Chapter 24 Chapter Four

When I went out with Old General Hao and some of the aides, the fog covering the street had already dissipated, and the bright sunlight reflected the wet roof and ground in my colleagues.The ground seemed to have been washed by water, and the sunlight shone on it as clear as a mirror, and Nan Rulin could vaguely see her own figure.The autumnal equinox has passed, most of the sycamore trees on both sides of the road have become bare, and some residual leaves are falling quietly.Nan Rulin silently counted the number of fallen leaves in her heart, and couldn't help feeling desolate. But he didn't dare to show that desolation on his face, he had offended Long Yan last night, and if he hangs his face today, he must be asking for trouble.Hao Keshi wanted her to try the family law a long time ago, it wasn't because of Xiujuan's catastrophe, I'm afraid she would be hungry today.So, he smiled and was gentle, as if his colleague Renwei embraced Old General Hao in autumn, just like embracing the warm sun in spring.

Tongrenli is a well-known official street in the provincial capital. In the early years, it lived in governors and governors, and now it lives in military governors, supervisors, various warlords, and consulates of several major powers.It is no exaggeration to say that this is the political and military center of the province.After 1911, every war in the province was planned on this official street, and the consuls of the big powers participated in two times.But no matter how lively the fighting outside is, this official street is always quiet and will never be disturbed by the war.Nan Rulin heard from Old General Hao that the agreement was made in the early years: there is no concession in this province, and the warlords set up Guanjie as a permanent neutral zone and military restricted zone for their own retreat. Do not lead troops into this street to arrest and kill people.Therefore, this army and that army outside are fighting, and the families belonging to the two armies here are still in contact with each other from time to time.Liu Anjie and Old General Hao have been at odds for a long time, Nan Rulin knows it vaguely, and still goes to play cards, not afraid that General Hao will blame her for collaborating with the enemy——Old General Hao is not afraid of Nan Rulin or any other wives colluding with the enemy, I'm just afraid that they hook up with dubious people and develop ulterior motives.

Walking on the official street, feeling emotionally touched by the scene, Nan Rulin really had a heart, always thinking about the scene of being protected by Yuan Jizhi on the street yesterday, Yuan Jizhi's smiling face floated in front of her, and the fragrance of the hair cream was refreshing.Thinking of the fifty yuan borrowed by Yuan Jizhi, his heart still hurts, but he doesn't plan to ask for it again.He also decided that if Yuan Jizhi was really friendly with her, she would be willing to post more to him from time to time—Yuan Jizhi was not Guan Mazi, he was handsome and young, and he was worth dying for.

The distance is very short, from Hao Mansion at No. 88 in Tongrenli to Liu Mansion at No. 13, only more than 200 meters.Arriving at the gate, Liu Anjie's master and servants have already greeted him at the gate.Liu Anjie didn't wear military uniform, but casual clothes. He wore a small-sleeved leather mandarin jacket and a gray wool top hat. He bowed his waist and arched his hands, and very respectfully welcomed General Hao and Nan Rulin into the living room. As soon as he sat down in the living room, Liu Anjie said: "Old officer, don't you want to lose my younger brother's life? I said I would go to see your old lady and Mrs. Shi today, but Deputy Chief Zhang called. Said that you were coming to see me, and caught me off guard."

Old General Hao smiled and said, "It's not just to see you. What's so interesting about you? It was Mrs. Ten who wanted to play cards. As for me, I agreed to her, but I couldn't break the family rules, so I brought you here." It's..." Nan Rulin followed suit and said, "Isn't that right! You old officers don't count on what you say. The last time you came back, you said you wanted to play cards. I didn't play until today, so I'm not happy." Old General Hao said again: "As a man, I have two fears in my life, one is afraid of my wife, and the other is afraid of my subordinates. You, Mr. Liu, know that wives are not easy to serve. If there is trouble, she will kick you under the bed. It doesn’t matter whether you are the military supervisor or the supervisor! It’s not easy to deal with subordinates. Today he is your subordinate, and suddenly he will not be your subordinate one day, and he will send a power call, so that you don’t know whether it is in the cloud or in the fog. .”

Nan Rulin knew that General Hao was trying to assassinate Liu Anjie. Liu Anjie is also thick-skinned—at least as thick-skinned as Old General Hao.Old General Hao just killed Xiujuan yesterday, but today he pretended to be a doormat, which made people feel disgusted.Liu Anjie simply pretended not to hear the second half of Old General Hao's words, and said: "Mrs. Shi wants to play poker, so let my two wives accompany you." After being stunned for a while, he asked again: "Old sir, do you want to play cards?" ?” Old General Hao said: "I'll forget it. I'll chat with your brother, and I'll eat crabs at your place later. I heard that you brought a truckload of crabs back from Jiangbei, right?"

Liu Anjie smiled and said, "The news is really fast, old sir." Old General Hao snorted: "I also know that you ate a basket with Xiao Hao's representative last night..." Liu Anjie didn't want to bring the topic up to Xiao Hao, and repeatedly asked his two wives to play cards with Nan Rulin. Old General Hao was relentless: "Xiao Hao has ulterior motives..." Later, Nan Rulin didn't know what General Hao and Master Liu Anjie talked about.Nan Rulin followed Liu Anjie's two wives to play cards in the poker room of the east courtyard. When she sat down in the card room, she had already shuffled the cards. Nan Rulin realized that she had been losing recently and had no money on her, so she pretended to relieve herself and found Deputy Zhang outside the living room door, asking him to ask the old man for money .Deputy Chief Zhang was very generous, and gave her a big ticket of fifty yuan and a few small tickets of one yuan. She didn't want it, because she was afraid that she would have to pay it back in the future, and secondly, it was too little, so she insisted on asking Deputy Chief Zhang to go to the old man. want.Deputy Chief Zhang knew what was on Nan Rulin's mind, and he played this card for socializing, so the old man had to pay for it, so he went, asked for four fifty bills, and quietly went to the card room and handed them to Nan Rulin.

Holding the two hundred dollars in her hands, Nan Rulin's mood improved a lot. She chatted and laughed with Liu Anjie's two wives, and even talked about the young master of the Hao family with Liu Anjie's adjutant, Mr. Bai, who accompanied her in the beating.Nan Rulin knew that the Hao family had a troublesome young master, but she came in late and the young master left home early, so she had never seen her before.Adjutant Bai said that he had seen it before. Before eating food, he and the young master had urinated on the head of the old Dragon King in the Dragon King Temple in the north of the city.Adjutant Bai highly praised the young master's courage, and believed that this young master was the most promising in the Hao family, and joked that Nan Rulin should not be with the old man Hao, but should be with the young master.Nan Rulin then scolded Adjutant Bai to be damned, and said that old man Hao and his family scolded the eldest young master as a murderer.

At that time, Nan Rulin didn't know that the young master would come back in the future, and there would be so many storms, so she didn't take this topic seriously, and forgot about it. Playing cards, talking gossip.While having fun, a soldier came over and whispered something in Adjutant Bai's ear. Adjutant Bai couldn't sit still anymore, saying that he had something to do and wanted to leave.Nan Rulin and the two wives of the Liu family couldn't stay, so they had to watch him go. It was also a coincidence that Yuan Jizhi wandered in when he was worrying about the missing leg.Seeing Nan Rulin when she entered the door, she was taken aback, and she quickly closed the door and said, "Oh, Mrs. Ten, you are so brave. Old General Hao is back, and you still dare to come out to play cards!"

Liu Anjie's eldest wife said: "Xiao Yuan, you are so rare! Today's card was played by General Hao accompanied by Mrs. Shi!" Yuan Ji didn't believe it, and asked Nan Rulin, "Really?" Nan Rulin said: "As I said, our master is not the king of hell." Yuan Jizhi said: "That's good, that's good, you fight, I'll go." Then he explained: "I'm here to deliver a letter to Mr. Liu under the order of Jingyuan, and I'll leave right away." Nan Rulin said nonchalantly: "Seeing that three are missing and one is missing, do you have the nerve to leave?"

Yuan Jizhi smiled and said, "I'm sorry to leave, and I'm even more embarrassed to sit down and play. I don't have a dime in my pocket." Nan Rulin blurted out, "I'll lend you fifty." Yuan Jizhi nodded repeatedly, "That's good, that's good, since Mrs. Shi, a rich man, is standing up for it, I'll fight." Yuan Jizhi sat down after delivering the letter, but Nan Rulin regretted it: Yuan Jizhi borrowed her fifty last time and didn't repay it, and she didn't even mention it, yet she lent him another fifty, which is really unreasonable.Thinking about it again, my attitude towards Yuan Jizhi was unreasonable, I liked him in my heart, but the first time I opened my mouth, it was all sarcasm, even if I lent him money, I would not get a good repayment.He said he invited her to go to the theater, but he didn't know if it was true or not—nine times out of ten it was probably false.Yesterday, Guan Mazi was shot again by old man Hao. Yuan Jizhi wanted to invite him at first, but now he will not dare.There are a lot of dough-like men these days, but Guan Mazi is a bit manly, ugly, but courageous.Thinking again, maybe Yuan Jizhi also has the guts, this little Yuan has Hao Baochuan as his backer... Thinking so wildly, the flesh all over his body was itchy, and his heart was tense, and he felt that he and Yuan Jizhi really fell in love.Throwing out a useless discarded card—I don't know if it is six or nine, and looked up at Yuan Jizhi, and met Yuan Jizhi's gaze.Nan Rulin felt timid, and immediately lowered her head again to look at the cards in front of her.The cards are good, all hanging six cakes.Just as he was wondering where the six cakes were, it was Yuan Jizhi's turn to play a card, and the six cakes came out.Nan Rulin won twenty dollars in one stroke. The affection for Yuan Jizhi deepened, and he always felt that the six cakes were beaten with affection and righteousness, but he dared not say it.When shuffling the cards, he only said indifferently: "I figured that Liubing Lao Yuan would play the cards sooner or later, but I didn't expect this person to play the cards just after hearing the cards." Yuan Jizhi said: "I am a note, and I have listened to the cards. It is not a solution not to play." Liu Anjie's second wife taught her a lesson: "These six cakes shouldn't be played at all—the tenth wife will not play unless she changes the cards. Even if she listens to the cards, she must be responsible to everyone." Yuan Jizhi smiled and said: "I am responsible to you all, I am afraid that you will not be responsible to me. If I lose, I will always pay for it..." As he said this, Yuan Jizhi stretched out one of his feet, stepped on Nan Rulin's instep wearing foreign silk stockings very accurately, and told Nan Rulin the love of the six cakes under the table. Nan Rulin didn't feel surprised at all, she let Yuan Jizhi step on it quietly first, then she kicked her foot, and then used her heel to step on Yuan Jizhi hard - not all at once, but little by little, until Yuan Jizhi frowned his pretty eyebrows and grinned. Seeing Yuan Jizhi's appearance, Nan Rulin thought it was funny, and said with a sullen face, "Old Yuan really can't afford to lose. We don't want to watch him because he has a bitter face after one charge." Yuan Ji said straightly: "My stomach hurts..." The day's cards were played very smoothly, a total of eight rounds, Nan Rulin won 235, and the other three lost.Yuan Jizhi was the worst. He lost one hundred and twenty yuan, borrowed Nan Rulin's fifty to lose, and owed another seventy yuan.Nan Rulin remembered clearly: Yuan Jizhi owed her a total of one hundred and seventy yuan, but Yuan Jizhi didn't mention the debt, only said that he really had a stomachache and wanted to go back and rest. Before leaving, Yuan Jizhi took advantage of the convenience of the two wives of the Liu family to go out, and gently said to Nan Rulin: "I invite you to go to the theater, are you really going?" Nan Rulin was scared and pretended not to hear. Yuan Jizhi said again: "I'm not lying to you, it's true, are you going?" Only then did Nan Rulin nod her head in panic, and regretted it after nodding, fearing that such frivolity would lead to a fatal disaster, she softly uttered the word "no"——Yuan Jizhi didn't hear it, and the word "no" came from her mouth When he spat out, Yuan Jizhi had already walked out the door in a graceful manner, and waved to her outside the door. When he waved, his hand didn't move, only his fingers were moving, very tender. It was past one o'clock when they had dinner, and Liu Anjie invited her and Old General Hao to eat crabs and drink old wine.Seeing that Old General Hao had no objection, Nan Rulin drank some because of the double harvest of the poker game and the love scene, and the two wives who dragged Liu Anjie also drank some. Nan Rulin and Liu Anjie's two wives drank harmoniously, and Old General Hao and Liu Anjie also drank harmoniously.The two big men leading the army toasted each other and complimented each other, and then they continued talking about the topics they hadn't finished talking all morning, with extremely sincere faces. Liu Anjie said: "I have no choice but to send a peace call. The old officer can understand this. How can I not be on guard against Hao Baochuan? Your old officer is right. Hao Baochuan even sells you as an uncle." , can you not sell me in the future? But I really have no choice, the representatives of the gentry and senior citizens of the three counties are kneeling in front of me, can I continue to fight?" Old General Hao said: "I don't blame you. If you don't fight, you have your own difficulties. I know. Besides, peace is always a good thing. If you want peace, I, the old man, want peace the most. But Xiao Hao and Lu Dingbang Don’t listen to my military orders and government orders, occupy such a large area of ​​Jiangbei, fish and meat people, and make a fuss, can I not pull them out? Can the elders of our province agree? It is for peace, for the long-term stability of this province, that I will I have to fight against my will! Teacher Liu, to tell you the truth, I am old and useless now, but I have to do my best. If I don’t do it, what hope do the tens of millions of people in our province have?" Nan Rulin's ears were warmed by the wine, and when she heard this, she thought to herself: There is no hope, as long as old man Hao doesn't die, the tens of millions of people in the province will have no hope.After this thought flashed by, Nan Rulin herself was taken aback: Why does she want old man Hao to die?Did she want to murder her husband just because she wanted to get along with Yuan Jizhi? This made him very scared, and he looked timidly at Old General Hao. Old General Hao didn't look at her, but only fixed his eyes on Liu Anjie. Liu Anjie was lamenting: "It's hard to continue the fight, even if the people object, my new Second Division is also short of ammunition, and one gun is equipped with less than three rounds of ammunition, so how do you fight?" Old General Hao said: "Don't we decide? As long as you take down Zhangqi County, I will try to make up for you." Liu Anjie said: "I'm afraid I will be eaten by Hao Baochuan if I don't make it to the city of Zhangqi..." Old General Hao said: "Then there is no other way. The bullets I ordered in Japan haven't arrived yet, and I can't get them out. I can only go to the field. Do whatever you like!" Liu Anjie hurriedly said: "Old officer, I have no intention of forcing you to go to the wild!" Old General Hao sighed again and again: "It's good for you to let me go. If you don't let me go, just put me on the fire. Duan Hefei and Wu Ziyu in Beijing also roasted me. I asked to resign several times. , They always don’t allow me to resign, even Zhang Dashuai outside the customs doesn’t allow me to resign, saying that it’s my old Hao who wants to resign, and they always resign…” Not to mention Liu Anjie, even Nan Rulin didn't believe it. However, Old General Hao continued: "Dashuai Zhang sent me a telegram a few days ago, asking me to go to Beijing to be the chief, but I rejected it. I can't handle a single province. How can he get into the capital?" Liu Anjie probably knew that Old General Hao was bragging, but he didn't want to expose it, and said sincerely: "It's best if you really want to be the chief executive. Brother, I will follow the old commander and go to Beijing to learn more." Old General Hao waved his hand and stopped talking about the chief, and said very abruptly: "If you really can't fight, then retreat, huh? Retreat to Jiangnan to rest, and I will transfer the third division." Liu Anjie was stunned: "This...let me think about this matter again..." Nan Rulin believed that her old man was powerful, and her last words stunned Liu Anjie.Nan Rulin didn't understand military affairs and knew that Jiangnan was the old man's domain, and once he arrived in Jiangnan, Liu Anjie stopped singing. On the way back, Nan Rulin asked Old General Hao: "Liu Anjie has really come to Jiangnan, how do you deal with it?" Old General Hao smiled: "Let the dog go home and hug his wife." Nan Rulin said, "I think so too." Old General Hao boasted: "You are smart." He added: "If only Liu Anjie was as smart as you..." After returning, Old General Hao was in a good mood, and Nan Rulin was also in a good mood. Because old general Hao was in a good mood, he stood in the back garden of the mansion for a while while drinking, watching the autumn scenery, and wrote a poem about the autumn westerly wind to encourage himself.There are four sentences in it: "The west wind leaves and the autumn sun is slanting. Even if you are with concubines in the world, you can't be intoxicated in the wind and moon, and you will fight for great victories in the future." When Old General Hao was writing poems, Nan Rulin was hiding in her dormitory and reading "The Pain of the White Three Girls" by the romance writer Li Weitt, and she also found a good poem in the book.It is a vernacular poem, with only a few lines: "Pain, pain, the loneliness of the long night; I wait for me to cry, chewing on your eyes dripping with love." As an adjutant with a lot of knowledge, I can't appear superficial. When I have direct contact with Yuan Ji in the future, this poem may be useful, so I got a pen and paper to copy it down.