1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Before dawn, the inside and outside of Majiazhuang had already started to get busy.People from every household came out of the house with cleaning tools and began to clean the streets.

Chen Yixin is a very tidy person, so all the streets in the village must be cleaned up before dawn.

Especially inside and outside the Ma family ancestral hall, dozens of people were arranged to scrub the ground three times with clean water.In the ancestral hall, everything that can be touched by hands and seen by eyes, including the ancestors' spiritual tablets enshrined, is also wiped spotless.

As early as 20 years ago, at the suggestion of Chen Yixin, the annual ancestor worship and clan meeting of the Ma Family Ancestral Hall was scheduled to be held on the second day of Haihan National Day.

However, this year Chen Yixin went south to Hangzhou before the National Day due to business, and this year's sacrificial activities were inevitably affected.

Chen Yixin has a special status and has always been the protagonist of this clan activity.One of the purposes of many clansmen who came from other places to attend the clan assembly was actually to meet Chen Yixin, and this was one of the few opportunities for ordinary people to meet this great man.

If Chen Yixin was not present, the meaning of this event would be lost by at least half, so under the suggestion of the patriarch Ma Qiangdong, related activities were also postponed, waiting for Chen Yixin to return from Hangzhou.

Some clansmen who came from other places to attend the clan assembly had already lived in Fushan County for half a month, just waiting for Chen Yixin to return from the south.

Last night, when Chen Yixin returned to Majiazhuang after a meeting in Zhifu Island, Ma Qiangdong and other elders of the clan communicated with him and decided to hold the sacrificial activity this morning.

Otherwise, Chen Yixin is busy with work, and he will leave after staying in Majiazhuang for two days, and then he will not be able to participate in activities.

All kinds of sacrificial supplies have been prepared long before the National Day, and today they only need to slaughter some livestock and put fresh fruits on the table.

Ma Dongqiang came to the ancestral hall early in the morning with a walking stick to check the completion of various preparations.In fact, this kind of trivial matter does not require him to personally do it, but it is a habit he has developed over the years, and he must check it himself before the sacrificial activities before he can rest assured.

And there is another reason, that is, Ma Dongqiang will hand over the position of patriarch to his eldest son Ma Cai at today's clan meeting. Today is also the last time he will fulfill the responsibility of patriarch.When this event is held next year, it will be the turn of the next patriarch who follows behind him to be responsible for the inspection.

Of course, Ma Dongqiang's selfish desire was to hand over the position of patriarch to his son-in-law. After all, Chen Yixin had no other family members. When he was married to Ma Yuling back then, even if he joined the Ma family, being the patriarch could barely be justified.When Chen Yixin is old, the position of patriarch can be passed back to the children of the Ma family.

However, Chen Yixin has a high position and authority, and he usually has a lot of things to do, so he has no time to take care of the family affairs of the Ma family, and he has no interest in the position of patriarch.

Ma Dongqiang's son, Ma Cai, is a few years older than Chen Yixin, and he is now in his fifties.But to be the patriarch, you have to be a little older to convince the crowd, and Ma Cai's reputation, age, and ability are the best time to be the patriarch.

Of course, the most important thing is that Chen Yixin also made it clear that he would support this brother-in-law. With his backing, Ma Dongqiang dared to rest assured that Ma Cai would inherit the position.

Even so, Ma Dongqiang still told Ma Cai that today's clan meeting needs to be handled carefully, because there are actually many people in the clan staring at this son, and not everyone has no objection to Ma Dongqiang's arrangement of his son to take over the position of patriarch.

Today's Ma family is no longer the unknown local clan before Haihan's arrival.Since getting married with Chen Yixin, the Ma family has achieved Taoism and ascended to heaven alone, and has developed at an extremely fast speed. Now it can be regarded as an influential and famous family in the whole Shandong.

Even some clans with the same surname in other places have been trying their best to get married with the Ma family of Fukuyama in recent years. They just want to get the protection of Haihan and use the special status of the Ma family to seek other benefits.

Today's Ma family has long since gotten rid of their status as landlords, and is no longer limited to agricultural operations. The amount of wealth they control is already incalculable.

Many of them belonged to Chen Yixin's property, but he was short of resources, and it was inconvenient to send his wife and children out to take care of the business, so some of them were entrusted to the Ma family for management.

From the perspective of the outside world, Fushan Copper Mine, Zhaoyuan Gold Mine, Longkou Coal Mine, and the major ports in Shandong Peninsula, foreign shipping trade, chain banks, etc., as long as they are famous industries in Denglai area, there are almost all of them. The Ma family was involved.

The properties managed by the Ma family are all the most profitable businesses at the moment, and anyone who sees them will feel greedy.But there is Chen Yixin, a big Buddha who can't afford to offend, behind him. It is not easy for outsiders to grab some benefits from the Ma family.

But the members of the Ma clan who coveted the position of Ma Dongqiang's patriarch have never stopped.Although no one would dare to kick Ma Qiangdong off at the risk of provoking Chen Yixin's disgrace, they can always wait until Ma Qiangdong retires, so that he can justifiably compete with Ma Cai for this seat.

It is not hard for Ma Dongqiang to imagine that when he announces his resignation as patriarch and Ma Cai as his successor, someone will definitely jump out to disrupt the situation.

However, thinking that his son-in-law Chen Yixin will also attend this event later, Ma Dongqiang felt much relieved.As long as Chen Yixin was on his side, it would be useless for anyone to stand up against this arrangement.

Thinking of this, he told Ma Cai: "Go and see if your brother-in-law is up, and you can come with him later, it's okay to be a little later."

Ma Cai understood, nodded and took the order to leave.

Later, Ma Cai and Chen Yixin will appear together, and those with a discerning eye should be able to understand the situation.If there is another short-sighted guy jumping out to disrupt the situation, then Ma Dongqiang will not show mercy.

After the sky brightened, representatives from each house and branch of the Ma family came to report to the ancestral hall one after another.

The waiters had already arrived in sevens and sevens, and when it was almost time for the sacrificial ceremony to be held, Ma Cai and Chen Yixin and his wife arrived late.

Ma Cai and Chen Yixin walked side by side, while Ma Yuling followed behind, holding the hand of her daughter Chen Pinger.Then there were several young men dressed in black with pistols and short knives on their waists, all of them were Chen Yixin's personal guards.

No matter what age or status in the ancestral hall, after seeing Chen Yixin, they all bowed and bowed to welcome him.

Chen Yixin didn't put on any airs, and smiled and bowed to everyone around him.Finally, when he walked in front of Ma Dongqiang, he bowed slightly and saluted.

Ma Dongqiang nodded, and then motioned for Ma to start.

Ma Cai announced with a loud voice: "The time has come, the sacrificial ceremony begins, read the sacrificial text!"