Until he saw Juren Chen getting on the carriage, Shen Rui couldn't help but look back.
There were indeed only the father and son who went to the clan room for the banquet, not Zhang Lao'an, nor Chen Jin. Shen Rui was a little surprised by this result, but seemed to be expected.
The second wife has a noble status. Although she has to hold each house, she has the old story of Sun, and even if the fourth wife comes over, she can't fall behind. However, Chen Jin and Juren didn't mention anything, it seems that it is true. He took his anger from Chen Jin because of the Zheng incident.
Juren Shen sat in the car, with a dark face, staring at Shen Rui and said, "It's so hard? You can't get in the car."
Shen Rui responded and got on the carriage.
The curtain was lowered, and the carriage was moving forward slowly. Shen Juren drooped his eyelids and said, "Did you see the eldest wife of the zong house at the temple fair a few days ago? Did she say anything to you?
Shen Rui shook his head: "I never said anything. Later, when I met Aunt Hong, Uncle Cang talked to Aunt Hong for a long time."
Juren Chen snorted lightly and stopped talking.
He asked someone for a whole morning, and the news he got was that the eldest wife of the second wife had met a few young men in the clan, gave the same gift, and did not speak alone with Shen Rui. However, because she was surprised, she couldn't help it. Open your mouth and confirm again.
Perhaps the Xu family gave her marriage only to face her, otherwise she had never seen Sun's relationship with the capital in the past twenty years.
But after all, he was a little nervous. Chen Juren couldn't help but blame Zhang Lao'an in his heart.
Mr. Zhang is an elder, so what can I do when I meet the eldest wife of the second wife? Even if the eldest wife of the second wife is resentful, can she still be rude to the elders of the clan in public?
Now that Zhang Lao'an is ill, even if Chen Juren is uneasy, he can only go to the banquet with his teeth. Otherwise, no one in the four rooms will show up when the clans gather together.
Thinking of the second house's death, Chen Juren's eyes flashed slightly and looked at Shen Rui: "Second brother and Brother Jue?"
Shen Rui nodded. This is not a secret. In the past half month after returning, although Shen Rui and Chen Jue have not been inseparable, they often get together.
Although Chen Jue is occasionally arrogant, he was taught by the clan leader and great-grandson. He is not annoying and has a soft heart.
Juren Chen thought for a while and asked again: "What is Brother Jue's homework in the school? Did he mention the outcome of the county trial next year?"
"Although it is not diligent, it is because of its extraordinary talent. I have memorized the scriptures thoroughly and have already decided to test the Yingxian County next year." Shen Rui didn't know what the juren Chen was doing and began to pay attention to Chen Jue, but this question was not something that could not be said. Then he replied truthfully.
Juren Chen nodded and fell silent again.
Shen Rui didn't speak, and there was only the sound of wheels rolling in his ears.
The Shen clan members live together, and the distance between the four bedrooms and the clan house is not very far.
The carriage arrived shortly after leaving. Before the carriage could stop, a gatekeeper saw it and reported it inside.
When Shen Rui got off the carriage, the second brother of Zongfang, Chen and Chen Jue came out to greet him.
Chen stepped forward and personally helped Juren Chen off the carriage.
Juren Chen asked, "Which room has come from?"
"Three rooms, six rooms, and nine rooms have arrived." Shen replied.
"The old man from the third room has come long ago?" Chen Juren was a little surprised. Chen Qi, the head of the sixth room, has the lowest seniority, and he will be able to say it earlier. The ninth room is dilapidated, and the great man loves to do something; why are these three rooms so attentive?
The old man from the third house in Surrey usually holds his own seniority, and any public discussions in the clan are late.
He nodded with a subtle expression: "The third room is the first one to arrive, and the family has arrived."
After hearing this, Chen Juren knew why Chen looked so.
The old man from the third house lived. After his eldest son died in his early years, he was afraid that other sons would suppress the eldest son's grandsons, so he had a family. When the four grandsons of Changfang Chenhu and others grew up, they did not separate the family and lived together. Such a great-grandson , there are more than a dozen great-grandchildren and a few Yuansuns. In addition, if the female relatives and the young lady who was not married, they would have to take a dozen carriages.
Compared with the third bedroom, there are only two fathers and sons in the fourth bedroom, and the population is too thin.
Chen looked behind Chen Juren and said curiously: "Why did Uncle Yuan bring Brother Rui? Where are the uncle and Brother Jin?"
After Chen Juren met the courtesy of Juren Chen, he called Shen Rui aside. At this time, things were lowering the volume and asked in a low voice: "Why didn't Lao An and your elder brother come? But I was scared when I knew Aunt Cang's identity. Do you feel guilty and dare not come?"
Although the second wife was not here, only the eldest wife came here, and the posts they posted were just to entertain the legitimate ancestry of each house, but even if the family members who received the invitation were not prepared, most of them were similar.
It’s not entirely because of flattery and flattery, nor because of the shallowness of the eye for a gift, but because after the second wife and the third wife moved away, someone from the second wife returned home for the first time, and they also meant to recognize their relatives twice.
It looks too thin for the father and son to attend the banquet in the fourth room. However, like the old man in the third room, he is also a bit suspicious of being too arrogant.
Shen Rui shook his head and whispered: "It's hard to say about Lao An, where is the eldest brother... The schoolwork is important. Our master did not ask anyone to call him, so he should not know how to have a banquet.
Chen Jue heard this and sneered: "Are you afraid of delaying your elder brother's study, or are you afraid that Aunt Cang will take your elder brother out of it for three years ago? Uncle Yuan's distorted mind is really out of the way..."
As he spoke, another carriage came slowly behind him.
Chen Jue recognized the five-bedroom carriage and said to Chen: "Second brother, it's the five-bedroom carriage."
When he saw this, he said, "You have led Uncle Yuan in, I will go to Ying Uncle Hong and the others."
Juren Chen was close to the clan and family at first, and often came and went. When he heard this, he waved his hand and said, "You brothers, stay to welcome guests, I will go there myself."
Shen Rui wanted to stay, Yingyi Yingwufang and others, but when he saw Chen Juren staring at him, he raised his legs and followed him honestly.
Chen Yi did not dare to be disrespectful, so he hurriedly ordered the butler beside him to lead the way.
The old house of Zongfang or the old house of Chen Xueshou back then was built according to the fifth-rank official residence.
There are three main entrances and three rooms, and five halls and seven halls.
There are three open halls in the middle of the main hall, with a carved wooden board on the north wall, and an eight-foot-wide and five-foot-high gold-drawn marble screen above it. The top is the horizontal wave map of Shoushan Fuhai.
In front of the screen, a square table with a black painted lacquer is set up, with a pair of red copper beast stoves and a pair of incense. On both sides are a pair of chairs, with half-new and beautiful seat cushions on it; four pairs of chairs are arranged in the middle. There are several partitions and the chairs on the same side. Beside the east and west partitions, there are eight chairs on each side.
Because the clan family has always been the leader of the clan and there are often gatherings and banquets for relatives, they are connected to the five main halls and five back halls. The middle is separated by carved wooden boards of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, leaving only one month's cave gate, which is to catch up with the grand ceremony. During the banquet, the banquet is placed in the back hall.
When you go out of the back hall, you will be in the patio in front of the middle hall.
When the clan relatives were having a banquet, the seats for officials and guests in each room were in the back hall, and the seats for women were in the middle hall. The whole family celebrated together, and the men and women were not allowed to sit together.
When Shen Rui followed Juren to the open hall, the clan leader was talking to the old master of the third room and the old master of the ninth room.
The old man from the third room sat at the first place in the east, and the ninth master sat at the bottom. Although the clan leader was lower than the old man from the third room, he still sat firmly on the head and did not sit with him.
The three-bedroom Chenhu and the nine-bedroom Chenlu were not listed as the guest seats, but sat on the row of chairs by the east wall, and the master of the Zongfang was accompanying him. There were several other middle-aged people who looked similar to the Chenhu, so they should be They are the three brothers of Chenhu.
Look at the brothers of Yu, except for the nine-room Chen Lu, there is only the six-room Chen Qi. He is sitting in the second last place in the main guest position. Other descendants of the Yu character, whether they are Cheng Ding or not. , they are all standing positions. Even if there are still more than ten chairs in the room, no one can cross it.
Shen Rui glanced at him and knew it.
In addition to the seniority and seniority, this seat arrangement also takes into account the heads of each room. The eight chairs in the middle of the guest seat should only be the heads of each room. Three and nine rooms are now the heads of the houses. Although the heads of the houses are now Shenhu and Chen Lu, but because the two tribes are old, they have to take a step back.
The second house has no official guest in Songjiang, otherwise, Chen Qi's seniority should be in the last place.
Shen Rui followed Chen Juren and went up to see him and greeted him.
The old man from the third room and the ninth master were both very intimate towards Shen Rui, as if he were looking at his grandson.
The third old man looked kind and sighed: "Brother Rui is more and more like the eldest lady Yuan, but you are a man. You should be more rigid and you must not be soft-hearted by your mother. You must know that you are the only legitimate son of the fourth wife. In the future, The fourth room will be passed on by you."
The ninth prince also said, "It's just that the heads of each house are inherited from the family blood. If you get the word "六" into the family, you will be mixed with the bloodline. The fourth house will not be able to mess with the legitimate wife. The fake legitimate wife is not a legitimate wife, and there is no evil legitimate wife to control the family. The principle of the top door”
The third old man nodded when he heard the first sentence, and his face turned blue when he heard it.
In the fourth room in the Shen family, the third room was from the lineage of Chen Du's concubine. The Ninth Grand Master also scolded the old master of the Third Room.
The third old master said angrily: "How come the sacred branch has mixed bloodlines? Could it be that I have lived for seventy or eighty years and became a bastard today?"
The Master Jiufang said embarrassedly: "Uncle Ji, this is not what my nephew means."
The Shen Juren is by his side and his face is ugly.
Chen Jin's name is the lasting son of Sun. These two old men hold guns and sticks and bring up old stories again. Why did they come from? He kept saying that Shen Rui was the only legitimate blood in the fourth house, and was he afraid that the fourth house would fight for his heir?
These two elders are really ridiculous. The second wife chooses a sect house first. Where can there be three or nine houses? Before the sect house is wary of the fourth house, the two families are anxious first.
Before the two old men could argue, the Chen brothers led the fifth house Chen Hong and his son in. The father and son, like Chen Juren and his son, just like you, were just like you, and they would greet you again.
Juren Chen has already sat down, and is the second chair to the west to the ninth house master. The first person to the west should be left for the eighth house master.
After seeing the courtesy, Chen Hong sat down at the ninth house Grand Master. Chen Hu, Chen Lu, Chen Qi and others had already stood up and came over to see Chen Juren and Chen Hong, and then they sat down again.
After a while, the seventh room and eighth room arrived. The clan leader received the news and took the master of the clan to greet him in person.
The old man from the eighth room had already got off the carriage. In addition to the seventh room and the eighth room, he was surrounded by several great-grandchildren.
Just as the old man and others from the Eighth House were welcomed into the central hall, another carriage came outside the gate of the sect.
Looking at the person who came out of the carriage, the concierge manager was called back just as he wanted to go in and report.
The second master and his wife came. The second master got off the carriage and was still hesitant. The second wife Qu whispered a few words, and the couple entered the door.
Three open halls, five generations living together, are crowded with crowds.
The clan leader asked several clan elders to move east and a little bit, and then instructed their great-grandson Xiaotong to take the Mu generation to the west and a little bit, and the upper part of the open hall was slack.
The heads of each room were the first to accompany the guests.
The clan leader is not here, and his status as a clan is no less than that of the heads of each house in the clan.
Several other uncles from the Shui generation also sat on a row of chairs behind. The elderly in the Yu generation also had more seats, and only a few young people did not get a seat. They went to the west. I went to find my nephews from each family.
Twenty-six chairs in the open hall, only two of them were empty, and twenty-four people were seated. Together with the clan leader and three clan elders, the more than ten or six years old in the clan in the west There are more than 40 boys above.
This is just a small banquet for the clans of the legitimate clans of each house. When the main clan banquet is held, it must be set up in the ancestral hall, otherwise so many tables will not be placed at all. This shows that the Shen family’s descendants are rich.
In terms of seniority, since the second wife came to visit her family, she would take the initiative to visit the elders and elders of each family. In this post, she would invite each family leader and entrust her to the great man.
The old man from the third room and the old man from the ninth room were not dissatisfied because of the intentions; the old man from the eighth room was a little unhappy. If it weren't for the sake of his great-grandson Chen Bao, Japan wouldn't want to come today.
Seeing that the heads of each house arrived, the eldest wife of the second house had not yet moved, the old man of the eighth house said impatiently: "The post has been collected and the person has come, why haven't Xu shown up yet? Do you want us to be the uncles and go with her. The granddaughter-in-law’s greeting?”
This is not because he does not avoid the serious dislike of men and women. In fact, the elderly of all ethnic groups are young and 70 years old, and the older ones are also young. Xu is also a woman in her fifties and has reached the age of no need to avoid suspicion.
When the clan leader heard this, he frowned a little, reached out to call the servant over, and whispered a few instructions.
After a while, the servant came back and forth and said, "The eldest wife of the second wife is back and is changing clothes in the guest room, saying that she will come to see several clan elders later."
After hearing this, not only did the old man in the eighth room become more and more unhappy, but also the old man in the third room and the old man in the ninth room were not in good shape.
The old man from the third room snorted coldly: "Isn't it the post Xu? All the guests have come, but she didn't say he would greet him, but went out instead?"
The Master Jiufang was dissatisfied with this: "Even if it is a third-rank imperial edict, it would be too rude and he is so unruly."
The patriarch's eldest son looked faint and said, "Xu left the city early in the morning to worship Sun."
The old man in the eighth room frowned, while the old man in the third room and the old man in the ninth room looked embarrassed.
The old man in the third room flashed his eyes and touched his beard and said, "Since he was paying homage to Sun, why did he go there alone and didn't bring Brother Rui with him? Is there anything wrong with Brother Rui that made Mr. Xu dislike him? "
The patriarch and the great master looked at him: "It's not that I went by myself, I invited the eldest lady from the fifth house to accompany me."
In the guest room of the East Courtyard, Xu's face was cleaned, but his eyes were still red.
Guo saw him and advised: "Sister-in-law Cang, don't be too sad. If you survive the disaster, you will have good fortune. If you have Sister-in-law Cang, you will be able to take care of him in the future. Brother Rui will be happy after all the hardships.
Xu sighed and said, "I'm late. Brother Rui suffered these grievances. I don't blame the child for being cold-hearted... But I saw Brother Rui had an idea, and I was afraid that I wouldn't be happy to follow me to Beijing.