While they were laughing and joking, they saw that Mrs. Ji had already left the door and was being helped by Mr. Qiao and walked towards them.
Seeing that all the ancestors had arrived, everyone went out laughing and noisily. But before leaving, Xie Ruzhuo accidentally looked back and saw a gloomy look on Xie Rufei's face.
She was slightly startled, and then she said softly after getting into the carriage, "What's wrong with Fifth Sister? I just saw her looking unhappy."
Mrs. Qiao was in a carriage with her two sisters. After hearing this, she turned around and said, "It's not that concubine who caused the trouble. Seeing that her belly was getting bigger, her temper also got worse. She actually coaxed your second uncle to go to the hospital eight days out of ten." Mrs. Li is also pitiful, she has wiped her tears in front of your grandma several times. "
After hearing this, Xie Ruyue gritted her teeth first and said, "What kind of dignity can a child born in my belly have? Before the child was born, I became arrogant first."
Xie Ruzhuo tugged on the hem of her clothes and said with a joking smile, "Okay, who can show me such a bitter look on her face? My future brother-in-law has promised not to marry a concubine."
Seeing Xie Ruzhuo making fun of herself, Xie Ruyue was still a little angry, but she immediately blushed and said with a smile, "You don't have to tell me what I do, you are only one year younger than me. As soon as you get haircut in early autumn, it depends on how many years you have. Not up to you!”
What she said was true, but Xie Ruzhuo felt a sudden sound in his heart. He turned and leaned next to Mrs. Qiao and said, "I will stay with my mother and be an old girl for the rest of my life. I won't get married."
Even if she wants to get married, she might not be lucky enough.
Fengming Mountain is not close to home. Even though the carriage was speeding all the way, it took half a day to walk. It was almost noon before we reached the foot of the mountain.
The mountain road is not too rough, and the carriage ride is fairly easy. It snowed heavily. Although there were many trees in the mountains, they were all covered with a layer of snow. Looking from a distance, everything was covered in silver.
Looking up from the foot of the mountain, the ancestral hall hidden on the top of the mountain is also faintly visible. The red walls and green tiles are particularly eye-catching. There are red plum blossoms in full bloom inside, and a faint aroma floats from a distance.
After walking like this for half an hour, we finally arrived at the ancestral hall on the top of the mountain.
Xie Ruyue jumped out of the carriage first and said with a smile, "My bones are sore and numb from sitting, I am really tired." As she said this, she turned around and helped Qiao and Xie Ruzhuo down.
Xie Ruzhuo looked at her straightforward temperament with a smile, and followed Ji and others into the small courtyard next to the ancestral hall.
This ancestral hall is in a good location. There is a Buddhist hall next to it. Although there is not much incense on weekdays, it has a Zen atmosphere of the Qingdeng Ancient Buddha.
There have been servants here to help. The leader is a middle-aged woman over forty years old, with a shrewd and capable look on her face. She bowed first and said with a smile, "I have been looking forward to seeing the old lady's true face for a long time. Now that I have seen him, I know that there really is a living Bodhisattva in the world. Look at the way he is dressed. He really came from the temple." He’s coming down.”
As she spoke, she welcomed everyone in.
Ji smiled and said, "You are good at talking. Have you made all the arrangements for today?"
The woman responded, "Yes, old lady, don't worry. I have prepared everything necessary for ancestor worship, and the rooms and courtyards for the masters to stay have also been prepared."
Seeing that everything in the ancestral hall was clean and tidy, Ji nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well, let's go change clothes first."
Those who traveled all the way, even if they were changing clothes, they just wiped their heads and faces and other places to remove the rusticity before they could kneel down and worship their ancestors.
At noon, everyone was tidy up, and Ji took the lead, kowtowing respectfully to the tablets in the ancestral hall.
Xie Ruzhuo didn't feel it when he was in the small ancestral hall at home. But now that she is here, she has just discovered how strong the Xie family's incense is.
After Mrs. Ji finished offering incense, her mother-in-law helped her up and let the daughters-in-law of the next generation go to offer incense.
By the time Xie Ruzhuo arrived, her knees were already numb. Xie Ruzhuo stood up and walked to the tablet, knelt down again, and said silently in his heart, "May the ancestors bless Xie Ruzhuo, the unfilial descendant, and be able to get what he wants. In the future, the unfilial descendants will come back to apologize."
The green smoke curling up above the incense burner and the rows of spiritual tablets looked like pairs of deceased eyes.
Xie Ruzhuo solemnly burned the incense and then stepped back.
Xie Ruyue had been standing aside, and when she saw her coming over, she asked softly, "I see you don't look well. What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Xie Ruzhuo shook his head and smiled, looking towards the tablets unintentionally. From the corner of his eye, he saw a maid quietly walking up to Xie Ruyin and giving her a paper ball.
Looking at Xie Ruyin again, her face was full of bewilderment. After hearing the servant's whisper, it instantly turned into joy.
Xie Ruzhuo was confused, and Xie Ruyue also looked in her direction, but found nothing, so she asked, "What are you looking at?"
Xie Ruzhuo shook his head and said, "It's okay, I saw it wrong."
Seeing her like this, Xie Ruyue also knew that she had something on her mind, so she smiled and said, "It's a rare occasion, let's go out for a walk."
With that said, he dragged Xie Ruzhuo towards the outside.
Unexpectedly, before the door was out, Xie Rufei was heard yelling in the house, "You don't have eyes, do you want to hit me to death?"
Xie Ruzhuo turned around suddenly, and saw Xie Ruyin's face looking like she was about to cry, "Fifth sister, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
"Humph, I didn't mean it on purpose. I think you did it on purpose! This concubine just couldn't show off her child, and she pretended to be so pitiful!" Xie Rufei obviously cared about this matter very much, with a look of indignation on her face.
Mrs. Li had already heard what she said, so she stepped forward and scolded her in a low voice, "Fei'er, don't talk about my sister like that."
Xie Ruyin was obviously offended by Xie Rufei's words, but she didn't dare to refute. She immediately started crying aggrievedly, but the sound was like a cat's whimpering, which looked so pitiful.
While crying, she said, "Fifth sister, I really, really didn't mean it, wuwu."
Xie Rufei originally had an unhappy look on her face, but now that she saw her like this, she became even more upset and said, "You're doing something stupid, why are you crying? A concubine is showing off her pity to me, it makes me upset!"
Seeing this, Mrs. Ji's face immediately darkened and she said, "This is an ancestral hall, but also a place for mischief! Mrs. Li, take your daughter back to your room, there is no need to make a scene!"
Seeing Ji's scolding, Xie Rufei looked unhappy, but Li said apologetically, "Mom, calm down, I'll take her back right now." After Li said that, she dragged Xie Rufei out of the ancestral hall gate without any explanation.
Xie Ruyin didn't dare to cry anymore, and said pitifully, "Grandma, I'm going back to my room too." Then she went out.
Seeing that the ancestral hall was quiet again, Xie Ruyue took Xie Ruzhuo's hand and walked out again.
After being alone, Xie Ruyue whispered, "Zhuo'er, have you noticed that Fifth Sister has changed a lot recently?"
Hearing this, Xie Ruzhuo responded casually, "No, what has changed?" She has been busy with other things recently and did not pay attention to Xie Rufei. However, the person who gave Xie Ruyin a note today made her very wary.
"Although her temper was not the best among the sisters in the past, she has always been kind. But recently, for some unknown reason, her temper has become extremely irritable, as if she has lost her nature." When Xie Ruyue said this, she also She frowned tightly, and for some reason, she always felt that something was wrong with Xie Rufei now, as if someone had stolen her kindness.
Xie Ruzhuo only paid attention to the servant and did not take Xie Ruyue's words to heart. He still responded indiscriminately, "Yes."
Seeing that she didn't care, Xie Ruyue said helplessly, "Well, it's useless to tell you." She knew Xie Ruzhuo's temperament best. Apart from her biological sisters, there were really few people who could make this girl care.
After returning, Xie Ruzhuo called Hongrui over with a solemn look and whispered, "You will keep an eye on Miss Six later. If there is anything unusual, come and tell me at any time."
Hong Rui agreed, turned around and went to Xie Ruyin's yard, leaving Xie Ruzhuo with a solemn look on his face. Xie Ruyin's smile before was too obvious. It belonged to a woman deeply in love. If Xie Ruyin really has a sweetheart, she doesn't mind blessing her, but the premise is that this person will not pose a threat to the Xie family.
But no matter how you look at the matter of secretly passing notes, it doesn't seem like something serious people would do. I'm afraid there's something fishy about it.
In the afternoon, it was time to pay tribute to the ancestors. Xie Ruzhuo kept following the elders' movements to place them, but his eyes did not leave Xie Ruyin's line of sight.
She had cried at noon, her eyes were still slightly red and swollen, and now she was worried and even more uneasy.
Hong Rui quietly walked up to Xie Ruzhuo and said, "Miss, after Miss Six went back at noon, the first thing she did was to rummage through the cabinets and try on clothes. She looked like she was about to go out."
Xie Ruzhuo expressed his gratitude and said, "Just keep staring."
She wanted to see who this person was who was on the line with Xie Ruyin!
But she never expected that that person was completely beyond Xie Ruzhuo's expectations.
After dinner in the evening, I saw Hongrui running in with a face full of urgency, gasping, "Miss, Miss Six is out!"
Hearing this, Xie Ruzhuo immediately stood up, told Qianbi to guard his room, and then ran in Xie Ruyin's direction with Hongrui.
It was dark and windy at night on this mountain, and the stars were dim tonight, making it increasingly difficult to find anyone. Fortunately, Xie Ruyin was carrying a lantern when she went out. Now it was winter again, with the snowflakes on the ground reflecting the reflection. After searching for a while, Xie Ruzhuo and the others saw a petite figure entering the temple.
Xie Ruzhuo followed quietly, then pushed the back door of the temple open a crack, and suddenly saw Xie Ruyin entering one of the houses.
Hongrui asked quietly, "Miss, shall we go in?"
Xie Ruzhuo booed and locked the door tightly. Only seven knocks were heard before someone opened the door.
The moment the door opened, Xie Ruzhuo's eyes widened. The person in that room was none other than the fifth prince of the current dynasty who had a close friendship with Xie Ruzhuo and the newly crowned Duan Wang—Xiao Junyi!
Xie Ruzhuo took a step back suddenly, feeling that his palms were sweaty. She never expected that Xie Ruyin would actually get in touch with Xiao Junyi! She knows better than anyone what kind of character Xiao Junyi is. She is cruel, unscrupulous, lustful and promiscuous. Hasn't Xie Ruyin seen it over the years? Now you are jumping into his pit, you are simply looking for death!
She can seek death, but she drags the Xie family into jumping into a pit of fire!
Xie Ruzhuo endured the anger in his heart and turned to look inside the temple. He saw that the door had been closed again, and Xie Ruyin had already entered.
She took a deep breath and said, "Hongrui, let's go back."
Hongrui glanced at the temple worriedly and whispered, "Then we won't care about Miss Six?"
"How can we ignore it? Let's wait until she comes back." After saying that, Xie Ruzhuo turned towards his residence in the ancestral hall, but what he entered was Xie Ruyin's room.