Chapter 1522
The Final Battle, Paying Homage to Oneself
Chapter 1522 The Final Battle, Paying Homage to Oneself
"Oh my, we can collect our family reunion supplies already? That's fast! Come on, Dad, Second Brother, Brother-in-law, let's not go home yet. Let's go to the capital's government office first and collect our supplies, so that all the good stuff won't be taken if there are too many people!"
"Third brother, run back and tell our relatives and friends to hurry up and collect the reunion supplies. There are many people, and if we are even a little late, it will be dark before we can collect the supplies!"
That's an exaggeration; it's only noon now.
Furthermore, at each collection point for family reunion supplies, additional collection posts have been set up, with hundreds of collection posts working simultaneously, and some collection posts even having no queues.
"The household registration is genuine, with eleven people. Based on the population, each person can receive a four-day supply, including five catties of staple food, meat, vegetables, firewood, charcoal, and other items... Eleven people would receive fifty-five catties of staple food; six catties of meat; eleven catties of vegetables; one hundred and ten catties of firewood; a basket of offerings such as incense, candles, and paper money; salt, oil, and sugar..."
Oh wow, there was so much that it was too heavy to carry and had to be hauled by cart. Everyone who saw it was envious, but the family that received the supplies cried.
His family no longer has eleven members; four relatives have died of illness.
His family also told the officers and soldiers who were distributing supplies about this, but Li Zhen said, "The adults said it's okay, there are plenty of supplies, so they'll distribute them according to the number of people. If someone is no longer alive, we'll use their share of supplies to pay respects to them."
The soldiers at the two gates of the government army had important tasks to do, such as guarding the city, so the distribution of supplies was handled by the merchants led by Lord Xue (who was also Xue Dongjia).
However, at each reunion supplies distribution point, a small team of Wei soldiers and government officials stood guard to maintain order.
"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir." Wei Min was very grateful and seemed to have found something to do. He said to his family, "My wife, fourth brother and sister-in-law, nephew, let's go home and offer the sacrificial offerings to our family members who have passed away first, so that they can eat first."
"Mmm!" The family pushed their cart and hurried home, as if they were busy with some great undertaking, doing what they considered the most necessary thing.
Sacrifices have always been important, and the people of Wei still believed in them. So, within an hour or two, incense smoke could be heard wafting from every street and alley in the capital city.
Well, the powerful and wealthy families are really good at hiding supplies. They distribute so much supplies that the area is shrouded in smoke, making it seem like this place isn't a residential area, but a small temple.
The place with the most incense offerings is Mushan.
There are many graves in Mushan. We are using the ancestral graves for work, so we have to pay our respects.
Grandpa Qin, Grandma Qin, Madam Guan, Old Master Cui, and the mountain women soldiers laid out offerings, lit incense, and burned paper money at each grave.
There were graves for miles around. Can you understand how shocking that is?
Anyway, after hearing about it, Qin Xiaomi handed over the follow-up matters of the fungal medicine to Lian Niangzi, Yao Niangzi, Aling, Xiao Baiying, Lu Qingan and others, and then brought Zhu Yiqing to find the two elders.
"Waaaah, on the eve of the decisive battle before the whole city went out, the two elders of the Qin family and the artisans of the Wei army worshipped at the various ancestral graves of Mushan, to thank the ancestors for protecting the Wei people in making powerful weapons in this place, waaaah..." No need to guess, the one who was crying and making records was Si Pei.
Qin Xiaomi was a little exasperated with him: "Kid, why are you everywhere?"
Also, he has great stamina. He worked day and night without collapsing from exhaustion. The Si family must have some good things to nourish their children's bodies, otherwise Si Pei's health wouldn't be so good.
When Si Pei saw her, she was overjoyed: "Sister Qin, Sister Qin, you're out! Waaaaah..."
"Stop crying, I'm still alive. Don't cry about this for now." Qin Xiaomi told him again, "You can't cry like this, or you'll go blind."
Hiccup! Si Pei was so startled that she hiccuped and quickly bit the back of her hand to hold back her tears. After a while, she finally managed to stop.
"Grandpa, Grandma, Guan Azu, Old Master Cui, you don't need to worship anymore. There are thousands of graves. If you worship them one by one, you won't finish in three days and three nights." Qin Xiaomi said, "Have someone carry the offerings and incense burner around Mushan Mountain, and then set up a large offering table. We can worship them all together. Our ancestors won't blame us."
Excuse me, esteemed elders, is your stamina limitless? Are you trying to exhaust yourselves by bowing like this?
He then scolded Uncle Qin: "How do you take care of Grandpa and Grandma? You didn't even offer a word of advice. What use are you!"
Si Pei was bored, so he even wrote it down. Uncle Qin was speechless, but immediately chimed in, "Father, Mother, your eldest granddaughter is right, let's keep the worship simple... Si Pei, hurry up and carry the offerings and incense burner, walk around Mushan Mountain, and pay homage to the ancestors here!"
Si Pei: "...Oh, okay, coming!"
The boy was really strong; he immediately took over the task, and after a bit of work, he carried a tray of offerings and an incense burner to perform the "worship ceremony" in the twilight mountains.
She even felt melancholy about herself, saying, "Sister Qin, I haven't married or had children yet, and this is still a foreign land. If I die in battle, who will mourn me? Will I become a wandering ghost?"
He loves to dream of becoming an immortal and enjoys listening to all sorts of nonsensical stories, so he's very superstitious.
Qin Xiaomi looked down on him: "What foreign land? This is Wei territory, you are a Wei person. If you die here, the descendants of this land will worship all the ancestors. If you are really worried, then prepare a table of offerings and worship yourself in advance."
what?
Si Pei was confused and shocked: "You can worship yourself in advance?"
Qin Xiaomi nodded: "Sure, as long as you don't have any taboos, you can worship however you want."
Si Pei's eyes lit up, and he bowed to Qin Xiaomi while holding the offerings: "Thank you for your guidance, Sister Qin. After I finish paying respects to my ancestors, I will pay respects to myself before the reunion dinner tomorrow. Hmm? I'll burn more paper money for myself, so I can become a tycoon when I die."
Qin Xiaomi looked at him with a complicated expression: "Thank you for all the good people you've met."
If you had encountered any bad people, you would have been a skeleton long ago.
"Yes, yes, Sister Qin is right. Thank you again, Sister Qin." Si Pei bowed to her again, holding a tray of offerings.
Uncle Qin was so angry he wanted to kick him over: "My niece is still alive, she doesn't need your worship! Besides, my niece is younger than you, what are you doing calling her 'Sister Qin'?!"
Qin Xiaomi didn't care: "It's okay, anyway, I'm the one who benefits from him calling me 'sister'."
Si Pei also didn't care: "Yeah, I think I should call her Sister Qin! Calling her anything else just feels disrespectful."
The official who came looking for him... never mind, he just came to ask about the reunion dinner he'd have before he died tomorrow. It's not a big deal. I'm leaving now, let's pretend I was never here!
Si Feng hurried away, fearing that Si Pei would see him.
It took Si Pei half an hour to walk around and finish exploring the area with graves in Mushan.
The Qin family elders and Madam Guan had prepared a large table of offerings and called all the staff who could leave their posts in Mushan to come and pay their respects at the Mushan graves. More than a thousand people came together to pay their respects.
After the prayers, I went back to work.
In short, the production of sharp tools and fungicides continues and will not stop.
After the worship ceremony, Madam Guan took Grandma Qin, Qin Xiaomi, and Aunt Qin back to Wuyuan Garden.
The news caused a commotion among the pregnant women and new mothers sheltered at Wuyuan. They felt, "The city hasn't fallen, and we can still survive inside. Why should we all die? Why? My child was just born! Can't we hold on for a few more months for him?!"
"Keep the city gates closed, hold out for a month or two, maybe we can outlast the enemy, maybe we can get reinforcements, then we'll win. We don't need to die, we don't need to open the city gates prematurely and die like this!"
There are quite a few pregnant women who share this idea, at least three hundred, many of whom are holding newborns.