Because Xiusun is prone to nightmares, she often wakes up in the middle of the night and can't sleep again, the old lady is worried that she will get up rashly and catch a cold again, so she doesn't call her to get up if she has nothing important, and she gets up by herself when she has slept enough.

Of course, Xiusun's education in her past and present lives made her attach great importance to filial piety, and she usually got up on time to accompany her grandmother to breakfast.

And early this morning, Xiusun estimated that the old lady would also get up a little late, so she relied on the bed for a while.

I thought that the outer room of the eighth master was probably about to surface, but unfortunately the time was wrong, and the old lady invited an breakfast early this morning, and before the old lady sent someone to Jinling to check the current situation of the eighth master, the old mansion in Jiangpu came.

This is the first time Xiusun has seen the old house in Jiangpu since he borrowed the corpse to return his soul.

The one who came in to pass the news was actually the clerk of the outer courtyard, his expression was a little solemn, he gave the old lady a salute, and said respectfully, "The eldest man of the long house died last night, and the second old lady sent someone to report the funeral." ”

"What?" The Buddha beads in the old lady's hand were stunned, and she made a loud sound on the kang table.

The clerk personally came in to report that something must have happened, but he didn't expect it to be the eldest man of the long house.

Xiusun stood next to the old lady and looked at the old lady's slightly trembling fingers, and suddenly remembered that the mother of this old lady in the long house was the old lady of the long house, Shen, that is, the sister of the mother's family who may have had some holidays with her grandmother.

"What about people?" The old lady asked.

The clerk knew that the old lady asked the mourner and replied, "Serve tea in the small flower hall in the outer courtyard." ”

"You go and tell Mrs. to go to the Little Flower Hall," the old lady instructed Xiaoyan, who was waiting beside her, "Let's go." The old lady got up and went to the outer courtyard, and the small flower hall in the outer courtyard was on the edge of the gatehouse, and it was very unlucky to introduce the mourners into the inner house.

Xiusun didn't have any feelings for the illusory uncle who hung up without seeing it, she only knew that there was something to eavesdrop, so she rushed forward as soon as possible and grabbed the old lady's arm.

The old lady didn't have time to talk to her, but she went to the corridor outside the Little Flower Hall and said to her, "Don't go in, wait outside." ”

Uncle died and didn't laugh and coquettish with his grandmother, Xiusun had to hold Zhang Yan's little face, let go of his grandmother's arm, and blessed his grandmother.

Then I looked at the flower window of the flower hall, the ice cracked pattern flower window carved with double-layer flowers and birds, standing in the center of the small flower hall can only see this side of a lush green, and lying on the flower window can clearly see the situation in the flower hall from the gap between the panes.

Xiusun went unceremoniously, just lying on the flower window and looking in, the wife arrived, Xiusun had to smile and give his wife a blessing, the wife glared at her, but did not drive her away, and stepped into the small flower hall with her whole dress.

The mourners were sitting in black lacquered chairs with refreshments, with their backs to this side.

When he saw the old lady enter, he stood up and saluted the old lady, calling him the sixth old lady. Xiusun's grandfather, Chu Changyun, was the sixth in the clan. and saluted the wife who came in on the back foot.

Xiusun saw the man's face, a lean and lean old man, his dark old face was covered with folds, his hair and beard were gray and gray, combed into the style of a scholar, and he was wearing a blue-gray straight jacket, the style was very simple, but the material was very good.

If she sues her that this is the second old lady Chu Changxun's little servant, she doesn't believe it, this is at least one of Chu Changxun's core staff.

This morning, there are many doubts, why did the funeral in the long room be reported by the second old lady of the small second room? It's just a funeral, it's not difficult to find a servant who can explain things clearly, why do you have to find a staff member, and it's an important staff member?

Xiusun couldn't figure it out even though she was hesitating whether to continue to force her imagination, when the old lady had already asked about the burial, and the old man answered them one by one.

According to the situation on weekdays, this old man should have said goodbye at this time, after all, it is best not to delay the funeral, and he seems to have something to say, and he wants to say and stop.

I saw the old lady wave her hand decisively, and said gently, "Sir, don't persuade me, I know the kindness of the second brother, so I'll clean up and rush over." ”

The folds of the old man's face stretched out in unison, and he showed an appreciative look, bowed to the old lady and his wife with a fist, and withdrew.

The clerk standing outside the door personally took the cups and saucers that had been used by the mourners and smashed them at the gate according to the rules to show that they would drive away evil spirits and avoid evil.

The old lady in the flower hall said to Ruan, "Inform the stables to prepare the car, inform the ladies to prepare, and set off for the old house in Jiangpu in half an hour." ”

Ruan Shi was stunned and hesitated, "Is Ah Sun going too?" She ......, "Xiusun often has nightmares, and it's good to be scared in the mourning hall.

The old lady turned to look at the window and said firmly, "She is the only grandchild of my fourth room, of course she has to go." ”

Nguyen had no choice but to respond.

In this way, the old lady, Mrs., Xiusun, Xiuguan, Xiuzhi, and Xiuqian changed into plain dresses, brought their respective servants, sat in a carriage covered with white cloth, and rushed to the old house in Jiangpu to mourn.

The eighth old man and several children of the clan are still studying in Jinling City, and the second old lady sent someone to report the funeral.

——I am the dividing line of seeking good fortune and avoiding evil——

Ten miles of hot springs, hundreds of miles of old mountains, thousand-year-old ginkgo, ten thousand gulls and herons, talking about Pukou.

During the Taizu period, Jiangpu County was built, which governed the entire Pukou area, and belonged to the Nanzhi Ying Tianfu, which is commonly known as Jinling.

Jiangpu County is located at the southern foot of Kuangkou Mountain, only ten miles away from the Foshou Lake Courtyard, and it can be arrived in less than an hour by horse-drawn carriage, but the old lady told the coachman to slow down and not to be too bumpy.

So, a group of six carriages covered with white cloth walked for an hour and a half before entering Jiangpu County from Ji and Men.

In the early days of the completion of Jiangpu County, it was still a city wall with loess tamping, until the twenty-seventh year of Yuanqing, the brick and stone city wall was built by Qiu Zhen, the county magistrate, the city wall was built according to the mountain, the shape was not the square of the traditional city, and there were five gates in total.

The elegant magistrate of the county gave the names of the five city gates with a splash of ink and made a plaque to hang above the gatehouse. The funeral procession led by the old lady entered from the west gate, and slowly walked southeast along the streets of the city, almost crossing the county seat of Jiangpu.

When they entered the city, it happened to be the moment when the shops along the street were open for business, the merchant carried his burden from the remote alley into the street, the handicraft who did the short-term work had just chosen a street corner to squat and smoke a cigarette belt, and the beggars who asked for food also put the broken bowl in front of them at this time.

The big girls, young men, uncles, aunts, and little daughters-in-law all over the city all noticed this huge funeral procession without exception, and they couldn't help but talk about it.

"Whose family is this dead?" An aunt in a pea-green bikina and a peach-colored dress asked.

"I heard that it's the Chu family in Chu Family Lane." The old man who was buying vegetables said as he unloaded the cabbage from the wheelbarrow.

The red and green aunt was puzzled, "Don't all the people surnamed Chu in Jiangpu County live in Chujia Lane?" ”

What she said was right, when the ancestor Chu Qi moved his family to settle in Jiangpu County, there was indeed only their family surnamed Chu, and later there were several uncles and nephews of the same clan in Lanling, and they also lived in Chujia Lane with them.

The old man who wrote the letter on behalf of the people next door to the vegetable stall glanced at the lantern hanging in front of the carriage with his barely wisp beard, and the lantern on the white paper was written in willow script with four big characters "Harmony Tang Chu", and interjected, "That is indeed the Chu family, according to the old man's speculation, it should be the old fourth room living outside the city." ”

"The old fourth room? I haven't heard of it, why do they live outside the city? The old man asked strangely the big girl who sold tofu brains next door.

"Well," the old man posed in an unfathomable gesture and continued to stroke his beard, "you don't know, ...... back then."

——I am the dividing line for in-depth understanding of the gossip trend of the people——

"Back then, ah......" In front of the tavern where the door panel had just been removed, Kwon so-jae was dressed in a shabby robe and thought he was very graceful and reclined on the counter of the tavern, holding a bowl of muddy rice wine in his hand.

The young shopkeeper saw that he was drunk and woke up alone, so he was anxious, pulled out the white towel on his shoulder and wiped the countertop vigorously, almost pushing Quan Xiucai out of the store.

Kwon so-jae stumbled over the threshold and jumped up to keep his balance, accidentally spilling a mouthful of rice wine in the wine bowl.

He was very distressed, jumped back to the store with the wine bowl and put the wine bowl on the counter with a "snap", "I tell you, young man, don't look down on people, little old man, I was a talent in the same time as Chu Changxun." They know what they're doing! ”

"Oh?" Xiao Er grinned and raised his eyebrows, wiped his hands with a white towel and threw them back on his shoulder, approached him and said, "Then why are everyone as pavilion elders, and you still buy rice wine from us?" ”

"You!" Quan Xiucai pinched the sword trick and pointed at Xiao Er, and he couldn't say anything to refute it, so he simply changed his sword to the wine bowl, "You pushed me just now, give me full, full, if you don't give me full, I'll sue your shopkeeper for ......"

Xiao Er glanced at the guests who were eating breakfast in the lobby and listened to the movement here with their ears pricked up, and immediately changed their flattering smiling faces to Quan Xiucai, and made a gesture, "Grandpa Xiucai, they are all small and have eyes and don't know Taishan, you say, you say ......"

-- I want to change places and continue to understand the dividing line of the people--

"Huh? I heard that the old lady of the Chu family is the niece of Shen Ge Lao, how can Shen Ge Lao be upright, how can he ...... "Under the big locust tree on the street corner, several working masons gathered together to smoke cigarettes.

"Oh, you don't know," a black-faced man with a patch on his shoulder next to him pushed him, "This old lady in the fourth room is Shen Shoufu's biological daughter, this big old lady is just the niece of Shen Shoufu's same clan, and the two are both sisters of the same clan and concubines." ”

"Yes, it's really strange that sisters of the same clan have married into a family but have not been in contact with each other for decades." The red-faced man with a patch on his chest asked curiously.

"Well...... this "The white-toothed man sitting against the wall slowly smoked a cigarette, and enjoyed everyone's gaze for a long time before he said proudly, "My seventh uncle's mother-in-law's eighth aunt's ninth aunt's son is an apprentice in the largest pawnshop in the capital, according to him, this Shen Shoufu has no son, just a daughter of the old lady in the fourth room, which has to pass the step-heir, this picks and chooses, and the brother of the old lady in the long house is selected."

In order to facilitate the brother and sister to take care of each other in the future, Shen Shoufu chose the Chu family Tanhualang as a husband for his own daughter, who would have thought that this heir was not filial, Shen Shoufu got angry and gave most of the family property to his daughter as a dowry, which offended the two brothers and sisters.

"Later, Chu Tanhua suffered from an emergency and died, and the old lady of the fourth room took her son back to Pukou, and the old lady of the long room joined forces with her mother's brother, bent on stealing the dowry of the old lady of the fourth room."

He assumed a distressed gesture and took another puff of his cigarette pouch.

"Yes, it's not," the shoehorn-faced man with a hole in his pants hurriedly said, "My second uncle's father-in-law has set up a fan stall at the mouth of the Chu family's alley for more than 30 years, according to him, if it wasn't for the old lady of the Chu family's small second room to protect them, the old lady of the long room could have forced their orphans and widows to death." ”

Seeing that he had been robbed of the limelight, the white-toothed man hurried over and continued, "And besides, I heard about it......"

In this way, a line of white-clothed carriages with hall numbers passed through Jiangpu County, and the past that had been settled many years ago was quietly scattered again like the dust that had been run over by wheels.