As an official of the court, after his mother died of illness, Zhao Yanping wrote a memorial to resign from Ding You.

The military generals of this dynasty were exempted from Ding You for only a hundred days of funeral leave. The civil servants did not have this rule. Emperor Xuanhe approved Zhao Yanping's Ding You's memorial and awarded 500 taels of funeral rituals.

Zhao Yanping thanked the emperor for his kindness.

Some things were planned as early as when my mother was seriously ill. The Zhao family's roots were in Wu'an County, Jiangnan. My mother must have been buried with her father. It was in the heat of summer, and it was inconvenient to carry a coffin all the way south, so Zhao Yanping arranged cremation for his mother.

People live a lifetime, decades of sorrow and joy, and finally turn into ashes in a fire.

After the funeral, Zhao Yanping took his mother's ashes and officially boarded the ship with his family.

The new house in the capital city has to be taken care of. Gillian has left Guo Xing and Cui Niang, and Guo Xing is responsible for guarding the house. Although Cui Niang has nothing to do, she is now the wife of the Ye family and the children are all in the capital city. Gillian doesn’t want Cui Niang to share her family with her family for three years. This time she returns to Jiangnan to mourn, Gillian only brings Chen Jing, Qiao Niang, Chunzhu and the maid Shuangtao next to her daughter.

There are a lot of luggage, mainly the clothes of the master and servant of the whole family, the books that Zhao Yanping and the three of them want to read, Zhao Yanping and Zhao Fang are fine, Meng Zhao will have to take the imperial examination in a few years, which will not be delayed.

After getting on the boat, the sorrow that was stirring in my heart settled down, leaving only remembrance and longing.

When we set off at the end of June, it was early August when the Zhao family arrived in Jiangnan. The faint fragrance of osmanthus flowers was wafting everywhere on the streets and alleys.

Zhao Yanping decided to return to the county house first.

I haven't lived in it for more than ten years. The yard of the old house is covered with weeds, and even the roof walls are covered with clusters of stars.

Gillian saw this scene in the car and couldn't help but feel emotion. She followed her aunt to Beijing at the age of 18, and now she is thirty-two. Fourteen years have passed in a flash. I didn't expect that she would have the day to go back to Jiangnan again.

When the door arrived, several carriages stopped one after another.

Zhao Yanping jumped out of the car first.

It was almost noon, and there were no adults on the street, only a few children were playing at the door while the food was not cooked at home.

There are also two children in front of the Zhu family next to the Zhao family, two boys, the older one is seven or eight years old, and the younger one is four or five years old. The shadow of Jiao's uncle Zhu Chang can be vaguely seen.

The two families had long stopped interacting with each other, and the two years of interaction were full of unhappiness. Zhao Yanping did not look at the two children more, so he turned around and helped Meng Zhao, Chu Jin, and A Jiao get out of the car, and finally carried Xiao Zhao Fang down.

Meng Zhao, Chu Jin, and Zhao Fang looked at the dilapidated wooden door of their hometown at the same time. The door panels were covered with moss and rust on the copper locks. This scene shocked Meng Zhao, who had lived in Lion Lane, and Chu Jin, not to mention Zhao Fang, who was born in Jixiang Hutong, the new house given by the late emperor.

"Dad, was our family so poor before?" Zhao Fang asked in disbelief.

Gillian glared at her son quickly, why is she so hard to speak?

Zhao Yanping smiled, touched his son's head, and then said to Meng Zhao: "Chu Jin is a girl, you don't have to work. Both of you brothers have to help weed today."

The children are all grown up, and it is time to teach the brothers to suffer so that they will not always grow up in a wealthy nest and will not be able to bear any trouble in the future.

My father was determined, and Meng Zhao nodded immediately. Zhao Fang had never suffered any hardships. Looking at the green weeds on the wall, he thought this errand should be quite fun.

At this moment, a woman's voice came from the Zhu family's yard: "Brother Qian, come in for dinner."

The two children looked at the Zhao family and saw Jiao staring at them. The two brothers looked embarrassed and turned around and ran in.

Jiao looked at her uncle's house in a complicated mood.

Before Chen Ying and her mother-in-law entered Beijing, she wrote a letter to Zhao Yanping, saying that her cousin Zhu Shiyu had not survived the illness. She had divorced Dong Biqing before her death. The two children were definitely not the flesh and blood of her cousin. Could it be that her cousin Zhu Shuangshuang was born after she recruited a son-in-law to marry into a marriage? But the female voice in the yard just now seemed to be Zhu Shuangshuang's voice.

Gillian didn't want her aunt and cousin, but she wanted to know how her uncle Zhu Chang was doing over the years.

"I'll take a look with you?" Zhao Yanping saw her staring at the door of the Zhu family and walked over and said.

Gillian nodded.

The children went in to visit the old house first. A Jiao and Zhao Yanping came to the door of the Zhao family. Before the couple could knock on the door, Zhu Chang heard his sons say that there was a carriage in front of the Zhao family and a particularly beautiful wife. Zhu Chang rushed out excitedly. When A Jiao and his wife came over, Zhu Chang was already in the yard.

Gillian remembers that his uncle should be fifty-four years old this year. After experiencing the pain of losing his son, his uncle would probably be very haggard. Unexpectedly, his uncle in front of him was wearing a long cloth gown, neatly dressed, and looked elegant and gentle. Although there were some traces of gray and whiteness in his hair, he was in a very good spirit.

Gillian looked at her uncle unexpectedly.

Zhu Chang didn't dare to recognize his niece outside the door. Her fair and tender face was as clear as yesterday's almond eyes. She still looked like she was seventeen or eighteen years old, but her niece was obviously a woman in her early thirties. No matter how rich the capital was, how could it have not changed at all?

Just then, Zhu Chang saw Zhao Yanping.

Forty-year-old Zhao Yanping became thinner than when he was a captain. He also looked young and handsome, but the seriousness and majesty on his face made Zhu Chang determine his identity at once.

"Gillian, is it really you?" Zhu Chang asked excitedly.

Gillian nodded, cried and laughed: "I haven't seen you for many years, uncle, are you in good health?"

Zhu Chang smiled and said, "Okay, okay, uncle is very good, you don't have to worry about it. By the way, why are you back if you are not in the capital?"

Why come back...

Jiao looked at Zhao Yanping with distress.

Zhao Yanping was able to calmly mention his mother's funeral, and lowered his eyes and explained: "My mother passed away, and we returned to our hometown to mourn."

Zhu Chang's smile froze. He had never met Liu before and had no friendship, so he could only say some words of consolation.

The three of them stood in front of the door, and a woman of thirty-six or seven walked out of the main hall. She was wearing an apron and followed the two children just now.

Gillian looked surprised.

Zhu Chang's face turned slightly red and he explained in a low voice: "At that time, your cousin passed away, your aunt was deeply hit and went there a few years ago. She was the new aunt I married for you, and the two children were also your cousin. I named them Qian. Li, I hope they were humble and gentle, and don't grow up like your cousin."

Gillian understood, no wonder her uncle looked so good. It turned out that the old husband married his young wife.

The former aunt Jin treated her like that, and Gillian didn't even have any hypocritical condolences. She directly congratulated her uncle on having another child and saluted her new aunt from afar. Out of curiosity, Gillian asked about her cousin Zhu Shuangshuang.

Zhu Chang sighed, "Shuangshuang, I originally wanted her to recruit a son-in-law, but she didn't want to, and she was angry and insisted on getting married. I had no choice but to follow her wishes. Because your aunt, no one in the county town wanted to marry her, I asked a matchmaker to walk around and got married for her thirty miles away. After your aunt died, she rarely came back, and I don't know how she was doing."

Gillian nodded and did not ask again.

Zhu Chang wanted to invite his niece's family to have lunch at home, but Jiao smiled and refused. There were so many people, and the food at my uncle's house must not be enough. The couple had already sent Qiao Niang to buy some cooked food and had a meal at noon.

After briefly recounting the past, the couple went to their homes to work.

After cleaning up, I bought a new bed, quilt and other items. After a while, the old house was finally able to live again. During the mourning period, the couple could not live together. Zhao Yanping took Meng Zhao and Zhao Fang to live in the east room, and Jiao and Chu Jinniang to sleep in the west room. There were four servants in total, Chen Jing slept in a downward room, Qiao Niang, Chunzhu and Shuangtao lived in the same room, and it was a bit crowded, so it was okay to make do.

The next day, the family went to the Zhao family's ancestral grave to bury their mother.

Zhao Yanping took Meng Zhao and personally set up a new tomb next to his father's grave.

Zhao's father and old lady Zhao's grave were helped by the second wife of the Zhao family, and they were all quite decent. However, when they were alive, they had never been better than the second wife. Now the second wife does these face-saving work, Zhao Yanping is not grateful. The people from the second wife came to help after hearing the news, but they were driven away by Zhao Yanping with a dark face.

As early as the year when my sister was lost, Zhao Yanping had already broken off the relationship between the two families. The younger sister was able to reunite with her brother and sister later, and had nothing to do with her second wife.

The idle people left, Zhao Yanping buried his mother safely, took Gillian with the children to kowtow to his parents and grandmother.

Dad, my son is unfilial, I have only been back to see you for so many years. Mom has not been able to live a few decades. Don’t blame her for remarrying, treat her well there.

Mom, my son knows that you may want to be buried with Uncle Shen, but the children and grandchildren of the Shen family don’t like you, so my son will feel more at burying you by his father. In the future, my son will try to bring Zhao Ge'er and others to accompany you as much as possible.

Grandma, you have seen it. In the future, Ajiao will be your serious granddaughter-in-law. Do you think it’s okay? If it doesn’t work, the grandson can do nothing. The grandson can pretend to be her. If you want to blame him, blame him. Don’t blame him. Please pray for Ajiao more and bless her to live longer than her grandson. This is good to her grandson, otherwise if she leaves first, her grandson will not live long.

Zhao Yanping has really had enough of the pain of separation from life and death. He had no choice but to treat those who were still by his side when his elders passed away.

Looking at Gillian and the children beside her, Zhao Yanping kowtowed three times to his parents and grandmother in turn.
Chapter completed!