Chapter 149 Some People Come, some People Leave, and some People Grow up Quietly

Chapter 149 Some people come, some people go, and some people grow up quietly.

Yangzhou in February is a time of warm and cold weather. Last winter was a rare warm winter, with only a few snowfalls. They were not heavy, and it was sunny after one or two days.

In the daytime of early spring, the weather became warmer and pedestrians would even sweat if they walked half a mile. But at night, the temperature would return to severe cold.

In such weather, not to mention women and children, even men should pay attention to keeping warm. This time of year is also the peak period for the death of the elderly in every household.

At the beginning of the month, Chen Gaishan had a cold. Grandpa's age inevitably makes the younger generation in the family worry. Fortunately, the farmers are strong, and the drought last year did not work hard on this old man. After taking a few prescriptions of medicine that Chen Heng asked from Master Xu, Chen Gaishan's health recovered faster than ordinary people.

In a peaceful life, there are only such twists and turns. Chen Heng's daily life is still devoted to substantial review.

This June, he will participate in the college entrance examination. In terms of time alone, the free time left for students preparing for the exam is already quite tight. Fortunately, Chen Heng used to be hardworking enough, and now he can study step by step.

Although the academy has not yet opened, the teachers are very diligent in assigning homework.

After finishing the homework in the morning, Chen Heng had lunch at home, put all the homework into the book box, and left home with Xinda. They made an appointment with Xue Ke and others today to bring the homework of the recent period to the academy for the teachers to review.

The four people who met halfway joked with each other and rushed to the gate of the academy together. As soon as they walked into the gate, they clearly felt that the atmosphere was wrong.

All around were refugees with solemn expressions, and their number was not large. More refugees were sent to various counties one after another as early as January.

Chen Heng was the youngest and the bravest. Pulling a passer-by in the corridor to ask, they learned that someone had died last night.

The four were shocked to hear the news. They had invested a lot of effort in these refugees and hurried to the room of the deceased.

It was a coincidence that the stranger who had just passed away was living in Chen Heng's bedroom. The four pushed the door open and saw many people gathered in the room. In addition to many women, there were also teachers such as Jia Yucun and Jin Shenzhi.

No one spoke. When several teachers saw Chen Heng and others come in, they just nodded to the students and looked at Xu Jinhou in the center.

The four stood still, and Baoqin and Yinglian walked in front of Xue Ke and Chen Heng. Xue Ke looked at his sister's worried look and couldn't help whispering: "Sister, what's going on?"

"Auntie Shui was fine yesterday, and she didn't say she was uncomfortable."

Baoqin was also very confused. Now Sister Lin has a lot of things to do at home, and there are few opportunities to come, and the Wei aunt and nephew are far away in the capital. Since the end of last year, Baoqin and Xie have been assisting in many things in the academy. After several hard days, this bright and generous girl has also become tired.

How could it be her? Chen Heng was secretly surprised when he heard the name, and hurried to ask Baoqin for the inside story.

"Is there a problem?" Jiang Yuanbai looked at Xu Jinhou's careful examination and said his doubts in a low voice.

"It shouldn't be possible. Let's wait for the teacher to finish the examination." After Baoqin explained the whole process and knew that Aunt Shui died suddenly, Chen Heng shook his head. He had to think more.

The old man was weak to begin with, and he encountered a disaster year. It was not easy for Aunt Shui to flee to Yangzhou alone with her grandson. In this season, it must be because her body couldn't hold on, which led to such an ending.

He turned his head to look at Yinglian who was holding his clothes. The two hadn't seen each other for a long time. Although there was still some innocence on the girl's face, she was also red-eyed and sad at this moment.

"Aunt Shui sleeps next to me." Yinglian lowered her head, she was very upset that she didn't notice anything unusual last night.

Baoqin saw that this silly sister was confused, so she explained to Chen Heng on her behalf. It turned out that Yinglian had a very good relationship with Aunt Shui during this period. Although they were both people in distress who met by chance, they could empathize with each other's situation.

Before Yinglian's mother arrived in Yangzhou, Aunt Shui often took care of this miserable girl. After all, Jia Yucun's identity was inconvenient. In addition to asking one or two questions every day, it was not easy to have too much contact with the grown-up Yinglian.

Chen Heng listened silently, just raised his hand and patted Yinglian's hand, indicating that the other party should stabilize her emotions first. Several people waited for a while, and Master Xu, who had checked, said to the other teachers: "Notify the government office."

As soon as this sentence was said, several teachers breathed a sigh of relief. What they feared most was that Aunt Shui's death was strange, and it would be difficult to explain it to the outside world. That's why they asked Master Xu to check before notifying the government office.

Now that he heard that the other party was just dying, Jia Yucun relaxed even more. He was about to be promoted to the seventh-rank salt inspector with low rank and high power. Jia Yucun, who had re-entered the officialdom, really didn't want to cause trouble at this critical moment.

"I'll go to the government office." Jia Yucun thought that the Lin family had moved into the government office, and immediately said, "Everyone wait here for a while. The coroner will check and find out that there is no problem. When the matter is settled, we will hold a funeral for the old man."

He is still the principal of the academy, and his ideas are also reasonable and practical, so everyone nodded in agreement.

Before Jia Yucun left, he saw Yinglian standing timidly beside Chen Heng. For some reason, he walked to Chen Heng's side and said, "It was Yinglian who discovered the noise this morning. I think she was scared. You can help me to enlighten her when you come back."

Chen Heng didn't think much and just nodded in agreement. However, there were so many people in the room talking, and everyone had something to say, so Chen Heng couldn't care about Yinglian for a while.

When Jia Yucun left and returned, the government office worker who came with him immediately took over the scene and began to investigate the cause of Aunt Shui's death.

Wait until the government office's assistant arrives to check and confirm that everything is correct. Jia Yucun accepted the document issued by the other party and asked someone to send him a gift out the door.

Now they have to worry about Aunt Shui's funeral. It is obviously impossible to arrange a mourning hall in the academy.

Several masters gathered together to discuss for a long time, and then invited the concierge Wang Bo to come in. He is a single old man and has no other relatives at home.

The masters wanted to use his family's treasured land to temporarily arrange a mourning hall for Aunt Shui, so that her grandson could keep watch for her.

At this age, Uncle Wang does not shy away from matters of life and death, and he takes back the money given by his masters.

"They are all poor people in distress. I will treat her as a good deed and send her on her last journey."

When one thing ends, another thing begins again. After discussing the mourning hall, what about the cemetery? The wives were still distressed outside the house, but Yinglian, Chunyan and others who were sorting out Aunt Shui's belongings discovered Aunt Shui's suicide note hidden in the bookcase, and they quickly took it to the adults outside the house.

"She can also write?" Jia Yucun, as the person in charge, naturally checked the handwriting first after taking the suicide note. After confirming it again and again, he said, "It's really unexpected."

"What's written on it?" Jin Shenzhi was not a talkative person, so Master Xu took the initiative to ask.

"It's all her own family affairs." Jia Yucun shook his head and handed the suicide note into the hands of Xu Jinhou.

The latter took a look and found that it clearly explained the ancestral origins of Uncle Shui's family, how many relatives there are now, the location of his ancestral grave, and the birthday of his grandson and other important information.

At the end of the letter, Aunt Shui wrote in beautiful handwriting: If you die of illness in a foreign country, you can make a grave and bury it on the spot. If the grandson is promising, she will be moved back to the ancestral grave. If she didn't live up to expectations, she would simply be buried outside and would not have the face to return to her hometown to see her family.

Seeing that the information about his relatives was explained in such detail, Xu Jinhou knew that it must have been written by the other party himself, so he had no choice but to sigh and put the letter away.

As a doctor, he knew that some elderly people could vaguely feel that their end was approaching.

"What about her grandson?"

"What else can we do? Send him to the almshouse."

"Are you willing to accept them over there? I heard it's already overcrowded."

Listening to the discussion among several colleagues, Jia Yucun picked up another letter and opened it to take a look. However, he was shocked by the letter's first name. It actually had the maiden name of the eldest daughter of the current prefect written on it.

He quickly read the letter and realized that Aunt Shui had a relationship with Daiyu. Before leaving, I only left behind a string of Buddhist beads that I carried with me and wanted to ask someone to give it to the other party.

"It's so affectionate to lick a calf." Jia Yucun sighed. How could a veteran like him not speculate that Aunt Shui wanted to make a living for his grandson.

He showed the letter to Marquis Xu Jin, and then called Chen Heng, telling him to take the letter and the beads and pass them to Daiyu later.

This matter was not urgent. Chen Heng nodded, collected the things and left quickly, continuing to pack Aunt Shui's things in the house.

Clothes, quilts and other items cannot be asked for. The old man's belongings will also have to be put into the coffin and buried together.

Uncle Wang's house was not far away, so there was no need to choose a good coffin. The wives pooled some money together and bought a ready-made coffin, and then loaded it with people and transported it to Wang's house.

There are idle men in Yangzhou who are responsible for funerals, and they are responsible for all trivial matters such as decorating the mourning hall. Chen Heng and others handed Aunt Shui's clothes to her grandson. It was no longer the turn of these juniors to interfere in other matters.

When the coffin was transported out of the academy, Chen Heng and others stood at the door and looked at each other. When this happened unexpectedly, it was difficult to find teachers to continue handing in homework.

They had some encounters with Aunt Shui, but after all, they were strangers who met by chance, so their emotions were relatively stable at the moment. It was just two girls who looked worried, which made Chen Heng a little worried.

He gave Xue Biao a look and told him to take Baoqin home first, make some soothing tea for his sister to drink, and let her have a good rest. Xue Biao understood this, and after bidding farewell to several friends, he immediately pulled his sister away.

When Jiang Yuanbai and Qian Dayou also left, Chen Heng asked Yinglian, "What about you, do you want to change your stay tonight?" He was also worried that the other party would be frightened by such an unexpected incident. After all, she But he was the first person to find out that Aunt Shui was dead in the morning.

Zhen Yinglian's expression was still a little pale. When she heard Chen Heng's concern, she hesitated and said, "Where can I go?"

Yes, this girl is in Yangzhou City, where else can she go? Chen Heng coughed lightly and said, "Don't worry, I'll ask the master's wife."

The mistress that Chen Heng was talking about was naturally Pei Huaizhen's wife, Mrs. Xie. When Mrs. Xie heard this, she immediately made arrangements for Yinglian. She packed up an empty house in the backyard and asked Yinglian to sleep here at night. He took out an old almanac and asked her to put it under her pillow at night to calm herself down.

Seeing that Yinglian was here, Chen Heng couldn't stay in the back house any longer, so he got up to say goodbye to Xie and Yinglian, and hurriedly left the academy with Xinda.

"Second brother, shall we go home?"

Seeing Chen Heng suddenly standing in the middle of the road in a daze, Xinda said a little strangely.

Chen Heng touched the Buddhist beads in his arms, thought about it again and again, and had no choice but to shake his head and said: "Let's go to the government office first."

He didn't know if it was right to tell Sister Lin about this, but he also knew that if he concealed it, it would only make him more sad if the other party found out about it later.

Worried, Chen Heng brought Xinda to the government office. He was not familiar with the gatekeepers and did not dare to approach him and start a relationship rashly. He just walked around to the back door of the government office, raised his hand and knocked on the knocker.

Sure enough, there was a servant guarding this place. When he opened the door, he saw Chen Heng, who was a little surprised and said, "Master, why are you here?"

"Something happened." Chen Heng smiled. After being led into the house by his servants, he walked to an open and conspicuous place in the backyard of the government office and asked someone to call Daiyu.

Sister Lin seemed to be in a good mood today. When she saw her brother with Xue Yan, the smile on her face was so eye-catching.

As soon as the two met, Daiyu had endless things to say.

One moment he said that he was going to the capital to play with his mother, and the other moment he said that he would go there and play for a while and then come back.

Sometimes I would add, brother, don’t forget your sister’s birthday gift.

Chen Heng listened silently, complaining secretly in his heart. The other person is in such a good mood, do you really want to say that?

But Lin Daiyu had already noticed her brother's abnormality, and the girl couldn't help but asked curiously: "Brother, what are you worried about today?"

"I..." Chen Heng was about to change his words, but Lin Daiyu had already blocked his mouth, "Brother, don't fool me with random thoughts. This will make me more sad."

"Yeah." Chen Heng nodded, looking a little nervous and said, "Then I'm going to tell you something. You can listen to it in a while, so don't get too excited."

Seeing that Chen Heng was speaking so seriously, Daiyu also straightened her expression, blinked and said, "Brother, please tell me."

Seeing that his sister was ready, Chen Heng took a deep breath, took out a string of Buddhist beads and a souvenir from his arms, and said softly: "Aunt Shui passed away last night, and she specially left something for you. I have read the letter. She said Thank you very much for chatting with her often and listening to her complaints during this time.”

When Lin Daiyu heard the news, she couldn't help but look stunned. She just took the souvenir blankly and opened it eagerly in the rich sunset glow.

Seeing that his sister was concentrating on reading the letter, Chen Heng could only continue: "Aunt Shui said in the letter that she asked for this string of Buddhist beads from the temple in the capital. She kept it with her when she fled.

Perhaps thanks to its blessing, she was able to reach Yangzhou safely.

Now I want to give it to you. If you like it, just keep it as a small gadget by your side, just to pray for your safety. "

After hearing her brother finish speaking in one breath, Lin Daiyu nodded blankly, with a look of sadness gradually appearing on her face. She has a sensitive mind, and although she and Aunt Shui only met by chance, after being in contact for such a long time, they can be considered to have some friendship.

"Her life has been too miserable." She lowered her head and said.

Chen Heng couldn't say much. I'm just a little annoyed. If I had known what happened today, would I have introduced my sister to Aunt Shui?

"You... don't think too much." Chen Heng really didn't know how to comfort people. After thinking about the words for a long time, he only said one sentence dryly.

He didn't say it was okay, but when he said it, Sister Lin couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Brother, don't worry, Yu'er is fine." Daiyu wiped away her tears desperately, but comforted Chen Heng, "I just feel sorry for Aunt Shui."

Chen Heng couldn't help but raise his head and sigh, how could he not know the other person's temperament. In my previous life, so many people liked this person in the book, wasn't it because of her sincere kindness and beauty?

If she is just a little girl who likes to cry and be jealous when she has nothing to do, how can she make men, women and children all moved and sad for her.

"Miss..." Xue Yan, who was waiting on the side, saw Daiyu crying non-stop and felt very worried. But her mouth is not as good as Chen Heng's ability to comfort people.

"It's okay, Yan'er, I'm okay." Daiyu knew that staying like this was not an option, and hurriedly told Chen Heng with red eyes, "Brother, I'm going back first. The day after tomorrow, I will set off to the capital with my mother. Remember Come see me off at the dock, I have something for you.”

"Okay!" Chen Heng nodded.

…………

…………

That night, the lights in Lin Daiyu's house stayed on until dawn.

The next day, when Mrs. Jia found out about this, she became very angry. I feel that my daughter is so ignorant, working so hard for a stranger.

When Jia Lian learned about this, he didn't understand it. He was a young man after all, and he wanted to comfort his cousin, so he said: "She is just a maid who ran away from someone else's house. If she dies, she will die. If she didn't do something, how could she be kicked out by the master? Cousin, what are you doing? Why feel sad for such low-class people?"

Jia Lian felt that Lin Daiyu was living a good life, so she would grieve for such an irrelevant person.

But Daiyu's current temperament still has traces of Jia's family. When she heard this, she also got angry and said: "Second brother, it's fine if I don't know her. But now I know Aunt Shui's life and temperament. I can't let you say that to her. What does it mean to be kicked out for something? "

Seeing that Daiyu was angry, she thought that she would leave for the capital tomorrow, but she was worried that her sister-in-law would not be willing to leave then. Jia Lian hurriedly apologized to the little girl, feeling unlucky in his heart.

In front of Jia's family, Daiyu couldn't help but embarrass Jia Lian too much. He turned around angrily and returned to the house, continuing to work on the things he would give to Chen Heng tomorrow.

Ah, Jia Mansion is finally coming.