Shen Quan was stunned for a while, his face full of confusion.

The power of the clan, after thousands of years of precipitation, has long been as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as the religion of etiquette. Rao is Shen Quan, who has always been lively, is very angry, and he can't say anything about leaving the family. If it was just his own business, he would definitely not be able to stand Zongfang's actions like this, but there were still five rooms behind him, as well as the eldest brother who was about to die and the second brother who had broken off his future and was physically disabled. When Shen Ying was away, Shen Quanneng took care of the inside and outside of the five rooms; It's really a big event, and the only one who can make the final decision is Shen Ying, the eldest son of the fifth room and the new head of the family.

The Shen family has been inherited in Songjiang for more than 100 years, and the only one who can ruthlessly break away from the clan is the late second and third masters. Even if the third grandfather had a hard time, his two brothers were killed, and he left his hometown in grief and indignation, but in the end, there was a reason for entering Beijing to take the exam, and there was a reason to be a Beijing official, and he did not really remove himself from the family tree.

It was Shen Li back then, as a widow, who was embezzled by his uncle and grandfather when he was a child, and the clansmen mostly stood by and watched, but Shen Li once became the champion, and the biggest revenge was just "ignoring", if it was over, outsiders would have to see the joke.

In a poor family with no food, it is a big deal to have a full stomach, and the so-called relatives and blood relatives are also personal care; However, since he is a gentry, his children are well-educated and famous, but he can't do anything badly.

Shen Quan frowned, and said hatefully: "This is still the patriarch, I don't want him to be fair and selfless, but he can't be so shameless!" Don't think about it, just go to the door, and one of them is 'sick', and if you can't say it, you have to be vague about it. Several old ladies in the clan have passed away one after another, and now there are not a few elders left who can reprimand the patriarch. ”

Among the clan elders who are still alive today, only the master of the ninth room can talk directly to the sect, but his character and reputation have long been bad, and he has always been a person who seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages, where will he offend the sect at this time; The remaining few other elders are mostly side branches, or their status is inconspicuous and they are soft-spoken; Either from the appointment of foreign officials, those who are qualified to speak are also in their last years, and they are inconvenient in speech and action.

Shen Jin saw that Shen Rui was confident, and hurriedly asked, "Second brother, what do you have in mind?" ”

This is the gate, and it is inconspicuous to say a few words, but it is not a place to chat.

Shen Rui remembered the task on his body, nodded and said, "I'll go see my aunt first, and then we'll talk." ”

Shen Quan's anger was half vented, and he was a little disheartened.

Today is not the day of "burning seven", Shen Rui came over, Shen Quan and Shen Jin were also curious, so they followed him into the second gate.

Shen Hong passed away less than a month ago, and Guo's hair was half white, but his spirit was acceptable. In the end, she is not a weak woman who relies on her husband wholeheartedly, she is used to being the master of the house, and she has been the pillar of five houses for decades. Although the love between husband and wife is deep, and the loss of a mandarin duck is sad, Shen Hong did not die violently, and his body has been weak for decades. To tell the truth, since Guo got married, he has been prepared to be widowed at any time, and Shen Hong, with his sick and weak body, has lived to the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, which is already a miracle.

The deceased is gone, there is no one in the middle of the night, it is really sad to be sad, otherwise Guo's hair would not be all white; But after the sadness, she is still the Hongda lady who can be the pillar of the five-room roof. There is another second son who has been tortured and saddened by his father's death, and she still needs her to comfort and enlighten, but she doesn't even dare to show her sadness too much. In addition, she was also afraid that she would continue to get sick like this and cause chaos to her sons, so she forced herself to take medicine to make herself better.

Seeing Shen Rui coming, Guo Shi looked at him several times, and said with distress: "But bitter summer? How did you lose so much weight? Shen Li's house has not been lived in for many years, it must be incomplete in all colors, and my aunt was negligent before, so she forgot about this stubble and let you live at both ends, which is very undeserved. You're coming back here. Your yard is still for you, even the second master of Yuan, and let your third brother find two proper mothers-in-law from the stove. ”

The two of them also met a few days ago when they "burned seven", but at that time, Guo's spirit was in good spirits, and all his thoughts were on her husband's funeral and her second son's physical conditioning. Now that she calmed down, she found that Shen Rui's face had lost a lot of weight, and her chin was pointed, and she couldn't help but blame herself.

Shen Rui shook his head and said, "Auntie, don't worry, my nephew is not a bitter summer, he is a long man, and the clothes he brought from Beijing are half an inch shorter." ”

Shen Quan and Shen Jin are a few years older than Shen Rui, and their height has almost grown. A few people stood in one place, and it was a control group. Guo Shi looked at his son's height, Shen Rui was not short before, only a fist shorter than Shen Quan, but now it looks like there is only a gap of about an inch left.

Guo Shi nodded and said, "It's true that I've grown taller." Then he instructed Shen Quandao: "You don't have clothes for Rui Ge'er to find two sets to deal with first, and then let the people in the shop hurry up for a few days to cut a few clothes for Rui Ge'er." Brother Jin also bought a few sets there, and the summer clothes were not worn, even if they brought back a few sets from the capital, they should be added. ”

As for Shen Jin's stepmother, Xiao He, because she is the same age as her stepson, she has always avoided suspicion and does not interfere in Shen Jin's affairs.

Shen Jin did not refuse politely, and opened his mouth to thank him, but he was full of worship in his heart.

Because Shen Rui was "sick" during Sun's funeral, Shen Jin once held a filial piety stick, which was disliked by Guo. Although Guo didn't say anything in front of Shen Jin, that kind of scrutinizing gaze had been deeply imprinted on Shen Jin. He knew that his identity was embarrassing, first Shen Rui fell ill after the Sun family, and then there was a succession after Shen Rui's filial piety expired. Even in the eyes of the clansmen, Shen Jin's knowledge is good, and he has a cunning comment behind his back.

Shen Jin has nowhere to shout grievances, but if he really has bad intentions, he won't admit it. When his grandmother died, he was only 14 years old. Raised by his mother-in-law, Shen Jin didn't feel much about the difference between his grandmother and his wife, but he was used to putting himself in the position of the eldest brother like a little adult. Even if he returned the salute in front of the mourning hall back then, Shen Jin didn't have any extra thoughts, but he just boasted that he was already an adult, so he was naturally ****** thoughtful. At that time, Shen Rui was not as quiet and sensible as he was later, but a naughty boy with the same temperament as a cannonball.

Nearly six years have passed in a blink of an eye, and Sun's death has transformed Shen Rui from an ignorant naughty boy to a silent teenager; Shen Jin has also changed from a little prodigy in the eyes of the clan to an ungrateful, ill-intentioned person who needs to be feared and guarded. Before the township test, even the classmates of Fuxue also had a cold relationship with Shen Jin; Among the brothers of the same generation, even Shen Quan, who grew up together, is far away from him, not to mention others.

Until Shen Jin's township test was lifted, the clan relatives regained enthusiasm, and Shen Jin was no longer the young man who was sad about the coldness of others, and he had learned to deal with it with a light smile. But to say that there is no trace of the heart is self-deception. It's just that he has a little arrogance in his bones, in addition to the things in the imperial examination over the years, he cares more about Shen Rui than about himself, in order to repay his mother-in-law's kindness, and also to prove to these clansmen who have maliciously guessed him that he has no intention of harming Shen Rui.

If you don't be a thief, you have a weak heart, and you are talking about Shen Jin, who has an embarrassing position. Not to mention other clansmen, the Guo family, who once hated him the most, finally accepted him and sincerely cared for him as a junior, how could Shen Jin not be excited?

Shen Rui didn't pay attention to Shen Jin's reaction, and said with a bit of heaviness: "Auntie, don't worry about this, you shouldn't bother your aunt at this time, but there is one thing that no one can trust at the moment, so you can only come forward with Aunt Yang." ”

Guo Shi was surprised and straightened up: "What's wrong?" But that Father-in-law Zhang asked for money in private? Seeing that the lawsuit is about to be tried, don't let these trivial things cause trouble. You need to use as much silver as you ask, Auntie can't help anything else here, the silver can always be scraped together! ”

In addition to the silver, Guo couldn't think of anything Shen Rui asking for for his newly widowed widow, after all, now there are Shen Li and Shen Yuan in Songjiang, both of whom are official bodies and close to Shen Rui.

"It's the matter of Second Brother Ling, and the second brother Ling has not said anything about the lack of physical fitness with Second Brother Ling's sister-in-law. Three days later, when the case was tried, it was necessary to mention Zhao Xianzhong's mutilation of the scholar and the disability, and the second uncle was worried that Ling's second sister-in-law would not be able to stand it in court, so I asked me to ask my aunt to come forward and talk to Ling's second sister-in-law about it in the past. No matter how uncomfortable it is, it is cheaper to have these few days as a buffer than to hear about it in the hall. Shen Rui said in a deep voice.

Guo sighed, nodded in response, and ordered people to prepare the carriage. Shen Ling can be regarded as the one she grew up watching, although she is a concubine, but his biological mother was arranged by Mrs. Yong. It was because Mrs. Yong's second wife had been pregnant for three years after entering the door, and she saw the doctor in private, saying that it was hopeless for Gong Han to give birth, so she arranged to have a child.

From the moment Shen Ling landed, she hugged the second wife of Yong, who really loved and nurtured like the eldest son. It's just that there is a glimmer of hope that she wants to have a child, so that Mrs. Yong never gives up conditioning her body, and she refuses to name Shen Ling, but she really got a son more than ten years later, and Shen Ling also fell directly from the honey pot into the bitter water. If he hadn't been so strong and leaned on the second room, it is estimated that he would have become the shopkeeper of the shop for his younger brother by now.

After all the hardships, the official lady got married, her son was born, and she was delayed for many years in her studies and entered the Nanjing Guozijian, Shen Ling saw her head, and was deceived back to Songjiang by her biological father and mother under the pretext of serving illness, and lost her life.

Shen Jin also thought about the short life of Shen Ling, the clan brother, and realized that he was so lucky.

is also the eldest son, who was raised by his mother when he was a child, and later had a younger brother, Shen Ling and Shen Jin's circumstances are too different. In the final analysis, it was because Shen Jin met the Sun family, who had always been kind-hearted and broad-minded, and was not suppressed by the eldest son's outstanding jealousy; The second wife of Yong is an ordinary woman, her vision is only on her own one-third of an acre of land, and she does not want her eldest son to overwhelm her own son, but also because Shen Ling and Shen Qiong are more than ten years apart from each other, if the eldest son is born, Shen Qiong will not be able to compete, so Shen Ling can't even go to the family study, so she can only work as a partner in the shop.

When Mrs. Yong's second wife decided to cut off Shen Ling's path to the imperial examination, her own son was still in infancy; The Sun family here did not treat Shen Jin lightly because of Shen Rui's birth, and later did not have Shen Jin, who had already made a name for himself in reading because of Shen Rui's stubbornness.

"Second Brother Ling is the pillar of the third room, it's a pity!" Shen Quan also sighed.

(End of chapter)