Led by Wang Song's slaves, Chen Guhong and his party quickly arrived at Zheng Chong's house. Zheng Chong's house is in the most remote and outskirts of the entire Orange Town.
There is a small courtyard for a single family, a small pond in front of the door, a few orange trees, and the environment is very elegant. But the house was terrible. Weeds grew everywhere on the courtyard wall, and traces of collapse and repair could be seen in several places.
Part of the door is rotting, and it is leaking.
There is a white cloth hanging in front of the door, and the wind blows the white cloth, which is very desolate. Chen Guhong and Wang Song got off the carriage, looked at each other, and Chen Guhong stepped forward to knock on the door.
A soft voice sounded after a while.
"Who is it?"
With a creak, the door was opened, revealing the figure of a little woman. The little woman looks very pretty, her eyes are a little red, she is wearing a snow-white filial dress, as the saying goes, if you want to be pretty, you will be filial.
This woman has a certain charm, and the local ruffian will feel dirty when he sees it. The little woman opened her eyes and looked at Chen Guhong and the two with a look of surprise, but she was not like ordinary women who showed timidity when they met strangers.
This person may be the widow of Zheng Chong, Chen Guhong is not a good person but he is not a dirty person, and although Wang Song is very beautiful, he is not so obscene.
Neither of them took a second look, Wang Song cupped his hands and asked, "But Mrs. Zheng?"
"My husband is indeed Zheng Chong, who are you two?" The little woman nodded and asked.
"We are friends of Brother Zheng. We came to visit friends, but we didn't want to hear the bad news, so we came here without stopping." Wang Song showed a sad expression, and explained the purpose of coming.
The little woman's eyes were red again, and she sighed, "My husband left suddenly." Then she bent to lead the two of them in, and said, "Let's go in first and see my husband for the last time. Tomorrow is the first seven days, and the day after tomorrow is the first day." Burial. The two of you might as well stay and see my husband for the last time."
"Of course."
Wang Song said.
"Inside and outside are trivial, if there is any order, just ask." Chen Guhong said.
"Thank you." Mrs. Zheng saluted the two of them again, and then they walked in together. The yard looks dilapidated from the outside, and even more shabby from the inside, and even smells of decay.
It wouldn't be surprising if it collapsed at any time, but the two didn't care too much and went straight to the front of the hall. The ground in front of the hall is muddy and full of potholes. There is a word "Fu" hanging on the north wall, but nothing else.
There were two straw mats on the ground, one on the ground and a dead body on the other. Kneeling next to the corpse was a pair of children, about four or five years old, a boy and a girl, also wearing filial piety, but their expressions were ignorant, not sad, just dazed.
Chen Guhong and Wang Song felt sad when they saw the feet protruding from the end of the straw mat, and hurried forward to unfold the straw mat. Who is the person in the mat if not Zheng Chong
I saw that he was still him, but his body was already cold and his face was as pale as paper. The weather is still hot now, and there is even a smell of corpses on his body.
The clothes on his body should be the clothes he was wearing at that time, white and patched.
"Sorry! It hurts!" Wang Song and Chen Guhong looked at each other, feeling extremely sad. At this time, Yuanyuan and other servants also came in. Chen Guhong called Yuanyuan and said, "I took a look at Zheng Xianggong's figure, and went to buy a shroud."
"En." Seeing this, Yuanyuan was not mischievous, and obediently responded, looked at Zheng Chong's figure, turned and walked out.
"How can I bother the guests?" Madam Zheng said, frowning.
"I'm waiting for brother Zheng to be a close friend, so my sister-in-law doesn't need to see each other." Chen Guhong said.
Mrs. Zheng didn't say much when she saw the hospitality of the two.
Not long after, Tie Zhu came back first and brought the coffin by car. After a while, Yuanyuan bought a shroud and came back. Mrs. Zheng bowed to Chen Guhong and Chen Guhong, wiped Heng Chong's body and changed her clothes.
The two of Chen Guhong carried Zheng Chong into the coffin, and then carefully covered the coffin. Although I didn't do much, it looked a lot more decent.
After the busy work, it was already afternoon. Even if Chen Guhong and the other adults were hungry, they would endure it, but the two dolls on the ground couldn't bear it.
The girl said to Mrs. Zheng with her fingers in her mouth: "Mother, I'm hungry." The boy was a little older and more sensible, he didn't speak but he also showed desire and hunger.
Mrs. Zheng was apologetic when she heard the words, and said to Chen Guhong and the two of them: "The concubines are confused, let the guests starve, so let's cook."
"The children are starving, and cooking is slow. Sister-in-law doesn't need to be busy. I'll send someone to buy some pastries." Wang Song said quickly, and then called his servants to buy food.
"This!" Mrs. Zheng showed shame, but she didn't say anything when she saw a pair of children staring at her eagerly. Soon after, the house slave came back and brought rich pastries.
Chen Guhong first picked up two pieces and handed them to a pair of children. The children immediately gobbled it up.
"It's delicious, mother, this is the best I've ever eaten. Is this a pastry?"
"good to eat."
The child's words are unscrupulous, but very sad. Chen Guhong and Wang Song looked at each other. They knew that the situation in Zheng Chong's family was bad, but they didn't expect it to be so bad.
"I made the guests laugh." Mrs. Zheng apologized to Chen Guhong and Chen Guhong, seeing that her children were really disrespectful.
"You don't need to see outsiders." Chen Guhong said.
Immediately, Mrs. Zheng led the two to the table, poured tea for Chen Guhong and the two to eat. She claimed to go upstairs to deliver pastries to her mother-in-law. Not long ago, the two of Chen Guhong knew that Zheng Chong's family had five members.
In addition to wives, children and old mothers.
According to Mrs. Zheng, this old Mrs. Zheng was weak and sick in her early years. Although she has improved a bit these years, she has a strange problem. She doesn't like to see the light and likes to stay in the dark place in the room all day long.
Even if Zheng Chong is gone, it is rare to show up.
"Even if you don't like sunshine, but your son is dead, you should still be busy inside and out. But why don't you even step out of the door?" Chen Guhong and the two were puzzled, but they just put it in their hearts and didn't chew their tongues too much.
After Mrs. Zheng went upstairs, Chen Guhong and the two began to eat pastries. The pastry was not bad, but the tea was unpalatable, the roughest tea, but the two of them ate patiently without any dissatisfaction.
Halfway through the meal, there was a noise from upstairs.
"You coquettish fox, you don't need to pretend to be a filial wife in front of me. Are you happy that my son is gone? Can you go outside to find wild men?" The old man's voice was very sharp.
"Mother-in-law, don't say that. Although my husband is gone, I will definitely raise my children and become a widow for him." Madam Zheng's voice immediately sounded, a little crying.
He said again: "Grandma, there are guests here now. After the husband is buried, can we have a good talk?"
"Get out!" the old voice snapped.
After a while, the quarreling sounds died down. Chen Guhong and Wang Song looked at each other in surprise, "This family is not harmonious? And there are all kinds of weird things."
Both of them were not foolish, so many thoughts came to their minds. But he heard the sound of footsteps again, thinking that Madam Zheng had returned, so he tacitly kept silent and continued to eat and drink.