NOVEL NEXT Chapter 29 Repair the Ancestral Hall
To celebrate this year's spring rice and sweet potato harvest in the village, a banquet was held outside the ancestral hall.
Each family prepares food and places it on a table outside the ancestral hall.
The young sisters-in-law organized themselves, sang folk songs, and performed a harvest dance with flower baskets, while the men played gongs, drums, and played instruments and sang.
Liuxiang Snacks is closed today, so Mao Xi prepares "pressure pot harvest dishes" at home early in the morning. She stews sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, etc. and bone vegetables in a pot.
Mrs. Chen and Lou Laner were cooking sour plum soup.
Mao Xi told the two of them how to make ice from saltpeter and gave a brief demonstration. Then she went to the kitchen and took the opportunity to enter the space to get ice.
Seeing Ma Xi dragging out two buckets of ice, Chen exclaimed: "Ah Ma, when did you make the ice?"
"Before going to bed last night, I put the ingredients needed for making ice in a bucket in advance. These are freshly made."
Lou Lan'er poured out the cooked sour plum soup and let it cool down. At this time, Lu Da and Mu Zhiyuan came to Maoxi's courtyard together.
Ajiao saw Lu Da, ran all the way, rushed to Lu Da and hugged his thigh: "Daniu, Daniu! Come on."
Lu Da picked up Ajiao and said, "Xiao Niu, what delicious food did your sister make today?"
"Sister, I made harvest vegetables and sour plum soup today!" Ajiao said softly.
Mu Zhiyuan came to the stove, looked at the harvest vegetables in the pot, and swallowed: "Ah Shu, I see that there are hundreds of banquets outside the ancestral hall. Luda and I will help you serve them later."
"Thank you very much, do you have breakfast?"
"Not yet, we are waiting for a feast of hundreds of families!" Mu Zhiyuan said, picked up the sour plum soup and sent it outside the ancestral hall.
As soon as the pressure cooker harvest vegetables came out of the pot, Xiaodouzi couldn't help but reach out and grab a potato and put it in his mouth.
"Sister, this dish is so delicious. Please make it for us at home in the future!"
"You little bean, have you washed your hands before eating vegetables?"
"Hahaha……"
Lu Da put Ajiao down and went outside the ancestral hall with a pot of harvest vegetables.
Rhubarb, ingots, and preserved eggs followed Ah Shu's family to the Baijia Banquet, spinning around under the tables and chairs, waiting to eat.
Food was put on the table for each family, and everyone sat on the table, eating happily and smiling happily.
After the Baijia Banquet, the clan leader called on every household in the village to donate money to renovate the ancestral hall. There were many people who responded. That night, Ah Shu and Chen went to the clan leader to donate five taels of silver.
When the elders of the clan were about to write down the registration, an old woman shouted loudly: "Wait a minute!"
Seeing that the elders of the clan wanted to write Liu Yongren's name in the merit book, his stepmother Ke took the pen from the elders' hands, and his second uncle Liu Yongde followed him.
"Yongren is the eldest house of my Liu Wang family. As long as one person from the family makes a donation, the name of my old man Liu Wang must be written in the merit book."
The clan elders were a little embarrassed. Seeing that more and more villagers came to donate money, Mao Xi said bluntly in public:
"My father and grandpa have separated for a long time. If you want to rename me Liu Wang, you can do it. Our family will not donate the five taels of silver! In the future, my name will be engraved on the merit monument. If I want to donate one tael, I still want to donate it. One gold is all your merit!" After saying that, he took back the five taels of silver donated.
Ke and his second uncle Liu Yongde stood aside, indifferent, and made no move to donate money from their own pockets.
Mao Xi continued: "My grandpa doesn't donate, he doesn't take any penny, he wants to keep his name, but he doesn't contribute any money. What do you think is the reason?"
"Yeah, that doesn't make sense!"
"Uncle Yongde, what you are doing is wrong."
“It’s only fair that whoever donates should keep his name!”
Everyone talked to each other and supported Mao Xi's family.
"Patriarch, my family originally wanted to donate money. If I don't fill in my father Liu Yongren's name, my family will not donate the money. I will keep this merit with my grandfather."
The patriarch originally hoped that each family would donate more money. The five taels of silver donated by Shu Xi's family was not a small amount. Many families only contributed 50 to 300 yuan. It would be a pity for her not to donate!
The patriarch's face darkened, he slapped the table hard, pointed at Ke and Liu Yongde in public and scolded: "Okay, you see the Yongren family is opening a shop in the town and making a lot of money, so you want to take advantage of their donations." Yin Gongde, tell me, three men in a family are worse than one millet girl, why don’t you reflect on it."
After that, he turned to Shu Xi and said, "Ah Shu, don't worry about this donation. Just remember your father Liu Yongren's name. In the future, your father's name will be engraved on the merit monument, and other clan members will be here to witness it."
After hearing the clan leader's words and the presence of his fellow villagers, Shu Xi handed the donation to the clan leader and watched him write in the merit book: Liu Yongren (donate five taels of silver).
After coming out of the patriarch's house, Mr. Ke vomited lotus flowers to Mao Xi and his mother-in-law Chen at the door.
Mao Xi was tired of hearing this and didn't reply.
Ms. Ke insulted her juniors in front of all the villagers, and her neighbors said that she was old and disrespectful and that she was not clear-headed.
As they neared home, his third uncle Liu Yongkang hurriedly left from the door of Mao Xi's house. When he saw the Chen family, he turned around and ran away without even saying hello.
"Ah Shu, Aunt Chen, you are back!"
"Lan'er, my third uncle just came to my house?" Shui Xi asked doubtfully.
"He just sneaked in, sneaking around, as if he wanted to secretly learn how to make ice, but I drove him away."
"Learn to make ice secretly?"
"As soon as Third Uncle came in, he quietly asked me where you put the ice." Xiaodouzi shouted.
"It's okay, I kicked him out before he even entered the kitchen." Lou Laner said with a smile.
"I will do all the ice making from now on. You don't have to buy the saltpeter. I will make the arrangements." Mao Xi told Lou Lan'er.
.
"One bowl of iced sour plum soup will make your summer vacation go away!" Lou Lan'er shouted at the door as always.
Niu Sanhua from Niujia Village came to Liuxiang Snacks carrying two loads of bacon.
"Miss Ah Shu, your snack shop is doing well." Niu Sanhua sighed as she looked at the queue at the door, waiting for hot dry noodles and iced sour plum soup.
"Sister Sanhua, sit inside." Mao Xi invited Niu Sanhua into the hall and poured her a bowl of iced sour plum soup.
"I just came to see you, why don't you see Brother Mu?"
"Brother Mu doesn't come to the snack shop often. He only goes to the fields when there is farm work in the village and he needs help."
"Ah Shu, my nephew was rescued that day, thanks to Brother Mu. I heard from the Kaitang County government official that he was a prince?"
"He is just an idle prince. He doesn't care about official matters and occasionally goes to my few acres of land to grow vegetables."
"That day, my nephew left clues to the murderer behind the child trafficking. I wonder if he has been caught now."
"What clue?" Shu Xi was surprised. She had never heard Mu Zhiyuan mention it.
"My nephew grabbed a torn piece of paper with the word 'Deng Xian' written on it. He grabbed it from the escaped gangster." Niu Sanhua whispered softly.
"I turned around and asked him. Although the government has stepped up patrols recently, if the murderer is not caught, I will not dare to open a shop in this night market."
Niu Sanhua brought the bacon to Mao Xi: "Then I'll leave first. Give this bacon to Brother Mu for me. I'll come back to you another day."
After bidding farewell to Niu Sanhua, Mao Xi recalled and analyzed the existing clues.
"The scrap of paper with the word 'Advance to Immortality' is the cultivation of immortals mentioned by the beggar Old Li Tou, and the cultivation of witchcraft that Brother Ying heard about."
She originally thought that these were just superstitions and rumors, but now after comprehensive analysis, she found that they might be related to cults or alchemy.
"No, I have to go see Brother Mu immediately!"