Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1392 Celebration
If Ye Yaodong wanted to park inside the county government, he had to have connections. Fortunately, Director Chen was there, and after a little talk, he was allowed in without any verification by the security guard.

Maybe it’s not ordinary people who can afford to drive a military motorcycle nowadays. Just explain it to me, no one dares to make things difficult for me.

After parking the car, the three of them walked and strolled slowly towards the Tianhou Temple.

The closer you get to the Tianhou Temple, the greater the flow of people and the more vendors hawking their wares.

In the past, the markets were concentrated only at the station and the two main streets in the city, but today they are all concentrated near the Tianhou Temple, and a small market has formed early in the morning.

People who came early to join in the fun also gathered in the small market, and there was a constant stream of people coming and going.

Director Chen sighed, "It's rare for the county to be so lively. This is the first time I've seen it in so many years."

Jin Yuzhi also echoed.

Ye Yaodong said, "The county still can't compare to our town. Our town started holding the Lantern Festival two years ago, and it's even more lively this year. If you are free on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month next year, I will go to the city to pick you up and bring you back to watch it. It's also convenient in our town, and it's much more lively than this."

“How lively is it?”

"There are children holding lanterns and parading floats with children sitting on them. This year is the Year of the Rabbit, and there are people acting as Chang'e holding the Jade Rabbit. There are also dragon and lion dances. Next year is the Year of the Dragon, so the dragon dance is probably more appropriate. Then there are street vendors, occupying both sides of the street, and people have to rely on the flow of people to push them around."

Director Chen also looked yearning as he listened, "That would be quite lively."

"Next year you should also take some time off and I will pick you up."

"We'll talk about it later. It's too early to talk about this now."

The three of them walked and followed the crowd to the temporary small market, and then went to the Tianhou Temple.

A group of people wearing white shirts and red satin brooches on their chests had gathered around the entrance of the Tianhou Temple.

They walked over and listened to a few words of conversation. It turned out that they were all fishermen who had donated money. Some of them were wearing ceremonial ribbons draped diagonally.

Ye Yaodong didn't know how the distinction was made, but when they handed over their invitations, they all got ceremonial ribbons.

It turns out that ordinary donations are different from those worn by public institutions and leaders.

And the words "Advanced Youth" were written on his invitation, so it was also a ceremonial ribbon.

He held the ribbon and shirt and said with a smile: "I didn't know there was such a distinction. I thought everyone was the same."

It turns out he can also mix in a safety belt.

"It will definitely be different. There will definitely be a difference in the positions at that time."

Director Chen took off his Mao suit as he spoke.

Jin Yuzhi took his clothes and said, "It's cold now, so you can put them on first and change later..."

"No, there's a sweater underneath, and the sun is shining brightly, so it won't be cold."

Ye Yaodong also took off his coat and put it on first.

As soon as they changed into their shirts and put on their seatbelts, people immediately gathered around them and started talking.

One could tell from the official tone that they were all from the local government. Ye Yaodong said nothing and asked his godfather to take action.

Sure enough, as soon as Director Chen said that he was the deputy director of the city's Ocean Bureau, the local officials became more enthusiastic and their smiles became deeper.

Ye Yaodong was also treated with courtesy, and his name became familiar to them.

The three of them were invited to sit inside and were provided with fruit snacks and tea, and their treatment improved dramatically.

Not long after they sat down, the incarnations of Mazu from various villages and towns came one after another, beating gongs and drums.

However, it was not the turn of government officials to greet them. The propaganda department staff of this millennium memorial service would be arranged to greet them and assign them territories.

Each village or town occupies a piece of open space, and the territory is clearly divided to avoid conflicts caused by large crowds and chaos.

Ye Yaodong listened to the intermittent sounds of gongs and drums outside, and from time to time he looked at his watch to check the time. It was just after 8 o'clock, so they should not have arrived at the village yet. He just didn't know if his father and the others had arrived.

He sat for a while and then went out to look at the door. No one came up to look for him. Looking around, there were people everywhere, so crowded that he had no place to look for them.

It was not until almost 9 o'clock that he asked the staff where their village was located, and then he found everyone.

"Oh, Adong is different from us. His is a ribbon, while ours is a red brooch ribbon."

"Yes, yes, he is at a high level, and we are ordinary people, and many people are the same..."

"In our village, only Secretary Chen and his group wore ribbons..."

Father Ye touched the ribbon on his chest with a smile on his face, "How come you are more advanced than everyone else?"

"I am one of the top ten advanced youth this year."

"I see, that's good, that's good..."

Mother Ye also touched it back and forth and said enviously, "What a pity! If I were the March 8th Red Flag Bearer this year, I could also wear this."

"Then you have to work hard, our family's status as a five-good civilized family depends on you."

"It's your father who's holding us back. He can't even read a few words, and when he teaches you, he swears at you. He doesn't want to make any progress at all..."

"Stop talking so much, there are so many people..."

Ye Yaodong looked around and saw that everyone in the gathering places in each village was wearing shirts, which meant they had donated money.

Ordinary people who did not participate in the donation were not allocated white shirts and had no seats, so they could only go to the back and watch.

He estimated that for this celebration event, thousands of shirts were customized, and even if they cost only a few dollars each, they would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

There is also the construction of the Mazu Temple and some expenses for activities, which really cost a lot of money.

Looking at the sedan chair of Mazu in the team, he asked Secretary Chen and realized that he had to wait until the time. Then the host gave the order and the women representatives of the village brought out the small statue of Mazu and stood it in front of the team, and then followed the procedure.

Before the ceremony began, the gong, drum and suona teams from various villages and towns began to compete and take turns playing, creating a lively scene.

He stood in his own village's team for a while, and when the time was almost right and the teams in front were starting to line up, he hurried forward.

Thanks to Director Chen, he was supposed to be in the back row, but Director Chen waved his hand and he moved to the front row, and everyone around him was smiling.

He occupied a good position and, before the ceremony started, he quickly walked up the stairs, picked up the camera hanging on his chest, took two pictures, and then returned to his seat.

"Bang~"

There was a huge gong and drum standing at the entrance of Tianhou Temple, which was being struck by someone.

"The auspicious time has arrived~"

The originally boiling scene suddenly became quiet.

Ye Yaodong turned his head and looked over. The team, which originally seemed a little chaotic, was now neat and tidy, as if it had been divided into pieces of tofu.

The entire Tianhou Temple is dressed in white shirts in front, the difference is that the front row wears ribbons, while the back row wears red ribbon brooches. It looks particularly uniform and neat. At the back are ordinary people in various costumes.

Some family members have never gone out to sea to work, so of course they don’t have a special belief in Mazu, but just treat her as an ordinary deity.

"A woman named Lingfei, with fragrant petals rising from Meizhou. This refers to Mazu, the goddess of peace at sea revered by our coastal people. Today is the thousand-year anniversary of Mazu's ascension..."

The host above was holding a microphone, and his voice was clearly heard in the corner in front of the open space.

The host explained the origin of Mazu and the titles bestowed on her by various dynasties in the local dialect.

"Respectfully invite Mazu to share her spirit..."

As the opening speeches ended and following the instructions, teams from each village and town invited Mazu out of the sedan chair.

Then he held the incarnation of Mazu covered with red silk cloth, walked slowly towards the Tianhou Temple, and placed Mazu on the altar in front of the Tianhou Temple.

In the short time he had been in the village team just now, a row of incense tables and offering tables had been set up at the gate. On each offering table was a note with the name of each village and town written on it, so as not to confuse his own incarnation of Mazu.

At this moment, some hostesses with red flowers in their hair took a bunch of flower baskets and handed them to those wearing ribbons one by one, explaining that there would be a ceremony of presenting flower baskets later.

Ye Yaodong said to Director Chen beside him: "It has quite a sense of ceremony."

Director Chen nodded, "That's a good arrangement, very thorough."

After all the incarnations of Mazu from various villages and towns have been invited to the altar, the ceremony of presenting flower baskets begins.

Led by the etiquette lady, those in the front row came forward one by one in an orderly manner and filled the altar in front with flower baskets.

Then, each leader took turns to deliver a speech, and gave an in-depth introduction to the rich connotations of Mazu culture, their feelings on promoting Mazu culture and their prospects for the future. They also expressed warm congratulations on the holding of the event and sincerely wished the event a complete success.

After the speech, the welcoming song was played, and the melodious melody instantly filled the entire venue.

The honor guard, ceremonial guard and performers of the Mazu Festival Art Troupe entered the venue in an orderly manner. For a moment, the scene was filled with drums and music, flags and banners flying, and a majestic atmosphere.

Then the main priest and the accompanying priests recited the prayer and burned incense respectfully.

Those in the front row also came forward to burn incense.

After the incense is burned, everyone will bow down in worship according to the host's slogan...

Just now there were loud gongs and drums and a lot of noise, but when they kowtowed, the scene became completely silent.

After the kowtow, the unveiling and groundbreaking ceremony of the stone statue of Mazu in Tianhou Temple began.

There was no celebration after the renovation of the Tianhou Temple was completed, and it has been preserved until today.

When the county leaders removed the red silk cloth from the stone statue of Mazu in Tianhou Temple, 200 doves of peace were released at the same time next to the temple.

Everyone present stared with their eyes fixed and clapped their hands so hard that their palms turned red.

At this point, the first half of the ceremony was completed.

In the second half, the incarnations of Mazu from various villages and towns will be invited into the main hall to continue enjoying the incense and offerings.

The second half of the ceremony was also held in the main hall, but the space was limited, so only those wearing ribbons could go in to kowtow and burn incense.

In the open space outside the main hall, everyone continued to listen to the drum band's music, and then performed the lion and dragon dances.

Ye Yaodong touched the ribbon on his chest and felt deeply that he was being treated differently. This was the benefit of fame and fortune. The treatment was different.

By the time the ceremony was over, it was already 12 o'clock. Everyone was communicating with each other, and then tables and chairs were set up in front of the entrance of the Tianhou Temple.

After the morning's festival activities are over, of course we have to start eating.

It is certainly not that simple or convenient to seat thousands of people, but everyone is not in a hurry. They are chatting at the door in groups of three or four, or sitting on the ground in their respective designated areas and waiting.

When Ye Yaodong was worshipping just now, he had already seen Hong Wenle sitting in the middle row. Originally, he was standing behind Hong Wenle, but was later moved in front of him. However, the celebration had already started and the two had no time to communicate. They only had time to talk after it was over.

"Fuck, I was just about to say this, you just jumped from the back to the front, it really is different when you have a backer."

"Haha, I'm so lucky to have you hug me."

"When I asked you a few days ago, you said you didn't know about the invitation."

"I really didn't know at the time. I had just come back and my wife didn't have time to tell me. When you mentioned it, I went home and asked my wife, and then I knew I had it."

Ye Yaodong hooked his shoulder and said, "Come on, I'll take you to meet my godfather. After this is over, I'll take him to our factory tomorrow. He said he would ask the army to see if we can supply our canned fish directly to the army."

Hong Wenle's eyes lit up, "Okay, that's great! If it works, it doesn't matter if I make less money, the key is that there is a signboard of special supply for the army."

"Ah."

Director Chen was chatting with officials from the local county government, and the two of them stood by and chatted while waiting. When they had time, Ye Yaodong led them forward to communicate.

The meal didn't start until one or two in the afternoon.

It was almost 4 o'clock when the meal ended.

After the meal, everyone received a towel as a souvenir. On the towel was embroidered the Millennium Festival of Mazu on October 1987, 10, which looked quite meaningful.

After the banquet, Ye Yaodong said goodbye to his father and others, and asked his father to take his men back early on the tractor so that they would not have to wait for the village team. He also went ahead on his motorcycle.

If they don't leave early now, the teams from various villages and towns will have to invite their respective incarnations of Mazu back to the sedan chair later, and the roads will be blocked. Not to mention the cars, even the people will have a hard time.

He was riding a motorcycle with strong maneuverability, and he left one step ahead of Hong Wenle's two motorcycles.

They were both going in the same direction, on the same route, and had a companion.

It was not yet five o'clock when he got home, but the sun had already set. The village looked deserted and empty, with not even a wisp of smoke from cooking fires. At this time of year in the past, smoke would be rising from every roof.

He drove straight to the door of his house without any obstruction, and was greeted by a chubby little boy standing at the door with his hands spread out.

"Dad! Why did you just come back? Where have you been? Where did everyone go?"

Ye Yaodong took off his helmet and said, "Why do you care where I go?"

"But where is everyone? Where is my brother?"

"I don't know, ask your mother."

"Mom also said she didn't know."

"Then when it gets dark, my brother will definitely be back."

"Ugh."

Ye Xiaoxi sighed and sat directly on the doorstep.

"Can't you go play with your friends?"

"Some of them were not at home. My mother also did not allow me to go out. She only let me watch TV at home and play with the dog in the yard. She said there might be bad people in the village today."

That's right, most of the village is empty.

"Come in, have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, Mom is cooking noodles. Dad, where does the erhu-playing grandpa live?"

"You haven't forgotten yet?"

Lin Xiuqing came out wearing an apron and happened to hear this. She said, "How could I forget? She has asked me 800 times today where the grandpa who plays the erhu is? She also asked when she would buy her an erhu. It's really overwhelming."

Ye Xiaoxi now turned her attention to Director Chen again, "You...fuck grandpa, where is my erhu?"

Director Chen smiled and said, "I haven't gone home yet. I'll buy it for you when I get home."

"Then when will you go home?"

Ye Yaodong glared at her, pulled her over, and said seriously: "Who asked like that? So rude."

Ye Xiaoxi was stunned for a moment and didn't dare to speak.

"Children don't know much, it's normal, don't be mean to her."

Director Chen took Ye Xiaoxi by the hand and said with a smile: "I will be home tomorrow and buy it for you the day after tomorrow. When your father comes to my house, I will ask him to bring the erhu back to you."

Ye Xiaoxi glanced at Ye Yaodong, then nodded cautiously.

Jin Yuzhi also smiled and took her other hand and walked into the house. "This child is so lucky and cute. When will she enter the first grade?"

Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "He is only 4 and a half years old, it's still early, he just looks taller than the average child."

"That's still early. I thought she was already 6 years old..."

"Sit down and rest for a while. You must be exhausted after a whole day, right?"

"Fortunately."

Ye's father and his family arrived home half an hour later than him, around 5:.

When Ye Xiaoxi heard the noise of the tractor, he was the first to rush out.

Ye Yaodong followed closely behind.

The people in the car jumped down one after another like dumplings.

Seeing the familiar brothers and sisters, Ye Xiaoxi stamped her feet and asked, "Where did you all go? Why didn't you take me with you?"

"Hey, we went out to play. It was so much fun and so lively..."

"Wow, there are so many people..."

Ye Yaodong coughed twice, but it was too late.

She burst into tears, "Don't take me, don't take me..."

"Wuwuwu... There's no one in the workshop. You won't take me with you. You're a bad guy..."

"You are all liars, big liars... I won't play with you anymore..."

She stamped her feet and cried, then turned around and lay on the wall and cried loudly...

Ye Yaodong found it somewhat funny and went up to her and tugged at her clothes, but she remained unmoved and continued to cry.

Ye Chenghu even approached her and said in a sly way, "It's so fun, so lively, there are drums, and there are so many white pigeons flying in the sky..."

Ye Xiaoxi cried even louder.

"Ye Chenghu, are you itching for trouble?"

Ye Chenghu ran quickly while shouting, "There's still a big meal to eat, it's so delicious..."

"Wow, wow, wow, wow...bad brother, bad brother..."

The adults around watched her performance and laughed.

"She was indeed left alone at home..."

"If she knew about this, she would cry to death..."

"I didn't succeed in deceiving you in the end..."

Listening to the adults around her talking, she was so sad that she ignored Ye Yaodong when he pulled her arm. She even hit him twice and then continued to cry against the wall.

"If you hit me, I won't care about you anymore."

"I hate you guys!"

This is something I made up casually. There is no way to verify it. It consumed a lot of brain cells. Just read it and go through the plot.