Chapter 44 Section 12

On a very hot day, Xintaihou Piaohao invited guests, and they were waiting for advice.Famous dandies such as Yang Sulan, Jiang Chunyu, Yongchun, Nen Douhua, etc. were all present, and among the guests was Master Hao. For such social gatherings, Hao Dasan always eats snacks at home and satisfies his addiction to cigarettes before taking the nobles and leaving in a sedan chair. He always returns after a while after the second watch.On this day, because Aunt Ye brought her Third Miss back, Madam Yu had lunch and invited him to fight Shisi on the eaves steps of a pillar under the outside window of the main room.At night, the first cannon was fired, and two foreign lamps were lit on the card table.Aunt Ye thought it was too hot and would rather light a butter lamp, so the concubine lost two fish oil candles with glass windshields.There are several pots of jasmine in the courtyard dam and a large bottle of tuberose on the next table. It is really fragrant!Aunt Li, Aunt Wu, and Chunxiu played fans behind each other, while Chunlan was in charge of twisting face towels and pouring tea.

Just after playing a few cards, I suddenly heard a squeak from the second door outside, and the third master said from the side: "Are there any customers at this time? Gao Sheng is not in the way!" Followed by a sound from the sedan chair hall: "Take it down!" The side door rang, and a lantern with an official title shone in. Looking again, it is Gao Gui who came back after the master.Everyone was surprised, "Why did he come back so early?" But he told Gao Gui: "Give the things to Chunlan, and follow to Beishamao Street to invite Mr. Ge!" When the concubine came into the room to dress the master, the wife asked through the window, "What's the matter today?"

The master frowned and said: "It's still a big deal! As soon as the news came, all Xintaihou's guests left! Wait for Lao Ge to come and see how he heard the news in the South Courtyard?" "What's the matter?" Even Mrs. Aunt Ye raised her voice and asked. "Chunlan, first ask Gao Sheng to bring the cigarette tray to the living room, light a foreign lamp, and make Mr. Ge's spring tea first!..." The aunt pushed him and said, "You too! You need to order these things one by one? My aunt is asking you!" Hao Dasan touched her face while no one was there, and then said to the window: "Auntie, wait a minute, when Lao Ge comes to talk about it, you will naturally know."

"Oh! It's really Zhang Ba! Tell me first, won't you?" The aunt and wife spoke together. Miss Ye San also said: "Uncle always has this temper, he always divides a sentence into three halves. You really look like a native of Guangdong!" Hao Dasan walked out with a smile.He only wore a fine white Jiangxi linen double-breasted sweater, Xialu snow green silk loose-legged trousers, bleached cloth cut socks, which were not tied up, and ponytail sandals on his feet.Holding the hookah in one hand and waving the big court fan in the other, she walked to the card table and held the court fan under her side, stretched out her hand and grabbed Miss Ye San's newly powdered tender face and said, "You are a virtuous niece, really Will bicker! Uncle is an official, so how can he speak like Lao Shan and open his mouth?"

She smiled and grabbed his hand and said: "Uncle is really well-off! This is not an official office, what do you mean, I'm wrong, I won't be an official!" "Say it out, I'll scare you to death! The Eight-Nation Allied Forces have entered the city of Beijing!..." The aunt had already burst out laughing, threw the cards on the table and said, "You're just laughing! I've been silent until the weather is too hot, and there's another outbreak of moth foot plague! It's about Beijing again! I'm tired of hearing it, listen to it!" I'm tired, but it's worth the fuss! Sister-in-law, Mrs. Liu, come and play our cards!"

My aunt is right!How far is the city of Beijing from us!Besides, what I listen to every day.So everyone put down their pointed ears. Hao Da said: "I haven't finished yet...the empress dowager and the emperor have fled to Shaanxi!" The aunt still laughed and said: "It's even more strange, what does this have to do with us?" "What a big deal! You don't care! . . . " "It would be too bad for us women to care about important national affairs!" The aunt shuffled the cards, her attitude was still so sarcastic. Gao Gui had taken a lantern to guide Ge Huanzhong from the side room above the sedan chair hall into the living room.The eaves of the living room and the eaves of the upper room are all hung with water-green corrugated bamboo curtains, so the family members on the eaves steps can't be avoided, not to mention Brother Ge is from the whole family.

As soon as Hao Dasan walked into the flower hall, Ge Huanzhong yelled, "I was looking for you, and I met your Zunji at the street corner, don't you know? Something is wrong!..." Thirteen When news of the attack on the embassy by the Boxers, the Red Lantern Sect, and Dong Fuxiang arrived in Chengdu, the ancient city was as stable as stagnant water. Although there were slight ripples like a breeze blowing across the water, the official circles were not panicked at first. Those who make a living are still doing business, and those who live at home, enjoy themselves, and eat opium still live in their homes, enjoy their pleasures, and eat their opium, and the news does not spread quickly; The stagnant water below Weilan didn't move at all.

There is no movement, but there is no big movement to the bottom of the water, but there is a slight movement on the water surface. After all, there is a person pushing out. Who is it?Lu Maolin! Although Lu Maolin said that he fell in love with women whenever he saw them, but he loved Liu Sanjin more ruthlessly.Liu Sanjin went back to Shiqiao, he chased him to Shiqiao, Liu Sanjin went back to Neijiang, he chased him to Neijiang, the more Liu Sanjin hated him, the more lingering he was, the more he never let go.It wasn't until the beginning of March this year that Liu Sanjin sneaked away to Shanghai without telling him, and the money he brought was almost used up, so he yelled at the ruthless bitch, counted the slates angrily, and ran back to his hometown.

After he came back, he found Mrs. Cai hooking up with Luo Waizui, and he couldn't help becoming a little ambitious, and gradually cooled down his obsession with Liu Sanjin.For Mrs. Cai, she is not as rigid as before, and she is even more affectionate.Come to drink a glass of shochu every day, it is a regular class, and sometimes I have to shamelessly go to the inner goods room, lie on Luo Waizui's cigarette shop, squint my short-sighted eyes, and find a lot of things to say to Mrs. Cai.And she actually chatted and laughed with him, showing no signs of hating him, and was very happy to talk about Liu Sanjin with him.

Not long after, he found that Mrs. Cai treated him better than Liu Sanjin treated him.For example, once, he bought a Yuguan knife and needle for her at a small market stall in Ganchang, but it only cost three renminbi, and he gave it to her when Luo Waizui and the others were not around, and she was very happy. Immediately, he inserted it on the side of the hair editor, touched it with his hand, and thanked him a few times with a smile.His heart was itching at the moment, so he opened his arms, hugged her, and wanted to kiss her; although she resisted, she finally gave him a light slap on the cheek, which was already much gentler than Liu Sanjin.Another time, it was Jinwazi's Zhouyue. Luo Weizui called a cook, and he came to make a lively table. Ermao and his wife also came, and he took advantage of this to give Jinwazi an Arhat hat made of silver. Here, I gave her a pair of jade hats.She took it, and when she was eating, she actually said it out for him, saying that he was very polite, and she poured wine for him three times herself, and Luo Waizui and the others only poured it twice.He even believed that Aunt Cai had him in her heart, so he talked to her as soon as he thought about it.

Just Cai Xingshun and Luo Waizui, he is confident that he might be able to cover their eyes and ears.What I hate the most is Zhang Zhankui and others, who are always by the side. When he gets a little closer to Mrs. Cai, Zhang Zhankui will pass him a message, telling him to be more careful!Mrs. Cai is loved by Luo Ge, no more than other sellers, she can let him pick her head!If he breaks the rules, he must be brought to the point of the knife! How can he die?Even though there was no one there one day, Mrs. Cai leaned on the counter and told him: "I know your feelings. But now my body and my heart have been taken by Brother Luo. He is very jealous. If you know that you have my malicious intentions, you will be killed by him. To be honest, he loves me so much, and I can't bear to bully him. We have to wait for the next life to talk about our relationship!  … " Then she met with a more serious rejection, and said: "If you dare to treat me like this again, I will tell Brother Luo that you will die! I have already said that I know your feelings. I just want me to repay you in my life, but that won't work!" He cried and said, "Don't you want me to die of unrequited love?" "I won't take this life debt, you go away!" Jia Zhang Zhankui handed him a hand again. After saying something, he wandered around with a self-righteous broken heart. When he left Tianhui Town, he seemed to hear Luo Waizui and the others talking about the boxers in Beijing beating foreigners, and they would talk loudly in the tea shop: "The whole city of Beijing is fighting, why don't we fight here? By this time, Are we still afraid of foreigners? It is even more abominable to eat the teachings, if I do something, I will eat the teachings first!" He also knew that Luo Waizui had suffered from the teachings, and it was only natural to take revenge.But at that time, he had something else in mind, and he didn't pay much attention to their words and actions. One day, when he was having tea in a tea shop in the provincial capital, he suddenly felt that someone at the next table was looking at him. He also paid attention, squinted his eyes, and took a closer look.The man actually came over, stood in front of the table and asked: "Excuse me, is your surname Lu?" Only then did he recognize it clearly, and hurriedly stood up and gave up his seat and said, "Hey! Offended! Offended! My eyes are too bad! Master Gu Sangong? It's a pleasure to meet you! Please sit down!...Bring a bowl of tea!" Gu Tiancheng had suffered a lot before January, it was worse than when his wife died, his daughter was lost, or he fell ill.Because in the bad luck in the past, he still has land and a house. No matter what, he has a home to hide his body, and there are two long-term friends who can depend on each other, Ah San and Long.I only blame myself for wanting to take revenge. After being bragged by Mrs. Zhong Yao, I ran to take up teaching, so I figured it out!At the beginning of April, he was taught. At the end of April, Yao Bo notified his relatives, sued his ancestors in the ancestral hall, and kicked him out of the ancestral hall.In mid-May, rumors of the Beijing Boxer Rebellion spread, and I was afraid that, like Beijing, people would kill them as bastards, and then rushed into the city, having nowhere to stay, and temporarily squeezed into a church member's house.And the fields and farms at Lianglukou, including a buffalo, were all taken by Uncle Yao. He said that since they were kicked out of the ancestral hall, what was left by their ancestors should be confiscated, and Ah San and Aaron were also kicked out.The coffin of his wife who was buried outside the ancestral grave was also taken out by Uncle Yao, and thrown by the ditch, saying that it would hinder Feng Shui.He also told people everywhere that Tian Cheng was an unworthy descendant, humiliating the descendants of his ancestors, driving him out of the ancestral hall, and confiscating the farmhouses was too light a crime, he should be sued to the government and buried alive, so as to appease the anger of his ancestors.Brother Zhong Yao's family also moved away, and their whereabouts are unknown.Calculated, in just a hundred days, Gu Tiancheng has changed from a householder to a bachelor, why did he come here?It is Fengyang religion! From this point of view, foreign religions really shouldn't be worshiped!What a cult!If you serve it, you will be unlucky!It's okay to not give it up, but who will believe it?Go to Yaobo to repent, ask him to allow him to re-enter the ancestral hall, and return his land and house, is it possible?Who can vouch for it?Looking for someone to discuss, the only one who can discuss it is Mrs. Zhong Yao, where has she gone?He was so discouraged that he complained to the parishioner he was huddling with.The church members could not relieve his worries and asked him to seek advice from Pastor Yu Jiang. Pastor Jiang told him very seriously that it doesn't matter at all, as long as he truly believes in God and loves Jesus, Jesus will make his Uncle Yao wake up and return him double the property and house he took away; while his enemy , will be severely punished. "We are all children of Jesus, we just have to trust it, it will not disappoint its children." Although he felt a little more at ease, he asked, "When will Jesus appear?" Pastor Jiang couldn't answer, so he asked Mrs. Zeng for advice. Although Mrs. Zeng's tenant had disappeared without a trace, she still looked all right, with her hair brushed fluffy, her face smeared with powder, wearing a thin single shirt, her fat body straightened. With a fat body, shaking a fan with carved feathers, he said to him in a gentle manner: "What are you worried about? Just wait for the foreigners to win the battle, destroy those cult bandits, and capture the Queen Mother and Guangxu. Dare to seize your property, don’t you?” He was surprised and said: "The foreigners can still win battles and capture Emperor Guangxu? Not everyone outside is talking about how many foreigners have been killed by the big brother. Now with the addition of Dong Fuxiang and Dong Junmen, the foreigners are losing battles every day!" Mrs. Zeng grinned her bright red lips and said, "These are all rumors, created by cults to scare people, aren't they? To tell you the truth, Mr. Shi told me yesterday that the Qing Dynasty should be destroyed." , caused such a catastrophe, didn’t you? Foreign soldiers are already on their way, as soon as they arrive in Beijing, China will belong to foreigners!  …” He asked ignorantly, "What about our Chengdu province?" She raised a teacup with a fat and thick hand, and drank half of the thick black stuff in one swoop, then touched her mouth lightly with a snow-white handkerchief, nodded her head, and was very happy. Naturally said: "Of course it belongs to a foreigner, right? I just don't know which country owns it? If the share is in the hands of the United States and the United Kingdom, Mr. Shi is a Sichuan-based Taiwan-manufacturer, a big official, isn't he?" ?If Mr. Shi made the platform, we are all his people, not the people of the Qing Dynasty, right? The people in our church are all officials. Once they are officials, we can get what we want, and we can do whatever we want. What's the matter, isn't it?..." This time, Gu Tiancheng was greatly comforted.My mind is also expanded, and my brows are relaxed. From the time I get up early, I plan to do something after I become an official.In order to take revenge on Uncle Yao and Luo Waizui, two arrest documents were issued, one to arrest Liu Sanjin, the other to investigate and recruit younger brothers, and to send people to find out who the woman who walked with Luo Waizui and the others on the eleventh night of the first lunar month was, almost every day. When I got up early, I had to repeat the plan in my heart. I almost knew the plan by heart, and the foreign soldiers had not yet reached Beijing.He really couldn't wait, so he ran to ask Mrs. Zeng again.Mrs. Zeng still told him to wait leisurely. During the waiting period, he became more courageous and dared to go out on the street.And because the houses of the church members we lived in were too narrow, and the weather became hot, we couldn't stay in that hut all day long.Someone told him that the whole city is the quietest and coolest place, where he is not afraid of meeting anyone, and he can sleep in the cool, so every day after eating, he walks into the big east gate of the city from Xiyu Street.Sure enough, there are two worlds separated by a short city wall: the side of the big city is full of houses, shops, and stone streets full of people, and there is no green in the eyes.As soon as you enter the city, you can only see trees everywhere, including towering trees and bushes that are so dense that you can't see through them. The left, right, front and back are all green.In the green shade, there is a wide dirt road stretched out, with low loess walls on both sides, inside the walls are full of flowers and trees, covering a few short houses; lotus.There are so few people!For example, in a big city, no matter which street you walk, you will meet pedestrians. For example, in a few busy streets, there are even more shoulder-to-shoulder encounters; I can meet a person; and the people I meet are not like pedestrians in big cities. Except for the old and refined people, who is not walking in a hurry?And the people here, the men, mostly carry birdcages and fishing rods on their shoulders, while the women have erect waists, combed their hair, wear long robes, wear heelless shoes, and smoke long-leaf cigarettes in their mouths. After one sentence, the whole city is another world, a place that is extremely quiet and devoid of worldliness, full of picturesque scenes, and full of poetic sentiments. Gu Tiancheng is not a poet, but he grew up in the field, and he is naturally happy about green.As soon as he entered Mancheng, his heart jumped.Everyone had told him first: Manbaer is a member of the emperor's family. Although he is poor, he is extremely powerful. Both men and women are very crooked and cannot be messed with.He didn't dare to dig into the alley, so he had to walk around the lotus pond next to the Guandi Temple by the Jinhe River every day, and lay down on the grass. The realm, the first is stillness, there is not a single figure, not a trace of human voice.It's just that there is no human voice, but the sound of birds, cicadas, and the sound of leaves colliding with each other when the wind blows is very noisy. There is also the sound of running water, and the sound of grass and insects.However, these voices are not annoying to the ears.