Chapter 138: Catching the Wind and Washing the Dust (6)
The people who came were all nephews of the Shen family, not relatives and friends from other families, so they were placed in the inner courtyard for a banquet.
However, before everyone came to the table, Xu sent the mother Wu and the others to take the Shen family's sons to the southwest courtyard to meet the second master.
Everyone was thinking about the scene of Mrs. Er's appearance, but they didn't know if they would see the whiteness of their eyes. Fortunately, the decoration and servants of the Southwest Courtyard were not bright in color, but they were not white in the end.
The second master was helped out of the hall by a servant, wearing a cloak. Although he was not as thin as the master, his face was pale and could not hide his morbidity. However, he was kind to the clans and casually talked about family matters and asked about his homework. What's more.
Seeing this, Chen Jue, Chen Quan and other kind people couldn't help but feel worried. They just felt that they were "judging the abdomen of a gentleman by the heart of a villain". They had previously suspected that the second master pretended to be sick, which was not right; it was like Chen Zhu. I thought more and more, and I felt that the second wife was crazy and the other was sick. The pain of losing her child seemed to have not recovered.
During the meeting, Chen Zhu became less restrained and more free and casual, which really attracted the second master to look at him.
I heard that Chen Zhu had passed the hospital examination, and the second master looked more loving and praised him several times.
The second master did not notice Shen Rui at the beginning, and until he stepped forward to pay his respects, Wu's mother pointed out that he was born as a legitimate son in the fourth family, and she was a little lost.
The legitimate son of the fourth house? The son of the fourth house Chen Yuan? The son of the Sun family
The second master looked a little stiff. Looking at Shen Rui's eyebrows and eyes, he felt familiar and unfamiliar.
It was really too long, and it had been thirty years. The second master thought he remembered it in his heart, but when he saw Shen Rui, he found that his memory was already a little blurred. The figure seemed clear and covered with a layer of fog. Or he never remembered it clearly.
The second master raised his arm, called Shen Rui up, looked at him and asked gently, "Your parents are about the same age as me, you can do it second, then your elder brother has already married and had children?"
When Shen Rui heard this, he was surprised. The second master had no idea about the situation in the fourth room.
Shen Rui replied: "Because I was in the service before, my nephew and brother have not yet discussed the marriage."
"In the service?" The second master said in surprise: "Is it your father or your... mother..."
It seems that the second master really doesn't know anything about the fourth wife. Shen Rui wondered in his heart. If Grandpa Sun and the Third Master were close friends during their lifetime, then it shouldn't be the only one Xu and Sun family who have old friends. The second wife has several old masters. They should know Sun. Looking at the expressions of the eldest master and the third master and the other person, they also knew about the death of Sun. Why did the second master completely know about it?
"It was Jiaci who passed away three years ago due to illness." Shen Rui replied softly.
The second master was confused when he heard this and sighed, "Good child, the young man lost his mother, it has made you suffer. Fortunately, he is still protected by his brother. Your grandfather and my great-grandfather were friends of life and death during his lifetime. Don't ask for a here. .”
Shen Rui knew that he misunderstood and thought that his brother was also from Sun, but it was difficult to explain. After all, Chen Jin had already registered his name, and from a patriarchal point of view, he was indeed Shen Rui's brother.
Since Chen Jue knew that the candidate for Xu's heir might be Shen Rui, he no longer arranged to leave. He wanted to help Shen Rui cause this matter and left the fourth room.
Seeing the second master misunderstanding, Chen Jue came over and said in a low voice: "If the second brother Rui really had a brother, Aunt Yuan would not be uneasy, for fear that the second brother Rui would be hampered by others, and not only would the eldest son be the one who was the eldest son. In his name, he didn't even dare to leave the dowry to Brother Rui, and he divided half of his life... Even so, there was a young man who was raised by Lao An as a child. He was smart and sensible. He won the savior at the age of fourteen. The elder brother compared to the elder brother, Rui's second brother was stupid and could not please others, so he was naturally not as pleasing as others. He was light on beating, scolding, cold and hungry. If he had not taken care of by his elders, he would have been gone long ago..."
Shen Rui's chin was pressed against his chest, and his face felt hot.
I used to think that the mother and son of the fourth wife were ungrateful and cruel, and I had never thought about what I was like, but these words came out of the mouths of others, and my identity was like a "little cabbage" in the field.
Not to mention how the second master thought about these words, Shenzhu was around and felt that the root of his teeth was so annoyed.
Before Shen Rui came forward to act obediently, Chen Jue was busy. He wanted to "show others weakness" and arouse the second master's compassion?
Beat, scold, froze and hunger?
It was true that something happened back then, but after the fraud of Sun's dowry industry came out, the fourth house Lao Anren and Chen Juren were still in a mess. Shen Rui was free for three years outside and received close guidance from the top brother of the top scholar. After I took it home for half a month, I was taken out by Xu again. What kind of grievances can I suffer?
It came out of Chen Jue's mouth, and it seemed like he had been harassed for several years.
How can the second master lose his son without feeling pity for such a son who has lost his mother?
Pansheng Chenzhu couldn't intervene to explain, otherwise if Chen Jue talked about Sun's dowry being cheated and sold three years ago, the three and nine houses would be fishy.
Chen Zhu looked at the second master. The second master's face turned heavy, and he could not tell whether it was pain or regret on his face.
Without any need to explain in detail, just the few words Chen Jue had just thought of many things.
If Sun was in his forties, his son was only in his early 10 years old and had no children for more than ten years. For a woman who had lost her family, life would be so difficult. Although she had a son later, she still waited. It won’t work until the son grows up. Such arrangements are all for the purpose of preserving the flesh and blood. If there is a family member who can entrust him to the death, the legitimate son will not be subject to such a dispute.
The second master remembered the scene when the third master wanted to ask Grandpa Sun for divorce after writing a divorce letter, but was stopped by his elder brother.
The eldest master once asked him: "Second brother, have you figured it out? Uncle Sun entrusted Minniang to my house because there was no successor... If you go like this, you will make things difficult for Uncle Sun and make his father unrighteous..."
How did he answer?
He recognized his mother's words at that time, thinking that the Sun family sent his daughter to the Shen family as a "repaying favor with kindness". He was also worried that he would have such an indecent wife in the future and would be ridiculed by others, so he tacitly agreed to his mother's gift. Get into a marriage for yourself.
Even though Sun Min was sent to the Shen family when she was in her teens, Xu, who was born in the prime minister's family, taught herself that her words and deeds were not inappropriate. However, when she thought of her origin and the wealth she brought with her, the young and energetic second master Everyone felt like a thorn in their hearts. He could even imagine how others would point fingers after getting married, and joked that he married a merchant woman because of his wife's dowry.
He answered the master like this: "Sun's uncle is as close as a brother to his father, he will definitely not be willing to make our family uneasy because of the Sun family..."
He was so shameless that he pushed the cause of the chaos in his family to the heads of the father and daughter of the Sun family.
He knelt in front of Grandpa Sun again and said something to heartbroken: "It's not that my mother is traitorous, but that she is kind-hearted. Because my nephew is a good girl, I did this, but it's not intentionally disobeying my father... I'm sorry, Uncle Sun and Sun's family. My nephew will take responsibility for the sister's relationship. I also asked Uncle Sun to think that my mother gave birth to my elder brother and me for her father, and raised her third brother and third sister. She did not have any morals. Don't let her mother return home. My brothers and others lost their mother…”
Grandpa Sun looked straight at him for a while and asked, "My grandma Min has been in your house for five years. Don't you know the engagement?"
The second master disdained to lie and said with confidence: "My nephew and cousin are in a similar mind, and they can't help but feel in love. I'd like to ask Uncle Sun to fulfill his wishes."
He chose his thirteen-year-old cousin and gave up Sun Minniang, who had been married for five years, and there was no guilt at all at the local area at that time.
He was a young juren who was a match for the daughter of an official, and he was in charge of the case. After marrying a business woman as his wife, would he have to sit together and plan to plot against the bronze son?
In his opinion, even if he gave up this engagement, Sun Min would not have to worry about marrying with the Sun family's wealth. His father also treated Sun Min like a daughter, so he would naturally take care of him in the future, so there was no need to marry him.
It is better to have a good marriage event. Why do you know that your mother is not happy and even force your marriage to make everyone unhappy?
After hearing this, Grandpa Sun went to the Shen family, withdrew from the marriage, took Sun Min away, and "successfully" him.
Before he could secretly be happy, he was slapped by the third master in the face.
"Unfilial and unrighteous", my father only scolded him, and then never looked at him in person again.
He was full of grievances and went to complain to the master.
The master mentioned something and only then did he realize that the engagement between the two families can be traced back to earlier.
It turns out that when he was three years old, Grandpa Sun had lived in a small city. Grandpa San planned to give him to Grandpa Sun as his son. Grandpa Sun was due to the difficulties of the descendants of the Shen family. Grandpa San had only two sons at that time, and was afraid that he would be there.
He was wronged by the second master, so he said he wanted him to be half a child in the future.
The second master was stunned when he heard this. He knew that his father could give up his own children, so he knew that he was grateful to Mr. Sun's early kindness. His resignation really angered his father.
He didn't dare to feel wronged anymore. He was devoted to studying and wanted to become a talent earlier to let his father value himself again. If he didn't want haste, he would not achieve it. A cold before the scene made him delay the spring examination.
He was losing, and the third master had already ordered him to start a marriage for him.
At that time, he thought his father felt sorry for him, and in order to relieve himself, he allowed himself to get married earlier and make up for the loss of not being able to take the exam. After all, cousin Qiao was only fourteen years old at that time, and he should have waited for another year to marry.
Marriage period.
He married his favorite wife and happily went to thank his parents the next day when he got married, but the third grandfather met them in the ancestral hall.
After eating the daughter-in-law's tea, the third master immediately asked the housekeeper to send the account book and immediately separated the house.
He was so confused by the thunder that he was separated by the "big branch of the tree" with his little wife.
The third grandfather even waited for his daughter-in-law to return to the door for three dynasties, which showed that he not only blamed his wife and children, but also blamed the Qiao family.
If the third old lady had made a girl from another family for her son, the third grandfather might not have vented his anger; but the Qiao family is a relative of the Shen family, and the third old lady and Mrs. Qiao are compatriots and sisters. If you want to say that the Qiao family doesn't know about the second grandfather.
There is an engagement, that is a lie.
The third master did not accuse the Qiao family of things, but he did not mean to meet the Qiao family in person.
The second master was only seventeen years old at the time and was sent by his 14-year-old wife to a three-entry house in the southwest of the city by his managers.
The third master seemed to be really tired of this son. The Shen family was in the northeast of the capital, and the second master's new house was sold in the southwest corner of the city.
The second master was angry and embarrassed and refused to beg for mercy. He was determined to make achievements in fame and fortune. The next subject was the same as the master. The imperial examination was Yayuan, and the palace examination was the second-class pass, which was ranked higher than the master.
high.
The second master returned to the old house proudly, hoping to get a compliment from the third master, and hoped that the third master would forgive him for his promising purpose and let them move back.
The third master said: "Being an official means being a human being. You can't be a human being, and you can't be a good official. However, adding a kind of sour scholar in the Hanlin Academy is also a blessing for the world, so that you will not let the emperor down and the people down."
The second master was in a state of pride. He felt a basin of ice water pouring towards him, and his heart was trembling.
He was not convinced at the time, and only felt that he might not be worse than his elder brother. He was devoted to the court and was appointed as the prime minister. But more than twenty years later, as the third master said, he still stayed in the Hanlin Academy and never became a seal officer.
A few years later, Grandpa Sun passed away in the south, and the Sun family manager honored the will of his master to help the spirits to go north...