After her grandmother passed away, Hua Zhi had to observe a deep mourning period and could not eat meat for a hundred days.
Fudong tried his best to make the food more delicious. Although Hua Zhi had no appetite, she forced herself to eat more. She slept for half an hour while everyone was resting.
But she didn't expect that she would feel more tired the more she slept.
Yingchun felt sorry for the young lady as she couldn't even open her eyes, and couldn't help but persuade her, "Everything outside has been arranged, you can sleep a little longer."
Hua Zhi shook her head, put on her shoes and got out of bed. She would never think of getting up again tonight if she lay down again.
"Is anyone looking for me?"
"The fourth lady came to see you and told you not to disturb the maids while you were asleep."
"Didn't say anything?"
"Yes." Yingchun helped her sit down and took off her pants. "I will apply medicine for you."
In fact, the medicine had been applied once before the meal, but the bloody appearance really scared the maids. If Hua Zhi hadn't reminded them that the medicine was nowhere to be bought, I'm afraid the whole bottle would have been poured directly on the wound.
After reapplying the medicine and putting on the white cloak again, Hua Zhi went to the front yard.
The entire Hua residence was brightly lit, and everywhere was busy but not chaotic, and everything seemed to be in order.
The fourth lady was directing the servants to clear the snow from the corridor. When she saw her, she hurried over. Seeing her pale face made even more pale by the white dress, she frowned and said in a hoarse voice, "I can handle it for now. You go back and have a good rest. You won't have a chance to rest even if you want to when the body is moved in the second half of the night."
Hua Zhi actually likes the current state of the Hua family very much. No one has time to think about trivial things. Everyone, young and old, is doing their best to take care of their grandmother's funeral, and the cohesion is unprecedented.
If the Hua family continues to maintain this state, she is confident that she can make sure that the Hua family lives well and goes far.
"I've slept for a while and I feel better now. Fourth Aunt, take Bai Jun back and rest for half the night, and come back when we move the body."
Mrs. Wu shook her head. "It doesn't make sense for me, the youngest one, to rest while my three sisters-in-law are all keeping vigil. It won't sound good if you tell others about it. As the head of the family, you need to be fair in this matter. That's how right and wrong come about."
"Of course we won't miss them. The funeral will last for seven days. We can't have everyone stay awake for seven days. No one can hold on. Let's rest for two hours and take turns."
Mrs. Wu thought that this was indeed the case, so she nodded in agreement.
Hua Zhi entered the house and glanced at her mother and two aunts, finally falling on the second aunt. This concubine aunt was in the worst health among the four sisters-in-law.
"Second Aunt, go back to your room and rest for two hours. You must come back after two hours." Hua Zhi looked at her mother and Third Aunt, "Wait for Second Aunt and Fourth Aunt to come back, then you and Third Aunt can go and rest for two hours."
No one had any objection.
"Berlin, you guys also have to take turns to rest. You can arrange the time."
"Yes, elder sister."
After making some careful arrangements, the room was soon mostly empty, with only a few people still guarding it.
Hua Zhi flicked the wick, and under the horrified gaze of Hua Xin and the others, she sat down on the edge of the bed and touched her grandmother's stiff and cold fingers. She pulled the quilt up as if she were treating a sleeping person.
She just sat there for a long time afterwards. No one knew what she was thinking, and no one dared to disturb her.
Hua Zhi is different from them. From that evening on, Hua Xin felt this way from the bottom of her heart.
Although the body was moved at Yin hour, the priests began to perform rituals at Chou hour.
In order to move the soul, the mages had to come to the inner courtyard.
Hua Zhi asked all the female family members, including the maids, to retreat to the courtyard at the back. As she was the head of the family, she had to stay and take control of the situation.
Zhu held her hand tightly and shook her head at her with tears on her face.
Hua Zhi pulled her hand apart and held it in Fourth Aunt's hand, "Close the door, no one is allowed to come in or out without my order."
As she walked around, the four sturdy old women of the Song family responded loudly. From now on, the eldest girl would be the head of the family, and they were overjoyed to be favored by the eldest girl.
Of course, you can't be happy at this time.
The door slowly closed. The people who were blocked inside watched Hua Zhi's thin back walk away through the increasingly small gap in the door. Some people sobbed quietly. Their reputation was saved, but what about Hua Zhi? What about the eldest daughter of their Hua family
Hua Zhi was not alone. The four big maids headed by Yingchun were unwilling to retreat and followed her closely. The elderly people in the old lady's room such as Nanny Su secretly protected her in the middle and gave her the greatest protection as possible, not to mention Hua Bailin and his younger brothers who stood in front of their eldest sister like little kids protecting food, but they were not tall enough and could not block the sight of others.
At this moment, everyone has to admit that the Hua family is a united family.
The sound of wooden fish came from far away. Forty-nine monks, led by Prajna, entered the inner house from the second gate and then entered the old lady's yard.
The eight people followed Prajna into the old lady's room. The other monks sat down in an orderly manner in the yard, and Sanskrit chants arose amid the sound of wooden fish.
At the signal from Butler Xu, Hua Zhi led her brothers into the house and knelt down. Butler Xu handed each of them a pile of woven hay, kneeling on which the cold was not so biting.
All unnecessary things in the room had been cleared away. Xu Jie and others respectfully moved the old lady from the bed to the wooden spirit bed. Nine magicians sat around the spirit bed. Hua Zhi could not understand what they were chanting, but could faintly hear their voices blending into the voices of the forty people outside.
The magician's performance lasted until three quarters past three in the morning before the soul was finally moved.
Hua Zhi was helped to stand up by Yingchun. She went to pay her respects to Master Prajna first, and asked Butler Xu to take them to rest first. She then walked to the right side of the mourning hall, called Madam Su over and instructed, "Hang a curtain here, and Second Sister and the others will keep vigil here."
Nanny Su had never heard of female relatives coming to the mourning hall to keep vigil. She opened her mouth to persuade them, but in the end she said nothing and went to prepare. Just because it hadn't happened before didn't mean it couldn't happen in the future, and the etiquette and laws of the Daqing Dynasty didn't stipulate that female relatives couldn't come to the mourning hall to keep vigil.
Not only did they hang curtains, they also laid straw on the ground, and mats on the straw, and old quilts on the mats. The women were delicate, and Hua Zhi had no intention of torturing them like she had done to Hua Jing.
Thinking of Hua Jing, Hua Zhi simply put down what she was doing and walked outside.
The snow kept falling, and the snow on the roof was almost two inches thick. The alley at the door was cleared again and again, and the area in front of the shed where Hua Jing was staying was also clean, but all the cleared snow was piled around the shed. In other words, in addition to the ice and snow around Hua Jing, there was also a freezer.
"Whoever came up with this idea, it's a good one."
Nanny Su looked at the shed with hatred, and said with some satisfaction: "Sixth Young Master thought of it. In the middle of the night, Sixth Young Master had someone secretly dig out a large area behind the shed, and had someone pour water into it. Once the water froze, and some snow fell on it, no one could see anything."
It seems that there is more than one freezer. Hua Zhi is not surprised that this idea was proposed by Berlin. Before the fall of the Hua family, the trouble caused by other boys in the Hua family combined was not as much as that caused by him.
ps: This part of the plot wasn't in the previous version, I skipped it, but later on I felt it wasn't right, so... I rewrote it. The girls are too expecting it, and I'm under too much pressure, I'm always afraid that I won't write it well and disappoint you.