Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 345 Visiting the Golden Gate to Condolence

On the seventh day of October, the imperial decree, Cao Yong, the minister of Taipu Temple, was "official and diligent" and "spiritual affairs", and restored to the original product; he was promoted to the minister of Dali Temple and in charge of the minister of Taichang Temple. Siqing; Cui Zhengbi, the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is the right servant of the Ministry of Industry.

Although Yi Duli clamored to join the party to eat wine, and congratulated Cao Yong on his promotion from the third grade, Cao Yong still declined.However, everyone is not upset, because Cao Yong said that tomorrow he will invite everyone to the largest restaurant in Qianmen for a drink, and he will be the host.

Today he is not free, because he is the first seven of the former Fu Guogong E Fei.

Cao Yong had mentioned to Chu Yu long ago that he wanted to take her to Fuguo Gong's mansion to express his condolences.Gift money, joss sticks, and sacrificial curtains have already been prepared.

Because of the funeral ceremony at this time, "Those who are not close relatives, don't know the truth", although Cao Yong called "Father" before E Fei died, he would not put on filial piety clothes to make public.

Now, Eqi's decree of inheriting the title has not yet come down, and the family property of the government has not been collected, so a "righteous brother" came to express condolences, what is this?

Cao Yong removed the tassels from his hat and changed into a stone blue long coat; Chu Yu combed his hair twice, removed his jewelry, and also put on a stone blue long coat.The husband and wife went to Fangjia Hutong in a green woolen carriage.

Although E Fei was a minister in the past few years, he had no part-time job in the past two years. In addition, he was not a person with a lot of trust, so there were not many foreign guests who came to express their condolences.Most of them are some low-level yellow-belt clans who are related to the government, and there are people from the guard office.

The gate has been pasted with white paper, and a drum is hung on the white gate. Cao Yong and Chu Yu got out of the car, and the steward from the Duke's mansion greeted them.

Cao Yong handed over the name card, and together with Chu Yu, followed the steward, and entered the gate of the coffin.

Then the steward raised his voice and said: "Master Cao, Minister of the Taipusi, has arrived with his wife and Princess Rui!"

The male guests pay homage in front of the spirit, while the female guests are welcomed to the queen.

Because of the emphasis on "the dead are the greatest", the guests of the same generation and the younger generation must kneel to offer sacrifices except for the elders.

A platform was set up in the coffin, and the coffin was placed on it.There is a red felt on the worship mat before the funeral. If the visitor is of the same level as the deceased or just has ordinary friendship with the deceased, he will kneel down on the red felt.

Under the red felt is a white kneeling mat. If you are a junior or a close friend, you will go to the red felt and kneel on it.

Thinking of E Fei's lonely life, Cao Yong went up to the platform, walked to the front and back of the coffin, lifted the red felt, knelt down on the white mat, and respectfully made three lays and three knocks.

For each libation, two servants brought the libation wine. Cao Yong took the libation wine filled with wine, raised his hands above his head, sprinkled a little into the libation pool, then handed the libation wine back to the servants, and then kowtowed.

Next to Eqi and several cousins ​​and nephews kneeling behind Lingzuo to return the gift, there is also the official drum music composed of suona, hall drum, and nine-tone gong.

Following Cao Yong's laying and knocking, it is a big gong, which is very solemn and solemn.

When Chu Yu arrived at the Empress Dowager, the filial wife of the family and her family knelt on the right side of the Empress Dowager and wept.

The ceremony performed by Chu Yu is different from that of Cao Yong. It is a "head-touching ceremony" for the bannermen's female relatives.Supported by Xiyun and Xicai, she walked to the worship mat of the Empress, bent her legs, sat on her feet, paused slightly from the front of her head, and rubbed the right wings of the two heads with her right finger, counting as a Li Cheng.

After the kowtow was over, Chu Yu stepped forward to mourn, Chu Yu entered the spiritual curtain from the right, covered her face with the handkerchief, and cried twice.

Unlike the other guests, Chu Yu's crying was real.Because Cao Yong had already talked about recognizing his adoptive father, he also said how much E Fei had taken care of him before.Now, the old man is gone alone, and there are no biological children to mourn behind him, only an heir, which is very pitiful.

A deacon has already stepped forward and shouted: "Please mourn and less pain!"

When Chuyu arrived at the table under the platform, a family member held a copper tea tray with a white cloth head and white bats inside, and said: "Please forgive the dead!"

Chu Yu reached out to take it, put it on her head, and sat down with a sad face.

Some of the wives of the dukes and generals heard that Chu Yu was Princess Gege, and they bowed down to salute and chatted with each other.Naturally, it is not appropriate to talk and laugh loudly, everyone lowered their volume.

There are too many women, and it is inevitable to talk about the anecdotes of the Baylor Mansion of the various princes' mansions.

Among them, there was a wife of the Duke of Zhen who looked very rich, and she heard that she was a close branch of Prince Jian's mansion. She said to everyone in a low voice: "That Fujin from our manor has always been very strong. It’s the eyes that look up to the sky. It doesn’t matter how strong it is, no one has a good life, and it’s not going anywhere!”

A general's wife, who seemed to know some stories about Prince Jian's residence, asked curiously: "Which Fujin is the aunt talking about? My nephew and daughter-in-law look at that Ergen and feel that Luo Fujin seems to be a sensible person."

Mrs. Zhen Guogong smacked her lips, shook her head and said, "So what can people do if they understand? Although they gave birth to three elder brothers, only one was occupied, and their bones are not very strong. Although Da Fujin is gone, there are two heirs left behind. My elder brother is here. The one who joined the door the year before last had a temper, and her life is not easy now!"

The general's wife was a little confused, and said: "Auntie said, but that Ji Fujin who came from the Earl's Mansion?"

Mrs. Zhen Guo said: "Of course it's her. Two days ago, she had a miscarriage and had a well-formed boy. It's been five months. My wife rushed over and passed out from crying!"

"Tsk tsk!" The general's wife also sighed: "Five months, it will hurt your body! This Fujin nephew and daughter-in-law have also heard that if it is not because of the filial piety, the age is delayed, even the prince elder brother is worthy have to."

Mrs. Zhen Guo said: "It's just fate, our lord...you know our lord's interest... he doesn't care about his family members! Over the years, there are fewer and fewer children who have disappeared in the palace? Don't say this Those born in the mother's womb were the elder brother and the second elder brother who were in their teens, so they are gone? Now the earl's mansion is not as good as it used to be. His elder brother was expelled from the clan because of his unfilial piety. Although my elder brother is on duty, he is only a petty official. Now this Fujin is putting on airs, and I don't know who to show it to!" At the end, there was a bit of gloating in his words.

Chu Yu frowned while listening, and asked in a low voice: "Dare to ask you two, are you talking about Wanyan Fujin from Prince Jian's residence?"

Mrs. Zhen Guogong nodded, and said: "It's not about her! As a woman, you can't be too rigid, you should cherish your blessings!"

Chu Yu sighed inwardly, feeling extremely embarrassed.Although she has never met Wanyan Yongjia, she has heard from Baoya a long time ago, and knows that she is Yongqing's younger sister, and she was Baoya's close friend before leaving the court.

Listening to Baoya's inside and outside, she admired Wanyan Yongjia very much, so Chu Yu knew that she was not an ordinary woman.Baoya didn't intend to mention that Wanyan Yongjia recuperated in Cao's mansion and the situation when everyone went to Xiaotangshan Zhuangzi together.Even Cao Song mentioned this sister Wanyan more than once.

For some reason, thinking of Miss Wanyan who married into Prince Jian's mansion as the successor of Fujin, Chu Yu always felt strange, as if she had "occupied the magpie's nest".

She also thought about what would happen if she hadn't been married to the forehead by Huang Mafa?
Based on the friendship between Wanyan Yongqing and the forehead, and the fact that Miss Wanyan doesn't need to be drafted, the two families may have plans to marry.

Chu Yu doesn't know how much she guessed right, but the past is over, and she won't talk too much in front of Cao Yong.

Until today, after hearing about Wanyan Yongjia's misfortune, Chu Yu was spared, and she cared about it.Although the children of the banner people are not as overprotective as the Han family, it is not cheap for young men and women to communicate.If it is not close relatives, or the parents of the two families intend to send their children to Dui, everyone rarely has the opportunity to contact them.

In the south of the Yangtze River, Wanyan Yongjia was the one who met Cao Yan and Cao Yi, and met the young Cao Yong;

Even when talking about the past with the concubine, the woman's name that occasionally appeared was also Wanyan Yongjia.Chu Yu didn't think much of it at first, but as she got older over the years, she thought more about it.

Regardless of the truth of the year, after all, time has passed.Chu Yu sighed, all she can do now is to pray for the early health of Miss Wanyan who is already a wife and mother.

*
After Cao Yong kowtowed in front of the coffin, under the moon steps, he took the filial belt held high by Zhibin with both hands on a copper tea tray, and tied it around his waist.This is called "wearing filial piety", which is regarded as a respect for the deceased.

Before he sat down, Cao Yong saw two acquaintances, A Ling'a, the Minister of Internal Guards and the Minister of Internal Guards in charge of Luanyi, and the third-rank general of the Fuguo, Na Yintu, the envoy of Luanyi.Because E Qi was also in charge of Luan Yiwei and Luan Yiwei's errand, so these two were Shangguan and colleagues, and they both came earlier today.

Ah Ling'a saw Cao Yong, waved his hand at him, and said: "Consort Cao, come and sit here!"

In terms of rank, Ah Ling is a super-rank public, and Cao Yong is just a military officer of the same rank; speaking of seniority, Ah Ling is the younger brother of the queen, and is the uncle of the seventh elder brother, while Cao Yong is already a grandson. .

Although he knew that he was the unlucky Baye Party, Cao Yong couldn't avoid it, so he went over to greet him.

During Cao Yong's tenure as Minister of the Taipu Temple for more than half a year, the person who had the most dealings with Luan Yiwei was Na Yintu, and the two of them were considered to be familiar with each other.

Seeing Cao Yong coming, Na Yintu was very friendly, pointed to the chair beside him, and asked him to sit down.

Just now when Cao Yong went up to the platform to kowtow, Ah Ling'a saw him and saw his mournful face. He was very respectful and felt a little surprised.Therefore, after calling Cao Yong to come over, he picked up the teacup, took a sip casually, and asked, seemingly unintentionally, "Does Cao Yong have a personal relationship with the Duke?"

Although Cao Yong didn't know what he meant by his words, he didn't deny it, saying: "When Cao Yong was working as a guard, he was often taken care of by the Duke."

Ah Ling's face turned bright, and he wanted to investigate Cao Yong, but he forgot that he was working as a guard.

The three of them were gossiping when they heard footsteps outside the gate.A steward came in quickly to report, and E Qi, who was kneeling in front of the coffin to return the salute, got up immediately.

I saw a lot of people coming out of the tent on the platform, busy.

After a while, a huge kneeling statue was erected on the mourning hall, and the person on it was the deceased E Fei.

Cao Yong, A Ling'a and Na Yintu all got up. It seems that the saint has arrived.

According to the statute, after the death of the prince, county king, Baylor, meritorious officials, important ministers, and Tai Tuo, the emperor must personally go to the palace to give a memorial service.If the emperor is not in the capital, the emperor's son, ministers of the interior, ministers of the Ministry of officials, ministers of the Ministry of officials, ministers of the Ministry of war and others will lay the ceremony on their behalf.Only at this time will the kneeling statue of the dead be erected.

Because of the presence of the holy car, it is a happy event in the funeral to mourn the dead.

All the white in front of the coffin was covered with blue cloth, and E Qi took off his cousins, nephews, etc. to take off their mourning clothes, put on auspicious clothes, and went outside to welcome the holy car.

Cao Yong looked at the busy people, and then looked at the mourning hall covered by blue curtains, and felt that it was a farce.

Although he knew that Kangxi passed down the decree to assist the Duke of Efei to "sacrifice twice, build a tomb and erect a monument as usual", but because he knew that Shengjia was in Changchun Garden, Cao Yong did not expect him to come today.

In addition to the main family of the Duke's Mansion, these guests also greeted Shengjia outside the door according to their rank.

On both sides of the road, yellow curtains were put on at unknown times, and every few steps, there were soldiers from the guard camp standing opposite each other.

Seeing that Eqi and the others were sweating and surprised, Cao Yong also knew that the decree was not made early.Otherwise, when he came over with Chu Yu just now, he should have seen the curtain and the officers and soldiers.

After more than half an hour, Sheng Jia came late, accompanied by two academicians, several princes and officials.

After leaving Luanjia, Kangxi directly boarded the "Danbi" that had just been set up, walked directly to the platform, and stood in front of the coffin.

The holy car came in person, and it was a ceremony of "building a memorial ceremony".

The drums sounded, and the two servants from the Ministry of Rites who accompanied him held pots and cups, and Kangxi offered wine in front of the spirit.
Regardless of male or female family members, all kowtow and thank you.

Cao Yong followed Ah Ling and others, and stood under the platform to watch the ceremony.Suddenly, he felt something was wrong, as if someone was looking at him.

He kept his composure, and looked around, which one is it not Li Ding?
Li Ding, dressed as a bodyguard, stood under the platform, holding the handle of a saber at his waist, and looked towards Cao Yong, with no expression of joy or anger on his face.

Cao Yong smiled and nodded to pay tribute; Li Ding also gradually smiled on his face, and nodded very kindly in return.This was the first time the two cousins ​​met after getting drunk that day...

*
(End of this chapter)