Qiuwu Courtyard, the courtyard where the old lady of the Luo family lives alone.

Old Madam Luo squinted her eyes and looked at the plane tree in the courtyard. She vaguely remembered that the plane tree was planted with her master after she first entered Luofu.

The old man once said that people live for a hundred years, and trees live for a thousand years. Even if one day he and she are gone, this tree will still stand here, the watchman spring, summer, autumn, winter, the watchman the time they once loved.

A time of love?

The corners of Old Madam Luo's mouth showed a hint of sarcasm.

However, in just a few years, before the plane tree could grow a shade that could block the sun, her husband and her lord had already changed their minds. It is said that the lord of the Luo family has a very good relationship with his wife, and they all say that the lord of the Luo family is broad-minded, and he can even tolerate his wife's previous friendship. But only Mrs. Luo knew that he was not broad-minded, but his heart was no longer with her.

What she and him maintain is only superficial happiness, as for why it is maintained, she can't say it clearly, and the old man of the Luo family may not really know it in his heart.

Mama came over with a cup of tea, and when she saw Mrs. Luo's appearance, she knew that she was thinking about those past events again. She married into the Luo family with Mrs. Luo, and when she was young, she also promised to marry her husband's family. It's a pity that her life is thin, and within two years of entry, her husband and father-in-law died one after another, and her mother-in-law scolded her for being a mourning star and kicked her out of the house. At that time, Mrs. Luo took care of the affection of the master and servant in the past and took her back again. So far, she has guarded Mrs. Luo wholeheartedly, and has never thought about starting a family again.

Time flies, it is decades, as the person who has accompanied Mrs. Luo for the longest time, Mama is also the person who knows her heart the most. There is no person in this world whose heart is cold for no reason, and there is no person whose heart is inherently vicious, at least the old lady Luo in front of her was also an innocent girl, a kind and generous lady, it was the master who turned her into what she is today step by step.

Since others can bully them and make them unhappy and unhappy, then why should they make others happy and others happy? Over the years, the things that Mrs. Luo has done, Mama is not unaware, nor is she unclear, but she thinks that Mrs. Luo is right. Whether it is in this world or this Luofu, good people can only be let down.

Mama lowered her head and walked to Mrs. Luo's side, offered the cup of tea with both hands, and asked in a low voice, "The child in the young lady's womb, did the old lady really teach her to give birth?" ”

Old Madam Luo's half-squinted eyes opened, and she turned to look at Mama: "That's my Luo family's child after all." Besides, Ping'er's attitude, you can also see it. Although I am his biological mother, in his heart, I can never reach that woman. What else can I do? Kill my grandchild and then make my own son hate me for the rest of my life? I'm old, and my heart can't be poisoned anymore. ”

"Why do you have to say that, old lady? In this world, the person who loves the young master and the young lady the most is the old lady. If your heart is not ruthless enough, it may be someone else who is in charge of this Luo Mansion today. Even if the master still cares about the young master and the young lady as his biological flesh and blood, but in the eyes of this stepmother, the young master and the young lady are thorns in the eye and thorns in the flesh. It's hard to say how you'll live this day. When the young master is older, maybe when he becomes a father himself, he will understand that the old lady has worked hard for him. ”

"That's it, he can think whatever he wants, and he can do whatever he wants. I've fucked enough of this heart. What will happen to them in the future, what will happen to the Luo family, I don't want to ask anymore, I don't care. Mrs. Luo said and waved her hand, "I won't drink this tea, even if it is tasteless in the mouth, I can taste the bitterness in this tea." As for this sycamore tree in the yard, find a time to cut it down, right? After watching it for so many years, I am also tired of watching, tired of watching, and I don't want to watch it anymore. ”

Mama nodded and took back the hand holding the tea: "The old lady's thoughts, the slave and maid understand." ”

Old Madam Luo finally looked at the plane tree again, and walked to the bedroom: "I'm tired, I want to sleep for a while, and don't let people disturb me before dinner." ”

Mama lowered her head and didn't speak, but she could tell that Mrs. Luo was really sad.

Over the years, although the old lady has been treated poorly by the old man, she has always acted with him without regrets, managing the Luo family up and down, inside and out, and even in order to save the Luo family from disasters, she did not hesitate to turn her face with her own son. But now, she is still alone, the old man can't see her good, and the young master is only angry that she doesn't like her own wife. In the final analysis, this young master is still the old man's child, and his affectionate temperament is ten out of ten with the master.

There was a hint of coldness in Mama's eyes, and she felt that she couldn't make the old lady so sad and sad anymore. In this huge mansion, I am afraid that she is the only one who really cares about the old lady, right?

The night of Yunjiaji always comes very quickly.

After nightfall, many lanterns were lit in Luofu, and those lanterns swayed gently in the night wind. The light and shadow are deep or shallow, overlapping or separated, constantly changing under the eaves.

Yun Xi opened her eyes. It wasn't pitch black in the bedroom, and there was the familiar sound of breathing. She got up lightly and pushed her husband Luo Ping, who was sleeping on the edge of the bed, and saw that he did not respond, so she walked out of the door barefoot and with shoes in her shoes.

She wanted to know a secret.

This secret was told to her personal maid Xiaoxuan by a self-proclaimed unwarranted Taoist priest when she went out to ask for a doctor a few days ago. The Taoist priest claimed that as long as she mastered this secret, she could completely get rid of the threat of the old lady of the Luo family, that is, her mother-in-law.

At first, Yun Xi didn't believe it. In this world, there are many Taoist priests who fool people by relying on one mouth. But the scene of Mrs. Luo visiting and touching her abdomen during the day has always lingered in her mind.

As a daughter-in-law, she may be able to bear it, but as a mother, she decided to give it a go for the child in her womb. In the words of the maid Xiaoxuan, it is better to believe that there is something than to believe that there is nothing.

If Mrs. Luo really has a secret and she knows it, she will naturally hold a handle on her, so that her mother-in-law can have some scruples when she has any crooked thoughts in the future. If there were no secrets, she wouldn't have lost anything.

Passing through the arches, walking across those winding covered bridges, and further on, is the ancestral hall where the Luo family enshrines the tablets of their ancestors for generations.

This ancestral hall, she had already come the day after she joined the Luo family.

According to custom, on the second day of the new daughter-in-law's entry, she will give tea to her in-laws. The father-in-law sympathized with them, and didn't care about these false courtesies, saying that they were exempt, but Mrs. Luo, who was also her mother-in-law, ordered the maid next to her to call her to the ancestral hall, and then without saying a word, she knelt on the ground for an hour with the tea bowl in her hand. Even when her husband left Yunjiaji to escort her sister-in-law Luo Fu out, she was also called in. She remembered very well that in addition to the fruit offerings and the ancestral tablets, there was also a candle on the altar.

The candle was very ordinary, so ordinary that anyone would not fall on it when they entered the Luo family ancestral hall. But the more ordinary it is, the more strange it is, because on the left and right sides of the altar, candles have already been placed, and the shape is still very exquisite. As a result, the ordinary one seems a little redundant.

At first, anyone who noticed the candle would subconsciously think that it was brought by some maid when she was adding lamp oil or cleaning the ancestral hall, but forgot to take it. But all these years have passed, and the candle has remained there, and has not been moved a single bit. Yun Xi subconsciously began to believe that the unwarranted words must have another use.

The gate of the Luo family ancestral hall is black. In the moonlight, it looks like a black hole and an open black mouth. To be honest, when he walked to the ancestral hall alone, Yun Xi was still a little scared in his heart. She touched her lower abdomen, which was not yet bulging, took a deep breath, and took the lantern to the door.

The threshold of this ancestral hall is also as needless to say, much higher than the threshold of ordinary ancestral halls.

The so-called threshold refers to the lower part of the door frame next to the ground of the horizontal wood or long stone, the more rich and noble people, the higher the threshold will be set up. However, in front of the ancestral hall, there is usually no high threshold, especially if the ancestral hall is built in one's own home. The ancestral hall in this family is usually used by the family to worship during the New Year's Festival, and the tablets of the ancestors are also enshrined, so this threshold is equivalent to a false one, and in the end it is necessary to facilitate kneeling and worship, and the sacrifice is the main. This excessively high threshold is easy for future generations to stumble and bump during sacrifices.

The threshold of the Luo family ancestral hall is high, Yun Xi knows it in his heart, but he has never thought about why the threshold of the Luo family ancestral hall is so high, as if he is guarding against something. Could it be that if it is as needless to say, this high threshold is to prevent the things inside from escaping at night?

Thinking of this, Yun Xi couldn't help but look up at the dark wooden door again.

What else can there be in the ancestral hall besides the tablet?

If the threshold is too high, in addition to shielding the dirt from flowing into the rainy season, what else should be prevented from escaping from it?

Ghosts?

Legend has it that ghosts' legs can't bend, so they can't lift their legs up and cross the threshold like a living person.

Therefore, the high threshold of the Luo family ancestral hall is actually a ghost, and the secrets hidden in the Luo family ancestral hall are also secrets related to ghosts, and the secrets related to ghosts are secrets related to people. After all, all ghosts are made by people.

Thinking of this, Yun Xi raised his hand and pushed the wooden door.

Because she was still timid in her heart, she didn't use enough strength this time, but the originally heavy wooden door slowly opened a crack with a "squeak". Inside, it was dark, and the lights weren't always on.

(Education 123 Literature Network)