Chapter 6 Embroidered Shoes with Dahlias

"Grandma, tell me the story of my father and mother." Ziheng asked for the thousandth time. In the coral garden, the bright sun, the faint scent of flowers, and the lush green vines are covered with red coral particles, like jewels.This is his own idea. He said that this is called green, fat, red and thin. The elderly will feel happy, healthy and festive if they look at these two colors more. However, Zhou Ziheng himself under the coral shelf was pale and haggard, full of worries.He is no longer the self-willed Chairman Zhou in the successful group, but only A Heng, the helpless grandson of Zhou Gong and Zhou Po.

"Fuck, what's wrong with you? Cough, grandma will make you some snacks. Cough, okay?" Zhou Po asked distressedly. The elder's love for the younger generation seems to be inseparable from eating. However, Zi Heng asked: "Grandma, you don't have to do anything, just sit here and tell me the story of my father and my mother back then, okay? How did they fall in love? How did Dad catch up with you?" My mother?" "You." Zhou Po sighed, looking at her grandson in embarrassment, her eyes gradually froze.She had always hoped that her grandson would be serious about his relationship, but when she saw him suffering so much for love, she couldn't bear it. What kind of person is that girl named Hongchen?Why did she look down on such a good grandson?Hong Chen, what a strange name, it sounds like a monster.However, all children are the eternal pain in the hearts of adults, they are debts from previous lives, and they can take whatever they want.Seeing her grandson begging like this, what choice did she have besides agreeing?

Under the cover of green leaves and red beads, Zhou Po sighed softly and began to narrate leisurely: "When your father was young, he was not as wild as you." In the eyes of the elderly, there is no difference between the age of thirteen and the age of thirty. As long as they are children, they will always be "children". ——"When your father was young, cough, he had a very stubborn temper, cough, he didn't like to talk, he really wanted to think about something, cough, he had an idea, and when he decided to do something, he did it as soon as he thought about it, without being vague at all, cough , very decisive."

Zi Heng's heart moved, this is a bit like Hong Chen's description. "Your father and your mother are classmates in elementary school, heck, they are also classmates in middle school. They were not very good in elementary school, but in middle school, heh, in their class, he is the only two old classmates. Heh, naturally they feel closer .Your mother is beautiful, but there are always hairy boys who provoke her and block her on the way after school. Your mother is timid and dare not go home after school. Your father volunteered to send her off, cough, and fought for her, several times, Cough, I was beaten badly. After coming and going, both of them had a heart, but they were still young, so they didn’t have the nerve to say it. It wasn’t until the time of the Cultural Revolution that they signed up to go to the countryside together. Cough, Your father just tore through the window paper. On the first night when he left Nanjing, your father took your mother's hand and came to the house and said to me: Mom, don't worry, I will go with Feiyan, and we will take care of each other. Cough, care about each other, nothing will happen. The two of us rooted in the countryside together. If we get married in the countryside, heck, when I visit you again, maybe I will bring a grandson to see you. That girl, Feiyan, blushes It's like a piece of cloth..." The old man's eyes were a little wet, "Feiyan is really a good girl, gentle, quiet, good at singing and dancing, and pretty, cough, but unfortunately she is too beautiful. People say that beauty is unlucky, cough, She also suffered from this beauty."

"What happened later?" Zi Heng asked, "Did they get married in the countryside?" "Later...cough, then recruited soldiers, they joined the army together, your mother was picked up by the art troupe, and your father became a communication soldier...cough, and then your mother died, difficult childbirth, leaving you as a precious man The seed, held by grandma with her palm in her mouth, grows so big that you can make grandma angry." "How could it be, grandma?" She teased grandma with a salivating face, "cough, how dare your eldest grandson dare to make you angry, isn't he afraid of your golden hoop curse and feather duster? Cough, it's not like he never suffered it when he was a child .”

I finally know the story of my parents. At that time, the fireworks were so bright, gentle and beautiful.That kind of love can only happen in that kind of years, right? Love grows over time and gradually warms up, just like what the fox said to the little prince, don’t sit next to me at first, keep a little distance, squint at me with your eyes, and get closer little by little...Yourself and the world of mortals, Just short of this distance? You should get closer to her little by little, and you shouldn't be too eager for success and scare her.She is a classic girl who is self-reliant and self-loving. She should be given a little more patience and love to warm her up slowly.Don't rush, let alone give up easily.He wants to chase her, and get closer to her little by little until they are intimate!

Zhou Ziheng's confidence rose again. Luo Hongchen received a large bunch of birds of paradise and a letter from the flower shop entrusted by Zhou Ziheng. She was a little surprised. In this day and age, people who are willing to write with a pen are rare, let alone computer experts. Sending an email online or ordering a bouquet of flowers in an online shopping mall is so simple and convenient. Why bother to do it yourself? It can be seen that Zhou Ziheng's sincerity. Big, delicately colored fragrant flowers have always been her favorite, but I don't know how I guessed it. The letter was written on embossed snow-white dark textured paper, in three densely packed sheets.Hong Chen was not in a hurry to read the letter, but used GOOLE to search for the flower language of Bird of Paradise: the infatuated man who loves you so hard.It couldn't be a coincidence that his face suddenly became hot, right?I must have consulted the florist specifically before ordering this bouquet.

She covered the letter paper on her face and smelled it intoxicatedly, sniffing the faint fragrance of the flowers.This is a true love letter. In this day and age, who else is willing to write a love letter? She turned the paper over and faced the sun to see the vertical and horizontal handwriting.His handwriting is well written and powerful, which is the trace of calligraphy practiced when he was young.It's the face, she also practiced it when she was a child, so she can recognize it. She sat down, leaned over the desk, and looked at the letter paper in a contemplative state.Was it like this when he wrote the letter last night?He must have been writing while thinking, pausing and pausing as he writes, because he put his heart into it. It must be rare for him to write such a long letter, right?

She imagined him writing letters. In the office, through the glass window, she quietly observed him. Whenever he was concentrating on doing something, he liked to bite his lower lip with his upper lip, as if all writing and typing needed the help of his teeth. like.Did he bite his lip last night? she smiled.Finally, slowly, slowly unfold the letter paper. The joy can't be enjoyed all at once, she wants to extend the joy as long as possible and enjoy it slowly.It is really that she has had too little happiness since she was a child, so little that she has become accustomed to tragedy, thinking that all good things have nothing to do with her.

It was precisely because of this that when she returned home from the "Locomotive Bar" that night and received a phone call from Mei Qi following her, she would readily agree to resign in order to avoid Zhou Ziheng's pursuit. On the phone, Mei Qi burst into tears, and told her about her three-year relationship with Zhou Ziheng and all the sacrifices she had made for him. She said: "Miss Luo, you are only 23 years old, but I am already 28, not young. I can't afford to lose anymore. I followed Zhou Ziheng for three years. Three years is not a long time, but for a young woman, three years is not much different from a lifetime. I can't lose Ziheng, I am not as strong and self-reliant as you. I am just an ordinary woman, the kind of soft bones that are born to be attached to men. I am so attached to myself that I have already lost my self. Without him, I will die. You must look down on me like this People? But I am indeed a worthless woman, can you help me, help me?"

She spoke so sincerely, so pitifully, and so thoughtfully, blocking all the exits without leaking anything, what could Hong Chen say?If Hongchen doesn't want to wade into this muddy water and play a triangle game, then the best choice is to resign. Mei Qi also said: "Don't worry, I won't let you suffer losses. As long as you are willing to resign and never associate with Zhou Ziheng again, I will pay you a salary of 100,000 yuan a year first. How about it? If you If you don’t think it’s appropriate, you can discuss it again.” Such a naked money transaction made Hongchen laugh instead of anger: "Modern La Traviata? Miss Mei, you don't look like Zhou Ziheng's girlfriend, but rather like his father." Mei Qi was stunned: "You mean I'm old?" Hong Chen didn't explain any more, and just said lightly: "I will find another job. Miss Mei, anyway, I promise you that you won't go to work at 'Success' again, and I hope you don't bother me anymore." After finishing speaking, she hung up the phone . In Luo Hongchen's mind, money and feelings are completely irrelevant, although she needs this job and the money so badly. Grandma and grandpa are already very old, old enough to make specimens, and they don't even have the ability to start a small business in the "No Needle Embroidery Workshop".Last year, when grandma handed over the embroidery workshop to her, she knew that grandma had completely given up, and was so old that she had no fighting spirit. To put it cruelly, she was just waiting for the deadline to come. While looking at the store, she was looking for transfers. On the day when the "No Needle Embroidery Workshop" was closed, her grandfather supported her and bowed her head sadly in front of the Confucius Temple.No tears.They didn't even have the energy to cry. Ordinarily, grandpa Luo Changming is 67 this year, not yet ancient, and he is a veteran, so he shouldn't be so old.But he fell down faster than his peers, and he entered the ranks of dying years early, perhaps because of the tragic death of his mother and the madness of his father?Alas, her father's madness... After resigning, where should she go to raise the medical expenses for her father's medical treatment? She sighed again, and finally unfolded the letter completely... "Red Dust: Would you like to hear a story?A Tale of an Orphan-- Once upon a time, there was a young man and woman who loved each other. They went to school together, went to the countryside together, joined the army together, and looked forward to a happy life together in the future.They fell in love, married, and had a boy.In those turbulent years, it is impossible to speculate whether their road was bumpy or not, but falling in love is beautiful, their love is so pure and beautiful, their future should have been even better, but that young woman had no time to take a look at her newborn My child left in pain with nostalgia for this world and unwillingness to reconcile. The poor husband, who didn't know how to be a father at all, experienced the pain of his wife's death prematurely.One can imagine how much he rejected and feared the little boy, right?He refused to hug the child, rarely talked to him, and looked at his eyes with pain and contemplation forever.That little boy grew up under the knees of his grandparents, and his longing heart, I think you must be clearer than anyone else, right? However, such a cold father also resigned from him when he was seven years old.What was left to him was just a desolate and boundless world, and many vain and boundless fantasies. Except for grandparents, no one was particularly kind to him, and he never thought of being responsible to anyone.But one day, he met a girl who was similar to his life experience. Like his long-lost sister, she walked into his heart right away, causing an indescribable pain in his heart. , Desperately want to protect her, take care of her, accompany her.Is he wrong? It is pitiful to have no one to love, and it is also pitiful to be alone without anyone to love? He didn't dare to have too many extravagant demands, he only hoped that the girl would not reject his kindness too much, and allow him to be friends with her and to communicate sincerely.He wants her not to leave his company, not to treat him like a scourge, not to blacklist him without giving a reason, not to treat his kindness as ulterior motives, and not to keep treating him Say no no no, don't... Is he still too greedy? ..." There was no signature, as if a sad-faced person had half-spoken and didn't know how to continue. Looking at the letter, Luo Hongchen burst into tears at first, and kept trying not to let himself cry. When he saw the last sentence, he couldn't help laughing, and the tears also fell down. This Zhou Ziheng is so pitiful and sincere, but he still can't forget to be glib while pleading for mercy so pitifully and sincerely.Don't want this, don't want that, since I know I'm greedy, why make so many demands? Luo Hongchen pressed the letter tightly to his chest.He is really very greedy, but does she have the heart to refuse his requests and say "no" to him again?An orphan, a person who is as eager as she is, a person who sincerely only wants to treat her well, isn't it the person she has been longing for, why continue to reject him? He said that what his father left him was "a desolate and boundless world, and many vain and boundless fantasies".Don't you know that she herself is exactly the same.The same desolation and loneliness, the same illusory dream, they are two young grasses that grow side by side in this world, they use each other's breath to produce oxygen, breathe, communicate, and then create new oxygen to give to each other... If they don't love each other Love each other, who else would love them? But, just returning to the company like this, just agreeing to him like this, how to explain to Mei Qi?How can I explain my pride and reserve?She has already handed in her resignation letter, turned around and went to work again, what would her colleagues in the company think of her? Still, wait and see, think about it, think about it again, okay? While Luo Hongchen was waiting and thinking, Mei Qi was also waiting and thinking.However, she couldn't figure out why Zhou Ziheng would abandon her for the world of mortals? She thought, sitting in the bar on the train, drinking and thinking. She couldn't figure it out, so she asked Ah Qing to think with her: "Do you think Luo Hongchen is prettier than me?" "No." Ah Qing replied briskly, looked at Mei Qi seriously, and said with more certainty, "You are prettier than her." "So, she is gentler and more understanding than me?" "Not necessarily. She only came for three minutes that day and then left, and even had a fight with Zi Heng." "Then why did Ziheng like her? Like the daughter of a lunatic!" "The lunatic's daughter?" Ah Qing was taken aback, "You mean Luo Hongchen?" "Of course it's Luo Hongchen. Who are we talking about these days?" Mei Qi lost her temper impatiently, with the irritable and ruthless attitude of a drunken person, "That lunatic's daughter, the murderer's daughter, he Why do you like her? Is it because of curiosity? You said, is he because of curiosity? " "Maybe... yeah." Ah Qing was a little dizzy, "Madman" and "murderer", are they real?Could it be that Mei Qi was drunk and talking nonsense?He didn't know how to comfort Mei Qi, "Maybe in a few days, when the fresh energy is over, he will come back to you. Didn't he have a few times with you before? Didn't he later?" reconciled?" "But it won't happen this time." Mei Qi cried out in despair, "He didn't force me to resign before!" "Since forcing you to resign?" Ah Qing was surprised again, "Why did he force you to resign?" "He said that I brought my personal feelings into work, but he himself pursued Luo Hongchen with great fanfare, making the trouble known to everyone in the company, even you." Mei Qi cried, "Luo Hongchen resigned , he was crazy, and blocked the news, so that no one would know, saying that she had a cold and would come to work in a few days. A small assistant has a cold, does the boss need to explain to the employee himself? He thought Others don't know his flirtatiousness!" "Zhou Ziheng is it true?" Ah Qing couldn't help but pay more attention to it. He could understand it if he was only separated from Mei Qi temporarily, but it seems that Zhou Ziheng has made up his mind this time. Determined not to leave any more room for this relationship. Mei Qi said bitterly: "He is not kind, I am not righteous! Give me three years' salary at once and want to kick me out? It's not that easy! I will not let them both get their way!" "What do you want?" Wei Qing frowned slightly.Paying three years' salary at once is not severance pay, but breakup pay. "I don't know yet." Mei Qi poured another glass of wine, "But I will know, and I will definitely figure out a way." Ah Qing worriedly covered the cup and advised her: "Don't drink any more, you will get drunk." "I want to get drunk." Mei Qi suddenly cried again, "Ah Qing, do you remember? The last time I was drunk with you, you called me and asked me to take him back; if I was drunk, you Will he find his own way for me? Will he lead me back?" Before Ah Qing could answer, Mei Qi cried and asked herself again: "No, I won't. I know that Zhou Ziheng is the worst at doing things. He said he wanted to break up with me and forced me to resign. He won't care about my life or death anymore. Don't say that I'm drunk here, even if I die here, he won't come and take a look. That damned, inhuman Zhou Ziheng!" Mei Qi cried, cursed, and cursed.Ah Qing couldn't persuade her, and she couldn't leave. After thinking about it, she finally decided to call Zhou Ziheng. He couldn't help but want to help Mei Qi, do something more for her, and erase the sadness for her. However, the result of the phone call was exactly the same as what Mei Qi had guessed.Zhou Ziheng's answer was very cold, without any emotion in his tone: "Where she got drunk and why she got drunk has nothing to do with me." He even joked lightly, "Brother, you Don't take the opportunity to put her in someone's bed again. But if it does, it's none of my business." Ah Qing was so angry that she cursed, "Zhou Ziheng, you bastard!" and dropped the phone casually.Mei Qi was really right: God damn the inhuman Zhou Ziheng! Looking at Mei Qi, who was completely drunk, Ah Qing couldn't help but sigh deeply: Whose bed are you going to put on?Besides being her own home, her own bed! He couldn't help feeling a little emotional, how did he crash into Zhou Ziheng's emotional vortex?Originally, he was really an outsider who had nothing to do with him.But now, the real parties involved are extremely relaxed, and he can't figure it out, he's just asking for trouble! But one person is always in debt to another person—Ziheng owes Hongchen, Meiqi owes Ziheng, and he owes Meiqi. In just a few days, Ah Qing came to the "Plum Garden" twice, and he was very familiar with the road. Just like what Meiqi did for Ziheng that day, Wei Qing helped Meiqi upstairs all the way, found the key in her handbag and opened the door, helped her to bed, took off her shoes, unbuttoned her clothes to make her more comfortable, and washed her again. He brought a towel to wipe her face. Mei Qi was half drunk and half awake, still thinking to herself: "I can't sleep, I have to feed my worms, my worms..." "What insect?" Wei Qing was puzzled.This is the second time he has heard Mei Qi talk about her worm, what does that mean? However, Mei Qi stopped talking, turned around, and fell into a deep sleep. Wei Qing walked over and closed the curtains. This is the second time he came back to Mei Qi's home, but the last time he came and went in a hurry, he didn't notice the Yilianyoumeng covered with dazzling ornaments: little sunflowers with smiling faces, dancing girl dolls dancing in Swan Lake, Chinese knots, Golden paper cranes, red tassels... and those three exquisite and fragrant embroidered shoes. Why are there three?And each one is different, and each one is not a pair. Wei Qing grabbed one of the purple velvet embroidered shoes and looked at it carefully, and found that there was a poem embroidered on the sole: "Cut purple velvet with a golden knife, and make shoes with Lang. I would like to turn into two immortal mallards and fly into the boudoir. " It is "Making Shoes for Yang Da" written by Yao Yuehua, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The main idea is that he cuts the purple velvet with golden scissors and makes a pair of shoes for his lover. I hope they will turn into two fairy ducks and fly back to me with my lover. The boudoir to meet. Such exquisite needlework, such lingering thoughts, and such eclectic words, it is really hard to put it down.Wei Qingru was bewitched and couldn't help herself, so she took off her embroidered shoes and put them in her pocket - after storing them properly, she suddenly realized: Isn't this stealing? However, he was reluctant to ask him to take out the shoes and tie them back to the curtains. I can't bear to embroider shoes, and I can't bear to leave.But there was no longer any reason to delay, so what else was there to do? Wei Qing didn't know what to do, so he picked up the mop and mopped the floor, as if he had done it many times before. However, he is willing. All the love and evil entanglements in the world are nothing more than these four words: willingly. Suddenly there was a soft sound, as if the mop hit something.Wei Qing knelt down, lifted the curtain of the bed, and saw an upside-down bottle—a worm in the bottle, soft and boneless, bright red, twisting his body, with his neck raised, seemed very hungry and thirsty, unspeakable. Weird and paradoxical. Wei Qing's heart was pounding like a deer, and he couldn't help but gently unscrew the bottle cap, wanting to take a closer look.Unexpectedly, the lid was opened, and the worm jumped up suddenly, biting Wei Qing's fingers violently, sucking desperately—— Wei Qing was startled, fell vigorously, and instinctively stomped away, turning the bug into a fuzzy ball.Suddenly there was a pungent bloody smell in the room - it was unexpected that such a small insect could have so much blood, it flowed and flowed, and flowed and flowed all over the ground in a short while. Mei Qi was awakened, saw the blood on the ground, screamed, and then realized what happened, jumped out of the bed with disheveled hair, screaming repeatedly: "You killed my worm! You killed my worm! I'm dying! I can't live—" Seeing her talking nonsense and looking crazy, Wei Qing hugged her tightly and shouted in her ear: "Calm down, what happened? Tell me, what happened? It's just a bug That’s all—what kind of bug is that?” "That's my life, it's my life..." Mei Qi burst into tears, "I can't survive..." Luo Hongchen waited for seven days, thought for seven days, and at the same time followed the news of "success" in newspapers and the Internet: The "Jinling Twelve Beauties" audition has ended, and the TV competition for 108 beauties from the Red Chamber has officially kicked off, with singing and dancing every day.However, at the same time, the newspaper said that Mei Qi, the manager of the publicity department of the successful company, had resigned.So, who is in charge of the beauty pageant publicity work now?Web page production and forum management were originally my own business, but now that she, the assistant to the general manager, has also hid at home, isn't the pressure on herself a lot?Of course he dismissed Mei Qi for his own sake, and since he didn't appreciate it, he must be very upset, right? During this period, Zhou Ziheng sent a bouquet of flowers and a love letter every day. His offensive became more violent and his words became more profound every day. After receiving the eighth bouquet of dahlias, Hong Chen was finally shaken. Zi Heng wrote in the letter: "Do you know what book I'm reading recently? "Shoes Picture Story". It turns out that shoes were generally called 'foot clothing' in ancient times. The ancients drank blood from their hair, 'eat their flesh and sleep on their skin', and even their feet were wrapped in animal skins." ; After the Han Dynasty, shoes were called "shoes", and there were three kinds of cloth, grass and leather; There are 'heavy platform shoes', 'high wall shoes', 'gou shoes' and 'fluoren head shoes'; there is also 'clogs', which was invented by Xie Lingyun, a poet of the Southern Dynasties, and was also learned in his poems; Xie', the most expensive ancient shoes, were only worn during pilgrimages and sacrifices; there are also 'boots' with many flower heads, such as 'goose head boots', 'cloud head boots', 'flower boots', and 'Ge Weng boots'. ', 'Gorea boots'; of course, there are also 'flag shoes', which are the flower pot sole shoes of the Qing Dynasty that are often seen on TV—I just realized that the flower pot bottom is different from the current high-heeled shoes, and the high heel is in the center of the shoe , how troublesome is it to walk..." Hong Chen looked at it, laughed again and again, he knew some of what he said, and some he didn't know.While she was reading "Xue Huan Embroidered Book", he was reading "Shoes Picture Story".Aren't the books the two of them read together an embroidered shoe?Of course she understood why Zi Heng would study the history of shoes, it was because when they met for the first time, it was because of the three embroidered shoes. This is the real big man, the mountain collapses on the top without changing his face.The company is very urgent, but he still talks with himself, without mentioning business affairs.He didn't want to create pressure on himself, and he didn't want to confuse work with love.He is so considerate of himself, can't he be considerate of him? She read on— "Shen Nong tasted all kinds of herbs and invented tea; Huang Daopo invented the spinning wheel; Cang Jie invented characters, and ghosts cried at night; Cai Lun made paper—but, do you know who invented the shoes first? Let me tell you, it was Dayu. "It is said that Dayu was controlling the waters of the Yangtze River and destroyed the old den of the evil black dragon. The black dragon hated him so much that he sprayed poisonous juice into the Yangtze River to make people's feet fester, in an attempt to prevent Dayu from controlling the water. So Dayu split stones as shoes. , so that the venom cannot touch the feet, and this subdues the black dragon—this is the origin of the shoes. It seems that the birth of the shoes is closely related to eliminating poison and avoiding evil. "Before you came to the company, I went to the Confucius Temple to look for you once. I didn't meet you, but I picked up an embroidered shoe. The 'Jinling Twelve Beauties' beauty pageant project was thought of at that moment. I regard the embroidered shoe as a mascot. Then , aren’t you my protector?” It turned out that there was such a thing, which Hong Chen didn't expect.He even said she was his protector.Then, when he needed help the most, how could she, the protector, not be by his side? Hong Chen thought and thought, and came up with a tentative idea: after he resigned, he never went to the company again.Why not make an excuse to pack up the supplies and go back to find out the news? However, when they entered the "Successful" building, every colleague asked affectionately when they saw her: Is Miss Luo better?Only then did Hong Chen know that Zhou Ziheng had never disclosed her resignation to the staff at all. He was sure she would come back. Hong Chen turned on the computer resentfully, preparing to deal with the backlog of business for the past few days.However, she froze as soon as the screen was turned on—the computer page turned out to be a bouquet of dahlias in full bloom in a shoe at the bottom of a flowerpot, and the moving subtitles slowly slid across: Hongchen, I am waiting for your return; Hongchen, I'm waiting for your return; Hongchen, I'm waiting for your return... What a strange combination, what an interesting thought.Zhou Ziheng always gave people so many surprises this week, with new tricks and new tricks emerging one after another. Hong Chen shook his head, pressed Enter, went online, and QQ popped up, and sure enough, there was another self-proclaimed message: "I reserved a seat at the Green Wave Corridor, can we have lunch together? If not, can we go to the revolving restaurant for dinner together? If not, can we go to the locomotive to have a midnight snack together? If not...you can't say no It's alright, don't be so cruel!" Hong Chen couldn't help laughing again.This domineering and enthusiastic Zhou Ziheng.Was he always so pitiful and arrogant when he made demands?You simply don't know whether he is too serious or too smooth, whether he is cautious or brazen. But if he keeps saying no, he will keep asking for it. In the end, he will still say yes, right?Then, why bother to look far away, just agree to him!