Although everyone sits at random, but some of the most basic etiquette can not be wrong, Zhu Yuanfeng has the highest seniority, he sits in the main seat, Zhang Sanniang is Fan Ning's mother on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also Zhu Yuanfeng's in-laws, her daughter is married to Zhu Yuanfeng's most promising grandson Zhu Qi, she sits in the guest of honor seat, Fan Ning lives next to his mother Zhang Sanniang, below him is Zhu Pei, Ouyang Qian, Cao Xiu, Aya, and then a group of children, children are all sitting at will.

On the other side of Zhu Yuanfeng is his daughter Zhu Qi, she is the eldest daughter, Zhu Xiaoli is still her younger brother, so she sits under her, below is Zhu Xiaoli's wife Jiang, then his two sons and daughter-in-law, as well as Zhu Xiaoli's daughter and son-in-law, Zhu Jie's daughter and son-in-law, and below is a group of children.

Today, Zhu Jie is in charge, she got up and clapped her hands and said with a smile, "We don't care about the seniority, we don't care about the surname, all the children under the age of sixteen come to kowtow to the old lady to receive the New Year's money, and they will definitely make you smile crookedly." ”

More than a dozen children ran up to line up and kowtow, Fan Zhen'er was the oldest, and she was the first to kowtow, "I wish the old lady good health and a long life, granddaughter, no!" No! Great-granddaughter Fan Zhen'er kowtows to you. ”

She said it very well, kowtowed to her grandmother every year, and almost said the wrong generation.

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, "Zhen'er is the oldest, and Grandpa Zeng will give you the biggest red envelope." ”

He specially took out a large red envelope and stuffed it into Fan Zhen'er.

"Thank you, Grandpa Zeng!"

She said thank you on her lips, but she was a fog in her heart, why was there only half a piece of residual jade pendant in it, she still thought it was a silver ingot!

She ran to her father and whispered, "Daddy, what is this?" ”

Fan Ning took the jade pendant, his heart moved, and then he looked at the red envelope, sure enough, there was a thin list, and took out the list inside, Fan Ning was suddenly startled, it turned out to be the gold fixed deposit ticket of the Zhu family's money shop, and he took a thousand taels of gold.

What a big deal! It turned out to be a thousand taels of gold for the child as New Year's money.

He was just about to speak, but Zhu Yuanfeng glared at him fiercely, "If you want to spoil my fun, just open your mouth!" ”

Fan Ning had to swallow back the words that followed, and said to Fan Zhen'er, "This is one thousand taels of gold, equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver, take it with a list and a jade pendant, give it to your mother, and let your mother help you put it away." ”

When Fan Zhen'er heard that it was 10,000 taels of silver, she immediately smiled, these three heads were too worthwhile, and she hurriedly ran to her mother.

Ouyang Qian was also startled when she saw the golden ticket, and went back and forth to Fan Ning, who smiled and said, "It's the intention of the third grandfather, just let it be!" ”

"Daddy, how many are we?"

The three sons and Fan Ling'er also surrounded them, they were five hundred taels of gold per person, but the eldest son Fan Jing was also one thousand taels of gold, which is also the rule of his hometown, the eldest son took the most, and the others took half, but Zhu Yuanfeng knew that Fan Ning favored the eldest daughter Fan Zhen'er the most, so he also gave Fan Zhen'er the full share.

"You all have a lot, all of them are given to your mother to help you keep, Jing'er, how can you take two copies?" Fanning found that the eldest son, Fan Jing, was holding two red envelopes, which was a little strange.

Fan Jing pointed to his youngest brother and said, "This is my kowtow to Zhou'er, and it is his New Year's money." ”

"Okay, give it to your brother!"

Fan Ning was very pleased, the eldest son was quite like an eldest brother, and he didn't need to remind himself, he took the initiative to help his brother kowtow.

Zhu Yuanfeng scattered the red envelopes, and the house was full of joy for a while, and then the food began to be served, and everyone poured wine and vegetables, and laughed.

Zhu Yuanfeng was very excited, raised his glass and smiled, "Come on!" For the reunion of Chinese New Year's Eve, we toasted this toast! ”

"Cheers!" Everyone raised their glasses together.

After a happy night, Zhu Yuanfeng's body couldn't withstand the fatigue, so he went to rest early, and everyone chatted for half an hour, Zhu Pei saw that several children were a little tired, so he whispered to Fan Ning, "Husband, let's go back too!" ”

Fan Ning nodded, then got up to say goodbye, the Zhu family did not stop it, there were sacrifices at night, and they wanted to go back early.

Everyone got into the carriage, and twenty female guards also turned into their horses and escorted the carriage back to the house.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, many families have to keep vigil, the reason is to sacrifice, the family sacrifice is generally carried out at four o'clock in the middle of the night, before the sacrifice has to make various preparations, a large family has to rush to the ancestral hall in advance, so Chinese New Year's Eve is basically unable to sleep, and gradually formed the custom of keeping the year.

Some people have proposed that the clan sacrifice be changed to sacrifice on the morning of the first day of the new year, just get up early, but this arrangement basically does not work, one is that the time is particular, the time is the time when the ancestors receive sacrifices, and secondly, the New Year's court ceremony will be held in the early morning of the first day of the new year, so that the Beijing officials can not worship the ancestors!

But there are some families who worship their ancestors on the fifth day of the first month, which is mainly to let the children of the family outside rush back to their hometowns, why do foreign travelers have to go home during the Spring Festival, this is a thousand-year-old tradition, which has been passed down to this day, in the long years, the main reason is not to go home for reunion, but to rush home to worship the ancestors, of course, it is also very important to go home for reunion, but the ancestors are the fundamental reason.

The sacrifice in Fanning's mansion was relatively simple, and there was no need to prepare, so when they returned to the mansion, everyone went to bed early.

As soon as Yin Shi arrived, the whole family was woken up, except for Cao Xiu's one-and-a-half-year-old son, the rest of the family hurriedly washed, then changed into black sacrificial robes, and came to the sacrificial hall in the northeast corner of Fuzhong.

The sacrificial hall is a pavilion, at most twenty square meters, outside is a very small courtyard, the sacrificial hall is placed Fan Ning's father Fan Tiezhou, grandfather Fan Dachuan and cousin grandfather Fan Zhongyan three spirit cards, although Fan Ning does not like his grandfather Fan Dachuan very much, but after all, it is his grandfather, the rules cannot be broken.

The lights in the sacrificial hall were bright, and Zhang Sanniang had already placed the offerings, she came to the sacrificial hall half an hour in advance, and put all the sacrifices prepared in advance on the offering table.

The offering table has been filled with all kinds of offerings, the offerings are divided into three rows, the back row is a sheep's head, a pig's head and a cow's head, in the middle are chickens, ducks, fish and three small animals, in front of the incense burner and two big red candles, on both sides of the tray are all kinds of snacks and fruits.

Jian Meizi has arrived with eight female disciples, which is also a tradition, and many wealthy families will invite monks or Taoist priests to come and participate in ancestor worship, mainly because they need to ward off evil spirits and protect spirits.

Fan Ning and his family were already waiting in the small courtyard, when Jian Meizi gently tapped the chime with a jade hammer, 'Dang! The hour has come.

Fan Ning took the whole family into the sacrificial hall, his mother Zhang Sanniang and his wife Zhu Pei followed him, Fan Ning took three incense sticks, did not need to light them first, and finally the whole family burned the incense in the incense burner together, mainly to prevent the incense from burning the children behind.

Fan Ning held the incense in front of his eyes, and silently recited, "The New Year is approaching, when all things are reincarnated, the descendants of Fan Ning specially bring the whole family to worship their fathers and ancestors, sacrifice animals, perform worship and sacrifice rites, comfort the ancestors, and hope that the fathers and ancestors will always protect their children and grandchildren in the spirit of heaven, and the children and grandchildren will continue to prosper!" ”

After whispering, Fan Ning inserted the three sticks of incense into the incense burner, knelt down and respectfully bowed three times, he got up and said, "Everyone come to kowtow and worship the ancestors!" ”

"Boom!"

The bell above the Daqing Hall rang, and thousands of civil and military ministers wore court clothes and sat in place on the Daqing Hall Square.

Today is the first day of the first lunar month, and it is the time of the annual New Year's ceremony, all the civil and military officials above the nine grades in Beijing must participate, and the Son of Heaven and the Queen Mother will also attend, remembering the past, looking forward to the future, and praying for the blessing of the Great Song Dynasty in the new year.

It won't be too long, and then it's the New Year's feast, where the civil and military officials can enjoy the delicacies and syrup of the palace.

Today, the sky is beautiful, the sun is spreading all over the earth, the snow on the square has been cleared, and the snow on the roof is shining with magnificent brilliance in the morning glow.

There are twenty rows of thousands of seats in the Daqing Hall Square, and officials above the fifth rank have their own seats, and officials below the fifth rank sit at will.

Fan Ning and the other six phases sat in the first row, Ouyang Xiu temporarily changed seats, sat next to Fan Ning, and said in a low voice, "Virtuous son-in-law, come and get together tomorrow night!" ”

Fanning nodded, "There is no arrangement for tomorrow, I will bring Ah Qian and the children together!" ”

"If it's convenient, it's best to come with the whole family!"

A wry smile appeared at the corner of Fan Ning's mouth, Ouyang Xiu's stepwife and several children were too snobbish, last year her mother went to Ouyang Mansion as a guest, and when they learned that her mother was a rural woman, her attitude was obviously cold, so that her mother never wanted to go to Ouyang Mansion again.

Fan Ning had to apologize and said, "Mother didn't sleep all night last night, I'm a little tired, I may have to rest for two days, I'll come with Ah Qian tomorrow!" ”

Ouyang Xiu knew that his wife and daughter behaved too rudely last year, so that people didn't dare to come, and they didn't want to come, so he had to sigh secretly in his heart, nodded and said, "Son-in-law decides for himself!" ”

At this time, several eunuchs came out and shouted, "The Empress Dowager has arrived!" His Majesty the Emperor has arrived! ”