The weather at Bai's funeral was very good, the sky was clear and cloudless.

As soon as the auspicious time came, Meng Qingyun performed the gift of an unmarried daughter, and dropped the clay basin in front of the spirit, and a group of deacons moved, carried the coffin, and went out of the funeral in a mighty manner.

Meng's people, 10,000 empty alleys, starting from the three archways of the "Fengji Family", to the turn of Dazhaobi, a main road extends far away, both sides are full of onlookers, crows and crows are all human heads.

According to the local customs of Yaxi, the most important thing for the funeral procession to sound the gong to open the way is a long suona, which the locals call "pioneer", that is, the meaning of the pioneer. The pioneer suona is about three feet long, the mouth is big, it blows up to the sky, woohahaha shakes the sky loudly, and it needs to be reminded by it when it moves, crosses the archway, crosses the bridge, turns, and encounters people.

In the sound of the pioneer suona and the gong and drum band, paper money was swaying all over the sky, and the funeral procession of the Meng family swept out of the Mengshi mansions, pressing the ground like a silver mountain, passing through half of Dongyang County, attracting locals to come out with their families to see the excitement.

All the way to the location of the ancestral tomb of the Mengshi family, family members, clansmen, relatives, friends, the kowtow of the kowtow, the incense of the incense, the wailing of the wailing, to the Bai burial, the tombstone was set up in front of the grave, and after the funeral, it was all the way back to the Mongolian house.

The Mengjia family took off their linen clothes and filial piety clothes, changed into homely plain clothes, and the funeral banquet to thank relatives and friends was set up.

Lu Shi had already prepared the large kitchen, with thirty tables, with the male guests in the courtyard and the female guests indoors. It was almost noon when the big team came back, and they were all so hungry that they sat down one after another. After all, the funeral is over, the tears that should be shed have also flowed, and the people who should comfort the dead have also been comforted.

Meng Qingyun was not interested in this kind of scene, and under the pretext of being physically exhausted at the beginning of his recovery from a serious illness, he returned to the back house alone, and sent his own food to the Huanhua Pavilion.

In this funeral banquet, the Yongkang Marquis Mansion naturally came, and other official figures such as the county order, the county minister, the main book, Zhu Cao, the regimental training envoy, and the teachings also came. As the head of the house, the Lu family rarely had to shuttle back and forth, socializing, she called her daughter-in-law Wang Ziwei to follow her, and called her daughter Meng Huiyun to accompany Mrs. Yongkang Hou. The two officials of the Meng family are not at home, and the male guests are there, and Meng Zhi, as the eldest son, is rarely allowed to come forward to entertain, but he is young, and the Lu family is afraid that he will not do anything, so he asks his uncle Bai Rongxin to help, so he is also an important person at the table. Everyone seemed very busy.

The local customs of Yaxi, there must be steamed buns and pork on the table, the meat made in the big kitchen of Mengfu is very authentic, fat and thin, a bite is full of oil, so fragrant that you bite off your tongue.

For a time, the banquet was full of people, talking, and staggering.

Chen Erlang followed Mrs. Yongkang Hou, drank a glass of wine with Meng Zhi, ate a few bites of food, and saw that the scene was already lively and relaxed, so he found an excuse to relieve his hands and change clothes, and slipped out of the seat.

With all the people gathered at the feast, the rest of the house was a little deserted.

Chen Erlang has studied in the Meng clan since he was a child, and he has been to this house many times, so he didn't need to ask his subordinates, and he was familiar with the back house.

A shikumen separates the front yard and the back house.

The mother-in-law who guarded the door saw that his young man was coming straight up, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, and said, "Why did the second son come here?" ”

Chen Erlang smiled: "I'll come to see your girl." ”

A few days ago, Mrs. Yongkang Hou took him to mourn, and the entire Mongolian Mansion heard the gossip and knew that the two families had the intention of discussing relatives, and this Chen Erlang would be the son-in-law of the Mongolian Mansion in the future.

So this mother-in-law didn't have any precautions against him, and the folds on her face smiled and said, "How many cups has the second son drunk, why is he confused?" Hui Niang is at the banquet in front of you, why did you come here to find it? ”

"I'm not ......" Chen Erlang just wanted to say that he was not looking for Meng Huiyun, but he was reminded by this mother-in-law that the object of his mother's marriage proposal to him was Meng Huiyun, not Meng Qingyun who he was thinking about, and his mood suddenly fell.

The mother-in-law looked at him suspiciously, waiting for him to say the following.

He no longer smiled, and waved his hand angrily: "Forget it." ”

After saying that, he turned around and left, but the mother-in-law was confused by him, and she didn't know what the hell he was doing.

Chen Erlang lowered his head and dragged his footsteps to roam casually, thinking crankily all the way.

It's all my fault, if only I hadn't gone on a study tour in the first two years. Who knew that this Yuan Niang girl had changed eighteen years and looked so good-looking, I didn't think there was any big difference between her and Hui Niang when I was a child.

He was a little annoyed and a little regretful, but it was a pity that his marriage partner was not her.

Walking and walking was hit by a branch on his head, as soon as he looked up, a dense row of begonia flowers and trees in front of him bloomed brilliantly, especially the branch on his head, enchanting and colorful, if the makeup was light pink, and like a beauty spring drunk, just like ......

Chen Erlang's thoughts were charming, and he thought of Meng Qingyun's fair and delicate cheeks in front of the mourning hall that day, and at the same time evoked the smooth and fragrant touch of his fingertips at that time.

A sound of footsteps woke him up from his thoughts, and it turned out to be two maidservants carrying food boxes.

Moved by his heart, he stopped them and asked, "Who is this for?" ”

The maidservants also knew him, and replied, "It's a meal for Yuan Niang." ”

Chen Erlang opened the food box and took a look, it was steamed buns and steamed meat, steaming, obviously just out of the pot.

He had a flash of inspiration, raised his hand and folded off the begonia flower on his head, put it on the food box, and said to the maidservant: "You will see Yuan Niang in a while, give her this begonia flower, if she asks who sent it, you will say, the name is in this flower." Remember, don't say my name directly, Yuan Niang is smart, she will guess. ”

The two maidservants glanced at each other, only to feel inexplicable.

Chen Erlang had already pushed their backs, urging them to go quickly, don't delay the delivery of food. After seeing them pass through the Shikumen in the distance, he turned around with his hands behind his back, swept away the previous depression, held his head high, and took a triumphant step.

In the Huanhua Pavilion, Meng Qingyun, Lu Yan and the others were discussing things while eating, and asked if the person sent to keep an eye on Hu Yi's mother-in-law and Yihua had any new discoveries.

Before I could say why, the food box was delivered.

Keeping in mind the maid instructed by Chen Erlang, she honestly gave the begonia flowers to Meng Qingyun.

Meng Qingyun really asked, "Who asked you to send it?" ”

The maidservant said, "He only said that the name is in this flower." ”

Green Smoke, Asakusa, Bauhinia, Xiu'er and others are all inexplicable.

Meng Qingyun pinched the flower branch with his fingers, twisted it back and forth twice, raised his lips and smiled, threw the flower branch on the table, and said, "It's Chen Erlang, right?" ”

The maidservant gave a thumbs up in admiration.

"Begonia flowers, Chen Tang."

Green Smoke and Asakusa are speechless, this straightforward riddle itself is not interesting, and it is even more boring after guessing it. Even Bauhinia and Xiu'er pouted at Chen Erlang's behavior.

Meng Qingyun smiled: "It's weird and elegant." ”

Bauhinia shouted: "What is Fengya! He is the one who wants to discuss marriage with Hui Niang, what is this behavior now? ”

Meng Qingyun thought for a moment, and said to the maidservant: "You work hard, run again, take this flower to the front, give it to Hui Niang, and say-like flowers and leaves, year after year." ”

"Huh?" The maidservant was stunned.