Lin'an City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the Tiaoxi River slowly bypasses Lin'an City from east to west and flows into the Qiantang River, becoming the main route for the people of Lin'an to leave the city.

The Pei family mansion was built in Xiaomei Lane in the east of the city. The houses built on the hillside are scattered and occupy the entire Xiaomei Lane. The small river that was introduced from the Tiaoxi River, winding down from the backyard of the Pei’s mansion, and into the Tiaoxi Wharf, is called Xiaomeixi by the people of Lin'an City. And because this Xiaomeixi is the only river in the city that leads to the pier and can be used by boats, after passing the government offices and schools in the city, river houses and vendors gather on both sides of the river, although it is not as good as Changxing Street in the west of the city. It is full of shops, but also has the bustle of Changxing Street in the west of the city.

In the summer morning, the sun has not yet risen, and the air is filled with fresh vegetation and dewdrops.

Wearing white silk flowers and a plain summer cloth skirt, Yu Tang helped her mother across the river houses on both sides of Xiaomei Creek.

Xiaomei Lane is still in sight, sweat is already coming out of his forehead.

She took out the snow blue Hangsi Supa and wiped her sweat, and then realized she looked at her mother Chen.

Seeing her sweaty sideburns, Yu Tang hurriedly handed over her veil, and whispered: "Mum, wipe your sweat too!"

Chen shook his head, took out his veil, wiped off the sweat, praised her "good", and said: "You don't have to worry about Mom, just take care of yourself."

Yu Wen, who was walking in front of them, could not help but complain: "I said hiring a sedan chair, and you said you were disrespectful to the deceased. It is hard to get your bones up a bit, but don't toss them down again. If you want me to say, you shouldn't. Come. I'll just bring Ah Tang over."

Chen is tall and thin, with a pale complexion, and her perennial illness makes her delicate eyebrows always look pitiful like pear blossoms in the rain. She smiled and calmed Yu Wen: "Okay, okay, I know you care about me. I will do what I can, so that you and Atang will not worry about it. The old lady of Pei's family has a great favor to me. If I am in good health, I should be three Step by step, go to the temple and pray to the Bodhisattva to bless his old man to reach bliss early, so that he would walk without pain and give him incense to the old man, but it was just to deceive his old man to be merciful and lazy." Speaking of this, Her eyes darkened.

Since knowing the news of the death of Pei's old man, the Chen family felt uneasy.

Yu Tang hurriedly comforted her mother: "Mum, you also said that the old man of the Pei family is compassionate, and he doesn't account for this. We will have a chance in the future, and then go to the temple to pray for the old man of the Pei family."

Chen nodded.

Yu Wen told the mother and daughter: "The Pei family has a big business, although the three branches are divided, but there is no division. The old man of the Pei family lives on the east road, and the ancestral hall of the Pei family is also on the east road. There were too many people who came to pay homage, so they stopped in the side hall at the main entrance of Zhonglu. The male guests offered incense in the side hall, and the female guests set up two places to worship the incense on the east road. One place was paid by relatives. Female relatives, one is a neighbor like ours. When you go in, remember to follow the women in charge, don’t go to the wrong place."

Three days after the funeral, the mourning hall began to open to the neighbors.

Because of Chen's medical treatment and the Pei family's overlap, Yu Wen went to greet him in advance because of Chen's doctor's status. He has been helping out at Pei's house these days, and only today took his wife and daughter to pay homage to the Pei family's grandfather.

The Chen family had not seen such a large-scale funeral, so he was a little worried and responded nervously.

Although Yu Tang was a person for two generations, she was detained by the Li family in the backyard of the inner house. She always came out sneakily and never went through such a battle, but she felt that she had been in the Li family for those years. , Even if something went wrong and there was no interest involved, the Pei family should still be very generous. If there is any, it will be changed, and if it is not, it will be better. It is not very worried.

Perhaps it is because there are many people benefiting from the Pei family in Lin'an City. Today is the first day that Pei’s family opened the mourning hall. Along the way, there are many vendors beside Xiaomeixi that have not opened, and there are not many people visiting. When she was studying, she found that the county school hadn't even started classes, and she also hung up a white banner.

Yu Wen sighed: "If these children in the county school were not funded by Pei's grandfather, how could they have produced a few talents every few years? Now that Pei's grandfather has gone, the Pei family does not know who is in charge. Uneasy, most people are afraid of reading unintentionally..."

Chen heard it and said, "You don't believe Lu Xin's nonsense too? Go over the long room and let Sanfang be the master? Is this going to happen?"

The imperial court is also the prince.

Yu Wen hesitated for a while, and whispered quietly: "If there are such rumors, it is not uncommon. The eldest master passed away in his prime of life, and his two sons were not up to the crown, and he had never been in contact with Pei's general affairs before..."

Chen argued: "Isn't there still someone in this family? Who is born with it? As long as you are willing to learn!"

Yu Wen hesitated: "But I listened to those people talking about the two young masters of the Pei family's uncle's family, and the second master has been incomprehensible since childhood...maybe this is because of the rumors."

It's just that, the Pei family will inevitably cause trouble.

The brothers are united, and the profit breaks the gold.

If there are internal disputes, no matter how big the tree is, it may fall down suddenly.

Yu Wen and Chen both fell silent at the same time.

Yu Tang looked at the atmosphere not so good, and said with a smile: "Daddy, why is Pei's place called Xiaomei Alley? Xiaomei Alley doesn't even have plum blossoms, and has nothing to do with Mei."

She wanted to ask this question in her previous life.

I just couldn't find anyone to ask.

Yu Wen smiled and said: "Of course you can't see it. I also heard the shopkeeper Tong say last time. It was said that when the ancestor of the Pei family came to Ange with his family, he found a wild plum tree and built it next to the plum tree. Living in a house, it was named Xiaomei Lane. But it was Pei’s family who thrived and slowly expanded outwards. The old plum plant had already belonged to the inner house, and it was hard to see ordinary guests. It was the name of Xiaomei Lane. Stayed."

A family of three climbed the **** unhurriedly and arrived at Pei's house.

Outside the gate was a vast expanse of whiteness.

The servants shuttled around, busy but not chaotic.

Seeing Yu Wen, a person in charge came forward to say hello: "Master Yu is here, please sit in the hall."

Yu Wen hurriedly pointed to the Chen family and Yu Tang: "Zhou Jing and the little girl have received the grandfather's great favor, so they will come to give the old man a kowtow and respect the incense."

There are too many such people.

The manager politely saluted the Chen family and Yu Tang, and called a maid-in-law to come over, and asked her to take the Chen family and Yu Tang to pay respects to Grandpa Pei.

Chen and Yu Tang were polite and followed the woman to the east.

Yu Tang now has the time to look at the Pei's mansion.

It is indeed a behemoth that occupies the city of Lin'an. In Lin'an, a city with a lot of mountains and little land, there is a courtyard that can park at least two dozen carriages. The trees next to the courtyard are mostly thick and thick, with lush branches and leaves, and the crown is like an umbrella , The welcoming pine is even higher than the human, and the knotted twigs hovered and stretched out, more than three feet away. The green tiles and red bars of the cloister that follow the trend are painted with blue-green patterns on the top, the pillars are all wrapped in white silk, and the green trees on both sides are decorated with white silk flowers with a large bowl mouth.

How much money does it cost!

Yu Tang was speechless.

Then found something even stranger.

On the way, she did not see a flower of any color other than white.

The wealthy and wealthy people like to plant some flowering trees that mean many children, more blessings, and melons. Especially in this season, it is the time when pomegranate and jujube trees bloom. Not to mention these flowering trees, such as hibiscus, crape myrtle, and Chinese rose. I haven't seen such a common flower tree.

Yu Tang's footsteps were slightly stagnant, and he carefully looked at the branches of the trees beside the corridor.

The woman who had been paying attention to the guests immediately noticed the abnormality. She also slowed down and said warmly: "What is the little lady looking at? Is there anything I can help?"

Chen also turned around in confusion.

Yu Tang hurriedly retracted his gaze, and took a few steps forward to catch up with the Chen family, fearing that the woman would misunderstand that she was peeping into the inner house and lacked education, and explained: "I look at this tree like a pomegranate tree, but it doesn't bloom..."

The woman was taken aback.

Xu was afraid that Yu Tang would misunderstand that Pei’s pomegranate tree did not bloom, so he thought about it, and said, "It was originally blooming. Isn’t this the old man gone? The elders and young masters in the family looked uncomfortable, so they let them cut it. ."

This is actually the reason.

Yu Tang was stunned.

Chen was also surprised, and said, "Have you all cut it?"

Pei’s family has a large area and planted a lot of flowers and trees. If all this were cut, how much manpower would it take!

The woman probably suffered greatly, and she smiled bitterly when she heard the words: "Who said no! Since the three masters disliked that the flowers bloomed too brightly, for two days, the three chief executives have to be busy managing funerals and instructing others. Cut the flower tree, we follow up and down, we can't lift our hands anymore."

"It's really hard work for you!" Chen said sympathetically, "It will be fine for a while."

Probably it was because Chen's words were very sincere, and when her tone slowed down, she took a bit of unparalleled gentleness. The woman looked at Chen carefully and said, "My husband's name is Ji, everyone Call me a madam. If you have anything, you can let someone come and tell me."

People who can be called "auntie" are not ordinary and decent servants. Most of them are servants who have served the Pei family for several generations. Not to mention, they may be shrewd and strong, who is dependent on which house owner takes care of one party's affairs. Mother-in-law.

Chen said politely, "Miss Ji".

But Yu Tang's heart felt like turning over the river.

Chen couldn't hear it, but she did.

It is the three masters who don't like safflower, and the three masters who are busy managing funerals and instructing people to cut the flowers and trees. So what are the chief and second masters doing?

Is it true that Pei's family has really changed and reordered where others can't see, as Lu Xin said?

She was calm, naive, and curious about what the auntie said: "The Pei family deserves to be the leader of Lin'an City. There are three chief directors. How many general stewards are there? My father knows the treasurer Tong. He said Shopkeeper Tong is very knowledgeable and powerful. Then is shopkeeper Tong the manager of your house or the chief manager?"

Aunt Ji's eyes became gentle as she listened, and said, "The shopkeeper Tong is my in-laws."

In other words, Aunt Ji's daughter married Xiaotong's shopkeeper.

"Oh, this is a coincidence!" Yu Tang and Chen cried out in a low voice, and Yu Tang vividly explained how she met the father and son of the Tong family to Aunt Ji, and praised Xiao Tong's shopkeeper. Something.