Early the next morning, Lu Zifeng and Lu Mingyuan took Lu Zilin on a carriage to Tong County Wharf, from where they would take a boat south along the canal to Luzhou Prefecture.
Originally, Lu Zifeng wanted his eldest son Lu Yunhui to go back as well, but the emperor did not agree, saying that one of you and your son must stay in the capital to help him. Helpless, Lu Zifeng did not force it.
When they arrived at Tong County Wharf, it was almost noon. There was no way around it. The sun rises late in winter, and it was already the end of the Chen hour when they left. It would take more than an hour to reach Tong County.
Lu Chun is now a middle-aged man. Lu Zifeng had arranged for him to marry a maidservant of Situ Yao. Now Lu Chun is also the father of two children. The eldest son now follows Lu Yunhui, and the youngest daughter is now the housekeeper of Situ Yao.
"Master, we just asked, and our Lu's Trading Company's fleet is currently undergoing repairs and will depart for Jiangnan in two hours."
Lu Zifeng nodded when he heard this, looked at Lu Chun, and patted his shoulder. "Now that we are old, some things should be left to those guys. They are energetic, so we can take a break whenever we can."
After saying that, he turned around and looked at Lu Zilin who was in a bad mood. Lu Zifeng sighed lightly and walked forward.
"Brother Lin, think more positively. Your father is already over sixty years old. Everyone has to go through this stage, and even we will have to go through this stage sooner or later. Think about it, if we die like this in the future, what will happen to the children? They will be sad, but seeing them sad, won't it be hard for you too? Just like now, you are so sad, what would your uncle think if he saw it? Let's put ourselves in their shoes and think about it."
Perhaps Lu Zifeng's words of persuasion worked, Lu Zilin felt much better and nodded.
"Yes, brother, I will listen to you."
After saying this, he wiped away a tear and patted his shoulder. "Cheer up, we will be back to Luzhou Prefecture in about ten days. You have to cheer up. If you are sick and you go back like this, won't your father be even more worried about you and your mother?"
An hour later, the group boarded the boat. This boat originally belonged to the Lu's Trading Company, so they lived directly on the third floor. Not only did they have a wide view, but it was also quiet. The only bad thing was that it was cold. However, when the people from the trading company knew that the boss was taking the boat, they had prepared enough charcoal braziers, so it would always be warmer.
After traveling on the canal for more than ten days, we finally turned into the Ming River and went upstream again. After another five or six days, we finally docked at the pier of Luzhou Prefecture.
The person who came to pick up the boat was a clan brother, who was of the same generation as Lu Zifeng and the others, but was very young, probably around thirty years old, a little older than Lu Zilin. As soon as he saw Lu Zifeng and the others getting off the boat, he hurried over to greet them.
"Meet the second uncle, meet the eldest brother."
Lu Mingyuan looked at the boy in front of him, a little dazed, and spoke after a while.
"You are Zidai, the boy from Mingqian's family, right?"
Lu Zidai chuckled.
"Second uncle actually recognized me!"
As the group was talking, they came to the parked carriage. Lu Zifeng looked and saw that there were only two carriages, so he asked Lu Chun to go to Lu's Trading Company in Luzhou Prefecture to catch the two carriages. Although there were not many people, they had a lot of luggage, including gifts from his father for the clan members.
An hour later, Lu Zifeng and his group arrived at Lujia Village. The carriage stopped directly at the gate of the house built by Lu Zifeng. After getting off the carriage, Lu Zifeng looked at the house, which showed some signs of time. It seemed that this house had been given to his uncle's family to live in for the past thirty years. Since his uncle married Lin, he only gave birth to one son, Lu Zilin.
Lu Zilin got off the carriage and ran towards the courtyard. Lu Mingyuan looked at the house in front of him without taking any time to look around, and went into the courtyard. As soon as he reached the second gate, he met his aunt-in-law Lin coming out.
Lu Zifeng saluted quickly. After all, this was his aunt, and as a junior, he naturally needed to pay his respects. Lin had lived a life of luxury over the years, and her life had been quite smooth. However, because his uncle had passed away some time ago, her face was very haggard. When she saw Lu Mingyuan and Lu Zifeng coming back, she hugged Lu Zilin with a sad face and cried.
The aunts and uncles from the clan who came out to greet her tried to persuade her, and she finally stopped crying. As the younger brother-in-law, Lu Mingyuan didn't know what to say to his sister-in-law, so he nodded and walked towards the ancestral hall. Lu Zifeng and others naturally followed.
Now, in the entire Lu family, apart from Lu Zifeng, the only elder left in a high position is Lu Mingyuan. Many brothers in the family have also come and are waiting for Lu Mingyuan at the door of the ancestral hall.
Now that several of the elders in the clan have passed away, the oldest in the clan is Lu Mingyuan's generation. Lu Mingyuan was an official, and although he has retired now, his son is still a duke of a country. Therefore, the clan members have great respect for Lu Mingyuan.
Seeing so many brothers in the clan waiting for him, Lu Mingyuan smiled.
"Greetings, brothers."
Everyone responded with greetings one after another, and after a flurry of activity, the gate of the ancestral hall opened again. As mentioned before, due to the hot weather in Jiangnan and other places, Lu Mingshan had been buried early, so it would be more accurate to say that they came back this time to pay tribute to Lu Mingshan rather than to attend the funeral.
In the next few days, Lu Zifeng and Lu Mingyuan, father and son, kept receiving officials from Luzhou Prefecture. There was no way they could get by without the news leaking out from somewhere that the Lu father and son were returning to their hometown to attend the funeral, so officials from Luzhou Prefecture all handed in visiting cards and presented a lot of gifts. However, Lu Zifeng and Lu Mingyuan did not accept them, but declined them politely, saying: I'm grateful that you're here, but I can't accept gifts.
Lu Mingyuan and Lu Zifeng would naturally not let the evidence fall into the hands of those with ulterior motives. After several days of reception, Lu Mingyuan was a little tired and proposed to return to Beijing. Lu Zifeng thought that the time was about right. It was already the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month. It would take half a month to return to Beijing by boat. If they set off for Beijing now, they could just be back in Beijing before the New Year. If there was a delay on the road, they would probably have to spend the New Year on the road.
On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the group boarded the boat again and headed towards the lower reaches of the Ming River. This time, there were more people traveling with them. Aunt Lin's husband had passed away, and her son was an official in the capital, so she had no choice but to follow her son.
The return journey was relatively smooth. Early in the morning of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the group finally arrived at Tong County Wharf and took a horse-drawn carriage to the capital.
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