Shen Zhonglei, who had long taken a detour back to the government office, couldn't help but burst into tears after receiving the news that Lao Dao and his accomplices had all been killed.
"Yu Rou, Yun Yao, Lin'er, dad finally killed the villain and avenged you -"
Everyone hurriedly gathered around and tried to comfort him.
"My lord, please express my condolences. You have been through a terrible time recently trying to track down the murderer. If my wife and young master know that you don't care about your body, they will definitely feel sorry for you!"
"Yes, my lord, you worked day and night, and in such a short period of time, you were able to kill all the villain Lao Dao and his men. This shows that you are eager to avenge your wife and two children. Now that the thief is dead, my lord should feel comforted. "
"Now that the great revenge has been avenged, you can finally comfort the deceased."
"I just hope they are all still alive and well, instead of like this..." Shen Zhonglei said, shaking a few times and almost losing his balance.
Xie Yanben also secretly thought that Shen Zhonglei not only did a good job as an official, but also had excellent acting skills.
Immediately afterwards, Shen Zhonglei leaned against him and fainted.
Xie Yan helped Shen Zhonglei, who was slipping away, and shouted: "Come here, go get the doctor!"
Shen Zhonglei is really not pretending this time. He has been chasing Lao Dao and others almost sleeplessly recently. Now that they are all dead without evidence, the sigh that he has been holding in his heart suddenly relaxes, and the fatigue accumulated and suppressed before is like an avalanche. It burst out like this, leaving his already exhausted body no longer able to bear it.
Everyone screamed in surprise when they saw this, and quickly lifted up Shen Zhonglei and sent him back to the back house.
When Shen Zhonglei woke up again, he found that it was completely dark outside and the room was dark, with only a dim oil lamp burning beside his bed.
Soon, several candles were lit one after another, and the room immediately became much brighter.
Only then did Shen Zhonglei realize that Mrs. Shen, Shen Tianshu, Shen Yunhui, Ping Niang, Han Qiao... the whole family were guarding his bedside.
Shen Yunhui lay on the edge of the bed. After confirming again and again that he was really awake, she cried "Wow-".
"Dad, you scared me to death. Don't let anything happen to you! Ugh——"
Pingniang and Hanqiao also stood aside and wiped their tears.
The distress and fear in Mrs. Shen's eyes were so heavy that she couldn't get rid of them. After a while, she reprimanded: "Second brother, what happened today is too dangerous. Gunpowder was used. I heard that several streets in the city were bombed. It was beyond recognition.
"Tell me how dangerous this is. What if those people also set off gunpowder in the Chenghuang Temple? Are you trying to scare my mother to death?"
It felt good to be surrounded by family members and greet each other, which dispelled a lot of the annoyance in Shen Zhonglei's heart, but it still seemed like something was missing.
He raised his head and looked around, and found that Shen Tianshu was standing a little away from the bed, frowning and wondering what he was thinking. Not only did he not come forward, he didn't even say a word of concern. He even looked closely and found that she was actually distracted.
Shen Zhonglei called out with a solemn face: "Shu'er, what are you thinking about?"
Shen Tianshu was lost in thought when his name was suddenly called. He was stunned for a moment before he reacted and said quickly: "Dad, I was thinking about something just now, and I got distracted unknowingly.
"How do you feel now? Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere? The doctor is still waiting outside. Can I ask the doctor to check your pulse again?"
Shen Zhonglei was even more displeased in his heart. He waved his hands and said, "I'm not in a hurry. I just don't know what is so important that makes you think so seriously."
"Dad just woke up, I shouldn't disturb your rest with these trivial matters..."
Shen Tianshu hesitated slightly, as if he didn't know whether to say something or not.
"There are no outsiders here, there is nothing inappropriate to say." Shen Zhonglei's tone was already a bit impatient.
"While you were just passing out, someone from the Xu family wrote back, saying that they had received a funeral report and that Mr. Xu had already set off to attend the funeral."
"Xu Bingrong is coming to attend a funeral?" Shen Zhonglei was stunned when he heard this, "Didn't the Xu family already say that they have severed ties with Xu Yurou? Why are you coming to attend a funeral?"
Although it was true that people were sent to report the funeral, it was not difficult to see from Shen Zhonglei's statement that the mourning would only last for seven days. He did not think that anyone from the Xu family would come to attend the funeral at all, and he did not prepare any time for them to come.
Although Old Mrs. Shen had not met Xu Bingrong a few times, she did not have a good impression of Xu's greedy family. She frowned and said: "Since the in-laws are coming, we can't just suspend the funeral for seven days.
"No matter how bad the relationship is in private, death is always the most important thing. We still have to be considerate in matters of face, otherwise we will be criticized by others if word spreads."
Shen Zhonglei could not help but frown.
"Mom, you don't know something. This Xu Bingrong is an unlearned gangster. Previously, the Xu family was angry with our family because of Xu Yihao's death, and even cut off contact with Xu Yurou.
"Now that Xu Yurou and his two children have passed away together, Xu Bingrong is just happy about his misfortune, but he actually takes the initiative to come to express condolences. I think he is coming with bad intentions!"
Old Mrs. Shen said very forcefully: "So what if I'm not kind? This is Yongzhou Mansion, this is the Shen family!
"When the time comes that I will be in charge personally, I still won't believe it. Can a junior from their Xu family come over and do it?"
Shen Zhonglei did not answer Old Mrs. Shen's words, but sighed and said: "Originally, the date and time of the burial were calculated and booked by someone, but now that someone from my parents' house suddenly comes, I have to choose the time again."
When Shen Tianshu learned the news, he knew that the funeral date would definitely be postponed.
According to the customs and habits of Daqi, the number of days of resting must be a multiple of seven, and it must be an odd multiple, that is, at least seven days, then twenty-one days, thirty-five days, until the most ceremonial forty-nine days .
Generally speaking, the seven or forty-nine days of spiritual suspension are not something ordinary people can afford.
Only after the death of the emperor or the funeral of the empress dowager or empress would the body be suspended for such a long time.
Ordinary people didn't have money to do anything big, so they usually left the city for seven days and then hurriedly carried it out of the city for burial.
When someone like Xu passes away, the funeral will usually be held for 21 days. If the deceased is an elder in the family, under certain conditions, the funeral will be held for 35 days before the funeral.
So Xu Yurou only stayed in mourning for seven days, which was actually quite abnormal.
If Xu Bingrong knew about it, he would have to use it as an excuse.
So Shen Zhonglei thought for a while and said: "Go down and tell me to stop the funeral for the 21st, and ask someone to invite you to come over for another hour."
When Shen Yunyao heard that the originally seven-day wake had become twenty-one days, she was shocked, and her eyes, which were already red from crying, widened in disbelief.
Now she has lost half of her life by guarding the spirit for six days.
Twenty-one days, are you going to burn someone to death?
Although Shen Tianshu had expected such a result, he still let out a long sigh when he heard it from Shen Zhonglei.
Whether it was hard or not for more than ten days was secondary. She couldn't go out during the wake and couldn't take care of the medical center, which made her most anxious.
