On the afternoon of the 10th day of the first month of May, Guo Fuzi's private school in Guojia Village ended school an hour earlier than usual, and the Mengtong children left happily at 3 p.m. with their book baskets on their backs.

Guo Baichuan packed up the lecture hall and locked the door and returned to the back room, his wife Wang had already prepared hot water, and the set of old and faded but cleanly washed Tong Shengzhi was also neatly placed on the stool next to him.

It is said that this set of children's clothes is the "original and genuine" children's clothes issued by the government when Guo Baichuan passed the government examination that year, and Guo Baichuan has been cherishing and caring for it over the years.

It can be said that this set of children's clothes carries the proudest "glorious years" of Guo Baichuan's life, so he is only willing to wear it during festivals or important occasions.

Today, Xujia Village held a grand sacrificial event, the reason is that even the clan man Xu Jin, who took off the head of the county test and the government test, returned to the village, and there will be a flowing water banquet after the sacrificial event.

In fact, at noon yesterday, the patriarch of the Xu clan had already sent someone to invite him to lunch, and I heard that the Shangrao County Order would also attend, but the invitation came in a hurry, and it was too late to bathe and change clothes, so the exquisite Guo Fuzi declined.

And for today's dinner, the patriarch of the Xu clan sent someone to invite him early in the morning, and Guo Fuzi naturally did not miss it, so he deliberately left school an hour in advance, leaving time for bathing and changing.

Besides, after Guo Baichuan finished bathing, he meticulously put on the Tongsheng straight jacket, tied his hair with a square towel under the service of his wife, and even combed his sparse beard carefully.

His wife, Wang, carefully sorted out the folds of her husband's clothes, and then nodded with satisfaction: "Go ahead, don't drink too much wine." ”

Guo Baichuan nodded respectfully, saying that his wife in his memory has not served him so hard for a long time, especially after failing to take the hospital examination for many years, and today he is obviously stained with the light of his proud disciple Xu Jin.

It is said that since the news that Xu Jinlian took off the head of the county test and the government test came back, the number of villagers who sent their children to study here has increased significantly, and even people from villages five or six miles away have come to study. The number of students naturally increased, and Wang's smile every day obviously increased, and he served his husband more attentively, which made Guo Baichuan experience the pleasure of being respected again.

Guo Baichuan was about to go out, and Wang suddenly said: "By the way, Xianggong, have you thought of Brother Jin's words?" Don't be able to answer when others ask you, it's not good to look good in front of the county lord. ”

Guo Baichuan snorted slightly and said: "How can you be negligent as a husband in such an important matter, okay, you don't have to be verbose, I should come back later tonight, you go to bed first." ”

After Guo Baichuan finished speaking, he paced out with his hands behind his back, and Wang pouted and muttered: "Look, this old man can get it, if Brother Jin is lifted in the future, his tail will not reach the sky." ”

"Guo Fuzi, are you going to Xujia Village?"

"Master Guo, I'm going to have a few more drinks tonight."

Today, a grand sacrificial ceremony was held in Xujia Village, and the nearby ten miles and eight townships knew about it, so when the villagers of Guojia Village saw Guo Fuzi's dress, they immediately guessed that this person was going to Xujia Village for a banquet.

Guo Baichuan just arrived at the entrance of the village and met the housekeeper Guo Quan, this guy smiled and stuffed Guo Baichuan with five taels of silver, and asked Guo Baichuan to transfer it to Xu Jin, saying that it was a congratulatory gift from Guo Yuanwai, and congratulated Xu Gongzi on winning the county test and the government test.

Five taels of silver is a lot of money in the countryside!

Guo Baichuan took the silver and said lightly: "The old man of the silver will bring it for you, but whether Brother Jin can accept it or not, it's his business." ”

Guo Quan said with a smile: "This is natural, there is Master Lao Guo!" ”

Guo Baichuan's eyes flashed with a touch of disdain and pleasure, thinking that Guo Quan threatened himself at the beginning that he would not allow Xu Jin to study in a private school, and even forbade other students to marry Xu Jin as a guarantee, which would instead ask Baba to send money to please others.

"If you knew this was the case, why bother in the first place, the reader is not something you can insult!" Guo Baichuan dropped a sentence and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Although Guo Quan's face is ugly, he is helpless, although Xu Jin has only passed the government test at the moment, and he has not even achieved the fame of Xiucai, but now he is the protégé of Fei Ge Lao, plus now Shangrao County has ordered Liu Qingyuan to stay in Xujia Village, and Xu Jin seems to be very familiar with it, and the most important thing is that there are rumors that Governor Sun Sui will also go to Xujia Village in the next few days.

The governor of a province, this is a high-ranking official whose leg hair is thicker than the waist of ordinary people, and he is a high-ranking official with real power in office, not like Fei Hong, who has already become an out-of-gas official, so Guo Quan sent five taels of silver, saying that it was a congratulatory gift to Xu Jin, but it was actually a disguised apology.

……

In the room, Xu Jinzheng was lying on the bed on all fours, saying that he was tired enough today, and he felt that his bones were scattered, especially his two legs, and his heels were still aching.

Xu Jin's purpose of returning to the village this time was to worship his ancestors, and he thought that it would be enough to burn incense in the ancestral hall and then go to his parents' graves to worship, but who knew that Xu Deming would be so grand and cumbersome.

Anyway, before dawn this morning, Xu Jin was woken up, hurriedly washed his face, and was pulled to see the pig killing before he even had time to eat breakfast, and the villager who was responsible for killing the livestock stabbed the pig into the neck with a knife, put a large pot of pig blood, and then killed a sheep, put a large pot of sheep blood, and finally killed the chicken and released the chicken blood.

The so-called three sacrifices and nine ceremonies of the ancients were the most solemn sacrifices, in which the three animals referred to cows, pigs, and sheep. It's just that the "Da Ming Law" clearly prohibits killing cattle without permission, and killing cattle is indeed too wasteful, and Xujia Village can't afford to kill them, so they replace cattle with chickens.

Xu Jinde personally held three plates of blood and sprinkled the sacrifice to heaven and earth, and then went to the ancestral hall to put on a stick of morning incense, tossing for nearly an hour The sky was bright, and then he had time to eat something hurriedly, and then set off to worship the ancestral tomb of the Xu family.

Hundreds of men from the Xu clan left the village carrying three sacrifices, blowing and blowing, you must know that ordinary ordinary people cannot bury their ancestors in a feng shui treasure like those wealthy families.

The ancestors of the Xu family are scattered on the hills around the village, and some are even far away from the village, so they have to walk one by one, and the most pitiful thing is that Xu Deming deliberately took a long detour in order to show off, passing under the noses of neighboring villages, attracting villagers to watch.

Therefore, when all the tombs of the ancestors of the Xu family were worshipped, it was already more than three o'clock in the afternoon, and Xu Jin, as the protagonist of the sacrifice, had to personally kowtow to incense everywhere he went, which could toss him to death.

finally returned to the village, and had to rush to the ancestral hall to burn afternoon incense, so that he had the opportunity to return home to rest.

So at this time, Xu Jin was lying on the bed and didn't even want to move his fingers, it was too special to toss people.

At this time, Xie Xiaowan came in with a basin of water, and when she saw Xiang Gong's embarrassed appearance regardless of her image, she was both funny and a little distressed, twisted a towel and carefully wiped Xu Jin's face clean, and brushed off the incense ash and firecracker confetti on her heart.

"Xiaowan, Xianggong is tired today!" Xu Jin said with a bitter face.

Xie Xiaowan smiled sweetly: "Xianggong, I'll help you pinch your legs!" After speaking, he quickly reached out and kneaded Xu Jin's thighs with both hands.

Xu Jin comfortably enjoyed Xie Xiaowan's massage, but after a while, he fell asleep and snored slightly.

Xie Xiaowan lightly took off her boots for Xianggong, and then sat on the edge of the bed and played a fan, saying that the weather was already very hot now.

Xie Xiaowan held her cheeks with one hand, shook the fan lightly with the other, staring at Xianggong's handsome face with veins, Shui Linglai's eyes were slightly bent into a good-looking crescent, and her sweet smile seemed to be overflowing.

In other words, the compliments and enthusiasm of the three aunts and six wives today really satisfied Xie Xiaowan's girlish vanity.

After staring at Xianggong affectionately for a while, the little girl's pretty face suddenly flushed, and she first turned her head to look at the door curtain and window like a thief, and then quickly kissed Xianggong on the cheek.

As a result, the little girl had just finished stealing kisses, the door curtain was knocked open, and the little slave and Xie Sangun ran in, these two boys blushed on their faces, they had just come back from playing together, and their bodies were dirty, probably to the river to fish and catch shrimp.

"Sister, where's my brother-in-law?" Xie Sangun asked loudly as soon as he entered the door.

Xie Xiaowan's face was covered with red glow, and she was a little annoyed: "Two little bastards, what are you doing, your brother-in-law just slept!" ”

Xie Sangun stuck out his tongue and lowered his voice: "Brother-in-law said last night that he taught us to make kites today." ”

"Little loach, didn't you see how tired your brother-in-law is today, I'm really ignorant, go outside to play!"

Xie Sangun shook his head and sighed old-fashionedly: "The water spilled by the married daughter, now it will only hurt her own man, and she will forget her brother when she has a father-in-law!" ”

The little slave couldn't help but laugh!

Xie Xiaowan raised the fan in shame and made a gesture to fight, Xie Sangun pulled the little slave and ran away, and the latter suddenly came back and said: "Sister Xiaowan, I almost forgot to tell you that the patriarch just now asked someone to inform him, and asked his brother-in-law to go to the ancestral hall at three o'clock to offer evening incense." ”

"Oh, incense!" Xu Jin, who was asleep, sat up like a nervous reflex.