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Chapter 29 Chapter 33
He was once asked by Shen Zheng: "Have you ever thought that maybe this life is an illusion."
If this life is Zhuang Sheng's dream of butterflies, it is an illusion, an imaginary born out of his excessive grief. After waking up from the sunrise dream, Zhao Zhao, who is still cold in his arms, is still in his arms...
The last journey of this beautiful dream should be Jiangnan, his and her homeland.
Early summer is here again.
Like the wild geese flying from the south to the north, the four seasons remain unchanged throughout the ages, and the migration of animals is the same as before, only the dynasties and people are different.
The uncle died suddenly after the Spring Festival, and Shen Ce and Shen Zheng kept filial piety for three months. During the ancestor worship in early summer, Shen Zheng will participate for the first time as a child of the Shen family, and it will be the last time he will appear as a child of the Shen family, and then he will be ordained as a monk.
Things are complicated, especially the changes in Shen's family room.
Therefore, she and Shen Ce prepared to open their relationship after the ancestor worship.
Before worshipping her ancestors, she returned to Montreal to defend, finished her studies, and got a degree.
Her supervisor suggested that she finish her Ph.D. She weighed the time and declined, waiting for the opportunity to study in the future. My mother takes care of the two Shen families, focusing on my grandfather, where Uncle Shen needs help. If she wants to have the qualifications to enter the core management, she has to practice for at least ten to fifteen years, and then study, it is really too late.
She packed up the things in Montreal, packed them and sent them back to the old house in Taizhou.
Next, Shen Ce's work focuses on Jiangnan, whether it is his own business or the activities of the Shen Family Foundation. Zhaozhao entered the Shenjia Financial Group, and the first development zone project was also in Jiangnan, and it was estimated that he would live there for a few years.
It was almost evening when we returned to the old house.
She handed over her luggage to her cousin, and asked who was there. The young man replied, "Everything that should have arrived has arrived."
"Where's my brother?"
"In the front hall, let you go directly there."
She nodded and walked towards the first one, passing the small bamboo forests planted on both sides.
The first time entered, the two tea halls in the front and the back were separated by a screen, and guests were entertained outside. Zhaozhao saw a few people with kind faces and nodded in greeting, everyone remembered her. Among the group of children ten years ago, Shen Zhaozhao was the most beautiful, and everyone was deeply impressed.
She recognized relatives one by one, chatted and laughed, and a boy in light blue jeans and a white short-sleeved T-shirt walked behind the screen. It looks like he just graduated from junior high school, about fourteen or fifteen years old.
She guessed it was the four-year-old nephew who saw the marquee at the beginning. She smiled and said to the boy, "Let me guess who you are?"
The boy nodded: "Don't guess, I know who you are."
She smiled: "You were only this tall back then?"
Judging by her age, the one she could match was the little nephew who watched the marquee.
The boy didn't answer.
Two young girls and a few men carrying several large suitcases came in: "Shen Bus waits, we don't need to go to the hotel, we just stay here."
Zhaozhao suddenly realized that this was a guest of the Shen family. She smiled apologetically to the boy and left the first to enter.
The boy stood there, watching her back. Just now, her eyes were like the brightest black pebbles washed down by a waterfall, and under the water waves, the light of midsummer was folded. Pale red lips... There are girls' lips that make people imagine how soft they are. She was so beautiful that he held his breath as soon as he saw her, and didn't want to do anything, just wanted to look at her one more time.
The person has left, and the redness on his lips remains in his mind.
He can be sure that this is the girl Shen Zhaozhao who tried his best to marry but couldn't get in the door.
Zhaozhao entered the second courtyard from the corridor under the blue tile.
Behind him, the boy just now followed, led by the Shen family, also heading in the same direction. Seeing that the little boy always looked at himself, Zhao Zhao smiled kindly to him.
In the main hall, Duke Shen was there, and there was a middle-aged man with white hair on the temples.
Shen Ce sat in the first seat on the right. It is difficult for outsiders to tell his emotions, because except for the elders, the rest of the people have an expression that is terribly fierce. But Zhaozhao could see his mood, and Shen Ce was not very happy at the moment.
She called out "Grandpa," and sat down beside Shen Ce, kicking his shoes with the toes.
Shen Ce glanced over, his eyes softened for two points.
Two minutes later, the mystery was revealed.
What displeased Shen Ce was the middle-aged man and the little boy. To be precise, it was a past event.
At the beginning, Zhao Zhao was engaged to this family. After the eldest son broke off the engagement, he changed his second son. Later, because Zhao Zhao wanted to break off the engagement, he conveyed it to the family. That is, the family in front of him, the middle-aged man with white temples, who mediates from it, and doesn't want to cut off the chance to marry. One of the two Shen families likes to be public and the other likes to hide. It is easy to get married to Duke Shen. The Shen Ce family has always been hidden in the world, and has a family style. They support free love and disdain marriage. It is extremely difficult to get married. Only Shen Zhaozhao has a special status, spanning both sides, and is the best candidate.
The other party even suggested that any junior in the family should follow Zhaozhao.
Due to the persistence of others, Shen Gong was at a loss for a while.
Zhaozhao wrote a second email to ask the eldest son for help.
The eldest son replied with an apology, believing that he had not resolved the divorce well, that there was a problem with the way he handled it, and the responsibility rested with him. He suggested that the engagement should go back to the beginning, and he would find another chance to forcibly break off the engagement. And Zhaozhao here, don't need to pay attention to a supposed marriage contract, and live his life as usual.
That man did what he said, and before and after Qingming, he regretted his marriage again on the grounds that he met a girl he really liked.
The two repentances came from each other, they justified the loss, and the marriage contract was cancelled smoothly.
Zhaozhao was grateful for their help, and remembered in the email that he was preparing a major project to support local manufacturing on both sides of the river. She took the initiative to connect and facilitated the first round of capital injection from the Shen family in Macau. One is to express gratitude, and the other is to recognize this kind of good deeds for the people.
Of course, the two guests in front of them did not know the details.
This time, brought a batch of antiquities, just to support the donation activity, as a gift of repentance.
When Zhaozhao learned of the other party's intention, he was secretly happy: this divorce is only a profit, not a loss.
She glanced at Shen Ce... her face was really ugly.
In comparison, Zhaozhao was more calm. Anyway, there were only two kinds of men in the world: Shen Ce and others. Except for him, everyone is a passer-by to her, and it doesn't matter.
It's even funny: Brother, what kind of black face are you showing, isn't it bad for people to come and give gifts?
The middle-aged man had already sent the collection to the Shen family's private museum. At this moment, the collection materials were projected on the wall and introduced to them.
"I've met your mother twice," the middle-aged man said to Shen Ce, "I didn't expect you to be Shao Xiaowan's son."
Shen Ce didn't answer and drank tea.
Shen Ce's mother remarried early, Shen Ce was studying outside, few people showed up, and no one could really connect the mother and son. Many people said behind their backs that Shen Ce was not his mother, and Shao Xiaowan was only a nominal mother, and it was because of his illegitimate child that his parents divorced. To protect him, his parents let rumors spread. As the only son of Shen Hanzhong, he has been through a lot of hardships, and if he is identified as Shao Xiaowan's only son, he is afraid of even more trouble.
This rumor has spread very widely, and the middle-aged people believed it to a certain extent. Today, seeing Shen Ce, he is quite dashing like Shao Xiaowan's "no one can hold it", but he feels that the rumor is false. Mother and son really look alike.
"I didn't expect that such a young person would like these historical things." Seeing that Shen Ce didn't answer, the other party couldn't come down to the stage, so he turned to talk to Shen Gong.
"The anthropology he studied seems to be related to history?" Shen Gong and Shen Ce confirmed.
"The main directions are political anthropology and religious anthropology, all of which are related to history," Shen Ce replied to Shen Gong, "Anthropology is an interdisciplinary subject, and it is inseparable from sociology, history, and philosophy. Philosophy is a master's degree. Bachelor of Science."
Speaking of this, Zhaozhao thought that he had a bachelor's degree before the wedding banquet. Later, knew that he had underestimated him. He finished his master's degree that year and was preparing to study for a Ph.D. It is a pity that he was always ill and delayed.
On the wall, the image jumped out, and she knew the first one.
"Jade clothes with golden thread?" Zhaozhao asked.
"Yes," the boy who was sitting next to his father answered, "this was given to my ancestors by the Shen family a thousand years ago. Today, it is considered a complete return to Zhao."
"Isn't this for funerals?" Zhao Zhao looked at the two opposite them in surprise, and had to open the coffin first.
The corners of the boy's lips were moved, and he smiled: "Do you think we will open the coffin of our ancestors?" Under his father's instruction, he got up, walked to the image, and introduced the origin: "This jade garment is not from the coffin, it has been useless all the time. Yes. Zhou Sheng's family once had a prince who guarded Chang'an. In the history of the wild... he was a minister, who was bestowed by the emperor to die, and there was no cemetery."
Zhaozhao thought of the sword master.
"He has an old enemy who is stationed in the river. After the death of this prince, he sent two things to Chang'an and Luoyang. The first is the golden thread and jade clothes." The young man was about to say—
"Jade robes with golden thread are the highest specification for funerals," Shen Ce replied lightly, "This old enemy used the most expensive funeral items to send to his old rivals. The second thing, sent directly to the capital of Luoyang, is the battle book. Since the old opponent is dead, no one in the north can stop him, and it is written in the gauntlet that within ten years, he will dominate the north."
The young man was surprised that all he knew came from family records. Unexpectedly, Shen Ce understood in more detail.
"Your family also has records?" the boy asked.
Shen Ce neither admitted nor denied it.
"I have the record of your monarchy general, King Jianglin." The young man followed closely.
"Killing the king?" Zhaozhao interjected, looked at Shen Ce, and asked softly, "You didn't tell me."
"What's there to say." He whispered back.
"It's... wonderful," she said softly.
Shen Ce smiled.
The teenager was also very curious about the general: "What do you Shen family have about King Jiang Lin? Or records?"
Shen Ce asked him, "What do you want to know?"
"In my opinion, he is like Tang Xuanzong. The first half of his life is worthy of praise, and the second half of his life was misunderstood by his feelings," the teenager commented, "He has a hero in his hand, and he has the opportunity to rule the world. Half-life accumulation."
"So what?" Shen Ce was still smiling, "If it were you, what would you do?"
"The deceased is dead, he should put it down, take advantage of the situation to take the throne, and be unified in the north."
"What's the point?" Shen Ce asked.
"Men should have this ambition."
Shen Ce sighed and asked again, "What's the point?"
"His sister is dead, what's the point of his obsession with this matter?" the boy asked back.
"There is no need for meaning, for the people, he has done everything he should do. A person who has guarded the southern border for more than ten years has no freedom to ask for death? Who can judge him? The civil servant who framed him? Books, pointing to the future generations of Jiangshan?" He smiled, "No one is qualified."
"...But the South needs him."
Shen Ce replied calmly: "He is not that important, there are others without him. After his death, the northern and southern dynasties changed several times, and then the Sui Dynasty unified, and soon ushered in the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Without him, the sunset and the sunrise will remain unchanged, and the world will be divided. Take the photo as usual, what is he? Mayfly dust."
He paused and said: "But to my sister, he is everything. The emperor imprisoned his sister, not only to regain military power, but also to force him to commit suicide. His sister saw this and took the first step... Suicide to death. ."
He protects Wanmin, and after he left, Wanmin slandered and speculated. He doesn't complain.
But Zhao Zhao, who really used his life to protect him, couldn't keep it, and this regret will last a thousand years.
She was so sad and breathless.
He stopped talking and looked at the image on the wall: "What's next?"
The images keep switching.From the most expensive jade clothes to the last, the last one is the most inconspicuous.A pair of clogs, old, only the body of the clogs is badly worn, small and delicate, with three holes chiseled, and at first glance it belongs to a woman.
She is attracted.
Shen Ce said from the side, "The Han girl is getting married..." He stopped.
The second half of the sentence is: There is often this thing in the dowry, the whole body is painted with lacquer, and it is tied with five color bands.
Zhaozhao likes to watch happy events, and whenever a sister in the clan gets married, she has to do it herself for others.After painting, hang it under the corridor, buy the most expensive ribbons and weave them by hand.He joked with her and asked her to do it herself when she got married?She often doesn't answer.
When asked in a hurry, she will come back fiercely: the married person is definitely not as good as the elder brother, what is there to draw?