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The sixth day of June is auspicious for raising beams, moving into new house, proposing marriage, and offering sacrifices.

The weather was exceptionally fine that day. Even the nest of little magpies living in the big banyan tree seemed to sense something and kept jumping and chirping on the branches early in the morning.

Since the eldest brother Su Qinqi was not at home, Su Qinchao accompanied his father Su to stand at the gate of the new house to welcome the guests today.

Prepare to wait for the auspicious time to arrive and witness the happy event of the main beam house being erected together with the guests and fellow villagers.

This main beam is very particular. Not only do you have to hire two strong men, but they also have to go up the mountain under the cover of night, burn incense and pay respects to heaven and earth under the giant tree selected by the owner, and then cut down the tree at night.

Moreover, during the whole process, the huge tree must not be allowed to fall to the ground, but must be immediately and steadily delivered to the host family and placed on a stool in the center of the hall of the new house.

Then the invited old carpenter recited the song of offering sacrifice to the beams, trimmed the huge trees, carved them, painted them to prevent corrosion, etc.

After the beam-raising ceremony is successfully completed, the host family will need to give the old carpenter a generous gift to thank him.

...

When ordinary families raise the beam of a shrine, they have to prepare seven-color red lacquer sacrificial plates with a whole pig, fish, goose, tofu, eggs, salt, etc., as well as 24 bowls of dishes and 12 basins of northern and southern fruits.

The same was true for the Su family. The servants prepared the sacrificial offerings early and placed them in front of the new house.

As the auspicious time slowly approached, the old carpenter led the craftsmen to open the door of the new house, exposing the main beams in the hall to let the sun shine. (Commonly known as drying the beams)

Then wrap the middle of the main beam with red cloth, and paste red paper with auspicious words such as "Good luck on the beam" and "Green dragon supports the jade pillar, white tiger holds up the golden beam" on both ends to show good luck, etc.

"Get up!" Following the order from the old carpenter, all the craftsmen carried the main beam on their shoulders, cooperated with each other to move the main beam to the roof, and made preparations, waiting for the auspicious time to arrive.

"Bang!" The auspicious moment arrived, and amid the sound of firecrackers, the main beam was successfully installed on the roof.

"The ceremony is over!" After the old carpenter put the last tile on the roof, he placed a bucket filled with five-colored grains and sang a few auspicious words.

The craftsmen then threw down countless sorghum mixed with peanuts, colored paper, and candies from the air (commonly known as throwing sorghum), and the beam-raising ceremony was completed.

After that, of course, the guests and fellow villagers were invited to take their seats. As for the craftsmen, the Su family set up a separate table for them and, as per custom, prepared a large sum of money as a thank you.

...

"Dad, Mom, your son toasts to you!" Su Qinchao, with a flushed face, picked up a glass of wine and excitedly toasted to the Su father and mother who were sitting in the main seats.

Just now, he had represented Su's father, who couldn't drink, and had a drink with the guests around him one by one. Now it was finally the turn of his family's table.

"Good! Good! Good!" Father Su said three good words happily. He and Mother Su raised their wine glasses and took a sip meaningfully.

Because his spleen and stomach were stabbed while investigating a case a few years ago, Su's father has been forced by Su's mother not to drink alcohol.

Therefore, in such an important occasion, the brothers Su Qinqi and Su Qinchao usually do the work. However, today is a happy day, so Su's father couldn't help but take a sip or two.

"Okay, stop drinking. Be careful of stomachache at night." Seeing that Father Su wanted to drink more, Mother Su reached out and gently twisted his waist, motioning him to put down the cup.

"Mom, are you happy today~" Father Su, who was addicted to alcohol, finally had a big day and wanted to drink a little more, but he didn't expect Mother Su to watch him so closely.

"No, do you want to hire a doctor on this happy day?" Su's mother naturally refused.

"Big uncle, listen to young uncle!" Fubao also advised (in Yueyang dialect, big uncle means grandfather, young uncle means grandmother).

"Okay~" Father Su had no choice but to put down the cup, pick up the honey water beside him, and toast everyone before sitting down.

The banquet lasted until 3:15 pm before everyone dispersed. Now they just had to wait to move into the new house. After Su Qinchao saw off the guests, he stood at the door of the new house with his father and mother to take a good look at it for a while.

"That's great! I didn't expect that I could live in a house like this when I'm old." Su's mother sighed.

Originally, she was just the daughter of a small escort leader. Once when she was accompanying her parents on a escort mission, she met Su's father, who was traveling alone in the world. As they traveled together, they fell in love with each other and soon became husband and wife.

Later, Su's father passed the military examination and became an official, but he did not change his heart. Instead, he gave up the imperial examination, became a low-ranking county lieutenant, and spent the rest of his life with her in his hometown.

Unexpectedly, her two good sons were so ambitious and both became high-ranking officials, allowing her to enjoy a peaceful life from then on.

"You're not old at all. In my eyes, you're still so beautiful." Father Su hugged Mother Su and whispered softly in her ear.

"You're so unruly." Didn't you see your son was still here? Shame on you, Su's mother rolled her eyes at him.

"He can't hear!" Father Su smiled indifferently.

"Yes, I can't hear it." Su Qinchao also responded, and then pulled a few little kids squatting behind the door, and hurriedly ran into the new house with laughter. They were going to choose a yard.

...

Su Qinqi arrived a month after the family had moved into the new house. According to him, he was supposed to arrive in Chang'an on schedule.

However, on the day of handing over to the new prefect, many cases of missing children were suddenly discovered overnight in the area under his jurisdiction, and in more than one county.

So, seeing that he still had more than a month of vacation left, he stayed to help.

"Did you finally find out who did it?" Su Qinchao asked curiously.

"That's where the problem lies. Following the clues, the judicial officer tracked down the case for a month before he found the children in a Taoist temple under the jurisdiction of the government.

And the Taoists in the temple disappeared completely, as if they had known the news long ago."

"Those under the jurisdiction of the government should not be ordinary people. It is normal for someone to secretly report the news. But what is the use of the Taoist temple having so many children? Are the children injured?"

Su Qinchao thought about it. He had read many files in the Jinwu Guard, but had never seen such a strange case.

In the past, when children went missing, it was mostly due to human traffickers. This is the first time I heard that Taoist priests would kidnap children.

"They were not injured, nor were they violated in any way. They were in good spirits, but there were traces of blood on each of their fingers." Su Qinqi recalled and described the children's situation in detail.

"In fact, I suspect that those Taoists are refining some kind of elixir, because according to the headcount, it is found that there are 81 boys and 81 girls. This number coincides with those things in Taoism."

"Could it be that he is trying to make an elixir of immortality?" For a moment, Su Qinchao could only think of this. The ancients seemed to be obsessed with immortality, and even Zulong was no exception.

"That's possible." Su Qinqi nodded. Just as he was about to say something else, he was interrupted by his mother who came rushing over:

"What are you two still talking about? Go help Hui Niang clean up the yard!"

"Mom, don't you have servants? We haven't seen each other for a long time, let's chat." Su Qinchao complained.

"There are only a few people in the house, and we have to send two of them to the kitchen to help with cooking. How can they clean up? Hurry up!" Su's mother glared.