Hunting High School

Zheng Qing came to the kitchen and saw her mother was carefully preparing the evening meal.

Kill chicken, butcher fish, cut beef, fry shrimp, wash all kinds of vegetables, fruits and vegetables, and put them in different dishes and basins by category, waiting for use.

The fire on the stove had started in the morning and had almost no chance of being extinguished. Whether it is stewed ribs or stuffed chicken, it is a test of heat and patience.

When I was a child, Zheng Qing’s favorite place during Chinese New Year was the kitchen, apart from going out to have fun with his friends. Because here you can eat all kinds of delicious fresh out of the pan almost all day long from morning to night.

Freshly sliced ​​red beef, stewed squishy chicken feet, meatballs drained in bamboo baskets, fried golden hairtail, white lotus root slices, fresh bean curd sticks, etc., are full of various delicacies. In sight, coveted. It's just that before the table is served, the children rarely have the opportunity to feast on it, so they can only steal a little from the plate while the adults are not paying attention, like a cat stealing fish.

Of course, now Zheng Qing has got rid of the embarrassment of secretly eating a little bit when he was a child. He can walk into the kitchen openly at any time, and take a little taste in his mother's reproachful tone. of beef.

"Did you wash your hands?!" The mother glared at Zheng Qing, her voice slightly raised.

"It hasn't been washed either." Zheng Qing sucked his fingertips, looked at the hot stewed chicken in the basin with some greed, and tilted his head to gesture to another uninvited guest next to him.

"Are you a cat?" Mother Zheng was furious.

"In a sense, yes." Zheng Qing replied silently in his heart.

Of course, he definitely couldn't say such a deadly answer in person. So he turned his head, looked at the uninvited guest next to him, and said hello:

"Have Brother Huang had enough?"

The yellow raccoon tugged at his ears, but ignored the boy.

As Zheng Qing had thought before, the raccoon was also in the kitchen.

At this moment, it is squatting obediently on the cupboard, snoring, and enjoying the early New Year's Eve dinner comfortably. Every time Mother Zheng prepares a dish, she will take out a little and put it in the small plate in front of the yellow raccoon. Zheng Qing took a look and saw that the small plate was full of beef, fish, chicken nuggets, etc.

[In other words, currently the best app for reading and listening to books, Yeguo Reading, yeguoyuedu install the latest version. 】

"If you eat any more, you will turn into a pig. Be careful to collapse my cupboard!" Zheng Qing couldn't help complaining about the yellow raccoon, and then turned to look at his mother: "Besides, we haven't sent the ancestor gods yet, so we can eat Yet?"

According to the rules of the family, before the New Year's Eve dinner is served on the table, a small portion needs to be allocated for the ancestors to enjoy. Only after the ancestors have enjoyed it can the descendants start to eat it.

Hearing Zheng Qing's question, Zheng's mother said angrily: "Didn't you eat it just now?...Besides, it is a cat, not a human being. Why should you follow the old rules of your family?"

The yellow raccoon gave a proper 'meow', as if to show support for Zheng's mother.

So it harvested another piece of fresh and tender fish.

'I doubt very much whether it is a cat at all. ’ Zheng Qing made an excuse in his heart, rolled up his sleeves at the same time, and calmly said, "Then what am I doing?"

"No, aren't you going to meet your ancestors later...don't get your hands dirty." Mother stopped Zheng Qing and pointed to the outside of the kitchen: "You just need to stay outside peacefully."

According to the old rules of sacrificial offerings, women cannot preside over the ceremony. Zheng Qing's mother was quite critical of this.

He shrugged and walked out of the kitchen obediently.

There is no fixed time to meet the ancestors, but it is usually arranged in the afternoon or afternoon.

Grandpa's house has more than half of the space vacated.

An ancient family hall has been hung on the wall in the north. This is a large picture of ancestor worship, and the overall layout is a courtyard. Below the picture is the courtyard wall, with men and women gathered outside the courtyard; in the middle are row upon row of memorial tablets, on which the names of deceased ancestors are written, descending from top to bottom, descending from generation to generation; above is the extension of the ancestral hall.

In front of the family hall, there is already an altar table set up.

On the table, tributes such as incense burners, wine, melons and fruits, dumplings, bowls and chopsticks are all available. There is also a small, untidy mahogany tablet on one side of the table, and there is no name or taboo on it. Zheng Qing once asked his grandfather who the tablet was for. Grandpa said that it was the ancestors of the family who died young. Although they failed to carry on the family line, they were still part of the family.

In addition to offering offerings inside the house, the ancestor gods also need to set off firecrackers and burn paper money outside the house.

When he was young, Zheng Qing was the most active in this matter, because it was one of the few opportunities for him to set off firecrackers openly.

It's just that now, as an adult, he has very little interest in these things.

After all, after seeing the real world of magic and wizards, the ancient folk custom of welcoming and seeing off the family hall has become a dispensable Life ritual for him.

After the boys in the family brought paper money and other things to the open space outside the house, the oldest man, Grandpa Zheng Qing, drew a circle on the ground and outlined a few simple symbols. Zheng Qing learned talismans from Mr. Wu. After knowledge, he had carefully studied these symbols passed down from his ancestors. After careful screening, he judged that these symbols had no real function, but some incomplete combination of symbols. The only effect might be to comfort the living people.

Don't say seduce the soul and invite the gods, even a little influence on the world outside this world can't be done.

It's not that Zheng Qing has never tried to use real talismans to seduce the gods, but except for some recently deceased lonely ghosts, he has not recruited the souls of his ancestors. As a result of that attempt, he became seriously ill after returning home.

Since then, he has never done anything similar to overreach.

The place where paper money is burned is a quiet open space in the community. It used to be a garden, but it was not well maintained and has been abandoned for a long time. The property of the community cannot receive money, so naturally there is no motivation to take care of it. Usually very few people come here.

After clearing away the dead grass and branches on the open space, drawing circles and outlining symbols, Professor Zheng Lao placed the copper basin in the circle, then put a mat on the ground, slowly knelt down with the support of Zheng Qing’s father, and started Burn paper money.

Zheng Qing followed the actions of the two elders obediently, without saying a word, always thinking about what the friends who stayed at school were doing now, whether they were galloping in the hunting ground, or mixing charming potions.

When he came back to his senses, the paper money in the copper basin had already smoked.

Grandpa and father fell on the ground, seeming to be muttering something.

Zheng Qing blinked and felt that the smoke in the copper basin was a bit too much, which should be caused by insufficient combustion. He thought this way, looked around, and wanted to find something like a wooden stick to fiddle with the paper money in the basin.

In the next second, a huge sense of fear gripped his heart, choking his breath.

Beyond the blue smoke, a pair of bright red eyes appeared in front of his eyes.