July 15th Midyear Festival.

Early in the morning, the Wang family and several large families around them set up a Dharma seat and a solitary platform at the corner of the street, and invited a Dharma master from the Qingming Temple to preside over the puja.

The Throne is a high platform built to support the Bodhisattvas of Jizo, who have crossed the "hells", and a plate of fruits and rice is offered underneath the Throne.

On the Shi Gu platform, there are three spirit tablets and soul flags: "The Position of the Male Lonely Soul", "The Position of the Lonely Soul", and "The Position of the Lonely Soul of the Boy and the Girl". As soon as noon passed, the Wang family and each household would put the whole pigs, whole sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, and all kinds of cakes, fruits, melons and fruits and other sacrifices prepared earlier on the Shi Gu platform. And on each offering is planted a blue, red, green and other colors of the penangular paper flag, on which are written "Yu Lan Festival", "Manna Gate Open" and other words. After that, the master of Qingming Temple presided over the ceremony of "releasing flames".

I heard that the scene will be very lively. On this day in previous years, a few streets away, and even some people in the south of Xicheng would bring their families to visit the meeting, and sometimes the streets around this neighborhood would be flooded. If the people in this vicinity were either rich or noble, they would have invited people from the yamen to maintain order and drive away the crowd, but on this day, they could only let those ordinary people surround their doors, and did not dare to drive them away. Because on this day, you may not be able to tell whether the people surrounding the sacrifice are human or ghost.

These are all things that Sanniang heard Baiguo talk about, and she naturally didn't have the opportunity to see them herself.

On this day, the Wang family was also very busy, some people of the Wang family came early in the morning, and the six doors of the Wang family ancestral hall "Sanhuai Hall" were wide open. There is a large offering table in front of the hall, and the ancestors placed in the Sanhuai Hall are invited out one by one and put on the offering table. The men in each room of the Wang family stepped forward one by one to offer incense to their ancestors. The ancestors of the Wang family have many ranks, and there are many descendants, and this worship ceremony has to be carried out until noon in previous years.

Wang Jing. Wang Ji and other descendants of the Wang family naturally followed their fathers to the ancestral hall. Sanniang and others accompanied Sun and the ladies who came from each room to drink tea in the front hall.

Sun was drinking tea and chatting with a silver-haired old lady. Although this old lady is the same generation as the Sun family, she is about the same age as the late old lady Lu, and even the Sun family respectfully calls her the fourth sister-in-law. is an old lady with great prestige in the Wang family's own family. Her youngest son is the gentleman who sat in the Wang family's home school after leaving office.

"Brother Xian'er still hasn't come back this year?" The old lady asked Sun. The brother Xian in her mouth is Wang Xian, who is in the capital, the younger brother of the old lady Wang, because she is old. almost watched Wang Xian's two brothers grow up, so it doesn't seem abrupt to call it like this.

Sun didn't dare to hold it up in front of this old lady who was taller than her. He replied with a smile: "This journey back and forth takes several days, and the sixteenth uncle and sixteenth brother and daughter-in-law are inseparable from Beijing, so they only let people bring letters and some filial piety to their ancestors back." ”

The old lady frowned: "He is not satisfied with the people mentioned in the last Hui clan?" That's the best offspring among the juniors. ”

Sun knew that this topic had to be brought up once a year, but this matter had nothing to do with their room, so she only echoed and responded a few words.

Sanniang's sisters are also in the side hall to accompany the sisters from each room, although Sanniang has seen them a few times, but after all, they are not familiar. And because of the presence of Erniang, Erniang naturally became a figure of the stars holding the moon. The cousins and sisters chattered around Erniang about the clothes and jewelry on her body, and their eyes were full of envy. Erniang's attitude is gentle and kind, she answers all questions, and does not put on a show, so she naturally won the favor of her cousins.

Siniang and Liuniang inexplicably suffered a loss in Fangzhi Courtyard that day, and after going back, they thought about it carefully and understood that it must be Wuniang or Erniang who was making trouble. Today, I didn't come forward to talk to the cousins, but I suddenly looked at Erniang and Wuniang with a calm face. It seemed that he wanted to see something in their faces. But Erniang has been talking and laughing with the guests in a certain way, while Wuniang occasionally interjects a few words, and more often comes to the ears of Yuan Niang and Sanniang to whisper, and when it comes to happiness, there will be a silver bell-like laughter. But when this laughter reached the second middle school of Siniang and Liuniang, it had a different meaning.

"Eighth sister. Can we go to the river tonight and put river lanterns? A distant cousin asked Erniang, who was ranked eighth in the clan.

Erniang smiled softly and said: "This depends on my grandmother's arrangement, I didn't come back during the Midyear Festival in previous years, I don't know how I spent it, did I go to put river lanterns?" ”

The cousin thought for a while and said, "It rained during the Midyear Festival last year, and the family was not allowed to go out, so they only sent a few stewards to take the servants and maids to the river. According to the little maid next to me, last year's river lantern was soaked by heavy rain as soon as it was put down, and most of it sank into the river. The weather is so good this year, it will not rain at all. ”

Erniang pondered for a while and said, "Why don't I go and ask my grandmother later, I don't know if I have prepared the river lantern this year." ”

"It doesn't matter if you don't prepare, we can make it now, and every year during the Midyear Festival, there will be some bamboo strips left when we make the Obon, and we can use that boat rack, and the colored paper is also ready-made." Another older sister said.

Seeing that her cousins were all looking at her, Erniang couldn't help but smile and said, "Then I'll go and ask my grandmother now." ”

And all the people rejoiced when they heard this. Siniang and Liuniang snorted coldly, but Wuniang pursed her lips and turned her back, so the discordant sound did not affect the mood over there.

Surrounded by the sisters, Erniang went down to the main hall to find Sun, who was chatting with the silver-haired old lady.

"Grandmother, the sisters asked me to ask if I could go to the river tonight and put river lanterns." Erniang smiled and saluted first, and then asked.

The silver-haired old lady looked at it first: "Who is this girl?" ”

Sun said with a smile: "She is the eldest daughter of the third child, and she is the eighth in the clan. Erniang is not going to hurry up and ask your fourth uncle and grandmother to say goodbye. ”

Hearing this, Erniang hurriedly smiled and stepped forward to salute the old lady.

The silver-haired old lady looked at Erniang from head to toe, frowned, and said, "Is it the eldest daughter of the third room from the noble concubine who followed the third child of your family to office?" ”

The smile on the corner of Erniang's mouth stiffened when she heard this, and the sisters who came with Erniang, you look at me, I look at you, and then they all looked at Erniang. Erniang stood on the spot with a red face.

"Isn't the eighth sister the daughter of a flat wife?" A little girl whispered.

"I don't know, but I heard my grandmother say that there are no equal wives in people like us." Another little girl said.

"Isn't that eighth sister a concubine?"

"Concubine?"

"Shhhh

Erniang's face has turned from red to white.

"The Zhao family has passed away for a year, and the third child of your family is upright and in the prime of life, so it's time for her to find a candidate for a stepwife." The old lady naturally didn't see the face of the little girl in front of her, and only said to Sun.

Seeing that the topic was on the head of his son, Sun didn't want to talk about his family's family affairs in front of so many people, so he only smiled and said this later, and then turned to Erniang and said: "If you want to go, go there, it looks like it won't rain this year." As he spoke, he turned his head and instructed Mama Chang to help the ladies prepare river lanterns and things. looks like a loving elder, but in fact, he just wants the old lady to forget the topic just now.

Sure enough, the old lady only remembered to say this temporarily, and when she saw that Sun was telling her grandmother about things, she turned her head and talked to another old woman.

Erniang lowered her head and followed the sisters back to the side hall, the cousins saw that they could go out at night to put lanterns and let themselves be very excited, some of them were anxious to immediately send people back to bring the lanterns they had made a few days ago, some people said that they made rabbit lanterns like the Lantern Festival, pumpkin lanterns, and so on at night to secretly release together, for a while it was not lively.

Erniang no longer has the interest she had at the beginning, and even she feels that there is another layer of deep meaning hidden in the smile of everyone who smiles and talks to her, she has been held by people since she was born, and she has never suffered this kind of grievance, so although she endured it, she still let the tears accidentally wet her eyes.

"Yo, what's wrong with the second sister? Didn't you listen to it just now? Why is it that now the sisters are happy to be able to put the river lanterns at night, but you, the leader, look aggrieved? Liuniang came over at some point, staring at Erniang with some schadenfreude. Although she didn't follow to the main hall just now, but after all, it was just a screen, and the words over there were naturally passed word for word, so as soon as Erniang came over, she kept paying attention to Erniang's expression, and finally couldn't help jumping out.

Liuniang's words attracted the girls who had originally shifted their attention to the river lantern to look at them one by one, and they all stared at Erniang's eyes with some curiosity, remembering the words of the fourth uncle and grandmother that they had just heard in the hall, and they exchanged a look, and their faces were a little strange.

Although Erniang didn't have time to restrain the emotions on her face because she was wronged, she has always had a city government after all. On such occasions, I naturally don't want to be embarrassed. Therefore, seeing that everyone's eyes looked over, he forced out a smile and said: "I am naturally happy to be able to put the lamp, but my eyes accidentally entered the sand just now." ”

Siniang sneered, deliberately looked around, and said, "Where is the sand in this hall?" Second sister, your reason is really ......"

Yuan Niang was afraid that she would make a fuss, so she was busy playing a round: "There are some invisible places in this hall where the mother-in-law and girls are lazy, so they haven't cleaned it, and there is no sand and dust, what's so strange about this." The fourth and sixth sisters didn't hurry to greet the guests, didn't grandmother tell you to beckon the maids to pour tea for the sisters? Some of the sisters' tea bowls were already empty. ”()