Chapter 64: Sacrifice
It was noon when Su Fengzhang got home. Soon everyone in the village came to watch the fun. When they heard about the commendation order, they were reluctant to leave and wanted to touch it to share in the joy.
Faced with a barrage of questions, Su Fengzhang finally answered them. He turned around and saw that the porter was gone.
He quickly asked, "Where's Brother Liu who helped me carry the things home? I haven't paid him yet."
Aunt Bai, who had been standing nearby with Su Huihui, smiled upon hearing this and said, "Don't worry, Erlang. I've already paid him his wages, and even added ten cents as a wedding gift."
Su Fengzhang finally breathed a sigh of relief, at least he didn't take advantage of others in vain.
At this time, Second Uncle Su came running in from the door, his face flushed and he said excitedly: "Erlang is back? Let me see the commendation order."
Well, he is another person who was blinded by the commendation order, but no one present would laugh at him.
Uncle Su's fingers brushed over the official seal on the commendation order, his eyes reddening. He wiped his eyes, his voice choking with sobs, "Erlang has made great progress. This child just takes after his father."
Someone nearby laughed and said, "He's even more accomplished than his father, but his father never received a commendation from the imperial court."
Uncle Su was not angry after hearing this, but was even happier: "He has a good future. The Su family will have hope again in the future."
"Erlang, take a good rest today. Tomorrow we'll go up the mountain to pay our respects to your father. If my eldest brother knew about this, he would definitely be happy. He didn't get the commendation when he was alive, but now his son has received it."
"Worship alone is not enough. The fact that Er Tlang received the commendation order is worth opening an ancestral hall to worship the ancestors." It turned out to be the village chief.
Su Fengzhang quickly stopped him, saying, "Uncle, just open the ancestral hall to worship our ancestors. This is too much trouble. I just passed the imperial examination, which is not something to be proud of."
The village chief glared at him and said, "Who said it was because you passed the imperial examination? Passing the imperial examination is not uncommon. There are many scholars in the surrounding area, and there are a few in our village as well. But receiving a commendation order is a unique achievement."
Su Fengzhang touched his nose and reminded him embarrassedly: "In fact, there are quite a few people who received commendation orders this time. All fifty people who passed the examination received them."
The village chief didn't like to hear this and asked, "Are you the first one in Yuexi Village? Are you the only one in Hushan County?"
"That's true." If Wenzhu, who has not yet returned from Qingzhou Prefecture, is not counted, he is indeed the only one.
The village chief continued, "That's all! This is a commendation from the Qingzhou prefect. I heard the Fifth Prince is still around. Ultimately, this is a commendation from the royal family. Isn't it worth opening an ancestral hall to worship our ancestors?"
Before Su Fengzhang could answer, Second Uncle Su nodded hurriedly: "The village chief is really thoughtful. It's not enough to just go to the grave to pay respects. We have to go to the ancestral hall to pay respects to our ancestors so that all our ancestors will know about it."
The surrounding villagers also said: "Yes, this is a great event for our Yuexi Village, we have to have a lively atmosphere no matter what."
"Erlang, you don't have to worry about this. Your uncles and aunts are here. You can just send someone out when the time comes."
"Erlang, can this commendation be placed in the ancestral hall for worship so that our ancestors can have a good look at it?"
Seeing that everyone was of the same opinion, Su Fengzhang had no choice but to agree: "Okay then, we'll offer it to the ancestral hall when the time comes."
After the ancestor worship was decided, the villagers left one after another. They all had to go home to prepare. The village chief and Uncle Su were very excited, as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Once everyone left and things quieted down, Su Zhao sighed, "I was thinking of putting the commendation order in the house and offering sacrifices every day, but now that's out of the question."
Su Fengzhang wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought to himself that it was a good thing that it didn't work out, otherwise it would be a big deal for his mother to offer a piece of paper every day.
"Mom, Sanlang, Huihui, I brought you gifts." Su Fengzhang smiled and changed the subject.
"You have so many places to spend money when you are alone outside, why are you still buying things for us? Mother and your brothers and sisters have everything they need at home. Don't waste money in the future." Su Zhao said this, but she couldn't stop the smile on her face.
Su Fengzhang smiled and said, "It didn't cost much to live in the Wen family. Apart from the rent, Mr. Wen refused to take anything else."
"Later, the prefect and the fifth prince each received a reward, and I had more silver on me than when I left." This was mainly due to the fact that they had been managing the river for several months in Qingzhou Prefecture, and their food and accommodation were provided.
"Then you don't need to buy anything for us, just keep it for yourself." Su Zhaoshi still said this.
Su Fengzhang stuffed the gifts into their hands. Su Zhaoshi got fashionable flower patterns and hairpins, Su Lanzhang got an inkstone and wolf hair brush, and Su Huihui got a few hair flowers.
Aunt Bai looked at the thing in her hand and was a little surprised: "Erlang, this, this also has me,
Her status was awkward. As a concubine mother, she shouldn't be close to her legitimate son. Aunt Bai had always been very careful about the limits. The two of them were not close enough but polite to each other. She didn't expect that she would be involved this time.
"We are all family, so of course we can't leave my aunt behind. Madam Wei, Zao'er, this is yours." Su Fengzhang said with a smile.
The gifts he bought were not expensive, but everyone could use them. Zao'er was young, and she shouted happily: "Thank you, Second Young Master. This flower is really beautiful. I will wear it later."
A pile of inexpensive gifts made the Su family even happier. After they were distributed, Aunt Bai tactfully took the children and left.
Su Zhao held her son's hand and said with a smile, "Feng'er has grown up and is much better at dealing with people than your father and elder brother."
Not to mention Su Dianli's personality, Su Zongzhang also went to Qingzhou to take the imperial examination, but he never thought about his mother at home, let alone his younger brothers and sisters.
Su Zongzhang was an outstanding child since childhood. He was raised by Su Dianli. He was a bit arrogant and not very close to his mother.
Therefore, although they were both biological sons, Su Zhaoshi still felt that her second son was closer to her. She smiled at her son who was becoming more and more outstanding and said, "These days, my heart has been worried day and night. I don't know whether it is right or wrong to force you to study hard."
It was only because Second Uncle Su concealed the matter of the pirates, otherwise Mrs. Su Zhao would have been more than just worried.
Su Fengzhang smiled and comforted her, "Mom, I wanted to study hard on my own, how can you say that you forced me to do that?"
"What kind of personality did you have before? If it weren't for your mother's constant nagging, you wouldn't have thought of studying hard." Su Zhaoshi always felt this way. "But my son has been smart since he was young. If he puts in this effort, he will definitely pass the imperial examination."
Su Zhaoshi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Mother doesn't ask you to achieve great things. This is enough for you now."
Su Fengzhang knew she must be thinking of her unlucky father and brother, so he could only comfort her: "Mom, don't worry, don't you know me? I've been a heartless person since I was a child."
Su Zhaoshi agreed. Although "heartless" is not a nice word, she felt strangely relieved in her heart.
The village chief and Uncle Su were eager to open the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors the next day, but in fact, there were too many things to prepare for the ancestor worship, and it could not be completed in half a day, and the time was also important.
Therefore, the actual time for ancestor worship was moved to three days later, which was an auspicious day.
Su Fengzhang was awakened when it was still dawn that day. Su Zhaoshi took care of him and then pushed him out. Su Fengzhang only brought his younger brother Su Lanzhang. As a descendant of the Su family, Su Huihui was not allowed to go to worship the ancestors.
In fact, there was only one woman at the ancestor worship ceremony, and that was the wife of Su Wenhui, who was both the village chief and the clan leader. She was considered the clan wife of this generation and was responsible for organizing the ancestor worship ceremony.
The village chief attached great importance to this ancestor worship, and even spent a large sum of money to buy a bull's head. He also killed a sheep and a pig, making a total of three animals.
In ancient times, sacrifices emphasized the three animals and nine rituals, where the three animals generally referred to cattle, sheep, and pigs. If it was a royal sacrifice, the coat color of these three animals was required to be as pure as possible.
However, ordinary people rarely have such conditions, especially since cattle are the main labor force for farming. Ordinary people are not willing to kill them for sacrifice, and usually use chickens instead. For example, during the Chinese New Year in previous years, Yuexi Village also used pig heads, chickens and fish for sacrifices, and even sheep would not appear.
This time, the village chief had shed a lot of blood. Although the sheep that was slaughtered was from Su Fengzhang's family, a ewe that had been bought for milk but had run out of milk, he had asked someone to buy the cow's head, which took a lot of effort.
The ewe that contributed goat milk to the Su family finally came to the end of its life. When it was killed, Su Fengzhang looked away with some reluctance, and as a result, he saw his younger brother staring at them with sparkling eyes.
"Lan Zhang, aren't you afraid?" Su Fengzhang couldn't help but ask.
Su Lanzhang looked up inexplicably: "What are you afraid of? Second brother, can I follow you later?"
Well, this person is braver than me. Su Fengzhang has killed people after all, so he still feels uncomfortable when he hears the sheep screaming.
The entire process of ancestor worship was solemn and complicated. As the center, Su Fengzhang had to personally hold the hot blood to worship heaven and earth, and then lead everyone to burn incense and formally enshrine the commendation order.
After spending more than an hour in the ancestral hall, the group finally set out to go up the mountain to worship their ancestors' graves.
Although not everyone in Yuexi Village has the surname Su, their ancestral graves are located in the same place, which is a hillside on the back mountain. Although it is not a Feng Shui treasure land, it is said that a Feng Shui master was consulted there in the early years.
Su Fengzhang's biological father is buried on this small hillside, in a relatively central location, next to his grandfather's grave.
The closer you get to the center, the more graves belong to the Su family. This shows that the Su family still dominates Yuexi Village.
Su Fengzhang burned incense and kowtowed all the way. When he finally finished the worship and went down the mountain, his forehead was bruised and his stomach was rumbling. He was in great pain.
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