At the end of the twelfth lunar month, near the end of the new year, Cui Heng finally arrived at the Siyamen, the governor of Yunnan, and met Cui Ju. After nearly four years in exile in Fujian with their mother, the father and son finally meet again in remote Yunnan.
But this rare meeting also showed some kind of affection between them. When Senator Cui saw this son appearing in the first Hou Ying of the Chief Minister's Office, he frowned and asked him coldly: " How did you come?"
Cui Heng had to stay in the store all the way, so it was inconvenient to wear filial piety. He only wore a large voxel white scholar's robe, with hemp rope tied around his waist, which was easy to ignore without looking closely. But how many fathers in this world see their long-lost son, who wouldn't hold them in their arms and look up and down
Feeling aggrieved, he fell to his knees with a thud, without squeezing tears down his face: "Father, grandfather passed away on September 13th two months ago, and my son was ordered by his elder brother to take his father back to his hometown, Ding You. ."
what! Ding You
His father... died at this juncture
He has just figured out the method of sorting out the yellow records of the households, forming an alliance with the local tyrant Ding family, pulling one to fight one another, forcing the Huang family to spit out the population of fifty households after accepting the Xu family, how can he give up halfway? As long as you give him another six months, no, as long as there are three more months, he will at least clear half of the city's yellow book, and it is considered that this term has not been done in vain.
Thinking of this, Cui Ju suddenly remembered that the mountains and roads in Yunnan are far away, and it would take more than two months to walk away from Beijing. Ding You's collaborating and citations are to be reported to the Chief Minister. The bureau of officials in Beijing did not investigate so quickly, and when Brother Heng came, he was not as flamboyant as Cui Liangdong...
If they can be made to recognize that he came out before his father passed away, and when news comes from Beijing, he will still have some time to complete the work at hand - at least clear out the family background of the Huang family that dominates the whole place!
He was thinking about how to delay the time to resign, but Cui Heng said proudly: "Father don't have to worry about the governor's delay and not agreeing with you, the elder brother will hand over the book to beg for filial piety first in Beijing, and he will also act on behalf of father. I wrote about Ding Youzhezi. The emperor specially granted him a few days of false observance and burial, and he specially approved his father's investigation.
From his underwear, he took out the bag that was heavily wrapped in oiled paper, and there was a big "filial piety" printed on it, which really hurt Cui Ju's eyes.
Everyone else is hiding the mourning period, and the family knows how to cooperate. Forgiving him all kinds of ideas, all kinds of plans, he actually ruined these two ignorant sons!
He gritted his teeth with hatred, and told his son, "You can stay here for me honestly, I still have official business, and I can't leave until the handover is over!"
He didn't care whether Cui Heng was still kneeling, and after receiving the citations, he went to his second hall, and he wanted to take advantage of the last minute to finish what he had to do before handing over to his colleagues.
However, Cui Heng was not the little Cui Xie who honestly let him kill him back then. When Cui Ju went out on the front foot, he turned over on the back foot and got up from the ground, looked at his father's back angrily and wiped away his tears, and went straight to the back door of the Chief Secretary with the money in his hand, looking for the little Haijing who always set up a stall outside the door.
This matter of the Cui family can be passed back to Beijing, and it is even more turbulent in Yunnan. Cui Heng's team of mourners had just entered the city gate, and the two Xie family servants who brought him inquired about the story of "Council Cui was cruel to give his wife, and Xu's daughter committed himself to be a concubine", and they also found Xiao Haijing's stall. .
Cui Heng left them in the Houya to help himself, and found the old servant alone. That little Haijing was really loyal to Cui Heng's mother and son. When he saw the second young master, he rushed to cry and said, "Why is the son here? If our wife knew about it, I don't know how happy I would be!"
Cui Heng didn't think he was crying and dirtying his clothes, so he quickly helped him and asked, "Where is my mother? My father passed away, and my father has to return to Beijing to guard the system after handing over the affairs under his command. I just work so hard. If you can come out, take me to see her, and I will kowtow to her before leaving."
Xiao Haijing said in surprise: "The old man is gone? It's only been a few years! Now the Cui family is the head of the ruthless uncle, my son, how have you survived all these years..."
He patted his thigh and cried and sang. He didn't want the stall anymore. He dragged the second young master and ran to the Huang's house. When he was about to reach the row where the Huang's house was, he suddenly stopped and told him to sit in the small restaurant outside first. Go back to see Mrs.
Although the customs in Yunnan are more open than in Beijing, and Mrs. Xu is his biological mother, it is not a problem to enter the house to meet, but after all, Senator Cui has been staring at the Huang family for the Qing Dynasty these days, and he has also formed a lot of hatred with the Huang family. He was afraid that Cui Heng would be angered by him.
Second Young Master Cui has experienced many lessons now, and is not as impulsive as he was when he was a teenager. After Xiao Haijing left, he sat in the small restaurant and ordered a cup of local imitation Cangshan Mixue, two plates of soft yellow millet cake and sugar, and ate it absent-mindedly, staring at the place where Xiao Haijing disappeared. .
He didn't know how long he waited, but he felt so anxious that he couldn't even taste the sweetness of the sugar in his mouth, for fear that his mother would no longer want him when he had a new home. But just as he could hardly bear to get up and go to Huang's house, a woman in a blue jacket and white dress with tacky gold and silver jewelry on her head suddenly stepped into the door of the tavern.
She is no longer young and beautiful, nor is she as graceful and elegant as when she was in the Cui Mansion, her clothes are vulgar and outdated, her face and eyes are full of wind and frost, like a woman from an ordinary family. But as soon as she saw Cui Heng, she came up and called "my son". She didn't shy away from outsiders, and she didn't want him to appear in front of her like his father.
This is for his sake, the real mother.
Cui Heng thought of his elder brother's words to persuade him, and his heart was sour, he hugged Xu and cried.
Xu shi cried with distress: "My son has been wronged! All these years you have fallen into the hands of your cruel and short-lived brother, and my mother can't sleep when she thinks about it..."
Although Cui Heng was grief-stricken, he had long regarded his eldest brother as a hero, who was capable of writing and martial arts, and even if his biological mother spoke ill of him, he was not happy, and murmured, "Brother is very good to me, Provide me with food and drink, teach me martial arts, and let me study hard, and later get me a marriage that is no worse than Sister Yun..."
Xu was surprised.
"Why does he treat you so well? Is he secretly holding back some bad intentions? Did he see that you are not good at studying and think that you will never be able to study in your life, so he asked you to be a scholar before you can get married? He is looking forward to it. You are gone!"
The Xu family used themselves as well as their own father to save others, and felt that Cui Xie had bad intentions. But Cui Heng couldn't listen anymore, pushed his mother away, and said unhappily, "Mother, don't talk nonsense! My elder brother never said anything about you, he also said that you refused to go home and went here to marry. People are here for me, otherwise I will blame you for leaving me and marrying another. He asked me to report my father's funeral this time, so that I can see you!"
Xu Shi was surprised again.
Not only amazed, but also ashamed.
It's not that she doesn't know her sins over the years, and it's not that she has no regrets, but she has made too many mistakes, and she can't go back if she wants to go back. She tried so hard to embarrass Senator Cui, not only because of the hatred of her being abandoned and forced to become a monk, but also because she was afraid that her son would suffer in the hands of Cui Xie, and seek justice from Cui Xie's most beloved father.
But the son of the former room was able to treat her son kindly...
Cui Hengyou said incessantly: "He is the champion, or the gentleman of the royal family. I am a white person who has never taken the exam. How can he toss me? As long as he doesn't care about me, I will have no future in my life. . He asked me to study for my own good, and when I become famous and become a family, I will be able to take you back... "
With a cry of grief, Mrs Xu suddenly knelt down towards the north, gave a big salute, stood up and said to Cui Heng, "Don't come to see me again, I'm a second marriage, and I'm still a concubine, it's not good for you to recognize me. When you get home, tell your brother, I'm sorry for him, I kowtowed to him, and I will eat fast and recite Buddha, hoping that he will be well, and I hope he will treat you kindly for the sake of my repentance..."
Not only did she want to pray for Cui Xie, but she also planned to spare their father for the sake of this stepson and his parents.
After she returned to the house, she said to the head of the Huang family, the new husband-in-law that she had chosen thousands of times: "The father of the old slave of the Cui family has died, and he will return to Beijing soon. I think he is also a man who is leaving the government. Sooner or later, the population will be able to come back, so the master will let go of this matter in the face of his concubine, and there is no need to ask Xiao Haijing to go to the chief secretary’s yamen in the future.
The master of the Huang family was calling Cui Ju to unite with several big households in the mansion, and when he heard that he wanted Ding You, he laughed three times with joy: "The sky is endless, my Huang family! That Cui man is leaving! , he thought he could still be the local emperor in Yunnan, and he had a lot of fun these days, now he is either a sitting councilor or a person without an official position, how can I not give him a big gift!"
Mr. Xu himself was a bold and thief. Hearing what he said, he knew that this living bandit couldn't spare Cui Ju. But her son was still Cui Ju's son. If this old man was unlucky, wouldn't his son also be implicated
She hated Senator Cui for several years, but now she would pinch her nose to plead for him, begging her new husband... At least not to kill her precious son.
Master Huang said with a smile: "You underestimate me too, am I that kind of bandit who can only kill? Your son is also half of my son. Without the good news from him, Cui Papi would not be able to leave. It can't take his life."
He only wanted their family to live in peace in Yunnan, as long as this Cui Ju never came back.
Mr. Huang immediately sent someone to send a big gift to the remaining three or so councilors of Yunnan government, begging them and Councilor Cui to raise their hands and let them go after handing over the affairs of the Qing Huang Book. Those three councilors took money to do business, and immediately sued Cui Ju for not going to his post immediately to pay his respects when he heard the obituary.
Lord Zhou had long disliked this council, which would only cause trouble, and he happily allowed him to return to his hometown without waiting for the transfer of documents from his native government. He even stopped the matter of clearing the Yellow Book. Just do it.
Cui Ju is about to conduct a final inspection and dispose of the Huang family as a model of a hidden household, but he doesn't want God's will not be with him. He didn't even do this well, so he was forcibly held in the Senate, with the remaining three colleagues. handover.
His ambition turned into running water, and he could only ask people to tidy up the backyard, with several boats of newly acquired property from Yunnan, two concubines and a son who he didn't want to see, a group of useless family members and a couple who looked like prisoners. The guard-like nursing home embarked on the road of returning home.
This trip went from winter to spring, and the ice had melted when approaching the capital, but it went smoothly into the capital. When he arrived at the Cui Mansion in the capital, the mansion was still hanging white everywhere. As soon as he entered the door, Cui Xie came out to pick him up with the tablet of the Lord of God, and said with red eyes, "My son couldn't take a long vacation, so he helped his coffin to go back to his hometown, so he had to put his grandfather in first. He stopped at Pingpo Temple outside the city. Now that the father is back, the sons will be at ease, so let the father feel at ease in mourning and send the grandfather's coffin back to his hometown for burial."
Before Cui Ju could stand still, he was about to be driven back to his hometown in the countryside by his son. He was out of breath, and gritted his teeth and said, "Where is the spirit master located? Thank you for your milk, we will talk about the burial in a few days!"
His father passed away last year, the funeral had been over for half a year, and the mourning hall at home had already been demolished. He put on a filial piety in the yard, gave a big salute to the tablet, and cried bitterly for a while, all three sons accompanying him.
After the salute, he went to the hall to visit his mother.
Mrs. Cui experienced her husband's mourning, and she seemed to be a few years older. Her head was covered in silver, and her spirit was haggard. She was able to stand and walk. Seeing her son came in in white clothes, she couldn't help crying bitterly while hugging him. Cui Ju also accompanies her to weep, crying and saying, "I'm back, I won't go anywhere for three years, I just spend my days at home with my mother in peace!"
The old lady said, mixed with joy and sorrow, "Before your father and I only hoped that you would come back to Beijing to see me one day when your duties were fulfilled, but I didn't want him to see you again in the end. But I took his blessing, I can spend more time with my son..."
Cui Ju hurriedly said countless good things to solve him, and also said that Cui Xie had a bright future, and he could display books in front of the sanctuary and be favored by the emperor. He would be able to serve the old lady until he got old by giving his father a Beijing official.
He really thinks that Cui Xie has to give him a Beijing official to be worthy of the hardships he has endured all these years, but the old lady shook her head and said, "I don't have such a big heart, I hope that my grandson can see the sky and take care of you. This is the official position of Lao Tzu. When your father goes, my body will not work anymore. I only hope that I can go back to my hometown to guard your father and you in the last few days... Don't you officials have to form a hut in front of the grave to guard the system? Mother will accompany you back to Jiaxiang Village, and let’s go back to Zhuangzi to live for a few years together.”
The old lady felt sorry for her son and was willing to accompany him to the countryside, but Cui Ju shook her head as if struck by lightning: "Mom, don't think about it, until I send my father's coffin back to the countryside for burial, our family is still in the capital to offer my father's memorial tablet. , it's enough to keep the door closed and filial piety!"