Chapter 3 three

Qin really came the next afternoon.Shuhua borrowed the name of her stepmother Zhou and sent someone to carry an empty sedan chair to Zhou's house to "pick Miss Yun to play". Yun came in Zhou's sedan chair.As soon as the sedan chair arrived at the entrance of the main room, Qin, sisters Shuhua, Qixia and Cuihuan all stood there to greet her, and when Yun stepped out of the sedan chair, they immediately embraced her into the main room.Yun and Qin, Shuhua, and Shuzhen met Li.Both Qixia and Cuihuan greeted Yun, and Yun replied one by one.Yun's young girl's round face still has an innocent expression, her face is well-proportioned, and a big loose braid hangs behind her head.

"Hello, you all," Yun said with a happy smile.She said to Qin, who had sculpted eyebrows and big eyes and was dressed as a schoolgirl, "Sister Qin, I haven't seen you for a long time. Why didn't you come to my house to see me?" "My mother wants me to do a lot of things at home. I have to read some books, and I also study English with my second cousin. So even my eldest aunt doesn't come here often," Qin explained apologetically, her oval face There was a happy smile. They crowded Yun into Zhou's room again.Mrs. Zhou is waiting for them in the room.Yun greeted Mrs. Zhou, and Mrs. Zhou asked Yun to sit down.At first it was Zhou who talked to Yun, and she asked Yun about things about the Zhou family.As she spoke, she swayed her big plump face.

When Mrs. Zhou talked about Young Master Mei's marriage, Shuhua suddenly couldn't help but interjected, "Cousin Yun, I heard that your sister-in-law is older than you." "Three years older than me, twenty-one years old, but born in the second half of the year," Yun lowered her head and replied in a low voice. Mrs. Zhou glared at Shuhua, a bit blaming Shuhua for her talkativeness.Shuhua didn't care at all.She also said: "I still don't understand why uncle is so stubborn" Mrs. Zhou frowned, and interrupted Shuhua reproachfully: "Third daughter, be careful what you say. Why are you scolding uncle? Fortunately, they are all from my own family, and Miss Yun will not be offended if she hears about it."

"Auntie, it doesn't matter, the third cousin said it unintentionally," Yun raised her head and smiled politely. Shuhua smiled slightly, and said indifferently: "I didn't mean to say it, but Mom is serious. But I'm always a little bit reconciled for my cousin." "Brother Mei himself doesn't seem to care. Uncle can do whatever he wants. He has that kind of temper," Yun went on to say, "He has a sad face every day, and I haven't seen him smile. Isn't he hiding in the room reading a book?" , that is, a person is walking up and down under the window, chanting something, as if a person is talking.”

"My cousin is really worthless! If it were me, I would definitely not agree to this marriage!" Shuhua said angrily. "Third cousin, you are more anxious than cousin Mei," Qin Pu sneered, and Lian Yun also smiled. "Uncle said that the Feng family has been scholarly for generations, and that Miss Feng's uncle is still a great Confucianist..." Before Yun could finish speaking, Qin suddenly interrupted her and asked: "Is it Feng Leshan?" Yun thought for a while, then replied: "It seems to be the name, I don't quite remember it, but I heard Miss Feng's name is Wenying."

"It must be him! Nothing can be separated from Feng Leshan!" Shuhua said angrily. Yun looked at Shuhua and Qin in surprise, and asked inexplicably, "How do you all know? What kind of person is Feng Leshan?" Qin wanted to speak, but stopped again.Shuhua hurriedly said: "Why did you forget? This Miss Feng was supposed to be our second sister-in-law. The second brother didn't want to. The marriage didn't work out after that. Unexpectedly, she hasn't married yet, and now she is sent to your house Come on." There was a sarcasm in Shuhua's words, she only cared about what she said happily, and didn't care whether it would embarrass the obedient people.

Yun slightly frowned.Lying on the sofa alone, Mrs. Zhou shook her head slightly. She was dissatisfied with what Shuhua said to Yun, but Shuhua’s words brought her into the realm of memories. Unpleasant dream recalled.Then an inexplicable melancholy floated into her mind.She was silent, she wanted to get rid of this melancholy. Jean also remembered something that had been forgotten.But her mind is quick, and it is easier for her to suppress unpleasant thoughts. She saw a dull air rising in this room, and she wanted to break it and was about to divert the topic to another side. Footsteps sounded outside the door, and as soon as the curtain was lifted, Juemin came in.

"Second brother, we are talking about you," Shuhua said happily. Seeing Juemin coming in, Yun stood up quickly, bowed to him with folded hands, and called, "Second cousin." Juemin returned the salute with a smile.Both sat down.Juemin asked: "Third sister, what do you tell me to do?" "Let's talk about Miss Feng," Shuhua said, smiling at Juemin. Juemin immediately put away the smile on his face, and said in a low voice, "I see. Cousin Mei carried the cross for me." "What cross? Where did the foreign term come from? I don't understand!" Shuhua deliberately laughed loudly, making everyone laugh too.

Just as Juemin smiled, he stopped again.He ignored Shuhua, but whispered to himself: "The room is very stuffy." He looked out the window.In the courtyard, the sun shines on the flagstone aisle, and several pots of seasonal flowers on both sides sway slightly contentedly in the warm wind of late spring, and the bright red and green colors are even more dazzling against the sunlight.There are many sparrows on the ridge.Their twittering calls are interspersed with the clear and melodious song of starlings. "Let's go for a walk," Juemin suggested to Qin. Qin nodded, then stood up, and politely said to Mrs. Zhou: "Auntie, we want to go out for a walk with Cousin Yun."

"Miss Qin, don't be so polite. You can go play in the garden with Cousin Yun. The weather is so nice, it's too unbearable to lock you young people in the house!" Zhou said kindly with a smile on her face. . "Let's go into the garden," said Shuhua cheerfully. "Go to the garden," said these words from Shuzhen's infrequent mouth.This time she smiled without hesitation.However, if one looks closely at her face, one can still see the sadness of a lonely girl hidden in the corners of her eyes and brows. "Eldest aunt may go too, we are willing to play with eldest aunt," Yun stood up and politely invited Mrs. Zhou to go with her.

"Yes, my aunt took us there, and we played more lively. Let's go to 'Pi Lan' tonight, please join me, too," Qin said jokingly. "I agree, we still have to drink and drink," Shuhua said loudly happily. "Don't break the blue, I don't want to eat your 'free food', I'll treat you tonight," Zhou said with interest. "Mom, you treat us to dinner, we will eat at Tingyuxuan tonight," Shuhua said happily. "Okay, it's up to you," Zhou agreed, "You go first, I'll come later." She finally joked: "But don't fight!" Qin pursed her lips on purpose and said in disbelief: "Auntie is laughing at us again. He is not a child of three or five years old, so why would he fight when they are together! I will punish Auntie to drink after a while." "Miss Qin, if you punish me for drinking, I will definitely eat it. But later your third cousin and fourth cousin will toast you, so you have to eat too!" Zhou joked. Qin smiled knowingly, and said accostingly, "I can't say no to my aunt," then stopped, and accompanied Yun out of the room. Zhou looked at Qin's back with a smile, and when the shadows of their sisters disappeared, she turned her head and saw Qixia standing beside her, with a slightly anxious look on her face.She told Qixia: "Qixia, you don't want to pretend to be a smoke now. You go to the garden and wait for the ladies. You call me Mrs. Zhang by the way." Qixia wished her wife had such an order.She answered "yes" cheerfully, and walked outside with brisk steps. Shuhua led the way, followed by Juemin; Yun and Qin followed them while talking.Shuzhen always walked beside Qin, refusing to leave, and sometimes let Qin hold her hand.This lonely girl always regards Qin as her reliance, and she feels happy only when she hears Qin's crisp, lively and powerful voice beside Qin.Cuihuan walked last, she could hear Qin and Yun's conversation.All the sights that come into her eyes are beautiful: flowers, grass, trees, water, rocks, birds, butterflies...  She felt very light all over.A smile appeared on her face.The nameless melancholy that had weighed on her heart for the last few months seemed to be blown away by a breeze. The group walked out of the pine forest to the lakeside.Shuhua was the first to walk up the round arch bridge, and saw several children squatting in the courtyard on the other side.Out of curiosity, she hurriedly walked down the bridge alone, passed the grass and approached the stone steps, and then she saw clearly that there were six people, Jueying, Juequn, Jueshi, Jueren, Juexian, and Shufen. One Green porcelain stool, I don't know what to do there. "If you don't study for a day, what do you invite the teacher to do? Now I don't know what good things you are doing. Even I can't understand it, so it's really okay. If the second sister is here, she will definitely be angry," Shuhua asked. The man said to himself.She couldn't help walking up the stone steps and shouting loudly: "Fourth brother, you don't study, what are they doing here with fifth brother?" Jue Shi, Jue Ren, Jue Xian and Shu Fen stood up in surprise when they heard Shu Hua's voice.Shufen called out: "Sister San," then looked at Shuhua with a smile and said, "They are catching birds!" Jueying and Juequn only looked up in this direction.Jueying said bluntly: "You can't control it!" Shuhua walked down the patio and walked towards them.She saw that Jue Qun's hand was still stretched out inside the big hollow petal of the porcelain stool. "Keep quiet," Jue Shi and Jue Ren warned Shuhua in unison, and they even made gestures. Shuhua walked in front of them.Juequn suddenly shouted happily: "I got it! I got it!" "Take it out," Jueying urged.His hand tapped lightly on the china stool. "Hurry up, hurry up, how many did you catch?" Jue Shi, Jue Ren and Jue Xian said in unison, they were very excited.Shufen was also jumping happily beside her, her cheeks were flushed on both sides, and a small braid flicked back and forth on the back of her head. "Be careful, don't pinch to death," Jueying instructed. Juequn slowly stretched out his hand, and moved the head of a yellow-haired, broad-billed bird in his hand.Jue Shi immediately ran to his brother to see the little bird.He kept pulling Juequn's hand. "Give it to me! Give it to me!" Jueying said anxiously. When he saw Juequn standing up, he stood up too.Jue Ren and Jue Xian clapped and cheered while shouting. "Fifth brother, show me!" Shufen ran up to Juequn and reached out to pick up the little bird. "Where's the bird's cage? Put it in the cage first," Juequn didn't hand over the bird to Jueying, nor show it to Jueshi and Shufen, but just talked. "Leave it to me!" Jueying disagreed, and he stretched out his hand to grab it. "I take it myself, I caught it!" Juequn moved away, refusing to give the bird he caught to his cousin. "Are you going to give it or not?" Jueying asked loudly angrily. "I won't give it! I won't give it!" Juequn replied stubbornly.Seeing Jueying robbing again, he ran up the stone steps. "See if you can run but can't run!" Jueying grinned grimly.He let go and ran to catch up with Juequn with big strides.Jue Shi shouted from behind: "Fifth brother, run!" Jue Ren and Jue Xian hid under a magnolia tree and dared not speak. Juequn looked back while running.He ran to the grass and was chased by Jueying.Jueying pounced hard and threw Juequn to the ground.His body was pressed against Jue Qun's, and he used both hands to push away Jue Qun's hand, snatching the bird into his hands.Juequn opened his mouth wide on the grass and wept bitterly.Jueying took the bird and ran up the round arch bridge and walked away triumphantly. Juequn got up from the grass, wiped his eyes, and cursed with tears: "I x your mother! x your ancestors!" "Fifth brother! Which one are you scolding?" Shuhua, who sat on the porcelain stool and watched the fight, couldn't help shouting loudly. "Why did he steal my things? He's a bitch!" Jue Qun argued loudly. "If he robbed you, you just sue him. His ancestors are also your ancestors, and his mother is also your elder. He's so useless, he's ashamed to cry when someone robbed him of something!" Shuhua Lesson said. Jue Shi and Jue Ren walked to Jue Qun's side, took his hand in a fawning manner, and said to him, "Fifth Brother, don't cry. Let's sue him." Jue Xian also ran over. Shufen also walked up to Juequn, pouted and said, "Fifth Brother, Fourth Brother is unreasonable and grabs things, we ignore him!" "Let's sue him, and I'll be happy when I see him being beaten later!" Juequn stopped crying and cursed.The four boys huddled up onto the Round Arch Bridge.Shufen followed behind them. Qin and Yun were standing on the grass looking at the lake and talking, and Shuzhen was naturally with Qin.Cuihuan also stood beside them and listened to their conversation.They turned their heads two or three times to see Jueying and Juequn arguing. "Look, they are all children like this. What hope do the so-called poets and scholars have?" Qin said with emotion. "Why do we see everything like this? Isn't there a better way?" Yun asked suspiciously. "But they didn't believe it, they were going to go that dead end, and no one could stop them," Qin said angrily. "A dead end? I don't understand," Yun said suspiciously. "Maybe only a few of us are like this, and we don't know." "How many? You'll see," Jyn insisted. "Of course there are some exceptions, but not many. Just to name a few examples, Feng Leshan, Chen Kejia, down to Zheng Guoguang's father, these people are what they call 'contemporary great Confucianism', the world's strange and ' .This group of people can do all kinds of bad things. What else can this group of people do besides harming people?" "I don't understand why the uncle must send his own children to death one by one. Thinking about my sister, I feel really uncomfortable. Now it's Meidi's turn," Yun said bitterly and puzzled.She suddenly turned her face and looked at Qin as if asking for help, and asked with a trembling voice: "Sister Qin, you read a lot, you have a lot of knowledge, you know a lot. Tell me. Are old books and old ethics harmful? Just like what "New People" said. I really don't understand why the uncle must kill his sister's life before he is willing." Qin touched Yun's hand gently, and she said angrily, "I don't quite understand either. Probably the old etiquette makes people heartless. Haven't you read an article called "The Ethics of Cannibalism"?" Articles? If you are happy, I can send you a few books. Look at those books, and you can also know what we are born for. It is better than being a fool. Sometimes those books seem to speak for ourselves , how happy you want to be." "In the past, my second cousin also advised me to read the new book. I was afraid that I wouldn't understand it, so I didn't dare to read it. I only borrowed a few foreign novels from her. Although I couldn't understand them all, I found them very interesting. Foreign women are much happier than us. I often hear my uncle scolding foreigners for their lack of manners. But judging from those novels, foreigners are happier than us,” Yun said honestly. "In foreign countries, a woman is also a person. In China, a woman is just a plaything," Qin said angrily.Yun's words made her feel a little satisfied.She felt that Yun was gradually getting closer to her. Juemin sat on a porcelain stool next to Shuhua, and he quietly watched Jueying and Juequn fight over the bird.He saw his two cousins ​​lying on the grass, saw Jueying stand up and run away, and heard Juequn crying and cursing, but he still sat still.From time to time, his eyes fell on Qin and Yun standing by the lake.He was content to see them talking intimately, and did not want to interrupt them.Later, when Brother Juequn walked across the round arch bridge, he heard Shuhua complaining to him, saying, "Second brother, you sit here and don't make a sound, and don't care about it. You're going to be a Buddha." He told Shuhua After taking a look, seeing her angry face, he replied: "Third sister, what are you doing with this kind of nosy business? Do you think they still have hope in this environment? I might as well do some serious things when I have time." "Looking at you, you seem to be glad they didn't learn well," Shuhua said dissatisfied. Juemin paused, and then replied: "Yes, this can also teach our elders a lesson: harming others will also harm ourselves. I will definitely see the results of those people." "What do you mean?" Shuhua asked in surprise.She paid attention to Juemin's face, and suddenly asked in horror: "You hate them so much?" Juemin stood up, walked in front of Shuhua, put his hands on her shoulders, and said painfully: "You forgot that we are still under their control?" After a while he explained again: "I hate you!" It's not them, it's what they do." "No, I'm not afraid of them," Shuhua said struggling, and she only heard his first sentence. "We shouldn't be afraid of them either," Juemin continued encouragingly, "Let's go over there, Sister Qin and the others have been talking for a long time." Shuhua stood up obediently.The brother and sister walked down the grassland through the stone steps, and heard someone shouting from the other side of the round arch bridge: "Cuihuan!" It was Qixia, she was running furiously, holding a basket in her hand, and she was walking on the bridge, while speaking loudly to Cuihuan: "Cuihuan, you are all here, you are looking for me to death!" "You haven't figured it out yourself, and you still have to make a fuss," Cuihuan complained with a smile as she went to meet her. "Don't blame me, even Eldest Young Master and Mei Young Master have gone a long way in vain," Qixia said as she walked off the bridge.Behind her, two figures appeared on the bridgehead.They walked and talked.One is wearing a gray patriotic cloth robe, that is Juexin; the other is wearing a blue lake crepe jacket with a green mandarin jacket, that is Young Master. "Young master! Young master Mei!" Cuihuan exclaimed in surprise.Her cry disturbed Qin and Yun, and when they saw Juemin and Shuhua walking towards Juexin, they stopped talking and went to the bridge to meet Juexin.