The next day was Sun's "first seventh day", the day of the Fourth House Festival. Starting from the morning, Shen Juren's house opened its doors to welcome guests.
In the mourning shed, dozens of monks, wearing cassocks and holding gold and copper cymbals, chanted sutras constantly; dozens of Taoist priests, wearing feathered robes, holding bamboo shengs with reed tubes, kept chanting.
The inside and outside of the mourning hall were plain white. Shen Juren was dressed in mourning clothes, and he entertained his relatives and friends with a sad face. Looking at the handsome young man wearing sackcloth and wearing filial piety in front of the funeral, and listening to Mr. Shen saying that he had passed the hospital examination, It's "Little Sanyuan" again. If his mother hadn't been mourned, he would have been elected next year. In addition to saying "My condolences to Mr. Shen", the guests who came to pay homage would also have to say two words of praise: "The young phoenix is more beautiful than the old man." The sound of the phoenix".
Shen Juren was humble, but he stroked his beard from time to time, with a hint of relief.
Such a scene seemed nothing to outsiders, but it pricked the eyes of many tribesmen who were familiar with the four families. Many people looked surprised and looked at the clan elder sitting at the head.
The clan elder seemed to have not seen him before, drinking tea with his head lowered. He is the eldest son, and now the patriarch of the clan is old. Although he still bears the title of clan leader, the clan clan elder takes care of many of the common affairs in the clan. He did not speak. Even if the masters in the other rooms have something to say in their hearts, it's hard to say anything.
Sitting at the bottom among the clan members was none other than Shen Li, the number one scholar in the outer ninth house. Seeing Shen Juren acting like this, he immediately felt angry.
He sits at the bottom, but because of his seniority, no one in the clan dares to look down upon the champion. Although he is in mourning and not in officialdom, he is not yet 30 years old. In addition to his clan uncles who are officials in the capital, there are also The Grand Scholar's House is the Yue family, so I don't have to worry about no one to support me. When I return to Xiaoman, I will be the number one scholar, and I will have a bright future.
Others were paying attention to Shen Juren's face, and even though they had doubts, most of them kept silent in thought. Only Shen Li had been worried all night, and now he couldn't help it any longer. He frowned and said, "Uncle Yuan, why is Brother Rui missing? Which day is this?" position, why did my aunt occupy the position of dutiful son?"
When Shen Li returned to his hometown, although Sun was seriously ill, he was not dead yet. Shen Li wore a heavy filial piety and was taboo about visiting patients, but he had met Shen Rui. Even though he felt that he was a little spoiled, he still behaved according to the rules. " "Love the house and the bird" is also close to the heart.
Even Shen Jin, who is kneeling in the mourning hall, is not an unknown person in the clan. He not only attended the burial of Shen Li's mother with Shen Juren, but also went to visit her with several famous clan brothers. Too serious.
Shen Li had no ill feelings toward Shen Jin before, but now that he saw him occupying the position of filial son without any shame, he couldn't help but feel disgusted to the extreme, so he pretended not to know.
Hearing this, Shen Juren looked a little stiff and said sarcastically: "Brother Rui is ill. This is my eldest son, Brother Jin. We, the old An, are worried about Brother Rui's illness and are afraid that he will suffer too much, so we ordered Brother Jin to come over and take care of him." present."
When Shen Li heard this, he became even more angry.
This position of filial son cannot be occupied casually. Even though the young man in front of him is the eldest son of Shen Ju, and it is his duty to guard the funeral of his aunt, he should not occupy the position of filial son. Even if Shen Rui is not here, Shen Jin should still take Shen Rui's position. The position is vacant to distinguish the concubines and concubines from being superior and inferior.
Also, Shen Juren's words introduced Shen Jin as the eldest son, not the eldest son of the concubine, which blurred the status of concubine. Then it was natural to record Shen Jin under the name of the Sun family?
But in this case, for Shen Rui, not only would he change from the only legitimate son to the second legitimate son, but he would also lose half of the dowry left by the Sun family.
The reason why Shen Juren dared to do this was simply that the Shen family was powerful. Sun was the only daughter of the Sun family. There were no brothers or nephews to come forward. The Sun family’s dowry was all in the hands of the Shen family, and no one was looking out for Shen Rui. Otherwise, the Sun family would bite If someone "plots dowry on his legitimate wife" lives on the same street, the two families will have to go to court.
Everyone in the clan knows that Sun didn’t get his legitimate son until he was over thirty years old, which hurt his health, so Lao An, the fourth brother, took his second brother and raised him. He spoiled his second brother too much and developed a stubborn and willful character. Although he was only a young man, he could Already famous.
Shen Jin is different. Not only is he young and smart, but he is also academically accomplished. He is one of the best talents among the younger generation of the Shen family. The Shen family is a scholarly family, and it is common for their children to study. It is common for scholars in their teens to be like Shen Jin. There are only a few people with such talent, and the last one was Shen Li, the number one scholar.
In addition to his background, even though he is a concubine, his biological mother Zheng is not humble.
The Zheng family is also a scholarly family. Shen Jin's maternal grandfather was Shen Juren's mentor in his early years. He had a reputation as a scholar, and the two families had a long-term friendship. The world is unpredictable, Zheng's father died early, and his mother was widowed and his younger brother was helpless. A young lady from a scholar's family had no dowry, so it was difficult for her to get a well-matched marriage. In order to get more money and take care of her mother and brother, she could only become a concubine. Zheng's younger brother was more successful. He was admitted to the Jinshi along with Shen Li and got an official status. He was only ranked among the top three, and now he is serving as a magistrate in Shanxi.
Although Shen Ju did not "pamper his concubines and destroy his wives", it is well known that he loved Zheng and his concubine's eldest son. Because Sun was a kind-hearted person, many female relatives in the family had good relations with him, and many of them had grievances. But this After all, it is a household chore for the fourth house. Mrs. Sun is virtuous and treats her concubines very leniently and does not punish them harshly. Mrs. Zheng has a soft temperament and always abides by her duties. She only teaches her children with peace of mind and does not harm others. If there is any injustice, it’s hard to say anything.
Now that Shen Rui is not here, Shen Jin occupies the position of filial son in the mourning hall. Like Shen Li, everyone guessed that Shen Juren would then confirm the identity of Shen Jin's eldest son. After all, there is a difference between legitimate concubine and concubine in the eyes of the world. Whether it is getting married or becoming an official in the future, the status of a legitimate son is a little more convenient. No matter how good Shen Jin is in knowledge, if he has a concubine and behaves in a concubine, he will lose his dignity in the end. There are also those old Confucian scholars who insist on etiquette and rules. , it is more about respecting the concubine and respecting the concubine. It doesn’t matter what your character and knowledge are.
Although Shen Juren made this arrangement out of "the heart of a loving father", he was too merciless to the Sun family whose corpse was still cold. Even if he wanted to give Shen Jin the status of his legitimate son, it didn't have to be so urgent. After all, everyone knew that regardless of the Sun family, No matter how virtuous he was during his lifetime, he has passed away, and the day when Zheng will be restored to his right is not far away.
At that time, as the son of the Zheng family, it was reasonable for Shen Jin to transform from a concubine to a direct descendant. But in terms of preciousness, he could not compare to Shen Rui, the direct descendant of his original wife.
If Shen Rui is the eldest and Shen Jin is the youngest, they can still fool the outside world that it is the legitimate step-sibling. But Shen Jin's age is here to show, the step-sibling is five years older than the legitimate son of the original wife. How can they hide it when it comes time to get married? At that time, the "concubine to support the wife" was another rhetoric. According to Ming Dynasty laws, it was forbidden to "take concubines as wives". There was support among the people, but it was just "if the people don't promote it, the officials won't correct it."
As long as someone is serious about Shen Jin's identity, it will be even more embarrassing to inquire about Shen Jin's identity, whether he is a direct descendant or a concubine, and how can he be directly recorded in the name of the Sun family?
Of course, this arrangement in advance was not out of respect for the Sun family. In addition to Shen Jin's legitimate sonship, it also involved other things. In addition to the ordinary gold and silver boxes and cages, the Sun family's dowry also included cotton fields, houses, shops, and most importantly. There are two major weaving factories under their name, with thousands of looms. Excluding the labor expenses, the annual income of the weaving factory is thousands of taels of silver.
Among the heads of the Shen family, except for the fourth house, only the clan house and the fifth house have more than a thousand looms. However, those two heads have many descendants and have never been divided into families, so the weaving factory has not been divided. But the fourth house has More than a thousand looms, together with other paved farm buildings, are Sun's dowry. Sun's father came to buy them in advance before Sun got married in Songjiang. Whether it is according to the law or the world, these should be kept intact. Shen Rui, Sun's biological son, has nothing to do with the other people in the fourth house.
As a result, among the younger members of the clan, the assets under Shen Rui's name are unparalleled by any of his brothers. Even if he is not successful, he can still have food and drink for the rest of his life by guarding this inheritance.
No one is a fool, everyone should have seen it clearly. Shen Juren favored the eldest son of the concubine and went for the Sun family's dowry. It was inevitable that everyone had some injustice in their hearts, but the elder clan leader did not speak, and others Naturally, there is no room for doubt.
Don't bully young people into poverty.
Shen Jin is also a descendant of the Shen family. Even if Sun's dowry is divided into half of Shen Jin's, it will not be cheaper for other families. Shen Jin is a young scholar with a promising career and a bright future. Compared with Shen Rui, who does not like to study, everyone knows He is the future head of Sifang, and no one wants to offend him in vain. They can only watch him occupy the position of filial son, first get the name of the legitimate son, and then get the dowry of the legitimate mother.
In the mourning hall, except for Shen Li, no one could say a word of justice to Sun and Shen Rui.
Shen ideally believed that Mr. Sun was kind during his lifetime, and not only one family but two families here had benefited from it, especially Shen Juren. An elder in his ancestors had been addicted to gambling and had fallen into ruin, leaving only an empty shell. Since he married Mr. Sun, he has been He became prosperous and built good land and beautiful houses. Now that Shen Juren is behaving like this, if the eldest son had a just heart, he should have spoken out long ago. He was so silent. I wonder if he and Shen Juren had a tacit understanding.
Shen Li clenched her gums, holding back her face until her face turned red. She suppressed her anger and said, "Even if Brother Rui is seriously ill, he should show up in front of the elders on days like this. Otherwise, how can the elders feel at ease?" With this little bit of flesh and blood, if you really take care of something you can't see, if something goes wrong, I'm afraid God won't be able to forgive it. Good deeds are not rewarded with good deeds, who will do good deeds again? How can the younger generation of the family bear to care so much about their aunt's kindness? Is Brother Rui sick like this? Grandfathers and uncles, please take a look and see if you should bring Brother Rui over. If he is really seriously ill, you might as well invite good doctors to avoid delaying the illness." After that, he looked at it. Shen Juren.
After hearing this, the old ladies and gentlemen who were originally watching from the Shen family couldn't help but look sideways, and the room was filled with silence.
It is one thing to record the already successful Shen Jin in the name of the Sun family and share half of the Sun family's dowry; it is another thing to plot Shen Rui's life and murder the Sun family's own children. Although everyone thinks in their hearts, "Tiger poison cannot be eaten" "Son", Shen Juren may not be so cruel, but thinking about Sun's death, Sun Rui did not show up for seven days. Although Shen Rui had been informed that Shen Rui was ill, he did not ask for medical treatment. He didn't think anything about it earlier, but now he faces the scene When I got up, I couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.
Even the eldest son of the clan couldn't sit still. He looked at Shen Juren and said, "Brother Rui has been ill for a few days. What's going on? You can't hide your illness and avoid medical treatment. If something is really wrong, it's better to see a doctor as soon as possible... "