Chapter 10 chapter Ten

Shijun told his family that he had decided to resign for the incident in Shanghai, and he also had some unfinished business, so he needed to go there.He came back to Shanghai, stayed at Shu Hui's house for one night, went to the factory the next morning to see the factory director, handed in a formal resignation letter, and went to the place where he worked to explain the matter clearly. , when he got off work at noon, he went upstairs to find Manzhen.This time he resigned, he didn't discuss it with her at all beforehand, because he told her that she would definitely oppose it, so after deliberation, he decided to cut it first and then play it.

As soon as he walked into the office, he saw Manzhen's old light gray sheepskin coat draped over the back of the chair.She leaned over the table and didn't know what document to copy there.Shuhui used to have a writing desk, and now another clerk is sitting there, imitating the American style of their manager, putting one foot high on the writing desk, leisurely displaying his floral striped socks and Leather shoes, the soles have never been touched.He greeted Shijun and still read his newspaper with his feet crossed.Manzhen turned around and said with a smile: "Hey, when did you come back?" Shijun walked to her writing desk, bent down to see what she was writing there.As if she was very secretive, she covered both sides with other paper, leaving only the middle two lines.She simply ignored his attention, but he had already seen that this was a letter addressed to him.He smiled, and it was inconvenient to have to look at it in front of people.He stood leaning on the table.Said: "Let's go out to eat together." Manzhen looked at the clock and said: "Okay, let's go." She stood up and put on her coat, and before leaving, Shijun said: "Where's your letter? I took it out and sent it Right?" He picked up the letter paper, folded it, and put it in his coat pocket.Manzhen smiled and said nothing, walked outside and said: "Give it back to me. You have already arrived, why do you write a letter?" Shijun ignored her, took out the letter and walked to read it, while looking at it. , A smile appeared on his face.Seeing Manzhen, he couldn't help but move closer to see what he saw.After seeing it, she snatched the letter with a blushing face, and said, "I'll read it later. Take it back to read." Shijun smiled and said, "Okay, don't read it. You return it to me, and I will put it away."

Manzhen asked him about his father's illness, Shijun said something briefly, and then he slowly told her about his resignation, starting from the beginning.He told her that when he went back to Nanjing this time, he was so anxious that he stayed up all night on the train, thinking that if his father's illness was to recover, his mother, sister-in-law and nephew would immediately become his burden, which was not a light burden.Fortunately, there is such an opportunity that his father needs him very much now, and everything is entrusted to him. By this time, he can seize the financial rights from his concubine, and the future life of his mother and widowed sister-in-law will be guaranteed.For this reason, it is impossible for him not to resign.Of course, this is just a temporary measure, and he will still come out to do things in the future.

He had prepared some words long ago, and said them very tactfully, but he still couldn't express his real difficulties.For example, his mother had been so happy these days, like a poor child who picks up a broken trinket and treats it as a treasure.And her pitiful happiness was caused by him alone. Since it was given to her, he really couldn't bear to take it back from her.In addition, there is another reason, but this one reason, not only can't he tell Manzhen, he even refuses to admit it to himself--their marriage problem.The truth is, as long as he inherits his father's family business, everything will be easy for him. After he gets married, it's nothing to help his husband's family.On the contrary, if he fails to seize this opportunity, his mother, sister-in-law and nephew will all depend on him for support in the future.He and Manzhen are two people, he has his family burden, she has hers family burden, and she refuses to burden him, not to mention marriage, it's just in the foreseeable future.He felt that he had waited long enough, that his boredom could not make her understand.

There is another layer, he didn't care much about Manzhen at first, but ever since Mu Jin happened, he couldn't feel at ease.People say that nights are long and dreams are many, but now he feels that there may be some truth.It's not easy for him to tell her these things. Of course, Manzhen doesn't understand why he suddenly compromised with his family, and resigned rashly without asking her consent at all.It pained her that his cause was so light to her that she would have sacrificed so much for it.I was going to tell him this truth, but seeing his expression, he was already very ashamed, so she couldn't bear to condemn him anymore, so she kept smiling and just asked: "Did you tell me?" Shuhui?" Shijun smiled and said, "Told him." Manzhen smiled and said, "What did he say?" Shijun said with a smile, "He said it was a pity." Manzhen said with a smile, "He said the same thing? " Shijun looked at her, smiled and said: "I know, you must be very upset." Manzhen smiled and said: "And you, you are very happy, aren't you? You have moved to Nanjing, and we will never leave We met, you don't care anyway." Shijun saw that she was just blindly loving her son and daughter, and did not scold him for giving up on himself, he suddenly felt relieved, and said with a smile: "I will come to Shanghai once a week, okay? Okay? This is only a temporary matter, and it has to be like this for the time being. Don't I want to see you?"

He was delayed in Shanghai for two or three days, and they met every day these days. On the surface, everything was the same as before, but as soon as he left her, he recollected it and felt something was wrong.So as soon as he returned to Nanjing, he immediately wrote a letter.The letter said: "I really want to see you again, but I just came here, and I really can't find an excuse to come to Shanghai again in the past few days. Is this good? You and Shuhui will come to Nanjing for a weekend You haven't been to Nanjing yet. My parents and sister-in-law, I often tell you about them, you must also feel that they are very familiar people, I don't think you will feel restricted living here. You must He came. Shu Hui, I will write another letter to him."

When Shuhui received his letter, he hesitated.He really didn't want to go to Nanjing again.He called Manzhen and said, "We should wait for spring to go. It's too cold at this time, and I've already been there last time. If you haven't been there, you might as well go and have a look." Manzhen smiled and said, "If you don't go, I won't either. It seems a bit abrupt for me to go alone." Shuhui also could see that Shijun invited them this time to make his parents and friends feel happy. Manzhen see each other.If so, Shu Hui thought it was his duty to accompany her.

At the end of this week, Shuhui and Manzhen came to Nanjing together, and Shijun went to the station to pick them up.He saw Shuhui first, Manzhen wrapped his head in a lake-green woolen scarf, and he barely recognized her.Such a prick on the head made her chin look much sharper. I can't tell if it looks better, but he still likes her usual appearance and doesn't like a little change. Shijun called a carriage, and Shuhui said with a smile, "It's so cold, why don't you take us for a ride?" Manzhen laughed and said, "Nanjing is really cold." Shijun said, "It's much colder than Shanghai. , I also forgot to tell you, I need to wear more clothes." Manzhen laughed and said, "It's nothing to tell me, it's not like I made a pair of big cotton trousers just for the trip to Nanjing." Shi Jun said "I'll ask my sister-in-law to borrow a pair of cotton trousers to wear later." Shuhui smiled and said, "It's no wonder she's willing to wear them." Manzhen smiled and said, "How is your father these two days? Is he better?" Shi Jun said: "It's much better." Manzhen looked at his face, smiled and said: "Then why do you seem to be worried?" Shuhui said with a smile: "When I came last year, he had this look, as if he was worried. Great, now he has this look again, as if he is afraid that you will go to their house to spit or steal food and throw him away." Shijun laughed and said, "What do you say?" Manzhen also laughed Smiling, she tightened her balaclava tightly, and said, "The wind is really strong. Fortunately, I tied her head, otherwise her hair would be blown like a shaggy ghost!" However, after a while, she put the green hair on He untied his bun and said with a smile: "I don't see anyone with their heads tied on the road. Maybe it's not popular here, and I'm not happy to do it. It's obviously strange, like a redhead." Shuhui said with a smile: " Blowfly!" Shijun chuckled, and said: "It's better to tie it up, protect your ears, and keep warm." Manzhen said: "It doesn't matter if it's warm or not, it doesn't look like blowing your hair. Looks!" She took out a comb, and looked at it with a small powder mirror, and then combed it neatly, and then blown it into a mess, and finally tied the scarf on her head, and was going to take it off when the time came.When Shijun got to know her about these things, he went out and went with her, and no matter where he went, he never saw her stage fright like today.He couldn't help smiling.

He told his family that he invited Shu Hui and a Miss Gu to come and play for two days. Miss Gu was a friend of Shu Hui and also a colleague of him.He didn't intend to hide it either.He has always felt that his family members are always harsh on foreign girlfriends, that they are not worthy of their own.He didn't want them to look at Manzhen with special eyes, but hoped that they could meet in a more natural situation.As for after the meeting, Manzhen must be unanimously in favor of it, but he is very sure of this. The carriage came to the gate of the fur shop, Shijun helped Manzhen carry the box, and the three of them walked in together.In the store, there were two customers picking things there, and leather belts were hung from the window above the walking horse building.Huhuhu put down the rope, and hung down such a small roll of things, with the reverse side facing outwards, revealing some fur.The big red silk lining was like a swaddling baby, with a little fluffy animal sleeping inside it.Behind the stained-glass windows upstairs, probably either his mother or his sister-in-law presided over everything.It was his mother—she must have seen them, and immediately yelled, "Mother Chen, the guest is here!" The voice was so shrill that it seemed that there was a big parrot upstairs.Shi Jun frowned unconsciously.

There is always a special smell in the fur shop, the smell of fur and camphor, everything seems to be taken out of the box, wrapped in silver paper with care.When Shi Jun was a child, he always felt that the shop downstairs was a gloomy and gorgeous palace.Now he sees everything as ordinary, leaving only some intimacy.He often imagined what it was like when Manzhen came here for the first time.Now she's really here. Shu Hui knew the way very well. When he went up the stairs, he saw two monkey skins hanging on the wall, so he pointed to Manzhen and told him, "This is called a golden monkey, and it came from Mount Emei." Manzhen smiled and said, "Oh, isn't it?" There is a little golden light on the yellow hair?" Shi Jun said: "It is said that there are three golden lines on the forehead, so it is called the golden monkey." The stairs were dark, Manzhen went closer to have a look, but couldn't see why.Shijun said: "When I walked here when I was a child, I always felt that it was very secretive and a little scared."

The eldest mistress greeted her at the top of the stairs, and nodded to Shu Hui, who then introduced: "This is sister-in-law. This is Miss Gu." The eldest mistress smiled and said, "Please sit inside." He said it was Shu Hui's girlfriend, but she was a female guest he had invited from Shanghai, so the family would not have noticed.The eldest grandma thought: "Shi Jun usually looks down on local girls with his eyes high above his head. I don't think their Shanghai lady is very fashionable." Shuhui said: "Where is Xiaojian?" The eldest grandma said: "He is not feeling well, he is lying down." The source of Xiaojian's illness this time, the eldest grandma thought it was his grandfather who taught him how to read blocks and gave him something to eat as a reward , so it ate bad.Every time Xiao Jian gets sick, the eldest and young mistress will blame this person or that person, this time even her mother-in-law is to blame.Mrs. Shen has always worked hard every day to get a lot of food for Xiaotong and Shijun. Why doesn't the child feel greedy?Mrs. Shen has been living such a happy life recently, and with her happy appearance, the sad young mistress is watching, so she naturally finds it a bit unsightly.In the past two days, Xiaojian has been ill again. There are two patients in the family, one old and one young, and they have to invite some boyfriends and girlfriends from Shanghai to come and live here. Mrs. Shen came out, and Shijun introduced Manzhen again. Mrs. Shen was very polite to her and very affectionate to Shuhui.The eldest young mistress only walked around in this room, then walked away.There was already a table of food on the table, and Shuhui smiled and said: "We have already eaten on the train." Shijun said: "Then I was fooled, I haven't eaten yet, just waiting for you." The wife said: "Eat quickly. Miss Gu, Master Xu, eat some more and accompany him." They sat down to eat, and Mrs. Shen directed the servants to take their luggage to each room.Sitting there, Manzhen suddenly felt a dog's tail waving, flicking back and forth on her lap.She looked under the table, and Shijun said with a smile: "He comes here as soon as he eats. He is used to Xiao Jian, and he always feeds him with vegetables." Shu Hui said: "Is this dog sent by Miss Shi?" Which one is yours?" Shijun said, "Hey, how do you know?" Shuhui said with a smile, "Didn't I hear her say when I came last time that her dog gave birth to a litter of puppies, and she wanted to give away a litter of puppies?" Only for Xiaojian." As he spoke, he went to pet the dog, remained silent for a while, and then asked with a smile, "Is she married?" Shijun said, "Not yet, probably soon. Well, I haven’t seen Yipeng recently.” Manzhen said: “Oh, I know, it’s the Mr. Fang who came back to Shanghai.” Shijun smiled and said: “By the way, do you still remember? Let’s eat together He didn't say that he was going to get engaged when he was here—it was this Miss Shi, they are cousins." After dinner, Manzhen said: "Let's go and see the old man." Shijun accompanied them to Xiaotong's room. They had just eaten at this time, but Xiaotong had just eaten snacks. After saying "Please sit down, please sit down", I hiccupped deeply twice.Shijun thought to himself: "Why don't I hear my father hiccup normally, but today—maybe he hiccups often, but I didn't pay attention." I don't know why, but today is the worst day for his family.Even his mother and sister-in-law were much lower than their usual standards. Shuhui asked about Xiaotong's condition.As the saying goes, a long illness becomes a doctor by itself, and Xiaotong knows more about his own illness than the doctor.Especially now, he entrusts Shijun to take care of everything, and he can be an old man with peace of mind, so he bought one. After researching, when there are maids at home who are sick, he prescribes two prescriptions for them. So far, he has not eaten dead people , which further enhanced his self-confidence.Although he himself consulted Western medicine, he believes that Chinese medicine is still effective for some diseases.He also has no one to talk to at home, Shijun is simply dumb.On the contrary, even though it was the first time we met Shuhui today, we got along very well.Shuhui was a perfunctory person of any class. Xiaotong was talking happily when Mrs. Shen came in.Xiaotong asked, "Is Xiaojian feeling better today?" Mrs. Shen said, "It's still a little hot." Xiaotong said, "I don't think there's anything wrong with him taking Dr. Wang's medicine. Ask them to bring it to me. Look. I'll give him a prescription." Mrs. Shen said with a smile: "Oh, old man, you can just rest, don't bother with this matter! Our young mistress is timid. Besides, she is a famous doctor, so she doesn't care about it. Healing his own people." Xiaotong just fell silent. To Manzhen, because she is a woman, he never looked directly at her except for nodding when he met her. At this moment, he suddenly asked, "Miss Gu, have you ever been to Nanjing before?" Manzhen laughed. "No." Xiao Tong said: "I feel like I've seen it somewhere, but I can't remember it anymore." After listening to Man Frame, he looked at his face carefully, and said with a smile: "I didn't know it for a while. I can’t remember. Could it be that we met in Shanghai? Does the old man often go to Shanghai?” Xiaotong pondered for a while and said, “I haven’t been to Shanghai for many years.” The last time he went, there was a scene Not a small disturbance.It was my concubine who went to Shanghai herself and escorted him back.Every time he goes, he stays at his brother-in-law's house.Although he and his wife are at odds, Uncle Lang is very speculative.When he came to Shanghai, his uncle often accompanied him "out for a walk".What he thought was a play on the spot, but in the eyes of his concubine, it was a conspiracy by his wife. He specially asked his uncle to take him out to play and marry a dancing girl so that he could suppress his concubine.He couldn't explain this matter no matter how he explained it. At that time, his wife was also very wronged because of this matter, and she even got angry with her brother. Xiao Tong suddenly blurted out: "Oh, I remembered!"—Who does this Miss Gu look like?She looks like a dancing girl named Li Lu.No wonder it looks so familiar!He said boldly, "I remember it", and everyone in the room looked at him, waiting for his next words. How could he say that she looked like a dancing girl he knew before.He paused for a moment, then said with a smile to Xiang Shijun: "Remember, isn't your uncle's birthday coming up, and the gift we gave happened to be taken by the two of them." Shijun said with a smile: "I think I would Let’s run to pay respects to uncle’s birthday.” Xiao Tong smiled and said, “You just came back from Shanghai, but you’re going again?” Mrs. Shen said, “It’s good for you to go, it’s uncle’s birthday this year.” Shu Hui Consciously or unintentionally, he glanced at Man Zhenxuan, and said with a smile: "Shijun has become a dignitary now, running from Shanghai to Nanjing!" While talking and laughing, the maid came in and said, "The second young master of the Fang family and Miss Shi are here, and they are trying on coats downstairs." Mrs. Shen laughed and said, "It must be there to do the dowry. Shijun, go down and have a look, and invite them Come up and sit down." Shijun smiled at Manzhen and Shuhui, "Let's go down." Then he laughed softly and said, "I'm not talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao will be here soon." But Shuhui frowned and said: " Shall we go out today?" Shijun said: "Let's go in a while—let's go our way, but fortunately my sister-in-law is with them." Shuhui said: "Then I will take the camera so that I don't have to run for a while. Take the stairs." He went to open the box to get the camera. Shijun and Manzhen first went downstairs to meet the unmarried couple Yipeng and Cuizhi.The dog that Cuizhi sent them also ran out, and it still knew its old owner, wandering around the shop, wagging its tail.As soon as Yipeng saw Manzhen, he called out with a smile: "Miss Gu! When did you come to Nanjing?" Cuizhi couldn't help but cast a sharp glance at Manzhen, and said, "Eh, you two knew each other?" Yipeng laughed. "Why don't you know me? I'm old friends with Ms. Gu!" As he said that, he rolled his eyes at Shijun.Shijun felt that there was no need for him to make such jokes, and Shi Cuizhi didn't have a sense of humor at all, so you go and tease her, she should not take it seriously.He looked at Cuizhi, and Cuizhi smiled and said, "How long has Miss Gu been here?" Manzhen said with a smile, "We've only been here for a while." Cuizhi said, "The weather happened to be so cold these two days. Manzhen laughed and said, "Yes." Every time Shijun saw two women whom he met for the first time talking in a polite and gentle manner, he felt a little chilly and scared.I don't know why.He asked himself that he was not a timid person. Yipeng said with a smile: "Hey, there is another person here, let me introduce you." A female classmate of Cuizhi also came with them, standing a little far away, trying on a fur coat in the mirror.Female students at that time were relatively conservative, and they liked to drag a female classmate wherever they went. Even if they went out with their fiancés, they had to invite a female classmate together.Cuizhi didn't get rid of this habit either.Her classmate is Miss Dou, named Dou Wenxian, who is slightly older than her by two years and shorter in stature.Miss Dou took off the coat she was trying on, and Yipeng, who was the most considerate of those who came from these places, immediately helped her put on her own mink coat.Cuizhi is a leopard coat.Although things like leopard skin are very common, there is a big difference between good and bad, bad ones are similar to cat skins, like Cuizhi, which is the best stuff, the color is yellow and clear, and the black circles on it are full of pen and ink They are full, but there are only eighteen or nineteen-year-old girls who are well-dressed, looking lively and slightly wild.Shijun smiled and said, "If you want two coats like yours, I'm sure we won't be able to get them out of our shop." Shuhui said on the stairs, "You're so good at business!" Yipeng said with a smile "Hey, Shuhui is here too! I didn't even know." Shuhui came over and said with a smile: "Congratulations, congratulations, when will you treat us to a wedding?" Shijun smiled and said, "It's almost here, we're already doing the dowry here Well!" Yipeng just laughed.Cuizhi also smiled, leaning over to scratch the puppy, scratching slowly under its chin, making the dog stretch its neck and refuse to move away. Yipeng said with a smile: "What programs do you have today? I invite you to have Liuhuachun." Shijun said: "Why are you so polite?" Yipeng said: "It should be. When I arrive in Shanghai at the end of this month, I should invite you Me." Shi Jun smiled and said, "Are you going to Shanghai again?" Yipeng turned his head to Cuizhi's side, and said with a smile, "Accompany her to buy something." Dou Wenxian said quickly, "I want to buy something, yes I have to go to Shanghai. Shanghai is one place for shopping and one place for watching movies. It’s really convenient!” She is a fashionable person, but she doesn’t live in Shanghai. As soon as the fight started, her throat became very sharp immediately. The eldest young mistress also went downstairs. She and Wen Xian had met each other before, and she greeted "Miss Dou" with a smile from afar.Cuizhi called out "cousin", and the eldest young lady said, "Why do you call me cousin? You should call me sister!" Cuizhi blushed, she sank her face, and said, "Don't make fun of me." The eldest grandma smiled and said, "Go up and sit for a while." Cuizhi said to Yipeng, "Should we go? Didn't you say you want to invite Wenxian to watch a movie?" Yipeng said to Shijun and the others, "Let's go together." Go to the movies, okay?" Cuizhi said: "He just came from Shanghai, who wants to watch our crap movie!" The young lady asked Shijun, "Where are you going to play?" Shijun thought for a while, Discussing with Shuhui temporarily, he said: "Last time you came, it seems that you have never been to Qingliang Temple." The young lady said: "Then you all go to Qingliang Temple together. Yipeng has a car, so you can go faster. Otherwise, you can just run back and forth! Come back here for dinner later, Ma Te prepared a few dishes for the two of them." Yipeng didn't care at first, so he smiled and said: "Okay, that's how we do it. " So I went to Qingliang Mountain.Six people packed a car full.In the car, Shuhui didn't say much at first, then he suddenly cheered up, he was joking and in good spirits, but Shijun felt that the jokes he told today were not very funny, they were a bit funny.Cuizhi and her female classmates were always the only two of them chirping and giggling, which was normal for female students.When they arrived at Qingliang Mountain and got off the car, the two of them still kept pace. Wen Xian followed Cuizhi, putting both hands under Cuizhi's leather collar to keep warm.The two of them only talked to themselves and completely left Manzhen behind. Yipeng felt a little bit uncomfortable, but he didn't dare to perfunctory with Manzhen. In front of Cuizhi, after all, he had some scruples, fearing that she might misunderstand.Seeing that Manzhen was alone, Shijun had no choice but to accompany her, and the two walked up the hill side by side. There are endless broken and incomplete stone steps.Soldiers were stationed somewhere, and there was a faint sound of trumpets blowing along the wind.Hearing the horns of the barracks in the faint afternoon sun, I felt extremely desolate. The temples in the south of the Yangtze River all have such miserable red walls.Walking in, there are people living in several side halls. A ragged old woman is sitting on a broken futon peeling garlic. There is a small stove next to her, a roll of mats is erected, and children are sitting on the threshold to play.Like a group of refugees, in fact, they are poor people, living the life of refugees all year round.Cuizhi smiled and said: "I heard that the monks in this temple have family members, and they also wear monk clothes." Shuhui became curious and said with a smile, "Oh? Let's go and have a look." Cuizhi smiled and said, "Really Let's go and have a look." Yipeng said with a smile, "There is, and they won't let you see it." There is a tripod in the middle of the yard. The iron looks relatively new, probably within a hundred years, and engraved on it are the names of the believers who donated money to cast this tripod, densely packed in rows. , "XX, XXX——" They were all women. Manzhen and Shijun stood there in a daze for a while.Manzhen laughed and said: "These are people who pin their hopes on the next life. Presumably, this life is unsatisfactory. There are so many people. It is really miserable to see." Shijun said: "Well.——I think we are so lucky Already." Manzhen nodded with a smile. She sat down on the bluestone seat.Shijun said: "Are you tired from walking?" Manzhen said: "You are not tired."She paused, then suddenly raised her face and smiled at him, "What should I do? I have frostbite on my feet." She was wearing a pair of thin gray suede shoes with half high heels.At that time, women's high boots were not yet popular, and cotton shoes were of course not elegant. Felt shoes were available, but they could only be worn at home, and they looked a bit like a proprietress when they went out.So most women still wear stockings and leather shoes in winter. Shijun said: "Then what should we do? Let's go back." Manzhen said: "Then what a disappointment they are." Come on, don't give away their car." Shijun said: "Okay, I'll go and tell Shuhui, tell him not to tell Yipeng first." Shijun accompanied Manzhen to go home in a rickshaw. Although the winter in Nanjing is extremely cold, stoves are not as common in Nanjing as they are in Beijing. Shijun’s family is particularly sophisticated this year. His father installed a stove in his room, and the only other thing is to sit up. There is a brazier in the room, on which there is an iron frame, and a pot of water chestnuts is simmering.Manzhen was still shivering while being roasted by the fire.She smiled and said, "It was really freezing just now." Shijun said, "I'll find a dress to add to you." He originally wanted to ask his sister-in-law to borrow a sweater, but on second thought, his sister-in-law's His attitude was not very friendly, he didn't bother to ask her to borrow it, and his sister-in-law, like his mother, combed his hair, so the clothes might smell of pomade, so he ended up taking his own old brown sweater, or his Something from middle school, what his mother called a "dog sheath" style.Manzhen's clothes were too big, and the sleeves covered the backs of his hands.But he liked the way she wore the sweater very much.Sitting opposite each other in the twilight of the fire, he felt completely content, as if she had been part of his family. When the water chestnuts are cooked, they peel the water chestnuts and eat them.Shijun said: "You don't have nails, I'll get a knife, you peel off the skin and eat." Manzhen said: "You don't want to go." Shijun really didn't want to move, sitting like this is really too comfortable. He suddenly fumbled in his pocket for a while, took out something, handed it to her shyly, and said with a smile, "I'll show you. I bought this in Shanghai." Manzhen opened the small box Here, there's a ruby ​​ring in it.She smiled and said, "Oh, you bought it last time in Shanghai, why didn't I hear you say it?" Shijun smiled and said, "Because you are angry with me there." Manzhen smiled and said, "That's because you are overthinking When did I get angry?" Shijun just lowered his head and played with the ring, saying: "The day I went to resign, I received half a month's salary, and bought a ring with the money." Manzhen Hearing that he bought it with the money he earned, he felt very comforted in his heart, and said with a smile, "Is it expensive?" Shijun said, "It's extremely cheap. Guess how much it is? It's only sixty yuan. This thing is strictly Speaking of it, it’s not real, but it’s not fake, it’s made of gemstone powder.” Manzhen said: “The color is beautiful.” Shijun said: “Try it on, it’s probably too big. " The ring was on her hand, Shijun held her hand and looked at it, and she also looked at it silently.Shijun suddenly smiled and said, "When you were young, did you ever wear the paper circle around the cigar as a ring?" Manzhen smiled and said, "I did, did you play with that when you were young?" This ruby ​​ring It reminds them of the small gilt paper circles twisted with vermilion flowers. Shijun said: "Did you see that ring on Shi Cuizhi's hand just now? It's probably their engagement ring. That diamond is always as big as a watch." Manzhen chuckled and said, "It's not that big, you're exaggerating It’s my share.” Shi Jun smiled and said, “Probably because of my psychology, because I think my ruby ​​is too small.” Manzhen laughed and said, “I don’t like diamonds very much, I only hear that they are worlds. The hardest thing on the table, I think even its light is hard, like a steel needle, it is almost piercing." Shijun said: "Then do you like beads?" Manzhen said: "Beads seem to be too colorless Yes. I still prefer rubies, especially the one made of ruby ​​powder.” Shijun couldn’t help laughing. The ring was too big for her.Shijun smiled and said: "I guess it's too big. I have to send it to tighten it." Manzhen said: "Then don't wear it now." Shijun smiled: "I'll go find something Wrap it on your head, and wear it for two days first. Is silk thread okay?" Manzhen hurriedly held him back and said, "Don't ask them for it!" Shijun smiled and said, "Okay." He suddenly saw her cuff dragging A tuft of wool. It turned out that the old woolen sweater he had lent her was torn.Shijun smiled and said, "Just pull a little bit of this wool and wrap it around the ring." He pulled out the wool, pulled out a piece of wool, and cut it off, wrapped it around the ring, and wrapped it around a few times, and put it on for her again. try.At this time, he suddenly heard his mother talking to the maid outside, saying: "Send the snacks to the master first, they are not busy, let's eat together when Miss Shi and the others come back." The voice was outside the door. Shijun was taken aback, and immediately changed to a chair and sat down until Manzhen was facing him. The door was always open, and then I saw Chen Ma passing by the door with a plate of steaming snacks, and went to his father's room.Probably it was meant for them, but his mother stopped her and didn't let her in.Mother must have known something.Fortunately, he will announce it to her in a few days, so it doesn't matter if he knows it earlier. Just as he was thinking in this way, Manzhen suddenly smiled and said: "Hey, they are back." There was a sound of footsteps on the stairs, and she heard Mrs. Shen's voice laughing: "Hey, is there anyone else? Where is Cuizhi?" Yipeng Said: "Hey, Cui Zhi didn't come here? I thought they came back first!" There was a sound of "Hey Hey".Shijun rushed out to greet him, but it turned out that there were only two people, Yipeng and Dou Wenxian.Shijun smiled and said, "Where is Shuhui?" Yipeng said, "One Shuhui and one Cuizhi, I don't know where they went." Shijun said, "Aren't you together?" Yipeng said : "It's all Cuizhi. When she was happy, she said that she heard that the monk there had a wife, so she made a fuss to go and have a look. Here, Wen Xian said that she couldn't walk anymore, so I said, let's go to Sao Ye Lou for a meeting." Come on, have a cup of hot tea, and wait for them there. Who knows that you won’t come when you wait, and you won’t come when you wait.” Wen Xian said with a smile: “I’m really in a hurry, I said let’s come here and have a look. I promised to come first. ——I didn’t intend to come again, I planned to go back directly.” Shijun smiled and said: “Sit for a while, sit for a while, they are coming soon, these two are really children Temper—where did it go?" Shijun was already full from eating water chestnuts, so he had some snacks with them and talked about it. It was getting dark and Shuhui Cuizhi hadn't come back yet. You're a bad guy." Shi Jun said: "No, Cuizhi is also an old Nanjing, and Shuhui is with her, Shuhui is very smart, and he will never take advantage of others." He said so , I also murmured a little in my heart. Fortunately, Shuhui and Cuizhi came back without much effort.Everyone questioned them one after another, Shijun said with a smile: "If you don't come back, we will organize an expedition here, and we will go up the mountain to look for it with lanterns and torches!" Wen Xian said with a smile: "But Yipeng is dying of anxiety! Where did he go? You?" Shu Hui said with a smile: "Didn't you go to see Mrs. Monk? I didn't see you. The monk asked us to eat vegetarian steamed buns. After eating steamed stuffed buns, I went to Sao Ye Lou to look for you, but they were no longer there." Manzhen said: "You guys Did you also come back by rickshaw?" Shuhui said, "Yes, after walking for a long time, I couldn't find a car, and finally came across one, and asked him to call for another, so it was so late." Yipeng said: "That place was too deserted, I thought something must have happened." Shu Hui said with a smile: "I guess you will think of 'burning the Red Lotus Temple' in your mind, when we fall I can’t get out of the trap. Didn’t it mean that the monks there have family members, maybe Ms. Shi is also left behind to form a small family.” Shi Jun smiled and said: “I also thought of this level, but I didn’t dare to say ，怕一鹏着急。”大家哈哈笑了起来。 翠芝一直没开口，只是露出很愉快的样子。叔惠也好像特别高兴似的，看见曼桢坐在火盆旁边，就向她嚷道：“喂，你怎么这样没出息，简直丢我们上海人的脸嘛，走那么点路就不行了，老早溜回来了！”翠芝笑道：“文娴也不行，走不了几步路就闹着要歇歇。”一鹏笑道：“你们累不累？不累我们待会儿再上哪儿玩去。”叔惠道：“上哪儿去呢？我对南京可是完全外行，就知道有个夫子庙，夫子庙有歌女。”几个小姐都笑了。世钧笑道：“你横是小说上看来的吧？”一鹏笑道：“那我们就到夫子庙听清唱去，去见识见识也好。”叔惠笑道：“那些歌女漂亮不漂亮？”一鹏顿了一顿方才笑道：“那倒不知道，我也不常去，我对京戏根本有限。”世钧笑道：“一鹏现在是天下第一个正经人，你不知道吗？”话虽然是对叔惠说的，却向翠芝瞟了一眼。不料翠芝冷着脸，就像没听见似的。世钧讨了个没趣，惟有自己怪自己，明知道翠芝是一点幽默感也没有的，怎么又忘了，又去跟她开玩笑。 大家说得热热闹闹的，说吃了饭要去听戏，后来也没去成。曼桢因为脚疼，不想再出去了，文娴也说要早点回去。吃过饭文娴和翠芝就坐着一鹏的汽车回去了。他们走了，世钧和叔惠和曼桢又围炉谈了一会，也就睡觉了。 曼桢一个人住着很大的一间房。早上女佣送洗脸水来，顺便带来一瓶雪花膏和一盒半旧的三花牌香粉。曼桢昨天就注意到，沈太太虽然年纪不小了，仍旧收拾得头光面滑，脸上也不少搽粉，就连大少奶奶是个寡居的人，脸上也搽得雪白的。大概旧式妇女是有这种风气，年纪轻些的人，当然更不必说了，即使不出门，在家里坐着，也得涂抹得粉白脂红，方才显得吉利而热闹。曼桢这一天早上洗过脸，就也多扑了些粉。走出来，正碰见世钧，曼桢便笑道：“你看我脸上的粉花不花？”世钧笑道：“花倒不花，好像太白了。”曼桢忙拿手绢子擦了擦，笑道：“好了些吗？”世钧道：“还有鼻子上。”曼桢笑道：“变成白鼻子了？”她很仔细地擦了一会，方才到起坐间里来吃早饭。 沈太太和叔惠已经坐在饭桌上等着他们。曼桢叫了声“伯母”，沈太太笑道：“顾小姐昨天晚上睡好了吧，冷不冷哪，被窝够不够？”曼桢笑道：“不冷。”又笑着向叔惠说：“我这人真糊涂，今天早上起来，就转了向了，差点找不到这间屋子。”叔惠笑道：“你这叫'新来的人，摸不着门。新来乍到，摸不着锅灶'。”这两句俗语也不知是不是专指新媳妇说的，也不知是曼桢的心理作用，她立刻脸上一红，道：“你又是从哪儿学来的这一套。”沈太太笑道：“许家少爷说话真有意思。”随即别过脸去向世钧道：“我刚在那儿告诉许家少爷，你爸爸昨天跟他那么一谈，后来就老说，说你要是有他一半儿就好了——又能干，又活泼，一点也没有现在这般年青人的习气。我看那神气，你要是个女孩子，你爸爸马上就要招亲，把许家少爷招进来了！”沈太太随随便便的一句笑话，世钧和曼桢两人听了，都觉得有些突兀，怎么想起来的，忽然牵扯到世钧的婚事上去——明知道她是说笑话，心里仍旧有些怔忡不安。 世钧一面吃着粥，一面和他母亲说：“待会儿叫车夫去买火车票，他们下午就要走了。”沈太太道：“怎么倒要走了，不多住两天？等再过几天，世钧就要到上海去给他舅舅拜寿去，你们等他一块儿去不好么？”挽留不住，她就又说：“明年春天你们再来，多住几天。”世钧想道：“明年春天也许我跟曼桢已经结婚了。”他母亲到底知道不知道他们的关系呢？ 沈太太笑道：“你们今天上哪儿玩去？可以到玄武湖去，坐船兜一个圈子，顾小姐不是不能多走路吗？”她又告诉曼桢一些治冻疮的偏方，和曼桢娓娓谈着，并且问她家里有些什么人。也许不过是极普通的应酬话，但是在世钧听来，却好像是有特殊的意义似的。 那天上午他们就在湖上盘桓了一会。午饭后叔惠和曼桢就回上海去了，沈太太照例买了许多点心水果相送，看上去双方都是“尽欢而散”。世钧送他们上火车，曼桢在车窗里向他挥手的时候，他看见她手上红宝石戒指在阳光中闪烁着，心里觉得很安慰。 他回到家里，一上楼，沈太太就迎上来说：“一鹏来找你，等了你半天了。”世钧觉得很诧异，因为昨天刚在一起玩的，今天倒又来了，平常有时候一年半载的也不见面。——他走进房，一鹏一看见他便道：“你这会儿有事么？我们出去找个地方坐坐，我有话跟你说。”世钧道：“在这儿说不行么？”一鹏不作声，皮鞋咯咯咯走到门口向外面看了看，又走到窗口去，向窗外发了一回怔，突然旋过身来说道：“翠芝跟我解约了。”世钧也呆了一呆，道：“这是几时的事？”一鹏道：“就是昨天晚上，我不是送她回去吗，先送文娴，后送她。到了她家，她叫我进去坐一会。她母亲出去打牌去了，家里没有人，她就跟我说，说要解除婚约，把戒指还了我。”世钧道：“没说什么？”一鹏道：“什么也没说。” 沉默了一会，一鹏又道：“她要稍微给我一点影子，给我打一点底子，又还好些——抽冷子给人家来这么一下！”世钧道：“据我看，总不是一天两天的事情吧，你总也有点觉得。”一鹏苦着脸道：“昨天在你们这儿吃饭，不还是高高兴兴的吗？一点也没有什么。”世钧回想了一下，也道：“可不是吗！”一鹏又气愤愤地道：“老实说，我这次订婚，一半也是我家里主动的，并不是我自己的意思。可是现在已经正式宣布了，社会上的人都知道了，这时候她忽然变卦了，人家还不定怎么样疑心呢，一定以为我这人太荒唐。老实说，我的名誉很受损失。”世钧看他确实是很痛苦的样子，也想不出别的话来安慰他，惟有说：“其实，她要是这样的脾气，那也还是结婚前发现的好。” 一鹏只是愣磕磕的，愣了半天，又道：“这事我跟谁也没说。就是今天上这儿来，看见我姊姊，我也没告诉她。倒是想去问问文娴——文娴不是她最好的朋友吗？也许知道是怎么回事。”世钧如释重负，忙道：“对了，窦小姐昨天也跟我们在一起的。你去问问她，她也说不定知道。” 一鹏被他一怂恿，马上就去找文娴去了。第二天又来了，说：“我上文娴那儿去过了。文娴倒是很有见识——真看不出来，她那样一个女孩子。跟她谈谈，心里痛快多了。你猜她怎么说？她说翠芝要是这样的脾气，将来结了婚也不会幸福的，还是结婚前发现的好。”世钧想道：“咦，这不是我劝他的话吗，他倒又从别处听来了，郑重其事地来告诉我，实在有点可气。”心里这样想着，便笑了笑道：“是呀，我也是这样说呀。”一鹏又好像不听见似的，只管点头拨脑地说：“我觉得她这话很有道理，你说是不是？”世钧道：“那么她知道不知道翠芝这次到底是为什么缘故——”一鹏道：“她答应去给我打听打听，叫我今天再去听回音。” 他这一次去了，倒隔了好两天没来。他再来的那天，世钧正预备动身到上海去给他舅父祝寿，不料他舅舅忽然来了一封快信，说他今年不预备做寿了，打算到南京来避寿，要到他们这里来住两天，和姊姊姊夫多年不见了，正好大家聚聚。世钧本来想借这机会到上海去一趟的，又去不成了，至少得再等几天，他觉得很懊丧。那天刚巧一鹏来了，世钧看见他简直头痛。 一鹏倒还好，不像前两天那副严重的神气。这次来了就坐在那里，默默地抽着烟，半晌方道：“世钧，我跟你多年的老朋友了，你说老实话，你觉得我这人是不是很奇怪？”世钧不大明白他问这话是什么意思，幸而他也不需要回答，便继续说下去道：“文娴分析我这个人，我觉得她说得倒是很有道理。她说我这个人聪明起来比谁都聪明，糊涂起来又比谁都糊涂。”世钧听到这里，不由得诧异地抬了抬眉毛。他从来没想到一鹏“聪明起来比谁都聪明”。 一鹏有点惭恧地说：“真的，你都不相信，我糊涂起来比谁都糊涂。其实我爱的并不是翠芝，我爱的是文娴，我自己会不知道！” 不久他就和文娴结婚了。