On that day, the elder Meng Jian followed Meng Zhong to the latter's home, intending to persuade the latter's mother Ge, and let her allow her second son Meng Zhong to leave and go to serve Zhuangzi.

Meng Zhong's home was also in the township, and the old and the young men arrived soon.

When Meng Jian and Meng Zhong came to the latter's home, Meng Zhong's brother Meng Bo was repairing the wooden cart in the yard. He looked up inadvertently and happened to see his younger brother Meng Zhong.

He was about to say hello, but suddenly he saw his younger brother Meng Zhong respectfully welcome Meng Jian, the elder of the clan, into the hospital. He was stunned and was foolishly holding the wooden hammer.

"You're going to say hello."

Meng Zhong secretly felt anxious for his brother and reminded him: "Brother, I'm here to recommend the elder."

"Oh." Meng Bo woke up like a dream, quickly put down the wooden hammer in his hand and bowed to salute: "Boy Meng Bo, you have seen the elder."

"Okay." Meng Jian nodded with a smile while leaning on a crutch.

Although Meng Bo's reaction was very slow, if he was not familiar with the former, he would probably get angry because of this, Meng Jian knew this junior very well and knew that he was honest and honest, so he would not be surprised.

But in his heart, he felt more and more that Meng Bo was not as good as his brother Meng Zhong.

Look, my brother Meng Bo is five years older than his younger brother Meng Zhong, and he is also one and a half taller than his younger brother, and his body is quite strong. But at this moment, both brothers are in front of the elder Meng Jian, but the elder brother is submissive and reserved. On the other hand, my younger brother Meng Zhong is polite and generous.

It’s no wonder Meng Jian attaches great importance to Meng Zhong.

Perhaps because he realized that Meng Bo seemed quite restrained when he saw him, Meng Jian walked up to him and talked to him for a few casual words. He first asked what happened to the cart that Meng Bo was repairing, and then praised the latter. Finally, Meng Bo's mood gradually calmed down.

At this time, Meng Jian then asked, "Child, is your mother at home?"

Meng Bo nodded and was about to speak, when a woman with a bun appeared in the main house on the north side, looking at the yard with a confused expression. When she saw Meng Jian standing in the yard, the woman quickly stepped out and greeted happily: "The elder is here?... These two stupid children, the elder doesn't say anything to Wei Niang when he comes."

She said to Meng Bo and Meng Zhong brothers in a reproachful tone.

The woman was the mother of Meng Bo and Meng Zhong brothers. She was just sewing clothes in the house when she suddenly heard the sound of talking in the courtyard. She stood up and looked at the courtyard curiously. Unexpectedly, she saw Elder Meng Jian, so she hurried out of the house.

"I have just arrived, too."

Meng Jian waved his hand with a smile, saying that it was not related to the brothers' business.

Seeing this, Ge Shi saluted Meng Jian and immediately said with some joy: "The elder is here today, is it because of the thing I begged to the clan a few days ago?"

"ah?"

Meng Jian opened his mouth, but he didn't react for a while, and didn't know what to respond. His embarrassed expression made Meng Zhong smile from the side.

Fortunately, he was not old enough to be forgetful. After recalling it for a while, he immediately began to think about it and said, "It's not bad, I'm here today." After that, he was afraid that Ge would not believe it, and added, "I remember it about Bo'er's marriage."

However, after saying that, he winked at Meng Zhong, hoping that the latter would not expose him.

"I have been waiting for the clan's response these days."

Although Ge felt that Elder Meng Jian's expression was a bit strange, he did not think about it carefully and happily welcomed the latter into the main house.

The main house, the house where a family owner lives, has the highest status in a courtyard. Since Meng Qu died in battle, Ge has lived here alone. As for Meng Bo and Meng Zhong, the two brothers, they had slept with their mother before, but when the two brothers grew up to eight or nine years old, they moved to the house on the east side of the yard according to the customs.

As for the house on the west side of the courtyard, it is currently used as a kitchen and a firewood and debris piled up.

Although it is a main house, the decorations inside the house are extremely simple. In the house, about three meters in a radius, there is a straw mat in the center. There is a square wooden low table on the straw mat. The wood of the low table is unknown. However, looking at the cracked marks on it, it is not difficult to guess that this short table is probably a little old, and may be older than Meng Zhong.

In the corner of the house, there are two half-person-high clay tanks, which are supposed to be used to serve as grains and grains.

And there is a small case against the wall on the north side of the wall, and there are several clay statues on it.

These clay statues are called "corpse", which serve the late Mengshu, Meng Qu and his son enjoy the worship of the brothers Ge, Mengbo and Meng Zhong. [PS: The corpse was originally specifically referred to as a "replacement" that replaced the deceased ancestors and were worshipped by future generations. Some were replaced by living people (usually the children of grandchildren), and some were replaced by mud statues. Later, it evolved into a god-master card, namely the spirit card. The so-called corpse should actually be a corpse, and a corpse is a word specifically used to refer to a dead person.]

There are three clay statues, referring to Meng Shu, Meng Shu’s wife, and Meng Qu, that is, Meng Zhong’s grandfather, grandmother and father.

When he saw that the small table was clean and the clay pots in front of the three clay statues were some food and fresh fruits, Meng Jian nodded in a slight way.

More than a hundred years after Confucius' death, Confucianism is gradually becoming a prominent scholar. Although monarchs of various countries may not sincerely choose Confucianism as the ideological proposition of a powerful country, some of the ideas in Confucianism, such as filial piety, have long been spread in various countries in the Central Plains and have become one of the criteria for measuring a person's morality.

Today, I saw Ge meticulously enshrined his parents-in-law and husband in his daily life. Meng Jian was very grateful in his heart, and his evaluation of Ge was even more improved.

On the east and west sides of the house, there is a small door leading to the inner room on the east and west sides. The inner room on the east was originally lived by Meng Zhong's grandmother Fahrenheit, while Ge lived in the inner room on the west side.

Later, when Fahrenheit passed away, Ge was too lazy to move to the east room because he was used to living in the west room, so he simply used the east room as a utility room, and piled up all the furniture, boxes and things that his parents-in-law and husband used to use, although old but reluctant to throw away.

By the way, the leather armor and weapons that Meng Qu used during his lifetime were also treasured by Ge in a box in the east room.

"Please sit down, elder."

Ge asked to be recommended to take his seat in the honorary position.

In the secular rules, the north is the main seat, and the central plain is generally respected by the left, so the master's left hand (i.e. the east position) is the honorary position, the west position is the last position, and the south position is the last position.

Although Ge is now the mistress of the family, Meng Jian is older than her and has a higher status in the clan. Therefore, according to etiquette, she should not sit in the main seat, but in the western seat as a respect for Meng Jian.

With Meng Zhong's support, he knelt down in the seat on the east side of the low table. At the same time, he gently tapped the south side of the low table with his left finger, obviously indicating that Meng Zhong sat down in the south - after all, Meng Zhong is the youngest here.

At this time, Meng Bo had brought a bowl of hot water as his mother ordered, held it in his hands and sent it to Meng Jian, and said stammeringly: "Elder, elder, please drink water."

His restrained expression made Ge, who was standing beside him, feel anxious.

"Okay, good boy."

Meng Jian praised him and took the bowl and took a small sip.

During this period, Meng Bo was called by his mother Ge and knelt beside him.

Ge did not notice Meng Jian's little move to signal Meng Zhong to sit down. Seeing that his youngest son Meng Zhong was also sitting down at the low table, she said, "Zhong'er, I want to discuss something for my mother and the elder. You can go outside the house and play for a while."

Meng Zhong smiled and said, "Mom, isn't it just my brother's marriage? Let the child listen to it. I can't say that the child can still give him any advice."

When Ge heard this, he hesitated slightly. After all, compared to the honest and mundane eldest son, his second son Meng Zhong was indeed smart and clever. Therefore, there were many things on weekdays. Although Ge did not hide it from his eldest son, he would discuss it with his second son more.

But it is too early for a ten-year-old child to marry?

Thinking of this, Ge was about to kick his youngest son out with a stern face, but Meng Jian smiled and said, "It's okay, let this child listen. After all, this child is ten years old. In another five years, it's his turn to get married."

The elders said this, and Ge didn't want to say anything else, so he had to discuss with Meng Jian about the marriage of his eldest son Meng Bo.

In this era, common people and men from noble families of scholars usually marry and get married at the age of fifteen. If the legitimate son of the upper aristocratic family does not have a suitable marriage partner at this time, he may take a concubine first, and then marry his wife's wife's family when he has a suitable marriage partner. From then on, he can be regarded as an adult and assume the responsibility of this small family. [PS: The fifteen-year-old adult here refers to the "secular" perspective. However, within the family, it is generally necessary to celebrate the ceremony of the crown at the age of twenty before the elders in the clan are regarded as truly adults by the elders in the clan, and they are qualified to express their own views on the family matters.]

This year, Meng Bo is already fifteen years old, so the day before yesterday, Ge went to the clan and asked the clan to organize a marriage for his eldest son.

At this time, the marriage between men and women is basically based on the orders of their parents and the words of the clan elders.

Although there are actually young unmarried women within the Meng family, given the principle of "not marrying the same family" - initially "not marrying the same surname", and later gradually relaxed to "not marrying the same family" - Meng Bo and the young women in the clan were unable to get married, so he could only marry women from other families, such as Meng Qu, the father of the brothers, who married the Ge clan, the woman from the Ge clan.

The intermarriage between family members mainly depends on the sect leader Mengqi, Zong Zhu Mengjian and other highly respected elderly people to propose marriage and talk to other families.
Chapter completed!