Ten days later, on October 5, the eighth year of Chongzhen.

Puzhou County, Zhang's ancestral home.

A three-enter old house with a vast area, two towering towering trees reach the sky in front of the courtyard.

Whether a family is prosperous for a long time can be judged by the shaded trees in front of the door. When people are lucky, they can get rich, but ancient trees that have been around for hundreds of years can only grow by time.

Shading a guest tree is a home for visitors to enjoy the shade!

At this time, outside the large but dilapidated house, there were plain clothes and white cloth, full of people who were having funerals.

The master of the fifth house of Zhang's family has passed away!

In ancient times, the cycle of reincarnation was emphasized. Rich people paid much attention to the funeral of their families, which was even more cautious than birth.

Five major items of funeral were produced, banners, cards, sticks, basins, and jars.

The jar is a sacrificial pot filled with a sacrificial vegetable pot before the spiral is removed. After the golden coffin enters the tomb, it is placed in front of the coffin and buried deep into the ground with the deceased.

The banner is a soul-guiding banner.

Ordinary people mostly use brand banners. Zhang is a local prominent family. The soul-guiding banner of the head of the fifth house is a gorgeous big banner. The golden hook dragon and phoenix on the flag pole "carry" a hexagonal shelf, with a large banner in the middle, which reads "The soul-guiding banner of the late filial son Zhang's promise". The original life horoscope is written on the left, and the maximum time is written on the right.

A small banner is hung at each corner of the surrounding area, also known as the "Six Dust Banner", which means the "Six Realms" of Buddhism. One banner is written in "I wish to see the Huazang Realm" of the eyes, two banners are written in "I wish to hear the sound of the leftovers", three banners are written in "I wish to smell the fragrance of precepts and concentration", four banners are written in "I wish to taste the taste of nectar of the tongue", five banners are written in "I wish to wear a blessing field clothing", and six banners are written in "I wish to give up on nothing".

The card is a spiritual card.

It is a paper-made spirit card dedicated to the coffin before the golden coffin was buried in the soil. It reads the name of the head of the fifth house of the Zhang family. It is covered with black veil. Usually, the second son holds the card.

A stick is the "filial piety stick" and the "mourning stick". It is usually held by direct male children and grandchildren.

The basin is commonly known as "mourning basin" among the people, and is elegantly called "auspicious basin" and "yin and yang basin". Like the banner, this basin is a symbol of inheritance rights. Only filial sons and heavy-bearing grandchildren have the right to throw the basin.

But at this time, in Zhang's mourning hall, all the Zhang family members looked embarrassed. The dead five-bedroom family advocated Shouyue and had a single wife without a concubine. After his wife gave birth to a girl, she died of dysfunction.

Zhang Shouyue has been very strange since he was a child, and he never married his wife after she died. He was happy to see each other when he met her. As long as the old man didn't care, they could finally get a share of their property. What's there to do?

But unexpectedly, within a few years, Zhang Shouyue, the old man's most beloved five sons, died. There was no male under his knees, only a nine-year-old girl.

If there is no filial son and virtuous grandson, today my father's mourning day, my daughter disappeared.

"My father, the auspicious time has come. The fifth brother should have gone out, otherwise it would be unlucky if he missed the good time he was buried!"

Zhang Shouli, the eldest wife of Zhang's family, was nearly 50 years old, bent down and said respectfully to the old man in his sixties who was leaning against the threshold looking at the sky.

The Zhang generation is replaced by the four words "be sincere and honest".

The patriarch Zhang Chengyan twisted his face slightly, and said to himself: "Since the fourth-dimensional Taishu, no one of our Zhang family has been in office for decades. The fertile land has been dispersed, and we guarded a few shops to eat. What is the inauspicious thing? I thought that guarding the promise was extremely intelligent and could support the storefront of Zhang family in Puzhou. Unfortunately, the sky has no eyes, so he will die or die, and my Zhang family will never rise again!"

After waved his hand, Zhang Chengyan walked out of the mourning hall with staggering steps, "You should take care of the funeral. Don't look for the kids if they are not here. Bury the old fifth brother as soon as possible! I said to the outside world that I was sick and bedridden, so I wouldn't go."

The Uncle Zhang Shouren, who was looking for, was standing silently outside the mourning hall, watching Jiagong slowly walk past in front of him. His father and Zhang Chengyan were brothers. The dead Zhang Shouyi was a cousin and he was cousin. The relationship cannot be said to be close, but the concubine was different, so he could only wait outside the hall.

Since the Zhang family in Puzhou has been handed over to Zhang Chengyan, if nothing unexpected happens, it will be passed on to Zhang Shouli. After decades, after five squads are released, Zhang Shouren will have little relationship with the Zhang family in Puzhou.

"A filial son is in his place!!"

With the celebrating shouting, the filial sons who were the nephews of other rooms took their place.

Zhang Shouli's second-er knelt in front with a spirit card in his arms. Some of the younger generations in the clan, while some of the filial daughters who were obedient to their parents knelt behind.

Seeing that everyone was kneeling and standing, the host handed the spirit banner to the eldest son of the second house.

The spirit-inducing banner was like a signal. As soon as the eldest son of the second house came over, a sound of gongs and drums sounded outside the door. The drummers and musicians took the guys into the yard, divided into two rows, stood on both sides of the filial puppet, and played three funeral music in a row.

One of them is "Crying the Emperor".

As the song of the sad song came, there were gradually crying. Then, the crying sounds were like contagious, one after another. When the sound instrument was completed, the crowd was already crying.

"Out of the house!"

At the end of the mourning song, the coffin was lifted by the stewards and carried from the mourning hall to the outside of the gate. All the filial servants stood up, retreated and walked, crying while walking, and howling.

Outside the gate, the funeral basin was ready. According to the ceremony, Zhang Shouyou's daughter should have broken the basin so that the coffin could leave the ancestral home and be carried to the mountain for burial.

At this time, the girl was not here, so the eldest wife Zhang Shouli asked her youngest son to throw her on behalf of him!

With a crisp sound, the tiled deep-mouthed plate was smashed to pieces.

"Funeral!"

The drums and music sounded again, and the twelve steed men carried the coffin, and various deacons behind them, opened the road flags, flags, flags, umbrellas, shadow pavilions, soul sedan chairs, releases, Taos, Zen incense banners, and placed them half a mile away.

Behind various flags and umbrellas, there were 120 big white snow willows, which were ranks and scenes. The funeral team reached more than 200 people, filling the streets.

It was not until the lords before the funeral left the street, and the queues behind began to open. There were people familiar with the Zhang family in the city, and they followed the funeral team, making the team lined up a mile away.

A family that has long fallen out has such majesty in Puzhou County where the family is located.

The influence of the clan members cannot be underestimated in the whole place.

However……

Not everyone was kind to Zhang. Among the people watching, there were many gloomy people looking at the wealthy Zhang with extremely jealous eyes, and even her eyes were naked without any concealment!

...

At the same time, not far away, a fifteen-man cavalry came along with the dust.

After ten days of long journey, Fang Jingnan and others, who had traveled a hundred miles a day, finally arrived at the Zhang family station in Puzhou, Puzhou County.

With the speed of a war horse, you can run fifty miles in half an hour, but such a hurrying war horse requires more than a month to recover your strength.

Under normal circumstances, it is appropriate to travel fifty or sixty miles in a few hours. After feeding the essence at night, you can ride as usual the next day.

Fang Jingnan and others exchanged horses, so they ran a hundred miles every day without damaging the war horses.

In this way, everyone is so tired!

"Sir, the Puzhou County is ahead. It's still early now. We are covered in dust. Why don't we find a place to wash it up and then visit Mr. Zhang after getting rid of the dust?"

Xingfeng, the captain of the personal guard, was good at running long distances. He didn't feel tired. However, Fang Jingnan, who had been riding a horse for ten days in a row for the first time, had bleeding from the cheek bones between his legs. Although it was not heavy, he finally formed a thin layer of shackles at night. The next day he rode on the horse and broke it again!

"Oh, it's really sad!" Finally arrived at the destination, Fang Jingnan couldn't help but say a joke in a good mood.

Squeak kara!

At this moment, a long funeral team came from a distance with the sound of locks. There were no less than 500 people in a rough way.

"Go away from both sides and don't block others' way!"

Although the team was still far away, Fang Jingnan asked everyone to dismount and led the war horse to the hill outside the road.

"Who?"

Xingfeng suddenly shouted in a deep voice, and a black shadow squatted not far away. Jiang Lifangcheng and his two men drew their swords to protect Fang Jingnan. Then, a thick figure drew his sword and rushed forward.

Ma Wuhou reacted quickly and rushed towards a few steps with his sword and shield. These days, there were many bandits along the way, and the group fought for a few small battles.

"stop!"

Fang Jingnan shouted loudly. He had already seen clearly that the shadow squatting beside the hill ahead was actually a little girl.

Ma Wuhou's waist knife was about to hit the girl's head, but the little girl was still squatting, holding a small wooden stick in her hand, and slashing around the ground.

"Deaf?" Otherwise, how could such a big noise not respond?

No, Fang Jingnan shook her head. Even if she couldn't hear it, she could see it. She was probably stupid.

When Fang Jingnan walked forward, she saw that she was playing with an ant nest with a stick, and couldn't help but smile. She seemed so stupid.

"Hey, can you hear it?"

Fang Jingnan walked behind the little girl and greeted her. The little girl did not turn around, "Hehe!" A strong ant climbed onto the back of her hand along the wooden stick. She used the index finger of her other hand to block the ant's way. The ant turned around and returned, and she blocked the route it returned with her fingers.

This cycle continued until the ant hit a wall everywhere and fell into a desperate situation, and never moved again as if he had lost his target. Then the little girl bent her finger and bounced the strong ant out.

Turning his head, the little girl blinked and smiled, "I can hear it!"

Seeing her eyes, Fang Jingnan knew that she was wrong. This girl was definitely not a fool. No matter who has such agile eyes, she could not be a fool.

"Why are you squatting here alone? Where are your lord?" Fang Jingnan asked again.

The little girl stood up, shook the soil on her hand, pointed to the funeral team ahead and said, "Everything is there!"

"Oh, someone in your family has passed away, who? Are you afraid that your father will beat you if you don't go to see the funeral?"

The little girl suddenly smiled and said, "My father can't beat me, he has passed away! Look, he is the one in the coffin!"

“…”

Fang Jingnan was stunned and looked at the little girl with a slightly fat face and agile eyes for a long time, "Uh, you... then, don't you... go to mourn?"

"Why do you want to go? When my father was alive, I spoiled him. Now that he is dead, he can't see anything I do. He just wants to be sad. He only wants to be at peace with others' judgment."

The little girl blinked and smiled, "But I feel at ease inside and I don't care about other people's eyes, what's the use of going? Can you also believe that the way of heaven has reincarnation?"

Fang Jingnan's heart trembled. This is what a little girl of eight or nine years old could think of? Fang Jingnan said to others: "What uncle? I am that youngest, call me brother!"

"Oh, little brother, what do you think is outside the sky?"

The little girl did not have the problem of being entangled with her name. She looked up at the sky, "Instead of placing her soul and reincarnation, I am very curious. What is outside the sky? The stars are transformed by gods. Is Chang'e really living on the moon? In this way, aren't the people in the world just ants? Even if the strong ants leave the ground and climb to the top, facing that unfathomable mysterious hand, isn't all the previous efforts being wasted?"

"All the struggles in this world are ridiculous. So what if you win the battle? You're not just an ant!"

After saying that, the little girl looked at Fang Jingnan, "Little brother, do you think so?"

At this moment, Fang Jingnan felt that her eyes were as deep as they could directly sting your heart. In front of this eyes, all concealment and hide-and-seeness were futile.

Fang Jingnan avoided her eyes and did not answer her philosophical questions. It was like chatting about home, Fang Jingnan asked, "What's the name of the little girl?"

"Oh, hehe, my name is Zhang Jingxuan!"
Chapter completed!