Shen Youying quickly understood what Xue Shen meant.
On July 14, the Emperor issued an edict summoning the Prince of Qin to the palace. Early on July 15, Xue Shen accompanied the Emperor to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices to the ancestors.
Unlike ordinary families, Xue Shen's parents were the late emperor and empress, and their memorial tablets were enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. No wonder when Shen Youying asked him that day, he said someone would prepare them.
Once Shen Youying understood the intricacies of the matter, she no longer bothered with the ancestral worship ceremony. Instead, she instructed her servants to prepare various paper money and other items needed for making funerary objects, and together with Bai Luo and Dan Zhu, she cut paper clothes and folded gold ingots.
Actually, these items can be bought outside, and there are many exquisite ones available. However, Shen Youying was used to making them at home in the past. Every year on Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, and Winter Solstice, she would personally make paper ingots and clothes to burn for her mother.
However, after marrying into the Prince of Qin's mansion this year, when she was preparing the sacrificial offerings, she thought of Xue Shen's deceased parents and prepared a set for both the late emperor and the late emperor in the same way.
Xue Shen returned from the palace in the evening. When he heard Wang Deshun say that "when the Princess Consort paid homage to her late mother, she also prepared offerings for the late Emperor and Empress," his expression subtly changed.
Seeing that she seemed interested, Wang Deshun went into more detail: "The eulogy was also written by the Princess herself, and her writing style is not much worse than His Highness's." He added, "The colorful clothes and folded gold ingots are also extremely exquisite and lifelike, even more refined than those in the shops outside. It must have taken a lot of effort."
Xue Shen scoffed, glanced at him sideways, and didn't seem to mind his talkativeness. He simply said lazily, "I know," and then asked if the preparations for tonight's ritual were complete.
Wang Deshun stopped laughing, his expression becoming slightly serious: "Your Highness, rest assured, everything has been arranged, there won't be any problems."
Xue Shen nodded: "When the time comes, we will go and invite the Princess."
*
It was exactly 7:00 PM. Shen Youying was startled by a commotion.
What's all that noise up ahead?
On the Ghost Festival, it was customary to stay up all night. Shen Youying did not rest, but instead sat in the inner room with Danzhu and Bailuo, wearing only an outer robe, copying scriptures. As they were copying, they suddenly heard a strange musical sound coming from the front yard.
Just as they were about to send someone to investigate, the messenger arrived first.
Wang Deshun clasped his hands and said, "Master Huodong has set up a ritual in front. Please, Your Highness, go to the front courtyard."
The name Huodong Zhenren was familiar to Shen Youying; she had heard it several times from Xue Shen and knew it to be a Daoist master whom Xue Shen greatly trusted. It was said that Xue Shen had even spent countless resources to build a Daoist temple for Huodong Zhenren in the capital, named Chuyun Temple. Huodong Zhenren was currently the abbot of Chuyun Temple, but because he was indifferent to fame and fortune and preferred quiet cultivation, Chuyun Temple received no offerings from anyone except the Prince of Qin.
Shen Youying only learned that a Taoist ceremony was to be held in the manor tonight. She couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Why is there a Taoist ceremony all of a sudden? I hadn't heard of it before."
Wang Deshun explained, "The Ghost Festival is different from ordinary days. The time for setting up the Taoist ceremony is an auspicious time selected by the Fire Cave Master through various calculations. And this auspicious time is only the most accurate when it is calculated on the day itself. Therefore, the time for the Taoist ceremony on the Ghost Festival is always set on short notice each year. However, we have experience from previous years, so it is not too rushed or chaotic. When the Princess arrives, she doesn't need to do anything. Just follow the Taoist Master's instructions."
Shen Youying nodded in agreement and followed him to the front yard, where she saw that all the clutter in the yard had been cleared away, and an altar and sacrificial offerings were placed in the center.
Centered around the altar, young Taoist priests were drawing Bagua diagrams on the ground with cinnabar and other materials. Occasionally, servants would follow the instructions of the Taoist priests and bring up the necessary items.
Indeed, as Wang Deshun said, the servants were experienced, and everything was busy but not chaotic.
Outside the Bagua diagram, Xue Shen was talking to a Taoist priest with a white beard, an ethereal air, and wearing a red robe.
Seeing Shen Youying approach, Xue Shen waved to her, signaling her to come over.
Shen Youying moved over and noticed that he was wearing a yellow Taoist robe today. The robe was decorated with Bagua diagrams and incomprehensible runes on the chest and back. His long hair was not tied up but was casually draped down, with a loose knot at the back, giving him a somewhat otherworldly air.
While conversing with the ethereal and otherworldly Master Huodong, I even felt a sense of ethereal bliss.
Shen Youying stepped forward and awkwardly performed a Taoist greeting: "Your Highness, Master."
Xue Shen introduced to Huodong Zhenren: "This is my wife, Shen Shi. At the beginning of the year, you cast a divination for me and said that Shen Shi was my benefactor. If we could get married soon, it would be of great benefit to me. Now it has all come true."
"Since I got married, not only has everything gone smoothly for me, but my old illness has also not recurred for a long time."
Master Huodong observed Shen Youying for a moment and then smiled, "The prince and princess's destinies complement each other. If they can be of one mind and one heart, their future blessings will be boundless."
Shen Youying listened from the side, maintaining a dignified demeanor, smiling without saying a word.
She felt that what Master Huodong said was not much different from what the fortune tellers at the fortune-telling stalls outside said.
Xue Shen, however, seemed to believe it completely, nodding repeatedly and asking many other questions. Seeing that the auspicious time had arrived, he reluctantly watched the Fire Cave Immortal head towards the altar.
The servants brought in tables and chairs, and Xue Shen and Shen Youying sat in the main seats to watch the ceremony.
On the central altar, Master Huodong and eight disciples, wielding peach wood swords, chanted incantations and performed rituals with strange, unsettling steps. Sixteen other disciples stood guard outside the Bagua diagram, creating a solemn and dignified scene.
A Dharma assembly lasted from 7:00 PM to 3:45 PM.
Throughout the entire process, Shen Youying maintained an upright posture, appearing dignified and dignified on the surface, but in reality, waves of drowsiness were rising within her.
She doesn't really believe in these things; when she occasionally goes to Xiangguo Temple to burn incense, it's mostly just to put her mind at ease.
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