Chapter 3 Chapter two

Not long after, a major event happened in the peaceful Sheng family mansion.When Ms. Hui heard the news and rushed to the side courtyard where her servants lived, she saw Brother Nian kneeling under the eaves with his hands tied behind his back. The Eighth Miss, Sheng Guangyun, was sobbing and choking. Miss Hui was a little dazed for a moment.In her impression, Brother Nian was the most docile and pure, even an ant would not be willing to be trampled to death, but she didn't know what wrong he did this time, which caused the always kind Mrs. Sheng to be so angry.She stood by and listened for a while before she knew the general clue.

It turns out that these days are the rainy season in Lincheng, Eighth Miss Sheng Guangyun's house is leaking, as usual in the morning, the housekeeper arranges long-term workers to climb up the roof and re-lay tiles, which is commonly known as "picking tiles" in the local area.Unexpectedly, as soon as the long-term workers finished their work, Sheng Guangyun personally came to the courtyard where the servants lived, and quietly asked the familiar long-term worker Lao Zhang if someone had taken anything from her room.Seeing Miss Ba's nervous look, Lao Zhang replied that Brother Nian saw an oiled paper bag in the corner of the beam when he was picking tiles, so he took it. Everyone saw it.Sheng Guangyun, who was originally irritable, turned pale when she heard it, and happened to see Brother Nian coming out with a bag in his hand, and immediately went up to snatch it back, cursing: "Are you courting death?"

Seeing Brother Nian's incident, Lao Zhang didn't dare to hide it immediately, so he secretly reported to Mrs. Sheng.Mrs. Sheng was also afraid that Brother Nian would be wronged, so she asked her daughter first, but Sheng Guangyun refused to say that Brother Nian stole something from her, so Mrs. Sheng sneered: "If you don't say it, someone will say it." When Sheng Guangyun heard this, she cried and dragged her mother to torture Brother Nian and refused to let her go.Unexpectedly, this kind of demeanor aroused Mrs. Sheng's suspicion even more. She hated her children having an affair with the servants of the family the most in her life, so she immediately ordered someone to tie up Brother Nian, and she was determined to find out the truth about this matter.

Who would have thought that Brother Nian usually looked obedient, but at this moment he would not say a word.It made Mrs. Sheng tremble with anger, and she wanted to pull him to see the official, but she was afraid that the family's ugliness would be publicized, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and resolutely interrogate Brother Nian in person, regardless of the eighth miss Sheng Guangyun who was crying like pear blossoms and rain. "I usually see you as an honest child, so I never thought you would do something sneaky. Tell me, what did you steal from Miss Ba?" Mrs. Sheng waved away the dissuasion of others, and sat on the chair with her hands on her chest, her eyes straight Staring at Brother Nian.

Brother Nian glanced at Sheng Guangyun who was out of breath from crying, then lowered his eyebrows and shook his head. "Mom, stop asking, okay?" Miss Sheng cried and knelt down in front of Mrs. Sheng, "You humiliated my daughter in such a public way, didn't you force me to die?" Although Mrs. Sheng only asked about the theft , but the good-for-nothings naturally associated this matter with romantic affairs, and the ambiguous expressions on the faces of the audience made Sheng Guangyun embarrassing. "If you know that you have face, go back to your room!" Mrs. Sheng suddenly stood up and brushed Sheng Guangyun's hand away, pointing at Brother Nian who didn't make a sound, and scolded, "Go and bring the family law, and I'll give it to you." If you don't believe him, he won't speak!"

Seeing that someone brought a wooden stick with a thick bowl mouth, how could Miss Hui see this, she stepped out regardless of her status as an outsider and said, "Don't worry, Auntie, I think there are some secrets that should not be explained publicly, I'll ask him first. "Speaking, she went straight to Brother Nian and knelt down, and said softly: "If you trust me, tell me alone, and I will trust you from the beginning to the end." Brother Nian raised his head and looked at Miss Hui, his water-colored eyes were full of gratitude.However, he immediately lowered his eyes again, bit his lower lip tightly with his front teeth, and shook his head for a while: "I can't say."

"You..." Miss Hui sighed in disappointment, revealing the anger in her heart.She originally thought that she could guess Brother Nian's unspoken feelings. Although she knew that he was wishful thinking, the girl's vanity was still slightly satisfied.But looking at it this time, Brother Nian has something more important to protect, and this feeling makes Ms. Hui a little uncomfortable.She stood up. "You mean thing, you won't be honest if you don't suffer a little bit!" Mrs. Sheng saw that Miss Hui's attempt was ineffective, and the anger in her heart became more and more intense, and she immediately ordered: "Beat him with twenty sticks, and if he still refuses to speak, he will be kicked out. We The family can't afford to invite such a backbone!"

As soon as he heard that he was about to be kicked out of the house, Brother Nian's body froze and he opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything in the end.He saw someone standing behind him holding a wooden stick, pursed his chapped lips, and closed his eyes. "Auntie, don't..." Ms. Hui subconsciously stopped her, but she knew in her heart that her own strength would not be able to stop the tragedy that followed.When she was at a loss, she suddenly heard someone say at the door: "I know what he is holding." Miss Hui turned her head when she heard the words, but saw a handsome young man striding in from the gate of the yard, about twenty-five or six years old, wearing a half-new blue cotton jacket, with layers of stains on the leather shoes. Mud, obviously walked a lot in the muddy rain fields of Lincheng.Although the clothes are plain, but a pair of rare leather shoes in that era has already betrayed the identity of the owner.

"Brother Seven!" Sheng Guangyun was the first to react, and strode over, throwing herself into the arms of the visitor and crying loudly. "Guangzhe, are you back?" Mrs. Sheng couldn't help showing joy. She just stood up, but she remembered the current situation and sat back on the chair with a sullen face. Take the bad one." "I heard that my mother was Bao Qingtian, so I rushed back to be your Gongsun policy, but my mother still scolded me, I was really wronged." Seeing that Mrs. Sheng's tense face finally showed a slight smile, Sheng Guangzhe gently patted Mrs. Patting Sheng Guangyun's shoulder in his arms, he said to the servants, "What are you still doing, why don't you let her go."

"Wait!" Mrs. Sheng saw that someone really untied Brother Nian from the rope, and said to Sheng Guangzhe dissatisfied, "Didn't you say you know what he stole, tell me and listen." Sheng Guangzhe smiled slightly, walked up to Brother Nian, bent down and reached out to pat the dust on his knees, and said in a harmonious voice, "Do you know what you took away?" Brother Nian hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded silently. "Since you know, why take it?" Sheng Guangzhe continued to ask. "Because everyone saw it on the beam and said they wanted to... said they wanted to open it to see what it was, so I just..." Brother Nian seemed to remember something, and he felt guilty when he said it.

"So you took it first and planned to secretly return it to Miss Ba, didn't you?" Sheng Guangzhe saw Brother Nian nod, the smile on his lips didn't fade, but his eyes gradually brightened, "How do you know that you can't let everyone see that thing? ?” "I..." Brother Nian looked at Sheng Guangzhe as if he was suffocating, and answered in despair after a while, "I overheard the young master and miss." "Bastard, how dare you eavesdrop..." Sheng Guangyun, who was standing by the side, suddenly got a little anxious, and blurted out cursing. "Guangyun." Sheng Guangzhe shook his head at his sister, looked at brother Nian's tearful eyes again and said, "Thank you for keeping the secret for us, it's hard for you." Then, he reached out and took out two bags from his pocket. When a silver dollar came, he grabbed Brother Nian's hastily withdrawn hand, pressed the money tightly in his palm, and said two words solemnly, "Thank you." "What kind of riddles are you playing?" Mrs. Sheng couldn't help asking, she was confused. Sheng Guangzhe walked back to his mother and whispered a few words in her ear. Mrs. Sheng's face changed drastically immediately, and she poked Sheng Guangzhe's forehead and cursed: "You idiots dare to look at these things, look at your father! I know how to deal with you!" "That was stupid before, but I don't dare anymore." Sheng Guangzhe smiled and was about to play tricks, but was grabbed by Mrs. Sheng, "Sister Wang has been here for so many days, and you don't even show your face. It’s time to fight! Come here and be with me, right?” Turning around and seeing Ms. Hui, Sheng Guangzhe immediately restrained the playful look on his face, and extended his hand politely: "Hello, King Misi." "Hello." Miss Hui also stretched out her hand generously, and shook hands with Sheng Guangzhe without showing any weakness, with a calm smile on her face as well.However, Sheng Guangzhe didn't know that this was the first time that Ms. Hui shook hands with someone. This kind of etiquette might be common to Sheng Guangzhe who studied in the West, but to Ms. Hui who regarded herself as a new youth, shaking hands meant comrades who shared life and death. A long time later, Ms. Hui learned from Sheng Guangzhe that what Brother Nian stole was actually a stack of books, including "The Victory of Bolshevism" and "My View on Marxism" written by Li Dazhao, all of which were written by Li Dazhao. The so-called "red" books.At that time, these books were banned books hated by warlords from all walks of life, and the Zhili Feng faction in power even marched into Beijing under the banner of "discussing redness" and hunted down "redification elements" everywhere.It would be fine if Master Sheng knew that his son and daughter were reading banned books privately, but once it was leaked out, the calamity would be beyond comparison with rumors about children's affair. "So Brother Nian would rather be wronged by himself than to save your lives, but you sent him away with two silver dollars." Miss Hui remembered that when she learned the truth, she was full of grievances for Brother Nian. "I'm just wondering how he would know those books. Guangyun was obviously wrapped in layers of oiled paper. And when I handed the books to Guangyun, I also carefully checked the surroundings. It is impossible for him to eavesdrop." Sheng Guangzhe At that time, she didn't notice Miss Hui's complaint, she just frowned and said, "Brother Nian looks normal, but there are actually a lot of weirdness behind him."