"Yuan Sheng?"
"You're back?"
Fang Zhongxian was a little stunned, his face full of disbelief.
Chen Kan nodded and walked quickly towards the Fang brothers.
While the two were talking, others turned around and saw Chen Kan getting closer and closer to them.
"Yuan Sheng!"
"Little brother!"
Fang Zhongyue spoke, his tone a little excited and a little sad.
The two sisters Fang Jiao and Fang E spoke, their voices full of grief.
"Second senior brother, eldest sister, second sister, eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law... I... am back."
Chen Kan's knees softened, he knelt in front of Zheng's coffin and kowtowed a few times, and said in a trembling tone: "Master's wife, your unfilial disciple is back, and he has come back to wear sackcloth and mourn for you!"
As he spoke, Chen Kan's tone suddenly became choked with sobs.
The Fang brothers knelt and moved to Chen Kan's side. They opened their mouths and wanted to say something, but after a moment, they just said with complicated expressions: "Just come back, just come back."
Chen Kan nodded, took a deep breath to suppress the faint sadness in his heart, and asked, "Where are the teacher and the two brothers-in-law?"
Hearing Chen Kan's question, Fang Zhongxian said in a low tone: "Father, the boss and the second brother went to the Ministry of Rites. The name of the mother's death will be decided today. They went to invite the adults from the Ministry of Rites to come and preside over the funeral."
Knowing Fang Xiaoru's whereabouts, Chen Kan asked again: "Will Master Niang's coffin be transported back to Ninghai for burial?"
Chen Kan mentioned how Zheng's coffin was buried, and the Fang brothers couldn't help but show deep sadness in their eyes.
After a long while, Fang Zhongxian whispered: "My mother has worked hard all her life. After her death, she will naturally be buried in the Fang family's ancestral grave."
Chen Kan hummed and didn't ask any more questions.
After Mrs. Zheng had a daughter, it was not Chen Kanyue's turn to take care of her funeral.
While the three of them were talking, the elder of the Fang clan who came to preside over the wedding also learned about Chen Kan's identity from the people around him.
Immediately, he nodded to several young people with white cloths on their heads, then stepped forward and whispered: "Since the Marquis is a filial son, he should wear sackcloth and show his filial piety. Please also ask the Marquis to take off his brocade clothes."
Chen Kan stopped talking to the Fang brothers, nodded, and took off the cloak that was already filled with a sour smell.
Fang Jiao stepped forward to take Chen Kan's clothes, and several young men from the Fang clan stepped forward to put on a gray-white linen shirt for Chen Kan, and wrapped a pure white mourning cloth around his head.
Wearing linen and wearing filial piety refers to linen robes and filial piety cloth.
Next is the common ritual of kowtowing for a dutiful son. The formal ceremony also requires officials from the Ministry of Etiquette to preside over the funeral.
After Chen Kan changed his clothes, the Fang brothers stood up and bowed to Chen Kan, then handed him a wad of paper money and three sticks of sandalwood.
When the elder Zong saw this, he whispered: "A filial son worships me!"
Hearing the clan elder's voice, Chen Kan first lit the paper money, then used the paper money to ignite the sandalwood and inserted it into the incense table.
After finishing, he stood in front of the coffin with his hands solemn.
The clan elder shouted again in a low voice: "A filial son kowtows!"
Chen Kan followed the guidance of the elder of the Fang clan, knelt down and kowtowed three times respectfully.
After standing up and bowing, he knelt down to Fang Zhongyu's side.
Just as Chen Kan knelt down, there was a burst of noise outside the door.
"The imperial edict has arrived~"
The shrill voice of the eunuch delivering the order sounded outside the door, along with Fang Xiaoru and two dull middle-aged men.
The two men were Fang Xiaoru's two sons-in-law.
When several people entered the mourning hall, Fang Xiaoru noticed Chen Kan keenly, and his pupils suddenly shrank into needlepoint shapes.
But now everyone is preparing to receive the order, and it's hard for him to speak.
"The Emperor, who has been blessed by Heaven, has issued an edict that the wife of Fang Xiaoru, the Minister of Civil Affairs, has passed away. I heard that... I specially ordered her to be buried with the ceremony of the second grade imperial edict to appease her loyal heart. Thank you so much!"
After hearing the entire content of the imperial edict, Chen Kan couldn't help but pursed his lips.
Zheng was buried as a second-grade imperial concubine without any titles, which was obviously against the rules.
Fang Xiaoru was a dignified First-Rank Minister of Civil Affairs. Even if he did not pursue the title, his subsequent mourning should be buried with the standards of First-Rank Gaoming.
Chen Kan could only say that Zhu Di was still as stingy as ever.
However, something is better than nothing.
Zhu Di has never given the best to others.
"Your Majesty, please accept the order and thank me."
Fang Xiaoru respectfully took the imperial edict from Xiaohuangmen who delivered the edict.
After the imperial edict arrives, officials sent by the Ministry of Rites will take over Zheng's funeral.
The Ministry of Rites will announce when the coffin will be lifted, when the person will return home, and when the person will be buried.
After hearing the contents of the imperial edict, a group of elders of the Fang clan couldn't help but look at each other. It was obvious that this edict was not in line with etiquette.
How could the wife of a first-grade official be buried with the etiquette of a second-grade official without any posthumous title?
This is unreasonable and unreasonable!
But now that Fang Xiaoru has accepted the imperial edict, even if they are elders of the clan, it is difficult for them to say anything more.
In the end, they could only sigh slightly to express their feelings.
"It's inconvenient for Mr. Fang to live in your house, and we don't want to stay with you any longer, so I'll take my leave now."
"I'd like my chamberlain to come over."
After conveying the decree, the young eunuch handed over his hand to Fang Xiaoru, then turned around and left in a swaggering manner.
Fang Xiaoru turned around and looked at Chen Kan who was kneeling next to Fang Zhongyu. He couldn't help but frowned and said calmly: "Yuan Sheng, come here!"
Chen Kan sighed secretly, stood up slowly and walked behind Fang Xiaoru.
Fang Xiaoru didn't say much, turned around and left the mourning hall, and walked towards the study.
Looking at Fang Xiaoru's back, Chen Kan couldn't help but sigh again.
This time, the person who was hit hardest by Zheng's death was none other than Fang Xiaoru, an old man of half a century.
When Chen Kan left Beijing, Fang Xiaoru's hair was only gray, but now Fang Xiaoru's hair is full of white.
His already thin body was even more stooped, making a person who was less than sixty years old look like he was seventy or eighty years old.
The master and apprentice entered the study room. Chen Kan closed the door and knelt in front of Fang Xiaoru when his knees went weak.
Fang Xiaoru, who originally wanted to reprimand, saw Chen Kan's actions, but when his words came to his lips, he could only sigh.
"You said you left, why did you come back? You can't tell the difference between private matters and official matters?"
Fang Xiaoru sat down with a sad expression and glared at Chen Kan with some hatred.
Chen Kan knelt in front of Fang Xiaoru without saying a word, just listening to his scolding.
Although official matters are important, he is not a saint after all, and he also has seven emotions and six desires.
However, it was impossible for him to refute Fang Xiaoru's words.
Seeing Chen Kan's appearance, Fang Xiaoru frowned and did not continue to scold him.
"Get up!"
Chen Kan stood up and stood beside Fang Xiaoru quietly.
Fang Xiaoru said: "This time His Majesty asked you to go to Yunnan, you should go all the way to Yunnan. If you come back now, I'm afraid too many people with a keen sense of smell will notice something is wrong."
Chen Kan said expressionlessly: "Master's wife has passed away. If the disciple doesn't come back, it will appear that there is something wrong with him."
Hearing Chen Kan's rebuttal, Fang Xiaoru couldn't help but be startled, then nodded slowly and said: "Well, since you are back, I will send your master wife to her grave."
Chen Kan nodded silently. He came back specially for the funeral. He definitely couldn't just show up and leave.
No matter what, I have to send Master’s wife to the Fang family’s ancestral grave.
Mrs. Zheng raised two boys and two girls in her life, and also raised an outsider's child like Chen Kan.
Her life was too hard. After marrying a man like Fang Xiaoru, she was destined to have to support a family alone.
She deserves to enter the Fang family's ancestral grave.
Fang Xiaoru said no more, just waved his hand towards Chen Kan and said: "Go and watch your master's wife. I want to sit alone for a while."
Chen Kan nodded and stepped out of the study, with his back to Fang Xiaoru. A look of worry could not help but flash in his eyes.
It's not that I'm worried about what Fang Xiaoru said.
In Chen Kan's view, the matter of restarting the enfeoffment system must be brought to the table sooner or later, and even if it is leaked, it will not cause any big losses.
If you can't be reasonable, you can't use weapons at the worst.
What he was worried about was Fang Xiaoru's health.
Just from the few minutes he had been in contact with Fang Xiaoru, Chen Kan could tell that Fang Xiaoru was already a little out of energy.
He had been feeling depressed all these years.
The dignified scholar leader actually became a second minister, and such scoldings never stopped among the scholars.
Just because Fang Xiaoru didn't say anything, it didn't mean that he didn't have some ideas.
And he had no way to tell the outside world about his difficulties. After all, it was a fact that he had surrendered to Zhu Di.
Originally he had big thoughts in his heart, but now that his wife who had been with him for decades passed away like this, Fang Xiaoru was definitely not as calm as she seemed, even if she couldn't be said to be at the end of her fight.
It's a pity that he is just a disciple and a junior. Apart from being worried, there is nothing he can say to relax his mind.
After worrying for a moment, Chen Kan retracted his thoughts, quickly returned to the mourning hall and knelt down.
In the mourning hall, the whispers have not stopped since the little eunuch who conveyed the order calmly left.
Many people felt that Zhu Di treated Zheng's funeral a little poorly.
After all, Fang Xiaoru's status and reputation were there. Even if the emperor didn't give him generous gifts, he should at least follow the rules, instead of giving him a rank that was neither good nor bad, and people were talking about it like now.
Chen Kan listened word-for-word to the conversations of the clan elders who came to attend the funeral of Fang and Zheng, and couldn't help but frown.
To be honest, he did have some opinions on Zhu Di on this matter.
Zhu Di's handling of this matter was indeed unethical.
Chen Kan knew why Zhu Di used Fang Xiaoru in the first place, and also knew that he had objections to Fang Xiaoru in his heart.
After all, when Fang Xiaoru was above the court, he pointed at his nose and yelled at the rebellious ministers and traitors in front of the civil and military officials of the court. In recent years, Xiaoru above the court has often embarrassed Zhu Di.
If Fang Xiaoru hadn't been known as a scholar leader, Zhu Di would have replaced him just like he did with Zhang Yan and Zheng Ci.
But no matter how much disagreement there is between the two, it is nothing more than a matter of political opinions. After all, the starting point of both of them is to make Ming Dynasty better.
Zhu Di is now making a fuss about Zheng's mourning and glory, which inevitably seems to be a bit narrow-minded.
