Ye Zhuo furrowed her brow slightly, searching for the memories of the original owner.

  The main house of the Ye family refers to the household of Old Master Ye Yiqi. It is unknown whether the Ye family's ancestors had done anything wrong, but Ye Yiqi's descendants were not prosperous, and Ye Yiqi himself was left with very few people in his household. Although Ye Yiqi and his wife Madame Guan were still alive, they only had one son, who unfortunately passed away at the age of 18 due to illness. His widow, Zhao Shi, gave birth to a posthumous son named Ye Pu. This Ye Pu was the young master of the main house mentioned by Qiuju earlier.

  Ye Pu is not yet seventeen years old, and he was just preparing to get married. He didn't have any illness, so how could he suddenly die? If that's the case, wouldn't the main house of the Ye family be cut off from descendants? Ye Yuqi is already over sixty years old, and his body is also disabled. Even if he were to take another concubine, it's likely that he still wouldn't be able to have any more children.

  "Do you know what's going on?" Ye Zhuo asked.

  "I don't know." Qiu Ju shook her head. "I only know that someone came to report the death, and the old lady kept calling people to find Old Master and Young Master."

  "Oh." Ye Zhuo lowered her head and continued with her embroidery.

  Although Ye Pu was the elder brother of this body, the first and second rooms had no contact with each other. She had no impression of that elder brother in her memory. Only knew that Ye Pu was a diligent and honest person, a very good person. Such a person suddenly died, it's natural to regret, but she couldn't help much, and Ye Yu Zhang didn't allow her to help either. It's better to do more embroidery, except for the quantity to be handed over, the extra ones were sold by Qiu Yue to save some money for unexpected needs - no matter what, she would never let Ye Yu Zhang marry her off at will. Either quietly leave the Ye family or find a way to break with the Ye family. By then, there would be many places to use the money.

  At this time, Qiu Ju entered the house and said to Ye Zhu: "Miss, the old master is back. Everyone has changed into mourning clothes and gone to the main house to mourn and handle the funeral."

  Qiu Yue listened, and quickly put down the needlework in her hand, found a plain dress for Ye Zhuo to change into, and changed one herself. After seeing that Qiu Ju and Qiu Jiao had also changed their clothes, she followed Ye Zhuo out of the door.

  When they arrived at the entrance of Zhengyuan, they coincidentally ran into Wang Yiniang who had also brought Ye Lin, Ye Jue and a large group of maidservants there. However, Xia Tong was not among them. She had been beaten with a board by Jiang Shi that afternoon and sold away.

  At this time, Wang Yiniang was indeed resentful of Ye Zhuo. To know that this is the key moment when the new wife is about to enter the door and compete with her for the favor of the husband and the old lady, but Ye Zhuo has wronged her, making the old man suspicious of her, and also causing her to lose a powerful arm. How can she not be resentful? But that day, not only was Xiaotong sold, but she was also warned by the old master, telling her not to oppose Ye Zhuo again, otherwise, if Ye Zhuo bears a grudge against the Ye family and refuses to help the Ye family in the future marriage alliance, the Ye family will suffer greatly, and the old master will divorce her.

  The Wang family was not well off, and the parents of Wang's mother were also as selfish as Old Master Ye, otherwise they would not have married their daughter to the Ye family as a concubine. Wang had no one to rely on except for Old Lady Jiang. However, Old Lady Jiang listened to Old Master Ye, and since he spoke severely, she could only endure her hatred. So when they met at the main gate, she just gave Ye Zhuo a fierce glare with her eyes, then quickly took a few steps forward and rushed into the house first.

  Ye Zhuo naturally wouldn't bother with her over this, stopping in his tracks to wait for them to enter before slowly making his way up the steps and crossing into the main courtyard.

  Jiang wore a simple white changshan, with a dark blue embroidered apron and only one silver hairpin on her head, making her look more spirited and capable than usual. However, her complexion was not good at this time, her eyebrows were tightly locked, and her expression seemed very uneasy. Wang Yiniang led Ye Lin and Ye Ju into the room, she seemed to have not noticed, just staring blankly at the air in front of her. When Wang Yiniang called out to her, she was startled, her hand shook violently, and the teacup she was holding fell to the ground with a "clang", spilling tea all over the floor.

  Her face turned iron-green, she turned her head and glared at Wang's wife with a look of disgust: "What are you wailing about?"

  Wang Yiniang, who had always been favored by Jiangshi, had never seen such an expression before. Her eyes reddened as she lowered her eyelids and said in a humble tone: "I was rash."

  "Hmm." Jiang didn't comfort her either, only letting out a cold hum before shifting his gaze towards the outside of the door, "Is everyone here?"

  "All the maids and old women in our rooms, as well as the four wives and old women in the kitchen, have arrived." Madam Wang replied.

  Mrs. Jiang stood up, walked to the door, and stood on the steps, scanning the maidservants with a glance to make sure everyone was present before speaking: "In the next few days, you will all follow me to the main house to help with the funeral arrangements. Now, I'll assign tasks: The maidservants by Wang's side will be in charge of receiving guests and serving tea; the women from the kitchen will go to the kitchen to cook and prepare meals; Lin'er, Zhuo'er, and He'er's personal maidservants will be responsible for needlework, making white banners, mourning clothes, and fabrics out of the white cloth that will be transported over later. Decorate the mourning hall and the main entrance, and have everyone dress up."

  Her gaze fell on Wang Yiniang: "Liyun, they are in charge of various places, and you will check them. Once any signs of procrastination or deceit are found, severe punishment will be meted out!"

  Feeling that she had been reused, and taking the opportunity to find fault with Qiuyue and others to avenge Xiaotong, Wang Yiniang swept away her earlier humiliation and responded in high spirits: "Yes." She also smiled at Jiangshi in an attempt to curry favor.

  This smile, however, was particularly piercing to Jiang's eyes. She coldly stared at Wang Shiyi, her gaze making the latter's face change color before she finally withdrew her gaze and turned it on her three granddaughters: "You three, wait for Autumn Frost and the others to finish making the mourning clothes, then put them on and go kneel in front of the memorial hall to wail."

  Do you want to go to the mourning hall to keep vigil for the dead? Ye Jue's face turned pale, and she leaned against Ye Lin in fear. Ye Lin pursed her lips, seemingly not very pleased. The person who died in the main house was only their cousin, not a senior relative, why did they have to go cry at the mourning hall? When Ye Zhuo responded with a "yes", and saw Jiang Shi's face sink even further, she followed suit and responded with a "yes" as well, gesturing for Ye Jue to do the same.

  Everything was ready, and Mrs. Jiang waved her hand: "Let's go, hurry up." After finishing speaking, she led Zhou Mama and Chunyu out first - someone had to stay at home, so the mute sister-in-law was left behind to take care of the house, while Chuncao was still unable to get out of bed after being spanked yesterday.

  When the Ye brothers divided their family property, each got half of the house site. The eldest son took the east side and the second son took the west side. Later when Ye Yuzhang became successful, he followed the principle of utilizing existing resources and only expanded on the original foundation by buying up the surrounding neighbors' land to expand his residence. Therefore, the small courtyard of the big house was close to the northeast corner of the Ye Mansion, separated from the Biyu Residence where Ye Zhuo lived by just one wall.

  So the group of women from Ye Fu did not take a carriage or sedan chair, but instead walked through the garden corridor of Ye Fu, exited from a side door near Biyu Residence, and arrived at the entrance of the main house.

  Since Jiang Shi assigned the task, Ye Zhuo felt that this funeral was quite suspicious. To know that this is the death of Ye Yu Zhang's nephew, according to Ye Yu Zhang's personality and the relationship between the two mansions, at most it would be Ye Yu Zhang going to comfort his brother, Ye Jia Ming representing the second house presenting a little condolence money, and sending two or three male servants to help with the arrangements, that would have fulfilled the fraternal affection and etiquette. But now, all the old and young people in the mansion are mobilized, Jiang Shi and Wang Niang are both wearing mourning clothes, and they also want the three sisters to cry for the spirit, and even spend money on the first house to make white flags, no matter how you look at it, this thing feels strange.

  She followed behind Jiang Shi and Wang Yiniang, silently exiting the corner gate. Before entering the main house's courtyard, she heard a commotion coming from inside. As soon as she entered, she saw Ye Yupi leaning on his cane, pointing at someone kneeling down: "Get out! This vendetta of killing one's son can't be resolved with just a kowtow. Get out, get out, scram!"

  Thank you Qin Mu Jin and Yang Xiao Lan for your reward!