Chapter 4 4

Qin entered Shuzhen's room.Shuzhen was sitting by the window, embroidering a blue satin shoe.When she heard Qin's footsteps, she raised her head, and when she saw it was Qin, she called out in surprise: "Sister Qin," put down her shoes and stood up.There were no tears on her face, but her eyes were swollen like walnuts.There was no powder on her face, and her thin face became more and more haggard. Qin's heart softened, and she felt a little sad, so she comforted her and said, "Fourth cousin, you've been crying like this so early in the morning, what's the reason for this? Why bother!" Shuzhen felt a sore nose when she heard this, and she endured it Can't help, tears rolled out.She said softly and sadly: "Mom doesn't care about me at all, she just uses me as a punching bag. She scolded me in the middle of the night last night. She slept on the bed this morning and called me away again, saying that I am not allowed to enter the study." I’m reading. She taught me how to do needlework and embroidery diligently…” She couldn’t continue at this point, so she sat on the rattan chair, leaned her head on the desk and began to cry.

Qin was disturbed by Shuzhen's crying.She tried her best to suppress her grief, walked to Shuzhen's side, lifted her head, took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears, and softly advised: "Don't cry. There is a way to think about anything. Five Auntie may be angry for a while, but she will regret it after two days. You don’t need to be serious.” Shuzhen wanted to stop crying, but she couldn’t control her emotions. She rested her head on Qin’s chest and said intermittently: "You don't know Mom's temper. She is more willful than anyone else. She doesn't care about me at all. She hates me!" Qin couldn't help smiling slightly, and she said softly: "Fourth cousin, you are such a child. You How could you have such an idea? Aunt Fifth is your mother, so how can a mother hate her daughter? Don't think so wildly!" "You don't understand. She hates me, and I know she hates me!" Shuzhen excitedly argued. "Mom told me she hated me because I'm not a man, and I won't be able to give her a sigh of relief in the future. Mom also blamed me for not being good-looking. Mom hated my father because he always bullied her. She wants a son Take it out on her. I happen to be a daughter, and I don't have brothers or brothers. So she hates me..." Qin could no longer listen quietly.Shuzhen's words opened up a new horizon for her and made her know a new thing.The girl's unhappy life was now fully unfolding before her eyes.Such a life was even unimaginable to her before.Shuzhen has suffered like that, and she will continue to suffer more in the future.What words can she use to comfort Shuzhen and help Shuzhen?She herself was a little confused.Her normally flexible mind also seemed inflexible at this time.She felt a little disturbed in her heart, and she felt that her mood had also changed a little. She was afraid that Shuzhen's desperate grief would infect her.She couldn't resist Shuzhen's words.She had no other choice, so she covered Shuzhen's mouth with her hand and said, "Fourth cousin, don't say that. We didn't know you were in such great pain before." She let go of the hand that covered her mouth, gently Gently and lovingly stroking Shuzhen's hair and rubbing Shuzhen's face. "Although Fifth Aunt doesn't like you, don't be discouraged. You have to forgive her. She is also very lonely. If you treat her well, she might change her mind. Besides, even if she doesn't like you, there are us, we love you You are a good sister to all of us..." After this persuasion, Shuzhen felt much more relaxed.She felt that what Jean said made sense, and that just hearing Jean's gentle, kind voice was enough to ease the weight of grief on her heart and increase her trust in her.However, there was another thing that disturbed her heart, she raised her face to look at Qin, and said: "But Mom won't allow me to go into the study to study in the future..." Before she could finish speaking, Qin interjected: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, if you study with Mr. Dong Hong in the study, you will not get any useful knowledge. If you are happy to study, your second brother, second sister and me, we can all teach you. This is better than reading "Four Books for Women" and "Father Girls" in the study room. "Biography" and the like are much better." "That would be the best," Shuzhen said joyfully, before breaking through her tears and laughing.Afterwards, she looked at Qin with grateful eyes and praised: "Sister Qin, you are so kind. No wonder we are all attached to you. If you don't come for a week, we feel like we have lost something. We are all happy when you come , Even the elder brother was talking and laughing. As long as you come here often, I won’t cry like today.” “Aunt Fifth is still up,” Qin asked suddenly, remembering.

"Mom woke up once before, and then fell asleep again. She probably hasn't woken up yet. She usually doesn't get up until breakfast time," Shuzhen replied. "Then let's go to the garden first. The second sister and the others are waiting for you. I came to ask you out specially," Qin invited, and was about to pull her out. "I won't go. You can go alone," Shuzhen broke free from Qin's hand and buried her head in reply. "Why didn't you go? I thought you would," Jean asked in surprise. Shuzhen blushed and hesitated for a while before saying: "My eyes are swollen from crying, how can I go out to meet people?" "It doesn't matter, no one will laugh at you. But I forgot. I'll call someone to wash your face with water, and you can clean up before you go out." "Let me go, I'll go!" Shuzhen said and walked out .After a while, she came in together with Chunlan, a thirteen-year-old girl whom Shen had recently brought from the Yuyingtang.Chunlan brought a basin of face water, put it on the washbasin stand, and brought out the mirror dowry for Shuzhen.After Shuzhen washed her face, Qin took her to apply some powder on the mirror, and then told Chunlan to put away her things.They walked out of the room together.

They walked through the main room, passed under the window of the upper left room and entered the corridor, and the door of Juexin's room opened in the corridor.They walked in front of Juexin's door and heard Juexin teaching Haichen to read and write in his room.Qin lifted the curtain and walked into the room, and Shuzhen followed into Juexin's room. Seeing them coming in, Juexin quickly pushed Haichen away, stood up and offered to sit down.He asked Haichen to greet "Mistress Qin". Qin saw Haichen and thought of his mother, so Li Ruijue's plump face flickered in front of her eyes.But she immediately calmed down with her best efforts.She didn't sit down, but bent over to talk to Haichen, and Haichen's innocent words dispelled her grief.

"Sister Qin, you went to the garden to enjoy the moon again last night, I know," Juexin said to Qin with a smile. Shuzhen didn't know about this, so she looked at Qin in surprise, a little bewildered. Qin nodded slightly with a smile, and said: "The second cousin dragged me because she was upset. Since you knew, why didn't you call us?" I was ashamed to call you, so I kept silent," Juexin said mockingly. "I also knew when you came back." "How did you know? Could it be that you weren't asleep at that time?" Qin Jing asked. "I seldom sleep past four o'clock in a night, and it has been like this for the past six months." Juexin's voice was still very steady, but Qin felt that it was full of hopeless sorrow.

"Big Cousin, you're suffering. You should see a doctor," Jean said with sympathetic concern. Juexin sighed unknowingly, and replied as if talking to himself: "It's useless to see a doctor. I know my illness very well. Mei is dead, and Jue is also dead. The third brother left. For the sake of the three I am still often complained about my younger brother. Jue’s second child died at his grandmother’s house last month. Only I know the scars on my heart. How could I forget it! If it wasn't for Hai'er, I don't know if I would still be alive today." When he said this, his eyes turned red, and he turned his face to look out the window.

Qin was afraid of arousing Juexin's grief, so she couldn't find the right words to say for a while, but she remembered that Sister Shuying was waiting for her in the garden, so she said to Juexin, "Big cousin, let's go for a walk in the garden, shall we?" Juexin turned his head back and said to Qin: "I know that the second younger sister and the second younger brother are waiting for you in the garden first. You go, I just came out of the garden, I won't go." "Then let's take Haier Take it with you," Shuzhen was holding Haichen's hand to ask questions, and said so when she heard Juexin's words.

"Okay, you guys take Hai'er to play," Juexin immediately agreed. Qin and Shuzhen brought Hai Chen out of the room.They each took Heichen's hand into the garden, walked through the bamboo forest, crossed the small bridge above the stream, passed a winding railing, entered the pine forest, and came out to the lakeside. When they walked up the round arch bridge, they saw Juemin, Shuying, and Shuhua all sitting on green magnetic benches in the courtyard in front of Wanxiang Building talking.Jueying was also there, and he and Qixia picked up the magnolia flowers on the ground.

Seeing them, Shuhua stood up and greeted them.Shuying came over to pull Haichen.Juemin still sat smiling at them. They got off the round arch bridge and walked into the courtyard again.A breeze blew the scent of magnolia flowers into their nostrils.They walked on the gravel road.The land on both sides was covered with moss, and the white magnolia petals fell to the ground.Seeing them approaching, Qixia stood up straight, grabbed a handful of petals in her pocket, then put down her skirt, letting the remaining petals fall to the ground.She walked carefully to the gravel road.Jueying still bowed to pick up the petals without even raising her head.

Sure enough, there was a green-haired and red-billed parrot hanging under the eaves in front of Wanxiang Building.Qin and Shuying walked over holding Haichen's hand. When Haichen saw the parrot, he broke away from their hands and ran up the stone steps. When the parrot saw the person, it jumped down from the shelf with a squeak.But its feet were tied by chains, and it couldn't fly away.It pounced two or three times, barked two or three times, and flew back to the rack as before.It looked at the people below, jumped twice on the shelf, and suddenly stretched its neck and called out very crisply: "Chunxiang, the guest is here, put on a cigarette and pour tea." Haichen was the first to laugh out loud, and everyone laughed. All laughed.Haichen happily yelled "parrot parrot", sometimes teasing the parrot, and sometimes ran over to hold the qin hand and begged: "Mistress Qin, do you teach parrot how to speak?" Then he went to beg Shuying: "Second lady You teach the parrot to sing." "Qixia, Qi——xia," before Shuying and Qin could speak, Shuhua interrupted to teach the parrot to say Qixia's name.She taught it several times, but the parrot ignored her completely.She turned her back in anger, and just as she walked down the stone steps, the parrot yelled again from behind: "Chunxiang, here comes a guest, pack cigarettes and pour tea. The guest left..." Everyone laughed again.Shuhua became even more angry, she turned around and cursed, raised her hand, the parrot screamed and flapped its wings twice.

Shuzhen stood beside Qin, and she laughed a few times while holding Qin's arm.The crowd stood for a while under the parrot stand.Later, Juemin couldn't bear it anymore, and shouted loudly under the stone steps: "Let's go rowing! What's the point of watching parrots here all the time!" "Rowing a boat? I'll do one!" When he got up, he immediately spread his clothes, and completely threw the magnolia flowers that he had picked up with great difficulty on the ground without hesitation. "Go boating!" Shuhua patted Qin on the shoulder and said excitedly to them. "Mistress Qin, quick, quick! Let's go rowing!" Hai Chen was very happy when he heard about rowing, so he went to play on the lapel of the Qin, and stretched out his hands to hold her shoulders, trying to drag her to row. Everyone agreed to row the boat, so they walked down the stone steps to the grass, and then walked to the shade of willow trees by the lake, where Jueying had already gone first. Three small boats were moored deep in the shade of the willows, all of which were chained to the willow tree. The gardener Lao Zhao was sitting under the tree and taking a nap.It was an old man with gray beard and hair.He saw them coming and stood up to say hello. Juemin ordered him to untie the boat, which he respectfully did. "Old Zhao, I need one more, one is not enough! I want to row!" Jueying saw that a boat had been untied, and was afraid that they would not let him row, so he said first. Old Zhao smiled, and untied another boat.Everyone got off the boat and took two seats; Qin, Juemin, and Shuzhen brought Haichen and Qixia to sit on one; Shuying, Shuhua, and Jueying sat on one.Old Zhao released the boat, Juemin and Jueying rowed the oars, and the boat slowly passed under the round arch bridge. Juemin's boat passed the bridge hole first, and Jueying's boat was a little behind.Jueying rolled up her sleeves and moved the oar vigorously, chasing Juemin's boat in a few strokes.He looked back at Juemin triumphantly, and said challengingly: "Second brother, do you dare to compete with me?" Come!" Juemin shook his head and replied with a smile. As soon as Jueying got angry, she really started to paddle vigorously. He used too much force, and the water splashed on the boat one after another following the oars. Shuhua, who was sitting behind him, was splashed with water all over her body. "Fourth brother! Be careful!" Shuying said reproachfully, glaring at him. "Fourth brother! You are going to die! You are going to be exiled to the army, and you will go alone, and we will not go with you!" Shuhua was angry and funny, and cursed like this. "Fourth brother, you don't know how to row, so why pretend to be an expert! You'd better let the third sister come," Juemin laughed loudly in another boat. Jueying was so teased that she couldn't speak. He looked sideways at Juemin, then at Shuhua, then at Shuying who was sitting in the stern, then stopped his oars and said to Shuhua angrily: "Okay!" Come and paddle!" When Shuhua really picked up the paddle and wanted to paddle, he stopped him and said, "No. If you paddle, our paddles will touch each other. I have to paddle alone to enjoy myself!" Juemin There was a roar of laughter on the boat.Qin and Shuzhen teased Hai Chen to clap his hands and laugh, "Then let you paddle for a while. Let me paddle for a while, don't hold back!" Shuhua laughed. "I'm not bad, I'm not bad!" Jueying replied happily.At this time, Juemin's boat was already far ahead, and only heard a burst of crisp laughter from that boat across the water and brought it here.Jueying flushed with anxiety, complained to Shuhua, "It's all your fault!" and moved her oars to catch up. "Don't go into the army!" Shuhua warned mockingly. "If you splash water on me again, I will not obey you!" "No," Jueying replied gnashing her teeth while paddling. This time Jueying rowed smoothly.The boat turned slowly, walked along the steep rock wall, and left the water pavilion facing the lake behind in the bushes. Juemin's boat was leaning against the fishing platform.When they saw the boat approaching, they clapped their hands.Jueying also pulled the boat closer.The two boats were next to each other. "Let's go up and take a walk." Juemin raised his head to look at the fishing platform, and said to himself. "It's getting late, I'm far away, I'm afraid Cuihuan won't be able to find it after a while," Qin Jie said. "It doesn't matter, we sit on it and get down. The third aunt has a good breakfast in the room," Shuhua said.She stood up and stretched, and the boat moved.Instead of sitting down, she stepped onto Juemin's boat, put one hand on Qin's shoulder, and was the first to step on the stone steps. When everyone saw her doing this, they stopped expressing any objection, and got off the boat one after another, and tied the chains to the stakes. After climbing the stone steps, they turned a corner and arrived at Diaotai, which was made of stone, with sub-shaped railings near the lake, and a long row of stone benches in front of the railings.They sat down on the stone bench. There is a slope behind the fishing platform, and several large locust trees hugging each other stretch out their branches.The sun is at the top, and the ground is full of shade.Thrushes, kingfishers and other birds are flying and singing among the trees. Everyone leaned on the railing to look at the scenery ahead, and the calm and bright lake water surrounded the opposite bank like half a jade belt.At a glance, the opposite bank is full of dense trees.There are dozens of peach and apricot plants planted beside the water pavilion. The red and white flowers are hidden in clusters of green leaves, making them more gorgeous and eye-catching.There are several houses, courtyards and rockeries faintly exposed among the flower trees. There was a breeze, and layers of wrinkles appeared on the surface of the water.At the same time, there was a wave of fluctuation in the pine forest below, and the sound of waves hitting the shore was sent to the fishing platform in the distance.Everyone sat quietly on the stone bench for a while, only Haichen and Jueying said a few words from time to time to break the silence. "I wish this moment could last forever!" Shuying sighed thoughtfully and said to herself. Qin was holding Haichen on her lap, when she heard Shuying's words, she raised her head to look at her, then lowered her head to make Haichen talk. "That's unless it's a dream," Shuzhen quietly agreed. Jueying couldn't help laughing, so she tapped Shuzhen on the head lightly, and said mockingly, "Fourth sister, you speak like an adult. Where did you learn it?" "She is not too young at all." , should be like an adult," Shuying frowned and said to Bai Jueying. Jueying ignored her, but ran away to pick up some stones and threw them from the platform into the lake.Playing alone. Qin and Juemin were still teasing Haichen.Shuzhen was watching.Seeing Jueying throwing stones happily, Shuhua suddenly thought of something and asked, "Fourth brother, why don't you go to school today?" "I asked my husband for leave," Jueying replied indifferently. "You play truant, I'm going to tell dad!" Shuying interrupted. Jueying turned her head, smiled at Shuying, and replied frankly: "I'm not afraid, Dad just scolded me this morning." Shuying was so angry that she kept silent.Jueying threw stones even more proudly.He suddenly saw the shadow of a girl in a bamboo shirt on the stone bridge leading to the pavilion in the center of the lake. He quickly fixed his eyes and realized that it was the green ring, so he stopped throwing stones and said to everyone: " Cuihuan came to call us for dinner." Shuying thought he was lying to her.But she looked closely, saw Cuihuan clearly, stood up and said to Qin: "Sister Qin, Cuihuan is here to invite you to dinner, let me hold Hai'er." She took Haichen in her hand and walked out. Diaoyutai.She inadvertently caught a glimpse of a thrush standing on the rose trellis, raising its head and screaming triumphantly.Hai Chen saw the thrush and immediately ran to that side. "Slow down! Slip up carefully!" Shouted Shuying, chasing after her. When Huamei saw the person, she flew up, flew to the branch of the locust tree, stopped for a while, then flapped her wings and flew up again, turned around the slope and flew down and disappeared. Haichen passed through the rose trellis and entered a moon gate made of vines. Inside was a small courtyard with a verandah and three bright bungalows. In the courtyard, two or three rocks were piled up and a few plantains were planted. Hai Chen had just stepped into the Moon Cave Gate, when he heard Shuying calling him to turn around, and saw that there was nothing interesting inside, so he withdrew.Shuying had already caught up, picked him up with both hands, and walked out of the rose stand. Jueying has already boarded the boat.The rest of the people were still waiting for Shuying under the shade of the pagoda tree, and when they saw her bring Haichen out, they walked down the stone steps with her and went to the boat.