Jinling, Liujing Lane's wealthy merchant Mei's family.

On the black lacquer gate, there is a plaque with black lacquer and red characters, carved with two big characters of "Meifu" in the official script, there is a large white velvet flower with a disc in the middle of the plaque, the white silk hanging on both sides is fluttering, and the white gauze lamp hanging high next to it is swaying in the wind and snow.

Two days ago, it was the day when Mei Jiye, the old man, went out of the funeral and entered the ground.

Mei family is a famous merchant family in the south of the Yangtze River, the family operates shops all over the Jiangnan provinces, under the management of Mei Jiye, the Mei family's various shops developed to Jiangbei, but also all the way to the Mei family's shop to the capital at the foot of the Son of Heaven.

Mei Jiye's sudden death is like the sky falling for the Mei family, because the heirs of the next generation of the Mei family have not yet been cultivated,—— but they have not been born at all.

Mei Jiye is over forty years old, but there is no son and a half son to inherit the family business, and only two daughters like delicate flowers are raised under his knees.

As soon as he left the West, Nuoda's family business became an ownerless fat in the eyes of others, and everyone wanted to be able to take a bite, and Lao Wang Ba bit his fingers - not to spit.

On the day of the funeral, Mei Ruoxue, the eldest lady of the Mei family, and her sister Mei Ruohong got up early at the beginning of the morning to prepare for the funeral.

God also responded to the situation, and fine snow particles drifted before dawn, which added three points of sadness to the Mei family, which was already in sadness.

Ruoxue took her sister Ruohong to Jihui Hall first, greeted her mother Tian, and served Tian to get up and wash.

Tian had barely slept, and he had been wiping his tears all night in bed, and when he saw them come in, he cried even more and sadly.

When Ruoxue was born, Tian injured his body because of heavy bleeding, and fell into the symptoms of irregular heart rate and weakness, which was even worse after giving birth to Ruohong.

Mei Jiye's death hit Tian quite hard, and he almost followed.

Ruoxue and her sister Ruohong cried with Tian for a while, persuaded her to stop her tears, served her to wash, and went to the mourning hall in the front yard together, worshiped Mei Jiye, and cried again.

After a while, the second master Mei Jishan and the third master Mei Jitan gathered in the mourning hall with the family, and there was another sad cry.

A moment later, Mei Jiye's mother, Mrs. Cao, arrived, and there was another howl.

Xu was too sad, Ruohong, who was crying, suddenly fainted to the ground, and she didn't know who was going to work.

Ruoxue hurriedly asked the maid and servant to send her back to Guanfang Courtyard, and asked people to invite the doctor.

Seeing such a situation, Tian was so hurt that he fainted, and the panicked family didn't dare to cry, for fear that the funeral of the eldest lady would be done before the funeral of the eldest lady was completed.

In this way, Tian and Ruohong were unable to participate in the next funeral.

……

……

In the west wing of Guanfang Courtyard, it was warm and warm, with two little maids squatting by the charcoal basin, and a few pieces of silver frost charcoal were buried in the charcoal fire with iron chopsticks.

Ruoxue sat on the edge of the carved bed in the middle room, looking at the person lying on the bed, it's been two days, and my sister hasn't woken up yet, should I go there, or wait for two more days, waiting for that person to come to the house?

The girl on the bed, with her little face that has not taken off the baby fat, is a little pale, and her eyes are slightly closed as if she is asleep.

Two days ago, it was the day when the eldest master of the Mei family was buried in the earth, and it was also on this day that the third lady, Mei Ruohong, fainted, and fell asleep like this for two days, and there was no sign of waking up.

I invited all the old doctors in Jinling City, and they all said that they were tired and tired, and they were all prescribed decoctions for evacuation, just let them rest and recuperate.

But it's been two days, and not only does it show no signs of waking up, but it whispers a few words from time to time, and what he says is incomprehensible, and he doesn't know what he means by what he says.

"Miss, the old lady invited you to Songhe Courtyard and said that there is something to discuss with you."

Ruoxue's eldest maid, Lianxin, walked in, replied softly, and stood at the door of the inner room waiting for instructions.

"Did you say what was going on?" Ruoxue asked.

"Nope. The slave asked, and Wu's mother also said she didn't know. Lian Xin replied.

"Then let's go over and have a look." Ruoxue said

Lian Xin walked into the inner room, picked up Ruoxue's silver ratskin cloak from the side, and tied a ribbon for her.

Ruoxue came out and looked at the maids and servants standing under the corridor, all dressed in plain clothes, and the white gauze lamps under the corridor were swaying in the wind.

Even the snowflakes falling from the sky seemed to be in response to the occasion, falling one after another.

Ruoxue's heart throbbed.

Mother Wu stood in the patio outside the corridor, holding an oil-paper umbrella, the falling snow accumulated a thin layer on the umbrella surface, and the wings of the umbrella were low, seeing Ruoxue coming out, Mother Wu raised the umbrella higher, bowed down and shouted: "Miss......"

"Hmm."

Ruoxue looked at her, she was waiting for them to come out and go to Songheyuan together.

Ruoxue looked at the maid standing under the porch on one side and said, "Dan Tangerine Pomegranate, you go inside and look at it, be careful." ”

Dan Tang and Pomegranate answered, and cautiously walked into the house, Ruoxue walked down the stone steps, and Lianxin Peony took the umbrella and followed closely behind, and went out of Guanfang Temple.

On the way to Songhe Courtyard, Ruoxue asked Wu's mother what happened to her grandmother asking her to go over, but Wu's mother only said that she didn't know, and said: "The second and third masters are all there, and the second and third wives are also over there." ”

In the Songhe Courtyard, there was silence, and more than a dozen of the maids and servants standing under the corridor were standing in an orderly manner, with low eyebrows and lowered eyes, and they didn't hear a word.

"Miss."

Seeing Ruoxue coming, he called in unison.

Ruoxue said "um" and stepped up to the corridor, Lianxin closed the umbrella in her hand, handed it to the little maid on the side, and chased Ruoxue and walked forward.

Peony didn't have time to close the umbrella, so she threw it on the ground casually, and chased after it after a few steps.

A little maid picked up the umbrella, shook off the snow on it, closed it, and stood aside with it.

The maid raised the curtain of the door of the east house and invited the eldest lady in.

If the snow lifts its feet into the foot-high threshold, the heat blows in the face, and it is as warm as in the early summer sun.

Inside the house, under the carved grille window on the west side, is a very hot fire kang, and the heat in the house is emitted by it.

Mrs. Cao sat at the south end of the big kang, leaning on two pillows, and there were a few pastries on the kang table in front of her, and a bowl of jasmine tea that had been brewed twice.

The second wife, Yang, and the third wife, Tao depended on each other, sitting leisurely on the other side of the kang.

Under the north wall, there are four Taishi chairs, with three small tables in between, and the second master Mei Jishan and the third master Mei Jitan sit there in turn.

There is a small round table in the middle of the house, with six carved and embroidered piers scattered around it, and there are several pots of rare flowers on the high table on the wall, and there are a few flowers blooming brightly among the greenery.

"Grandma." Mei Ruoxue bowed her knees to greet Mrs. Cao, turned around and bowed to the side, and said, "Second uncle and third uncle, second aunt and third aunt." ”

Mei Jishan looked at Ruoxue and bowed slightly.

He held a cup of hot tea, held the teacup with one hand, put it on Erlang's lap, and stroked it slowly.

Mei Jitan put down the tea bowl and said "um", which was a response.

"Here, sit down." Old Madam Cao said.

Yang pinched a piece of osmanthus sugar cake, brought it to his mouth and bit a corner, raised his eyes to look at Ruoxue, and responded gently.

Tao raised his face to look at Ruoxue, with a just right smile on his face, "You're here, Ruohong is better?" ”

"It's still like that......"

Ruoxue looked at Tao and smiled bitterly.

Lian Xin took two steps forward, removed the cloak from her body, folded the cloak twice, and stood aside with her arms.

Ruoxue walked to the round table and sat down on an embroidery pier, and a little maid came in to bring a bowl of hot tea and put it on the round table next to Ruoxue.

"I wonder what Grandma is looking for me to do?" Waiting for the maid to withdraw, Ruoxue asked.

PS：

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