The next morning

Li Fushou drove lightly to the location of the Li ancestral hall, located in the suburbs of Lijiabao more than 20 miles, this is a rather solid dock fort-style building, after the devastation of the war, can still be clear artillery arrow marks, the three-story solid watchtower has collapsed in half, still not repaired.

The four-wheeled carriage entered the village along the stone bridge that surrounded the stream of Wubao, and there were already a group of Li clansmen standing at the entrance of the village to greet them, most of them were Li Fushou's uncles and uncles, looking at the several four-wheeled carriages that entered the village.

Li Fushou didn't dare to hold on to the Li clan branch when he came to the Li clan, so he took the lead in getting out of the carriage to say a little greeting, and then went to the village together.

Lijiabao is a typical Jiangnan residential style, with white walls and tiles, which are scattered.

Although nearly 20 years have passed since the war, traces of burning axes can still be seen on the building, as well as the marks of later repairs.

Along the stone-paved road in the village, a group of people came to the entrance of the ancestral hall, where a group of gray-haired old people gathered here, that is, the elders of the nearby clans, about 20 people.

They wore melon skin hats, most of them wore green cloth robes, only a few wore silk jackets, and a fat old man in the center was the patriarch Liu Shouqi, who was Li Fushou's grandfather.

"I bother the elders to welcome you, and the younger generations are ashamed to live for a long time, this is polite." Li Fushou would not kneel down to these Laoshzi elders, and bowed with a smile on his face.

The elders in the crowd reacted differently, and most of them showed dissatisfaction.

The yellow-mouthed son messed up the dignity and humility.

In their imagination, Li Fushou should naturally kneel down on both knees and make a big salute, and it is best to take a few steps on his knees to reveal the feelings of the child.

What is this?

Seeing this, the secretary Fan Zhongzhai and the others immediately stepped forward, took out the delicate small gold medals from their arms and presented them one by one, and explained busily in their mouths; "Don't blame the clan elders, my lord is a noble title given by the English Kingdom, representing the dignity of the Western country, even if he sees the emperor, he doesn't worship, these gold medals are specially prepared as a thin gift, please smile."

Sure enough, wealth touches people's hearts.

In front of the shining gold medal, the expressions of the elders of the clan were greatly relieved, and someone had already opened their mouths to help the round;

"Fushou is very famous in the West, and his status is very valuable, and some customs and etiquette need not be cared about, just come back and see it often."

"Yes, I heard that Fushou's nephew and nephew are now born, and our faces as elders also have light."

"It's too cold outside, so let's sit down and talk in the ancestral hall."

A bit of a hiccup

A few stubborn old men with unhappy faces couldn't stand everyone's gags, so they could only hum angrily with their hands behind their backs, and followed them into the ancestral hall to discuss matters.

Even though the performance was extremely strong, it still did not delay these stubborn old men to accept the gold medal.

The filial piety of grandchildren is a matter of course.

Li Fushou saw this situation in his eyes, and secretly gave his subordinates a look, so that they could understand some details through the onlookers and be targeted.

Not everyone can enter the ancestral hall, and it is forbidden to have a foreign surname, so only Li Ping and Li Zhi followed the two house slaves, and the secretaries and guards took out milk candy and distributed it to the villagers, which caused the children to cheer.

Inside the ancestral hall

Enter the ancestral hall to take the lead in offering incense and praying, kneeling down to worship the ancestral tablet, offering 200 catties of sesame oil, 200 pairs of incense candles, a number of coarse sandalwood, a number of fine sandalwood, a number of bowls, a number of plates, a number of three animals, a number of melons and fruits......

Then everyone entered the second courtyard of the ancestral hall, which was an open meeting hall, with three rooms in a row and no partition with only colonnades, and several rows of chairs facing each other, and the patriarch was in the upper center, and everything was in order.

Everyone sat down according to their status, originally there was no place for Li Fushou according to their seniority, but now he is a nobleman of England and has a noble status, so he got a chair at the end of the front row, Li Ping and Li Zhi, two house slaves, have been sent out, and they cannot participate in the deliberations.

Patriarch Liu Shouqi looked at everyone sitting down, "hehe" smiled and said; "Today, there is a younger generation of my clan Fushou returned from overseas, and it is very valued by the government, and the governor and the right political envoy are welcome in the suburbs, such a grand scene, our Li clan also feels that there is light on the face.

Three things to discuss today;

The first highlight is the New Year ancestor worship ceremony to be held in the near future, which will be attended by more than 20 Li clansmen from the left neighborhood, and no less than 4,300 men are eligible to enter the ancestral hall to worship.

Food and accommodation in the cold winter are a big problem, and accommodation is easy to solve, but all the thirty or forty miles of land will go home on their own, and the number of clansmen farther away will not be large, and each family will squeeze to deal with it for one night.

Only this one of the silver coins has not yet been settled, and the total amount required is no less than 3,000 taels. ”

The voice fell

A group of clan elders looked at Li Fushou with a brush, the richest person here is probably this milky yellow-mouthed child, I heard that there was a lot of construction in Gusu Mansion, and more than 100,000 taels of silver were spent to build a mansion, and I usually don't have time to come back to live often.

A few silver coins, a leak between your fingers is enough.

This performance made Li Fushou's heart cold, and he said with a blank expression on his face; "If there is any other charter, why not say it together, and save the trouble of discussing one by one."

Patriarch Liu Shouqi was silent, and the council hall fell into silence.

Li Fushou calmly cocked Erlang's legs, completely ignoring the dissatisfied looks of the clan elders, the place where he was sitting had already reached the edge of the eaves.

Just outside, a touch of winter sunshine came in, falling on the shoulders and faces, lazily and unpleasant.

"Fushou Xiao'er, don't you open your eyes to see, the people sitting in this circle are all your uncles and grandfathers and the elders of your uncles' generations, what does a Erlang look like with his legs crossed? What kind of system? The one who spoke was an old man with a thin face, with white temples, who blew his beard and glared at him angrily.

Li Fushou said unhurriedly; "Excuse me, ...... you are?"

"Fushou, this is the clan uncle of Donglang Township, if you want to call your uncle and grandfather, don't be lazy." Patriarch Liu Shouqi followed up with an explanation.

Looking at his demeanor, he didn't mean to play a round, he must have felt that Li Fushou was disrespectful and disliked in his heart.

Outside, no matter how big you are, when you come to the ancestral hall of the clan, the patriarch is the biggest, he is the party here, and the children of the Li family are dragons and tigers.

"Fushou Xiaoer, others say that you are now growing, building a mansion in Gusu Mansion, and spending more than 100,000 taels of silver at every turn, but you don't want to think about where you came from without a clan, you can't be disobedient and unfilial, but you will be scolded and betrayed."

"Yes, I have to come up with tens of thousands of taels of silver to make up for it."

"It's unreasonable for a junior to think it's amazing if he has a few stinky money!"

Several clan elders with white hair echoed the voice, and the atmosphere of denouncing Li Fushou was permeated in the ancestral hall, and the rhetoric gradually became intense.

Sitting in the middle of this group of old goods, there is a smell of rigidity and staleness invisibly, Li Fushou is not a person who follows the rules, and he is even more bored with these.

You are polite, respectful, he will take the bridge, the elders stand high, the more polite the more respectful the more the bridge, in fact, they are a group of villagers fools, the eyelids are very shallow, and the intention of wanting to slaughter the fat sheep can't be clamped.

"How do you think you compare to the governor and the right political envoy?" Li Fushou looked at everyone and said lightly; "The parents and officials in Jiangnan Province value me so much, is it because I am a child of the Li family? If you think about it a little, you can know that it is actually a big mistake.

Why do a group of high-ranking officials and important ministers regard me as a guest, while you and a group of rural village husbands and stupid old people pick their noses and eyes, who gave you the courage, is it because you are a few years old and have the surname Li? ”

Speaking of which

Li Fushou Huo Ran stood up and scolded the clan elder in front of him with a strong voice; "Relying on the old and selling the old, I don't know how many pounds and taels I have.

I don't know what kind of person you are, and I don't care about it, I only know that when my family was displaced in the war and died on the way, and I begged for life at a young age, none of you so-called clans surnamed Li reached out to help, where is the kindness? Where is the clan?

Now that I, Li Fushou, have returned to my hometown, become rich and rich, and return to the clan to repair the ancestral hall, donate to school, and help Sangzi, I thought that a pure heart was enough to move the heavens and the earth, but who knew that it was so unbearable in your eyes.

Should I give you all the property so that I can do it?

It's ridiculous and contemptible, and it's contemptible.

I have 30 million acres of land in the Western country, all of which are fought by myself with one punch and one kick, so what do you have to do?

Open your mouth is tens of thousands of taels of silver, don't you think that I, Li Fushou, am a gentleman and a good bully? ”

Speaking of this, Li Fushou's face completely cooled, his eyes swept over the elders in the ancestral hall, and finally stopped on the face of the patriarch Li Shouqi, seeing that a trace of unnaturalness flashed on his chubby face, he snorted heavily and said coldly;

"Hmph, in that case, please forgive me for not accompanying you, tonight, Lord Futai and the right political envoy are in order to catch the wind, I really want to mention that the bad habits of the countryside in Lijiabao are rampant, and it has reached the point where it cannot be rectified, and I would like to ask one more question, has Patriarch Li complied with the rules and regulations over the years and paid money and grain in accordance with the rules of the imperial court?"

The last sentence fell, and the patriarch Li Shouqi's face suddenly changed drastically.

He knew that Li Fushou was now rich and powerful, and he was very good at Lord Futai, and it would be bad if he was really remembered, which was also a matter of one sentence.

Don't you hear the county order of the broken family and the mansion of the house?

The court officials were helpless to deal with the Western adults, and it was easy to deal with the ordinary people, and they pinched the snails with three fingers...... It's very stable.

Li Shouqi saw the cold in Li Fushou's eyes, and resolutely turned around and left, knowing that the killing machine that had touched the other party's heart might face extinction at any time.

This made him jump up like a rabbit in shock, ran out at a speed disproportionate to his fat body, hugged Li Fushou tightly at the door of the ancestral hall, and shouted; "Happiness and slowness, this is a group of old lard of the Zong family, you must not go to your heart, you can't write two Li characters in one stroke, I am the patriarch for all mistakes, what you want to do depends on you, but don't be angry, I beg you......"

A look of panic was revealed, and he almost burst out.

……

Half an hour later

Li Fushou took the lead in coming out of the ancestral hall, followed by a group of clan elders, and the patriarch Li Shouqi walked beside him with a smile on his face, saying flattering and good things vigorously.

Li Fushou waved his hand lightly, came to the carriage and got in, and quickly left with his subordinates, leaving only the sound of horses' hooves.

()