Tibet

The New Year is getting closer and closer, and every household is getting busier. New Year's Day is the most important day to worship ancestors. Because everyone is busy worshiping ancestors in the New Year and has no time to play and celebrate the New Year, the time to celebrate the New Year has been postponed by half. Let’s use the Lantern Festival to let everyone laugh and welcome the New Year.

This year's ancestor worship is unusual for the Li family. It is the first ancestor worship since the Li Linfu family split. Everyone worships their own, so it can be said that there is no conflict between the well and the river.

In fact, after a series of families taking sides, the situation has gradually become clear. All family members have signed the partition document and cannot change it.

The Li family is divided into Chang'an East Temple and Chang'an West Temple. Chang'an East Temple has his legitimate son Li Dai as the patriarch, and Chang'an West Temple has his legitimate son Li Xiu as the patriarch.

The whole family has a total of thirty-five households, which are divided into three households, one for concubines and three for concubines. The East Temple is composed of one for concubines and 12 for concubines. There are no off-site houses.

What does side house mean? Li Linfu's three brothers, and their respective descendants belong to side house. Although it is a bit discriminatory, there is no way. The three brothers all depend on Li Linfu for their livelihood, and they are not Li Linfu's direct relatives, so they can only be called side house.

Xici is composed of twenty-two households, including four households with direct houses, four households with concubine houses, and fourteen households with side houses. Li Linfu's three brothers all support Li Xiu.

Although the West Temple seems to have a lot of power due to the large number of people, in fact the reputation is high but the foundation is weak. It is very simple. When there are more people, the per capita benefits are less. Therefore, the welfare benefits of the East Temple are obviously better, the tuition fee is high, and every family has it. housing.

Xici was not as good as Xici, and everyone was complaining. Li Xiu had no choice but to increase the monthly payment by two or three guans. As for the six families who were still renting houses, he really couldn't solve it. The main reason was that these six families were all living in side houses. When they buy a house, they will definitely not be able to buy a house for a concubine or a second wife. The only way is to give each of these six families a rental subsidy of two guang per month.

It’s barely enough to explain.

As the New Year approaches, Li Xiu is also busy with sacrifices. He is now the right concubine of the East Palace. He is completely an idle official. He goes to the official office every day and then goes home. His son Li Yu has also become a commoner. , Li Xiu asked him to be in charge of the store and find something for him to do, so that in addition to his monthly salary, he would also have another generous income.

Regardless of the concubine, everyone in Dongci has the same amount of money, ten guan per month for each person, half for those under sixteen years old, the same for men and women. In fact, Li Dai sacrificed his own interests and won everyone's support.

But the West Temple is completely different. A legitimate son is entitled to 20 guan per month, a concubine is 8 guan per month, and a side house is 6 guan per month. Those under the age of 16 are halved, and young ladies are paid another 1 guan.

Therefore, Li Yu has a regular income of 20 guan per month. He works as a store manager and has an income of 50 guan per month. Before he is married, he has an income of 70 guan per month, which is higher than when he was a county magistrate. Much higher.

Despite his generous income, Li Yu was still depressed and spent most of his time in restaurants and tea shops every day.

Mingpu means teahouse. There is Wanji Mingpu in Xuanyangfang, which is one of the top ten teahouses in Chang'an. Teahouses in the Tang Dynasty emerged in the Kaiyuan period and soon became popular in major cities, especially in Chang'an, although they were far less popular than in the Song Dynasty. Prosperous, but has developed, after all, tea sage Lu Yu is from the Tang Dynasty.

In the early Tang Dynasty, tea was mainly cooked, and in the middle Tang Dynasty, sencha became popular.

First, the tea is made into cake tea, and then the cake tea is crushed into powder, and then the tea is roasted over fire, and the tea is stir-fried during the process to let it heat evenly.

After baking, you need to wrap the tea powder with a cloth to prevent the aroma of the tea from being lost.

After the tea powder has cooled down, you can make tea.

When the water boils, add a little salt to adjust the seasoning.

At the second boil, first scoop out a ladle of water, then start adding tea powder into the pot, and then boil the water.

When it boils for the third time, add the ladle of water you scooped out when it boiled for the second time, and you're done. You must drink it while it's hot.

There are also many teahouses that put milk in and prepare milk tea, which is also very popular.

In an elegant room, a tea concubine was skillfully making roasted tea and boiling water. Li Yu sat silently at the small table, and there was another person sitting opposite him. It was none other than Yuwen Huaide.

When Yuwen Huaide was still Li Huai, he had the best relationship with Li Yu. If he wanted to return to the family this time, he would naturally have to open a gap through Li Yu.

"Brother, I want to come back to participate in ancestor worship on New Year's Eve!"

"Sacrifice to ancestors?"

Li Yu looked up at him and said, "Are you kidding me?"

"I went to the Yuwen family to take care of my mother. Now my mother has remarried. What should I say in the Yuwen family? I am very rejected. After all, the blood is different. After my grandfather was critically ill, I always wanted to visit his old man, but I didn't have the courage."

"Then you don't plan to worship your ancestors at Yuwen's house this year?"

Yuwen Huaide shook his head, "I have never worshiped my ancestors in the Yuwen family ancestral hall. To put it nicely, I have not forgotten my roots. To put it badly, I am not allowed to enter the ancestral hall at all."

Yuwen Huaide was just telling lies. He participated in the Yuwen clan's ancestral hall to worship his ancestors last year, and his name plate was also hung in the ancestral hall. He was betting that the Li family didn't know about it.

Li Yu smiled and said: "Even if I want to help you, I can't help you! You should go to the East Temple to worship your ancestors."

Yuwen Huaide still shook his head, "You don't understand what I mean. I just want to return to my clan and not go home. I hope I am still a member of the Li family, but I have an independent family. I choose Xici."

"You still disown your father?"

Yuwen Huaide sneered, "He was so cruel to my mother. My mother was forced to marry a businessman by him. How could I recognize him and forgive him?"

"How could it be that Uncle Wu forced me to do this?"

"Why wasn't he forced? If he didn't write to the emperor, would the emperor put pressure on the Yuwen family? My mother would either be locked in a cage forever or be forced to remarry. She had no choice."

Li Yu nodded, "So that's the case. It's understandable. I'll tell my father today and see if he agrees!"

Yuwen Huaide took out a counter ticket from his arms and said, "This is a thousand dollars, which was left to me by my mother. I will donate it to the ancestral hall!"

At noon, in the Li family's west ancestral hall, Li Xiu and three elders sat at the table to discuss Li Huai's affairs. The daily family affairs of the entire west ancestral hall were discussed and decided by the four of them, but the financial power was in the hands of Li Xiu, who was the patriarch. The power cannot be ambiguous.

Of course Li Xiu agreed to Li Huai's return, but he would never let it go if he had the opportunity to disgust his fifth brother Li Dai.

Although Li Xiu once humbled Li Dai and his son, and Li Ye also helped him solve his son's life and death crisis, Li Xiu felt that he paid a huge price and gave his father's Lancui Pavilion to Li Ye. For this matter, he was The tribesmen scolded him furiously, and he himself regretted it. All the rare treasures that his father had collected for more than twenty years, which was such a huge amount of wealth, were all taken away by Li Ye.

And Li Ye did a great job, transporting them all to Baoji Cabinet Shop for storage. Only he has the key to the big iron door, and no one in Baoji Cabinet Shop can open it, which means there is no hope of getting it back. .

So when his son Li Yu returned safely, Li Xiu was not grateful to Li Dai and his son at all. He didn't even want to say thank you. It was just a transaction anyway, and he didn't owe any favors.

Second uncle Li Lin'an said slowly: "It's a bit difficult! Without this precedent, he hasn't gotten married yet to open an account! How can he join with the qualification of an independent household?"

Li Xiu put the counter note on the table, "This is a thousand dollars, a little kindness from this junior. I will divide it into four parts. We want to receive this kindness."

The three of them laughed knowingly, "Since it is the junior's wish and it would be bad not to accept it, then accept it!"

Li Xiu smiled again and said: "Let me give you a reason. If everyone thinks it makes sense, let it pass! Don't embarrass the children."

"Clan leader, please speak!"

"Li Huai is not married, and he is not very young, only eighteen years old. However, he and his father have publicly severed the relationship between father and son. He and his mother have actually established an independent household. This is a special situation. The court also has regulations. If a couple divorces, , both parties can start their own households. Before, his mother was the head of the household, but if his mother remarries, then he will be the head of the household. If he buys a house, the government will recognize him as the head of the household. It has nothing to do with his age and whether he is married. Do you think so? Is this the truth?"

After taking the benefit of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, it will make sense even if it doesn't make sense.

"The patriarch is right, and the government admits it. We should admit it even more, so as not to hurt the sincere heart of the children who long to recognize their ancestors."

Everyone unanimously voted to accept Li Huai as the 33rd clan member and classify him as a side house. This was also to prevent other clan members from objecting. Everyone was focused on their interests. As long as Li Huai was not given the treatment of a direct wife, it didn't matter to everyone.