Wuzhou, Dongyang County, Yaxi.

The land south of the Yangtze River, the humanities gather, since ancient times formed a strong atmosphere of learning and valuing Confucianism, hundreds of years of accumulation, in Dongyang County has created many scholars, among which Yaxi Shenyongtang Mengshi is one of the famous scholarly families.

The Mengshi family, a hundred years old, since the opening of the ancestral hall to the present, there are more than a dozen Jinshi, lifting people, showing talents do not need to be counted, the highest official of the ancestors to a product of the great member.

The family branches out, more than ten generations down densely populated, living in the east bank of Yaxi, with the Mengshi ancestral hall as the center, surrounded by water on three sides, facing Bijia Mountain in the south, stretching more than 500 acres in a radius, forming a huge and crowded residential group. And the main house Shenyong Hall, is famous for carving beams and paintings, and painting dougongs, which can be called the embodiment of Dongyang's wood carving.

However, there are many people in the south of the Yangtze River and few places, and the Mengshi clan has a large population, with thousands of houses, courtyards, and streets and alleys, which inevitably leads to a crowded and cramped living environment. Especially in the back alley, the people living in it are all Montessori's subordinates, the houses are compact, the streets and alleys are narrow, even if you cough, the sound is slightly louder, and you can hear it next door.

The dawn of late spring was still strong and cool, and Wu Po Ziyin got up at the right time, hurriedly washed up, settled the family's breakfast, and hurriedly went out.

The sky was just dawning, but there were already human voices in the narrow alley, Zhang Niangzi, Ma Pozi and others were passing in front of Wu's house, and Wu Pozi naturally blended into them. This small force of three or five people quickly came out of the back alley, turned into a long and narrow road, and when they reached the end, they suddenly saw the main street.

The main street is centered on the large light wall in the shape of a goose's wing, and the houses of various houses are densely packed along the line; Directly opposite the big photo wall, there are three arches of "Wind Chronicle Family", "Gate of Chastity", and "Doctor's Place" in turn. Walk through the three archways, along the solemn and deep "┗┓" shaped road, and walk to the gate, which is called the good news door. The door is closed, and the two big characters of "Mengzhai" on the door are written by the ancestors who opened the ancestral hall in those years.

Without even looking at it, the women passed by the gate of the good news, and went on a long journey in all directions, until at last they entered an alley, and entered through the half-open corner gate.

Inside the corner gate is the courtyard of the firewood house, connected to the big kitchen, the sky is not bright, the big kitchen is already full of people, and many people are in full swing to prepare a large-scale white banquet; On the four cauldrons, the huge steamer is steaming; There were ten stoves in a row under the corridor, and large copper kettles were boiling hot water.

White flags hung under the eaves, and the men and women in the kitchen wore strips of white cloth wrapped around their waists.

Mrs. Zhou is the person in charge of the big kitchen, and she is standing at the door of the big kitchen and shouting: "It's all neat, there are many people who come to mourn today, who dares to give me a mistake at this time, be careful of his skin!" ”

Everyone in the kitchen responded one after another.

Mrs. Zhou glanced around with a sharp gaze, then straightened her clothes, turned around and went to the bottom of the corridor, met Mrs. Wu, Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Ma and others, and led out of the courtyard.

Along the way, I met the housekeeper mothers who came from all over the place. Everyone has worked hard for several days, and the housekeeper has always been rigorous, not to mention that this is a big white thing in the house, and the house is working day and night, and the housekeepers and mothers do not sleep for two hours a day, and it is inevitable that they will have a tired look on their faces.

Everyone swept into the West German Hall, and the courtyard outside the hall was already full of people waiting for the order, and the housekeeper's mother in the hall was also crowded into a room.

There is a table of eight immortals in front of the door, and there is a chair on each side.

The eldest lady, Lu Shi, sat on the chair, wearing a plain silver shirt, a madder-colored Luo skirt, and a cyan cardigan, with an expressionless face. A vote of maidservants was lined up on both sides, all of them were not smiling, and their aura was solemn. Holding the roster in her hand, Luo's mother stepped forward and began to call names one by one.

The process was solemn but not stressful, after all, it had been like this for several days in a row, and everyone was used to it. Those who have ordered Mao do not have to stay, they just go to do their own errands, and only those who are waiting to get the right cards or want to talk back stay.

After less than two quarters of an hour, a pair of cards were dealt to a few housekeepers, and only his maidservants were left in the house, and Lu Shi relaxed his sitting posture a little.

Luo's mother handed over the roster and the account book to the maidservant Mo, stepped forward and gently pinched her shoulder and neck for the Lu family, and said: "The second lady's white affair can be regarded as grand, but the hard lady has to stay up for a few more days." ”

Lu Shi half-closed his eyes and exhaled slowly: "How can I say that she is also the second lady of this family." It's all my own people, and I'm not afraid to say something embarrassing, how many things in this family are bought with her money. Now that she is gone, I will do a seven-day white affair for her, and send her out in a beautiful way, which is also my best. ”

The maidservants secretly exchanged a few glances with each other, and they all bowed their heads and did not speak.

After finishing the account books, Shimo came over and said softly: "Big lady, there is not much money in the account." ”

Lu Shi closed his eyes and didn't say anything, and Luo's mother asked, "How many more?" ”

"Only a hundred taels of silver and a few hundred pieces of money."

Luo's mother wrinkled her brows: "This money is too unspent, I remember that there were more than three hundred taels two days ago." As he spoke, his eyes secretly drifted to Lu's face.

Lu Shi sighed and opened his eyes: "The old lady has to be pompous all her life, and the serious second daughter-in-law has passed away, so she naturally wants to be beautiful." Look at how many guests have come to mourn in the past few days, and the banquet is like a flowing water three times a day; Look at these curtains, wreaths, paper horse incense candles at home, Bai's coffin is also made of the finest Liuzhou wood, isn't the money spent? ”

She tilted her head at Luo's mother: "Old rule, you go and ask the second room for some money." ”

Mother Luo said with some hesitation: "I'm going to ask for it now, I'm afraid that the girl who is green smoke will not will?" "Yesterday she talked with the eldest lady alone in the Yuan Niang's room for a while, and the green smoke was bluffed, like a fried wild cat, and almost scratched people.

Lu Shi would be wrong about what she meant, and thought for a while: "It's me who is confused, and it's not necessary." Now that the Bai family is gone, Lu Yan is no more capable than a maidservant girl, why should she be like her. There's no need to startle snakes. After the funeral a few days later, just take their treasury keys. ”

What she said was light and light, but Luo's mother stared at her.

This is, to be taken by force? Yuan Niang and Green Smoke are not dead people, right?

That's not a small amount of money of hundreds or thousands, didn't the eldest lady count it herself, a million fortunes. When the second lady Bai got married, it was really "a thousand workers' beds, ten thousand workers' sedan chairs, and ten miles of red dowry", which shook the entire Yaxi. The Bai family in She County, Huizhou, is worthy of being the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River. As one of the people who worked in the back then, Luo's mother may not have any intuitive concept of "500,000 taels", but she is really impressed by the dowry like a sea of gold and silver.

The heart of the big lady is really not ordinarily big!

While he was talking, a little maid hurried in and cried out, "Wake up, wake up!" Big lady, Yuan Niang is awake! ”

Lu's family, Luo's mother, Shi Mo, and others were all taken aback, and they all stood up.

From the night of Bai's death, Yuan Niang, who had a high fever for three days due to falling into the water, finally woke up? !