Compared with the separate houses of the big house, the second room is much more homogeneous.

The second master and the second lady Wu walked side by side, and a group of low-eyed and pleasing aunts followed suit, followed closely behind, followed by a bunch of children.

At the end of the day, the two rooms were seated.

There are four tables in the main hall, the aunt occupies one table, one table for men, one table for women, and the remaining one table is reserved for the Zhao family.

The main seat is naturally reserved for the ancestors, the big man sitting in the big room on the right, followed by the grandmother of Ben Song, the second master and his wife sitting on the left, and between the seat of the old ancestor, there is also a vacant seat, which is obviously reserved for Fang Fei.

Seeing that the people had arrived, the chief steward of Zhao went to invite the ancestors to come out, and ordered people to start serving, the dishes on the four tables were all vegetarian, and finally put a large pot of chicken soup in the middle of each table.

After a while, Mother Wu came out of the inner hall with the old ancestor who was faltering, and Jin Ling held the dragon descending wooden crutch that the ancestor did not use in both hands, and followed behind two steps behind.

The family got up one after another, and after welcoming the ancestor to the table, they sat down again.

"Why hasn't Fang Fei arrived yet?" As soon as the old ancestor entered the main hall, he saw the empty seat, and as soon as he sat down, he instructed Mother Wu behind him: "Go to the Green Jade Pavilion and have a look." ”

Mother Wu replied 'yes', blessed the old ancestor with a blessed body, and then walked out of the main hall and went in the direction of Green Jade Xuan.

"Madame doesn't look like she's going to be late, is she, sister-in-law." The second lady coughed twice, wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, and stared at Grandma Song who was sitting opposite for a moment.

A few days ago, in front of the Zhao family, the second lady called her 'mother' affectionately, and as soon as this matter passed, she immediately changed her name to 'Mrs. Tai'.

"That's what the second brother and sister said." Grandma Song put her hands flat in front of her, sitting steadily, her eyes kept staring at the chicken soup pot in the middle of the table, "However, the second brother and sister have not yet recovered, so it is better to say less, and it is not good to save the illness to the ancestors." ”

The second lady smiled, covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and said, "Thank you sister-in-law for reminding me." ”

"You're welcome, this is what my sister-in-law should do." Grandma Song raised her eyes at this time, glanced at the second lady lightly, flashed at the touch, and quickly looked away.

Here, as soon as Mother Wu came out of the main hall, she saw Mother Zhou of Green Yuxuan carrying her skirt and rushing towards the front hall at a trot, Mother Wu hurriedly stepped forward to stop people, and before she could speak, Mother Zhou took the lead in asking questions, and said breathlessly: "Old ...... Old sister, we are too ...... Mrs. Tai is inside? ”

At dawn, Zhou's mother was afraid that she would sleep too late, so she deliberately only took a nap on the dresser, but she was really tired yesterday and didn't rest all night, so she fell asleep as soon as she leaned in. It wasn't until a moment ago that Shui Lian came over to wake her up, and Zhou's mother was so anxious that she wiped her face indiscriminately, and rushed to Yining Hall in a hurry.

"No, the old ancestor is coming to look for you with me." Mother Wu was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly straightened Mother Zhou, who was panting in the crook of her arm, and asked, "Why, Mrs. Tai didn't come with you?" ”

When Zhou's mother heard this, the blood on her face faded instantly, and she snorted: "I haven't seen anyone since I came back in the morning, and I thought ...... I thought Mrs. Tai had come to accompany the ancestor......" said, her legs were weak, and she almost fell headlong.

"Don't panic yet." Mother Wu hurriedly stepped forward to support the person and comforted: "Mrs. Tai may have helped Steward Zhao take care of the front yard, let's go first and ask Steward Zhao to see." ”

Mother Zhou nodded hurriedly, and after a little tidying up, the two of them walked to the main hall one after the other.

The ancestor has been well maintained over the years, his ears are not deaf, his eyes are not dazzling, he squinted his eyes and looked at it, only to see Zhou's mother come in alone, so he asked: "Xue Niang, how can you come by yourself?" What about Fang Feiren? ”

I didn't expect the ancestor to ask directly, Zhou's mother trembled, her legs were weak again, and she was almost about to kneel, and Wu's mother next to her was busy backhanding, holding her up, and replied: "If you go back to your ancestor, you said that you came back early in the morning, but you didn't see Mrs. Tai, thinking that she was coming to our side, and she was looking for someone." ”

"Absent?" The old ancestor was suspicious, and his eyes involuntarily swept to the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of the two people.

"Yes." Zhou's mother stood up and replied, "When I came back in the morning, I found that Mrs. Tai was not there, and I asked the first girl who came back, and they all said that they hadn't seen it when they came back, and the back kitchen also went to ask, and said that no one had seen Mrs. Tai, and the slave maid thought that Mrs. Tai followed the ancestor back to Yining Hall last night......"

"I didn't see anyone when I came back, why did I come here to look for it now?" The old ancestor's face sank, the two nasolabial folds on his lips were long, and although his tone was not very high, he was not angry and arrogant.

Zhou's mother did plan to come over at dawn, but she was too sleepy and tired, and as soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep.

"They were afraid that coming too early would disturb the ancestors, and the chief steward was not there, so they thought that Mrs. Tai was going to help take care of the front yard, and they had already looked around in the morning, so they came late."

Just as she didn't know how to tell her ancestor, Mother Wu was already explaining it to her.

"Lao Zhao, immediately go to someone to find it." The old ancestor's tone was steady, and after speaking, he closed his eyelids and sighed heavily.

Zhao Da Steward got the order, and immediately went to arrange to find someone, Mother Wu gently patted Zhou's mother who was trembling, and led her to stand behind the ancestor.

After getting along for many years, everyone knows very well that this is the calm before the storm, the calmer the tone of the ancestor's speech, the greater the storm behind it, and everyone hopes that the ancestor is patting the table just now.

Time passed by a minute, the table was steaming from hot until all cooled, even the chicken soup pot in the middle of the round table was no longer hot, and the whole main hall was as silent as death.

The old ancestor was sitting in a precarious position, closing his eyes and closing his eyes to recuperate, his left hand on the table, and his right hand holding the dragon descending wooden cane held by Jin Ling in his hand before.

A room full of juniors lowered their heads, and they didn't even dare to come out.

After about half an hour, the solemn look of the chief steward Zhao hurriedly came, followed by two family members.

Walking to the door, Chief Steward Zhao entered the hall alone, and waiting outside the door were the two uncles and nephews who were guarding the door last night.

The old ancestor with a calm face suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes were like torches, and he asked in a cold voice: "What about people?" ”

"Didn't find it." Grand Steward Zhao stepped forward and replied, beckoned to the door, and said, "Zhou Lu and nephew Zhou Zhu on the gate were the last people to see Mrs. Tai last night, and no one has seen Mrs. Tai after that." ”

Steward Zhao beckoned, and the uncle and nephew entered the hall one after the other, saluted the ancestor, and stood down in a proper manner, waiting for the ancestor to ask.

"Tell me the truth." The old ancestor was shocked in a nutshell, his eyelids drooped, and he stared straight at the emerald wrench on his thumb.