Li Ze stood in front of the gate of the Jiedu Envoy, looking up at the few big characters on the plaque of the Chengde Jiedu Envoy's Mansion, the font was pale, and it seemed that it must have been from the hands of a famous artist. It's just that now a huge white flower on the plaque and the white cloth hanging down from both sides have destroyed the meaning of these words and revealed a sad meaning.

In front of the gate, only Li Ze was independent, and at this moment, including Cao Xin, You Yong, Wang Sili and others, they were all a few steps away from him. In front of Li Ze, there was an old man wearing linen and filial piety, and at this moment, he was holding a tray in both hands, and there were filial piety pads, linen clothes and other things in the tray.

Jiedu made the front of the gate silent, and everyone was staring at Li Ze. Li Fu, the chief housekeeper of the Li Mansion, who was kneeling on the ground and holding up the tray with both hands, trembled slightly.

Will Li Ze take it?

Will Li Ze wear linen and filial piety for the Su family?

Everyone was waiting for the answer given by Li Ze.

At this time, around the gate, there were not only all kinds of civil servants and military generals standing under the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion, but also representatives of the wealthy gentry families who had heads and faces in various places, naturally some people hoped that Li Ze would accept all this calmly, because they didn't want Chengde to make waves again, and some people wanted Li Ze to kick Li Fu over and refuse to accept filial piety, so they had many reasons to oppose Li Ze to become the new master of Chengde.

Even if Li Ze is now powerful, under the patriarchal law and etiquette, it is difficult to block the mouth of the world.

Li Ze took a deep breath, even if there was more unwillingness in his heart, from the perspective of patriarchal etiquette, the Su family was still his mother-in-law, and he had to be called a mother, and his biological mother, who now lives in Wuyi, really can't be called a mother.

He stretched out his hand and took the tray from Li Fu's hand.

Behind him, the voices of countless people breathing a sigh of relief were heard. With so many people suddenly exhaling at the same time, the sound was a little louder.

Some are happy, some are disappointed.

Seeing Li Ze take the tray, Li Fu, who was kneeling on the ground, was overjoyed, got up from the ground with a bone, bowed down and said, "The old servant changes clothes for the son." ”

Li Ze looked at the irrepressible joy in the eyes of the old servant in front of him, who was obviously overworked, with two big swollen eyes and a tired face, and nodded slightly.

Put on a filial piety handkerchief that can reach the ground, put on sackcloth, tie hemp rope around your waist, and then remove a short knife hanging from your waist and jade pendants and other decorations and put them in the tray, Li Fu turned to the side and faced the door: "Childe, the master is in the mourning hall, please go to the mourning hall to cry!" ”

In the spacious mourning hall, dozens of monks sat on the ground, all kinds of magic instruments sounded in unison, the monks' low chanting flowed in the room, the huge coffin was placed in the middle, Chengde Jie Du made Li Anguo sit on a Taishi chair, his eyes slightly closed, as if he was pretending to sleep, and on both sides, several people dressed in long filial piety stood with their hands down, and when they saw Li Ze coming slowly, these people all looked up at Li Ze.

Standing first in the first row was actually a female doll about seven or eight years old, Li Ze knew that it was the daughter of the Su family's maid named Li Xin, that is, his only sister. And under Li Xin, there are three men standing, which must be the three sons of the second uncle Li Anmin, Li Bo, Li Tao, and Li Yuan.

His gaze stayed on Li Yuan's body for a moment, and many of the earlier turmoil arose from this child. Zhenzhou and Zhaozhou set off a wave of voices asking Li Anguo to succeed Li Yuan, and there were countless waves in plain water.

I didn't see Suning, and I didn't see Li Anmin.

This made Li Ze very satisfied, if he was allowed to see these two above the mourning hall, he wouldn't mind flipping the table.

Seeing that Li Ze's gaze stayed on his body, Li Yuan suddenly shuddered, shrank his body behind the two brothers as much as possible, his eyes flickered, and he didn't dare to look at Li Ze again.

I smiled in my heart, it turned out to be a silver-like wax gun head, which was useless. is not as good as that female doll Li Xin, who has been staring at herself, and there is a flickering hatred in her eyes.

Li Ze shook his head and glanced at a woman in her early thirties wearing filial piety clothes behind Li Xin, that person was the Su family's maid, and now she should be the aunt of the Li Mansion! Li Xin, a child, must have been influenced by this person, and I don't know how many bad things this person said about herself behind the scenes.

How unwise! Doesn't she know that in the future, the Li Mansion will become herself? Don't you know that your own words can decide her life and death?

Before walking to the coffin, Li Ze stood quietly for a moment, and finally knelt down, bowed three times and bowed nine times, and bowed.

It was only at this time that Li Anguo finally opened his half-closed eyes, looked at Li Ze, and nodded slightly.

Crying, Li Ze really can't cry. He believed that even if he really squeezed out a few tears, it would just be a joke for outsiders to see. I appeared here today, just because of the patriarchal law, the trap of etiquette, I had to go through a formality, inside and outside the house, probably except for Li Xin, the female doll, everyone else knows it!

When Li Ze saluted, the sound of bells and drums in the mourning hall was loud.

For this woman, Li Ze has neither love nor hatred, on the contrary, he still feels a little pity for her. As Li Ze said to Li Anguo earlier, this woman has never been loved by Li Anguo in her life. On the contrary, she gave everything to Li Anguo, but in the end, it was still difficult to reverse the decline of the Su family.

For the Su family, Li Anguo has respect and no love.

For the Wang family, Li Anguo is in love but can't help it, and even turns against him.

Li Ze glanced up at Li Anguo, the man in front of him looked like he had been beautiful all his life, how could he not be a poor person?

After bowing, burning paper, incense, a series of etiquette was finally done under the guidance of Li Fu, standing up, Li Fu led Li Ze to the side of the coffin, where a futon was placed, and under Li Fu's gaze, Li Ze knelt down.

Next to the coffin, there is only such a position of filial piety.

In the smoke of cigarettes, accompanied by the voice call of the ceremonial official, people who were qualified to step into the mourning hall to mourn filial piety appeared in front of Li Ze one after another.

Without Li Anmin and Suning, Cao Xin was the first to come in.

After paying homage, offering incense, and burning paper, everyone would walk up to Li Ze, help him up, and whisper a few words of comfort in his ear.

Even though we all know that this is just a fictional story, everyone is extremely serious and religious. Li Ze stood up and knelt down, knelt down and stood up again, but his legs were sore, and his heart might as well keep kneeling like this.

However, he also knew that this was the first time he met with these leading figures in Zhenzhou and Zhaozhou, which was an opportunity for him to get to know these people, but it was also an opportunity for these people to get to know him.

I'll have a lot of time to deal with in the future!

Chengde's high-ranking civil and military officials, he has the most detailed information about these people in his hands, but it is those wealthy businessmen, families, and powerful people who have a share of the appearance here, which makes Li Ze pay more attention.

Because these people will definitely become the targets of his attack in the future.

Although Chengde is rich, it is also compared to other festivals, ordinary people have food three times a day, and they have clothes on their bodies, so they will not die of cold and hunger. There is still a big gap between this and the wealth in Li Ze's mind. In fact, Chengde's wealth is still concentrated in the hands of high-ranking officials, Haoqiang, and clans.

If these people in other places account for more than ninety percent of the total wealth, then in Chengde, these people also account for at least seventy or eighty percent.

Dealing with these people is destined to be a long-term and arduous task, it is impossible to cut through the mess as quickly as in Yizhou, the knife is cut steeply, and it is easy to cause a backlash, and whether it is Zhaozhou or Zhenzhou, once it is unstable, it will inevitably endanger the safety of the entire Chengde.

These two states are the essence of the whole Chengde.

Top-down improvements are bound to be met with great resistance. Next, he could only rely on Yang Kai's Yixing Society to slowly launch a bottom-up revolution.

It's an act of stepping on a tightrope and dancing on the tip of a knife, and if one is not good, it's easy to lose control. Li Ze wanted to use the spark to start a prairie fire, but he only wanted to burn the weeds without damaging the crops, and the difficulty can be imagined.

But no matter how hard it is, you have to do it!

After a busy day, Li Ze has really not suffered like this all these years, and when he returned to the study with Li Anguo, his whole body was frozen and stiffened, and his knees were even more painful. It wasn't until I drank a bowl of ginger soup that my body warmed up a little.

"It's hard for you today." Li Anguo was a little relieved, Li Ze's performance during the day made him completely relieved, compared with Li Che, although this son is much inferior to Wu Yong, but in terms of heart, city government, and dealing with people, he is more than one grade higher.

"It's not that difficult!" Li Ze shook his head: "No matter what, I am always your son, and she is always my mother-in-law." I'm not as angry with her as you think. At most, she is just an ordinary elder, and the grievances of the older generation should be settled. ”

"I'm glad you say that." Li Anguo nodded: "Su's last wish before his death....."

"Father!" Li Ze cut off Li Anguo's words, "I know what you want to say, Su is forgiving, but Suning can't be forgiven, this is my bottom line." ”

"Deprived Suning of all power, he is already a wasted person, so why do you have to take his life?" Li Anguo sighed.

"I have to give an account to myself, and I have to give an account to my mother. If I let go of someone who has repeatedly tried to take my life, isn't that encouraging others to do the same? If I also let go of the people who colluded with Lu Long's intention to subvert Chengde, then how can I be worthy of the soldiers and people who have fought to the death with Lu Long's people for more than a year? The first evil must be eliminated, and there is absolutely no room for negotiation on this point. ”