Chapter 1 A woman comes from afar

In the seventeenth year of Tai'an of the Dafeng Dynasty, on August 17, it is appropriate to be buried, sacrificed, broken ground, and burned incense. Don't settle accounts and go out.

Beijing, on East Street.

The weather seemed to be getting hot overnight. The cicadas on the branches were singing loudly. The green leaves were also shrined by the poisonous sun, and they were not alive. Those businessmen on both sides of East Street have built a pergola at their door, carried benches to the shade, and dozed off while playing with a cold fan. Such a boring and poisonous noon, there must be no business to do.

The whole street is quiet as if it is not in the world.

At the end of the street. A group of people in plain clothes and white clothes from far away, and there were about five or six people in the group. An old woman was wearing two parcels on her body. The little girl beside her was also holding a small bag with a green flower and blue background on her arm. On the right hand side of the maid, there was a little girl in filial clothes, about twelve or thirty years old. Most of his face was blocked by a filial hat, and he couldn't see his face clearly. He only felt that his body under the white coat was thin and pitiful, as if he could be melted by the poisonous sun.

Unlike other spirit-giving teams, these people did not have a sad look on their faces, let alone the scene of crying and screaming about life and death. When everyone saw the strangeness of this team, they couldn't help whispering, and suddenly some smart people turned their minds, "Oh, it may be Mr. Lou Xiangye's husband today. Let's go back to Beijing with a coffin!"

With this said, when you look at the little girl walking ahead, you can't help but look a little more sympathetic.

"I heard that the lady in the coffin is the serious original wife."

"What's the use of that? I was squeezed back to my hometown and lived until I died."

The sighs in the crowd fell into the ears of the little girl wearing a tall filial hat. The mother next to her frowned when she heard it, "Miss, don't listen to these people chewing their tongues. Madam went back to her hometown to live because..."

"Well, I know, Aunt Ding." She looked up slightly and patted the worried old woman, as if she was comforting her now.

In the eyes of the little girl in front of her, there is an old man who is obviously not in line with this age. The small face with a sharp chin is beautiful and beautiful. Although she is still young, she has fallen to Zhong Lingliu. At first glance, all the beauty and aura seem to be hidden in that pair of black and white clear eyes, water It's linger, and it makes people's hearts soften.

Obviously, this little girl in plain clothes and filial hat is the most mysterious and inhumane fifth lady in the prime minister's house, Lou Yunshang.

Aunt Ding sighed heavily. Seven years ago, when they just returned to their former residence in Yangzhou, the young lady had a serious illness. When she woke up, she somehow changed her temperament. In the past, she always looked naive and lively, but now she seems to have changed. Except for this face, she can hardly believe it. It's the girl she saw growing up.

Lou Yunshang stood on his feet and said to Aunt Ding, "Aunt Ding, everyone has their own lives, and life and death are up to heaven. It's not necessarily a bad thing for my mother to leave early. She turned her head and looked at the dark coffin, and the corners of her eyes were deep. "Maybe she just doesn't want to die and come back here."

As the saying goes, once you enter the eunuch's door, the doctor's house has been dominated by that woman. Now seven years have passed, those people are more plump. Can a 14-year-old child be the opponent of those people?

Xiangxiang, the maid next to them, suddenly opened her mouth and said angrily, "The prime minister asked you to help the spirit back to Beijing and protect your wife's body from rot. But in this hot weather, although we were quite careful along the way and wiped the coffin with ice water from time to time, in case... that or something, Xiangye still can't hand it over. Poor."

"I'm afraid I can't blame the prime minister. This kind of idea can't be thought of by a careless man like him. I'm afraid only those people can come up with this idea." Aunt Ding said that she sighed again.

Her sigh made Xiangxiang more worried, "Now I can only pray that the prime minister will not open the coffin."

Lou Yunshang also sighed faintly, "I'm worried about you all."

Xiangxiang grabbed her hand and patted her chest very righteously. "Don't worry, miss. If those people say something messy later, I will be the first to refuse. Xiangxiang will protect the young lady!"

Looking at her indignant determination, Lou Yunshang just gave her a shallow smile and looked a little tired. "Okay, if they plan to eat people, I will definitely push you out." Xiangxiang shouted and took a step back, "Miss! You are so unreasonable!" Aunt Ding stared at her and said, "It's your nature to enter the prime minister's mansion. Sooner or later, you will be cleaned up. Your words are the root of trouble. Don't say a few words."

Looking up at the sun, Xiangxiang, who had just been silent for three seconds, began to say in surprise, "Master, let us enter the house before noon today. Now it's at least an hour late."

Lou Yunshang walked to the side of the coffin and opened the prepared wooden barrel. In this hot summer, the barrel was actually full of ice. He wet the handkerchief and carefully wiped the coffin, and replied, "He has been waiting for his mother for seven years. Will he still care about this moment? Let's walk slowly and don't let our mother work hard. Xiangxiang shivered all over and followed to help wipe the coffin. "Miss, you always talk like this. I'm panicked when I hear it."

The onlookers on the roadside were pointing out. Lou Yunshang didn't care. She knew that because of her mother, she was afraid that it would be really difficult to stay in that big house in the future, as Aunt Ding said. The handkerchief wiping the coffin paused for a moment, and there was a trace of coolness in her heart when her fingers touched the ice. However, if she was not fully prepared, how could she agree to return to Beijing?

All this is just the beginning.

****

In front of the door of the Louxiang Mansion behind East Street, dozens of family members stood under the sun, holding the sweat on their heads, and no one dared to move.

Half an hour later, someone couldn't help it.

In the crowd in the middle, a young voice was full of dissatisfaction, "Mom, how long do we have to stand?"

"Silt! Today is an important day for your aunt's coffin to come back. Don't make trouble with her. This voice sounds like an elderly woman, and her words are very heavy.

"Oh, what? The sun is too hot. I want to go back and have a good sleep." The person who dares to say such words at this time is the apple of the prime minister's house, the third lady Lou Yun Ni.

"Nonsense! Yun Yu, take a look at your sister."

"I know, mother." Yun Yu turned his head and was about to speak when he was staring at Yun Ni fiercely. "How dare you care about me? Look at me and I won't discipline you."

Yun Yu shook his head and had to give up.

"Miss San, you have to be patient today." Wang's mother quietly came over from the line of servants next to her.

"Joke, she died alone. Why does our family want to wait for her? What a stinky shelf! Isn't it just a local girl from the countryside?" Yun Ni said so, but there was no look of anxiety in her eyes. Instead, there was a joy that the unconcealed prank was about to succeed. She pulled over and persuaded Wang Ma, "Have you done what I told you yesterday?"

"It's all done as you ordered. The old lady dares not fool the young lady. That guy is as big as most of the desks. Wang's mother's face almost turned into an eggplant after autumn.

Lou Yun Ni picked up her lips and put her arms around her shoulders. "In that case, the young lady reluctantly waited for her for a while." After saying that, he smiled again.

She must let this foreign girl know who is the real young lady in this prime minister's house.

The two high-hanging lanterns on the door of the house are written with the word "Building" in ink, which is already close in front of you.

It still has to come. If you can come to this place to satisfy your wishes, it's not a waste of this indescrable muddy water. She clenched her fingers in her sleeve.

"Grandpa, the eldest lady's coffin is back!" The doorman who guarded the door was not bad, and he quickly reported it to the inside.

In a short time, I heard the door open, and there was a loud footsteps inside. A woman shouted loudly, "Lady, return to the spirit!"

Aunt Ding's eyes turned red when she heard it. She couldn't help touching the corners of her eyes with a veil and said to the dark coffin behind, "Madam, we're back."

Xiangxiang suddenly raised her nose and sniffed. She pulled the corner of Lou Yunshang's clothes in a low voice and said, "Miss, do you smell something burnt?"

Lou Yunshang's eyebrows moved. When she looked around, the people inside had already walked to the door. She saw a tall and thin man walking in the middle. This was today's Prime Minister Lou Duo, who had not seen her father for seven years. She looked calmly at a graceful lady next to him and cried with a veil, and said, "Sister, why did you go so early!"

Before she finished one sentence, she immediately surrounded three or four old mothers to support her.

Lou Yunshang couldn't help smiling at the corners of her mouth, with full sarcasm and indifference.

"Miss, this is the prime minister. It's time for you to salute." Xiangxiang reminded in a low voice.

"Hmm." Lou Yunshang took two steps forward, so calm that it made people wonder whether the sound had been soaked in ice water and fished out of the general indifference. She thought about the title in her heart and asked her to call a man she had never met directly as her father. Lou Yunshang was still a little resistant from the bottom of her heart.

The man was also looking at himself at this time.

Lou Duo, the prime minister in the Dafeng Dynasty, has always been a powerful figure in the court. Unexpectedly, when his eyes fell on the dark coffin, his eyes were stained with deep sadness.

This woman is always back.

He spent his whole life and failed to make her submit.

At this moment, the little girl standing in front of him is her and her last flesh and blood. However, in a short look, he has keenly caught that she will become a being that he can never tame like her mother.

"My mother's coffin is here." She spoke faintly without special hostility. Even when she looked at the crying second lady, there was no hatred in her eyes.

Doesn't she hate herself?

Lou Duo frowned, nodded and waved, "Please come into the house." Inside, four or five strong men came to carry the spirit.

"Play music."

There was a moment of sadness around. She smelled that she was about to cry. Aunt Ding cried so much that she became a tearful person, and Xiangxiang couldn't stop crying. Only Lou Yunshang looked indifferently at those reluctantly made sorrows in the yard.

The corners of Lou Yunshang's mouth evoked a cold smile. Lou Yun Ni secretly gave Wang's mother a wink, and Wang's mother immediately said, "Wait a minute, Xiang Ye. According to the rules, a filial son must first step into the fire when he enters the door. She shook the veil in her hand and said with the water marks that did not exist on her face.

Aunt Ding and Xiang Xiang were stunned for a moment. They were both natives in the capital, but they had never heard of the rule that filial sons had to return to the fire basin.

"Miss, please." The two men put on a square-sized brazier, and even the four walls were burned red, and the brazier was neatly placed at the door of the house. The flames suddenly burst out, so fierce. As soon as it was put down, a heat wave came to my face. Step over here, even if you can pass, don't you have to burn off a layer of skin?

Xiangxiang was dumbfounded, "Even if you cross the fire basin, you don't need such a big fire basin. What if the young lady is scalded?"

"If it is a burn, the house has its own good medicine, but if the bad luck is stained in the house, the medicine will be saved."

Lou Yunshang looked up at the speaker, but he met a pair of hostile eyes and was looking at himself with a three-point sarcasm. It seems that she is not much older than herself. This is probably the third lady Lou Yun Ni, whom Aunt Ding has mentioned many times.

"The state has the law, and the family has its own rules. Since Miss Five is back, she must abide by the rules of our prime minister's office." What Wang Ma said is not slow.

Yunshang looked at her and didn't see anything extraordinary about this mother, nor did he figure out how a subordinate could speak in front of his master like this. Of course, at that time, she didn't know that Wang Ma did have some background.

"You're right, but..." The second lady pondered slightly.

When Wang's mother saw that Lou Duo did not respond, she pulled out a smiling face. Although her face was towards the second lady, she obviously said to Yunshang, "The old maidservant thinks that we are a big family, and the eldest lady's return is a big deal. In terms of etiquette, it is natural to be divided into highs and lows with small households in the countryside.

Yunshang snorted coldly in her heart, what a small villager. This clearly refers to Sang scolding Huai and looking down on her, a girl from Yangzhou.

Lou Duo frowned, and the second lady immediately looked at the words and said anly, "How can you let Yunshang come? This kind of thing is the same for the maid, and walking through the motions."

In an instant, everyone's eyes fell on Xiangxiang. Xiangxiang obviously trembled and looked at the fire basin with a raging tongue. Her face turned white and she didn't step back.

Yunshang smiled lightly, stretched out his hand and stopped Xiangxiang behind him.

"You don't have to borrow someone else's hand. I'll cross this brazier by myself."