Zhou Quan walked towards Li Mai in the courtyard of the ancestral hall with his back to the sunlight. Therefore, when Li Mai saw Zhou Quan walking towards her, she saw that he seemed to be surrounded by a halo.
She was slightly surprised, because at that moment, a similar image flashed through her mind, but it was only fleeting, and she didn't know when she had seen such a scene.
Zhou Quan saw Li Mai staring at him blankly, so he gave her a gentle smile and walked through the crowd toward her.
Just as Zhou Quan was a few steps away from Li Mai, a young girl was suddenly pushed by someone and stumbled back a few steps, almost falling into Zhou Quan's arms as he walked by.
If it were an ordinary man, he would have instinctively reached out to catch the girl who almost fell. However, Zhou Quan had a strong sense of self-preservation, especially in a crowd of people. He would never let another woman lean on him. Therefore, his figure suddenly disappeared into the crowd like a streak of light. When he reappeared, he was already standing next to Li Mai, put his arm around his wife's waist, and looked down at her.
Li Mai saw all of this very clearly. In the crowd, a child hidden among the people pushed the girl, and before being pushed, the girl even made eye contact with the child in the crowd.
Someone is trying to cause trouble between the couple, trying to send a woman to the husband!
Li Mai watched indifferently as the girl didn't fall into Zhou Quan's arms, but instead fell onto Zhou Ermao, who was following behind Zhou Quan.
To be honest, Li Mai also didn't understand why Zhou Ermao had suddenly started following Zhou Quan around this week.
On the contrary, Zhou Heng and Zhou Tao, who were close to Zhou Quan, were a few steps away from him.
Were these events coincidences, or were they intentionally orchestrated by Zhou Ermao?
Upon seeing Zhou Ermao, Li Mai recalled that he seemed to have a good relationship with Zhou Chun.
Moreover, his younger brother, Zhou Sanmao, apparently used the spring water to save him...
Li Mai silently watched over there, while Zhou Ermao stared blankly down at the woman in his arms, who was also looking at him in surprise.
Li Mai looked away and met Zhou Quan's smiling gaze, his expression pleading for praise. She chuckled softly and whispered, "Not bad!"
Zhou Quan was happy and content. He chuckled softly, leaned closer to her, and whispered, "Luckily, my spiritual power is still intact, otherwise I would have suffered a loss today."
Li Mai nodded and asked, "At what time will it begin?"
Zhou Quan glanced at the position of the sun and said, "It should be soon. Our branch will worship first. This time, the clan leader will offer incense money first, and our family will follow."
Li Mai nodded in relief. This time, she wouldn't contribute several hundred taels like before. She would simply follow the clan chief's family and contribute the same amount as them.
The ancestral hall started announcing that it was about to begin and that they were setting up a grand offering. Li Mai stopped paying attention to Zhou Ermao's situation and decided to ask Zhou Quan when she got home. As for the child and the girl, they wouldn't escape. Since they had their eyes on the couple, they would have other plans if they didn't succeed.
A series of offerings, worship, and kowtowing took place. The clan elders recited the history of this branch of the family over the past few decades before the ancestral tablets, informing the ancestors and all clan members. They mainly mentioned which descendants had achieved success. What the clan elders were most proud of was that in the past two years, this branch had produced a business prodigy like Zhou Quan. In less than a year, he had led his family to a good life with shops and a mansion in the town. They also recounted how Zhou Quan had led the villagers to build a new village last year, produced the plans, and funded the transformation of the village school into Wende Academy this year. They made sure that all Zhou clan members and ancestors knew what contributions Zhou Quan had made to the Zhou clan and Zhoujia Village. However, they did not mention a word about Li Mai's name or Li Mai's help to the Zhou clan and Zhoujia Village.
In the eyes of these elders of the Zhou clan, it was enough to praise their own Zhou family members in front of the ancestors. As for the daughter-in-law, she was an outsider they had brought in. Their family should thank her for leading the family to prosperity, and they should express their gratitude in private behind closed doors. It was not worth mentioning her in front of the ancestors in the ancestral hall.
As they spoke, Zhou Quan remained silent with a cold expression. He knew he couldn't be disrespectful to his ancestors or interrupt the elders on the spot, but in his mind, he was already calculating his losses.
Originally, they planned to donate a thousand taels of silver as incense money when they returned, not for any other reason than to ensure the academy could continue to operate well and to give the children in the village a better future. Li Mai and he agreed that their family would donate a thousand taels.
However, after what happened last night, Zhou Quan felt depressed when he thought about how many silver notes he and Li Mai had prepared.
So what does it mean that these clan elders praised themselves so much today but didn't mention their own wheat at all?
Those married Zhou daughters have no idea how much Li Mai has sacrificed for this village and for themselves. Don't you elders know? You don't even utter a single word of praise for your wives?
Terrible, pay out!
The clan elders praised Zhou Quan for a full quarter of an hour, and Zhou Quan mentally deducted the money nine times, reducing the thousand taels to one hundred taels.
After the clan elders finished praising Zhou Quan, all the men in this lineage offered incense money and then left.
As for the women, apart from going in to set out offerings, they are not allowed to kneel and worship in front of the main altar in the ancestral hall on such a day. Instead, a row of prayer cushions is placed outside the ancestral hall for the women to kneel and worship the ancestors for protection.
However, because Li Mai was pregnant, Zhou Quan made arrangements when he came over not to let Li Mai kneel down to worship, for fear that something might happen to her.
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