Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation, also known as the New Year, which is famous all over the world!

Chinese New Year's Eve is a day worth celebrating everywhere in China, and there is a strong imprint on overseas Chinese at home and abroad, reminding them that they are the descendants of Yan and Huang, and there is a village in Hubei that seems to be particularly grand this year's Chinese New Year's Eve.

In their village, there is an empty square, which is already full of people, and their village's annual coming-of-age ceremony will be held here, but this time the coming-of-age ceremony seems to be a little more grand than before, and the only old man in the village who is over 100 years old, Chu Yuangong personally attended the ceremony.

Under the leadership of Chu Yuangong, the ancestors began to worship at noon, and everyone began to perform the ceremony of three kneels and nine bows, Chu Ge was in the second row of the crowd, and there were a group of young children kneeling with him, the number was not large, but they were all going to perform a coming-of-age ceremony today.

Chu Ge is only eighteen years old this year, and the other ethnic groups all perform twenty coming-of-age ceremonies, but Chu Ge knows that the coming-of-age ceremony in their village has always been eighteen-year-old, although he doesn't know why it was two years earlier.

After bowing down to his ancestors, Chu Yuangong sat on the altar, and all the young men who were going to perform the rite of passage today all went up to the altar and waited for the salute. Some people in the audience were very excited, watching their son perform a coming-of-age ceremony, with a happy face.

Chu Ge also stood on the saluting platform, but he didn't feel very excited, he was very calm, maybe his temperament was cold, he always felt that these coming-of-age ceremonies were just a formality. Although it was the situation, he felt that he still needed to abide by it, otherwise he would be suppressed by the clan rules and would have to kneel to the ancestors. Chu Ge clearly knew that the patriarch's son relied on himself as the patriarch's son the year before last, and he was punished on the spot to kneel in the ancestral mourning hall for three days, but he actually knelt for a long time and ran away, and was later discovered, and was personally arrested by the patriarch, hung on the square and whipped for two hours, I don't know what method was used, but he didn't die, his life was more than half gone, and he rested for more than half a year, and no one dared to make a mistake at the coming-of-age ceremony since then.

In the past, the patriarch personally saluted them, but this time I don't know why, I changed someone, and the person who saluted them was Chu Yuangong. The patriarch stood respectfully behind Chu Yuangong, where could he still see the slightest bit of majesty, which also surprised this group of juniors.

The coming-of-age ceremony Chu Ge has watched for many years, and it is nothing more than everyone giving out a dress of the same standard, which they call Chu Fu. In addition to clothes, each person will be issued a fiery red feather, and Chu Ge has two at home, one for his grandfather and one for his father. This time, the coming-of-age ceremony was still Chu Fu and Ling Yu, Chu Ge was the same as everyone else, everyone received a Chu costume and a fiery red Ling Yu.

As soon as this came, it was a sign that they were officially adults, and they thought that the ceremony was over, but no, the patriarch gave an order, and a group of girls as big as them began to step forward and put on Chu clothes on the spot. Chu Ge remembered that he didn't have it, he used to wear it by himself, why was it worn by the girls in the clan this time, but it was obvious that these teenagers enjoyed this feeling very much.

Immediately, the deputy patriarch took a bowl of bright red blood, I don't know what kind of blood it was, lowered his head all the way, and cautiously came to Chu Yuangong's side and said, "Yuangong: The sacrificial blood is here." ”

Chu Yuangong nodded, and began to stretch out his index finger, which was a finger deep into the bowl, and then began to write on the head of the first teenager. Chu Yuangong wrote quickly, with one stroke, when it was written on Chu Ge's head, Chu Ge looked at Chu Yuangong in front of him, the wrinkles on his face were as deep as a knife cut, giving people the feeling that he might be in the ground at any time, but Chu Ge did not dare to be disrespectful, and stood straight with a solemn expression.

Chu Yuangong stretched out his hand and began to write on Chu Ge's forehead, when his fingers touched his forehead, Chu Ge only felt a warmth at first, but immediately, the scorching heat hit, Chu Ge's straight body soon began to tremble slightly, and there was an indescribable pain that struck, as if it was burned by fire, but Chu Ge didn't dare to move, and when Chu Yuangong turned around after painting, the heat also went away.

Chu Ge felt that the word Chu Yuangong wrote on his forehead should be a Chu character.

Chu Ge felt that the words on his forehead were disappearing, he was very puzzled, this was written in blood, how could it be killed all at once, but at this time he didn't dare to ask. In fact, the blood word was not dried, but absorbed by Chu Ge's forehead, and the patriarchs and elders in front of Chu Ge naturally saw this, because the blood stains on Chu Ge's forehead were disappearing not only alone, but many people's were also disappearing, but some people were fast, some people were slow, and Chu Ge was the fastest among them.

After Chu Yuangong wrote the Chu character on his forehead for all the teenagers, he returned to the seat, and most of the bowl of blood was left, obviously not much was used, and this blood was specially treated by the secret method of the Chu clan.

Then the patriarch stepped forward, and the crowd began to quiet down, and said loudly: "All the people in the clan who are under twenty and eighteen are on stage. ”

More than a dozen teenagers walked out of the crowd one after another, and the patriarch turned his head and asked Chu Yuangong with his eyes, Chu Yuangong frowned and shook his head, and sighed. The patriarch was helpless, because of family planning, the generation of men in the clan was relatively thin, and there were not too many people, but there were more girls. The patriarch spoke again, and soon a group of sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys came to the stage, and at this time, Chu Yuangong's face softened slightly.

Chu Ge was very strange in his heart, not only them, but all the people standing on the stage were very strange in their hearts, they didn't know why they were called to the podium, and they didn't know what to do.

The patriarch began to announce, "Start preparing the Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve meal, everyone on the altar will come with me, and the others will go." ”

The people in the audience dispersed, and everyone on the saluting platform followed, and they followed the patriarch into the Chu clan ancestral hall. The ancestral hall is very solemn, and there are a lot of dense spiritual positions, both large and small, Chu Ge estimated slightly, at least there are at least more than a thousand. There are two huge bronze beasts behind the tribute table, I don't know what kind of animal they are, at least Chu Ge doesn't know it, before the boys in the clan accept the coming-of-age ceremony, they can only kneel outside the door during the annual sacrifice, and they are not qualified to enter the inner hall.

Chu Yuangong took the lead in kneeling down in front of the tablet, followed by the patriarch, then Chu Ge's father's generation, and finally Chu Ge and his party also quickly knelt down. This time the salute was different, it was a ceremony of three bows and nine kneeling, among which Chu Yuangong and the patriarch knelt the most piously.

After saluting this time, the patriarch began to announce to everyone: "Today, the clan will elect one person among you, and this person will be the young master of our Chu clan. ”

As soon as the patriarch's words came out, it caused an uproar, and many people heard this word for the first time, some people were very novel, some were surprised, and only one person seemed to have known it for a long time. Chu Liunian looked at the others, as if he was looking at a group of fools, with a strong disdain, his mother told him early in the morning about choosing the young master today, because he was the patriarch's son, that is, the person who almost killed the patriarch the year before last.

The patriarch only said one word, then gave up his seat, and then Chu Yuangong presided over it.

Chu Yuangong spoke very slowly, but he was clearly organized, Chu Ge and they understood it, the meaning was very simple, and then they would pass a test, whoever passed first would become the young master of the Chu clan, and there would be a rich reward in addition to that.

What does the young master mean, it means the future patriarch, the crowd was excited, some people began to fantasize about how to be the patriarch, many people began to think about what the reward was, and even some were bold, and directly asked for a small car, Chu Yuangong just smiled and didn't speak, and gave the patriarch a look.

The patriarch nodded, and began to walk with a few other middle-aged men to the spirit card, Chu Ge saw five of them on one side, working together on the iron rings on the two bronze heads behind the tribute table, to the left and right. At first, Chu Ge felt a little unimpressed, isn't it just to pull the door, why do you still need so many people. But the next scene shocked him, these ten people couldn't pull it, these are all prime men, even if they have a thousand pounds, they can pull it, isn't it just a door?!

The patriarch shouted an order, everyone worked harder, and the ten big men roared angrily, and the bronze door was slowly opened, and the inside looked pitch black, as if it could devour people. After the ten people opened the bronze door, they all fell to the ground at once, as if they had collapsed, which shows how much effort it took to see.

Chu Yuangong said slowly: "Now you can go in, the first person to come out is the young master of our clan." ”

Everyone geared up and walked towards the bronze door, and soon everyone walked in, and then the bronze door slowly closed automatically, which was quite strange, but everyone standing outside didn't care, as if they were not surprised.

Chu Yuangong stood for a while, and then said, "Let's go and see how the situation is on the girl's side, have you chosen a good person." ”

The patriarch responded, and then walked forward quickly, and the group left the ancestral hall.

Chu Yuangong and his entourage came to the Zonghui, which is the place where the Chu people usually hold a general meeting in the clan, and women are usually not allowed to enter, but today all the people standing here are women. Only Chu Yuangong and the patriarch stepped into the sect meeting, and the others were waiting outside, including the deputy patriarch who was still holding the bowl of blood, but it didn't seem to spill out.

Seeing Chu Yuangong coming, the eldest grandmother greeted her, and said respectfully: "Uncle Yuan, our girl this time has been selected." ”

Chu Yuangong nodded and said, "Bring it and let me take a look." ”

The old grandmother nodded and shouted to the girls: "Xiu'er, come and see your uncle." ”

I saw a girl running out quickly, and shouted crisply: "Great-granddaughter Chu Xiu has seen grandpa." ”

Chu Yuangong looked at the girl in front of him, not big or small, with a small round face, but not fat, and a pair of eyes that were very bright. Chu Yuangong nodded, smiled and said, "Yes, since you have already chosen, then the others will disperse, and Chu Xiu will stay." ”

Everyone quickly dispersed, leaving only Chu Xiu, the old grandmother, the patriarch and Chu Yuangong in the hall of the sect.

Immediately, eleven people began to enter from the side hall of the sect, and their ages were obviously seventy or eighty years old, the same generation as the old grandmother. This made Chu Xiu surprised for a while, because all the people who came were called grandpa, all of them were old people in their eighties, and it was usually difficult to see one, but today they all appeared here, and there was a vague feeling that something big had happened.

Eleven people came over together and saluted to Chu Yuangong, "I've seen my uncle." ”

Chu Yuangong bowed his head and said: "Since everyone has arrived, you can start, that group of little guys is estimated to come out in a while." ”

Everyone looked at each other, nodded their heads, and began to move.