Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 556
The dead are dead, how can the living feel so bad?
The moment they saw Cao Shuo's corpse, not to mention Li Shi and Chu Yu's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law turned their heads in tears and couldn't bear to look at each other, even Cao Yin trembled and his eyes turned red.

Sitting on the ground, Zhao Jia held his son's arm, looking crazy.

Cao Yin waved his hands to Cao Xiang and Cao Fu, and said, "What are you still doing? Why don't you help your mother up quickly?"

Cao Xiang held back his tears and stepped forward, but Cao Fu took a step and hesitated, looking at the blood stains on Cao Shuo's face, the horror on his face became more and more obvious.

"Madam..." Cao Xiang leaned down, trying to help Zhao Jia up.

Zhao Jia's body was straight, how could she move?
Jinghui saw her at the side, and also stepped forward to help Zhao Jiashi on the other side.

Zhao Jia broke away from the hands of the two, threw himself on Cao Shuo, wiped the blood stains on his forehead with his hands, and murmured, "San'er, does it hurt from the bump? Mommy will blow it to you."

Like coaxing a baby, she blew on Cao Shuo's forehead and said to herself, "My son is so handsome..."

With the sound of speaking, her shoulders trembled, and the sound of "gulu" and "gulu" came out of her throat, and she began to twitch.

Seeing that she was not doing well, Mrs. Li endured her sadness and stepped forward to persuade her, "Sister and brother, get up first, child... don't let the child walk unsteadily..."

Zhao Jia finally burst into tears after hearing the words: "Where is this unfilial bastard going? This bastard, this unfilial..."

While crying, she stretched out her hand to beat Cao Shuo, but she couldn't bear it, and her slap fell on the floor tile beside Cao Shuo.

It was another sparring and persuasion, and it took half an hour to make a fuss before Zhao Jia, who was already exhausted, was helped by Chu Yu and Jing Hui to the outer room.

Cao Xiang received the most care from Cao Shuo when he was young, and the brotherhood was the deepest. At this moment, he bent down and pulled down the sleeves of his clothes that had been crumpled by Zhao Jia, tears streaming down his face.

Since ancient times, sending a white-haired person to a black-haired person is a human tragedy.

Cao Yin raised his head slightly, but didn't let the tears rolling in his eyes flow out.

He "coughed" and said to Cao Xiang: "Look around and see if there are any words left by this bastard!"

"Yes!" Cao Xiang answered with choked sobs, and went to Cao Shuo's bedside to check.

The quilt on the bed hadn't been pulled open, only half-drawn and wrinkled, which was the trace of someone sitting on it.

Cao Xiang reached out and touched under the pillow, but did not find a piece of paper.I checked the small table in front of the bed and the table on the floor, but there was nothing there.

"Uncle..." Cao Xiang stood with his hands down.

Cao Yin frowned, and asked: "What is the reason for this, which made him unable to think about it? Your brothers usually spend more time together, tell me about it? Is it because your third sister-in-law refuses to come back?"

Cao Xiang bit his lip, not only was he supposed to speak from where, but when he heard a "plop", Cao leaned over and fell limp, and fell to the ground.

Cao Xiang stepped forward, wanting to support his younger brother, but he stopped, and his face could not hide the color of indignation.

The nephew is gone, if there is any mistake with the younger one, then Cao Yin will die, and he will have no face to see Huang Quanxia's younger brother.Cao Yin was heartbroken and helped his little nephew up.

However, looking at Cao Xiang's expression, it seems that there is something hidden.

Cao Yin sat down, lowered his face, and said in a deep voice, "Well, fourth brother, tell me?"

Cao Xiang hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and told about the casino's debt collection last night.

Cao Yin's face was livid when he heard this, and he kicked his feet vigorously, wanting to scold this nephew for not living up to expectations, but his chest was blocked and he couldn't utter a single word.

After Cao Xiang finished talking about the debt collection, he turned his head to look at Cao Fu. Seeing his trembling appearance, he complained in his heart, but he couldn't bear to open his mouth to scold him.

Don't say that Xiao Wu's slip of the tongue was an exaggeration last night, it's Cao Xiang himself. He clearly knows that the third brother is easy to hide his thoughts. If he persuaded his sister-in-law, why didn't he think to look at this side?

Cao Fu was so horrified that even though he was crying, he said in a low voice: "Fourth brother... I didn't do it on purpose. I only agreed to give it to you when you united to coax me. That's what my younger brother kept. Preparing birthday presents for my aunt and mother..."

Cao Yin listened, and looked like Cao Xiangdao: "What's going on, isn't it a reminder for gambling, why is Xiao Wu involved?"

The truth is not complicated, but Cao Fu lived close to the side door, heard the movement, and came to Xikuayuan to ask his brother.

During this conversation, Cao Shuo and Cao Xiang mentioned that they wanted to borrow money from his private house.

Cao Fu thought about it, and refused directly on the grounds that he wanted to leave money for his aunt and mother to prepare a birthday gift.

Li Shi and Siu Jia Shi are 45 this year, which can be regarded as a short life expectancy.Cao leaned over here and kept it in his heart.

Although the family has been separated, his admiration for Li has not diminished in the slightest.

In addition, due to the pregnancy, Li Shi seemed exhausted and struggling, so Cao Fu wanted to find something fun and interesting to honor his aunt.

Rather than preparing birthday gifts for the aunt and mother, it is better to say that the aunt is the main one, and the mother will do it by the way.

After he had already declined, he saw that the two elder brothers seemed to be about to speak, so he said: "In other families, who is not the elder brother and gives pocket money to the brothers, but it is rare in our family, the elder brothers are thinking about my money, are you ashamed? "

He was just trying to shut up the mouths of his brothers, who would have thought that it would just touch Cao Shuo's heart...

Cao Xiang didn't think it was appropriate to listen, but seeing that Cao Shuo didn't show any strange expression on his face, he didn't think much about it.

In a daze, things have developed to this point.

Cao Yin was listening, but he was full of guilt.

Although Cao Fu made a slip of the tongue, it was just a matter of daring to say what he said, and it wasn't that there was a rift between brothers and sisters.

Now, Cao Shuo just left like this, even if no one reprimanded Cao Fu, thinking about it, he still feels uncomfortable.

Cao Yin waved his hand at Cao Fu, and said: "Don't think wildly, it's none of your business, after all, this bastard is not responsible."

Cao Yin would not blame his little nephew, but he couldn't help blaming himself.If he, the uncle, disciplined him earlier, why did he end up here?
The room was silent, Cao Yin closed his eyes and sighed deeply.one
According to ancient rituals, death from the sixteenth to the nineteenth is a "long mourning", the funeral ceremony is simplified, and the mourning of relatives and younger generations is also reduced.However, this young man who is betrothed and married is not considered "Shang", and has to be handled according to the funeral ceremony of an adult.

Cao Shuo is seventeen this year, and he is already married, so he cannot be regarded as a "long mourning", and the funeral has to be prepared.

It's just that it is his nephew, no matter whether he is gambling or stealing, Cao Yin complains in his heart, but he also hopes that his nephew can be buried as soon as possible.

I want to invite an onmyoji to come and spend some money to pay the bill, so that my nephew can be reported to have died of illness without having to send someone to come to the door.Although such a cover-up is for the sake of the Cao family's reputation, it is also to prevent the nephew from having to bear the reputation of "coward" and "rebellious son" after his death.

Neither the son nor the eldest nephew were there, and the remaining two were young, so the nephew had to take care of the funerals by himself.

The yamen wants people to ask for leave, and the relatives' houses want people to report funerals. Here, they have to prepare coffins and invite people to perform ceremonies. There are many things to do.

After all, Cao Yin was getting old, and there was another sudden bad news, his eyes turned dark.

He leaned on his arms and closed his eyes, only feeling that his throat was salty.It would be great if his son was by his side, he thought with a bit of exhaustion...

*
On the official road from the capital to Zhangjiakou, there are post stations every three or forty miles.

If you want to be like a post station, you have to have a certificate of official status.Ordinary officials and government officials rely on inspection and cooperation, and when the Ministry of War uses it, it relies on fire cards.

Cao Yong's line, because he was burdened with passing the decree to the Great Lama of Outer Mongolia, was related to the Northwest War situation, so he asked to go there in a "chiyi".

If the rider needs more horses, takes more luggage, or travels in vain, it will be considered a violation of the law, and if he fails, he will be impeached.

On Cao Yong's side, it was Naersu who gave him the "fire card" and the procedures of the official department. They are very thorough, so don't worry about this.

On Yiduli's side, it took some money to manage it, so it was barely enough.

Except for a sharp break at noon, Cao Yong's trip changed horses several times on the way, and arrived in Yanqing County in the evening.

When they got off their horses in front of the post station, many people looked ugly and walked awkwardly.

Speaking of which, in this line of work, no matter whether it is the royal guards or the servants of the Cao family and the Yiergenjueluo family, there are not many people who have suffered this crime.

It's refreshing to ride a horse and run wildly, but it's really unbearable to run for a day.

Thinking of such a day, maybe ten and a half days, many guards turned green.

On the other hand, Nalan Fusen and Heshan, because they traveled to and from Outer Mongolia with Cao Yong the year before last, and traveled thousands of miles, they are still a bit accustomed.

The most embarrassing one is Yiduli.

Although before leaving Beijing, he swore that his riding and archery skills had not fallen, but after a day of bumping on horseback, he was no longer angry.

After getting off the horse, he bowed his body and vomited, throwing up the undigested sesame seed beef that he ate while hitting the road at noon.

His long attendant hurriedly handed over the water bag, Yiduri took it, took two mouthfuls vigorously and rinsed his mouth, and the whole person seemed to have some vitality.

Seeing Cao Yong, he wondered whether to persuade him to slow down, so as not to suffer so much.

There were two carriages parked at the gate of the post station, one was loaded with coffins, and the other was covered with white curtains, which should be for people.

A young man in filial piety was standing at the gate of the post station, talking to the postmen.

Yiduli added joy to his face, and smiled at Cao Yong: "Going out to see the coffin, getting promoted and getting rich, is a good sign."

The voice was a bit loud, the young man heard it, turned his head and gave Yiduri a look, with a bit of anger on his face.

He originally wanted to say something, but after seeing the official uniform on Yiduli, he closed his mouth again and turned his head away wistfully.

After Yicheng got the news, he trotted out to meet him.

Seeing the group of guards in front of him, the sesame-sized official couldn't help but feel a little dizzy, wondering which prince or minister came out of Beijing to say no to "nobles" among the crowd.

But he was a little confused, he hesitated for a moment, bowed forward, leaned in front of Nalan Fusen, and said, "Master guard, this is..."

Among the crowd, Nalan Fusen is the third-rank clothing color, looking at the highest rank, he can't blame this Yi Cheng for being so.

Nalan Fusen smiled helplessly, took out the "fire card" from his arms, showed it to the postman, and said: "Men want to rest for one night, prepare horses according to their heads, and set off at the beginning of tomorrow (five o'clock in the morning). "

This "fire card" was originally held by Wei Hei, because every station along the way was in the current situation, so Cao Yong gave the "fire card" to Nalan Fusen for collection.

Left and right are just a formality, and you don't need to waste your time arguing with each postman, who is the chief official in this line.

When the postman saw him, he led everyone into the station without hesitation.

When he saw the young man in filial piety clothes, the postman couldn't help scolding: "Go quickly, go quickly, what are you talking about? This is a post station, not a big cart shop, if you don't leave, you will be chased away!"

"My lord, please be accommodating, my mother is old and has already traveled for a day..." the boy pleaded.

The post station waved his hand impatiently, and said: "You boy, you are so wordy. Where in the world can you earn a living with blank teeth? You say you are an official, but you have no paperwork and no money. I have accommodated you, can you drink the northwest wind by yourself?"

The boy blushed, but still begged endlessly.

Cao Yong watched from the sidelines and couldn't help shaking his head secretly.

This postman is really troublesome. Since he is an official, he must have some old friends. If he continues to be offended like this, he may bury the disaster at some point.

This boy is young, but he can bend and stretch.

Bai Shan filial piety is the first, although it is just a chance meeting, but because of his filial piety, Cao Yong is willing to do a little effort.

He winked at Zhao Tong, and entered the post station with Yi Duli and the guards.

While following Cao's parents, although Zhao Tong's skills were not good, he was thoughtful and collected the money.Wherever there is food, he will take care of it.

Households are limited, among these people, except for the servants of the Cao family and the Yiduli family, everyone else has a rank.

In the end, it was Nalan Fusen who made the decision. He chose a house connected to the ridge, and placed Cao Yong in the upper room in the middle, while the others were placed in the surrounding area.

Cao Yong was originally embarrassed to do this, but Nalan Fusen said seriously: "The holy order has been issued, we are here to protect Cao's son-in-law, and we should set up a charter from now on. The priority should be to protect the safety of the forehead.”

He changed the title of "forehead son-in-law" in front of everyone, also reminding these guards that Cao Yong has another identity.If Cao Yong really made a mistake, each of them can't get away with it.

Cao Yong heard Nalan Fusen's words, and he accepted his feelings in his heart, and he didn't talk anymore.

After entering the house, Cao Yong was washing and grooming, Zhao Tong had already returned, and the money had already been sent out. Changing the rhetoric, Cao Yong's real identity was hidden, and the young man who helped the spirit and returned to his hometown had already entered the post...

After hearing this, Cao Yong wiped his face with a towel, thinking about whether he was "doing a good deed every day".

As the saying goes, "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. It's not that the time has not come for not to repay."He does not expect good rewards, but only hopes that those who have done bad things will suffer retribution, and he will be satisfied.

Of course, people's hearts are biased. The bad guys in Cao Yong's heart are those who plot against him.

He lived a peaceful life. Those people who kept on secretly, looking for trouble for nothing, are not bad people, what are they?
*
Inside Xinjiekou, the Palace of the Earl of Bravery.

When Yongsheng came back from Cao's house, he just entered the door when he saw the butler saying, "Second Master, Seventh Master Nalan is gone today, and their family sent a letter of mourning..."

(End of this chapter)