Chapter 21 Chapter 21

Bu Shouru didn't believe that his father's world would collapse in just a dozen days. Looking at the continuous and desolate scenery from the West Wharf of the Jiang'an to Daguan Road, Bu Shouru felt calm and unmoved.The desolation was pale, a heavy snow covered Shicheng, and also covered up all the traces left by the fighting.The sky was gloomy, like a cage of dead and condensed fog, which made people melancholy. Bu Shouru sat on the sedan chair, followed the rhythmic "squeak" sound of the sedan chair, and walked forward in a dull manner, leaving his father's world behind a little bit... It was almost dusk, and the surroundings were quiet, with very little noise from pedestrians on the sedan chair. There is no noise from horns, only the trembling of the lonely sedan chair below, the panting of the bearers Ba Qingda and Mr. Chou, and the crackling of their soap boots on the snow. .

It was very cold, and Ba Qingda and Mr. Qiu had runny noses, and the braids on the back of their heads were covered with ice, and they both had their hands sleeved when they lifted the sedan chair.But Bu Shouru didn't feel the cold. He was wearing a green satin jacket and a scarlet cloak, and sat in the sedan chair very solemnly, his face as pale as snow. The landscape has changed drastically, and my father's world has been turned upside down. The thirty-six sedan chairs in that busy city are now all sealed up without exception. The seals covered with official seals are pasted on the tightly closed or not tightly closed door panels, which makes people feel palpitating.

All the eye-catching banners were gone. I don't know whether they were picked up by the steward in the sedan chair when he fled, or were taken away by the government.A few flags fell on the narrow street for unknown reasons, and were stepped into the snow by the footsteps of pedestrians. They were so frozen that they couldn't be pulled off... Bu Shouru didn't want to believe all this. She clearly remembered that her father's sedan chair was a scene in the city not long ago. At that time, from Jiang'an West Wharf to Daguan Road, half of the city's streets were occupied by my father.

My father often wore a tuanlong black silk gown, with a big black and shiny braid coiled on top of his head, and sat on the Duxiang Pavilion teahouse next to the Daguan Road in the city like a god, holding a shiny purple sand pot in his hand, looking west. , quietly playing with his own success in his heart. At that time, her father was arrogant and almost never looked at her directly. She was not a boy and could not inherit the world his father painstakingly created.In the eyes of her father, she is a loser who will marry sooner or later, but her father never wants to lose money. He only wants to make money, make more money, buy more sedan chairs, and set up more sedan chair numbers to achieve a successful career. Round after round of crazy expansion.

In Bu Shouru's memory, her father has never had a kind face. All her laughter from childhood to now comes from Ba Qingda, her brother Ba, and none of it comes from her father.Father never even hugged her, never kissed her.Even in the first days when she came to the city after her mother died, her father did not kiss her. The one who kissed her and hugged her was Brother Ba. She grew up in Brother Ba's arms and shoulders. For a while, my father even completely forgot about her and let her fend for herself in the sedan chair. The father put all his life on the sedan chair. This penniless country bumpkin never thought that he would lose, and he would lose so badly... The lonely sedan chair slowly moved along the Daguan Road, and Bu Shouru, who was floating in the air, was almost numb Looking at all the failures of my country bumpkin father, I feel strangely empty.

Is there a father-daughter relationship in this emptiness?How many father-daughter relationships are there?Until Bu Shouru changed from Bu girl to Bu Gu's grandma, it was still unclear. You can also see many smashed sedan chairs along the way. All kinds of broken sedan chairs fell sideways in the snow beside the road, like piles of discarded objects, without any appearance of sedan chairs. The worst thing is the Duxiang House next to the Duxiangting teahouse. Dozens of sedan chairs and sedan chairs were burned down by a fire, which was not completely burned. Yan Na's dazzling scorched black.Half of the door face of the sedan house was burned away, and the two doors that were no longer doors were also affixed with government seals, and there was a government notice to arrest the revolutionaries beside the seals.

Duxianghao is where my father started his business. Eighteen years ago, on a snowy night, his father left her, who was just born, and her sick mother, and rushed to the city with two frozen buns in his arms, and carried the sedan chair in the Duxiang. . At that time, the Duxiang House belonged to Erye Ma, and his father carried the sedan chair for Erye Ma for nothing, and only rewarded him with meals and no wages.Three years later, Erye Ma and Boss Bai of Sixi Sedan Company joined forces, and Boss Bai asked his father to go to his sedan chair shop to be the leader of the red work team. Only then did his father find Erye Ma and the first showdown began. : Or leave Ma Erye from now on, and work as a team leader in Bai Laoda's bridal sedan chair; or Ma Erye rewards five small sedan chairs, and let him work for Ma Erye while running himself under Ma Erye's signboard car number.

Ma Erye's opponent at that time was Boss Bai, who was only thinking of bringing down Sixi Sedan Company, but never thought that his father would become his confidant's serious trouble in the future, so he agreed immediately. So, because of the five small sedan chairs, my father fought hard for the second master Ma. He was slashed in the face by the man from Boss Bai, and his left eye was also blinded. In this way, my father had the five small sedan chairs that he used to make his fortune, and later owned thirty-six sedan chairs and sites in the western half of the city... Bu Shouru first knew his father and his world, and it was also in the Duxiang House.

When she was eight years old, her mother passed away. Surrounded by a group of adults, she kowtowed in front of her mother's grave.A small sedan chair with a flowered cloth skirt from the city floated up to take her into the city. Those who carried the sedan chair were Brother Ba and Third Master Qiu. Brother Ba was only fifteen at the time, slender as bean sprouts, always looking at her and smiling. Qiu Sanye was not yet a master at that time, and everyone called him Qiu San. Brother Ba and Qiu San helped her into the sedan chair, and they carried her for eighty miles into the city to the gate of the Duxiang House.

Her father was wearing a blue cloth red-trimmed livery, and stood at the door of the sedan chair. He stared at her with one single eye that was not blind, and after looking at her for a long time, he said, "I am your father, call me father." She was a little scared, and called daddy timidly, and hid her cat-like thin body in Brother Ba's arms.Father snorted, stuffed her with a tortilla, and carried the sedan chair to answer the mission. It seemed that he had gone to many mission sedan chairs to move for some big householder. She remembered that it was an autumn evening, there was a strong wind in the doorway, and the wind lifted her father's livery high, and she saw his father's hunched back.Father's back was reflected by the blue livery, which was also blue, with a gloomy sweaty light...all passed.

After many years of prosperity, his father returned to his original place. This country bumpkin started his career under the hands of Second Master Ma, and fell into the hands of Second Master Ma again. Bu Shouru figured that Second Master Ma probably picked on his father's hamstrings and set fire to the Duxiang House in order to vent his hatred, and even to destroy his father's ambition to make a comeback.Perhaps from the day he rewarded his father with the five small sedan chairs, this fire had been lit in Erye Ma's heart. Inevitably tinged with sadness, Bu Shouru stamped his feet and made the sedan chair stop in front of the door of the Duxiang House. After getting off the sedan chair, Bu Shouru moved a few steps, walked to the sealed sedan chair door and stared blankly. The Duxiang House lives in the center of the downtown area, with a large frontage and a courtyard built with mosaic stones. There are usually fifty or sixty sedan chairs, which is quite large. Because of the excitement, Bu Shouru liked playing here most when he was young, and he even practiced "Zi Yue" with a dead Mr. Wang here for a few days. Mr. Wang was very kind, and Bu Shouru was never afraid of him. Once Mr. Wang fell asleep, Bu Shouru burned Mr. Wang's yellow beard with a match.Mr. Wang's yellow beard caught fire, creaked and smelt of burning. Looking inside the sedan chair door, Bu Shouru seemed to smell the burnt smell that he created many years ago again. Qiu Sanye said: "Miss Bu, what are you looking at? That's the way it is in this life. It's fine if you're too prosperous. Your father didn't lose money..." Ba Qingda also sucked his snot and said, "Yes, sister! Dad is not a loser!" Bu Shouru remained silent, looking over the ruined wall and looking into the messy sedan chair, looking for everything she was familiar with... Qiu Sanye said again: "Don't think about it too much, I feel bitter..." Only then did Bu Shouru stop his thoughts, and said lightly: "What's the pain? I don't feel bitter. Whether my father loses money or not is his business, and I don't care about it. I just thought, why would my father lose? People like him... …How can a person who doesn’t even want his own daughter because of the sedan chair lose?” Neither Qiu Sanye nor Ba Qingda answered. Bu Shouru turned around, sighed, waved his hand holding the silk handkerchief to the Duxiangting teahouse and said, "Let's go, sit down in the teahouse and order a few cages of dog meat buns to eat, I'm hungry." Qiu Sanye said: "Miss Bu, let's go back, there is a revolutionary party going on right now, the ground is not quiet, besides, it's getting late, and your father is lying on the bed again, we... we have to go back and take care of him." All at once." Bu Shouru shook his head: "Take care of what? He's finished, no matter how you take care of him, he can't stand up anymore! You have to forget him..." Chi Chi was stunned for a moment, curled his lips, and said lightly: "It's good to let him be alone." Third Master Qiu fell silent, silently lifted up the empty sedan chair with Ba Qingda, and followed Bu Shouru to Duxiangting Teahouse. The old shopkeeper of the teahouse is acquainted. Half a month ago, Bu Shouru's father, Uncle Bu, had an affair in this teahouse. The old shopkeeper didn't neglect Bu Shouru because of Uncle Bu's back today. As soon as Bu Shouru, Ba Qingda, and Mr. Qiu sat down, the old shopkeeper came over with a large teapot with a copper spout. As soon as he came over, he asked, "Miss Bu, how is Uncle Bu?" Bu Shouru nodded: "Fortunately, it's hard for you to keep thinking about it." The old shopkeeper said: "Send a message to Uncle Bu, let him think about it, so that he can recuperate, just...even if he has a broken leg and can no longer serve the sedan chair, he still has other things to do." Bu Shouru responded: "That is." The old shopkeeper asked again: "Miss Bu, what do you want today?" "steamed stuffed bun." "Or the dog meat buns from the old Liu's house?" Bu Shouru said "hmm". The old shopkeeper has gone. The teahouse was empty, except for the three of them, there was no other guest. On this cold day, no one went to this deserted place to spend time. Bu Shouru sat by the table where his father used to sit by a pot of charcoal fire. He first watched the mist rising from the teacup, and then looked through the mist to see Baqingda's shiny forehead and face. sagging. Looking at Ba Qingda, Bu Shouru remembered the past. It was good in the past, she didn't have a father, but she had a brother who was like a little daddy. Brother Ba was very simple-minded, and he carried her into the city from the countryside eighty miles away. When he was a child, he always rode her as a horse and took her around for a ride.She got acquainted with this stone city in the small sedan chair, on the shoulders of Brother Ba. In the past, Brother Ba used his growing shoulders to carry her naughty girlhood, and now he is with her again, facing an irreversible fiasco. Brother Ba obviously didn't know what this fiasco meant to her and him. If he knew, I'm afraid Brother Ba would never sit at the tea table so peacefully again. There is also Qiu Sanye. Qiu Sanye is no longer the strong Qiu San when he picked her up in the countryside many years ago. With the prosperity of his father's sedan car business, Qiu San has become a master.Chou San, who was called a master, gradually lost his strength, his shiny tendons were sagging, his back was bent, and he looked more and more old in the past two years. Sighing softly, Bu Shouru said, "You guys...you really shouldn't have brought me here from the countryside!" Ba Qingda asked: "Why do you say this? Why?" Bu Shouru moved his lips, wanting to say something, but finally he didn't. Ba Qingda thought that Bu Shouru was still thinking about her father, so he said, "Sister, don't worry, Uncle Bu is your father, and he is also my father. No matter what happens in the future, I will take care of him until the end of his life." Bu Shouru smiled bitterly: "You, what are you talking about? I don't worry about him!" Ba Qingda was startled, and murmured, "I really don't know what you're thinking." Bu Shouru stopped making a sound, stood up silently, held the teacup in his hand, walked to the window, and stared at the hazy scenery outside the window. The Duxiangting teahouse is located in the middle of the stone city. It was built next to a stone slope. It has three floors and looks quite tall. Standing on the top floor of the teahouse, most of the city can be seen clearly. Bu Shouru used to stand on the teahouse to look at the scenery, and what he remembered most clearly was the stone-paved street.The streets are criss-crossed and undulating, cutting this city surrounded by mountains and rivers into many high and low pieces. She likes Mashi Street as much as her father. She likes it because of her childhood experience in the countryside: the yellow mud road in the country gets her feet wet in rainy days, but the gravel road doesn't stick to her feet; her father likes it because of his own sedan business. Her father once pointed to the uneven stone road under her feet and said to her: "Ni'er, this is my cropland. As long as the stone road in this city is open for a day, my sedan chair can walk for a day, and my father will not worry about it. Mile!" Dad's crop field was out of sight now, covered in snow. What can be seen is the outline of the streets and alleys caged in the pale, and the sliced ​​houses and the smoke from the kitchen.The smoke from the kitchen is light blue, like a sigh in the air. After staring at it for a long time, Bu Shouru turned his head and asked Third Master Chou: "From this point of view, it's all my father's territory?" Third Master Qiu nodded: "It's all, use Daguan Dao to demarcate the boundary." Bu Shouru said to himself, "The land is not small." Mr. Qiu said: "It was your father who took it with all his might. It took eighteen years..." Bu Shouru replied, "I know." Pointing to the street outside the window, he asked again: "Do Guanqian Street and Zhuangyuan Hutong to the north count as my father's territory?" Mr. Qiu said: "It doesn't count. If it wasn't for fighting for these two pieces of land, Uncle Bu wouldn't have fallen so badly. When I first went to Guanqian Street to set up a sedan chair, I persuaded your father to think twice. But you know your father's temper, he doesn't listen to people's persuasion..." Bu Shouru snorted: "I said, don't mention my father anymore, he's finished!" Third Master Qiu timidly said: "Miss Bu, it's...it's not good to say that, Mr. Bu...it won't be over like this, he has a high-mindedness, and he will get up. Yesterday, he asked someone to look for it. Fifth Master Ma, I want to ask Fifth Master Ma to come forward and make peace with Second Master Ma..." Tears welled up in Bu Shouru's eyes: "Stop talking! I know it all!" "You...you know too?" Third Master Qiu was a little surprised. The old shopkeeper brought dog meat buns, which were hot, but Bu Shouru didn't want to eat them, and asked Ba Qingda to carry the buns, and immediately went back to the house. After speaking, he got up and left, without even saying hello to her. Both Ba Qingda and Qiu Sanye felt strange, but they didn't dare to ask, so they quietly followed Bu Shouru downstairs. On the way home, Bu Shouru sat in the sedan chair and wept silently.