The fifteenth day of the third month was auspicious in every way, suitable for sacrifices and reporting to the ancestors.
The Wei Ancestral Hall faced south, its four doors thrown wide open.
The morning sunlight slanted inside, falling across the blue-brick floor in a bright ribbon.
On the offering table, the spirit tablets of generations of Wei ancestors stood in solemn rows.
Red candles burned high on the stands to either side, their flames swaying gently in the breeze, making the rows of names flicker between light and shadow.
Incense smoke curled upward from the burner, slowly spiraling through the shafts of light before dissipating beneath the Ancestral Hall's lofty vaulted ceiling.
The atmosphere was solemn and reverent.
The clan elder Wei He sat beside the seat of honor, his hair and beard snowy white, his expression grave.
Several other elders of the clan sat on either side, their gazes all fixed on the center of the Ancestral Hall.
This was a momentous matter for which the ancestors had been invited to bear witness. Not the slightest disrespect could be tolerated.
Wei Mingde stood on the right, his expression calm.
Wei Shouzheng stood beside him, occasionally glancing at the person in the center of the Ancestral Hall, an indescribable complexity lurking in his eyes.
Cui Shi stood half a step behind her husband, holding the hand of two-and-a-half-year-old Wei Shoucheng, her face bearing just the right measure of dignified composure.
And in the center of the Ancestral Hall-
Wei Nisheng stood alone.
Today, he wore a new pale-blue robe that Wei An had specially commissioned at a clothing shop a few days earlier.
The fabric was not the finest, but the tailoring was well suited to him, making his features look all the more handsome and refined.
He simply stood there, his back straight, facing the spirit tablets.
Neither servile nor arrogant.
Like a stalk of green bamboo standing in the wind.
At the outermost entrance to the Ancestral Hall, Wei An peered eagerly inside from beyond the threshold.
He could not enter, but neither would he go far. He clung to the doorframe, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on that blue-robed figure's back.
Wei Nisheng did not turn around.
He had entered this Ancestral Hall before.
Many times before.
Wei Nisheng raised his eyes and looked at those spirit tablets one last time.
Today, he would kneel again.
But this time, he would kneel so that he could stand.
"The auspicious hour has arrived!"
Wei He, patriarch of the Wei Family, cleared his throat and spoke.
"Today, we open the Ancestral Hall to choose an heir for Eldest Branch Duke Wei Mingyuan to Continue the Ancestral Line."
Silence and solemnity filled the Ancestral Hall.
"According to the rules, the candidate must be proposed by his own family."
"Wei Mingde, speak."
Wei Mingde stepped forward, his expression grief-stricken. First, he bowed deeply to the spirit tablets, then turned toward the clan elders, his low voice tinged with a sob.
"Honored clan elders, I, your junior Wei Mingde, am here today to honor my father's longstanding wish and choose an heir for my late elder brother, Mingyuan."
He paused as he spoke, glanced at Wei Shouzheng, and sighed.
That sigh stretched on and on, as though his heart held endless reluctance.
"Father! Shouzheng has been clever since childhood, and now he has become Qin Gong's disciple. His future prospects are boundless.
If he could inherit the Eldest Branch, I am sure both my late father and my late brother would be gratified. But he happens to be my eldest son and cannot be adopted into another line!"
With that, Wei Mingde changed tack and took his youngest son Wei Shoucheng's hand.
"Shoucheng is young and gifted as well. He ought to be the best choice... but he is far too young and has not yet begun his schooling.
If he inherited the Eldest Branch, he would have to enter another household. He truly could not shoulder such a burden."
"So... so..." Wei Mingde looked at Wei Nisheng, his gaze brimming with "reluctance" and affection. "That leaves only my second son, Ni Sheng!"
"Father, elder brother!" Ni Sheng... although this child has a somewhat fierce temperament, he is still legitimate blood of the Wei Family.
After turning it over in my mind, I could only have him inherit the Eldest Branch. That would fulfill Father's final wish without delaying the continuation of Elder Brother's ancestral incense."
As Wei Mingde spoke, his eyes actually reddened, and his voice choked up. "Ni Sheng... I know you harbor resentment in your heart.
But I had no choice in what happened today.
Once you enter the Eldest Branch, do not disgrace the Wei Family's traditions..."
At this point, Cui Shi also stepped forward. "Ni Sheng, although I am not your birth mother, all these years I have always treated you as my own.
Now that you are leaving today, in my heart... truly..." As she spoke, tears came on command and rolled down her cheeks. Her acting was clearly more practiced than Wei Mingde's.
Wei Shoucheng watched his mother cry in bewilderment, not knowing what had happened. His little mouth puckered, and he wanted to cry too.
Cui Shi quickly patted his back and held him tighter.
Wei Shouzheng stood to one side, watching his parents' performance. He wanted to laugh, but did not dare.
Still, for the sake of his reputation, he covered his mouth, lowered his head, and stared at the tips of his shoes, his shoulders trembling slightly.
In the center of the Ancestral Hall-
Wei Nisheng stood there, watching everything from beginning to end.
Watching his father's "choked sobs," his legal mother's "tears," and that family's performance of deep affection between flesh and blood.
He did not argue.
He did not expose them.
He did not even spare them another glance.
He knew what he was doing.
Today, he had to endure.
Endure until the ceremony ended.
Endure until the genealogy had been amended.
Endure until he walked out of this Ancestral Hall.
"All right, all right! Do not delay the auspicious hour."
Wei He spoke at just the right moment, interrupting the increasingly vigorous performance of Wei Mingde and his wife and son.
"Since this is the family's wish, we shall proceed according to the rites."
Leaning on his walking stick, he slowly approached the incense altar, his expression solemn.
"Open the Ancestral Hall, inform the ancestors, and perform the great rite of adoption!"
"First, notify the Wei ancestral shrine!" the clan elder proclaimed.
Wei He lit three sticks of incense, held them in both hands, and bowed three times.
Thin trails of smoke spiraled upward, reaching the roof beams.
Then he took a sacrificial address from his sleeve, unfolded it, and read aloud.
"On this fifteenth day of the third month, in the eighth year of Jinghe, of the Great Zhou Calendar, He, Clan Elder of the Wei clan, respectfully offers clear wine and humble dishes before the spirits of our forefathers..."
The sacrificial address used ornate parallel prose, its phrases alternating between four and six characters.
Its general meaning was this: Wei Mingyuan of the Eldest Branch had no heir, so Ni Sheng, second son of Wei Mingde of the second branch, had now been chosen to Continue the Ancestral Line. The ancestors were informed, and their protection was requested.
When he finished reading, Wei He held the sacrificial address over a candle flame.
The flame licked the paper. It curled, yellowed, blackened, and finally turned to ash, falling into the incense burner.
The thin smoke spiraled upward and dispersed beneath the Ancestral Hall's lofty vaulted ceiling.
"Second, bow to the Wei ancestors!" the clan elder proclaimed again.
Wei He turned and looked at Wei Nisheng. "Heir Wei Nisheng, step forward and bow to the ancestors."
Wei Nisheng walked up to the incense altar and knelt on the cushion.
This was the first time he had knelt on a cushion, entirely different from those cold, hard brick floors of the past.
Then he bent forward and kowtowed three times.
Each time, his forehead touched the ground with utmost respect.
The first bow was to the founding ancestor. His forehead touched the ground, remained there for three breaths, then rose.
The second bow was to the ancestors of successive generations. His forehead touched the ground, remained there for three breaths, then rose.
The third bow was to his grandfather, Wei Zheng.
As he bent down, his forehead resting against the cushion, his gaze fell directly on his grandfather's spirit tablet.
The golden characters shimmered in the candlelight, as though his grandfather Wei Zheng were watching him.
Grandfather, today your grandson will inherit the Eldest Branch. From now on, I will be Eldest Uncle's son.
I will not tarnish your name, nor will I squander the road you paved for me.
After completing his bows, he raised himself and knelt upright.
"Third, bow to the adoptive father!"
Wei He continued, "Heir, bow to your adoptive father."
Wei Nisheng turned toward the spirit tablet of his eldest uncle, Wei Mingyuan, on the left.
At fourteen, he had passed the autumn provincial examination; at seventeen, he had placed first in the provincial examination, earning the title of Classical Laureate.
"The Wei Family has a son destined for the Hanlin Academy, with boundless prospects."
He looked at that spirit tablet and kowtowed again.
After three bows, he remained prostrate on the ground for a long time.
"Fourth, amend the genealogy!"
A clan elder stepped forward, carrying a thick Wei genealogy bound in blue cloth, its corners worn white.
The old man opened the genealogy and found the page for the second branch of Wei Zheng's line.
It read: "Wei Mingde, married Lu Shi, subsequently married Cui Shi. Three sons: Shouzheng, Ni Sheng, Shoucheng."
The old man lifted his brush and dipped it in ink.
Then he gently drew a line through the two characters of "Ni Sheng."
A thin stroke of ink, yet it severed ten years of father and son.
The old man continued turning the pages until he reached the Eldest Branch.
It read: "Wei Mingyuan, married Li Shi, no heir."
The old man raised his brush and added a line of small characters beside "no heir": "Adopts Ni Sheng, second son of his younger brother Mingde, as his heir."
Then, beneath the list of heirs, he solemnly wrote:
"Ni Sheng, second son of Mingde, now inherits the Eldest Branch."
Watching this, Wei He nodded slowly. "The rite is complete."
Silence and solemnity filled the Ancestral Hall.
Wei Nisheng stood and bowed deeply to the spirit tablets once again.
Then he turned around to face everyone present.
His gaze was as calm as still water.
But inside, towering waves surged through his heart.
From this day forward, I am my own man!
Just as Wei Nisheng thought it was over, Wei He unexpectedly spoke again. "There is one more matter."
"Wei Mingde of the second branch has proposed that, after the heir Continue the Ancestral Line, he undergo Lineage Separation from the second branch and establish an independent line."
Lineage Separation? Why didn't I know about this? Wei Nisheng's expression changed. He had not expected another pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Wei He had already turned to Wei Mingde and asked, as the rules required, "Mingde, have you thought this through? Once Lineage Separation is complete, he will have no further ties to your second branch."
"Patriarch, I have thought it through." Wei Mingde nodded, his expression composed. "Since Ni Sheng has inherited the Eldest Branch, he should establish an independent line. Lineage Separation from the second branch is only proper."
Seeing this, Wei He turned to Wei Nisheng and asked, "Child, have you thought this through? Once Lineage Separation is complete, yours will be an independent branch, with no further relationship to the second branch.
Whatever happens in the future, the second branch will no longer look after you, and the clan will act only according to its rules."
Wei Nisheng stood there, listening to those words.
Lineage Separation.
An independent branch.
No further ties to the second branch.
He lowered his eyes, as though considering it seriously.
Then he lifted his head and nodded lightly.
That nod was gentle and slow, carrying a hint of bewildered "uncertainty."
Only in the instant before he nodded, the corners of his mouth had lifted slightly.
In the center of the Ancestral Hall, seeing Wei Nisheng nod, Wei He signaled for the clan elder to continue.
And so, beneath the Eldest Branch's page in the genealogy, the clan elder began a new line and recorded a new branch:
"Ni Sheng, adopted heir of the late Mingyuan of the Eldest Branch, establishes an independent line as a separate subsidiary branch."
Then, beneath the record for Wei Mingde's branch, he added another entry:
"Lineage Separation from Ni Sheng, heir of the Eldest Branch; neither has any connection to the other."
"From this day forward, Wei Nisheng belongs to the Eldest Branch Legitimate Line, constituting an independent branch."
And with that, the brush fell, the ink dried, and there could never be any turning back!
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