It is said that the Xicheng Gate Water Channel Project is about to be completed, so Li You doesn't have to go to supervise it every day and has more time at home.
On this day, he was teasing his daughter under the shade of a tree, while Xiaozhu and the nanny were waiting on him. As for Aunt Jin, she didn't have enough sleep due to the noise of the baby last night, so she was catching up on her sleep in the house.
Xiaozhu saw that the master was happy at this time, so he squeezed his shoulders and patted his back and said politely: "Master, my brother has returned from the service, can you find a job for me? I mentioned it during the Chinese New Year..."
It seemed that there was such a thing and he had forgotten it without mentioning it. Li You asked: "What did you do before? Are you half as cunning as you?"
Xiaozhu was embarrassed, "Master will make fun of me, what's wrong with the slave family? This brother of the slave family is not stupid, and he also knows a few words. I heard that he served in the capital this year to transport firewood, and now he is home after his term is over."
Has this person been to the capital? Hearing this, Li You said: "If you have time, ask him to come and see him. If you like him and are willing to join my Li family, I will give him a long-term follower. There is also a shortage of people on the left and right. Zhang and San often can't take care of both."
"Thank you so much, Master. I have to repay you for being a cow and a horse..." Xiaozhu's happy eyes turned from full moon to crescent moon.
Be a cow or a horse... Someone seemed to have said this, but I forgot who it was. Li You teased: "Don't worry, sooner or later you will be a cow or a horse."
Xiaozhu blushed and said nothing, and his movements became gentler.
Li You thought again that it was time to make preparations for going to the capital... He would be leaving in mid-August at the latest, but there were some things that needed to be done first.
Suddenly, the caretaker in the backyard came over and said, "I'm reporting from the front. The third master of the Zhao family has sent someone to deliver a message."
Li You wondered, could it be that Zhao Liangli knew that he had a daughter and sent someone to congratulate him? It had only been two days, so it must have spread too quickly.
He got up and went to the front hall, but he was surprised to see the servant of the Zhao family wearing a white mourning on his head. Seeing that he was not here to express happiness but to report a funeral. It must be that an important person in the Zhao family passed away, and he had some premonitions in his heart.
"Master Tui Guan, my fourth son passed away yesterday. I was ordered by the third master to report the death."
Sure enough, it was him... The fourth son of the Zhao family was the only son of Mr. Zhao Liangyi, and the real biological father of Brother Jie. This young man had always been frail and sickly, and was only in his early twenties. He didn't want to die now. Li You immediately looked sad and said: "I wonder when the server will be ready?"
"The small burial will be tomorrow, the big burial will be the day after tomorrow, and the funeral will be completed the day after that."
According to funeral customs, the day when the clothes are finished indicates the beginning of condolences, so Li You asked when the clothes were finished.
Then I heard Li You ask in a very discreet manner: "Who is the mourner for?"
"But it hasn't been agreed yet." The servant knew that Li You had a close relationship with Mr. Zhao Liangli, but he didn't hide it.
The funeral director is the master of the funeral. According to the ritual system, the eldest son is responsible for the funeral. If the eldest son is absent, the eldest grandson takes over. If there are no descendants, a person can be chosen from within the family, or a close neighbor can be used.
Therefore, it is a sensitive matter for Li You to ask about the funeral director. Except for the unknown brother Jie, the fourth son of Zhao has no children. Whoever appears at the funeral director's seat is likely to be a weather vane - there must always be someone in Zhao Liangyi's room. inherited.
After the mourner in the Zhao Mansion left, Li You sat in the hall for a long time and had some thoughts. He had no contact with the fourth son of Zhao. It would be too hypocritical to say that he was grieving because the deceased died young and young.
But he felt sorry for Mr. Zhao Liangyi. He had also just become a father, so he felt a little bit the same way. Presumably, Zhao Liangyi's heart must have been extremely painful when the white-haired man gave away the black-haired man, not to mention that the deceased was still
As the only descendant of Mr. Zhao Er, how can the unprecedented trauma of these years be easily erased?
Just let me give you a surprise... Li You sighed softly. In fact, he has been unsure when to inform the Zhao family of Brother Jie's existence is the best plan, but now he can determine that now is an excellent time...
It seemed unkind, and he was suspected of taking advantage of someone else's death to make a fuss, which made Li You feel a little guilty in his heart.
But he thought again, for Mr. Zhao Er, when he was in despair and pain, suddenly a grandson who inherited the bloodline descended from the sky, it was enough to soothe the body and mind no matter what. Seeing that he was obviously doing good things, it was reasonable to receive some gratitude.
As it should be.
Good things are good things, but how to report the news without offending people is also a technical task. It is a funeral, and you go to report good news. It is easy to offend people under the conflict.
In case the Zhao family has a heart attack, they will express their gratitude, but in their hearts, they are thinking that you, Mr. Li, have been waiting for the death of the Fourth Young Master to report this letter? Or maybe you, Mr. Li, are selling the property that the descendants of the Zhao family are holding for a price.
Thoughts? This is not worth the gain.
If you just do things like this with a benevolent mentality, then you are a stupid novice. What kind of official can you think of with this brain? Just go home and plant sweet potatoes as soon as possible.
Li Tuiguan carefully considered his words, put on his seventh-grade crown and robe, got into his sedan chair and headed towards Zhaojia Lane.
At the gate of the Zhao Mansion, the doorman heard the purpose of Guan Li's visit and said with a troubled face: "The second master has something to say, but I haven't seen any guests recently."
"Then I want to visit your third master."
While the disciple was chatting with Li You, he sent someone to report to the house. Not long after, he got a reply: "The third master has something to say. Today's housework is complicated. In order to avoid outsiders laughing, I won't see Mr. Li."
In order to avoid being laughed at by outsiders? Li You thought, Zhao Daguan is really sincere to him, and he said such things. Then he said to the disciple: "Go again! Tell the third master of your family that I will be here today for housework."
Come!"
When the disciple heard this, he was very surprised. Although Mr. Li and the Zhao family have a good relationship, they have never interfered with the Zhao family's household affairs. But he also knew that Li You had a close relationship with the third master, so he had to
Li You's original words came in.
This time Li You was led in and came to a small hall. At this time, besides Zhao Daguan, there were four or five old people sitting in the hall. They should all be elders of the Zhao family. Only Zhao Daguan was sitting at the bottom.
.I saw those old people arguing about something, but Zhao Liangli frowned and said nothing.
Among the three Zhao brothers, the eldest brother's family is far away from the capital, so Zhao Liangli handles his nephew's funeral. The top priority at this time is to find a suitable funeral director.
The elders of the clan were arguing about this matter just now. They all wanted to recommend someone from their own clan to be the funeral director. The arguing caused a headache for Zhao Daguan.
Zhao Liangli knew their little thoughts very well. Unfortunately, although Zhao Daguan had a son, he had not yet given birth to a grandson. Otherwise, there would be no need to argue. How could it be the turn of people from outside the branch to compete for the position? But if the nephew has descendants,
That would be better…
When Mr. Li in full robes came in, the situation was different again. The seats had to be rearranged according to etiquette. Li You, the seventh-rank official, sat at the top, accompanied by Zhao Liangli and his uncle who held the title of Juren. The other old people did not have any honors but were all
I could only stand and wait for Li You to say a few polite words before sitting down.
Li You spoke in an official tone and said to the official Zhao: "Since the prince of your house is dead, I feel sorry for him. It is very rude to come here rashly today. But it is because of a strange thing that I am not unhappy."
Zhao Liangli didn't know what kind of medicine Li You bought in the gourd, "What's the matter?"
Li You said again: "Please go to a place where no one is around to talk in secret."
Zhao Liangli led Li You to a small room next to him and dismissed the servants, "Why are you here?"
Li You said with doubt on his face: "When I heard the bad news, I suddenly remembered a ***-year-old child whose appearance was very similar to the Fourth Young Master. I had never noticed this before, but just now the more I thought about it, the more similar it became. I couldn't help it.
Come and find out one thing or two.”
Zhao Liangli couldn't help but ask, "How can there be such a coincidence in the world?"
Li You added: "This child's mother's surname is Fu, and I heard she is also from Fucheng."
"Fu...what! Are you serious?" Zhao Liangli was shocked. He recalled what happened more than ten years ago. Wasn't the maid who had an affair with Mr. Zhao Fourth and was kicked out of the house her surname Fu? Could it be that she was pregnant with her child at that time?
Pregnant?
Li You looked solemn and said: "How dare you joke? But I always feel that such a coincidence should not happen in the world."
After hearing the news about Li You, Zhao Liangli grabbed his forearm and said, "You are right, this is not a coincidence. That Fu family comes from my Zhao family. You and I must go to see the second brother and explain the matter completely."
After saying that, Zhao Daguan hurriedly took Li You to the study room in the back hall.
Zhao Liangyi leaned on the low couch, holding a book in his hand, but did not read it, his eyes were distracted and he was in a daze. Even when Zhao Liangli and Li You came in, they turned a deaf ear.
Zhao Liangli stepped forward and coughed: "My poor nephew may have descendants."
Zhao Liangyi nodded indifferently, "Oh, has it been decided? Which branch are you from?"
Zhao Liangli said anxiously: "That's not what I meant! Brother, do you still remember the past ten years...about *** years ago? That humble servant named Fu who was kicked out of the house, Mr. Li said that the son she gave birth to looked like my nephew.
Exactly the same, and he is exactly eight years old. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. It’s a pity that God saved my nephew’s flesh and blood in this world.”
Zhao Liangyi's face immediately flushed with blood, he changed his weak look, stood up immediately and said to Li You: "Please tell me the details quickly, Mr. Li!"
Li You said hypocritically again: "Back to my lord, I didn't notice this before I was promoted to official position. I only noticed it now, so I didn't dare to hide it and took the liberty to come to the house to ask. This child is from my in-laws' family..."
After Li You finished speaking, Zhao Liangyi asked: "Where is the woman named Fu now?"
"After Xiaguan became a monk in Taishan, Mrs. Fu returned to Fucheng to join her uncle's family. She also asked Xiaguan to find a good husband for her. Before today, Xiaguan didn't even know that she was from the Zhao family. If he had known this..."
Zhao Liangyi turned to his younger brother and gave instructions: "Prepare the boat, I want to go to Xujiang."
Li You stopped Zhao Liangli and said loudly to Zhao Liangyi: "Master, please listen to what Xiaguan has to say! This child has been raised by my parents-in-law for ten years. His current name is Liu Jie, and he is the only child of the Liu family! Xiaguan and Boss
We have a few friends, and I am afraid that the old lady will be sad and hurt, so I point out this matter as a comfort. If the old lady recognizes the child back to the Zhao family and cuts off the descendants of my Yue family, then it will be a great sin for me to be a low-ranking official!"
Zhao Liangyi was silent for a while, then bowed to Li You and said, "I have lost my mind. I would like to thank Mr. Li here. But I, Zhao Liangyi, have been allowed to continue my bloodline. Mr. Li is a bystander, so what can you teach me?"
Li You also pretended to meditate for a moment and said: "It is better to recognize your ancestors and not return to the clan. Brother Jie will come forward to act as the mourner to show the clan members. But after that, he still returns to the Liu family. When Brother Jie gets married and has children, he repays the kindness of the Liu family in raising him.
If you return to the clan and inherit the incense of the elder, or if the son of Jie Ge'er returns to the clan, it will always be the blood of the elder. Wouldn't this have the best of both worlds?"
Zhao Liangyi bowed to Li You again and said, "I will not thank you for your kindness. I also ask Mr. Li to go to Xujiang with you to discuss this matter."
