The next day, Sun's "first seven", the day of the four-room festival. From the morning, Shen Juren's house opened its doors to welcome guests.

In the mourning shed, dozens of monks, dressed in robes, holding gold cymbals and bronze cymbals, chanted constantly; Dozens of Taoist priests, wearing feather coats, holding reeds and bamboo pipes, chanted endlessly.

The inside and outside of the mourning hall were plain white, and Shen Juren was wearing mourning clothes and entertaining relatives and friends with a sad face. Looking at the handsome young man who wore linen and wore filial piety in front of the spirit, he listened to Master Shen say that he had passed the hospital examination, and he was a "little three yuan", if it wasn't for the mother's funeral, he would be able to end next year.

Shen Juren was humble on his lips, but he stroked his beard from time to time, and he couldn't help but bring a look of relief.

In such a scene, outsiders saw nothing, but they stabbed the eyes of many clansmen who were familiar with Sifang. Many people looked surprised and looked at the eldest master of the sect who was sitting in the first place.

The eldest master of the sect was stunned, and drank tea with his head down. He is the son of the sect, and now the patriarch is old, although he still bears the name of the patriarch, but the general affairs of the clan are mostly taken care of by the patriarch. He didn't speak, and the masters of the other houses, even if they muttered in their hearts, they couldn't say anything.

Sitting at the bottom of the clan was Shen Li, the champion of the outer nine rooms, and seeing Shen Juren behaving like this, he immediately held back his anger.

He sat at the bottom, but because of his seniority, no one in the clan dared to look down on this champion. Although he lived in the mourning system and was not in the officialdom, he was not yet in the age of establishment, in addition to having a clan uncle as a Beijing official, there was also a university scholar mansion for the Yue family, and no one was worried about it. Wait until filial piety is restored, the champion is born, and the end is like a splendid future.

Others cared about Shen Juren's face, and although they had doubts, they mostly closed their mouths and pondered. Only Shen Li was worried for one night, and he couldn't hold back anymore at the moment, frowning and said, "Uncle Yuan, why didn't Brother Rui see you?" Which one is this, how did the aunt occupy the position of filial son in front of the spirit? ”

When Shen Li returned to his hometown, although Sun was seriously ill, he had not yet died. Shen Li wears heavy filial piety and taboos to visit patients, but he has seen Shen Rui, even if he feels that he is pampered, but the rules and actions are not out of shape, "love the house and Wu", but also close to the heart.

is Shen Jin, who is kneeling on the mourning hall, the fourteenth of the people, is not a nameless person in the clan, not only followed Shen Juren to participate in the burial of Shen Li's mother, but also went to visit Shen Li with several famous brothers.

Shen Li didn't have a bad feeling for Shen Jin before, but now that he is ashamedly occupying the position of filial son, he can't help but be disgusted to the extreme, so he pretends not to know.

When Shen Juren heard this, his expression was a little stiff, and he said: "Brother Rui is sick, this is my eldest son Brother Jin'er, our Lao An feels sorry for Brother Rui'er, and is afraid that he will toss it badly, so he ordered Brother Jin to come over and perform the ceremony." ”

When Shen Li heard this, he became more and more angry.

Where can this filial son position be occupied casually, even if the young man in front of him is the eldest son of Shen Juren, and it is the proper meaning to guard the soul of his mother-in-law, but he should not occupy the position of filial son. Even if Shen Rui is not there, Shen Jin should vacate Shen Rui's position to be humble.

There is also Shen Juren's words, introducing Shen Jin as the eldest son, not the eldest son, blurring the name of the concubine, and then recording Shen Jin under the name of the Sun family, is it also a matter of course?

But in this case, for Shen Rui, not only did he become the second son from the only son-in-law, but he also lost half of the dowry left by the Sun family.

The reason why Shen Juren dared to do this was nothing more than that the Shen family was powerful, the Sun family was the only daughter of the Sun family, and there were no brothers and nephews to come forward, and the Sun family's dowry was in the hands of the Shen family, and no one was open for Shen Rui. Otherwise, the Sun family will bite a "plot for the dowry of his wife", and the two families will have to go to court.

The clansmen all know that the Sun family only got a son-in-law when he was over thirty years old, and he hurt his body, so the old man of the fourth room took the second brother over to raise him, and he was too doting and developed a stubborn and willful character.

Shen Jin is different, not only young and intelligent, but also successful in his studies, and he is one of the best talents in the younger generation of the Shen family. The Shen family is not only a scholarly family, but it is common for children to study, and it is common for teenagers to show talents, but there are a few talented people like Shen Jin, and the last one is the champion Shen Li.

Coupled with his background, even if he is a concubine, his biological mother Zheng is not humble.

The Zheng family is also a scholarly family, and Shen Jin's maternal ancestor was Shen Juren's budding teacher in his early years, with a talent and fame, and the two families have a friendship. The world is impermanent, Zheng's father died early, the widow mother and weak brother in the family are helpless, and Zheng, as a young lady of the Xiucai family, has no dowry, and it is difficult to have the right family. In order to seek more employment and take care of her mother and brother, she can only be a concubine. Zheng's younger brother is competitive, and he is on the same list as Shen Li, and he has an official body, but he is only ranked in the top three, and now he is in the county magistrate of Shanxi.

Although Shen Juren has never "spoiled his concubine and killed his wife", his love for the Zheng family and the eldest son of the concubine is also well known. Because the Sun family is a good person, there are many female relatives in the clan who are good friends with them, and there are many grievances. But after all, this is a four-room housework, the Sun family is virtuous, and the concubine is very lenient, and he is not harsh and suppressed; Zheng's temperament is soft and glutinous, and he also abides by his duties, only teaches his children with peace of mind, and does not adjust the three nests and fours, even if others have grievances, it is not good to say anything.

Now that Shen Rui is gone, above the mourning hall, Shen Jin occupies the position of filial son. Everyone, like Shen Li, guessed that Shen Juren would confirm the identity of Shen Jin's eldest son next. After all, in the eyes of the world, there is a difference between the concubine, whether it is to be a relative or to become a member in the future, the identity of the concubine is a little more convenient. No matter how good Shen Jin's knowledge is, the concubine is born and the rules are followed, and she loses her dignity in the end. There are even more first-class old Confucian students, who are dead in the rules of etiquette and religion, and they are even more respectful and suppressed, where does it matter how your character and knowledge are.

Although Shen Juren's arrangement is a "father's heart", he is too affectionate for the Sun family, who is still cold. Even if he wanted to give Shen Jin the identity of his sister-in-law, it was not necessarily so imminent. After all, everyone knows that no matter how virtuous the Sun family was during his lifetime, the deceased has passed away, and the day of Zheng's rectification is not far away.

At that time, Shen Jin, as the son of the Zheng family, made sense to change from a concubine to a concubine. It's just that when it comes to preciousness, it can't compare to Shen Rui, who was originally married.

If Shen Rui is the eldest and Shen Jin is the youngest, he can still fool the outside is the stepfamily. But Shen Jin's age is here, and the step-room is five years older than the original sister-in-law, where can he hide it when he becomes a parent, and then this "concubine room is corrected" is another rhetoric. In the Ming Dynasty, it is forbidden to "take concubines as wives", and the people have corrected them, but "the people do not raise them, and the officials do not correct them".

As long as someone is more serious and explores Shen Jin's identity, it is even more embarrassing whether he is a grandson or a concubine, where is it directly recorded in the name of the Sun family.

Arranging this play in advance, of course, is not for the sake of respect for the Sun family, in addition to Shen Jin's son-in-law, it also involves others. Sun's dowry, in addition to the ordinary gold and silver cages, also has cotton fields, houses, shops, and most importantly, two major weaving factories under his name, with thousands of looms. Excluding the cost of hired labor, the annual income of the weaving mill is thousands of taels of silver.

In addition to the four rooms, only the number of looms in the Zongfang and the fifth room exceeds 1,000, but the two heads of the house, with many children and grandchildren, have not been separated, and the weaving mill has not been divided. But the more than 1,000 looms in the four rooms, together with other paved farmhouses, are the dowry of the Sun family, and before the Sun family married in Songjiang, the grandfather came to buy it in advance. Whether it is according to the law or the world, this should be completely left to Shen Rui, the biological son of the Sun family, and has nothing to do with the rest of the four rooms.

In this way, among the younger generations of the clan, the assets under Shen Rui's name are incomparable to none of the clan brothers. Even if he doesn't succeed, he will not worry about eating and drinking for the rest of his life.

No one is a fool, everyone who should see it can see a few points, Shen Juren's move to favor the eldest son of the concubine is to go to the Sun family's dowry. It is inevitable that there will be grievances in everyone's hearts, but the master of the sect has not spoken, and others naturally have no room for questioning.

Don't bully young people into poverty.

Shen Jin is also a descendant of the Shen family, and even if the Sun family's dowry is divided into half of Shen Jin, it is not cheap to go to other families. Shen Jin is a young talent, promising for his career, and has a good future. Compared with Shen Rui, who doesn't like to read, everyone knows that he is the future head of the fourth room, and no one wants to offend him plainly, so they can only watch him occupy the position of filial son, first get the name of the son-in-law, and then get the dowry of the mother-in-law.

Above the mourning hall, except for Shen Li, no one said a word of justice for Sun and Shen Rui.

Shen idealized that the Sun family was kind during his lifetime, and it was not one or two families who received his favor here, especially Shen Juren, whose ancestors had elders who were addicted to gambling and had been defeated, leaving only an empty shell. Now that Shen Juren is acting like this, if Zongzi had a fair heart, he would have spoken out earlier, so silently, I don't know if he had a tacit understanding with Shen Juren.

Shen Li's gums clenched, his face flushed, and he endured his anger and said: "Even if Brother Rui is seriously ill, such a day should be shown in front of the elders, otherwise how can the elders feel at ease." Auntie just this bit of blood and bones, if you really can't see it, if there is a mistake, I'm afraid God won't be able to see it. If there is no good reward, who will do good again? The younger generations of the clan, take care of their aunt's kindness, how can they bear to think that Brother Rui is sick like this? Grandfathers and uncles take a look, if you should pick up Brother Rui here, if you are really sick, you can invite a good doctor, don't delay the condition. After that, he looked at Shen Juren.

Hearing this, the old ladies and the old men who were originally watching from the Shen family's rooms couldn't help but look sideways, and the room was silent.

It is one thing to put Shen Jin, who is already famous, in the name of the Sun family, and divide half of the dowry of the Sun family; plotting Shen Rui's life and murdering Sun's parents is another matter. Although everyone thought in their hearts that "tiger poison does not eat children", Shen Juren may not be so ruthless, but thinking that Sun Rui has not shown up for seven days since Sun's death. Although it was released that Shen Rui was sick earlier, he didn't see a doctor to extend the medicine, and he didn't feel anything earlier, but now he can't help but be a little suspicious about the scene.

Even the eldest master of the sect was a little unable to sit still, looking at Shen Judao: "Brother Rui has been sick for a few days, what is going on?" If there is really something wrong, it is ...... to see a doctor as soon as possible."