Miluo County is so lively today that the county seat charges twice as much as usual, but for merchants and villagers who want to enter the city to participate in the annual Dragon Boat Festival celebration, this small amount of money is not a desire to stop them from entering the city.

Since Yang Da and his son signed a ten-year servant contract, Li Mao decided to trust the father and son unconditionally, and Li Mao gave Yang Da and his son some silver taels and copper coins to let them act cheaply.

Yang Da and his son have been running boats on the Miluo River for decades, and they are also veterans of shipping, and the relationship with the city gate guards and tax collectors is not bad, and after paying a slightly higher price than the entrance fee, his family's passenger ship has enjoyed the qualification to enter Miluo County without inspection, and no one even came to the ship to take a look.

The waterways in Miluo County were more crowded than the diversion canals outside the city, and Yang Da and his son skillfully winded around the narrow river, and finally squeezed into Tianwen Wharf.

Tianwen Wharf is the largest wharf in Miluo County, named after Qu Fuzi's famous "Tianwen", where merchants gather, shops are lined up, ships and horses are weaving, and it is the most prosperous neighborhood in Miluo County.

There are many wealthy businessmen living near Tianwen Wharf, and the long house, grandsons and ancestral halls of the Miluo Xu family are all near the Tianwen Wharf, and their houses occupy half of the street, so there is a saying that "ten miles of Miluo half of the family Xu".

Li Mao and Xu Jiuye chose to go ashore at Tianwen Wharf, mainly because it was close to the Xu family and had convenient transportation, so it was very convenient to inquire about news, buy items and retreat and escape.

Li Mao and Xu Jiuye and a group of six people went ashore lightly, and they left all the goods on the passenger ship, and Yang Da would hire someone to send them to the place designated by Li Mao.

Yang Da's eldest son Yang Si accompanied Li Mao and his party to the shore, he was responsible for taking Li Mao and them to find a suitable inn, these days there are more people who come to Miluo County to participate in the Dragon Boat Festival activities, and it is not easy to find a suitable inn.

Fortunately, Yang Si grew up in Miluo County since he was a child, and he has some free friends, all of whom are now adults, begging for a living in various places in the city, and a few of them are working as buddies in inns.

Yang Si used a little silver, and booked a small cross-courtyard for Li Mao at the local better Sanhe Inn, although there are only three rooms, and the courtyard is also very small, but it is not easy to find such a cross-courtyard with such a unique courtyard in Miluo County.

Li Mao and Xu Jiuye were still quite satisfied with this cross-courtyard, and explained to Yang Si what they were going to do again, and then asked him to go back quickly.

After Li Mao and the others settled down, they simply cleaned up and went into separate action.

Mrs. Xu and Xu Ai made banners, worship stickers, and notices in the inn, and the small bolts and pillars were arranged to go out to purchase relevant offerings and sacrifices, while Li Mao accompanied Xu Jiuye to visit Xu's mansion, the old mansion, and the cemetery of Xu Jiuye's parents.

Everyone has their own work and tasks, everyone is in a hurry, whether Xu Jiuye can enter the Xu family ancestral hall smoothly tomorrow depends on today's preparations.

The ancestral hall of the Xu family was originally in the countryside outside Miluo County, and with the continuous growth of the Xu family, the Xu family built a new ancestral hall in Miluo County 20 years ago to show the transcendent status of the family in Miluo County.

This move greatly boosted the morale of the Xu family, but also enhanced the status of the Xu family in Miluo County, since the establishment of this new ancestral hall, the Xu family can be described as smooth sailing, soaring, 20 years has become the largest family in Miluo County.

Therefore, over the years, the ancestral worship activities of the Xu family have been arranged in the new ancestral hall, focusing on festivals and celebrations, and the county prince will also appreciate his face to participate in the sacrifice activities of the Xu family.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival is also the 60th birthday of Xu Changqing, the current patriarch of the Xu family.

Today, Xu Chang, the patriarch of the Xu family, got up early in the morning and prepared to accompany the county lord of Miluo County to inspect the preparations for the Dragon Boat Festival celebration in Miluo County and his 60th birthday.

In March this year, the county magistrate of Miluo County announced that the official Dragon Boat Festival memorial venue for this year would be placed in the Xu Family Ancestral Hall, on the grounds that the official temple was in disrepair and the Xu Family Ancestral Hall was large-scale, and the Xu Family Ancestral Hall was temporarily requisitioned as the main sacrifice venue for the official Dragon Boat Festival celebration this year.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is the Miluo County Decree showing goodwill to the Xu family, and wants to use the official officiating ceremony to concentrate the rich businessmen and celebrities in Miluo County in the Xu Family Ancestral Hall, so that the Xu family patriarch Xu Chang can have a 60th birthday.

Cast it into Li to repay it with a peach, of course, the cost of this year's Dragon Boat Festival in Miluo County will be borne by the Xu family, although this cost is not expensive, but it is definitely a drop in the bucket for the Xu family.

And the county magistrate does not need to take out the memorial silver applied to the Yuezhou government, and most of it will flow into the county magistrate's purse in the end, and the officials and officials below can drink some soup with it, why not do it?

After all, Miluo is the birthplace of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the quality of the activities directly affects the reputation and reputation of the county, and also affects the evaluation of officials, so the county still attaches great importance to it.

Tomorrow is the main festival, and today's county's second-in-command county Cheng personally came to inspect the preparations for the Dragon Boat Festival activities, and must ensure that tomorrow's activities are a complete success.

With the financial resources and manpower of the Xu family, the Dragon Boat Festival memorial activities in Miluo County are just slightly more formal activities than the birthday banquet of the head of the family, and they are far inferior to the longevity banquet of the clan in terms of scale and cost.

The county lord came late today, and waited until the afternoon, when the drunken county lord came to the Xu family ancestral hall.

After the county lord confessed his guilt again and again, he and Xu Changqing inspected the various preparatory activities of the Xu family with great interest, and were very satisfied with the preparation of the Xu family in their hearts.

The Xu family is worthy of being the largest family in Miluo County, the memorial preparation activities are detailed and in place, and many of the activities and processes make the county adults stunned, and they really open their eyes, although they have not seen the event site, but he is already full of expectations for the Dragon Boat Festival memorial activities.

The county lord is not an expert in organizing large-scale activities, but after making a round of inspections, he found that he could not even give guidance.

The county magistrate is a person with a strong desire for power, and the county's finances, personnel, criminal law, culture, education, and health are all grasped, and the county lord does not have much sense of existence.

Xu Changqing, as the patriarch of the Xu family, how could he be a person without eyes, he quickly saw that the county lord was satisfied, but he wanted to find something wrong.

Xu Changqing hurriedly walked to the side of the county lord, blocked his hand and the county lord with his sleeve, and quickly stuffed a large silver ingot into the county lord's hand.

Xu Changqing said with a haha: "Lord County, the deadline given by the county is too tight, our Xu family is in a hurry to catch up with the construction period, there must be unsatisfactory places, I will ask them to correct it overnight tonight."

Thank you for your valuable guidance, your comments and guidance are really word-by-word, which makes the Xu family feel inscribed. ”

Lord Xiancheng scolded in his heart: "I don't have any guidance along the way, I didn't find fault with it, for the sake of your interest, I won't be difficult for you." ”

Lord Xiancheng coughed and said, "Well, the overall preparations of the Xu family have been completed well, but we still have to pay attention to the difference between the official sacrifice and the family sacrifice, and reflect the solemn and magnificent feeling of the official."

The Xu family's preparations this time can be regarded as dedicated, some of the official memorial process, details and regulations, you are not clear, I am not harsh, I will send the scribe from the county government to help you improve some details in the afternoon, be sure to ensure the effect of the event. ”

Xu Changqing hurriedly nodded and said: "The lesson of the adults is that our Xu family is a small family after all, how can it be possible to create a magnificent atmosphere of the official family, and in the afternoon, we will definitely cooperate with the good scribe to improve the details of the memorial activities."

Since the county trusts our Xu family so much, and the Xu family dares not to fight to the death, please rest assured, the Xu family will do everything possible to make this conference grand. Please also share our determination with the prefectural magistrate. ”

Both sides acted happily, they were both informed and interesting people, and their words were upright, so that the people around them just wanted to give a thumbs up.

The inspection activities ended smoothly in a peaceful atmosphere, and Xu Changqing accompanied the county Cheng out of the Xu family ancestral hall, preparing to invite the county Cheng to go back to the house to sit and talk.

However, the county lord said that he was busy with official business, and he needed to report the situation here to the county magistrate in time, so he left in advance.

Xu Changqing took a group of clansmen to send off the county lord with a smile on his face, and suddenly he saw two very faceless people walking by not far from the street, as if they looked at this side a few times.

The two of them were of medium stature, one old and one young, the older one was in their fifties, with a shrewd and weathered face, and the young one was in his twenties, calm and vigorous, and he was not an ordinary person at first glance.

The reason why Xu Changqing noticed the two of them was that he felt that the two of them had a good temperament, and the other reason was that he felt that the older man looked a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen them for a while.

Xu Changqing's son, housekeeper and housekeeper found that the old man's eyes were staring at the opposite side of the street in a daze, and they also looked to the opposite side, and found that there were only a few pedestrians on the opposite street, and there were no particularly dazzling characters, so they didn't know why the old man was in a daze.

Xu Changqing's son pulled Xu Changqing's sleeve and asked, "Dad, what's wrong with you?"

Xu Changqing was stunned, woke up and said, "Oh, nothing. I just felt that the passer-by just now was a little familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it, so I was a little dazed. ”

Xu Changqing's son looked across the road again, but still didn't see any special people, thinking that his father had seen the wrong person because of fatigue, so he turned around and comforted: "Dad, there is no one on the other side? Are you too tired lately, let's go home early and rest." ”

Xu Changqing also looked carefully across the road, and found that the person he saw just now was gone, and said with some regret: "They have already left, it's okay, let's go back to the house and sort out the things about tomorrow's memorial and birthday banquet, and we must not make any mistakes." ”