Laba Festival, the eighth day of the month of Laba.

On this day, it was surprisingly cold, 'Hua' Jiu only opened the room 'door' in the morning, and shivered, Dongzang came over with a bowl of Laba porridge, and saw that 'Hua' Jiu couldn't stand the cold, so he hurriedly took a soft 'hair' piping cloak for her to put on.

"Come, girl, drink some first and then go to the master's side to cushion your stomach." The bowl of porridge was still hot, and Dongzang handed it to the hand of 'Hua' Jiu, and pushed the wooden window open.

'Hua' Jiu took a spoon and stirred it, and there was actually a fruit lion in the sticky porridge, the fruit lion was a lion-shaped thing made of several fruits, with a crisp jujube roasted with the jujube core removed as the lion's body, half a walnut kernel as the lion's head, a peach kernel as a lion's foot, a sweet almond used as a lion's tail, and finally glued together with sugar, which looked auspicious.

She took a bite, it felt good, and after swallowing it all, the 'flower' Jiu remembered Xi Zixiao, the night before yesterday he told her that he was leaving, and the 'flower' Jiu estimated that he was 'touching' today's Laba Festival, and I was afraid that it was time for him to leave.

She didn't know what Xi Zixiao was going to do or how long he would leave, he didn't take the initiative to say, and she didn't ask, but at least she was sure that when she returned, the one who would come back would definitely be the seventh son of Xifuxi, and no longer Mr. Xi.

After drinking most of the bowl of porridge cleanly, 'Hua' Jiu wiped the corners of his mouth, "Have you ever eaten it?" ”

"Do more in the autumn harvest, and the servants will go to eat after a while, girl, hurry up, don't go late, otherwise someone will have to say irresponsible things to you." Dongzang put away the dishes and chopsticks, and hurriedly urged the 'flower' nine.

'Hua' Jiu walked to the 'door', pulled down the cloak under her neck, and looked at the distance before the sky was bright, there was frost falling, and even the breath she exhaled was white, "Go and see, if Mr. Xi is still in the house, send a bowl over." ”

Dongzang was stunned for a moment, came back to her senses, she answered, but felt a little strange in her heart, all along, Mr. Xi and the girl seem to get along quite closely, but if you want to say that there is any 'private' relationship between these two people, Dongzang is the first to believe it, her girl will not be those who don't know the importance, such things, can't do it.

Today is Laba Festival, which family will gather together today, first to worship the gods and ancestors, and then to give the cooked Laba porridge to relatives and friends at noon, and at the end, the whole family sits together to eat.

Laba porridge must have leftovers, at this time the old lady will order to keep a part of it, put it for a few days, on behalf of the year to have a surplus, take a good omen, the rest of the Laba porridge will be distributed to the poor people in the city, do good deeds.

In previous years, these things were handled by the second lady of Xi in charge, but this year, it was the fourth lady of the new family who was in charge of the family, Duanmu, who handled it, and the old lady would personally go to distribute the porridge every time, but now-

Outside the ancestral hall, 'Hua' Jiu and the Xi family junior stood together, she raised her eyes and glanced at the old lady by the 'door' of the ancestral hall, although today's grandfather was wearing a vermilion 'colored' horse coat, and his silver-white eyebrows and beard were also neat, 'Hua' Jiu still saw the exhaustion on his face.

It was a kind of tiredness that diffused from the inside out of his heart, and the master held the old lady's hand tightly, scanned the Xi family below with a serious face, and then 'pulled' an ancient copper key from his waist, the handle of which was even stained with rust, and it was very old.

Due to his age, the master was trembling with the key, and he couldn't match the keyhole for a long time, Xi Laosi stepped forward and wanted to help, but he was almost pushed to the ground by the old lady, "Get out!" ”

On today's solar term, the old lady scolded rudely, and he looked at his hand with a deep look in his eyes, the old skin on the back of the hand was dry like the bark of a dried tree, and even the green tendons were obvious.

Although he never wanted to admit it, all the things he showed proved that he was too old and that the old could be buried in the ground.

"Father?" Xi Siye lowered his voice and shouted softly.

There was a sigh rising with the wind, and the old lady Xi gave the key to the fourth master and motioned him to open the big red 'door' of the ancestral hall.

'Hua' Jiu stood at a distance not far away, in the corner, this field of vision was just enough to see all the expressions of the Xi family, she saw that Uncle Xi was very resentful and disdainful towards Xi Siye, the second lady of Xi is now like a peacock that has lost its fresh feather, and there is no trace of capital to be proud of, even on such a festive day today, she also wore plain clothes, hairpins and silver hairpins, she stood beside Xi Huabo, slightly supporting him, and then humble.

The ritual of worshiping the gods and worshiping the ancestors is very simple, the ancestral shrine is pure, only two generations of people can enter, and the grandchildren all stand outside, and after the people inside burn incense and the people outside kneel and worship, the matter is over.

It was already noon when everyone drank porridge together, and the gift to the visiting friends had already been completed.

The people of the Xi family sat at a few tables, and each person had a bowl of porridge in front of them, which was boiled very viscous, and red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, etc. were added to it.

When she was at the 'Hua' house, 'Hua' Jiu was not impressed by this Laba Festival, she only vaguely remembered that at this time of year, she just asked Mama Su to come out of the kitchen with a bowl of porridge and hide in the room to finish eating, she was unwilling to go to the courtyard of the old lady of 'Hua' and the other 'Hua' family to squeeze into a table to eat, and then look at the faces of Yang's and 'Hua' Zhi and others.

Just as the old lady Xi picked up the silver chopsticks and signaled to start, a shouting sound came from the 'door' -

"Yo, it's really lively, how can you forget my second master during the holidays?" I saw that the second master suddenly appeared at the entrance of the 'door' with an unkempt face, his clothes were torn, and his lips were blackened by the freezing weather, even if it was winter now, he could vaguely smell the sour smell emanating from him.

"Bang" The second lady got up suddenly, hit her chair, and made a loud noise in the quiet room, which made people's hearts jump.

'Hua' Jiu turned his head and looked at Old Lady Xi.

The master didn't see the second master Xi like such a person, he took a spoon, scooped a spoonful, put it on his mouth to blow it cold, and then tasted the old lady's mouth carefully, the whole action was gentle and careful, and from that raised hand, you could feel the master's affection for the old lady.

This affection does not diminish with the passage of time, but rather like a fine wine in a cellar, the longer it ages, the more fragrant it becomes.

"Why, master, your son has finally come out of death row without seeing the light of day, don't you express your joy?" Second Master Xi sat on the sill of the 'door' with a big grin, and he even stretched out his broken shoes that had 'exposed' his toes and rubbed them on the 'door'.

"Then go clean up and sit down." The master's words are calm and have no 'waves', and if you listen carefully, you can taste some frustration from them.

"Hmph," Second Master Xi sneered, "Don't think I don't know, it was you and the little slut in the fifth room who 'got' me in, what did I do to the heavens and the unreasonable, you have to do this to your own son......"

Xi Erye's voice was sharp, with a kind of hysterical madness, he had been secretly hating in prison for a long time, and when he came back today, he saw the family happily celebrating the Laba Festival, and he didn't say anything about his second master, as if he didn't exist, so this neglected 'dark' mood became more and more high.

The master still didn't move, he still fed the old lady's porridge unhurriedly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

'Hua' Jiu frowned, turning a blind eye to the gaze that came over, at this time, it was still the last word of the old lady Xi, at best, the matter of putting the second master Xi in prison, at least in the eyes of others, she was just assisting from the side.

"Either go back and clean up and sit down, or get out!" After a while, after feeding the small half bowl of porridge, the master put the bowl aside, and said coldly, the cold light of those eyes is to the extreme, no one will doubt that as long as the second master Xi does not let go, he will definitely expel him from the big 'door' of the Xi family.

"Let's go, let's go, I'll serve you." Second Lady Xi walked up to Second Master Xi and stretched out her hand to pull him.

Second Master Xi came back from staying in prison for one or twenty days, and he was not stupid, knowing that he went down the steps, he got up and followed Second Mrs. Xi to his yard, but when he was leaving, he glanced at 'Hua' Jiu.

That look is dark and deep, like a wolf jackal defending the territory, very vicious and vicious.

The corners of the 'flower' nine mouths are hooked a little, and there is disdain and disdain between the eyebrows.

"Let's move the chopsticks." The old lady finished speaking, and everyone started to pick up the bowl in front of them, swallowing it quietly and silently, and if they accidentally 'made' it louder, they all peeked at the old lady in fear, and saw that he showed no signs of anger, so they ate it with confidence.

'Hua' Jiu didn't have much appetite, earlier, she had eaten Laba porridge made by the autumn harvest, she looked around, and didn't see Xi Zixiao's person, so she knew that he was probably in the aftermath.

After the meal, the grandfather only said a word, and came to the ancestral house to eat at night, so he took the old lady's hand, Lao Yan led the way, and went out to distribute the porridge in person, even if the atmosphere in the house was not right this year, but he still insisted on doing it himself.

'Hua' Jiu ignored the other different Xi family, she heard gossip, saying that in previous years, everyone just gathered for a meal at noon, and this year she had a meal, not to mention the heavy heart, and she was afraid that she would accidentally touch the anger of the master, trembling and frightened, who knew that they would have to eat together at night.

There was a light flashing in the extremely light pupils, and the heart of 'Hua' Jiu moved, and she felt that there would be another scene to watch this night.

"Girl, this is what Mr. Xi kept for you." At this time, 'Hua' Jiu has walked out of the courtyard of the ancestral house, is going to the Bodhisattva Temple, 'Chun' Sheng saw that there was no one around, only from the wide sleeve 'touch' out of a brocade box, the box is the size of two palms, the face has brocade embroidery, but the embroidered pattern is around the branches and vines, the vine branches and leaves 'intersect', there is a lingering sense of compassion.

'Flower' nine opened, and saw the golden abacus lying quietly in the weekday, the golden can be so dazzling, now look at it carefully, only to find that this abacus is polished extremely 'fine', the knot is seamless, the beads are smooth, and the mind of this casting is called ingenious.

"This ...... Girl, let's hurry up and pay it back......" 'Chun' Sheng almost didn't exclaim, she covered her mouth and lowered her voice.

What do you think, there was a faint smile in the eyes of the 'flower' nine almonds, as shallow as the early sun of the bright 'spring' day, she closed the lid and said, "No need, take it." ”

This person, cheekily asked her to take a pearl tassel 'flower' Tian, so he sent back such a heavy piece of gold, thinking of this, 'flower' Jiu squinted his eyes, and praised it in his heart.