I opened a tea shop in Bianjing

Chapter 7 Condolences
When it was daylight, the scraps of confetti all over the ground, as well as the deformed kite that had been stepped on repeatedly, flew up with the wind.

Whether it is Ma Street, West Street, East Street or Tianjie Yudao, it is empty and no one is there. Only the clear and crisp sound of gongs can be heard from a distance, accompanied by a loud but slightly hoarse man's voice: "The sky Obscure, there is rain in five minutes..."

At this time, more than a dozen beggars in shabby clothes were kneeling in front of the steps of the gate of the tea house, weeping bitterly, looking like a concubine in mourning.On the steps, a young envoy in plain clothes was also wiping away tears while throwing the copper coins in her hand to the beggars.

But these beggars who would usually fight for a copper coin now only know how to kowtow and cry blindly, and don't care about the copper coins sprinkled on them.

"Big girl... why is she so dead!" an old beggar asked the emissary while crying and raising his head.

The female envoy was also choked up and sobbing, and said intermittently: "The eldest girl fell into the water... and then caught the wind and cold."

All the beggars burst into grief when they heard the words, crying and shouting at the same time.

"Good people don't get rewarded..."

"God didn't show mercy, so he just accepted such a good person... woo woo woo..." There was a lot of noise.

The female envoy felt even more sad when she heard it, so she covered her head and face with her handkerchief and began to cry quietly.

She only cried for a while, when someone shook her shoulders lightly, and a familiar voice rang in her ears: "Dujuan! Dujuan..."

The maid was startled and hurriedly raised her head.Although teary eyes, but the people in front of them still see clearly.She bit her lower lip lightly and called out, "Brother Song!" Then she threw herself into Song Mingxuan's arms.

Song Mingxuan trembled slightly, and while stroking Du Juan's shoulder, he said: "The world is really impermanent. Yesterday, He Lu came angrily to question my teacher Xing. Whoever thought of the scene of a stick of incense, she just... Sigh."

"What's the use of saying these sad words." A woman's voice sounded from behind Song Mingxuan, with a bit of reproach in her tone.

Du Juan glanced sideways, and saw a fair-skinned young woman standing behind Song Mingxuan.

She said she was young, but there were some wrinkles around her eyes, and she looked about [-] years old, perhaps because her face was not painted with makeup, her face was slightly tired,
Du Juan hastily took a step back, came out of Song Mingxuan's arms, then curtseyed respectfully to the woman, and said, "Sister Song, I lost my composure for a while, you're being presumptuous."

This woman is Song Wusao, the shopkeeper of Fanlou who is as famous as Minglou.Everyone in Tokyo knows how well she cooks vinegar fish.

At this time, she smiled and said, "It's not an outsider, what are you afraid of." She looked up at Song Mingxuan slightly, and continued, "What's more, Jiaxing also has a burden. We are here today, one is mourning, One is to apologize, I just want to think of a comprehensive solution to let Jia Xing atone for his sins."

As she spoke, she bent slightly and bowed to Du Juan.Du Juan hurriedly supported her, and said, "Sister Song is like a dragon and a phoenix, the little one can't bear your worship."

Then, Du Juan wiped his hands on the rough skirt, and said: "Young one, take the Song family brother and the Song family sister-in-law in."

The door opened slowly, and the magnificence of the Minglou suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.Looking from the door, there are exquisite tables and chairs, carved stair railings, exquisite screens and flowers and birds calligraphy and paintings on the walls.There are screens between the tables and chairs, which divide the entire hall into several small rooms.

On the table are teapots, tea bowls, small pots for making tea, and spice packets.These things are neatly placed on each table, without the slightest deviation.

But at this time, white candles were burning on the candlesticks everywhere. Although the sky was bright, the gloomy sunlight could not penetrate the windows. look.

Du Juan led the sisters and brothers of the Song family to walk through the corridor between the screens, and said: "The matter is urgent, Dalang is not here, and everyone in the house is busy with the funeral. People, but after all, you have to do it yourself. The mess in the Minglou hasn't been taken care of yet."

Song Wusao wiped her tears and said, "Yes, let's put it like this, it will make people feel uncomfortable after tidying up."

While speaking, they had passed through the hall and entered the courtyard.The yard is not big, it is a place for the servants and servants to live in. There are only a few rows of houses of different heights, and there is a tall and straight willow tree in the middle.

There is a door at the end of the courtyard, through which you will arrive at the courtyard where the family members of the Mo family live.Even before they arrived, the cries were heard.

Compared with the previous courtyard, this courtyard is much larger.A long corridor leads directly to the middle hall, and on both sides are the residences of the family's high-ranking maids, servants, and some elderly mothers.Behind the central hall is a larger courtyard with winding paths, mirror lakes, rockeries, pavilions, well-organized houses, and traffic.

Whether it is mountains or water, or pavilions and pavilions, they are all built according to the style of Suzhou and Hangzhou, which is very elegant.

The Mo family lives here.

Behind it is a racetrack.There are targets for sword practice and archery targets piled up in haystacks.This is exclusively for Mo Yunxiao to practice martial arts.

On one side of the martial arts arena is a stable, where more than 20 solid-color horses are resting.On weekdays, the servant took good care of it, so that the whole stable didn't smell at all.

But at this time, the martial arts arena was empty, and the courtyards were sparsely populated. The maids, servants, and mothers were all dressed in plain clothes and gathered in front of and behind the central hall.There are those who greet guests outside, and those who wait and take care of them inside. Although they are busy, they are also orderly.

Although the two elderly women at the door hadn't slept all night, they were still in good spirits.They saw the Song family siblings in the mist at a glance, and rushed to greet them.

"Isn't this Brother Xuan and Fifth Sister-in-law?" An old lady hurriedly said with an apologetic smile: "Thanks to the kindness of the two nobles, the genius came just tomorrow. My eldest daughter Quan Xia knows, she should be happy."

She choked up again as she spoke.

Just as Song Mingxuan was about to speak, Fifth Aunt Song hurriedly said: "What kind of a nobleman? Alas, Jiaxing is ignorant, and his impulsiveness hurt the harmony of our Mo and Song families. Jia Xing came to plead guilty, but I didn't expect... I didn't expect..."

Song Wusao became more and more choked up as she spoke, until she couldn't make a sentence, so she had to cover her mouth with a handkerchief and sob quietly.

The old woman also sighed heavily, and said: "God, I'm sorry to see you, that big girl is also an old woman who I watched grow up. Suddenly such a thing happened, who can put it on it? It's okay, the old woman can't trip you , you and Brother Xuan should go into the house and get warm."

Song Wusao nodded repeatedly while weeping, and naturally took Song Mingxuan's hand into the central hall.

The thick curtain was lifted, and a gust of warm air came in. The cries and the comforting voices of the female envoys intertwined with each other, and they could be heard more clearly.

The house is full of plain clothes.In the middle was the coffin that had not been covered with boards. Ding Mo Yunze, the only male of the Mo family, knelt beside the coffin, bowing his head and sobbing.

Mo Yunxiang and Mo Yunxi sat on the left, with different expressions.Mo Yunxiang's face was sad, and his eyes were full of panic; while Mo Yunxi just nodded and wiped away his tears, unable to see clearly.Standing behind them are their personal maids Luyu and Danzhu respectively.

Sitting on the right are Zhang Yun'er and Li Xian'e.Behind them are also some young maids and elderly mothers.

When Fifth Aunt Song saw the coffin, she was filled with grief and indignation. She ran forward in three steps at a time, threw herself in front of the coffin, and cried, "Helu! My sister Helu!"

When she cried, everyone was startled, and those who were sitting stood up one after another.Mo Yunze raised his head, choked up and said, "Sister-in-law of the Song family..."

Song Wusao nodded repeatedly, and cried: "Shi Yu, you are so kneeling, sending your sister off for the last time."

Mo Yunze let out a "hmm" and didn't say anything else.

The two old mothers quickly followed up and helped Song Wusao up, and repeatedly comforted: "Sister-in-law, don't suffer yourself, you will hurt your body."

Song Mingxuan also came up to meet him, knelt in front of the coffin and kowtowed three times.Zhang Yun'er and Li Xian'e looked at each other, both showing puzzled expressions.

Fifth Wife Song stood up and straightened her hair, then came to Zhang Yun'er and Li Xian'e and gave a salute, saying, "Hi two grandmas, Mrs. Song is here to see Helu. Our family is concerned about retiring the engagement... I am an older sister." I was really uneasy, and I talked about him a lot. Sigh, all the mistakes in this matter are my elder sister's fault. Our father and mother left early, and my man didn't live long. This child was brought up by me. Yes. After all, he is unlucky."

"Oh." Zhang Yun'er squeezed out her nostrils, and said, "So it's Jiaxing and his elder sister? Well, if you want to talk about luck, our family Helu is not lucky. Who doesn't know in the whole Tokyo city? My elder brother has the nickname of 'Little Pan An'. But our He Lu has the nickname of 'Female Yan Luo'. Hehe, the two children are not worthy."

"Second Grandma's words like this can boost the prosperity of the family." Fifth Aunt Song glanced back at Song Mingxuan, and continued, "What about 'Little Pan'an' and 'Female Yan Luo' are all sour words of children in the market. Really. The child He Lu has a stronger temper, but since ancient times there have been many strong girls. Although I haven’t read the book, I have read some novels. Like Hongfu girl and Nie Yinniang, compared to our Helu who only I'm afraid it's still a bit short. I like this child very much."

"Hey, where did all the talking go?" Li Xian'e hurriedly stepped forward, supported Song Wusao's elbow and wiped away her tears, and said, "Our family members don't talk about those scenes. Now that He Lu is gone, the one who broke the engagement Let's just expose the matter. Jiaxing is a good boy, handsome in appearance and good in character. It depends on whether Mrs. Song thinks we are concubines. I don't know if my family Yunxi has this blessing."

"Ah? This..." Li Xian'e's words were so abrupt that Mrs. Song was taken aback. She didn't know how to answer for a while, so she could only look sideways at Zhang Yun'er.

Zhang Yun'er's complexion also changed, and she said to Li Xian'e: "Well, my sister, so you have taken a fancy to Brother Xuan? This is about concubine, Xiang'er and Yunxi are both descendants of concubine, thinking that the two families are good, marriage should also be The older ones are in front."

Song Wusao heard that there was something hidden in her words, and hurriedly smoothed things over: "It's his blessing that the two grandmas see my family's prosperity. It's just that today is not a day. There is nothing wrong with talking about getting married later."

Li Xian'e nodded repeatedly, and said with a smile: "Yes, we are taking the liberty."

At this time, another servant came running quickly and said, "Mrs. Wei is here."

Only then did Zhang Yun'er temporarily swallow her anger, and immediately put on a flattering smile to greet Mrs. Wei.

(End of this chapter)