Seeing this situation, Jiang Xixi stepped forward with an arrow and helped up the woman who almost fell to the ground, but she broke free of her hands, and the woman approached the gate of Xin'an Mansion step by step, with a touch of perseverance in her weak back.
She carefully placed the little girl in her arms on the stone steps of the palace, her eyes lingered on the small body a few times, and then she pulled out the drumstick in front of everyone, and struck it the drum surface with all her strength.
"My lord," her voice was much thicker than just now, "My lord, the people have grievances, please do justice for the people." ” When the words fell, the drumstick kept smashing on the drum, attracting people passing by, pointing and talking softly around her.
"This is not the Huo family's ......"
"That kid died last night, and he was going to be buried today, who ......knows?"
"It's also a sin, not long after my mother left, my father accepted a small one, but a few days later, the child actually followed......"
The door of Xin'an Mansion opened with a "creak", and Cheng Muyou walked out accompanied by two guards, dressed in a civilian robe, with a touch of imperceptible anger in his calm face.
"Daddy."
Xun'er just wanted to run towards him, but was stopped by Jiang Xixi, she carried Xun'er back to the crowd, and covered his mouth and nose with her sleeves.
Cheng Muyou's eyes turned around the little girl's corpse a few times, then looked up at the woman in plain clothes, and asked softly, "Does she have an epidemic?"
” "Yes, sir."
"Then you should know that she shouldn't be here now, but at the Iron Fence."
"My lord," the woman faced Cheng Muyou's questioning, there was no fear on her face, she straightened her back, and said loudly, "It's true that Xiao Zhen was infected with the epidemic, but she could have escaped this catastrophe, if it weren't for that vicious woman, Xiao Zhen would not have died at all, that woman knew that the epidemic was serious now, but she still had to take the child out, but she was fine before leaving, and people were useless at night......"
She said as she said, two tears flowed down her face.
Cheng Muyou's eyebrows tightened, "Who is that woman you are talking about?"
” Mrs.
Huo died of illness half a year ago, leaving behind a daughter named Xiaoxuan, who was taken care of by Mrs.
Yunying's dowry maid.
Three months later, Master Huo married a new lady to get started, the woman was born in a scholarly family, as soon as she entered the house, she took care of the family affairs in an orderly manner, and regarded Xiao Zhen as her own, not only took care of her personally, but also played with her every day, taught her to read and write, and led the depressed little girl out of the haze of losing her mother little by little.
The new lady's approach made Master Huo very pleased, and even gave her the family's ancestral black jade bracelet as a compliment for her housekeeping.
However, the servants and maids had a lot of complaints about this newcomer lady, and they thought that everything she did was just to win the trust and favor of Master Huo, after all, she was over twenty years old before getting married, so she naturally wanted to please her husband's family.
What's more, someone once saw with their own eyes that she took advantage of Master Huo's absence to pierce Xiao Xuan's delicate fingers with an embroidery needle.
"Yunying, tell me what happened yesterday."
Cheng Muyou looked at the white-clothed woman kneeling on the ground in the hall, only to see her body trembling slightly, tears falling to the ground, as if recalling the past was a kind of capital punishment for her.
"Because of the recent epidemic in the city, we have not let Xiao Zhen go out, but yesterday was her biological mother's death day, she had to go to the grave to worship, how we persuaded her to follow, I originally insisted on letting her stay at home, but Mrs. said that she should take care of Xiao Zhen's filial piety, saying that the cemetery is remote and sparsely populated, and will not be infected with the epidemic, she is responsible for something, so she took a sedan chair and took Xiao Zhen out of the door.
However, on the way to the cemetery, Xiao Zhen was lost, and it was not until almost evening that we found her on the side of the street and took her home.
That night, Xiao Xuan began to fall asleep, and after a few hours, she gradually lost her breath, and the old man found the best doctor in the city, but there was still no way to return to heaven, and the doctor said that her symptoms were exactly the same as those of a child infected with the epidemic, and she could not be cured at all.
Sure enough, before dawn, she ......
Xiao Ying" Yun Ying knelt on the ground and climbed a few steps forward, "My lord, Xiao Ying is the only child of the eldest lady, and she told me to take care of her for her before she died, but now it is less than a year old, and this child has gone with his mother, how should I explain to my wife in the future......"
"You said that Xiao Zhen was lost on the way to the cemetery yesterday, but shouldn't she be with Mrs.
Huo in the sedan chair?"
Cheng Muyou keenly found the suspicion in Yun Ying's words.
Yun Ying put away her tears, her eyes were covered with a layer of hatred, and her voice became high-pitched, "The servants carrying the sedan chair said that when they walked to the street, Miss Xiao Xuan suddenly ran out of the sedan chair and bumped into a servant, and as soon as the body was crooked, the sedan chair fell over, and when they hurriedly got up, they found that Xiao Xuan had already disappeared into the crowd.
Don't you think this is strange, my lord?
The woman insisted on taking her out when the epidemic was spreading, and lost her on a crowded street, which was clearly a bureau, in order to kill Xiao Zhen and kill the only bone and blood of the eldest lady. ” When the small black coffin was lifted out of Xin'an Mansion, the crowd of onlookers who had gathered in front of the gate just now suddenly retreated like a tide, leaving Yan Niang alone to stand in front, setting off her figure like an independent green lotus.
"Two big brothers, where are you going to send this coffin?"
Yan Niang asked the two barmen who were carrying the coffin.
Her face was indifferent, and she seemed a little out of place with the tense atmosphere around her.
"Where else can I go, of course, it's the hell of the Iron and Stone Fence."
One of the barmen spat a few mouthfuls on the ground angrily, "It's really unlucky, every time I encounter an epidemic, I don't dare to go home for a few days, for fear of passing it on to the children at home." ” "Forget it, who let Master Cheng give a high price, or who would be willing to take this job."
His companion comforted him softly, and the two of them walked toward the west like a breeze.
"Iron and stone fence ......"
Yan Niang read these three words softly.
"Girl, you're new to the city, and you don't know what the ironstone fence is, do you?"
Uncle Chen stepped forward and explained to her, "It is a deserted grave, specially for burying those unclaimed corpses and those who were executed by the government, Lord Cheng was afraid of the spread of the epidemic, so he asked people to put the bodies of those children who had the epidemic there, so these barmen are so reluctant." ”