After the apprenticeship ceremony officially began, Du Ke sat in the upper seat, and Grandpa Qin, Father Qin, and Shen Lixian sat on the lower seat. Because this was a family matter, even though Shen Lixian had a high status, he could not sit in front of Grandpa Qin and Qin Fang. Qin Shouye, Qin Shoucheng, and Niu Dan stood behind Grandpa Qin and Father Qin.
On the other side were Grandma Qin and Mother Qin, with Qin Siya and Qin Qiuya standing behind them.
Then, Qin Fang and Yang Haiyan came in together. After coming in, Yang Haiyan sat next to Qin's mother, and Qin Fang began to perform the four bows.
The so-called four bows ceremony, of course, involves four bows, four consecutive bows, but each bow is very particular. Not only the hands and feet are particular, but also when kneeling, which foot you kneel with first is also very particular. For example, when you stand up, which foot you raise first.
When performing the four prostrations, you kneel down with your left foot first, followed by your right foot.
But when they stand up, it is the opposite. The first one to stand up is Youjiao, and the second one to stand up is the left foot.
Each time you do this, you should bow once and then kneel down. Don't be hasty, but be calm.
Fortunately, Qin Fang had someone teach him the four bows before Du Ke came. The teacher he found was a teacher in the county academy, who was a student of Confucius. He was very familiar with and particular about these etiquettes, and he taught them meticulously, with every movement being extremely standard.
When Qin leaves school, every move he makes is in perfect order.
However, the four bows performed at home are still not as cautious as the four bows performed by students to Confucius, and there were also chanting officials at that time.
If we are at home, we don’t care about these things.
After Qin Fang performed the four bows, Du Ke gave him a knife.
Normally, teachers give students the four treasures of the study, but Qin Fang is a military commander, and it would be a waste to give him the four treasures of the study, so Du Ke gave him weapons. Needless to say, although Du Ke accepted a disciple this time at the suggestion of the emperor, he was sincere and put a lot of thought into it, otherwise, he would have just given him a set of four treasures of the study.
For a general, a good weapon is like having an extra life. The four treasures of the study are of no use to Qin Fang, but a good knife is different.
Although Qin Fang had never come into contact with a good weapon, when he took the knife, he could feel its uniqueness from the weight in his hand.
Du Ke said: "Hey, do you like it?" This question... Even if you don't like it, it's a gift from the elders, so you can only say you like it.
But Du Ke asked this question, which meant he was sure that Qin Fang would like it. Why? Because it was a good knife.
Qin Fang pulled the knife out of the scabbard, and a cold light flashed from the tip of the knife.
Shen Lixian spoke first: "Good knife."
Everyone looked at Shen Lixian, even Qin Fang looked at him. To be honest, only when he held the knife did he know it was a good knife, but he couldn't tell by just looking at it. The reason why he thought the knife was good was not because he knew a lot about knives. It was just... this knife was really heavy.
Du Ke raised an eyebrow: "Do you recognize him?"
Shen Lixian said: "It is said that before the founding of Qi State, when the ancestor of the Du family accompanied Tai Yuanzu to conquer the world, he held a large sword in his hand, which was very domineering. However, after the establishment of Qi State, the descendants of the Du family gave up martial arts and turned to literature, and no one has ever seen the sword again. I also heard that the sword also has an inscription written by Tai Yuanzu. I wonder if it is true?"
Qin Fang didn't expect that this knife had such a history. If it was true, he couldn't accept it: "Teacher, this knife..."
Du Ke waved his hand: "That's not it. Do you know the origin of Qi Kingdom?"
"This..." Qin Fang hesitated for a moment, and said truthfully, "The previous dynasty was corrupt, and Tai Yuanzu led his subordinates to rise up..."
Du Ke interrupted him: "Everyone knows this, and it is also recorded in history books. Do you know how they fought?" Du Ke asked Qin Fang, also looking at Shen Lixian, "Lixian, do you know?"
Taiyuanzu: The founding emperor of the Qi Kingdom.
Shen Lixian shook his head: "I really don't know."
At this time, Yang Haiyan said: "Tomb robbing."
As soon as she said this, everyone looked at her. Even Du Ke was surprised. "What do you mean? Where did you hear that?"
In fact, Yang Haiyan didn't know the plot, and it didn't mention it. When Yang Haiyan first found out that she was in a book, she read a lot of books about Qi, including laws and miscellaneous notes. When it came to Yunxiang County and King Liang, she learned about it from the miscellaneous notes. The same was true for the tomb robbery.
However, this kind of thing is shameful, so she didn't mention it to Qin Fang.
Now Du Ke asked, Yang Haiyan said frankly: "I have read the miscellaneous notes. It is mentioned in the miscellaneous notes that Taiyuanzu was originally a commoner. His family had some permanent property and could barely be considered a small landlord. He led his subordinates in the uprising and had no weapons, so some people mentioned that they were tomb robbers digging for weapons. Generally speaking, the owner of a tomb with weapons buried in it is not an ordinary person, so the weapons here must be good. Teacher, I just got it from the miscellaneous notes, and I don't know whether it is true or not."
Du Ke looked at Yang Haiyan with appreciation: "This is indeed true."
Shen Lixian: "But there is no record in history books."
Du Ke: "History books are written by people, so they can be changed. Moreover, the history books you have seen may not be real history books. What Xiangjun said is indeed true. People with deep family backgrounds basically know about it, and the royal family has never forbidden others to mention it, because no matter how Taiyuanzu rose to power, he ended the corrupt rule of the previous dynasty and gave the people a chance to breathe. What I want to say is that the knife of my Du family ancestor came from this way.
That knife accompanied my ancestor for half his life, and Taiyuanzu wrote words on the knife, so my ancestor would not give up the knife and kept it in the Du family ancestral hall. After that, my ancestor exhausted all his efforts and found all the materials to make a knife that was exactly the same. The blade and weight were exactly the same as the previous one. However, after the materials were found and the knife was made, my ancestor was too old to get the knife. So this knife has been in the Du family's warehouse and has never been opened.
In fact, this might be fate. The Du family has never produced a military commander since then. Even though some of the brothers practiced martial arts, they liked to play with swords, and no one liked to use a knife. So, I give this knife to you."
Qin Fang didn't expect that this sword had such a reason. He knelt down again and said, "Thank you, teacher. I will definitely use this sword to protect Qiguo and spread the glory of my Qiguo."
Du Ke nodded: "Okay."
Next, everyone started to eat breakfast. After breakfast, Qin Fang took Du Ke and Shen Lixian to the Shoushan Taoist Temple. Yang Haiyan ordered people to prepare lunch boxes for them. The cakes, noodles, and tea in the lunch boxes could fill their stomachs. After climbing for an hour, they were afraid that they would be hungry.
The pastries were small cakes and mung bean cakes, the noodles were cold noodles and cold cucumber salad, and the tea was mung bean soup. These were all placed in an ice bucket and Qin Fang was asked to carry it.
After Qin Fang and the others left, Yang Haiyan was going to start the evening banquet. In the morning, she performed the apprenticeship ceremony, and in the evening, she invited relatives and friends to dinner. Moreover, Du Ke came for official business, and he also had to meet with local officials, so he might as well use the evening banquet as an excuse.
Fortunately, Yunxiang County didn't have many officials, only the seventh-rank Yang County Magistrate, the eighth-rank Bai County Magistrate's family, and the ninth-rank Song Zhubu. Finally, there were Wei Ting and Uncle Qin and his wife.
Yang Haiyan listed the guests one by one, and sent invitations to County Magistrate Yang, County Magistrate Bai, and Chief Secretary Song. Uncle Qin and Aunt Qin sent guards and carriages to them.
After these people were arranged, Yang Haiyan thought about it and went to Liuxinyuan again: "Mother."
Mother Qin and Grandma Qin were glad that Yang Haiyan was here, otherwise they would not know what to do. Now that Yang Haiyan was here, they seemed to just wait for food. Seeing Yang Haiyan coming over, Mother Qin hurriedly asked, "Yanyan, you have worked hard these days. If there is anything you need from me, just tell me." Mother Qin was embarrassed. If it was an ordinary family, like their Baili Village, it would be the mother who helped out, not the daughter-in-law. But there was nothing she could do, because they didn't understand.
Yang Haiyan said: "Don't worry, mother, I'm not tired. Besides, even if it's a little hard for my husband, I'm willing to do it."
Hearing Yang Haiyan say this, Qin's mother couldn't help but laugh and said, "You kid..."
Yang Haiyan: "Mother, I came here to ask you something. There will be a dinner party tonight to celebrate my husband's apprenticeship. I invited my third uncle and aunt to come. Now, I thought my third uncle would be there too. Should I invite him over?"
When it comes to the unruly third brother at home, Mother Qin didn't even think about it: "No, let them stay there." With the guards watching over them, the third brother Tadpole, who originally didn't want to work, now knows how to exchange his labor for food. Mother Qin doesn't want them to run away when they come to the mansion without paying attention. In fact, in the military camp field, the third brother wanted to abandon Tadpole and run away, but was caught by the guards.
Hearing her say this, Yang Haiyan smiled and said, "Then I'll ask someone to send some delicious food to Uncle Tadpole later. It doesn't matter if he's not here. Since we're already in Yunxiang County, we can't be short of food."
When Mother Qin heard this, she immediately smiled and said, "Hey, just make the decision." It was one thing for her to dislike her brother and nephew, but she was still uncomfortable when others disliked her. Seeing that her daughter-in-law was still polite to her brother and nephew, and still thought of them, she was also happy. Regardless of whether her daughter-in-law really cared about them or it was just a face-saving friendship, at least in her face, she could still have this friendship, and she was happy. Mother Qin once again sighed that this daughter-in-law was really a good choice. However, when it came to the matter of getting married, Mother Qin thought of Aunt Qin San, so she pulled Yang Haiyan and asked in a low voice: "Yanyan, does Afang have any young men around him who haven't proposed marriage?"
Yang Haiyan was stunned. Seeing that Qin's mother suddenly asked this, her heart tightened. Could this be an arrangement for Si Ya? "Mother, why are you asking this? Could it be that Si Ya..."
Mother Qin said quickly, "No, no. It's your Third Aunt and Third Uncle. They want to introduce San Ya to someone close to Ah Fang. They think that with Ah Fang around, the boy will definitely not bully San Ya. Moreover, it can also win over Ah Fang's people. I don't know if it's a good idea, so I came to ask you, what do you think? Is it feasible?"