Chapter 7 first quarter

Fourth Master Lu was listening to a play when he got the news that the Qi family was going back to their hometown to worship their ancestors. A half-person-high theater stage was set up in the yard, with green curtains, red pillars, and gold-sprinkled carpets. Er Yu hurriedly urged like plantains, and the emperor and concubines of the Han Dynasty appeared one by one, their cuffs fluttering, and their confidantes came in order, swaying a piece of luxury and gold. Eunuch Jian sat on the front seat under the stage, accompanied by fourth master, and next to the little snake—the eldest wife, Lu Hushi, felt uncomfortable, and couldn't hear the noise, and couldn't come out.The rest of the aunts sat behind, and behind them were the servants. Those who had no work at hand could stand and listen to the opera as a reward.

Today, Eunuch Jian, who was specially invited for a family banquet, seemed intimate, secretive and not so ostentatious.Because today we are talking about important national affairs—Emperor Puyi will ascend the throne in Changchun and establish Manchukuo, and the Chinese will have an emperor again.This is a great joy. Since ancient times, how could China have no emperor?Without the emperor, where would the principles of ethics and five permanent principles come from, where would the etiquette and state laws come from, and more importantly, where would the chastity archway come from? Fourth Master Lu seemed very excited because of this, a little eager to fight, he kept leaning hard towards Eunuch Jian, as if being close to the father-in-law was to be close to the emperor.Eunuch Jian is someone close to Lord Puyi, and it is rare for him to come to the Forbidden City. This time, he came to Qingtong in a micro-service, one to deliver news, call the old courtiers to prepare early, and the other to prepare military planes and collect donations from Qinguo.However, although he asked for money, the majestic expression on the father-in-law's face seemed to be a reward, and he was very satisfied.The snacks and fruits were brought up one by one, and he picked up a piece or two before waving his hand and said, "Give it to the servants." His attitude was very kind, yet with a bit of condescension.

The fourth master Lu was shocked by his father-in-law's majesty, and he was quite proud that he had the opportunity to present a treasure to the emperor. While delivering the gift list, he secretly expressed his loyalty. article.Eunuch Jian nodded frequently.But fourth master couldn't tell whether the father-in-law nodded for his words or for the money on the gift list.Because Ba Ye's eyes haven't been raised since he saw the gift list. Fourth Master was full of excitement and had nowhere to vent, so he put all his strength on the little snake.The little snake was still wearing a gown and skirt embroidered with nymphs and flowers, and his body was straight, like a beautiful screen.Ever since she came in wearing a full embroidered gown and amazed all the guests, the fourth master told her to wear an embroidered gown on every big day, and generously gave her a lot of jewelry, and ordered her to see each other every time. Wear it when you are visiting.A little snake with full makeup is often like a model wrapped in embroidery and jewelry makeup, and the body is just a moving shelf, holding those silks, satins, gold and silver.Fourth Master valued Xiao Snake's rigid dignity very much, saying that this was the only way to show the style of a wealthy family.In addition to the grandeur, the gown has another advantage in today's occasion, it can cover up many small movements of the fourth master with its complexity and tolerance - the fourth master's hand is pinching the little snake's thigh desperately under the embroidered skirt of the robe, When the drum beats are urgent, pinch it tighter, and when the drum beats slow down, pinch it looser, causing the little snake to gasp for cold air hissingly, but she still stands upright, with her upper body motionless, her eyebrows never twitching, and her eyes are fine. He stared at the romantic and somewhat useless Emperor Han Yuan on the stage.

Just as the farewell at Baqiao was being sung, the Emperor of Han pulled Zhaojun's sleeve and sang sadly: "You put that song lightly, and I am as close as the sky, slowly holding the jade cup. I intend to be in front of you Wait for some time, and don't ask about the palace merchants, and you will sing along with me." Nadanjiao wept, covered his face with his sleeves, and left again, looking at Emperor Han and bowing his body to say goodbye: "Concubine This time, when will I see Your Majesty again? Leave all the clothes of my Han family behind." The emperor took the clothes and felt even more miserable, and the tune became more and more soul-stirring: "Then why leave Wu clothes behind, and the old fragrance will be blown away by the west wind. I'm really afraid that the palace carriage will go through Qingmoss Lane and rush to the Jiaofang. At that moment, I want to make up in the Linghua mirror, look romantic, and I'm obsessed with it. Let's see if Zhaojun goes out of the fortress today, when will it look like Su Wu returns home?"

At this time, Eunuch Jian turned his head to the side and said something to Fourth Master. Fourth Master hurriedly leaned over half of his body to listen, with a humble and serious attitude, but he didn't relax his fingers at all.However, after a few words, his attention was completely attracted, and he withdrew his hand from under his robe, signaling for the servants to bring over the cigarettes. The little snake secretly breathed a sigh of relief, still sitting upright watching the play, with an awe-inspiring look on his face. Fourth Master didn't have such good self-cultivation, he mused, his face cloudy and uncertain.It turned out that Eunuch Jian told him that in order to support the emperor's ascension to the throne, the Qi family, who had fled to Nanyang since the Yuanmingyuan fire broke out, would also come back. Hua Ling, who had prepared the court clothes, would go to Changchun to watch the ceremony in person. One is to worship the ancestors, and the other is to rebuild the archway, which is the unique chastity archway at the entrance of Qingtong County.

Fourth Master said angrily, "That archway belongs to the Qi family? How could it be? I've never heard of it before." Eunuch Jian said: "Why not? I have seen the imperial decree given by the former emperor to build the archway. It is a family heirloom of the Qi family. Third Qi still has the rubbings of the archway in his hand. It can't be wrong." Fourth Master felt a basin of cold water poured over his head, and remained silent for a while.Fifth Aunt Fengqin has been sneering at the back and peeking at the entanglement between Fourth Master and Xiao Snake under the skirt. Suddenly, Fourth Master's face changed color. Although she didn't understand why, she was also proud, so she touched the arm of Third Aunt Pingting who was sitting on the left , Tell her to watch fourth master's movements.Pingting is fascinated by listening to the opera, just like the second aunt Huici is obsessed with playing cards, and the third aunt is most obsessed with listening to the opera. The kindness and loyalty on the stage always give her a kind of sympathetic sadness.At this moment, she is imagining herself as Ming concubine Wang Zhaojun who married against her will, and she is searching in her mind for who can temporarily act as the sentimental and troubled Emperor Han Yuan. respond.Fengqin was bored, so she went to tug on the fourth aunt Hehua who was sitting on the right, but Hehua was biting ears with the second aunt Huici, discussing about celebrating her own birthday at night, she might as well be taken aback by Fengqin's pull He rashly asked loudly: "Ah? What?" It made people laugh.

The little snake just didn't hear or see it, and remained motionless, as if entering a play.The stage has already sung the section of returning to the palace, and the way is: "...his family entered poverty, and I returned to Xianyang. Returning to Xianyang, cross the palace wall; pass the palace wall, go around the corridor; go around the corridor, near the pepper room; near the pepper The room, the moon is dim and yellow; the moon is dim and yellow, and the night is cool; the night is cool, and the green screen window; the green screen window, don’t think about it. Ah! Don’t think about it, unless you have an iron heart; an iron heart, you will also cry a thousand lines. The picture of a beautiful woman hangs in Zhaoyang tonight , where I make offerings are my high-burning silver candles to illuminate the red makeup..." The melody is sad and melodious, and it goes straight into the sky.

The melody is still circling in the air, and the pink moonlight pokes out from the building, playing at the intersection of dusk and night. There is a natural ambiguous flavor in the air, which calmly stirs the hearts of the people in the garden.The night is cool, with green screen windows, and now in the west wing room, it is "high-burning silver candles shining red makeup", and the little snake covered in beautiful clothes is the beauty picture of Fourth Master Lu. The joy of becoming an official and the anxiety of losing the archway cooperated with a strange force, which made the fourth master full of primitive desire, and almost couldn't wait to tear the little snake layer by layer, as if it was urgent.He has not been in such a hurry for a long time. Every time he faces the little snake, he is used to digesting her little by little in a leisurely manner. In the process of being "possessed", he succumbs to accepting the fact that he is "possessed" - humiliation is also another kind of possession, this is the eternal war between men and women, and it is the appearance of the fourth master's still majesty.

He hugged her body and squeezed desperately towards himself, as if he wanted to squeeze out the last bit of his blood through this squeeze.However, in vain he broke out the sweat on his brow, in vain he twisted the little snake's soft and boneless body until he could hear the "clack" sound of the bones, but his energy and spirit just couldn't be squeezed together. "Get down!" he ordered.The big black dog immediately took the posture of squatting and got up. It was so familiar with this order that it reacted immediately. The little snake guessed fourth master's intentions, immediately wrapped herself up tightly, gritted her teeth and said, "No!"

"I can't help you!" "I'm not going to die!" The little snake was in a stalemate, with a rare stubbornness and coldness on his face, and even the fourth master opened his eyes involuntarily. He took a closer look at her, this woman, if she is in a hurry, her blood will splatter the boudoir, that would be too unpleasant.Besides, it's easy to lose her identity. Eunuch Jian still stayed in the mansion and didn't go anywhere. If she was going to die, she couldn't be allowed to die at such a time. It would ruin a big deal.He sneered "hehe": "If you don't do it, are you afraid that no one will do it? Give me a dog, it's the master, I love you, I'm afraid you'll be dry, it's a heartless thing."

Fourth master lost his interest, flicked his sleeves and left.The little snake struggled to get up, and looked at the old and new wounds on her body in the mirror. Fingerprints and tooth marks were overlapped and burned on her fair and delicate skin, which looked a bit hideous.Eunuch Jian, Big Black Dog, Fourth Master Lu, Lu Hu's, everything in this mansion is too crazy, the whole Lu Mansion is like a lunatic asylum.She will go crazy sooner or later. The little snake was weeping, and put on her clothes layer by layer, with her sleeves half folded, and suddenly she smiled strangely at the mirror, with her left sleeve crossed over her right sleeve, and gently flicked it up: "Then why did you leave Wu's clothes behind, and was caught by the west wind?" Blow away the fragrance of the old days... look at Zhaojun going out of the fortress today, when will it be like Su Wu returning home?" What time is it? Fifth Aunt Fengqin is also singing, "Ten Sighs": "That girl from Fireworks, sigh the first sound. Thinking about the slave's family, who do you depend on? The parents gave birth to the slave and didn't take care of it. They sold the little slave just because the family was poor. Hey, hello, To whom? "That girl from Fireworks, sigh that second time. Thinking about the past, bad, evil-hearted people, sweet words and sweet words to deceive the slaves, and in the end, leaving the slaves, it just became a hatred. I have to say hello, who are you talking about?" come to listen? "Fireworks girl, sigh the third sound. Where do you think of, know, confidant, wandering in the world, suffering all bullying, who sees everyone laughing, and wipes tears in secret. Hey, hello, say hello Who will listen?" It is said that there are ten sighs, but there are only three sighs, which seems to be infinitely bitter, and it makes people sigh even more. After Fengqin had sung, everyone felt sad. Huici thought about Lu Siye's contemptuous and sweet love, which disappeared in an instant. But trapped in the mud, "Where do you think about it, you know and know people"; He Hua thought that she was sold by her parents to pay rent, and she just responded to the saying "I only sold that little slave because of the poverty of my family". Sobbing and sobbing. Because Fengqin had sung so many times, she didn't have much emotion, and said with a smile: "This is called 'listen to storytelling and shed tears, and feel sad for the ancients', sisters, don't be like this, the old gourd knows, it's time to tell a story again .” Huici also said: "That's right. Today is the fourth sister's birthday. She should be happy. Why are you so sad? It's all about Sister Feng's fault. She asked you to give gifts, but you said you had no money, and punished you for singing. We cry, but this has to be punished again." Feng Qin volunteered and said: "It's fine to punish me for drinking. I'll drink three cups to make amends for the three sisters and to wish the fourth sister a birthday." It turns out that there is an unwritten rule in the Lu Mansion that those who have never had a son cannot celebrate their birthday, because if they do not have a son to kowtow, celebrating their birthday will only shorten their lifespan.Therefore, the only ones in Lu's mansion who have the opportunity to celebrate their birthday publicly are Fourth Master Lu himself, Lao Hulu and Second Aunt Huici.If other people want to have a little show on their birthday, they can only do it quietly, and they cannot use public accounts to entertain guests. He Hua felt unconvinced, although she did not give birth to a son, after all she has a daughter, and she is considered a mother, and it is not that she has no children to kowtow, so why can't she be happy on her birthday?Coupled with Huici's encouragement, this night, watching Fourth Master enter Xiaoshe's house, expecting that he would not come out again, he invited Pingting and Fengqin to congratulate Huici's house together - Hehua's own room is small, and The teacher lived there with the second lady, Yapei, and they had to play cards after the celebration, for fear of disturbing the children's sleep; needless to say, there was the third lady, Yajuan, at Pingting's place; although Fengqin's room was big, it was next to the little snake's room. In the new house, I was afraid that the fourth master would hear the sound; only Huici had a big courtyard all by himself because of the birth of the young master Changshan. When Changshan was not at home, only Huici, two maids and the old lady lived in the whole courtyard, which was most suitable for playing cards. Playing cards, Fengqin began to mutter again: "Master bought another gold chain for Lao Liu. Really, we have been in the door for so many years, so I won't talk about it, but some sisters also bought him some gold chains. Sons and daughters, today is the fourth sister's birthday, the master didn't even say any warm words, it's really partial." One sentence made Lotus' eye circles red again, and she muttered: "Who said it wasn't? It's the days at home, poor though poor, parents still have a bowl of longevity noodles to eat. Now it's good, to put it mildly, it's Lu's family Fourth Aunt, it’s not as good as an old mother’s.” Despite their mutterings, Pingting remained silent, and Huici could not get involved because she had a birthday, so she had to calmly persuade her: "She came in late, and she will be a widow at a young age. The two pieces of jewelry are also in the account of the old gourd, they can’t be eaten or used, and they can’t do anything.” Then the old lady told the kitchen to make more delicate dishes and lotus seed porridge for supper. . He Hua was embarrassed: "Why is it so good and cost my second sister?" Feng Qin smiled half-truthfully: "If you want to say that the second sister's financial management skills are not good, they all get the same monthly money, and the second sister is always richer than us." Huici gritted her teeth and nodded her finger: "I'm not as expensive as you are. I have both rouge and gouache. I can't get out of this garden anyway. Who will I show my clothes to? Why don't I save them all and fill my belly!" Just as he was talking, he suddenly heard a man coughing in the yard, and He Hua was shocked: "The master is here!" The aunts frantically hid the gambling equipment under the table, but they heard a hey laugh from outside the door, Mr. Feng Qin Cursed: "Well, you short dick, pretending to be a ghost, why don't you get out of here?" The old lady opened the door, and it was the blouse who came, smiling, carrying two bottles of wine and a few boxes of vegetables, and said: "I know today is the fourth aunt's birthday, so I specially called it in the restaurant, but you guys eat small stoves, don't wait for me to come." , the table is already open." Lotus blushed and thanked, "Thank you, Second Young Master, for thinking about it." Pingting snorted, and Wang Kong said, "It's getting late, I'm going back to rest." She then left.He Hua had no choice but to get up to say goodbye, thanked Huici again and again, and asked the old lady to collect the food and wine for Huici.Huici declined, saying that she was going to rest too, and she didn't want to eat, so she should take the lotus back with her.He Hua turned back and invited Feng Qin: "Sister Feng, come and sit in my room." Feng Qin pursed her lips and smiled, not saying that she would go or that she would not go.The short shirt said: "Let me carry it for Fourth Aunt, and watch out for falling in the dark." The three of them resigned from Huici and came out, and went to the lotus room in a hurry.Huici sent her to the gate of the courtyard, and kept watching the three of them disappeared. She didn't know what to do, and suddenly imitated Pingting's tone just now, Wang Kong let out a "hum", and then went back to the room.