After breakfast, everyone set up the carriage and continued on their way. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Xiaoxing stayed overnight, walked for half a month, and saw a dark city from afar, that is, Suzhou City.

Thirty miles outside the city, two people were already waiting by the side of the road, and when the convoy came, they hurriedly stepped forward to inquire: "But the coffin of Uncle Lin Ruhai from Yangzhou?" The housekeeper knew that it was someone from his hometown in Suzhou who came to greet the spirit, so he hurriedly stepped forward to kowtow to report the funeral, and at the same time asked someone to go to the carriage behind to inform Daiyu and Aunt Ye. The two people said: "The old lady of the family has ordered, there are too many people passing by on the road, and everyone is too tired to travel all the way, so let's lead the way directly to Zhuangzi." ”

As he spoke, he asked Lin Mo again. The housekeeper said, "Lin Gongzi is reading in the car behind." So the two men led the way to the village.

The Lin family in Suzhou is divided into two branches, one of which has attacked four generations of princes, that is, Daiyu's great-grandfather to grandfather. This vein originally lived in Jinling City, and there was a royal mansion, but when Lin Ruhai's generation arrived, because he no longer attacked the lord, he handed over the fold and asked the palace to take it back, and purchased one or two other properties in Jinling. Although he is rich, his heirs are very thin.

The other branch has lived in Suzhou for a long time, and gradually developed a large number of Zhuangzi outside Suzhou, and the children also entered the court as officials, and there are also businessmen, such as Lin Daiyu's cousin, who has been the county magistrate of Wu County for several years, and has now been transferred to Kyoto to be a five-grade school scholar.

The crowd followed the two men leading the way, turned southward and then westward, until the sun sank to the horizon. When night falls, you can see a large number of villages in the distance, and the smoke of cooking smoke rises in the distance. Looking at the front of the village, there was a group of people standing in the dark, and it turned out that one of the people who led the way had already run back to report the news.

There was still a mile or two away, and Daiyu got off the carriage with the support of the purple cuckoo and the snow goose, and changed to walking. The aunts in the back and Lin Mo all got out of the car and walked forward with Daiyu in their arms. At the same time, the whole convoy resounded with cries, white flags fluttering, and the early winter wind swept up dead grass and paper money, making it look extremely bleak and desolate.

After only taking a step or two, Daiyu held Zijuan's hand, and she was already crying silently. Everyone says that it is the most tragic thing in the world for a white-haired person to send a black-haired person, who knows the misery and misery of orphans burying their parents? Thinking of the desolation under the fence, the bitterness of being excluded and made fun of, accompanied by a smile when others were busy and the family got together, and when it was quiet in the dead of night and the surroundings were silent, I had to cover the quilt alone and cry silently to vent my longing for my parents.

The purple cuckoo and the snow goose were on both sides, and they also cried into tears. Followed by Aunt Ye, Aunt Yao and Aunt Du, they all covered their faces with handkerchiefs, I don't know whether it was for their fate or for the deceased Lin Ruhai.

In the distance, Zhuangzi also welcomed some people. They were all dressed in linen and filial piety, and they came here with torches.

The two teams gathered in one place, and before they could speak, they all cried fiercely, and then they reluctantly met each other, and hugged the hearse together and went to the village.

In front of Zhuangzi, there were a few old ladies standing in front of everyone and looking forward, this is the elder of the Lin family in Suzhou.

Daiyu stepped forward and kowtowed, her throat choked so much that she could barely speak, and the little girls behind her all knelt on the ground. Zhuangzi hurriedly greeted a few female dependents, first helped Daiyu up, and then went to help Aunt Ye and others.

At the front was an old lady with snow-white hair and a cane, who looked at Daiyu and then at the hearse, and said again and again: "It's good to be back, it's good to be back." ”

While talking, he asked everyone to get out of the way, and let the carriage and coffin go into the village.

An old woman held Daiyu's hand, and several daughters-in-law hugged her, all of them went to the Zhuangzi, and Zijuan, who was behind, hurriedly sent the snow geese to follow. Daiyu knew that this was the old lady in the other room, and she had met once in her previous life, and she was her great-grandmother by generation, so she choked up and called "great-grandmother". The old woman patted her on the back a little helplessly, and even said, "Good boy, I'm sorry for you", and her eyes were red.

Here Daiyu followed her great-grandmother into the Zhuangzi, and outside Zijuan went in with the carriage, along with three aunts. Zhuangzi had already cleaned up a set of yards, and the carriages had all rushed over. Zijuan took the two little girls to clean up the room for Daiyu, and carefully moved all the daily and important things out of the carriage and placed them properly.

Seeing that the carriages from Yangzhou entered Zhuangzi one after another, one by one with torches and lanterns, they gradually went back. With a glimmer of light, an old ox cart slowly drove into Zhuangzi and headed in the opposite direction of the convoy from Yangzhou. The ox cart walked forward in black and swarthy after a meal, and came to a low, dark courtyard.

Lin Mo got out of the car, and the old servant on the other side of the car also jumped out of the car, pulled the reins on the cow's nose and stepped forward to open the door. Lin Mo was stunned for a moment, and was about to step into the courtyard, when the person in the kitchen heard the noise outside and walked out, it was a middle-aged woman. Lin Mo suddenly felt that his eyes were moist, he walked forward quickly and called, "Sister." ”

The woman smiled, and when she looked closer, she realized that she was only in her twenties, and her facial features were similar to Lin Mo's, but because she had worked too hard all day, she looked more than ten years older than her normal age.

"The whole Zhuangzi said that the people from Yangzhou were coming, and I think after you came back with them, you must be afraid of being gossiped about and unwilling to go there to eat. So I'll get your meal ready first, and I'll have to go over there to help later. Lin Mo's sister said gently, she pulled the dusty Lin Mo to look under the lamp for a while, and then smiled again: "Fortunately, I went out this time, and I didn't seem to be thin." ”

"Sister, I came with Uncle Lin's family in Yangzhou, how could I lose weight if I ate well and lived well along the way." Lin Mo replied with a smile, in order to avoid being seen by his sister that his eyes were red, he hurriedly went into the kitchen, and while lifting the lid of the pot, he said, "Sister, what did you make me delicious?" ”

As he spoke, Lin Mo was stunned. I saw simmered slices of simmered radish in the pot, and three snow-white steamed buns were steamed on it. Lin Mo's tears welled up all of a sudden, he hurriedly turned his face away, turned his back to his sister and said, "Sister, why did you bring these meat and steamed buns again, if your brother-in-law finds out, I will embarrass you again." ”

"It's okay," Lin Mo's sister said with a smile, "You go to a place so far away in Yangzhou for the sake of family affairs, and you sleep in the open air, if he cares about this little thing again, I will sue the old lady." ”

"I can take care of myself alone, sister." Lin Mo choked up and said, "In order to let me study, you gave up the good marriage that your father and mother set for you, and married this brother-in-law who opened a butcher shop, which is already wronged enough." If I make my sister embarrassed at my brother-in-law's house, how can I feel at ease? ”

"Silly brother, you and my sister and brother depend on each other, who will I take care of if I don't take care of you?" Lin Mo's sister said, "Hurry up and eat while it's hot, I'm going to go over there." She said the direction in which Lin Mo came.

Lin Mo knew that she must have to go over there to show her face and talk to the family members of the long house, so that the brother-in-law's family, who was a butcher, would not dare to be too embarrassed. So he quietly wiped away his tears and said, "Then I'll let Wang Da send you." ”

Wang Da is an old servant who drives the ox cart. It is said that Lin Mo's family turned out to be quite passable, but his parents died of illness one after another, leaving only a pair of young children, so he was embarrassed, and there were dozens of servants in the past, and only Wang Da and an old servant followed him unabated.

Lin Mo's sister was going to the Lin family's house, which was still more than two miles away from here, so she said "good". Wang Da listened outside, so he turned the ox cart around, and Lin Mo sent it to the gate of the courtyard, until the ox cart completely disappeared into the darkness.