Chapter 3 third quarter
Coming out of Baochen's counting room, Xiumi sat leaning against the door on the stone steps in the courtyard.She saw a woman pounding clothes by the pond at the door, and the sound of the hammer beating echoed in the courtyard.The cotton in the field has grown very high, and the black oil stretches all the way to the river. When the wind blows, the cotton bolls under the leaves are exposed.There was no one in the field.Under the eaves of the courtyard, several swallows were chirping.The moss on the wall is thick and dense, like a piece of green felt, shiny.The sun is warm, and the cool south wind blows on the face, which is very comfortable.She sat there for a long time, looking around, thinking about some irrelevant things.
This morning, during dinner, her mother told Xiumi that she hadn't gone to study at Mr. Ding Shuze's house for more than two months since her father left.Mr. Ding came to ask again last night, he only said that he would not be rewarded for his merits, and he clamored to return all the bundles from his apprenticeship. "It's fine if you're idle at home, why don't you go to him and read a few random books and learn some words."
Xiumi originally thought that after her father made such a fuss, she wouldn't have to go to Ding Shuze's house to live and suffer, but she didn't expect her husband to have a good memory and come to the house again and again to force her.After hearing what her mother said, she put down the bowls and chopsticks, so Xiumi had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk to Mr. Ding's house.
Ding Shu, on the other hand, has been studying for decades, not to mention being an official, he has never even been selected as a scholar.The old man set up a hall to teach apprentices, and collected some salaries to meet the needs of pepper water.However, there are very few Puji families who let their children study with him.It's not that he can't afford the salary, but that he can't bear to let him play the child.Ding Shu's teaching rules are extremely strict. If a student recites a wrong word, he will be hit on his buttocks ten times, and if he writes a wrong word, he will be hit twenty times. Let the students have a long memory, so that they will not make mistakes in the future.When Xiumi went to study with him for the first time, she was very surprised to see five or six of her students all standing in the room studying.After asking, I found out that the buttocks were all swollen from the beating.If you come across someone who turns the pages of a book with his mouth, no need to ask, he must have been beaten so hard that he can't move.
Mr. Ding never hits Xiumi.This is not to say that Xiumi's reading is particularly good, but because she is the only girl among the master's apprentices.Not only did the husband not beat her, but he also made an exception and allowed her to have snacks while studying.She still doesn't like him.She couldn't stand the smell of garlic in her husband's mouth.When her husband took them to study, she was most afraid of him making sounds like "too" or "de", because whenever he made such sounds, the saliva would shoot out far away and land on her face .He also liked to touch her head with his dirty hands, and sometimes even her face!Whenever he came near her, she turned her head away desperately, often twisting her neck.
Ding Shu is usually nosy and loves to argue with others.Except that he can't interfere with the daughter-in-law's childbirth, he has to intervene in all matters in the village, no matter how big or small.His favorite thing to do is to help people fight lawsuits.But once he got his hands on the lawsuit, he would never fail to lose.Over time, everyone in the village regarded him as a useless nerd, only his teacher Zhao Xiaofeng regarded him as a treasure.Whenever Ding Shu was arguing with others, and when both sides insisted on their own opinions and couldn't make up their minds, Mrs. Ding would walk between them with a flowery handkerchief, twisting and twisting, and said with a smile: "Don't argue, don't fight." Noisy, tell me the reason and I will listen, and I will judge for you.After the two of them shared their reasons, Mrs. Ding always concluded like this: "You (her husband) are right, you (anyone other than her husband) are wrong, stop!"
As soon as Xiumi walked into Mr. Ding's study, she saw that Ding Shuze's right hand was wrapped with a thick layer of gauze, his brows were tightly frowned, and his face was full of unspeakable pain. "Sir, what happened to your hand?" Xiumi asked.The flesh on Mr.'s face twitched twice, his face blushed like a smile, and he yelled "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"It seemed that his hand was badly injured.Xiumi was about to turn around to ask her teacher, but the teacher turned her face down and shouted: "You first memorize that "Lu Zhonglianyi Budiqin" to me, and you don't need to ask more about the rest."
Xiumi had to sit down and memorize the book, but she couldn't go on memorizing it just after the first paragraph.The husband asked her to recite again, and Xiumi asked him which one to recite?At this moment, the husband seemed to be unable to hold on any longer, so he didn't answer. He raised his right hand, stood up, asked his wife to help him, and the two went back to the back room.Xiumi was full of doubts, and suddenly saw a child with a tuft of yellow hair on his head writing big characters, so she leaned over and asked him why the master hurt his hand.Xiao Huang Mao is the son of Tan Shuijin, the helmsman, named Tan Si.Seeing no one around, he whispered: "He hit a nail." Xiumi asked him again, okay, how did he hit a nail?Huang Mao chuckled and said, "Embarrassing people will inevitably have embarrassing things."
It turned out that this Dingshu usually likes to catch flying insects when he has nothing to do when he is setting up a library and teaching apprentices.Over time, he actually practiced the unique skill of catching insects with his bare hands.Whether it is mosquitoes, flies, or moths, as long as they fly into the husband's room, it is a dead end.The husband only needs to wave his hand, and he can often catch it with his hands.If the flying insect is perched on the wall, Mr. slaps it with a slap, it will hit the target with a hundred hits.As the saying goes, a crock can never be broken without leaving the well, and the general always dies before the battle. No matter how superb the master's skills are, there are times when he misses.
"This morning, a fly flew into the window. Mr. may be old and dizzy. He stretched out his hand to catch it, but he couldn't catch it. He couldn't help being angry. After searching for a long time in the room, he took a closer look and saw that fat fly resting on the wall. The gentleman stepped forward and used all his strength to slap his palm away. Unexpectedly, it was not a fly, but a nail in the wall. The gentleman slapped it, but he couldn't pull it out for a long time. He had a hard time Howling." After Huang Mao finished speaking, he leaned on the table and laughed.
Xiumi laughed for a while, and when she saw that her husband had come from the courtyard, she quickly gave Tan Si a wink.
The husband still asked her to endorse.Memorize it, and memorize "Guidelines".While Xiumi was reciting, the husband was lying on the wicker chair and humming, his fat belly heaving and heaving, still gasping for air hissingly, making Xiumi laugh again with a thud.The husband frowned and asked her what she was laughing at, Xiumi didn't answer, she just rolled her eyes, the white ones were more white, and the dark ones were less.The husband can't do anything about her.
"Let's go, let's go," the gentleman sat up from the chair, and said to the little Huangmao who was holding back his energy to keep from laughing, "Tan Si, come here." The little Huangmao quickly slipped off the chair when the gentleman called him , came to Mr.The husband said to Xiumi again: "You also come here."
Ding Shu took out an envelope from his pocket.Pass it to Xiumi: "Both of you, send me a letter to Xiazhuang. Xiazhuang, do you both recognize each other?" Both Xiumi and Tan Si nodded.Xiazhuang is not far from Puji, Xiumi and Cuilian have been there several times when they go to the market.
Ding Shu just delivered the letter to Xiumi, and then took it back.The letter was unsealed, and when Mr. took it to his mouth and blew on it, the envelope bulged. Mr. took out the envelope with his uninjured hand, shook it out, read it up and down again, and nodded frequently as he read it. Finally put the letter in an envelope again, handed it to Xiumi again, and then said:
"You go east along the main road in the west of the village, go straight, and then turn a big bend, you can see Xiazhuang. When you arrive at the entrance of Xiazhuang village, you will see a large pond with a grave in the middle of the pond , There are reeds, thatch, etc. growing on it, you don’t care about it, look at the other side of the pond. There are three big willow trees on the other side, and the house facing the middle willow tree is Xue Juren’s home. Hand over the letter to Xue Juren face to face. If he is not at home, bring the original letter back, and never hand it over to anyone else. Remember, don’t forget. Tan Si is a playful kid, so you have to watch him, Xiumi. Let him play with the water. If Xue Juren wants to give me a letter, you can bring it back, if you don’t have it, forget it, go back early.”
After Ding Shu finished speaking, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and said to Xiumi: "When I read the letter just now, did you put the letter in the envelope?" Xiumi said: "Put it in." .” Ding Shu said: “Is it really released?”
"I saw the letter was put in," Xiumi said, "Why don't you read it again?" She handed the letter to the husband.Ding Shu pinched it with his hands, and glanced at the envelope with squinted eyes, so he was relieved.
Xiumi led Tan Si all the way out of Puji Village and walked west along the river.Tan Si said: "This letter must be very important. I saw Mr. write the letter in the morning, put it in and take it out, take it out and put it in again, and check it back and forth four or five times."
Xiumi asked him if he had seen Xue Juren before. Tan Si said that he had seen him twice at his husband's house. He was a rich man in Xiazhuang and had a big black mole on his face.
After a while, they came to the big temple in the east of the village.The temple has long been dilapidated, and the main hall in the middle has all the tiles gone, revealing black rafters.Only the side halls on both sides can still accommodate people. From a distance, it looks like a duck that is shedding its feathers.Xiumi still remembers that when she came back from the market in Xiazhuang one year, her mother took her to the temple to escape the rain.In front of the temple, there is a stage made of mud, overgrown with weeds, and it has been a long time since I sang operas here.The temple has been in disrepair for a long time, and only beggars or wandering monks occasionally rest there.Puji people want to burn incense and worship Buddha, so they go to the other side by boat.
It was almost noon when they arrived at the entrance of Xiazhuang Village.Sure enough, it was a pond with three willow trees and a grave in the pond.The courtyard door of Xue Ju's house was closed, and when he pushed it with his hand, it was locked inside.Tan Si knocked on the door, but no one answered for a long time.Xiumi put her ear against the door and listened, it seemed that someone was talking, it was buzzing, and she couldn't hear it clearly.Xiumi turned around and suddenly saw a man wearing a felt hat fishing under the shade of a tree on the other side of the pond.Hearing the knock on the door, the fisherman bowed his waist, turned his body and looked this way.Xiumilala pulled Tan Si's sleeve and pointed to that side. The man immediately shrank his head and squatted down. The dense reeds covered him.
Tan Si patted on the door for a long time, then raised his voice and yelled inside twice, but still no one answered the door.Tan Si said to Xiumi: "Why don't we just stuff the envelope through the crack of the door." Xiumi said: "No, Mr. Ding told us to hand over the letter to Xue Juren." Lock it, it means there are people in the house, why didn’t anyone come out?” Then he pressed his face to the crack of the door and peeped in, when he saw it, he yelled “Ouch” and sat down on the ground in fright .
When he called, the door opened.A guy in a long gown opened the door a crack, leaned out, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"Scared me to death, scared me to death!" Tan Si was still sitting on the steps by the threshold, yelling, "Mom, mother."
"We're looking for Xue Juren." Xiumi said.
"Where are you from?" the man asked.
"From Puji." Xiumi said.
She turned her head again and looked across the pond. She saw the fishing hat with its brim pulled down, its waist bent, and it was still looking this way through the reed bushes.In the bright light, Xiumi could see that his back was hunched over badly.
The guy looked them up and down for a long time, and then said in a low voice: "Come with me."
It turned out that there was a long and narrow passage inside the door, with high stacked walls on both sides, so the sunlight could not come in, it was gloomy, and it seemed that the end could not be seen at a glance.To the very inside, there is another courtyard gate, which is Xue Juren's residence.No wonder the people inside couldn't hear me after I knocked on the door for a long time.
Entering the yard, Xiumi saw two horses tied under the locust tree, one was red and the other was white, both wagging their tails, and there was a fresh smell of horse dung in the air.Xue Ju's family must have had a lot of guests. She heard noisy voices, and it seemed that some people were arguing about something.Passing through the courtyard and the hall in the front yard, there is another large yard behind. There is a gazebo in the southwest corner of the yard. A group of people crowded in the pavilion. Wait a minute, I'll call Xue Juren to talk to you."
This guy is a man, but he talks like a woman, humming.
Seeing that the clerk had left, Xiumi asked Tan Si: "Why did you yell just now, and I was so frightened that I lost my soul." Tan Si said, "I was looking in with my eyes, but I didn't expect the ghost inside. Things are also sticking to the door, looking out with eyes, the eyelashes of the two of them are almost touching together, do you think it makes people scared?"
"How could it be him?!" Xiumi murmured, her eyes suddenly dodged and her expression changed abruptly.
"Who are you talking about?" Tan Si looked at Xiumi in a daze.Her face turned blue at first, then turned pale again, she shrank her neck, her teeth were chattering, she didn't speak, she just grabbed his clothes with her hands.Tan Si looked into the distance, and it turned out that there were three people walking towards them from the pavilion.
Three people came from the pavilion, the one in front was the guy just now, the one in the middle was tall and tall, with a big black mole on the corner of his eyebrow, he must be Xue Juren.And the person walking at the end, holding a teacup in his hand, was none other than Zhang Jiyuan.
When the three of them walked up to them, Xue Juren said loudly, "What do you want from me?"
Xiumi froze for a moment, and tremblingly took out the teacher's letter from her bosom, without daring to look up, handed it to Tan Si, and Tan Si handed it to Xue Juren.
Xue Juren took the letter and looked at it. He seemed a little unhappy, and said, "It's Ding Shuze again." He opened the letter and read it under the sun.
Zhang Jiyuan walked up to Xiumi's side, put a hand on her shoulder, and said softly, "I came here to see my friends. I didn't expect such a coincidence to meet you."
Her heart was beating wildly, and only half of her shoulders felt numb.Xiumi didn't dare to look up at him, but secretly cursed in her heart: Take it away!Get your damn hands off!She tried to move her body a little, but her feet just wouldn't work.Her body trembled more violently.
Zhang Jiyuan finally moved that hand away.He smelled faintly of cigarettes.He was drinking tea, the cups clinked with the cup holders.After a while, she heard Zhang Jiyuan smile, put his face close to her ear and said, "See how scared you are, don't be afraid, Brother Xue and I have been old friends for many years, let's talk about something."
Xiumi ignored him.The heat from his mouth made her ears itch.From a distance, she saw a few people leaning on the pillars beside the gazebo, talking in a low voice.A pear tree next to the gazebo was broken in two for unknown reasons.
After reading the letter, Xue Juren said with a smile, "Ding Shu is an old dog who haunts me all day long."
"Did you try to fill in for him in the capital?" Zhang Jiyuan said.
"That's right. He kept saying that he and my father were friends of eight worshippers, but when I told him about it when I was in Beijing, my father said he never knew him." Xue Juren said, "Wrote so many poems again, huh! It doesn't make sense. "
"Where does he know that today he made up the canon history, and tomorrow the head will fall, he will join in the fun." Zhang Jiyuan laughed.
Xue Ju said humanely: "It's true. People in their seventies can do it?"
Afterwards, Xue Juren said to Tan Si: "Go back and tell Mr. Ding that you have received the letter, and that Xue will come to the door to answer you some other day." After speaking, he looked at Xiumi and then at Zhang Jiyuan: "Since they are your cousins, why not invite them to hang around for a while, and leave after eating."
When Xiumi heard this, she didn't answer, but shook her head desperately.
Zhang Jiyuan said: "Cousin seldom goes out, but today she bumped into me here unexpectedly, she was frightened, why don't they go back first."
"Also."
It was still the guy who sent them out. Just as they walked into the courtyard, they suddenly heard the two behind them burst into laughter.She didn't know why her cousin and Xue Juren laughed, but she could tell that there was nothing serious about the laughter.I just hate it so much that my teeth are sour.Then Tan Si asked long and short questions all the way: Where is your cousin from?Why have I never seen it in Puji?How could we meet here?Since he is your cousin, why are you so scared?Xiumi just walked with her head down, and after a while, she came out of the cold path and came out into the bright sun.The guy said, "I'm not going to see you off," and closed the courtyard door.
There was no one outside the courtyard.The old fishing man on the other side of the pond was also gone now.Tan Sidao: "This man is dead, why should he bury his body in the middle of the pond?" Xiumi knew that Tan Si was talking about the grave in the middle of the pond, but Xiumi was not interested in it at the moment.She pushed Xiao Huangmao's arm and pointed to the opposite side of the pond: "Did you see a person fishing there just now?"
Huang Mao said he had never seen it.
"He was fishing here just now, why did he disappear after a while?"
"Probably went home for dinner. It's none of your business to go fishing?"
Rounding the pond, they went to where the man had been fishing.Among the sparse reeds, Xiumi saw a fishing rod lying on the water, swinging back and forth by the wind.She went over and picked up the fishing rod to look at it.It turned out to be just a bamboo pole.There is neither thread nor hooks on it.
strangeness!
Huang Mao was only there urging her to go quickly, his stomach was already growling with hunger.
The two walked towards Puji one after the other.Xiumi felt like she was dreaming.Where is Zhang Jiyuan from?What exactly did he want to do in Puji?Who is Xue Juren?And the old man in the felt hat by the pond, she clearly saw him fishing there, why is there neither a buoy nor a line hook on the fishing rod?
She vaguely knew that there was another world outside of her courtyard house with beautiful flowers and trees, this world was silent and had no boundaries.They met no one along the way.Xiumi felt that the sky was high and far away, and the small canals, ravines, mounds, rivers, and even the sunlight in front of her eyes became illusory.
When they arrived in the village, Xiumi asked Huang Mao to go to Mr. Ding to answer, and then walked home alone.Seeing Cuilian washing the tent by the pond, she walked towards her and asked for no reason: "Big Zui, tell me...is there a Xue Juren in Xiazhuang?"
"You mean Xue Zuyan, why not? Isn't his father a high-ranking official in the capital?" Cuilian said.
Xiumi let out an "oh" and went upstairs.
One night, when the whole family was eating around the table, Zhang Jiyuan started telling his "three-legged chicken" joke again.He had already told this joke a few days ago, and now he told it again from the beginning with great interest, and everyone was laughing.Magpie laughed because she really thought the story was funny, even if Zhang Jiyuan had told it a hundred times, she would still laugh secretly, her teeth clinking against the side of the bowl, rattling.My mother laughed out of politeness, and she laughed twice as usual to show that she was listening.Cuilian probably thought it was an old-fashioned joke that everyone in Puji Village would tell, but the magpie couldn't stop laughing, so she laughed too.Baochen has a good temper, and he always smiles at everyone. Besides, he will go back to Qinggang to pick up his son early in the morning, but his smile is a bit exaggerated.
Only Xiumi didn't smile.
Zhang Jiyuan blinked at her from time to time while talking and laughing.Those eyes were complicated, as if they wanted to reach a tacit agreement with her for this morning's meeting, or in other words, keep a secret together.Even if she didn't look up at him, Xiumi could feel that his eyes were shining brightly, as if the words he spoke had become another completely different language, floating out from the wet eyelashes, floating in the dim light.Xiumi lowered her head to eat, and finally waited until Zhang Jiyuan finished the joke, but unexpectedly Magpie asked in a daze: "Then why does the chicken have three legs?" It seemed that she didn't understand at all, and everyone laughed again one game.
Baochen was the first to finish eating, put down his chopsticks, shook his sleeves, and left.Cuilian said to her mother, "I shouldn't have given him the money today, and I have to take it to Houcun to fill the bottomless pit."
Mother said, "How do you know he's going to Miss Sun's house?"
"Hey, that fandie came to borrow the sieve this afternoon. I saw them talking in the corridor, pulling and pulling. I wish I could..." Cuilian said.
Mother didn't let her go on, she kept winking at Cuilian.He looked at Xiumi again, as if wondering if Xiumi could understand what they were saying.
Zhang Jiyuan still lingered there after finishing his meal.He leaned on the chair and picked his teeth with a toothpick. After picking his teeth, he went to pick his nails. He picked all ten fingers, and finally bit the toothpick in his mouth. , as if thinking about something.After a while, he took out a small iron box and a pipe from his pocket. He stuffed tobacco into the pipe, leaned on the lamp to light the fire, and started smoking.
Granny Meng broke in from nowhere, and she came to play cards with Baochen.Cuilian smiled and said, "He has a new partner today."
Granny Meng said: "This is the best way. I hate Baochen's thing the most. After winning a few pennies, I hum a ditty there proudly, which makes people's hearts flutter. It's no wonder if you don't lose!" , came to pull mother.Mother couldn't stand her persuasion, so she said: "Okay, I'll play two laps with you today." Before leaving, she asked Cuilian and Magpie to replace all the beds at home with mats.Granny Meng answered, "It's getting so hot, it's time to change the mat." After speaking, she dragged her mother away.
As soon as her mother left, Cuilian seemed to be the manager.She asked the magpie to boil a pot of water and scald the mat.If the bamboo mat is not used for a year, it is afraid that there will be bugs.When Xiumi saw that the magpie was going to boil water, she asked her to boil more water, just in time for her to wash her hair.Cuilian said: "Wash your hair at night, I'm afraid you won't be able to get married when you grow up."
"It's better if you don't get married!"
"There's an old saying that women don't want to marry and men don't want whoring, these are the biggest lies in the world." Cuilian laughed.
Xiumi said, anyway, she doesn't marry, and she won't marry anyone.
At this time, Zhang Jiyuan pulled his big pipe out of his mouth, and suddenly interjected: "Maybe I really don't need to marry in the future."
When Cuilian heard this, she was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed: "Uncle, you put it lightly, this girl won't marry when she grows up, and her parents left her to cook at home?"
"You don't understand this." Zhang Jiyuan said, seeming to dismiss Cuilian's words.
"We country people have never seen the world. We can't compare with uncle." Cuilian teased, "But according to what you said, women in this world don't marry or have children. People in this world Sooner or later they will all die."
"Who told you not to have children? Of course you have to have children, but you don't need to get married." Zhang Jiyuan said seriously.
"If you don't get married, can you go to the cracks in the rocks and make a child?"
"Whenever you fancy someone, you just go to his house and have a baby with him." Zhang Jiyuan said.
"You mean, if a man falls in love with a girl, he can go to her house and marry her?"
"Exactly."
"No need for three media and six employment? And no need to discuss with parents?"
"Exactly."
"What if the girl's parents don't agree? They block the door and don't let you in."
"That's easy, kill them."
Cuilian couldn't believe her ears.Zhang Jiyuan talked wildly, but Cuilian was not sure that he really thought so, and was still making her happy.
"What if the girl herself disagrees?" Cuilian asked.
"Kill it as usual." Zhang Jiyuan said without hesitation.
"If... if there are three men who all fall in love with the same girl, what do you think should be done?"
"It's very simple, it's decided by lottery." Zhang Jiyuan said with a smile.He got up from his chair, and it looked like he was going to leave. "In the future society, everyone is equal and free. He can marry whoever he wants. As long as he wants, he can even marry his own sister."
"According to what you say, the whole of Puji won't be turned into a big brothel?"
"It's roughly the same." Zhang Jiyuan said, "There is only one difference, no one needs to pay."
"Uncle is really good at telling jokes, if that's true, you men will be very happy." Cuilian said sarcastically.
"Aren't you the same?"
Zhang Jiyuan laughed out loud.He gasped with laughter.Finally, he turned around, stroked his hair, and left.
"Fart." After Zhang Jiyuan left, Cuilian spat and scolded, "This little beard doesn't say a word of seriousness all day long. He's too busy to panic, so he just makes fun of us."
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