Chapter 27 resentment

If it is said that the Maoxiang family, as refugees, was not spared from desolation and massacres because of the victory of the Ming Dynasty's King Lu regime in the first battle in eastern Zhejiang, then in Nanjing, the former "remaining capital" of the Ming Dynasty, The residents don't even know anything about what's going on outside.This is because, since Wang Duo, Qian Qianyi, Zhao Zhilong and other former civil and military ministers of the Hongguang court surrendered the city to the Qing army more than three months ago, Nanjing, as the leading town in the south of the Yangtze River, has changed into a new one. It became the base camp for the Qing Dynasty to continue to advance southward in order to finally establish its overall rule on the ruins of the Zhu Ming Dynasty.Although on the surface, Hong Chengchou, who took over the military affairs of Jiangnan, the governor of King Duoduo of Yu, appeared to be quite magnanimous and wise. The precautions are very strict.He concentrated and stationed his elite troops in the east city centered on the old imperial city, and sent heavy troops to guard the key areas from Tongji Gate to Jinchuan Gate; If you find suspicious people, arrest them immediately.Therefore, although many places in the surrounding area have already caused a commotion due to the swarm of volunteers, the people in Nanjing City still have no reaction.

Of course, the reason for this is also because, as the most benevolent area in the south of the Yangtze River in the Qing Dynasty, as early as three months ago, Nanjing City completely and thoroughly implemented the hair-shaving order.Although when Yu Wang Duoduo entered the city, he had made it clear that except for soldiers, officials and people were forbidden to shave their hair, but at this time, they couldn't keep their promises.So, after a few days of murderous implementation, it was inevitable to lose a few lives, and Nanjing was completely changed.Don't look at it's just a different style of hair, a circle of hair around the head is missing, and a long braid is pulled out from the back, but it is enough to make the men in the city seem to have been forcibly castrated overnight , One by one, they became humiliated and shy, and their breath was sluggish.Many people hide at home as much as possible and avoid going out because they are ashamed of themselves; even if they have to go out, they hold their breath and bow their heads, and walk in a hurry, without any thoughts or courage to care about unnecessary things.Undoubtedly, because of this, they are selfishly pleased, even arrogant, thinking that they will be stable obedient citizens from now on and have a promising future. The news of the people's uprising in the four townships...

It was such a desperate, depressing and dull situation that made Liu Rushi, who had left the yamen of the Ministry of Rites and moved to Shanhefang in the south of the city, become more and more depressed and restless. Liu Rushi hastily moved out of the yamen of the Ministry of Rites more than a month ago.Originally, since the Qing soldiers entered the city, the king of Yu, Duoduo, treated Qian Qianyi and his demoted officials quite favorably.However, for this kind of "courteous treatment", Liu Rushi felt as if others didn't know what to do, but Liu Rushi felt as if she was locked in a prison.It was only because Qian Qianyi saw that no one else was moving, and was worried that doing it alone would arouse the suspicion of the Qing army, so after repeated persuasion, he reluctantly stayed next to him.However, at the beginning of August, Hong Chengchou officially took office, and Qian Qianyi also received an order to let him and several other demoted leaders, together with Emperor Hongguang who was captured by chasing soldiers in Wuhu not long ago, follow him back to the court. Duoduo, who was reinstated, went to Beijing to "see" Emperor Shunzhi, and she immediately managed to move out...

Now, Liu Rushi is wearing a dark red silk dress, holding a white gauze fan in her hand, frowning, biting her lips, leaning on a bamboo recliner covered with a brocade mattress in the middle of the courtyard. superior.On the other side of the small round table, sat her close girlfriend Huixiang.The house located at the end of the alley originally belonged to the children of a family of officials and officials.When Emperor Hongguang fled, the whole family also went south and left Nanjing.Liu Rushi was introduced by someone, and lived in half-rented and half-borrowed.Although this house is not comparable to Qian Qianyi's mansion in Changshu, it has three entrances in depth and two courtyards in the east and west, so the place is not small.Fearing that the flames of war would spread to the countryside, Qian Qianyi moved Mrs. Chen, Qian Sunai and other close relatives to Nanjing before leaving; also worried that there were only women and children and no one to support the family, so he summoned his nephew and grandson Qian Zeng to Nanjing. Come out to live with her so that she can take care of her nearby.However, Liu Rushi occupied the entire eastern side courtyard by himself, even eating and living were separated from Mrs. Chen's side, so they did not disturb each other on weekdays.Right now, it is facing the future, and the surroundings are quiet.The autumn sun slanted down from the tops of the densely branched sweet-scented osmanthus trees, casting green shadows on them.

"Hey, I'm talking about elder sister," Hui Xiang spoke persuasively, seeing Liu Rushi not speaking for a long time and sulking, "Life is a lifetime, and grass and trees are autumn. When the chaos has reached this point, we can only adapt to the situation and deal with it anyway." Let's go on! Since those big men watched the Tartars attack and none of them could come up with a way to save them, we women, how can we care about this kind of worry! Could it be that sister really thinks that we Is it stronger than the old men?" After a pause, seeing that Liu Rushi didn't respond, she went on to say, "Accordingly, my brother-in-law did that out of helplessness. Both the 'Old Immortal' and Mr. Ma Ge fled, and the Tartar soldiers had already reached Chaoyang." Outside the gate, this is the only way for him to save the lives of the people in the city. Can’t he follow Yangzhou’s example and let the Tartar soldiers kill a corpse and spread blood all over the field, and that’s the end of it!”

"Hmph, you all lost your life, but we may not be able to bear the blame for eight lifetimes!" Liu Rushi said coldly. "Oh, what?" "What? You don't see in the bookstore, on the stage, those characters who sacrificed their cities and surrendered, and just survived, who hasn't been pointed at their noses and scolded at their backs for generations to come!" Hui Xiang blinked her eyes, feeling that Liu Rushi's thinking was too wide, too far, and too weird; moreover, speaking of Liu Rushi and Qian Qianyi, who were still alive in front of her, would become characters in storytelling and dramas in the future. Kind of unimaginable.However, she was already very familiar with the haughty and arrogant temperament of the handkerchief sister, so she nodded and said with a smile: "What a stinker? How could that happen! Nowadays, when people in the city mention brother-in-law and sister, they only I'm afraid it's too late to be grateful to Dade!"

"Don't just coax me!" Liu Rushi waved her hand in disgust, "I know exactly what kind of glorious thing this is!" After hitting two nails in a row, Huixiang stopped talking.She squinted her eyes, looked at the increasingly restless expression of her female companion, suddenly smiled "chi" and said, "My sister must be very lonely these days guarding her boudoir by herself. If I had known this before, I might as well have done it back then." Wouldn't it be better to go to Beijing with my brother-in-law!" This time, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty came to Beijing to meet his Majesty, along with Emperor Hongguang and Qian Qianyi, there were also several demoted officials such as the former Dongge University scholar Wang Duo, and the left governor Chen Hongfan. Those people all accompanied their families. One is to have someone take care of her daily life, and the other is to show the sincerity of the whole family to the new master.Qian Qianyi originally wanted to bring his concubine with him, but Liu Rushi was determined not to do so, so he had to give up.Huixiang naturally knew about this.But seeing her girlfriend like this now, she couldn't help feeling a little suspicious.Unexpectedly, Liu Rushi snorted and said:

"Lonely? Sister, if I really couldn't bear this loneliness, I wouldn't have chosen to kiss her at the beginning! It's not like you don't know how capable a bad old man can be under the covers!" After denying it so contemptuously, probably seeing Huixiang's eyes wide open, still waiting to hear the next sentence, she put the white gauze fan on the table, stood up, and said proudly: "It's up to now, sister, I'm not afraid To tell you the truth, how many sons and gentlemen—all rich and handsome—would wander around my skirts like they lost their souls. Poor old man buried in the soil, is my sister really obsessed with ghosts, afraid that no one will want anyone? No way! I'm looking at his reputation and status, and I hope he can take me to Gaozhi'er to fight for the handkerchief sisters. Let those bastards who treat us like roadside grass and mud under their feet and wantonly spoil us die of shame and anger! Later, after marrying into the family, I realized that he was a hollow old official who only liked to look at us but not Useful. That’s all right, he finally obeyed me, so I just tried my best to fan him behind and pull the thread, so it’s no problem! In the end, you know, after all, I helped him find a reinstatement and a half-rank promotion! It really made him get what he wanted, um, and he got a lot of limelight..."

Speaking of this, Liu Rushi stopped, and after a long while, sighed, and said quietly: "At that time, I was not afraid of my sister's jokes, and I also thought that I would improve step by step from Mrs. Shangshu and Mrs. Gaoming, and finally This life is not in vain!" Huixiang had been listening quietly, but at this moment her eyes flickered, and she smiled and said, "Actually, my sister has already made it..." "What did you say?" Liu Rushi asked suspiciously as if she had suddenly come to her senses. "I said, Mrs. Shangshu, my sister has already made it!"

"Bullshit!" Liu Rushi raised her eyebrows immediately, and waved her hand angrily, "Listen to me—yes, he's made it to the top, but his spine has completely softened! Didn't you see that he was on the horse?" How disgusting is the groveling and obedient attitude in front of Mr. Ge and Ruan Huzi, who is obviously using his hot face to stick to other people's cold ass! Could it be that the old lady has worked so hard for these years, and even put her own money on it? Yes, just to look at his badger face? Well, that’s not counting, and now he’s doing Qin Hui—no, even Qin Hui’s worst scandal through the ages! Tell me, sister, don’t I lose my life now? Light! In the future, he will be laughed at by thousands of people and scolded by thousands of people! What is there to rush forward in these days, what is there to look forward to! Hmph, accompany him to kneel and kowtow to the emperor of the Tartars? Thanks to him, I dare to count on it! I would rather I drowned in the pond back then, and I would never do such a shameful thing with him! I made it clear to him face to face, and to this day, I am still willing to stand here and die for him, it is a big deal Love! If he wants to come back, he will come back; if he doesn't come back, I will go back to Shengze and live my romantic life as usual!"

This time, Liu Rushi spoke louder and louder, her eyes opened wider and wider, and her face flushed red.It seems that the fact that Qian Qianyi opened the door to greet her surrender really disappointed her, and she is still very angry.At the end, she sat back on the chair, grabbed her fan, and slapped hard "puff, puff". Huixiang looked at her blankly, still not quite understanding why the female companion was like this.She hesitated for a moment, and said tentatively: "Brother-in-law is like that, maybe it is true. However, according to my sister, he is sincere to my sister..." "It's really useful!" Liu Rushi said viciously, "I don't care about it! Huh, in comparison, I admire my sister's abandonment, and she can finish it when she finishes talking, that's called cleanliness!" Over the years, Huixiang has also wholeheartedly hoped to be good. For a while, she had a heated fight with Li Zhan, who was an official in the Ming Dynasty and later became the censor of the Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the Hongguang Dynasty.Then Li Zhan also promised to redeem her and get out of the country, but in the end he turned his face and refused to accept it.Because of this matter, Hui Xiang suffered from a serious illness. She just met her again, and now she suddenly heard the other party mention it, and she blushed suddenly.She forced a smile and said: "Yumei didn't offend my sister, why bother to expose my scars again!" "It's not about exposing your scars! You are telling the truth for my sister! Your surname Li is not sincere in the first place! And he waits to spoil you all day long. If you really follow him, I don't know if you will give him up someday." Killed! It’s good to be gone now, at least I can live for a few more years!” Huixiang didn't make further distinctions, but her slender eyes narrowed towards the distance, but the wrinkles on both sides of her mouth became deeper and deeper.After a long time, she murmured: "Sister said just now that she wants to go back to be a whore? It's okay to say this for fun. If you really go back to that step, even if others don't make fun of it, I'm afraid that my sister today is no better than Yumei." , I can't bear that crime anymore!" Seeing Hui Xiang's expression was so depressed and bewildered when he spoke, Liu Rushi blinked her eyes and finally choked.Moreover, after venting just now, the resentment accumulated in her heart must have been relieved a little, so her face became a little calmer.For a while, she bit the sweat towel in her hand and said nothing more. Finally, as if she had made up her mind, she stood up and said, "Forget it! Don't talk about such troublesome things--ah, it's been a long time since I played chess with you Now, let’s take advantage of today’s interest and play a plate of it, how about it?”