The procedure of ancestor worship was extremely complicated. Towards the end, my great-grandfather held up a cup of wine and said, "The ancestor of the Zhu family has protected our family and brought us great blessings. I am deeply grateful to you for sweeping and sealing their tombs... I dare to offer you sweet wine to pay tribute to your ancestors, to your relative, the official, and to your relative, the clan." After he finished speaking, he bowed three times, poured the wine on the ground, and burned paper money.
The uncle and grandfather repeated the great grandfather's actions one by one, but they did not need to read the words again. At this point, the ancestor worship ceremony was over, and everyone returned to the Zhu family compound.
A sumptuous lunch had already been prepared in the Zhu family compound. There were three large tables in total. The largest table was for men, and the remaining two tables were for women and children. The food was almost the same.
The bowls are large and the plates are deep, with plenty of dishes, including stewed native chicken, braised pheasant, braised fish, cold-mixed black fungus, steamed rabbit, braised rabbit, and some homely vegetables. A few pots of old wine on the table are also mouth-watering.
It really fits the old poem: Don't laugh at the muddy wine of the farmers, for in a good year there are enough chickens and pigs to entertain guests.
When the three major families were having a meal together, the differences were quite obvious. My great-grandfather's family and my great-aunt's family obviously ate much better than my own family.
Not to mention the adults, just look at the children and you will know. Zhu Pingjun from my uncle's family ate with a runny nose and smacked his lips loudly, as if he hadn't eaten for dozens of days. He even used his hands to eat meat from the plate... The children in my great-grandfather's family were obviously much better, especially my cousins, who ate much more politely and looked very beautiful.
After dinner, the adults discussed it and decided that since Great-grandfather's family was about to move to the south, it would be better to have a New Year's reunion in advance and give the children some New Year's money to make them happy.
New Year’s money, Zhu Ping’an didn’t know why, maybe because of his physical condition, his emotions became a little childish, and he became inexplicably excited.
After coming to this world, he had never touched a penny. Now that he could receive money, it would be strange if he was not excited. Only when he had money in his hands could he feel at ease.
"Happy New Year, Grandpa and Grandma." Zhu Ping'an made use of his sweet talk and cupped his chubby hands to wish the elders a happy new year. Although he could not avoid kneeling according to the feudal custom, he was still the elder, so kneeling was also a beautiful tradition of respecting the elderly and loving the young.
Because of his sweet talk, Zhu Ping'an received a lot of extra New Year's money from his great-grandfather and great-aunt's family, especially his great-grandfather and great-aunt each gave him an extra silver bean. Zhu Ping'an secretly observed that it seemed that his great-grandfather and great-aunt only gave him silver beans, while everyone else received a handful of copper coins. Only he had this benefit.
Grandfather and grandmother are still partial. Zhu Pingan saw with his own eyes that the New Year's money his grandmother gave Zhu Pingjun was one cent more than what he gave himself...
After a round, Zhu Ping'an's little pocket was already heavy with New Year's money.
At this time, Chen came over with a smile like that of Grandma Wolf.
At this time, Chen's mentality was like this: This little rascal, I saw that you just received a lot of extra New Year's money, and silver beans, haha, my son is so great, give it to your mother obediently.
"Be good, my dear. Come here. Mother will keep your New Year's money for you. It is safest when you keep it with me. When you want to buy some candy, come to me and get it." Chen walked up to Zhu Ping'an, rubbed his little head, and said with a smile, then stretched out her hand.
ha
Looking at the smile of Chen's wolf grandmother, Zhu Ping'an's face was full of black lines.
It seems that mothers cheating children out of their New Year's money has been an unchanging tradition for thousands of years. The trick used by Mother Chen is called "creating something out of nothing". It is simple but the most effective. Just think about how many naive children are cheated of their New Year's money by their mothers using this trick every year. The magic touch of this trick is "I will help you keep it". This magic touch is like the finishing touch, which makes this trick come alive. How many naive children are cheated by their mothers with this trick and are willing to hand over their New Year's money.
However, Zhu Ping'an is obviously not that kind of naive kid.
His answer was different from others, and his refusal was original. "No, I still need to save money to marry a wife."
Zhu Ping'an's words made all the aunts and uncles present laugh. They all laughed at Zhu Ping'an for thinking about saving money to marry a wife when he was just a kid.
Chen's face was filled with black lines. This didn't make sense. This bastard had been deceived by her for so many years. Why didn't it work this time? How could he think of marrying a wife at such a young age? Who taught him that? She turned her head and glared at Zhu Shouyi.
Zhu Shouyi, who was drinking, was caught in the crossfire. He choked on the wine because of the glare from his wife. He waved his hands repeatedly to indicate that he was not the one who taught him that.
Since creating something out of nothing didn't work, Chen tried another tactic of taking advantage of the situation, and if he couldn't do the good cop job, he had to play the bad cop.
"Do you know how dangerous it is for a child to hold so much money? A good child will hand it over voluntarily." Chen put her hands on her hips and deliberately raised her voice.
If it was an ordinary naughty child, he would have said "I was wrong" with tears in his eyes and then handed over the New Year's money.
Unfortunately, Zhu Pingan is not.
"I will put the money for marrying a wife away and not carry it with me." Zhu Ping'an waved his fat paws, indicating that he would keep it safe and you don't need to worry about it.
Chen was rejected again.
Now my aunt and others gathered around with interest. After all, just now almost all the children’s New Year’s money was defrauded by their parents in various ways. Zhu Ping’an was the only one who was not defrauded, so they were all very curious.
Zhu Ping'an also noticed that almost all of his brothers and sisters’ New Year’s money was defrauded by their parents using various means.
Just now, Zhu Pingjun was cheated by his aunt with just one sentence, "Let mom keep the money for you, and buy new clothes for Jun'er in the future." As a result, Zhu Pingjun happily emptied his pockets and obediently handed over the New Year's money which was full of body temperature.
And little Yu'er was also deceived by the third aunt using the method of using someone else as a substitute, "Yu'er, dear, I will exchange two large handfuls of melon seeds and peanuts for one handful of your New Year's money, okay? One handful for two is not a good deal."
"Okay, thank you mom." Xiao Yuer nodded cutely, looking like she had earned something.
Although Zhu Ping'an felt that he should be like other naughty children whose parents "cheated" him out of his New Year's money, money was very important to him. It could be used for elementary education, as well as for making money. It was also necessary to keep it for emergencies, so he could not hand over the New Year's money for the time being.
Seeing that everyone was watching, Chen felt embarrassed to continue using threats and bribes to cheat Zhu Ping'an out of his red envelope. She thought that she would wait until the relatives left and then ask for Zhu Ping'an's red envelope.
"Well, then you keep it there yourself. If you lose it, I'll beat you." Chen smoothed things over and went to chat with her sister-in-law.
However, this scene still made many people remember Zhu Ping'an. This chubby little guy is interesting.