Chapter 17 17

Juehui returned to the room.The sound of dice in the main room has stopped, but there are still many people talking loudly there.Juexin still played cards in the room, but not as loudly as before.The sky began to change color.The year is over.The old fades away in the darkness, and the new comes with the light. Not a while after Juehui entered the room, Jianyun also came in.Without speaking, he sat down on a chair by the window. "Did you lose?" Juehui asked. "En," Jian Yun replied vaguely, and turned his head away. "How much?" Juehui asked. "Six yuan," Jian Yun replied dejectedly.

"It happens to be half a month's salary of yours," Juemin, who was leaning over the desk to write, suddenly raised his head and said to Jian Yun. "Isn't it?" Jian Yun said angrily, "I originally planned to use the money to buy a few English novels." "Then why do you want to gamble? I really want to stop you from the sidelines, but I'm afraid you won't be happy," Juehui said sympathetically. Jian Yun glanced at him, and then complained to himself: "I also understand that gambling is meaningless. Every time I gamble, people always regret it very much. I have repeatedly said that I will not gamble anymore, but I feel embarrassed when someone pulls me to play. reject.……"

The sound of firecrackers outside, not very close.Later, several mansions responded one after another by setting off firecrackers.There were people coming and going under the window, and I heard Keding calling "Su Fu" loudly in the main room. "It's time to worship God," Juemin said as he closed his diary.He put it solemnly in the drawer of his desk, and locked the drawer again.The electric light that had been on all night by exception began to dim.Dim gray light peeped in from the window. Juemin went out first, and when he looked up, he saw the dark blue sky, and a chill rushed towards him. He shrugged and hurriedly walked into the main room.He walked under the window of the upper left room and saw many small tea bowls with red flowers on the square table. Yuan Cheng, Su Fu, Wen De, Zhao Sheng, and Li Gui were pouring tea there. Each time they poured six bowls, they put them on tea trays. Send them to the main room, and put them on the altar one by one by Keming and Ke'an.

The tea bowls were set up, but everyone was still waiting in the main room, waiting for the rice cakes to be delivered from the kitchen.During this waiting time, everyone talked about playing cards or throwing dice with tired smiles.Some stood by braziers that were burning brightly, stretching out their hands to warm themselves.The old man coughed loudly in the room.He is already up. Juehui and Jianyun also walked out of the room.They stood on the threshold, looking at the hall and talking. The sky gradually turned pale, and when it was time to worship the gods, Juehui left Jianyun and went to the main room.Because Jue Qun said something unlucky in the main room, the old man wrote on a piece of red paper, "Children's words are boundless, good luck", took it out and pasted it on the doorpost of the main room.Juehui saw it and couldn't help laughing secretly in her heart.

The sound of firecrackers started to sound outside the hall, and three strings of firecrackers were set off in a row. When everyone finished saluting in the main room, the firecrackers had not been burned yet, and the sky was already bright. In the morning light, Juexin and his three uncles went out again in sedan chairs to pay New Year's greetings, while the female relatives stepped on the wreckage of the firecrackers, walked out of the gate laughingly along the way, onto the street, and walked towards this year's "Xi Shen Fang". It can be regarded as the annual "travel" trick.Only at this time of the year did they have the opportunity to show their faces in the street, so everyone looked at the dim and lonely street for a while with curious eyes.Everyone seemed to be reluctant to part with him, but at the same time they were afraid of bumping into other men, so they hurried into the mansion.The sound of firecrackers stopped, the laughter stopped, and the street returned to a short period of silence.

The important time of the day has passed.In this mansion, most of the people went to bed early because they couldn't support themselves because they didn't rest all night.Some people did not sleep, such as Keming and Juexin, because they still had to take care of some things.There are also some people who sleep until the evening when they worship God, like Brother Jue Minji, they even forgot to eat lunch. The days of the new year passed so plainly.Every day's schedule is almost fixed, and it is the same every year without major changes.Gambling ruled the mansion as usual in these days, and the sound of the cards and the dice never ceased from day to night.Jian Yun, who understands that gambling is meaningless, often participates.He doesn't hesitate to do what he doesn't want to do in order to get rid of others.During this period, he had small sorrows and small joys.He won back all the money he lost.

On the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar, Qin followed her mother to visit the New Year.Mrs. Zhang only stayed at Gao's house for three days, but promised to let Qin stay until the sixteenth.An extra qin has added a lot of joy to the younger generation.They spend the day in the garden playing various meaningful games or telling interesting stories.No one bothered them.Sometimes they also took the chips and tossed them in the Wanxiang Building near the lake. They liked tossing "lion chips" because it was more complicated and interesting.Whoever wins will take out all the money, and ask the servants to go outside to buy some wine and vegetables, and bring them to the garden. They set up a small stove at the foot of the mountain behind the Wanxiang Building, and cook by themselves.Ruijue, Shuying, and Qin are all good cooks, so they take turns to cook, while the rest help and do some chores.When the dishes are ready, they will be taken to the Wanxiang Building, or they can choose an elegant place, set up a table and eat happily, and all kinds of wine orders will be enforced at the banquet.

Sometimes a guest comes to play, which is invited by Qin, and it is her classmate Xu Qianru.Her home is diagonally opposite this mansion.She was a plump girl of eighteen or nineteen, with good demeanor and free speech, and she had the air of a schoolgirl in every way.Like Qin, she longed for Juemin's school to open the ban on women, so she was willing to get to know them.Her father used to be a member of the Tongmenghui. He had studied in Japan in his early years and had published a newspaper about Manchuria. He had also studied chemistry in Germany, and now he works in the Negotiations Office.He is more enlightened than the average person.Her mother was also a student studying in Japan. She died for nearly five years, and her father refused to remarry.She is the only adopted daughter in the family, and an old nanny who has taken care of her since she was a child.Compared with Qin, Xu Qianru, who grew up in this environment, has a significant difference in personality.

Jian Yun still stays at Gao's house, he lives in Jueying's room.In the past few days, he has also been much happier.Although Juemin treated him coldly, Juexin, Juehui, and Jueying all treated him very well. On the evening of the eighth day of the eighth day, after two or three days of arrangement, these young people invited the elders to the garden, saying that they were watching the fireworks.The elders couldn't hold back their ardent pleas, and they all came, except for the grandfather, who couldn't stand the cold at night and refused to come. In the garden, entering from the right, the lamps on the verandah were turned on.In places without electric lights, such as bamboo forests and pine forests, many small lanterns are hung between the branches, red, green, yellow, and almost all kinds of colors.On the railings on both sides of the stone bridge, there are electric lights, and the shadows reflected on the water are like a round moon.The crowd finally arrived at the Wanxiang Building. There used to be a few palace lanterns with green tassels and red shades hanging under the eaves of the building, but now there are lit candles inserted inside, emitting a dim red light, adding a hazy and fantastic color to the surroundings, making people feel uncomfortable. Doubt enters the realm of dreams.

Everyone sat down in the building, and more than a dozen servants, maids, and maids were busy serving tea and cigarettes.Everyone sat by the window.The windows are wide open and you can see everything outside.But outside, apart from the nearby colored scenery, there is only that unrecognizable darkness in the distance, in which there are still some colored spots and a few brighter lights. "Where are the fireworks? You lied to me again!" Zhou said with a smile to Qin and Ruijue beside him. "It'll be here in a while, how dare I lie to my aunt?" Qin Han replied with a smile.She looked back and saw that Juexin and Juemin were not here, but Jianyun was talking with Keming, Ke'an, and Keding.The ladies kept asking Qianru questions, and Qianru answered them straightforwardly. Although she felt that some questions were meaningless, she also answered according to her own ideas.

There seemed to be no sound in the garden except in this building.There was a lighter black place in the darkness, which obviously separated from the dense darkness. Suddenly there was a sharp sound at that place, and a bright red flame emerged from the darkness, rising up, rising up. In the middle of the sky, it suddenly spread out, sending out many strands of thin gold threads, hanging down, still falling in the darkness.But then another bright goose-egg-like thing rushed into the sky again, and there was a big explosion in the sky, and it exploded immediately, turning into countless silver flowers and flying in all directions.Then a blue light flew straight up again, and changed color as soon as it was in mid-air, falling red raindrops, and then green raindrops. .Shufen snuggled up beside her mother Wang and laughed heartily, saying repeatedly: "Okay, ok, ok!" "It's so beautiful!" There was a smile on Zhou's round face. She turned her face sideways and praised Qin, and then asked, "Where did you buy it?" Qin smiled, pointed at Xu Qianru and said, "Auntie, ask her!" Qianru then replied, "We asked my father to try to get it." There was another green fire in the darkness ahead, which rose to the It didn't fall in the sky, but hovered in the darkness, changing colors one after another, and finally disappeared suddenly, so quickly that people didn't know where it landed.At the same time, three or four bright objects rose up and made loud noises in the sky. Suddenly, a silver flower was seen flying, illuminating the pine forest by the lake, and one or two small boats leaned on the diagonally opposite bank. by the lake. "It turned out that they were put on the boat, no wonder I saw it moving," the fourth wife Wang said to Ke'an comprehendingly, and her husband nodded and smiled. After a while, there was no movement by the lakeside, and everyone was still stretching their necks, staring at the impenetrable darkness in a daze.Qianru came over, stood beside Qin, and whispered a few words. "Is it gone?" Keding asked loudly and regretfully, and was about to stand up, but suddenly there was a big light on the water. With a burst of noise, many silvery-white flowering trees suddenly grew up on the water surface, spreading small golden flowers in all directions. After a while, the trunks gradually shortened, and the brilliance gradually dimmed, and finally disappeared.A scene of golden splendor remained before the eyes of the spectators upstairs.But after some time, everything calmed down again.There was still that impenetrable darkness ahead. The air suddenly trembled slightly, and the sound of the flute fluttered from the lakeside, blowing, and some people played the huqin, but the sound of the huqin was very low, overwhelmed by the sound of the flute.The crisp and melodious sound of the flute seems to be telling a wonderful story.It came from the air to the building, and it was sent to the hearts of the people, making them forget the tedious reality.Everyone once had a beautiful dream scene, which was awakened by the sound of the flute at this time, so they were all silent, intoxicated in their memories, and let the sound of the flute softly float in their ears. "Which one is playing the flute? You play it so well!" Zhou asked Qindao in a praising voice, and it was almost over. "Our second miss," Wan'er was filling cigarettes for Mrs. Zhang, and immediately replied. She was very happy when she heard the eldest lady praise her young lady. "It's the big cousin who plays the huqin," Qin added. The flute stopped.There were applause and laughter in the distance.But these sounds immediately hit the calm water and scattered, and they could no longer float up after falling into the water, and those who were sent to the building were only those who escaped secretly with the help of the breeze, but they were already very low and very low. It's thin.At the same time, there was still a lingering sound in the air. So the melodious sound of the flute flew up again, playing a happy tune.A male's loud voice resounded throughout the night, dispelling the lingering sound just now.The sound was sent into the building, awakening everyone from their memories.They recognized that it was Juemin's singing. The song didn't last long, and disappeared into the darkness together with the sound of the flute.After a while, it was still Juemin's voice that flew up and sang a popular song.When Juemin sang the second line, many voices rang out together.Everyone sang in unison, men, women, high notes, low notes, mixed together to form this complex singing voice, but each voice in it was clearly separated, and even Shuying's crisp female voice did not melt in the consciousness. In Min's high-pitched male voice.The sound rushed towards the building powerfully. Everyone felt that they hit their faces and broke into their ears, and they couldn't fill their ears. Let them fly around in the building, and the building seemed to be surrounded by them. shook. The singing stopped suddenly.Then there was a burst of loud laughter.Laughter collided with each other in the air, and some were broken into pieces, which could not be gathered together again, so new ones rose up, chased after the unbroken one, and immediately smashed it into pieces.The people in the building seemed to feel the laughter crashing in the dark air, fleeing, chasing. At this time, small red and green lanterns floated on the water one after another.After a while, the section of water that everyone was looking at was covered with lanterns.They moved slowly, reflecting the water surface into strange colors, changing and rippling from time to time, but there was no sound.Suddenly, at one point, the lantern moved hastily, dodging to one side, leaving a way in the middle.Then the laughter started again, a little softer than before.A small boat came slowly with laughter, and stopped at the bridge.Laughter was sent more clearly into the building.One can see brothers Juexinji landing below.The boat moved forward slowly across the round arch bridge.To everyone's surprise, there was another one behind, which was still moored by the bridge. Several girls came down from the boat. It was the three sisters Shuying, Shuhua, Shuzhen and the girl Mingfeng. lantern. The young men went upstairs one by one.The building seemed more lively. "Mom, third dad, are you satisfied with watching?" Juexin came up and asked loudly with a smile. "That's right," Keming replied with a nod. "It's very interesting," Keding praised loudly; "Tomorrow night, I will invite you to watch the dragon lantern, and I will make 'flowers' myself to burn." Jueying was standing behind him and was the first to applaud.So the younger generation echoed in unison. Fireworks did bring a lot of happiness, like a rainbow, embellishing the lives of the older generation.But after a short time, everything became a thing of the past, leaving the garden standing alone in the cold night.