Chapter 473

In less than a moment, Zhao Hongwen washed up and changed into a solemn dark robe, and reappeared in front of Song Zhehan's eyes, the two were not too polite, only smiled at each other, and got up and walked towards the temporarily arranged mourning hall in the courtyard.

Song Zhehan was very polite and slightly half a step behind, which greatly satisfied Zhao Hongwen's vanity, so that Zhao Hongwen, who was too proud, didn't notice that Song Zhehan behind him threw a juanpa in his sleeve in the room at the moment he closed the door.

This handkerchief is the one that Zhao Hongwen threw next to Ning Lao after wiping his hands.

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Ning Lao's last resting place was the upper room he lived in before.

In the mourning hall, you can still faintly smell the smell of ashes after the fire, but the white veils hanging down from the top hide the mess well behind a solemn atmosphere, facing the door, a huge screen with black lacquer and white strokes, hanging a big "Dian" word, on both sides is the eighth master personally written couplet.

On the plain black offering case, an ever-bright lamp is emitting a faint halo, and the candlelight, which should make people feel at peace, sets off the mourning hall more solemnly and solemnly, as if even the air is filled with a sentimental taste.

The family members of the Ning family, who had been living outside the mansion before, had also been sent by the eighth master to the mansion, and several children and grandchildren wearing filial piety clothes were sobbing and burning paper money, and when they saw Zhao Hongwen and Song Zhehan coming in, they hurriedly saluted.

The two entered the mourning hall, took off the hat they were wearing on their heads, and held the junior salute. Respectfully kowtowed three times, and then offered the incense sticks sent by the acquaintance to the incense burner. Only then did he slightly tidy up the hem of his robe, and came to Ning Lao's widow, Yu's side, and said with a choked voice: "Auntie, please mourn." ”

"You two have a heart. As a family member of the deceased, Yu returned a blessing, twisted the handkerchief, and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. Slightly shorter.

"Brother Ning, take good care of your aunts, and you must persuade some aunts. The two of them were slightly short. It was regarded as a return to Yu's salute, and then he came to Ning Lao's eldest son, Ning Jinghui's side, and said in a deep voice.

Ning Jinghui did not follow his father's old path. Be a staff member for life. On the contrary, he has been studying hard with the support of his father, striving for a day and the first, the title of the gold list, he won the title a few years ago, and he is planning to wait for this year to participate in the examination in Beijing, it can be said that the reason why Ning Lao defected to the side of the eighth master. is also to pave the way for his son, but he doesn't want him to have never entered the tribute courtyard. Ning Lao died so suddenly.

If you want to say who Ning Lao's death has the greatest impact on, it is naturally Ning Jinghui, the eldest son of Ning Lao and the hope of the whole family.

Listening to the instructions of the two, Ning Jinghui grinned miserably, and nodded again and again: "Ning knows, thank you two for coming to see my father on his last journey." ”

"Don't say such stupid things, we have worked with Ning Lao for many years, although there are some small frictions, but in the end they are all trivial things, and now Ning Lao has suffered such a catastrophe, we are also very sad. Zhao Hongwen sighed, shook Ning Jinghui's hands vigorously, and said in a deep voice.

Song Zhehan also said with a sad face: "That's right.

Brother Ning, this time Ning Lao passed away suddenly, if there is any difficulty in the family in the future, he will definitely come to tell Song Mou, although Song Mou's ability is limited, he will also do his best to help. ”

"The two of you are so polite. Ning Jinghui raised his hand and replied with a wry smile.

The three of them were polite again, and when they saw that some people who had old ties with Ning Lao were visiting, they all said goodbye and stood in the courtyard.

It turned out that in order to reflect his affection for Ning Lao, Lao Ba specially arranged Ning Lao's mourning hall in the Baylor Mansion, instead of Ning Lao's funeral in the residence in Beijing.

Looking at the mourning hall that was hurriedly erected in Tianming and the guests coming and going, as if pushed to a big mountain on his head, Zhao Hongwen, who was in a good mood, stood under the porch, stroked a wisp of green beard under his chin, and said in a low voice: "It is really an honor for you and me to be able to assist a master like the eighth master." ”

"Brother Zhao is right. Song Zhehan sneered in his heart, but his face seemed to be very sad that Ning Lao died suddenly, full of sorrow and sadness, and under that sadness, he seemed to feel that the eighth master was so polite and virtuous, and he was faintly happy, "It's just a pity that Brother Ning's literary talent, otherwise Brother Ning's talent, coupled with the connections of the eighth master, this subject will definitely be able to hit it in one fell swoop." Saying that, Song Zhehan let out a long sigh.

Ning Jinghui's literary brilliance is obvious to all.

This is the origin of the family of poetry and books, and there is the support of the eighth master behind him, but it is difficult to think of it, and his father is a staff member that the eighth master values very much, and the future development in the career can be described as smooth sailing, step by step, but now, everything has come to naught.

After three years of filial piety, who knows what kind of scene it will be when Ning Jinghui returns to the capital again, thinking of this, Song Zhehan sighed with some regret.

And Zhao Hongwen, who stood side by side with him, felt that he was in a happier mood.

Originally, he didn't expect that Ning Lao's son would participate in the imperial examination this year, and he had to make a decision immediately, otherwise when Ning Jinghui successfully obtained fame and gained a firm foothold in the court, their father and son fought side by side, in this Eighth Master's Mansion, is there still a place for him Zhao Hongwen!

I can only say that I am very lucky!

Zhao Hongwen, who was secretly happy that he had decisively chosen a correct path, although he tried very hard to control his facial expressions, he still showed a hint of joy, which happened to be seen by Ning Jinghui, who was sending Ning Lao out of the house.

"My father's death, I'm afraid it's not as the eighth master said. Returning to the mourning hall, Ning Jinghui, who recalled that Zhao Hongwen was smiling at his father's spiritual position, did not tell his wife about his discovery, but secretly pondered in his heart and made up his mind to find out the truth himself.

Don't look at Ning Lao's poor character, but his sons are very filial.

Among them, the most filial is the eldest son Ning Jinghui.

Ning Jinghui didn't like to study Bagu Wen in the first place, but his father's greatest wish was to let him gain fame. Shining on the lintel, he just endured the boredom and tedium, and read hard with the book all day long. Just to fulfill my father's wish.

Now that his father has not seen his title on the gold list until he died, he secretly regrets the laziness of the previous years, if he can work harder, if he can focus a little more......

Strong remorse and suspicion of the cause of his father's death made Ning Jinghui make a not wise, but very decisive decision in front of his father's coffin - he wanted to give up the scientific expedition. Follow the path left by your father, become a trusted staff member of the eighth master's side, and stay in the eighth master's mansion to find the truth about his father's death.

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As the last clear snow fell. The weather in the capital is getting warmer and warmer.

Ning Jinghui was worried that his father's body would decompose on the road, so he only stopped the mortuary for seven days, so he led his widowed mother, family members, brothers and other clansmen to bid farewell to the eighth master. escorted Ning Lao's body. Left the capital and went all the way to Tongzhou Mansion.

Like him, there was another person who rushed to Tongzhou.

This person was alone, driving a jujube horse, only carrying a few clothes as luggage, chasing all the way, and finally rushed to Tongzhou Mansion before Ning Jinghui and his family rushed to Tongzhou.

Street. An inconspicuous teahouse, in a private room on the second floor. The lone man had been sitting for more than an hour, and had even refilled the tea in the pot three times.

"This guest officer, it's cloudy this day, why don't you help you close the window first!" The little second brother who went upstairs again to refill the water looked at the man sitting like a clay statue, raised a flattering smile on his face, and said in a low voice.

"Not necessarily. The man's bloodshot eyes looked straight at the street, and he replied without looking back, and at the same time took out a piece of broken silver from his pocket and threw it in front of the little second brother, "This money, take it to buy me a pot of good wine, and the excess will be your reward." ”

"Guest officer, you see that we are a teahouse......" Although the words of the little second brother were not finished, the embarrassment in his tone and the little eyes that were greedy for money still revealed his mood.

The man looked at the little second brother for a few seconds, didn't entangle with him more, sneered, threw out another silver ingot, and ordered coldly: "Hurry up, master is in a hurry, if there is a good taste of roast chicken, bring one back to you." ”

With that, he turned around again and looked out the window.

This time, the little second brother didn't ink anymore, answered with a smile, carefully covered the door for him, and went downstairs with ease.

"That one is still like that?" asked the shopkeeper behind the counter, listening to the movement on the stairs, tilting his neck in the direction of the man's private room.

"Isn't it, to put it mildly, a weirdo. The second brother grumbled quietly while sending the silver ingot in his hand to the shopkeeper, and at the same time repeated the man's request.

"You have to get it, don't complain about it, since everyone has made a request, you should hurry up, go to Lao Yao's house to give him a jar of good apricot blossom spring, and then go to Lu Ding Ji to buy a roast chicken, it is estimated that this silver is about the same. The shopkeeper checked the silver ingot in his hand, raised his hand and knocked on Xiao Er's head, counted two sentences with disgust on his face, and pulled it twice from the money box with his head down, found a broken silver, and ordered with a smile.

"Shopkeeper, look at the sky outside, it looks like it's going to rain, look ......" The young man rubbed his head indifferently, bargaining with a hippie smile.

"Take this string of coppers for you, and see what you can buy from Lu Ding Ji to go into the water, so that the shopkeeper will add vegetables to you today." As he spoke, the shopkeeper took out a string of copper coins from the money box with an impatient face and threw them into the young man's hand.

The young man who was sent to run errands was not greedy for money, and he was happy with a little benefit, nodded with a smile, grinned at another young man who was listening, and said proudly: "The guest officer upstairs is generous, you have to be careful, remember to go up at any time to refill the tea, let's buy you good things." As he spoke, he threw away the copper coin in his hand and went to Lu Ding Ji with a smoke.

Lu Ding Ji is at the end of the street where the teahouse is located, but the shopkeeper said that the wine shop that sells Xinghuachun is a little far away, although the young man's feet are not slow, this back and forth, it is enough to delay for half an hour.

"Third child, then, let's send things to the guests first. As soon as the young man went downstairs, he saw the guest officer upstairs looking in his direction, thinking that he was in a hurry, and he didn't even have time to drink saliva when he entered the door, so he threw the paper bag he was carrying in his hand into the other young man's hand, greeted him, and ran upstairs with a kick.

"Knock Knock Knock ......"

The young man knocked lightly on the door, heard the sound of "Come in!" from inside, hurriedly wiped the sweat on his forehead, then leaned down, pushed open the hidden door, and smiled and put the wine jar in his hand and the roast chicken wrapped in paper on the table, "Guest officer, what you want is here, are you satisfied with it?"

"Where's the wine cup?" the man glanced at it, sniffed the roast chicken again, and said coldly.

"I'll take the small ones for you, don't worry. The young man said with a smile.

After speaking, the young man saw that the man's face had improved a little, so he casually took out a clean blue and white plate from the cabinet in a corner, thinking about helping the man disassemble the roast chicken and put it on the plate first, and then go downstairs to get the wine cup, but he didn't want this hand to reach him, the man slapped his hand away with disgust, took the plate to him, and carefully scrubbed it with tea, and at the same time, he glanced at the young man coldly, and said in a deep voice: "Don't hurry up?"

"Hey, then you have it, the little one will be back soon. The young man wiped his hands awkwardly with the hem of his robe, smiled and withdrew from the private room, looked at the door that had been reopened, grimaced, and went downstairs in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" the shopkeeper asked with some puzzlement as he looked at the young man's busy appearance.

The young man waved his hand without even looking back, stretched out his index finger and put it up, signaling that the guest officer upstairs was urging, and then went into the back kitchen, and in the blink of an eye, he went upstairs panting with two plates of dried fruits and two wine cups with the same pattern and plain pattern.

Just when the young man was so busy that he hit the back of his head, sitting in the lobby, a man dressed as a porter in gray shorts raised his hand to greet the young man named the third man, who was a little curious, stretched out his hand and pointed to the back of the young man going upstairs, and asked with a smile: "What is that little second brother busy with, this time, I see that he has run up and down several times, this leg and foot are really good!"

"Whew......

What else can he be busy with, the guest officer upstairs told him to go shopping, and then he came back, and came down to get things, and did what we guys did, but that's not it. Seeing that the guest officer who was talking to him was very polite, the third child did not hide it, as if he smiled bitterly, but shrugged his shoulders with some envy and sighed.

"If you want to say that our buddies have been resting here for a while, I really don't know that there are guests upstairs!" Another man dressed as a businessman, who sat at the same table as the porter, smiled and took a sip of tea and muttered in a low voice.

"Don't say it, the one came much earlier than you, and our teahouse unloaded the board, and the one came in. The third child smiled and shook the dry cloth on his shoulder, and said quietly while making the action of wiping the table, with an excited expression on his face.

(To be continued.) )