lady, please calm down

Chapter 564: The ancestral foundation can be added to but not reduced.

Yulin Lane is adjacent to Nanwashizi in the south and the imperial city in the north. It is quiet in the midst of bustling city and convenient for attending court.

Over the past hundreds of years, many dignitaries have settled here.

In the middle of the alley is the residence of the new dynasty's upstart Yingchuan Chen family. At the end of the alley is the residence of Lord Cai Yuan, the prime minister designated by the new dynasty, the Duke of Korea who will be conferred the title today, and the father of Concubine Cai.

Compared to the Chen Mansion, which appears calm on the surface but is actually filled with all kinds of sharp words, the backyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion is a little noisy but also much simpler.

At the beginning of the month, the families of Xu Bang and Ximen Gong, who came from Caizhou, moved into the Cai family after entering the city. Although Xu Bang went to Chen Jingyan's house from time to time to have tea and chat, just from the choice of residence, it can be seen that the two families are naturally closer to Cai Yuan, who comes from the same class, on a psychological level.

This is also part of the reason why Prime Minister Cai was able to compete with the Chen family in the court when most of the civil officials were inclined towards them.

After today's grand ceremony is over, the new emperor will hold a banquet in the palace to entertain important ministers who have come from all over the country. Naturally, the queen will also entertain the many female relatives who accompany them in the harem.

Perhaps to highlight the friendship among the people who were all in Huaibei, the empress not only invited the wives of various families, but also invited the concubines of several families into the palace.

However, these families in Tongshan were still clerks just over ten years ago. The women in their families had limited knowledge and knew nothing about the various etiquette for entering the palace.

A few days ago, although female officials from the palace came to the Prime Minister's Residence to give some instructions, many people still couldn't remember the process clearly.

So, when it was time to set off, everyone went through the process again.

Among the wives of the Cai family, Cai Kun's wife Youshi had the closest contacts with the palace, and she also remembered the most clearly. Seeing that half of the women still did not do well, Youshi frowned at a concubine of Ximen Gong and said, "What's wrong with you? You have practiced for three or four days, but you can't even remember these simple movements. You must not have put your heart into it! If you make a fool of yourself, you will lose the face of Duke Miyang!"

The Duke of Biyang is Ximen Gong.

Upon hearing this, Ximen Gong's wife looked embarrassed and began to reprimand the concubine. The latter lowered her head and dared not speak, and the originally lively atmosphere became sluggish.

Many of the women present made mistakes, including Mrs. Xu Bang, Mrs. Ximen Gong, and even Xu Bang's daughter Xu Wan'er.

But Yu Shi chose Ximen Gong's concubine as an example.
Cai Yuan's wife, Wang, although she doesn't speak easily, has a clear mind. She still can't change her second daughter-in-law's snobbish habits!
Now, the pillar of the Ximen family is no longer in Tokyo, Liaodong has just been settled, and there are many affairs to attend to. The new emperor conveyed the rewards for Ximen Gong and Yang Zhen in the form of an edict.

Although Madam Xu and Madam Ximen were not born into high-class families, they were now wives of county dukes.

Xu Wan'er had been close friends with the Queen since her early years, and now the Huizhi Lanxin Clubs that are spread all over Huaibei are a business jointly owned by her and the Queen.
Yu Shi couldn't afford to offend any of the above-mentioned people, but because her father-in-law was a duke, she felt that she was superior to others, so she chose a concubine to show off her power.

Wang, who was fasting and chanting Buddhist scriptures at home all day and didn't do much, saw her second daughter-in-law's behavior and said, "How can Erlang talk to Ximen concubine like that? After all, she is your elder! Besides, the queen has been on good terms with my family since she was young, and she has never been the kind of person who cares about empty formalities. Aren't you afraid of ruining the queen's reputation for kindness by criticizing her like this?"

This hat was a bit too big, and Youshi quickly said aggrievedly: "I was worried that I would make a mistake and let others laugh at our Tongshan lineage, so I was anxious and said the wrong thing. Mother, please forgive me."

I feel a little bit reluctant to apologize.

As a mother-in-law, Wang would not argue with her daughter-in-law. She just said kindly, "What you said makes some sense.

Cai Yun's wife, Qiao, who had been silent the whole time, heard the voice and hurriedly stood up, "What do you want, mother?"

Wang twisted the Buddhist beads in her hand and said slowly, "I am old and can no longer manage. As my eldest daughter-in-law, you will be in charge of many matters in the backyard from now on."

"."

Wang has not managed the household for many years, and most of the big and small matters in the mansion are usually handled by the two daughters-in-law. However, there is no consensus on which of the two sisters-in-law is the head of the household, and the pattern is generally maintained that one lives inside and the other lives outside.

Now, Wang relieved Youshi of her duty with just one word.

After a brief moment of surprise, Youshi's face suddenly turned red, but when she was looked at by her kind-looking mother-in-law, she dared not say another word.

Seeing this, the women from Huaibei couldn't help but praise Qiao for her integrity and generosity. They said that under her management, the prime minister's mansion would surely prosper.

Even the wife of the governor of Shouzhou, You's aunt, echoed a few words.
Compared to the old lady of the Chen family, who appears noble but actually has less and less control over the family, the low-key Wang has almost absolute authority in the backyard of the prime minister's mansion.

Such a difference is because Wang's status as a noble family today is due to her husband and daughter.

To put it bluntly, the two sons still need to rely on their father and sister, so their wives naturally cannot stand up to their mother-in-law.

The situation is just the opposite for the Chen family. The revival of the Chen family depends on the two sons, and the wives of Chen Jingyan and Chen Jingan naturally have more say in the family.

As for the relatives of the Cai family, they dared not jump around recklessly in the scholarly family of the Chen family, and had to consider their reputation in everything they did.

As for Old Cai, he was born into a clerk family and was very corrupt. If there was a child in his clan who might ruin his family's future, Old Cai would not care about his reputation and would sacrifice his own relatives for the sake of justice.

Ugly time.

In the front house of the prime minister's residence, Cai Yuan led his two sons and clansmen to worship their ancestors in the ancestral temple. When they knelt down and kowtowed to the ancestral tablets, the extremely introverted and restrained Cai Yuan could not help but show some emotions and his eyes welled up with tears.

After the ceremony, Cai Yun and Cai Kun helped their father up, one on each side. Before leaving the ancestral temple, Cai Yun couldn't help but look back at his grandfather's spirit tablet.

Although they were only one generation apart, Cai Yun had never seen his grandfather. When he was a child, he heard from his mother that his grandparents died in the same year when his father was fourteen years old.

My grandfather was a clerk in Tongshan. Although this job could be inherited, my father was less than 16 years old at the time and was required to work there. In order to take over my grandfather's job, he almost gave up the entire family fortune.

Cai Yun did not understand it when he was young, but he naturally understood this truth as he grew older. By exchanging the family property for a job, the family property can be dispersed and then gathered again. If his father had been unwilling to give up the family property, at his age, he would have ended up losing both his wealth and his life.

This principle is not complicated, but it is rare for my father to understand it at the age of fourteen.

Later, the Cai family really prospered under my father's leadership, and even the important event of marrying my mother was decided by him.

Whenever she talks about this now, her mother would always sigh subconsciously, "Huan'er is very much like your father when he was young. He is strong-willed and willing to sacrifice. He is also very determined and will fight for what he wants no matter how much hardship or suffering he endures!"

Cai Yun naturally understood the reasons why his father was so strong when he was young. As a kid whose parents had both passed away, he was "willing to give up" in order to win over others, and he was strong in order to prove that he was not easy to mess with. Otherwise, how could he have become one of the three major clerk families in Tongshan, on par with the Ximen and Xu families in just over a decade?

At this moment, Cai Yun looked at his father's white hair and couldn't help thinking that his father must have been extremely proud when he was paying homage to his grandfather just now.

The family that was on the verge of crumbling at the time not only did not collapse in my father's hands, but it even brought the family to a height that was impossible to reach!

From now on, in this world, there will be a name for his Tongshan Cai family!

Two quarters of an hour later, the middle gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Yulin Lane opened, and men riding horses and women riding sedan chairs marched eastward to the Imperial Street in a mighty procession, ready to attend the coronation ceremony of the son-in-law.

Because the lane was at the same distance from the imperial city, the large group of Chen family members living in the same lane were preparing to leave at almost the same time. When Chen Jing'an heard that Prime Minister Cai's family was passing through Yulin Lane, he simply asked his family to slow down and wait until the Cai family's people left the lane before setting off.

This was to prevent the two families from getting stuck in the alley and causing each to have to dismount and give way to the other.

At the end of the Chou hour, the Chen family, following closely behind the Cai, Xu and Ximen families, arrived at the Xuande Gate of the imperial city one after another.

At this time and place, there was no end to the carriages and sedan chairs parked on both sides of the wide Imperial Street, and outside the Xuande Gate, there was a sea of ​​officials and their ladies dressed in red and purple official robes and various official uniforms.

The arrival of the four tribes from Huaibei immediately caused a slight commotion.

Those who were friends with the few came forward to greet and chat with them. Some wives of the imperial family who were qualified to participate in the ceremony took the initiative to go to the sedan chair to greet the old lady of the Chen family and the wife of Prime Minister Cai at the signal of their husbands. At the hour of Yin, the gate of Xuande Gate was opened, and a group of noble officials consciously lined up according to their titles and ranks and entered one after another.

According to the process, one must first worship the ancestral temples of heaven and earth.

The step of offering sacrifices to the ancestral temple is the royal ancestor worship, which does not require the participation of outside officials, and even female family members should not be present.

Chen Chu didn't care about that. He said to the Minister of Rites Du Zhaoqing, who was in charge of the enthronement ceremony and had been whispering to him that "women's vaginal discharge should not be reported to the temple", "What bullshit? She is my wife. If I don't show her to my parents, how will they know that we are a family? I have to introduce her to my parents properly."

Du Zhaoqing was so angry that his face turned red, but he didn't dare to say anything. After all, you are the emperor, you can do whatever you want. He just reminded: "Your Majesty, you need to change your address from now on. You need to call yourself "I" and call your father and mother "the late emperor" or "the late emperor"."

Chen Chu waved his hands, too lazy to bother with such details.

Inside the imperial ancestral temple, there were only a few spirit tablets and two portraits.

Chen Chu really did what he said. He first brought his children to kowtow to his parents who lived thousands of years ago, and then introduced his parents to his wives one by one.

"Hey, mom, this is Mao'er. She's diligent and gentle. She's always been your favorite type of girl. If you could meet, you would definitely get along well."

"This is Huan'er. Hehe, she has a bad temper, but she is very kind to your son. However, maybe she is old, and she has been a little nagging recently."

"???"

Below, Cai Hua, who was kneeling on the mat, was very upset. If it wasn't such a serious occasion, she would have jumped up and questioned Chen Chu in front of her mother-in-law's spirit tablet, asking her why she was so old? When did she become so long-winded?

"This is Ayu. She is the type of daughter-in-law that Dad likes the most. She is well-educated, well-mannered and knows a lot."

"This is Iron-hearted. Our girl is at the peak of martial arts and very innocent. By the way, mom, do you think she looks like Joey Wong when she was young? With those thick eyebrows. Hahaha."

"This is Jiarou. She has a high level of filth. As my father said, from now on, the bloodline of our family's workers and peasants will no longer be pure!"

Chen Chu knew that he could talk nonsense in front of his parents, but any of his words might cause others to make wild guesses, so when he said the last sentence "bloodline is not pure" he almost lay down in front of his parents' spirit tablets, and spoke in a very low voice so as not to scare Jiarou.

After saying this, he naturally looked back.

However, the women kneeling on the mats behind him had different expressions. Mao'er and Ayu looked solemn in such occasions. The husband introduced them to his parents-in-law in a positive and active manner, and there was no problem.

Tiedan was confused and was asking Cai Hua in a low voice whose daughter "Wang Zuxin" was and whether she looked like him.
Cai Huan glared at Chen Chu fiercely. She was in no mood to pay attention to Tiedan and seemed to be still bothered by the word "you're too old".

Jiarou's face was calm, but her brows were slightly furrowed, as if she was struggling with the words that Chen Chu suddenly lowered his voice. What did he say, and what did "the content is a bit high" mean?
Chen Chu's eyes swept across the faces of several people and finally fell on Yunong's face. He saw that the latter unconsciously clenched her fists. Her big round, kazilan eyes stared straight at Chen Chu. Her desire to hear the young master praise her in front of the spirit tablets of her parents-in-law was written all over her face.

"Oh, yes, and Yunong. She's silly."

Chen Chu suddenly felt like teasing and said this at the end.

"Pfft~"

In such a grand ancestral temple, Cai Huan couldn't help laughing out loud. Well, compared with Yunong, the words she used to introduce herself to her parents-in-law sounded much better.

Yunong became anxious when she heard this. Who would want to be considered stupid in front of their parents-in-law?
Once in a hurry, she didn't care about anything else. She kowtowed several times and then complained to her parents-in-law's spirit tablets: "Father-in-law and mother-in-law, Yunong is not stupid, I, I..."

Yunong said "I" twice, but she couldn't think of any suitable words to say. She couldn't help but think of the thing that made her most proud. She continued, "Our first baby, Rao'er, was born to Yunong. She's called Rao'er. The young master likes her very much. Also, Yunong has another baby in her belly. Yunong is not stupid at all."

"Hahaha"

Cai Hua finally couldn't hold back her laughter any longer, and even Ayu and Jiarou covered their mouths and started laughing.

Everyone knows that it is inappropriate to laugh here, but they really can't help it.

Mao'er wanted to stop them, but her face turned red. She couldn't help but look at Chen Chu. Mao'er had a smile on her face that she had to endure hard and seemed ready to break out at any time, but her eyes were full of apology.

As a couple for many years, Chen Chu knew exactly what she was thinking at the moment. He smiled and gently stroked the tablet with his parents' names on it. He said, "It's okay. If there really are ghosts and gods in the world, how could our parents blame us when they see how happy we are? I'm afraid it's too late for them to be happy."

In the middle of the Yin hour.

Chen Chu led the civil and military officials along the Imperial Street to the south, out of the Vermillion Bird Gate, and offered sacrifices to heaven and earth in the southern suburbs.

Whenever there was a sacrifice, women were usually not allowed to be present. Du Zhaoqing had no choice but to report it to the temple. However, he could no longer allow women to accompany him in the sacrifice to heaven and earth.

Mao'er had already made preparations in the harem, and temporarily invited the ladies of various families to the palace for tea and snacks, waiting for the men to complete the suburban sacrifice.

The round trip to the southern suburbs was more than thirty miles, and by the time the imperial carriage, guarded by various ceremonial guards, returned to the city, the sky was already bright.

The people surrounded the ten-mile Imperial Street and no one could get through.

It was late spring, and the flowers of the peach, plum, and apricot trees on both sides of the Imperial Street had all faded, but the green trees were dotted with unripe small fruits, which, along with the boiling cries, added a unique charm.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the new emperor arrived at the Daqing Hall and accepted congratulations from all officials.

Afterwards, the new emperor issued an edict, naming the new dynasty "Chu" and at the same time reading out all the titles and awards that had been drawn up long ago.

It was not surprising that some representatives of the four tribes in Huaibei and the former ministers of Qi were granted titles.

In the harem, Zhao was the queen, Cai was the noble concubine, the daughter of Yingchuan Chen was the head of the four concubines, the eldest princess of the previous dynasty was the Shufei, Shen was the Huifei, and Chen, the concubine of the new emperor when he was in humble circumstances, was the Yifei. All these were expected.

The only thing that surprised many officials was that the new dynasty used a new era name called "Datongli" for the first time.

Unlike the previous practice of giving each new emperor an era name or even several era names, the Datong calendar began to be counted from the time when the First Emperor unified the six kingdoms.

Based on this calculation, the first year of the Xin Dynasty was the 1,366th year of the Tongli calendar!
This matter can be considered a big deal or a small matter.

After all, Qin Shi Huangdi had always been described by literati as a typical tyrant because of his massacre of Confucian scholars. It was inevitable that literati were uneasy about the fact that the Xin Dynasty held him in such high esteem.

Even the Minister of Industry, Lu Chaoji, was shocked and asked Du Zhaoqing beside him in a low voice, "Minister Du! What does your majesty mean?"

There were faint whispers in the court, and Du Zhaoqing used the background noise to cover it up, and explained in a low voice with some helplessness: "This matter was decided by His Majesty. His Majesty once said that the Gregorian calendar used in Aolai was based on the birth year of a Western religious figure. The year before that person was born was called BC, and the year after his birth was called AD. His Majesty said that if our dynasty does not establish a calendar that can be passed down from generation to generation, it will be taken over by others."

The discussion in the court was gradually getting louder, so Huang Doudou, who was standing by Chen Chu's side, quickly shouted, "Silence!"

The Daqing Hall suddenly became quiet.

But after Chen Chu looked around, he said, "Our Chinese dynasty started with the First Emperor and has been passed down from generation to generation. Using this calendar is to warn future generations that the unification of the world is not easy to come by. The land of our Chinese dynasty can only be expanded on the basis of the foundation of our ancestors, and it must not be lost in the slightest. Gentlemen, do not forget to follow the example of our ancestors!

The vast territory was accumulated bit by bit by the ancestors with iron and blood will. It is also the greatest wealth left by the ancestors to future generations. It can be increased but not reduced! If it is increased by one point, it will be passed down through the ages. If it is reduced by one point, it will be infamous for thousands of years! "

(End of this chapter)