, thanking him for his kindness to him.

After crying, he sent someone to inform Luo Xianshi of the stone village, and the two cottage people sent the old village owner up the mountain in a big way, but from then on, Luo Xianlin kept a secret in his heart, knowing that his lineage was not the biological son of the Luo family, but he only knew that he was a descendant of Miao Village, but he didn't know who his root name was.

"Second brother, did Daddy say anything to you before?" After the funeral, Luo Xianshi looked at Luo Xianlin and asked him that he felt that his father would definitely explain something before he died.

"Yes! Daddy, the old man hopes that you and I will support each other and carry forward the two cottages! Luo Xianlin looked at Luo Xianshi and said, and then he asked tentatively: "What can Daddy explain to you before?" ”

"No, Daddy has lived in your forest farm village for the past few years, and I just came to greet him every once in a while, but he didn't say anything. Since he hopes that we will carry forward the cottage, you and I will be one and help each other in the future! Luo Xianshi looked at Luo Xianlin sincerely and said, the hands of the two were clasped tightly.

Since then, the two cottages have supported each other and prevented foreign enemies from invading, and they have been safe for decades, but Luo Xianlin told his son Luo Zuen before he died, that is, Luo Gensheng's grandfather, and it was also because Luo Zuen was no longer as affectionate as before to the stone village.

"It turns out that we are all different ancestors, and in the future, I will build a council hall by myself in the forest farm, and our ancestors should be enshrined here!" Thinking so, he also established a council hall in the forest farm village, and Luo Zuguang, the owner of the stone village at that time, had an opinion: "You and I are originally from the same sect, why do you have to split the cards and make offerings?" ”

"Big brother, don't worry, although I have established a council hall in the forest farm, but Qingming, in the middle of July, I will still take the villagers to your stone village to worship the ancestors, which can be regarded as gratitude to them, and this rule has always remained the same." Luo Zuen looked at Luo Zuguang and said, he didn't want to cause a conflict between the two cottages, so it was not a secret of the same sect, and he only told his son Luo Shengren to listen to it, and told him not to spread it.

"Since you insist on this, then I will rely on you, two trips a year to worship the ancestors, and when the generation of Gensheng comes out of five clothes, you can not come to worship the ancestors." Luo Zuguang looked at Luo Zuen and said.

"Then listen to your eldest brother, the two of us still have to support each other and help each other as before, so as not to violate our last wishes!" Rozoun said.

"That's nature!" So since then, only the people of the two cottages of Qingming Festival and the half of July have gathered in the meeting hall in the stone village to worship their ancestors, and there is not much contact at other times.

Now Luo Gensheng is also following his father Luo Shengren to bring the elders of the clan in the village to worship his ancestors, he is 17 years old, and he is the candidate selected by Luo Zuen for the owner of the village, although Luo Zuen, who is already over the age of eight, did not say anything, but he let Luo Gensheng take the lead in the large-scale sacrificial activities in the village, and everyone also saw Luo Zuen's thoughts.

"Come, Gensheng, you and Genhu will burn incense!" Luo Zuen looked at the two children, after Luo Zuguang died, he was the eldest person in the Luo family, and even Luo Balin, the owner of the village, was decided by him.

"Second uncle, why didn't you burn incense?" Luo Balin thought it was strange, it stands to reason that in previous years, the ancestor worship was also the first incense burned by Luo Zuen, and then the second incense burned by him.

"Balin, the second uncle is old, and if you want the young man to show his face in front of the ancestors, let them both burn it! I'll just burn two incense sticks with you. Luo Zuen patted Luo Barin on the shoulder and said.

Luo Balin had no choice but to follow Luo Zuen's arrangement, and he stood behind waiting to burn the second incense, and the two young and handsome children knelt down to the tablet with the incense and bowed three times, and inserted the incense, and the clansmen who followed looked at the two of them.

Then Luo Balin and Luo Zuen took the incense to the tablet and bowed three times before inserting the incense, and the people behind knelt down together to burn the incense.

"Let's go back after everyone eats here today!" Luo Barin helped Luo Zuen to sit in front of the council room.

"Well, yes, it's just that there have been a lot of bandits in the past few years, I have to arrange two tables of people to go back to guard the village first, and you let the back kitchen set up two fewer tables!" Luo Zuen looked at Luo Balin and said, Luo Balin nodded, and gave the axe an order: "Handle the matter, hurry up and order the back kitchen, ready to set up the table, just set two tables less according to what my second uncle said, you go and arrange it!" ”

"It's the owner of the village, I'll arrange it!" The axe took the order and went to the kitchen, and after a while, more than a dozen men who helped the cook came over, and set up tables and chairs in the front yard of the stone village to prepare for the afternoon banquet, which is also a habit handed down from the stone village.

It's just that the waiting time is always long, Luo Gensheng first followed Luo Genhu in the room in the front yard to rest for a while, and he got bored and went out for a walk.