Song Mu walked into this familiar city very calmly. Perhaps because it was still early in the morning, the streets in the city were sparsely populated, scattered shops were open for business, and there were already people pushing dung carts on the road.
Song Mu didn't hide anything, but had a solemn face, holding the box containing the remains of his parents in both hands, and headed home.
After passing through the familiar streets and alleys, the door to my home is already in front of me.
At this moment, the gate of the Song family's old house has been opened, and Song Liangda is sitting in front of the door, frequently looking towards the entrance of the alley.
On August 16, the news that his nephew Song Mu was admitted to the Juren Examination and that Jiangnan West Road was liberated from the Yuan Dynasty reached Jizhou Prefecture. Song Liangda spent those few days in a daze, feeling that the glory of the world was nothing more than this.
Not long after, a letter that Song Mu asked Xiao Li to take back to Jizhou Prefecture was also delivered to Song Liangda.
Song Mu only explained two things in the letter. First, Song Mu would definitely settle the matter regarding the Song family in Hongzhou, and the ancestral hall would return to the Song family in Shiyang. Second, Song Mu said that he now had news about his parents.
When I returned home late, I went to look for the remains of my parents and asked my second uncle and his family to wait in his hometown of Shiyang County.
After reading the message, Song Liangda burst into tears and took his wife and daughter, together with Jieyuan Banban, by boat back to Shiyang County that day.
In the past few days, Song Liangda had trouble sleeping and eating every day. He always woke up unconsciously at night and listened to the noise outside to see if Song Mu was back.
And every morning, Song Liangda would stand in front of the door, looking outside, hoping to see Song Mu's figure.
On this day, Song Liangda had just stood at the door and said hello to several neighbors, but he looked towards the entrance of the alley with something in mind.
The entrance to the alley was still extremely calm. After staring for a moment, Song Liangda sighed, feeling that it was another day of waiting. However, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure appearing at the entrance of the alley.
That white robe and tall body.
Song Liangda looked at it intently, and his whole body suddenly froze. At this moment, he felt goosebumps all over his body.
Zhu, who was about to call Song Liangda for breakfast, just poked his head out of the kitchen, but suddenly saw Song Liangda standing in front of the door and ran out, and then Song Liangda's voice rang out in the alley.
"Jing Zhao, you are back!"
Song Mu had just walked into the alley, and before he shouted, he saw a figure in front of him running towards him quickly, and the familiar face was full of excitement at this moment.
"Second uncle!"
Song Mu also immediately took a few steps forward. Song Liangda had already rushed up, but his eyes immediately fell on the wooden box in Song Mu's hand.
He seemed to have expected something, his expression was stagnant at this moment, and his eye circles were actually a little red.
"Jing Zhao, this..."
Song Liangda spoke softly, as if he was confirming something. Song Mu nodded silently and said in a deep voice.
"Uncle, here are my parents."
Song Liangda almost fainted after hearing these words. Tao Fengming, who was next to him, quickly stepped forward to help him, but the next moment he heard Song Liangda crying loudly.
"Brother! Sister-in-law!"
Song Liangda's voice was very loud. At this moment, the neighbors around him poked their heads out and saw Song Liangda half-kneeling on a box. The person carrying the box also looked sad at this moment.
"Ah, it's Song Mu, the boy from the Song family is back!"
"Bah, bah, bah, it's our Jieyuan who's back!"
A neighbor's sister-in-law shouted loudly, and the others immediately started to coax and rushed out regardless. Some people held chewed willow branches in their hands and spit out bubbles in their mouths, while some people held rice bowls and swayed all the way.
They all rushed forward, but found that Song Liangda was crying and howling at this moment, and shouted the word "big brother" loudly.
Uncle Lin Bo, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. The expression on his face also changed suddenly. He looked at Song Mu and others in front of him and said blankly.
"This...could it be Brother Song..."
The words were shocking. When other people heard the news, they all stopped involuntarily. They all looked at the box Song Liangda was holding, as well as Song Mu's surging expression. The joy on their faces at this moment,
It quickly turned into a bit heavy.
Song Liangda was still wailing loudly, with tears streaming down his face, as if he wanted to vent all the suffering he had suffered in the days since his brother Song Liangtong left.
He was the youngest in the family. Although his family was poor, he was loved by his parents and older brothers.
But when the eldest brother he was most proud of died in a foreign country, and even his body could not be found, everything changed.
After his parents passed away, the burden of family affairs suddenly fell on him. However, he was whipped by this vicious world and almost had no way out. After two years of desperation, Song Liangda turned countless of his hair gray.
At this moment, facing his brother's corpse, he seemed to finally be able to be the young boy he once was and pour out the pain in his heart.
Song Mu had already burst into tears, and Zhu had also come out, hugging Song Liangda and crying loudly. When Song Mingwei saw this scene, he also ran forward, holding Song Mu's robe, choking and crying.
The family seems to have finally seen the light at this moment.
The neighbors around him had already stepped forward to help him, whispering words of comfort and leading them to Song's house.
At this moment, they felt the same and felt that Song Mu was an extraordinary young man. Not only had this young man earned such fame, making his second uncle proud, but he was also able to accomplish such great things.
For a time, the scene in the alley attracted many people to watch, and the news of Song Mu's return to his hometown spread quickly throughout Shiyang City as if it had wings.
Shiyang City has only produced fifteen Jinshis so far, but among them, only one or two Jinshis from the Song family competed at the forefront of the imperial examinations. There have been cases in the imperial examinations, but there has never been a provincial examination to judge the Yuan Dynasty.
But with the news of the rural examination, Shiyang County gained another honor.
Shiyang County has a Jieyuan!
This is a great honor. The smartest people in a province and a country are from their own county.
The people shouted loudly that this was the last time Kong Siqi became a Jinshi.
For a time, the whole city was crowded with people, and they were all heading towards the alley where the Song family was.
At this moment in the Song family compound, Song Liangda finally recovered temporarily with the comfort of Song Mu and Uncle Lin Bo, as well as several elderly people and neighbors around him. He just held the box that Song Mu brought and refused to let go.
Song Mu was also afraid that Song Liangda would be extremely miserable, so he secretly sent a burst of literary power into his body.
This situation was a mixture of sadness and joy. The neighbors standing in the yard didn't know what to say. They just looked at each other and then focused their eyes on Song Mu or Song Liangda.
After a while, Song Liangda seemed to have finally come to his senses. He stood up holding something in his hands and said to Song Mu urgently.
"Jing Zhao, hurry up and worship your ancestors. We will go in and worship our ancestors right away."
With that said, Song Liangda walked towards the main house, and Song Mu quickly followed, but at this moment he took out something.
Song Mu took the first step and carefully placed the thing in the middle of the incense table.
Song Liangda looked up, but his expression was startled again, and Song Mu had already said slowly.
"Uncle, this is our ancestor. Now, the Song Ancestral Hall has returned to us. I was offended and brought my ancestor back first."
What is placed on the incense table is the tablet of the earliest ancestor of the Song family three hundred years ago.
Three hundred years ago, Song Youfu took up residence here with his family.
At this moment, Song Liangda looked at the tablet in front of him, his throat was choked with sobs, but he immediately pulled Song Mu to kneel down and said in a hissing voice.
"Song Liangtong and Song Liangda, the sixteenth generation sons of the Song family, and Song Mu, the seventeenth generation eldest grandson, kneel down to worship their ancestors."