At this mont, Ding Laoer hurried over with his eldest son from the side corridor.
Ding Laoer knelt on the straw mat, ready to return the courtesy, with his eldest son personally bringing incense to offer.
Combining the reactions of the elders during the previous ritual, Li Zhiyuan guessed that the Ding family must have been servants of the Qin family in the early years.
Liu Yui staying at the Ding family ant she was entering a servant’s household, and as servants, they naturally had to kneel before their masters.
Though it was an old custom, there were still elders who respected it.
Of course, the reason they upheld it was certainly not because they respected "traditional customs".
Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help but wonder, with the current state of decline in the Qin Liu family’s population, what could still compel these elders to willingly bow their heads and uphold the old ways?
Liu Yui lit the incense and inserted it into the incense burner.
She stepped back twice and looked at the straw mat in front of her.
Ding Laoer imdiately kowtowed, "Young Madam, it’s not proper, my brother cannot bear your courtesy."
Many elders behind him also spoke out to dissuade her, saying it was against the rules.
Liu Yui did not insist on performing the ritual, instead she looked towards Li Zhiyuan: "Xiao Yuan, it should have been Alii standing in for , so would you please make the effort and stand in for Alii.
Boss Ding was a real man back in the day; even I would have to look up to him."
"Okay."
Li Zhiyuan stepped forward and began the sacrificial ritual.
To be honest, this process, even if soone as unversed in rituals as Li Sanjiang were to co, wouldn’t be nearly as proficient as the boy.
No way around it, one was a local customs enthusiast, the other was a seasoned researcher, and those books the boy read were not in vain.
After the sacrificial ceremony was completed, Ding Laoer began to return the courtesy; his left thumb stood erect, while he clenched his right hand and raised it upwards, then crossed them in front of him, and finally swung both arms downward.
This was the door ritual.
Liu Yui was about to say that Xiao Yuan didn’t understand these things,
but then she saw the boy extend his right little finger downwards, clutch it with his left hand, make an upward leaping motion, then bring his curved arms in front of his chest, and nod his head thrice as he returned the courtesy.
All the elders around showed looks of appreciation and nostalgia.
Liu Yui imdiately showed a puzzled look, who taught him that?
In fact, it is recorded at the beginning of "Qin’s Jiao Observation thod" that this set of movents is an internal ritual of the Qin family, but it originated from the earliest movents of observing feng shui and weather patterns, and similar operations of asuring distance and direction using only hand gestures without tools could also be found in other industries.
Ding Laoer perford the lower ritual, like a python on the prowl; Li Zhiyuan perford the upper ritual, like a jiao guarding the gate.
The boy naturally knew that after performing it, he would be suspected by Liu Yui, and he did it deliberately. He had already been pre-admitted to Haihe University, and Alii was recovering better and better, and so things would eventually be laid out on the table.
He would definitely tell Liu Yui about the advanced understanding and recognition thods of "Qin’s Jiao Observation thod" and "Liu’s Qi Observation Technique" in the future.
Ding Laoer had tears streaming down his face, at least in this mont, it wasn’t feigned, it was indeed a genuine outpouring of emotion.
Because this scene reminded him of the days when he followed his elder brother to pay respects to several masters of the Qin family, when he was still young, and his brother was in his pri.
A Family Head who was not adept at managing the household and was easily swayed by the affection of his youngest son was a bit muddled, and such people tended to be emotional and sensitive at heart.
At this ti, Zhen Mubai and Su Wenluo, who were standing behind, looked towards another elder nad Sheng, who was previously seated at the end and was originally a servant of the Liu family.
Elder Sheng unconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead, then turned his head to his son and gestured, "Go on."
His son, now with half-white hair, stepped out of the crowd and began to perform the Liu family’s door ritual towards Li Zhiyuan.
Li Zhiyuan noticed that Liu Yui’s eyes were already slightly narrowed; clearly, the old lady was angry.
When a lion is tested, no matter how it reacts, in the eyes of others, the lion has already shown weakness.
This is jianghu, where big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp, even if outwardly they pay respectful courtesies, but underneath the surface, undercurrents are still surging.
Those two elders were trying to test what position Liu Yui had arranged for the boy, which forced the Sheng family to take action.
Liu Yui turned her anger into a smile, "Xiao Yuan, what are you dawdling for, return the courtesy."
Although she didn’t know where the boy learned the Qin family’s door ritual, Liu Yui believed that since he knew the Qin’s, there was no reason he couldn’t do the Liu’s.
Seeing Grandma Liu speak, Li Zhiyuan also returned the higher-status ritual to the white-haired man.
At the mont the ritual was completed, Zhen Mubai and Su Wenluo unconsciously straightened their backs, the rest of the elders behind them also silently focused their attention, re-evaluating the boy.
That’s right, being able to perform the door rituals of both the Qin and Liu families in public ant that the Young Madam (young lady) intended to let him inherit the threshold of the Qin Liu family in the future.
At this ti, Ding Laoer bowed and ca over to softly ask, "Young Madam, may we be seated now?"
Liu Yui nodded.
Everyone took their seats, with the seat of honor naturally belonging to Liu Yui.
The older generation sat at two tables, while the younger generation took another two tables.
Li Zhiyuan originally wanted to have a separate al with Alii, but was signaled by Aunt Liu to join the table; she then took Alii away.
For the sake of Alii’s face, Li Zhiyuan had no choice but to sit honorably in her place; he was also at the head of the table, flanked by peers surnad Zhen and Su, while everyone else was much older than the three of them.
The table was lively, with the tables so close that they could talk and listen to each other.
The older generation really knew how to speak artistically, while the youngsters here were imitating art.
Li Zhiyuan could tell that they were indirectly trying to pry information from him, aiming to find out more about him; the man and woman sitting by his side kept calling him "Brother Yuan" affectionately, but they were the ones probing most ticulously.
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