After being married by the emperor

After a person dies, he must guard his spirit for seven days before he can bury the dead.

It is necessary to set up a mourning hall and an incense table at home, then place offerings such as fruits and gift buns, light an ever-burning lamp, and let the family members keep watch.

He Qin'er cried so much that she passed out, so she couldn't keep watch on the first night. Song Yunshan stayed by her mother's bedside, and Song Pingyan watched over her mother.

He Yuan was really tired after a busy day, so He Nanchao asked his mother Yin Xiao to help him go back to his room to rest.

He Nanchao said: "Mother, you and Dad are both tired all day, you should go back and rest first, and leave it to Nan Chen and me to keep grandma's wake."

He Nanchen also said: "Mother, just leave it to me and brother, you can help daddy to rest."

Yin Xiao nodded with a tired face, and helped He Yuan to leave the mourning hall.

He Nanchao, He Nanchen, and Mu Qingcheng were left to guard the spirit. They were wearing white filial piety uniforms, white filial piety hats, and a piece of coarse hemp silk around their waists. Each of them held a mourning stick in their hands and knelt in front of the coffin.

This is the first time for Mu Qingcheng to wear filial piety to keep vigil at night. When his grandmother, Mrs. Mu, passed away, he was still young, and it was impossible for the Mu family to let him keep vigil. In addition, he cried so much that he was hugged by Lin Shuanghua in the end. Back in the room.

It was okay in the first half of the night, but after Haishi entered midnight, Mu Qingcheng became a little drowsy.

He Nanchao felt sorry for him, so he put his arms around Mu Qingcheng's shoulders and said, "Ma'am, otherwise I'd better take you back to your room to rest. Just leave it to me and Nanchen to keep the vigil here."

Mu Qingcheng shook her head, and said: "Grandma was so kind to me before she was alive, like a grandson, I should keep her spirit guard, and I'm not tired, so I'll be fine after a while."

Mu Qingcheng insisted on guarding Mrs. He's spirit, there was no other way, so He Nanchao had no choice but to say nothing, he and Mu Qingcheng knelt on one side, and He Nanchen knelt on the other.

Fortunately, it's summer, and now the weather is slowly starting to heat up, and it won't be too cold to kneel in the mourning hall at night.

But I don't know if it's because places where there are dead people are colder, the inside of the mourning hall is still slightly cooler than the outside.

So He Nanchao called Liu Yi over, whispered a few words in his ear, then Liu Yi ran out with a "da da da", and after a while, he came back with a white cloak in his hand.

He Nanchao took the cloak and put it on Mu Qingcheng.

Mu Qingcheng was taken aback for a moment, and his head that was hanging down instantly lifted up. He looked at the cloak on his body and said, "Is this not good?"

He Nanchao said: "What's wrong, there is a lot of yin in the mourning hall, Nan Chen and I are fine, martial arts practitioners are physically strong, you are different, you are a literati, how can you stand the cold wind? Said that grandma loves you, how can she let you suffer from the cold?"

He Nanchen nodded and said: "Sister-in-law, what my elder brother said is right, you should put on the cloak, my aunt has already passed out from crying, if you get cold again or fall ill, the house will be even more chaotic, besides The cloak is white again, so it doesn't get in the way."

"Alright then." Mu Qingcheng also felt the cool breeze, so she wrapped the cloak a little tighter.

After midnight, Chu Yan and Tang Xingshi walked in suddenly, holding a food box in their hands, and a strong fragrance wafted out from it.

Chu Yan said: "Even if you are keeping the spirit, you have to eat something. Don't starve to death."

"I'm not too hungry, and I don't have any appetite." He Nanchao turned his head to look at Mu Qingcheng, and asked, "Ma'am, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Mu Qingcheng touched her flat stomach, pondered for a while and said, "Well... I'm a little hungry, but I don't want to eat."

He Nanchao said: "Then let's eat something. It's just after midnight. Although summer nights are relatively short, it's still early. It's better to eat something to rest your stomach."

Mu Qingcheng said: "But the guards in the mourning hall seem to say that there should be no less than two people, we can't go out to eat together, or Nan Chao, you go out to eat first."

Chu Chuan said: "We have so many people here, how could it be less than two people? Xing Shi and I have already eaten, so it's fine for the two of us to guard."

Chu Chuan and Tang Xingshi were also wearing white mourning clothes. Both of them were orphans without family members. Since they met He Nanchao, they had been following him. When He Nanchao returned to the capital for the New Year, the two of them also followed him. Yes, at that time Mrs. He gave them lucky money, and the two of them also kowtowed and called grandma.

There are also some other generals. For them, Mrs. He is the grandmother of all of them, so it's okay for them to come to watch the spirit.

So, He Nanchao and Mu Qingcheng went to the courtyard outside to have something to eat, and Chu Yan and Tang Xingshi knelt inside to replace them.

The vigil lasted for seven days. He Yuan and Yin Xiao were busy with funeral affairs during the day, so they couldn't keep vigil continuously at night. He Qin'er cried too sadly, and couldn't keep vigil continuously because of his grief.

So during these seven days, Mu Qingcheng and He Nanchen and the other young people were almost always guarding the spirit, and Song Yunshan also knelt together for two days in between.

The main reason is that they have nothing to do. Even if there is something to do, He Nanchao will deal with it. Fortunately, there are two people, Chu Yan and Tang Xingshi, so they can replace them without being too tired.

The night of the first seven nights was a mystery, Mu Qingcheng was kneeling in front of the mourning hall, and He Nanchao happened to go out to take a rest, and he seemed to hear someone calling him "Chenger" in a daze.

At first he thought he had heard it wrong, but the sound was right next to his ear, and it rang two or three times. He was so sleepy that his vision was a little blurred.

He couldn't open his eyes completely, but he felt vaguely as if he saw something floating in from the gate of the mourning hall, and then a gust of cold air rushed towards his face.

It made people shudder, Mu Qingcheng tried hard to open his eyes wide to see what it was, but his eyes seemed to be frozen, and he could only barely open a crack, and he couldn't fully open them no matter what.

Finally, after he managed to open his eyes wide, he saw a magnified face in front of him. It was Madam He's face.

When Mrs. He was alive, she always had a benevolent expression, and she was amiable when she smiled, but at this time, the old lady had no expression on her face, her eyes were empty and dull, her face was very pale, and she looked particularly scary.

Mu Qingcheng was so frightened that his body froze in an instant. He wanted to open his mouth to call "Grandma", but found that he opened his mouth wide, but he couldn't make a sound no matter what.

Then at this moment, he suddenly noticed that the corners of Mrs. He's mouth suddenly turned up in a strange arc, and then she smiled. The smile was very strange and stiff, as if it was only revealed after death. smile.

Mu Qingcheng was immediately frightened and stupid. He wanted to stand up and run out of the mourning hall, but his legs seemed to be nailed to the ground with nails, and he couldn't even stand up.

Although he shouldn't be afraid of Mrs. He, but looking at Mrs. He's stiff and terrifying smile at this time, he still feels fear in his heart. That face is too close to him, and his frightened heart almost stops beating.

Fortunately, his eyes could still look elsewhere, and then he suddenly realized that he seemed to be the only one in the entire mourning hall. He Nanchen disappeared at some point, even Liu Yi who was kneeling beside him was gone.

The white candles flickered on and off, and the cold wind made him feel cold all over.

Mu Qingcheng was completely taken aback, what's going on, why is everyone missing?And outside, it was extremely quiet, and the atmosphere was terrifyingly quiet.

To describe it in one word, everything is silent. Before, there were sounds outside, whether it was the wind or the chirping of cicadas, they could all be heard, but now they couldn't hear it at all.

At this time, he saw the old lady's mouth opening and closing to speak again, she said: "Cheng'er, grandma likes you so much, come down and be with grandma, grandma is so lonely down there..."

When Mu Qingcheng heard this, she immediately became stupid. What kind of joke are you kidding me? Let him go down to accompany me, wouldn't he just let him die?

No, it's definitely not grandma!How could Grandma He let him die? He clearly let himself live with He Nanchao!

So Mu Qingcheng shook his head in fear, and then he saw that the smile on Mrs. He's face suddenly became ugly, and her voice was shrill, cold and terrifying: "Unfilial sons and grandchildren! Grandma is so lonely, you don't come down to accompany me!"

Then, Mrs. He's eyes were wide open, as if the eyeballs were about to pop out, her facial features were twisted to the point that they were all squeezed together, hideous and terrifying, that wrinkled face like old tree bark was getting closer and closer, Getting closer……

…………

"what!!!"

Mu Qingcheng screamed, trembling with fright, and then he heard someone calling his name very anxiously beside his ear.

"Ma'am, ma'am, what's wrong with you? Qingcheng? Chenger? Wake up, open your eyes!"

It seemed to be He Nanchao's voice... Mu Qingcheng slowly opened his eyes, and then he found himself leaning against He Nanchao's arms, his face was full of worry.

He Nanchen, Liu Yi and Chu Zhuan all surrounded him with worried expressions.

The ear is not as quiet as before, and the sound of cicadas can be heard outside.

Mu Qingcheng blinked her eyes, and asked in a dazed expression: "What's wrong with me? I seemed to see grandma come in just now, and she said that she wanted me to go down with her... Grandma's expression was so terrifying, I was almost scared to death ."

He Nanchao had a strange expression, and said, "Madam, you fell asleep just now, and the grandma you saw must have been having a nightmare. Grandma loves you so much, how could she let you go down to accompany her."

"It seems to be right..." Mu Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly regained his strength. The dream just now scared him to death. Fortunately, it was just a dream. It was really scary. He has it now A feeling of survival after a catastrophe.

He Nanchen said: "Brother, why don't you help sister-in-law go back to her room to rest, anyway, it's the last day, I'll just stay here and watch over."

Chu Zhuan also said: "Yes, Lao He, you should go back to rest with your wife in your arms. I guess it's because I'm too tired to watch the spirit for the past few days, so I have this kind of nightmare. Leave it to me, Xingshi and Nanchen. "

He Nanchao nodded, Mu Qingcheng wanted to say something more, but his body suddenly vacated, and then He Nanchao hugged him and went back to the room directly.

As soon as the body lay on the soft mattress, the whole person felt much more comfortable, and the already sleepy body became even more tired.

He Nanchao lowered his head and pressed a kiss on his forehead lightly, and said. : "Ma'am, sleep well, you will go to the funeral together at dawn, if you don't sleep well now, how can you go out of the city together tomorrow."

They were all lying on the bed, and Mu Qingcheng was no longer pretentious. He nodded lightly, closed his eyes, and fell asleep not long after.

And He Nanchao was sitting by the bed, looking at Mu Qingcheng's sleeping face with tender eyes, and guarding him quietly.