Steward Xia's ability to do things is still commendable, and in just one morning, the items needed for the funeral have been roughly purchased.

Then, he arranged for the servants in the palace to build a mourning hall in the hall in the front yard. Prepare to lay the coffin here for relatives and friends to come and pay their respects.

In this era, the custom of holding a funeral ceremony was divided into several steps: funeral, burial, coffin, wake, mourning, mourning, receiving three, going out of the funeral, burial, and filial piety.

However, these customs are usually for the deceased rites of the older members of the family. As a traverser, Xiao Ding doesn't like these red tape of the ancients very much. Therefore, there are steps that can be simplified.

For example, reporting the funeral, he knew only a limited number of people in Kyoto, except for the emperor Song Yinzi and the nine princesses, they were the rising generals in the four major palaces. He believed that as long as he organized the funeral as soon as the Protector Mansion was organized, it would not be long before the entire Zhongzhou City would know about it, so he didn't need to go to these families to report the funeral.

As for burial, coffin, wake, mourning, condolences, and succession, these steps are just a simple formality.

And the funeral and burial, then there is no need, I have long been ready to put her in my jade pendant space according to Erniu's wishes before her death, and she has always been by her side.

After the death of the elders, the younger generations keep filial piety for a few years, months, etc., the time varies, generally there are three years of filial piety, and there are three months of filial piety, such as the Jiang family he saved before, and he kept filial piety for three months, and then he married Liu San.

Of course, there are also filial piety for seven days or a month, which is relatively rare, and if the children are filial piety for their elders for a short time, in this era, they will be ridiculed by others.

Xiao Ding and Er Niu are husband and wife, and Xiao Ding naturally doesn't need to give Er Niu too much time to keep filial piety.

After he returned to the back house, he went directly to the east wing where Erniu had lived. took Erniu's body out of the space and put it on the bed she once slept on, called two maids, Chun Tao and Chun Xing, and told them to find hot water, help Er Niu clean her body, and tell them that the blood on Erniu's body is poisonous, don't get it in your mouth.

The two maids brought hot water, but they didn't dare to come forward against the corpse of the second girl.

They are about the same age as the second girl, they are all little girls, and they will naturally feel scared when they see the dead.

Xiao Ding couldn't, so he took out a piece of silver and told them to go out and buy more clothes for the second girl's figure.

The two maids then went out with the silver and were relieved.

The clothes that the second girl usually wears were all packed into her baggage, and her baggage was long gone at this time. That's why Xiao Ding ordered someone to buy it for her.

Xiao Ding now has to go and help Erniu clean the blood stains himself. As he scrubbed, he looked himself at the wounds on her forehead and chest.

The tip of the ninja dart is quadrangular, so the wounds left behind are diamond-shaped.

Because Xiao Ding helped Erniu to force poison before, a lot of blood flowed out of her body. Therefore, at this time, the second girl's body became pale because of excessive blood loss.

It didn't take long for the two maids to buy underwear and outer clothes and come back, and Xiao Ding took a lot of effort to put the new clothes on the second girl. After all, the corpse was stiff at this time, and its arms and legs would not bend back.

In the evening, the Shoucai shop sent someone to inquire about Xiao Ding, saying that the surface of the coffin seemed to be jade, and it could not be painted.

The coffins of this era, after the completion of the construction, the surface needs to be painted, usually red, and then painted with patterns and pictures to decorate, especially the coffins of the nobles, which are very delicate and beautiful.

Xiao Ding directly told the apprentice who came to inquire, and asked him to go back and tell the owner of the longevity shop that after he was done, he could just send it directly to the Hou Mansion, and the coffin did not need to be painted or decorated with pictures.

Not long after the apprentice left, a black coffin was sent to the Hou Mansion by the carriage of Shoucaipu.

After Xiao Ding inspected the coffin, he paid the money and sent the person who sent the coffin away.

The coffin was placed directly in the middle of the mourning hall.

At this time, the mourning hall has basically been built. At the entrance of the mourning hall, Steward Xia found someone to write a couplet on white silk:

poured out the fragrance, a wisp of incense soul fell with the wind;

Hatred for a thousand years, all kinds of reluctance in my heart!

Inside the door of the mourning hall, many wreaths of all kinds were placed.

On the low table in front of the coffin, various offerings and incense burners have been placed, as well as an ever-bright lamp and a tablet with the words "Beloved Wife Zhang Erniu's Position".

Although Xiao Ding has never had a round house with the second girl, they are a de facto couple who have held a wedding. In this era, they are already legitimate and legal couples.

Therefore, the tablet that Steward Xia helped prepare was also written in Xiao Ding's tone.

In the innermost part of the mourning hall, on the wall behind the coffin, there is a big word "Lay" written in the middle, and there is still a pair of elegiac couplets on the left and right sides:

Hui Zhi Lan heart left a trace:

Yujie Ice is clear for nine days!

There is also a horizontal batch above: the second lady is eternal, and the whole world is sad

At the left and right ends of the horizontal batch, that is, above the couplets on both sides, there are white flowers made of white silk for decoration. There is also a big white flower hanging on the word "lay" in the middle.

In the mourning hall, the only thing that is not very harmonious is the black coffin in the center.

Although this coffin exudes a unique woody fragrance, the color is dark and the surface is shiny, which is too different from the common coffins of this era. It always feels like it doesn't match the other furnishings in this house.

The coffin is about seven feet three inches long, about two feet wide and high, with a large head and a small tail, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with specifications of four, five or six, that is, four inches at the bottom, five inches at the top, and six inches thick at the top. All of them are combined with mortise and tenon structures, and there is not a single iron nail.

In ancient times, one of the assessment criteria for carpentry apprentices was to be able to build a coffin independently. Because the coffin has a large head and a small tail, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, it is all a mortise and tenon structure, so when building, the carpenter must accurately calculate the angle of each plank, and then build a mortise and tenon joint on it, so as to accurately combine the planks together.

The reason why Xiao Ding chose the 10,000-year-old lightning struck stiff pan wood to create a coffin for Erniu was because he had heard the Tianzhu Taoist mention that the 10,000-year-old lightning struck stiff pan wood has a good storage effect, and the wooden box made of this lightning struck wood is used to store items, which is not easy to deteriorate, and the effect is not worse than the jade box at all. At the same time, the woody smell it emits can also prevent insects and moths.

Therefore, Xiao Ding thought of using this 10,000-year-old lightning strike wood to build a coffin to store Erniu's body.

At this time, the coffin had just been delivered, and it was still empty. Xiao Ding stepped forward and directly pushed open the ceiling, that is, the coffin lid.

Then, he ordered someone to lay new bedding, pillows, and so on inside the coffin. In the end, he put Erniu's body into the coffin and lay down, helped her tidy up her clothes, and gently covered the quilt. and put all the other clothes he bought next to Erniu's corpse.

Looking at the second girl lying quietly in the coffin, with her calm little face and closed eyes, Xiao Ding was sad and couldn't help tears welling up in her eyes again.

How can a person who has entered his heart say that he forgets it? If you are moved by the love of your heart, how can you say that you will give up?

After staring deeply at Erniu for a long time, Xiao Ding finally reluctantly pushed the lid of the coffin.

At this time, Steward Xia came to Xiao Ding and said, "Master Hou, do you want to wear a filial piety cloth for the second lady too?" ”

After placing the body in the coffin, all that remains is to rest the coffin and wait for friends and relatives to come to pay their respects.

The filial piety that Steward Xia said is also an important section of ancient funerals, usually the younger generations wear filial piety for the elders, and Dai filial piety usually distinguishes what filial piety is worn according to the distance of kinship. If it is a direct descendant of children and grandchildren, it is necessary to wear white filial piety clothes, wear white filial piety hats, and need to wear heavy filial piety. If it is a collateral relative, you only need to wrap the filial piety cloth around your waist or on your head, and you don't need to wear filial piety clothes or hats.

Other friends who are more distant only need to give a white cloth, or hang it on the waist, or hang it on the neck, or only give a white flower to wear on the chest.

Of course, in later generations, the customs were different throughout the country, and in ancient times, there were also different folk customs in various places.

In some places, filial piety clothes are black instead of white. There are also black yarns wrapped around the arms to express the meaning of filial piety.

Xiaoding and Erniu are equals, so naturally there is no need to wear heavy filial piety for Erniu. Therefore, Steward Xia only handed Xiao Ding a white flower to wear on his chest, and gave him a piece of white silk for him to look at by himself.

Xiao Ding hung the white silk around his neck, and the drooping part was tucked around his waist.

At this time, in the Hou Mansion, Steward Xia gave almost everyone white flowers and white silk. The people are even dressed in heavy filial piety to pay tribute to the master.

After the body was placed in the coffin, the lantern in the mourning hall was lit and the incense was lit. Within a few days after that, the incense and the everlasting lamp will be watched, and they will not be broken.

If it is an ordinary family, the people who watch the incense burning and the ever-bright lantern will inevitably be the children and grandchildren of the deceased. But Xiaoding and Erniu have no offspring, so these things are all arranged by Steward Xia.

The coffins of the ancients generally lasted seven days, and many had more than ten days. However, Xiao Ding thinks that it is enough to put it for seven days, from the third to the tenth day of the junior high school, there is no need for more. If you put more time, it will be the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. It's not good to have a coffin in the house for the big holidays. So seven days is enough.

Xiao Ding plans to keep the coffin for seven days, and he will keep the spirit of the second girl for seven days. The wake-up is also one of the funeral customs of the ancients, that is, no matter day or night, they have been staying in the mourning hall to express their feelings of mourning and remembering the deceased.

Steward Xia also invited the drum troupe in Zhongzhou City to come to the Hou Mansion to play mourning music.

In fact, the drum troupe is also resting at home during the holidays, but Steward Xia is half threatening and half luring money in the name of the Hou Mansion, even if the members of the drum troupe don't want to come, they don't dare not come.

The drum ensemble plays and beats in a makeshift tent outside the mourning hall. As soon as the sound of various musical instruments sounded, all of a sudden, the entire Hou Mansion was shrouded in a sad atmosphere.

Even those people who had never met the second girl a few times, when they heard this mourning and saw this scene in the mourning hall, they couldn't help but shed tears.

The funeral of the Protector's Mansion soon spread throughout Zhongzhou City. People passing by in front of the Hou Mansion can hear the sound of mourning and music in the compound, and they can also see the big white flowers hanging on the plaque above the gate of the Hou Mansion and the white silk floating on both sides of the door.

Sure enough, on the fourth day of the next day, the young generals who had followed Xiao Ding to Jiaozhou to fight at the beginning of the four major princes all came to mourn. They only heard that Mrs. Hou died, and they thought it was a civet cat who died. As for the civets, they had seen them in the barracks outside the city.

After arriving at the Hou Mansion, everyone knew that it was Xiao Ding's wife in Yongzhou who died. They have also heard of Erniu for a long time, but everyone has never seen it.

What Xiao Ding didn't expect was that Gao Wanjun of the Gao Wangfu and Luo Simao from the Luo Wangfu also came to worship.

The two men also returned to Kyoto early because the war on the northern frontier had ended.

Gao Wanjun doesn't need to say it, she has always been a little fond of Xiao Ding, but she refuses to admit it because she wants to save face. It's normal for her to come to the Hou Mansion. But that Luo Simao made Xiao Ding a little confused.

Luo Simao has been pursuing Gao Wanjun, but unfortunately Gao Wanjun doesn't look down on him, and then when he found out that Xiao Ding and Gao Wanjun were getting closer, he became hostile to Xiao Ding, and once tried to make Xiao Ding ugly in front of people three times and twice, but every time it was self-defeating, and in the end, he was ugly.

Xiao Ding could have thought that his cousin Luo Sikou would come to mourn, but he didn't think that Luo Simao would also come.

However, no matter what, when you come, you are a guest, and you always have to be entertained.

However, this time Luo Simao did not take the initiative to trouble Xiao Ding, perhaps before he came, Old Prince Luo had told him; Or maybe he saw that Xiao Ding had now become a Hou Ye, so he didn't want to come and provoke Xiao Ding easily.

Xiao Ding couldn't guess why Luo Simao had always been honest and polite when he came this time, at least on the surface, no one could see that the two had fought openly and secretly.

Everyone asked Xiao Ding what happened, and after listening to Xiao Ding's story, they all shook their heads and sighed, sympathizing with what happened to Erniu.

Even, those few young generals who had fought with Xiao Ding on the battlefield in Jiaozhou, heard that Erniu was killed by the prince of the Great Fusang Kingdom, so they immediately shouted:

"Fuck the big Fusang country, we'll just send troops to destroy them!"

"That's it, deputy marshal, when will you avenge the second lady? We are willing to go with you! Destroy them what bullshit big Fuso country! ”

"Fucking a small Fanbang country, you dare to come to our grand Song Kingdom! They must be destroyed! ”

"Deputy Marshal, don't forget to take me with you when you go to take revenge, I will also destroy them with you!"

All the young generals clamored and expressed their stance that they wanted to go with Xiao Ding to destroy the Great Fusang Kingdom. Xiao Ding had already made up his mind in his heart, he must lead troops to attack the Great Fusang Kingdom to avenge Erniu.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, his heart was also very excited, so he said loudly: "Okay, when the time comes, I will definitely call everyone and go together to destroy their bullshit Great Fusang Country!" ”

At this time, Gao Wanjun also said loudly: "General Tian, don't forget me when the time comes, and I will follow you to help your wife avenge." ”

Xiao Ding nodded and said, "Okay, no problem!" ”

Gao Wanjun looked at Xiao Ding's already red and swollen eyes, and said, "General Tian, the Si people have passed away, you should try your best to mourn and be good!" ”

Xiao Ding sighed, glanced at Gao Wanjun, and said, "Okay, I'll try my best." Thank you General Gao for your concern! ”

Everyone was talking in the mourning hall, and at this moment, suddenly someone outside the door shouted: "The holy decree has arrived——, please accept the decree of the loyal and military protector of the country——"

Xiao Ding was taken aback, and secretly said in his heart, this is only the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, what will the emperor command?