At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 14 Funeral
Zhou Qi returned with the body of the grandfather, and all the people in the village who learned of the death of the grandfather cried bitterly.

Zhou Qi entrusted the funeral to a well-known old man in the village, but he himself knelt in front of the Grand Duke's coffin, not eating or speaking all day long, and when villagers came to pay respects, Zhou Qi would just nod and say nothing .

Time passed, and in a blink of an eye, it was the third day, which was the day when the grandpa was buried.

On this day, Zhou Qi finished washing early, had a full meal, put on filial piety clothes, and prepared to carry the coffin for the grandpa himself.What made Zhou Qi puzzled was that Xiang Hong, who had never been friends with him, had never shown up again except for a visit on the first day.

"Master!"

Suddenly, a mournful cry came.

Zhou Qi raised his eyes and saw Zhou Gu, his private slave, stumbled in.When he saw the old lady's soul, he immediately fell to the ground and kowtowed heavily.

Zhou Gu's cry was as shrill as a cuckoo crying blood; he kowtowed so hard that his head would be broken.

He was sold into the Zhou family as a private slave when he was young. Although he was a slave in name, the Taigong was always gentle and benevolent. In fact, he treated Zhou Gu like a nephew and never criticized him too much since he was a child.

After so many years, Zhou Gu's affection for the grandpa is also extremely deep, so he lost his composure when he suddenly learned of the news of the grandpa's death.

Behind Zhou Gu is a young man in his early twenties, who is eight feet long, with a serious face, mighty and majestic, and a little bookish.

He walked in front of the grandpa's spirit, knelt down on the ground, paid homage, and said in a deep voice: "Xiao County Shi Huan is ordered by his family ancestor to come to pay respects to the grandpa!"

Hearing that the young man in front of him called himself Shi Huan, Zhou Qi's eyes finally moved a little.This name, even those who are familiar with the history books of the Three Kingdoms in later generations may not be familiar with it, or even know that there was such a person in the history of the Three Kingdoms.

Fortunately, Zhou Qi happens to know a thing or two.

The reason why many people don't know Shi Huan is because he doesn't have any impressive records. However, in Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms", which is written like gold, the name Shi Huan appears no less than ten times.

Do you know why?

According to the "Three Kingdoms" records: From the beginning of the Taizu, he followed as a guest, served as a lieutenant in the Chinese army, went on expeditions, often supervised the generals, met his cronies, and turned to worship the leader of the Chinese army.

The above [-] or so words are enough to see the special status of Shi Huan.

"From the beginning of Taizu, follow with guests", the guest here refers to the disciples. In the era of the end of the Han Dynasty, the disciples were definitely the closest confidantes.

"Always supervise the generals" means supervision.Historically, Shi Huan never led an army alone, but he often served as the deputy general of General Cao Wei, and had partners with Cao Ren, Yu Jin, Xu Huang, etc. From this, we can also see Cao Cao's trust and respect for Shi Huan.

"When you see a confidant, you will worship the central leader." This sentence couldn't be more clear. Cao Cao regarded Shi Huan as a confidant and appointed him as the central leader.

What kind of official position is the leader in the army?

That was the commander of the guards of the prime minister's mansion and the general of the imperial army, and Cao Cao's wealth and life were entrusted to him.

For the suspicious Cao Cao, such an important position was not handed over to the generals of the same clan, but Shi Huan was given it. It can also be seen how much Cao Cao trusted Shi Huan.

With Cao Cao's ability to recognize people, if Shi Huan was only loyal, he would not be reused in this way.The reason why he has no outstanding achievements in history should be that he puts his usefulness into supervising the generals and protecting Cao Cao's personal safety.

Cao Cao, as a generation of traitors, treats his fellow countrymen pretty well.

Needless to say, the Cao family and the Xiahou family, such as Xu Chu, Shi Huan, and Ding Fei, were all trusted by Cao Cao as confidantes because they were born in Peiguo.

If the first two people were valued by Cao Cao because of their loyalty and bravery, then it can be said that Cao Cao indulged Ding Fei, a fellow countryman.

Ding Fei was greedy for money and broke the law many times. Because he was from Cao Cao's hometown, or because he had saved Cao Cao's life, even though many people asked Cao Cao to punish Ding Fei, Cao Cao turned a blind eye.Even Ding Fei was not punished by Cao Cao for exchanging his own thin and weak cattle for the strong cattle in the army, and he was highly regarded by Cao Cao until his death.

It can also be seen from this how much emphasis is placed on the friendship between rural and party members in this era.

Now Cao Cao has not raised an army, and Shi Huan has not defected to Cao Cao as a disciple. He has been making friends with heroes all day long in Peiguo, and he is quite a hero.

Seeing Shi Huan, Zhou Qi stood up and saluted, saying: "I don't know that my brother is here, and I am not greeted from afar. I hope you can forgive me!"

The reason for this is not because Shi Huan is a historical celebrity.

The woman from the Shi family that Zhou Qi has a marriage contract with is Shi Huan's younger sister. According to her seniority, this historical celebrity in front of her is very likely to become Zhou Qi's uncle in the future.

Zhou Qi's judgment is not aimless.

If the Shi family wants to break the engagement because of the decline of the Zhou family, it is expected that Zhou Guzhi will never come up with a second letter because of Zhou Gu's shrewdness, and it is impossible for Shi Huan to follow Zhou Gu to the Zhou family.

Since Shi Huan is here, it means that the Zhou family is not ready to regret the marriage.

Shi Huan returned the gift and sighed: "Brother Yu, this trip was originally ordered by the ancestors of the family to discuss the marriage between Ayu and his sister-in-law. He never expected to suffer the great funeral of Taigong. I have also heard about Taigong's righteous deeds. He is really a virtuous man. also!"

Zhou Qi looked gloomy, and said: "The family ancestor has a new funeral, and my younger brother has to wait for three years before he can get married. I'm afraid it will delay my sister..."

Before Zhou Qi finished speaking, Shi Huan interrupted: "As a son of man, it is a great gift in human relations to keep filial piety for your grandfather. Since you and my two families have already had a marriage contract, what's the point in three years?"

"Ayu doesn't need to worry too much about this matter. After returning to Xiao County, I will discuss it with my ancestors!"

Zhou Qi bowed again: "That's it, brother, thank you brother first!"

As time went by, more and more people came to express their condolences, including many rural gentry and county officials, and even the Zhou family of Pei State sent people to come.They were able to withstand the pressure of Pei Guo Xiang Wang Ji and come here to see the old lady off for the last time. Zhou Qi was naturally grateful and stepped forward to greet everyone one by one.

Seeing that the time was approaching, Zhou Qi and Shi Huan personally carried the coffin for the old grandpa.

When the old grandpa's coffin was buried, all the people who came to express their condolences cried out. The whole tomb was filled with a strong sense of sadness, and even many elderly people fainted from crying.

What is strange is that Zhou Qi never saw Xiang Hong until the old lady's funeral was over, and she couldn't help but feel a little worried in her heart.

"According to Bird's temperament, he will never fail to come to the ancestor's funeral. Could something have happened?"

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Zhou Qi called Zhou Gu, who was still in grief, after sending all the guests away, and said, "Go to Brother Bode's house and see if anything happened."

Although Zhou Gu was grieved, he did not dare to neglect his master's orders, and immediately wiped away his tears and headed towards Xiang Hong's home.

(End of this chapter)