From the intersection of Shenjiafang Street, there are road sacrificial sheds and road sacrificial tables.
As a filial son, Shen Rui had to follow Shen Juren on his knees and knelt down to thank family friends who came to offer sacrifices on the road. It was inevitable to kneel and kowtow. Moreover, the position of the filial son was behind the coffin, half a mile away from the front of the procession.
Shen Juren could still enjoy some leisure time and didn't need to go back. Shen Rui had the errand of laying flags. After every time he kowtowed a place of thanks, he had to go back to the queue. He had to walk several times longer than others. Fortunately, he had to go back. Shen Jin and Shen Quan were with each other. Even though they were out of breath, they felt more comfortable suffering together than alone.
Half an hour later, we arrived at the intersection in front of the government office. The road memorial shed of Songjiang Magistrate Jiang Sheng was set up here. This Jiang Sheng was the local official and the number one official in Songjiang Prefecture. Now not only the prefect’s wife was here, but also the prefect Your Excellency also set up a roadside sacrificial tent, which is a great honor.
Before they could get closer, the eldest master of the clan, Shen Juren, called Shen Rui and others over, and they all stepped forward.
There was a sacrificial tent on the road, and a sacrificial table with water and wine was set up. However, the person who came to preside over the ceremony was not the prefect of Chiang, but the third son of the prefect of Chiang, Jiang Rong. Although the elder clan leader was a little disappointed, he was not very surprised. Jiang was promoted to Jinshi. Born, he was a clean and honest official, he was honest and honest, he behaved like a gentleman, and he did not like to work hard like other officials. Now that the wife of the magistrate is being buried, and the Jiang family has set up a road festival, Jiang Sheng can be sold as long as he shows up. Shen Li, who lives in the countryside and keeps the rules, is not worthy of this favor, which shows that he is such an honest man.
It was rare for Shen Li to take the initiative and exchange a few words with Jiang Rong. It turned out that Jiang Rong's uncle was also a Hanlin official and was a colleague of Shen Li. Now he was holding the bachelor's degree at the same level as Shen Li. For this reason, Jiang Rong was calling him After Shen Ju was named "Shi Weng", Shen Li was called "Shi Shu", and the hierarchy of generations was confused.
Everyone had their own opinions, and no one was trying to find fault with him. Only Shen Rui was surprised, what was going on with Mr. Jiang, and why he kept looking at him.
Shen Rui's intuition was good. After the third son of Jiang and Shen Juren exchanged greetings, Shen Rui came to Shen Rui as expected. He took Shen Rui's hand, with a look of sorrow on his face, and said, "Brother Fool can't help but get close to a good brother. I'll do it in the future." It would be better if you move around more." He added, "Now that my aunt has passed away, my dear brother still needs to grieve and obey."
The sorrow and glory on this face are real and real, and it doesn't seem to be fake, but what is the looming regret, sympathy and inexplicable closeness in the eyes?
Shen Rui was a little confused. This sympathy was not enough. He had lost his mother when he was young, which was a misfortune in his life. What was he regretting? What was he so close to for no reason? Could a son of a magistrate be close to a nine-year-old child just because the mistresses of the two families had an old relationship? Heart?
The entire funeral procession was waiting aside, and there were dozens of memorial tents and memorial tables in front of them. Young Master Jiang looked at it quite clearly. He exchanged a few warm words with Shen Rui and asked the procession to continue. At that time, Third Young Master Jiang said: "I will accompany my mother out of the city soon. If you are a wise brother who can use you as a foolish brother, please don't be a heretic."
Although Shen Rui muttered in his heart, he still responded honestly on his face.
The funeral procession marched again, but this time no one took the same step as Magistrate Chiang and ordered others to offer sacrifices on their behalf. They were all personally present. Even though Shen Li did not step forward specially, since everyone could arrive, they did so without hesitation. There is kindness in expressing closeness to the Shen family. Some treat Shen Juren with words of comfort, while others deliberately treat Shen Juren with indifference and praise Shen Rui.
Shen Rui had no intention of staging a drama of "father and son fighting" in front of his tribe, and became more and more taciturn. In the eyes of the tribe, they didn't feel that Shen Rui had stolen Shen Juren's limelight. They just felt that the scandal of Shen Juren's "father's abuse of his son" must have spread. These Only the officials don't want to see Shen Juren.
Due to the constant stream of memorial tents and memorial tables along the road, the funeral procession took nearly an hour to walk for several miles from Shenjiafang to the west gate of the county seat.
It was not until noon that the funeral procession left the city from the west gate.
The sky was full of fog that day, and the air was damp and cold.
But no matter what others thought, Shen Rui was wearing a new cotton-padded coat. Not only did he not feel the chill at all, but he was also sweating. But he was still young, and because the weight of the flag pole was not light, Shen Rui had already used two hands, and it was a bit difficult to walk. Panting. Seeing that there were fewer people watching the excitement, Shen Li took the flag pole from Shen Rui, allowing Shen Rui to take a break.
The tomb of the Shen clan is located on the sunny slope of Xishan, five miles away from the county seat. The entire Xishan is owned by the Shen clan. The cemetery of the clan lineage is at the middle foot of the Xishan. Radiating downwards are the three inner chambers and the five outer chambers at the foot of the mountain.
The cemetery of each house covers an area of dozens of acres. Because the population of the fourth house is not large, and there are not many tombs like other houses, there are only six grave heads. The descendants of the fourth house have not been numerous, so it can be seen that this is the case.
In addition to the graves of Shen Juren's father, great-grandfather, and great-grandfather, there are also the tombs of a great-aunt who never married and an uncle who never married and had no children.
The great-aunt was a virgin, and although the great-uncle had not yet grown up, he was able to have a "shadow marriage" and share the remains. Therefore, these two people were able to be buried in the Shen family cemetery, otherwise there would be fewer graves in the fourth room.
Mr. Sun did not pass away suddenly. As early as when Ling Ling was sick, the fourth room began to choose blessing materials.
The top of the four-room cemetery is the tomb of the great ancestor of Shen Juren. The lower part is arranged in the east-west direction according to the rule that ancestors and grandchildren are adjacent and father and son are not close to each other.
Sun's blessed land is actually the place where Shen Juren was later buried, to the south of Shen Juren's grandfather's grave. Now that Sun has passed away, he will be buried first. When Shen Juren passes away, Sun's grave will be raised and the couple's bones will be buried together. Buried again.
In addition to a few tombs, there are also five villas in the four-room tomb site, which are usually the place where the tombkeepers stay. When there are important funeral events, it is the place where the mourners take a break and have tea.
A nine-foot-deep pit has been dug at the location of the blessed place. Mr. Yin and Yang will come forward and direct the pole bearers to "climb into the pit and bury" when the auspicious time comes.
When the coffin was put into the pit, the jars were put in place, and the sacrificial table was placed in front of the pit. Shen Rui, as the leader, led everyone to kneel down and mourn. They brought various paper works with them, as well as the remaining paper money scattered along the way, and burned Burn it, scatter it. The fire spreads in all directions, paper money flies in the sky, and does not fall for a long time, making the sky white.
After covering the earth, Shen Rui and others poured a handful of earth into the acupuncture points one by one, and mourned together. The rest was buried by the pole bearer. Except for the two tribesmen who were left to supervise the work, other filial relatives went to the Yangzhai to rest temporarily.
Sifang arranged for the waiter to come over early and prepared some tea and snacks. But there were only five rooms in Yangzhai, and there were many relatives and friends of the tribe who came to mourn, and they had to make room for the female family members alone. Therefore, there were not many people waiting to enter the house, and most of them were outside Yangzhai. Sitting on the ground. Fortunately, there were enough tea and snacks prepared so that everyone could relieve their fatigue.
Although Shen Rui and Shen Jin were young, because they were filial sons, they also received the care of the clan elders and entered the house. Shen Rui mourned repeatedly, his eyes were red and swollen, and he was worried about the next drama, and he really had no thoughts. After having some tea, the clan elders saw him and felt more and more that he was really filial and could not help but give him some advice.
Because the law has long stipulated that the size of the cemetery and the height of the tomb are customized. Sun's tomb, which is also the tomb of Shen Juren, should occupy an area of 20 square steps and be six feet high. There were more than 60 pole bearers who came to see the funeral. , took turns filling in the soil, but in just two-quarters of an hour, the hole was filled and the grave was erected.
The filial relatives came out and kowtowed on the tomb according to their seniority and junior status. Naturally, only the nephews and nephews of the younger generation were the ones to kowtow. Shen Juren and the clan elders only had to bow, and the funeral ceremony was officially concluded.
Among the tribesmen and in-laws who came to the funeral, the Shen clan has been reproducing for more than a hundred years, but the fourth family has been passed down alone for several generations. There are not many relatives who have relatives. Most relatives and friends who have no relatives and other relatives and friends attending the funeral have brought "floating filial piety", that is, the head of the family. A white cloth was tied around the body or waist, and white paper flowers were tied on the hairpins of female family members. This "floating filial piety" was put on before the funeral this morning and left after the funeral. Therefore, after the funeral ceremony was over, Shen Juren took Shen Jin and Shen Rui with him , Shen Quan and Shen Quan knelt down and asked relatives and friends who had submitted to "floating filial piety" to take off their filial piety.
All the relatives and friends bowed in return, starting from the stranger to the closest, saying goodbye one by one, and returned home respectively. No one noticed it until all the relatives and friends with foreign surnames had dispersed, and neither the wife of the magistrate nor the son of the magistrate showed up. Among the female relatives, the eldest lady of the clan, the Guo family, and the Xie family The carriage never moved.
The in-laws of the Shen family and the side concubines had almost left. The legitimate sons and grandsons of each house were supposed to return to the city in honor of their fathers and ancestors, but they were also sent back. As a result, the prefect's mother and son, as well as the clan's eldest wife, who stayed in the Yangzhai, were sent back. Apart from the family members, the only people left in the cemetery were Shen Juren, his father and son, Shen Li, Shen Quan, and the heads of each house.
The clan clan is the father and son of the patriarch and the eldest clan clan master. The second clan has moved to the capital many years ago. Now all the household registrations have been moved out. There are scattered concubine branches, and they are not qualified to speak in the clan. They are only famous in the clan; the third clan is the one who comes forward. The old man from the third room and his head Shen Hu; the fourth room is from Shen Juren; the fifth room is from the fifth room and Shen Hong; the sixth room is from the head of Shen Qi; the seventh room is from Shen Li; the eighth room is from the eighth room from the old man and Shen Hong. Liu; Jiufang is the Grand Master of Jiufang and Shen Lu, and is also Shen Li’s uncle and cousin.
Among these people, there were two from the elder generation, three from the elder generation, five from the elder generation, and two from the eldest brother generation. Because the elders and the elders were all old, everyone returned to the east room of the Yangzhai, and the women were still in the west room. Accompany the prefect's wife.
Shen Juren's face turned pale, not because he was afraid of anything, but because he was extremely angry. Because when Shen Li stopped the elders from all clans from going back, he said: "Now that my aunt has been buried, the things that will happen after her death must also be settled." ."
This sentence is not uncommon at funerals. It usually refers to a family that has lost a married daughter, and the mother's family comes forward to make the decision for the nephew or niece who has lost her mother. What qualifications does Shen Li, a nephew of the clan, have to settle the affairs of the Sun family after his death?
Although Shen Juren was extremely angry, he did not naively say anything like "no one needs to intervene in the housework of the fourth house". After all, he was in his forties. Even if he was not familiar with economics, he still understood the principles of human relations. The person in charge of each house today It was so complete, and the two old men who had not been seen for a long time showed up. Shen Li must have planned this move in advance, and Shen Juren could not stop it if he said no.
He knew that Shen Li was so impatient to count Sun's dowry just to guard against him. After all, Shen Juren also read the books of sages and knew the superiority of his concubines. This was just because the four families had been passed down from generation to generation. In his early years, he only had Shen. It was only because of Jin's son that he became confused about his legitimate concubine. Although he had always been tough and felt that he had not treated his legitimate concubine badly, in the middle of the night, he remembered the disapproval in the eyes of the Japanese relatives on the "first seven" day, and also knew that he had asked Shen Jin to perform the duties of a filial son. Things were too hasty.
Now that he had left a misunderstanding in front of his clan members about taking advantage of his wife's dowry to get the eldest son of a concubine, he did not want to cause any further trouble. As for Shen Jin, fame was in sight, and he would support the four-bedroom family in the future. The fourth family was not as poor as in the past, and he had already given up his family. A piece of property, wait until Shen Jin wins the election and allocate two properties to Shen Jin for private property.