"General, please accept my condolences. Prince, please accept my condolences."

When they heard this, Gu Shaoyu and Shang Zhiping both stood up and spoke to that person.

"Thank you very much."

This was already the twelfth group of people coming and going today. Neither of them was good at expressing their emotions, so apart from these two words, they couldn't say anything else.

Therefore, the mourners could only sigh and turn to leave. When they left, they met Du Jingyi, who was also in mourning clothes and came in from outside with a bad look on her face. It was obvious that she had gone to give instructions and was just coming back now.

"My condolences, ma'am."

"Thank you for taking this trip, my father-in-law would be happy if he were still alive."

"Madam, you are too polite. We used to be friends with the Duke, so now that he is gone, it is only natural for us to see him off. I can see that you all look unhappy. Although you are filial, you still need to take care of your health."

"Thank you for your concern, sir."

Compared with the uncle and nephew who were kneeling inside, Du Jingyi was much more polite. Therefore, the adults who might have been a little unhappy just now left the Duke's Mansion with understanding.

Now that everything has been done decently, they will not join in the fun.

Du Jingyi sent some away and welcomed others, and this cycle repeated itself in an endless stream.

Compared with her graceful dancing skills, her sister-in-law Liu seemed much more dull.

Then she knelt behind Ping'er, looking dazed. She was the one who cried the most sincerely among the few people, so naturally her eyes were red and swollen.

Compared to other people, when she married into the Duke's Mansion, both her mother-in-law and husband were very proud of her, so she also received a lot of care from her father-in-law.

Given her status, she had never been wronged by her father-in-law. Often, he would use the excuse that she was far away from home and send her a lot of good things. So at that time, she truly respected her father-in-law and mother-in-law.

But the good times did not last long. Within just a few years, her husband and mother-in-law died one after another, causing their Dongyuan lineage to almost be wiped out. At that time, she hated her father-in-law with gnashing teeth, hating him for trusting Madam Wei. Although he had never done anything to harm Dongyuan, his inaction was the biggest problem.

But now that he is gone, she has thought about this question over and over again during the short time she spent taking care of him in his remaining years.

After all, a person like my father-in-law, with his kind of temperament, is not someone who can be expected to have high hopes. Why should all the blame be put on him? He has suffered enough "retribution" in the past few years. Therefore, the tears of my sister-in-law Liu at this moment are real, the pain is real, and the nostalgia is also real.

Du Jingyi knelt beside her, and seeing her crying so sadly, he handed her a handkerchief and comforted her.

"Don't be too sad, sister-in-law. Now you and Ping'er are the only ones supporting the family. If you are too sad, Ping'er will have to fight alone. So the dead are gone, and the living must continue to live their lives."

The sister-in-law nodded. She naturally understood this logic, but she just couldn't help it.

Instead, Ping'er turned around, patted her mother's shoulder and said comfortingly.

"If you feel unwell, mother, please go back and rest for a while. Your son and uncle are watching over you, so you'll be fine."

Hearing this, sister-in-law Liu felt warm in her heart.

The son whom she had protected all her life had finally grown up. Looking at his increasingly strong body and mature face, the sister-in-law was also proud of her son and then said.

"I'll go to the side room to wash my face and come back later."

Ping'er nodded, and Gu Shaoyu next to her also interrupted.

"Sister-in-law, let the lady accompany you. She is not very strong and does not need to kneel here every day."

As strong as Gu Shaoyu is and as young as Ping'er is, they would probably lose a lot of skin if they kneel for a month. Gu Shaoyu does not want his wife and sister-in-law to suffer the same fate. They were both tortured badly last time because of their grandmother's funeral.

Gu Shaoyu still remembers that when he came back and met his wife, all he touched was bones, without any flesh at all.

She was already very thin, and if she had to endure this three or four times, she might not be able to bear it.

After hearing what he said, the sister-in-law of course understood what he meant, and then she took Du Jingyi's hand and said.

"Help me over there. I'm crying so hard that I can't see the road clearly."

Du Jingyi naturally knew what everyone meant, so after looking at his general and Ping'er worriedly, he stood up and helped his sister-in-law to rest nearby.

Inside the mourning hall, the uncle and nephew were still kneeling upright, waiting for the mourners to return their gifts.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

In the side room, the eldest sister-in-law washed her face, then sat down tiredly and sighed twice.

"I don't know what's wrong. I just can't stop crying. Even though my father-in-law made many mistakes in the past few years, now he is gone. With him gone, we are really the only ones left in the Duke's Mansion. I always feel... I always feel a little lonely."

Her words made Du Jingyi sigh.

To be honest, she had had less contact with her father-in-law during the years she had been married into the Duke's Mansion. After that, she moved to the General's Mansion and went south to Jinling City for many days, and they spent even less time together.

So, although she was sad, she did not have the same thoughts as her sister-in-law and could only say comforting words.

"What are you talking about, sister-in-law? Although you and I live in different houses, we are always blood relatives. Besides, after the national mourning and family mourning are over, Ping'er will have a wedding. By then, the new bride will marry in and the child will be born, which will naturally make up for the emptiness in this huge mansion."

"That's right. Fortunately, it was Sixth Brother who took the initiative and acted quickly. Otherwise, we might not have been able to wait for the eldest lady of the Li family."

"What do you mean?"

Du Jingyi was a little confused by this. Why did he bring this up out of the blue? "After we got married, I interacted quite a lot with Madam Li. We would send each other gifts from time to time. One day, I asked Mother Ou to go there in person, and I heard that the second young lady was already preparing to enter the palace for the selection."

“So soon?”

"Originally, the selection was scheduled for spring, when everything is in full bloom and reviving. Now it is almost midsummer, so we naturally need to prepare. I heard that it will be held in early autumn, when the late emperor will have been a hundred days old. The royal family and we have different periods of filial piety."

During a national mourning period, both the common people and officials must mourn for one year.

During this period, people were not allowed to drink or have fun, wear fancy clothes, or hold weddings, so every household followed this rule. (End of this chapter)