Many oxcarts crowded the official roads. When returning to Beijing, there was no salute. Suddenly, firecrackers went off in unison, making a sound like rain.
At this time, all the armored soldiers were in high spirits, and they lowered their swords majestically. For a moment, amid the sound of soft music, the two imperial envoys slowly disembarked from the boat. The people sent by the Ministry of Rites knelt down and knelt down: "I respectfully welcome the two imperial envoys, and congratulations on your triumphant return to the capital!"
Cui Zhaoquan hurriedly reached out to help him: "I don't dare, I don't dare!"
Supervisor Zhao was a little cold, but also exchanged greetings with the people from the Ministry of Rites. Since both imperial envoys had made great contributions during this trip to the southwest, the officials from the Ministry of Rites all had smiles on their faces and did not dare to neglect them at all.
Soon, with a wave of Supervisor Zhao's hand, Qian Zhidong and Qin Fengliang, who came off different boats, also came ashore. They were both wearing shackles. Compared with the men in official uniforms and official faces, they looked very downcast.
Probably because they were afraid that the two important criminals would stay outside for too long and something unexpected happened, the two imperial envoys did not stay on the shore for long and left quickly.
After they docked and disembarked, they were accompanied by some officials. Naturally, they were not qualified to be greeted by people from the Ministry of Rites. Their families came to pick them up and left one after another.
After all these high-ranking officials got off, it was Su Ziji's turn to dock the ship.
But when they docked, Su Ziji was not on this ship, but had already arrived at the merchant ship where Shao Sisen's coffin was parked.
The wild Taoist went down first to meet the Shao family, led them to the merchant ship, and then rushed over, whispering to Su Ziji: "These are Shao Sisen's parents and brothers."
"Shao's father, Shao Ying, is now the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple. He is from the fourth rank. His eldest son, Shao Maode, is said to have not done well in the imperial examination. He reluctantly became a scholar and became a junior official of the ninth rank through his father's influence."
"Brother Shao Liu is okay, but his studies are not as good as Shao Sisen's."
After a short while, the Shao family's background was completely investigated. It seemed that Shao Sisen was actually the heir that the Shao family had pinned their hopes on, and he didn't want to die like this.
Su Ziji sighed with emotion and ordered to push up the coffin.
At this time, a couple who looked ten years older than their actual age, supported by everyone, walked to the merchant ship and watched eagerly, but they were really waiting for Su Ziji and the merchant crew to come out with the coffin. The delusional expectations were suddenly completely shattered by reality.
A miserable cry followed.
"My son——"
"lady!"
"mother!"
Seeing Shao's mother crying, she leaned back and closed her eyes. Shao's father beside her, her adult eldest son behind her, and her twelve or thirteen-year-old children all hurriedly gathered around her.
The servants and maids were even more anxious, pinching people and calling out. It took a while for the woman to wake up. The first thing she did after waking up was to struggle up, throw herself at the nanmu coffin that had been pushed off the boat by more than a dozen people, and cry bitterly. got up.
"Sen'er, how could you...how could you be so cruel and leave me and your father behind!"
"You cruel child, cruel child! How do you want me to live? How do you want me to live? Don't you want to hurt me to death?"
Beating the coffin time and time again, the woman cried heartbrokenly, which made everyone who heard it sad and cried when she saw it.
Shao's father, who was also unstable and had to be supported by his eldest son to stand, had red eyes and tears silently flowing down. He was so sad that he could hardly speak. He just pressed his hand on the coffin and his body was shaking.
Su Ziji stood aside, and because of this, he subconsciously noticed the snow falling on the coffin.
Although after it was pushed down, a servant of the Shao family immediately raised an umbrella to cover the coffin, but when it was pushed down, rain and snow still fell on it.
Some of them were not melted and were stained with water, which made him uncomfortable to look at.
Su Ziji wanted to wipe it, touched his sleeve, and a handkerchief fell down.
The wild Taoist caught it and handed it back.
"Do I have a handkerchief?" Su Ziji felt heavy in his heart because of this sad emotion. When he took it, he felt that the handkerchief was both strange and familiar. When he opened it, he only had time to see clearly what the sentence was. Poems about love.
"Take this flower bush and look back lazily, half destined to practice Taoism and half destined to be you."
When did I get this handkerchief? I turned it over and saw the mandala flower again. I immediately remembered that this was Sang Nu's handkerchief.
"Hey, why is it in my arms again?" As I was thinking this, my hand had already wiped off the snow on the coffin with this handkerchief.
"Are you Su Xian's nephew?" At this time, Shao's father, who barely maintained his demeanor, called out to Su Ziji.
Su Ziji held the handkerchief in his hand, looking a little uncomfortable, so he put it on the coffin first and gave a junior salute to Shao's father: "Uncle Shao, please express my condolences. It's important to take care of yourself."
"Hey!" Shao's father closed his eyes in pain and sighed. When he opened them again, he had suppressed his sadness.
"I've heard about your help for my son. Nephew Su Xian, my Shao family will never forget your great kindness. In the future, if I, the Shao family, can help, you can just mention it and I won't say anything!"
After that, he said to the twelve or thirteen year old boy: "Liu'er, kneel down and say thank you to Nephew Su Xian for me and our Shao family!"
"No way!" Seeing that the child actually knelt down with a pop, Su Ziji hurriedly avoided and refused.
"This is actually my fourth son. Sen'er is my third son. The second son died in infancy and left us. The third son is also like this now."
"If it weren't for your help, the third child would never go home again, and his mother would be hurt to death."
"This is a gift of survival. As a young son, he should thank you. Don't refuse."
How could Su Ziji accept it?
Just as he was about to refuse again, he suddenly saw the crowd not far away hurriedly dispersed left and right, and a speeding ox cart stopped in front of the Shao family's team.
Before they could stop, a girl in plain clothes stumbled out of the bullock cart and staggered towards them.
"Moriro!"
Seeing the coffin not far away, Shao's mother cried so hard that her eyes were like rotten peaches. She didn't understand that the coffin in front of her was Shao Sisen?
She just took one look and rushed forward, but as soon as she touched the coffin, before she could cry out, a mouthful of blood spurted out.
There was silence for a moment.
Su Ziji was also shocked.
"Could this be Brother Shao's fiancée?" he thought to himself.
The whole place, even those watching from a distance, were stunned. No one could have imagined that a girl would suddenly appear, throw herself in front of the coffin, and vomit blood like this.
The blood fell on the ground, falling together with the thin snow that had not melted away, which was really dazzling.
The sluggishness was only for a moment. The maid who came down from the bullock cart a few steps later staggered to catch up and shouted: "Miss!"
This sound woke everyone up.
Someone in the crowd guessed the girl's identity. The Shao family, including the master, his wife, the two young masters, and the servants below all knew who the girl was.
Mother Shao, who had been crying so hard just now that she could hardly control herself, was now being supported by others. Looking at the similarly grieving girl, she couldn't help but let out a sob. The sadness and regret in her voice made people feel sad.
"Hey, idiot, idiot!" She sighed: "Why are you here?"
The girl listened but ignored it, as if there was only the person in the coffin in front of her in the world at this moment, and even the maid who gently shook her was abandoned outside her own world.
She wiped away the blood at the corner of her mouth carelessly, tears streaming down her face. She knelt down for two steps, leaned gently on the coffin, and cried silently.
