Chapter 402 Ancestor Worship (6000)
Tang Xiaoru glanced at him with disdain, "Did you forget to put it on, or did you deliberately not put it on?"
When Chen Qingrong heard this, he immediately felt as if he had been greatly wronged, and said, "How could you think of me like this? Am I the kind of person who did it on purpose? It was just because I left in such a hurry that I forgot about it."
"Tsk." Tang Xiaoru curled her lips in disdain, too lazy to expose him.
She just said deliberately, "If not, then let's not do that for the time being, in case you get me pregnant."
"Didn't I say to sacrifice your belly?"
"Humph, what you said sounds nice, but when the critical moment comes, you are reluctant to take it out. It's like in the middle of winter, you finally warm up the quilt, and I ask you to take it out immediately. Can you bear to leave your warm bed?"
Tang Xiaoru made a very vivid analogy.
When Chen Qingrong heard this, he really couldn't find any point to refute.
He just nodded and said faintly, "You know what, there is some truth to that. Your beta is really as warm as the quilt."
"Get lost." Tang Xiaoru glared at him fiercely, "Are you talking like a human being? You pervert, who wants to discuss that with you?"
She felt so ashamed just listening to it. She really didn't know where Chen Qingrong got the courage to say such outrageous words.
Sure enough, a person who is truly against the will of heaven can reach a level that a cross-dresser can never reach in his entire life with just a few words.
Chen Qingrong laughed dryly, "Ha, I'm just discussing mathematics with you, don't get me wrong."
Tang Xiaoru snorted heavily and ignored him.
It is better not to discuss this kind of topic all the time, otherwise it is easy to bring up something even more outrageous.
It was around eight o'clock in the evening when they finally arrived at Chen Qingrong's hometown.
After passing through the town and driving for a while, we finally arrived at Chenjiatun.
Chenjiatun is still brightly lit at night, and the street lights illuminate the entire quiet road. While driving, you can hear the barking of dogs from both sides of the road from time to time.
This is how it is in the countryside. Almost every household has a dog, and as long as there is any noise at night, you can hear dogs barking everywhere.
But this also has its advantages. At least it can remind people to be more alert so that they don’t get stolen without knowing it.
After the car stopped, Tang Xiaoru got out first, and Chen Qingrong followed with his travel bag.
Hearing the noise outside, Wang Xiu'e and Lao Chen hurried out to meet them.
"Qingrong, Xiaoru, you're back. You must have been tired from driving. Come inside and take a rest. Have you eaten?"
"Mom and Dad."
"Good evening, uncle and auntie. We haven't eaten yet." Tang Xiaoru chuckled and said sweetly, "I was craving your fried chicken while on the road. I can say that I can't wait to go home."
Wang Xiu'e happily took her arm and said with a smile, "Auntie knew you liked it, so she fried it early. Let's go home, I'll heat it up and serve it to you."
"Okay, thank you, auntie."
"Let's go."
Wang Xiu'e pulled Xiaoru in.
Chen Qingrong couldn't help feeling relieved when he saw that his mother and Xiaoru had such a good relationship.
Being a man is difficult.
Especially when the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are not getting along, the man caught in the middle has an even more difficult time.
Who do you say you can help?
If you help your wife, then you are the typical example of a man who forgets his mother after marrying her.
If you always favor your mother, your wife will definitely feel aggrieved and want to divorce you.
Fortunately, Chen Qingrong does not have this worry.
At least that's the case for now.
As for whether there will be such troubles after marriage, Chen Qingrong has no ability to predict. Perhaps, the spoiler text will inform him in advance?
Who knows.
"Dad, is grandma asleep?" Chen Qingrong asked at this time.
Old Chen shook his head. "She hasn't slept yet. Your grandma's blood pressure is a little high. After taking blood pressure medicine, she watched TV in her room. I didn't ask her to come out to pick you up."
Chen Qingrong smiled and said, "It's right that she didn't come out. Grandma is old, and it's too tiring for her to come out to greet us all the time. I'll go see grandma later."
"Well, come in."
"it is good."
After entering the house and washing their hands, the couple went to chat with their grandmother first.
When grandma saw them come back, she was naturally happy. She held one of their hands and smiled from ear to ear.
Although she is old, she is still quite interested in family romance dramas. When Chen Qingrong and others came in, they found that grandma was watching All Is Well, which was quite popular in the past two years.
Although this drama is called All Is Well, none of the characters in it are good. It should be called All Are Villains.
At least when Chen Qingrong was chasing the story, he was so angry that his heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys all ached. But, he was angry, but also wanted to continue watching. This makes one have to admire the screenwriter's ability and the actors' acting skills.
After dinner, the couple was too lazy to take a shower. They just washed their feet and went back to their room.
After entering the room, Wang Xiu'e grabbed Chen Qingrong and asked in a low voice, "Qingrong, why didn't I see Xiaoru bring back any cosmetics? Are you not willing to buy any for her? You can't be so stingy. Xiaoru is such a pretty girl, and you don't even want to buy her cosmetics. That's unreasonable."
Chen Qingrong smiled helplessly, "Mom, it's not like that. Xiaoru simply didn't bring it back. Besides, Xiaoru doesn't really like to wear makeup. Medicine is poisonous. How good do you think cosmetics can be?"
Wang Xiu'e smacked her lips. "That makes sense, but even if Xiaoru doesn't wear makeup, you still have to take care of yourself properly. Look at your rough skin. You are obviously one year younger than Xiaoru, but you look older than her."
Chen Qingrong laughed and said, "How can a grown man maintain such good looks? I'm not a celebrity or anything like that. Don't worry about me. Go back to your room and sleep. I'm going to sleep too."
Wang Xiu'e reminded him, "When you wake up tomorrow morning, remember to bring Xiaoru to the ancestral hall for dinner. You don't have to get up too early on purpose. Let Xiaoru get some beauty sleep."
"Okay, I'm going into the room. You should go to bed early too."
"Ah."
Chen Qingrong returned to his room.
Tang Xiaoru had already crawled into the quilt and was lying down. When she saw him coming back, she waved to him, "Come in, come in, there's not much warmth in the quilt, come in and warm me up."
"okay."
Chen Qingrong closed the door, took off his clothes and pants, and got into the quilt.
As soon as she lay down, Tang Xiaoru put both legs on his legs, hugged him sideways, and then sighed comfortably.
"Huh, it seems I don't need an electric blanket this winter. Having you as a human-shaped electric blanket is enough." Tang Xiaoru grinned with joy.
Chen Qingrong complained, "You are with me just to use me as an electric blanket. I am not happy."
"If you're unhappy, just hold it in. Can you still hit me or what?"
"I dare not hit you. If I touch you, you can call the people from the Women's Federation. Then Xiaohongshu, Women's Daily, and Weibo will hold a trial and sentence me to death." Chen Qingrong said sarcastically.
Tang Xiaoru said proudly, "I'm glad to know that. You have to be nicer to me."
"I'm not good to you." Chen Qingrong expressed dissatisfaction, "We haven't been together for a year, and I've probably criticized you more than a thousand times. How can I say I'm not good to you?"
"How can it be that many times?" Tang Xiaoru was speechless, "Can you please stop exaggerating?"
After a pause, she suddenly became curious, "Honey, what is the process of ancestor worship? Is it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"
Chen Qingrong said casually, "According to the rules of previous years, it takes two days. In fact, there is no special process. On the first day, all the villagers, young and old, will go to the ancestral hall to kowtow to the ancestors, and then have a feast together in the ancestral hall according to the order of seniority. However, this meal is a simple meal."
"The highlight is on the second day. On the evening of the second day, the village will invite a troupe to perform a big show, and then the whole village will get together for a feast. This is the best meal."
"Do you want to invite a troupe to perform?"
"Yes, this is sung for our ancestors. If I remember correctly, when I was a kid, we would invite people to perform lion dances, but later on, this was gradually abolished."
"Oh." Tang Xiaoru seemed to understand and asked, "Then if we want to worship our ancestors, does that require all the villagers to come back?"
Chen Qingrong nodded, "Yes, that's right, but it doesn't rule out the possibility that some people won't be able to come back, such as those serving in the military, or those who can't take leave for some reason. Everyone can understand that."
"But even so, every year when the village worships their ancestors, almost all the villagers are here, so tomorrow you will see relatives and friends that you haven't seen in the last few times you came back."
Tang Xiaoru suddenly became nervous, "Ah, then when they see me, will they still look at me like a monkey like before?"
Chen Qingrong was overjoyed. "Not really, not really. They just haven't seen such a beautiful fairy before. At most, they can admire her from a close distance. How can they call her looking at a monkey?"
Tang Xiaoru was a little dissatisfied. "What do you mean by close viewing? I'm not dead. You annoying guy, can you speak?"
"I can't speak." Chen Qingrong turned over and pressed her down, "I'm a rough man, I can only do the hard work."
Tang Xiaoru's breathing gradually became disordered. She stared at him for a few seconds and murmured, "He is indeed a rough man, a rough one."
"Hey."
……
The next morning, Tang Xiaoru woke up at seven o'clock, even earlier than Chen Qingrong.
Chen Qingrong was shaken awake by her.
He opened his eyes dazedly and asked subconsciously, "What time is it? Why did you wake up so early?"
Tang Xiaoru chuckled and said, "It's seven to six, and people are setting off firecrackers outside."
"Hmm?" Chen Qingrong rubbed his eyes and half sat up, then asked her, "So you were woken up by the firecrackers, wife?"
Tang Xiaoru shook her head. "No, the firecrackers hadn't been set off when I woke up. I was just too excited and couldn't fall asleep."
Chen Qingrong laughed and made a joke, "You look so ignorant. Aren't you just here to worship your ancestors with your husband? Are you so excited? Okay, I'll take you to see the world later."
Tang Xiaoru rolled her eyes and said yin-yangly, "Then I, Grandma Tang, will follow you, the great lord, to have a good look around the Grand View Garden today."
"Master?" Chen Qingrong raised his eyebrows. "You can't call me that casually. When you call me Master, it reminds me of Ximen Qing. If I were Ximen Qing, wouldn't you be Pan Jinlian?"
"Get out of here." Tang Xiaoru gave him a fist and asked tentatively, "So are we going out now?"
"Do you want to sleep again?"
"I'm not going to sleep anymore."
"Then put on your clothes." Chen Qingrong smiled, gently lifted the quilt, and then looked at his belly, wondering, "Why are your underwear placed on my belly?"
Tang Xiaoru rolled her eyes at him and said, "You said last night that you were afraid of catching a cold, so you put it there to cover yourself."
Chen Qingrong's mouth twitched, "Am I so abstract?"
"What do you think?" Tang Xiaoru rolled her eyes at him again, and then urged, "Go get me a new pair of underwear from your bag." "Okay."
I put on my clothes and got out of bed, and just as I walked out of the room, I met Lao Chen.
"Good morning, Dad."
"Good morning, uncle."
"You guys are up now, why don't you sleep a little longer?" Old Chen asked with a smile, "Were you woken up by the firecrackers?"
Chen Qingrong said, "Xiaoru couldn't sleep, so I thought of getting her up and going to the ancestral hall to see if there was anything to eat. Where are mom and grandma?"
Old Chen said, "They have already gone to the ancestral hall. I want to go there too. It won't be too late for you to come after you have washed up. The ancestor worship will start at 11 o'clock sharp."
"okay."
Old Chen left first.
After Chen Qingrong and Tang Xiaoru washed up at home, they locked the door carefully and then went to the ancestral hall together.
It started to drizzle early in the morning and there was a slight breeze, the leaves were rustling. Chen Qingrong was considerate and helped Tang Xiaoru to pull her collar tighter.
"Are you cold? Do you want me to take off my coat and give it to you?" Chen Qingrong asked her.
Tang Xiaoru shook her head. "No, no, I'm not that hypocritical. Besides, if you take it off and give it to me, what if you catch a cold? It's fine like this."
"Okay, then you hold my arm."
"That's exactly what I meant, hehe."
Tang Xiaoru laughed and took his arm.
Although it is only eight o'clock in the morning, most of the villagers in Chenjiatun have already gotten up. When walking towards the ancestral hall, I met many familiar people and some unfamiliar faces along the way.
Tang Xiaoru was not flustered. She just followed Chen Qingrong in shouting.
Anyway, Chen Qingrong is here, so he will hold up the sky even if it falls.
When we first arrived outside the ancestral hall, there were already quite a few people gathered there.
"Qingrong is back. Is this your girlfriend? I didn't see her last time, but I finally saw her this time. She's so beautiful."
"Brother Jian, when did you come back?"
"I just arrived this morning. Qingrong, let me introduce you. This is my girlfriend. She's from Jiangxi. I met her when I was working there."
"Hello, sister-in-law."
"Second Aunt..."
Because there were so many people, and many of them could only be seen once in a long time, so Chen Qingrong was so thirsty just from greeting Tang Xiaoru.
Finally, after saying hello to everyone, Chen Qingrong brought Tang Xiaoru to meet the ancestor.
The old ancestor is the oldest and most senior person in the whole village. He is 92 years old this year, but he is still sharp-eyed and sharp-eared. He sits happily at the table smoking a pipe, while a group of younger generations surround him and chat with him.
Frankly speaking, Chen Qingrong couldn't tell at all that the old ancestor didn't have much time left. Could it be a last gasp?
"Grandmaster, I'm back." Chen Qingrong shouted, pointing at Tang Xiaoru and said, "This is my girlfriend, Xiaoru, Xiaoru, call her back."
"Hello, ancestor."
"Hello, hello." The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of crooked teeth, and spoke in a dialect mixed with not-so-standard Mandarin, asking with concern, "Are you hungry? Are you cold? When are you getting married?"
Tang Xiaoru only understood half of what he said, so she answered based on what she understood, "Not cold, not cold, are you cold, ancestor?"
The old man smiled and patted his pipe, "With this, I won't be cold or hungry."
The greetings were almost over and everyone who was supposed to come had arrived. Then, led by the village chief, all the villagers entered this particularly large ancestral hall.
Originally, the ancestor worship ceremony should have started at 11 o'clock, but because the rain began to get heavier and heavier, and because there were so many people, it was not realistic for everyone to go into the inner hall of the ancestral hall, so most people had to kowtow outside.
In this case, if it turns into a heavy rainstorm later, there will be no point in hitting your head.
Therefore, after consulting the ancestors, the village chief decisively decided to advance the ancestor worship ceremony.
All of Chen Qingrong and his companions were arranged in an orderly line.
At the front are the ancestors and the elders in the village, followed by the heads of each household, and then the younger generations.
Chen Qingrong and his friends were not the youngest, so they were arranged in the fifth row. Behind them were the children in their teens.
The village chief said something that was neither ancient nor modern to the crowd. The general meaning was that Chenjiatun could be what it is today thanks to the blessings of the ancestors' spirits in heaven.
After he finished speaking, he had the door of the inner hall opened. Inside was the ancestor's spirit tablet and a sculpture.
Tang Xiaoru couldn't see the statue's face clearly, but it looked quite tall and mighty.
The village chief asked someone to bring an incense burner and asked the old ancestor to light a stick of incense. The old ancestor also bowed deeply towards the statue.
"kneel!"
The village chief yelled at the top of his voice, then took the lead and knelt down, followed by the others who knelt down in unison.
"Kowtow to our ancestors!"
A group of people began to kowtow in unison again.
It was Tang Xiaoru's first time experiencing such a thing. She found it novel and fun. She was a very honest person and kowtowed very loudly, which made Chen Qingrong pull her hand distressed and whispered, "Just pretend. Don't be so honest."
Tang Xiaoru rubbed her forehead and stuck out her tongue playfully.
Crackling.
Set off firecrackers, beat gongs and drums.
The main focus is on the sense of ritual.
The next step is to burn incense one by one.
This part lasted for more than an hour before it ended, and it was not until nearly 11:20 in the morning that the entire ancestor worship ceremony was finally completed.
Tang Xiaoru asked Chen Qingrong gossipingly, "Husband, how was the statue of the ancestor enshrined in your ancestral hall made? I mean, do you know what he looks like?"
Chen Qingrong shook his head. "Who knows? That was during the Xianfeng period. There were no photos passed down from that time. The appearance of the ancestor statue was completely based on the imagination of the older generation."
"Is this okay?"
"Of course you can. Do you dare to say that the faces of the statues in those Taoist temples and Buddhist temples are exactly the same as the gods? Isn't it all based on people's imagination?"
"Well, that's right."
Tang Xiaoru was actually convinced by Chen Qingrong's words.
What does it matter whether it looks like it or not? No one cares.
Chen Qingrong asked her again, "How do you feel? Is this process the same as you imagined for ancestor worship?"
Tang Xiaoru pouted, then shook her head, "It's different. It's a little simpler than I thought."
"You're not imagining something similar to an emperor's wedding, are you?" Chen Qingrong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "And this is still called simple. Frankly speaking, I personally think it's too complicated. Unfortunately, I don't have much say in the village. If I become the village chief one day, I will definitely cut down on this ancestor worship ceremony, or cancel it directly."
Tang Xiaoru glanced at him and said, "On your first day as village chief, you were kicked out on the second day because you stepped into the office with your left foot first."
"It's very possible, haha."
……
At noon, we eat a big pot meal outside the ancestral hall.
Tang Xiaoru personally prefers this kind of environment because it is lively.
Chen Qingrong was supposed to be a waiter, so Tang Xiaoru had to sit down and eat with her grandma and the others.
She is now quite experienced in dealing with these elders. Even if they don't understand, as long as she puts on a sweet and pleasant smile, no one can say anything to her.
Don't hit the smiling person with your hand.
She also took photos and videos and sent them to her mother.
Lin Yue also replied quickly, "It looks quite generous, how much gift money did you give?"
Tang Xiaoru, "I didn't give any gift money this time. This is an activity held in the village, so it's free."
Lin Yue, "Like, my daughter is so lucky, she got another free meal, not bad, eat more."
Tang Xiaoru, "..."
Lin Yue, "Where is my son-in-law?"
Tang Xiaoru, "Chen Qingrong is serving dishes. According to the custom here, all young people in the village have to help with the work. Even his parents are helping. Only his grandmother and I sit down to eat."
Lin Yue: "It's quite hard."
Tang Xiaoru: "Yes."
After chatting for a few sentences, Tang Xiaoru put her phone in her pocket.
She looked around and finally found Chen Qingrong chatting and laughing with an older sister in the open-air kitchen. At this time, he came over to them with the dishes.
"Xiao Ru, take the dishes." Chen Qingrong said.
"okay."
Tang Xiaoru quickly stood up to take the food, glanced at the waistband on his ear, and asked curiously, "Who gave you the cigarette?"
Chen Qingrong chuckled and said, "My uncle gave it to me. I don't smoke, so don't take it for granted."
"It's okay for you to smoke, just don't smoke one a day."
"You think I'm a range hood."
Only after everything that needed to be done was done did Chen Qingrong have time to come and sit down next to Tang Xiaoru.
Tang Xiaoru quickly served him some rice and handed him the beef and bones in her bowl.
"I just picked some up and saved it for you. Come and eat it quickly." Tang Xiaoru said as if asking for credit.
Chen Qingrong laughed for a moment, then whispered, "Gao Qiang just called me and asked me to borrow 100,000 yuan."
Thanks to big a for the monthly ticket, thank you 20231103 for the monthly ticket, please vote next month
(End of this chapter)
