Chapter 22 Section VIII

The funeral was held early the next morning. The wife's cemetery was finally chosen in a cotton field not far from the lily needle field.Baochen transplanted a bay laurel, a tasong and a clump of swallow bamboo beside the tomb.In the days just after the burial, Baochen went to visit the grave every night.Holding a lantern and a sharp ax in his hand, he wandered around the cemetery all night, and returned home to sleep at dawn. At that time, Baochen was already preparing to pack up and return to his hometown in Qinggang.He moaned all day long, and sometimes wept alone in the counting room.

Do you want to take the little things with you?He hesitated. Baochen said that he would guard his wife's grave for forty-nine days, and he would return to Qinggang after seven or seven days.There is no delay for a day.Every time the magpie heard what he said, she would hide under the stove and cry.Tiger knew that she had nowhere to go. One night, Baochen went around the cemetery and came back early.Magpie asked him why he came back so early.Bao Chen's face was ashen, and he kept swearing, it seemed that only by swearing constantly could he relieve his tension. "Ri his mother, Ri his mother, someone is there, it scares me to death."

The magpie asked, "Who's there?" Bao Chen sighed, "Who else could it be except her?" Baochen said that when he arrived at the cemetery, he lit a pot of cigarettes.Before he finished smoking the pot of cigarettes, he vaguely felt a figure on the other side of the grave swaying. "I really thought I saw a ghost!" At first he thought he was wrong, but he didn't expect this figure to walk towards him.With disheveled hair and a faint yellow face, she said to him in a hoarse voice: "Tilt your head, don't be afraid, it's me, Xiumi." Xiumi walked to Baochen's side, sat down next to him, and asked, "Can you give me a puff of your dry tobacco?"

Bao Chen tremblingly handed her the pipe.She took the cigarette and smoked without saying a word.It's really good to see her smoking.Baochen collected himself and asked her, "So, you also smoke?" Xiumi smiled and said, "Yes, I have also smoked opium, believe it or not?" After she finished smoking, she tapped the pipe on the sole of her shoe and handed it to Bao Chen: "You can fill another pot for me." Baochen filled another pot of cigarettes for her.He saw her hands, her lips, her whole body trembling as she lit the fire. "Did you keep the land deed at home?" She took a few puffs of cigarettes and asked suddenly.

Baochen replied, "The old lady kept it." "You go back and find it, and send the tiger to the school tomorrow." "What do you want the title deed for?" Bao Chen asked. "I sold the land at home," she said calmly. "Which piece of land did you sell?" Baochen was startled, and he stood up instinctively from the ground. "It's all sold." "Xiuxiu, you, you..." Baochen stomped his feet anxiously, "You sold all the land, so what shall we eat in the future?" Xiumi said: "What are you worrying about? Besides, aren't you and Tiger going back to Qinggang?"

Bao Chen said that when she stood up, she looked very scary.He wondered again if he had met a ghost, so he foolishly walked around Xiumi several times and asked timidly: "Girl, aunt, are you Xiuxiu? I'm not talking to a ghost, am I?" Xiumi smiled and said, "Do you think I look like a ghost?" With her smile, Bao Chen believed even more that he had encountered a ghost.Bao Chen ignored her crazy words, jumped up, took a few steps back, plopped, and kowtowed in front of his wife's tomb.However, after he kowtowed twice, he froze like a zombie, because a white hand rested on his shoulder and said softly to him in a hoarse voice:

"Turn around and take a good look at me..." Bao Chen didn't dare to turn his head back, and said in his mouth, "Whether you're a ghost or a human, I'll know as soon as I ask." "What's the matter? You ask." Baochen said: "You said you sold all the land, but do you know how many acres of land our family has?" "One hundred and eighty-seven mu is divided into two and seven per cent." "Our family's land is close to the village, and far away is ten or twenty miles away. How do you know if you never ask about the crops?"

"Cuilian knows. She took me there the day the land was sold." "There are so many lands, with a radius of tens of miles, which rich man can afford them?" "I sold it to Long Qingtang of Meicheng. Before long, he will send someone to ask for the title deed." "Have you drawn a bet?" "The painting is locked." "Why are you selling the land? These lands have been passed down from generation to generation in the Lu family." "I'll wait for the money." "How much silver did you sell?" "You don't have to worry about this." Xiumi's tone suddenly became severe.

Although it was winter, Baochen's sweat came out immediately.He knew that the Long Qingtang that Xiumi mentioned just now was the leader of the Anqing Taoist Association under the hands of Xu Baoshan, the leader of the Qing gang, and had been controlling the private salt and brothels in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou for a long time. How did this man know Xiumi? Since then, Baochen has become less fond of talking to people.He goes out on the dew in the morning, and returns in the dew at night.With his hands behind his back, he wandered around all the lands of the Lu family, and when he had visited all the lands, he locked himself in the counting room and could not come out.

When he saw the little things, he wept.Cupping his small face with his big rough hands, he said, "Puji, Puji, you are now a pauper." When the day of delivery came, Puji arrived with three large green velvet sedan chairs.Feng Mazi, Long Qingtang's chief housekeeper, brought two capable assistants to the house.Baochen neatly piled up the ledger, the roster of tenants, and the land deeds, and piled them up in front of the chief housekeeper, and it was over. Long Qingtang's big butler happily flipped through the ledger, smiling from ear to ear. At the end, he looked at Bao Chen who was in a daze, and said: "As the saying goes, a thousand years of land is exchanged for a hundred masters, and every transaction is a new one. The vicissitudes of life, the world has always been like this. Bao Steward should not be too sentimental. Since you manage the accounts well , might as well bring your family and move to Meicheng with us, Uncle Long, and you will still take care of these fields."

Baochen got up, and said with tears: "Your Excellency, I am grateful for your kindness. I have followed the Lu family to learn from Master Lu since I was a child. It has been more than fifty years since I went to the capital, went down to Yangzhou, and finally passed away. Now the world is in decline. , the family is in decline, the servant has no morals and incompetence, and is also fatuous and old, how can he stand up to Lord Long? The only thing is to return to the roots of the leaves, so as to send away the old age..." Before he finished speaking, he burst into tears and sighed. Feng Guanjia said: "It's a matter of being loyal to others. Bao Guanjia's righteousness does not eat Zhou Su, and his loyalty is worthy of admiration. I can't force others to be difficult. However, I still have one thing to ask, and I hope Brother Bao will fulfill it." "As long as the servant can be the master, he should serve his life." Bao Chen said. Butler Feng turned the ring on his hand around and said, "I heard that the Lu family has a rare treasure called 'Phoenix Ice Flower', which can predict good and bad futures. Have you also learned a lot?" Bao Chen said: "Since the master disappeared, the family has declined day by day, and the few pearls and jade jewelry in the family have been pawned. Even the silverware accumulated by the master when he was an official has long been exhausted. Now the land has changed hands. , there are only a few dilapidated houses, where are there any treasures?" Butler Feng pondered for a moment, stood up, and said with a smile: "Before I came to Puji, I heard Master Long Qingtanglong say by chance that there is such a treasure in your mansion called Phoenix Ice Flower. I was curious and thought about it." By the way, it's an eye-opener. Since Steward Bao said so, I'm leaving now." After sending Steward Feng and his party away, Bao Chen stood blankly in the courtyard, and couldn't help but said to himself, "Steward Feng said just now that there is a rare treasure in the house. I have been in the master's house for many years, and I have never heard of it... ..." The magpie was drying clothes on the rope. Hearing what Baochen said, he replied, "Could he be talking about the earthen kettle? I heard that the master bought that thing from a beggar back then." "What earthen cauldron?" Bao Chen was taken aback and asked. The magpie said: "That earthen cauldron was originally a beggar's begging bowl. I heard from my wife that when the master saw it, he loved it like a treasure and wanted to buy it right away, but the beggar refused to sell it, and finally bought it back with two hundred taels of silver. Since then, the master has played with it in the attic every day. When the wife was alive, she once sighed and said that the master's madness may have been buried after buying this utensil." "Where is this earthen cauldron now?" Bao Chen's expression changed suddenly. "Probably still in the attic." "Go and take it off carefully, and let me see." Magpie wiped his wet hands on the apron, and went upstairs.After a while, she came down with something like a salt bowl.This big bowl is flesh red, and there are really two green phoenix coiled on the bowl.Due to the age, it is covered with dust and cobwebs, and there are a few grains of rat droppings stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Bao Chen wiped it off with his sleeve, and watched it carefully in the sun. "It's just an ordinary begging bowl. It's so common. I can't see anything good about it." "Since Master is so precious, he has his reasons." Magpie said. "There is a pair of Phoenixes, butler Feng is right. But what about Binghua?" "The lady and the master are gone," Magpie said, "Who are you asking?" "But this Long Qingtang, how could he know that our family has such a thing?" Bao Chen said, "I think there may be some articles in it." For several days, Tiger saw his father inspecting the kiln bowl in the sun all day long, in a daze. "I think you're probably crazy too." Magpie saw that he didn't think about eating and drinking, and when he got angry, he snatched it from his hand and carried it to the kitchen.Later, she pickled a bowl of kimchi in it. In those days, all kinds of rumors spread in the village.At the same time, the Puji Academy was also crumbling under the heavy snow for days.Tiger first heard that the Xiumituo people used the silver they got from selling land to go to Jiangbei to buy guns.But soon there was news that Xu Fu, the steward of the school in charge of this matter, fled with the money.He was seen hitchhiking in a sampan at dawn and heading down the river.Soon after, passing merchant sailors said that Xu Fu used the money to open a pharmacy in Jinling and raised three wives. Xu Fu's escape caused a series of changes.Yang Dazi and the widow Ding came to the Jialan Hall in the middle of the night to bid farewell to the principal Xiumi.Xiumi was taken aback, and said in amazement: "Zhonggui, why do you want to leave?" Yang Dazangzi said that he was single, with no tiles on the roof and no place to stand on the ground, and his life was worthless.Later, Principal Meng decided to marry Mrs. Ding, build a thatched hut, and open up a few acres of wasteland. Although the life is not rich, it can live on. Now that Mrs. Ding is pregnant, it is very inconvenient to dance with a spear and a stick. , and the news that the imperial court was about to attack made people panic, the two of them discussed for a few days and decided to disband and return to the fields. They drafted a document overnight and voluntarily left the school. Although Yang Dazangzi's words sound a bit harsh, they are also true.From the negative side, Xiumi understood a mystery that had been accumulated in her heart.Why did the revolutionary Zhang Jiyuan list "persons with fixed property" as the top ten crimes of murder?Xiumi was puzzled when she read his diary, but now she suddenly understands. Soon after, Erbald also left Puji Academy.Among the members of the Puji Local Self-Government Association, Er Baldzi was once one of the hardcore members. When he joined the association, he swore the most vicious oaths, such as the heart-wrenching, the leading to death, and the yellow sand covering the face. The lines, spoken with certainty, seem to be the case.His leaving without saying goodbye made Xiumi very sad.At the same time, Xiumi seemed to have sensed the seriousness of the situation.After the second bald man left for seven or eight days, he suddenly came back, but he was not a prodigal son.He picked up a pig's head and a pair of pig's intestines, and happily came to Xiumi's room, which surprised Xiumi.Xiumi asked him where he had been these days, and the second bald man replied as if singing an opera: "I, now the big gold tooth is missing. Once the big gold tooth dies, there will be a shortage of pig butchers in Puji Village, with a population of about a hundred or so. I'm thinking about doing this job. Today, the butcher shop opens. , I specially sent some pig heads and pig intestines for the headmaster to try." In less than half a month, most of the people in the school had already left.Those craftsmen and beggars from other places seemed to have made an appointment, and they brought everything they could carry, swept away, and disappeared without a trace overnight.The most hateful thing was a carpenter. When he left, he even took down a gate in the temple and carried it away. Except for Cuilian, Chef Lao Wang, Sun Waizui, Tan Si, Wang Qidan, and Wang Badan brothers, there were only a handful of twenty or so people.The remaining people shook their heads and sighed, each with their own ideas, and worse news followed.Not long after, Guantang, Huangzhuang and other places that had agreed to launch an incident with Puji sent people to send urgent reports one after another. The imperial court suddenly sent a brigade of officers and soldiers to capture all the revolutionaries who were in a meeting, and they chopped off their heads. , Take it back to Meicheng to ask for merit, chop the body into several sections, string them up with ropes, and hang them in the village.Because of the cold weather, these look like bacon used for Chinese New Year. The bastard has been planning to leave the school for a long time.He didn't know what his brother Wang Qidan was thinking.He was worried that the other party would laugh at his timidity.In fact, Wang Qidan had exactly the same thoughts as him. Although the two are twin brothers, they are usually inseparable, but each has their own calculations, each has their own ulterior motives, and are suspicious of each other, but they give each other the illusion of staying in the school wholeheartedly.As the wind became more and more serious, especially the departure of the second bald man, the bastard felt that he could not go on like this any longer. Once, in a small tavern in the village, the bastard mumbled for a long time while drinking wine, and finally said tentatively to his brother, "Brother, why don't we go back to the blacksmith's shop to forge iron?" Hearing what he said, Wang Qidan heaved a long sigh of relief, and the troubles and doubts accumulated in his heart for many days were swept away, but he smiled calmly and said to his younger brother: "Bastard, you are scared!" ?” "Don't be afraid." The bastard's face turned red all of a sudden, and he didn't dare to look at Wang Qidan's face. "Don't be afraid, I'm afraid." Wang Qidan poured a glass of wine for his younger brother, "If we don't do it, we won't stop. We might as well leave Puji and fly away." But where?The two had another dispute over this matter.The bastard thinks it's better to go to Meicheng to visit the uncle who opened the cloth shop, but what Wang Qidan means is that they should go to the aunt's house in Tongzhou to settle down.Neither of the two could convince the other, and finally decided to simply go to Nanjing to join Xu Fu. Early the next morning, when the rooster was crowing, the two brothers left the school quietly under the snowflakes.They planned to ferry to Cheung Chau first, and then diverted to Nanjing.When they arrived at Jin Ferry, they saw Tan Shuijin, the helmsman from a distance, planning to raise the sails and set sail.Seeing the two brothers, Shui Jin put down the gangplank again and called them to board the boat.When they arrived on the boat, the two brothers couldn't help being surprised.They saw Lao Wang, the chef of the school, smoking a pipe, and another man, with a big burden on his head, was leaning against the side of the boat, closing his eyes and meditating.This person is Sun Waizui. Sun Waizui was originally from Taizhou, and he lived in exile all year round. When Zhang Jiyuan came to Puji to form a secret society, he was one of the early backbones.The four of you look at me and I look at you, tacit understanding with each other, without saying a word. The first to break the silence was Chef Lao Wang.He unbuttoned his clothes, and took out two copper spoons, a thin knife, and seven or eight spoons from his pocket, all of which were made of copper. While inspecting these things, he sighed: "Hey, I've been in the school for two years, and now the trees are down and the monkeys are scattered, and these few things left behind are not worth a lot of money." Several people laughed. Sun Waizui said that the principal usually treats him well, and it stands to reason that at this juncture, when the school is employing people, he should not run away from the school.It's just that there is still an old mother who is nearly eighty years old in the church at home. A few days ago, he asked someone to bring a letter, saying that he was seriously ill and bedridden after autumn, and he will see him for the last time when he goes back.Therefore, only to leave. At this time, Tan Shuijin, the helmsman who was rowing the oars, suddenly let out a long sigh, and said: "Some people rush to the examination room late at night, and some people go back to their hometown in a snowstorm. I can only hate that wicked person in my family. He puts away a good job and doesn't do it. He is still obsessed with his obsession... ..." The person Shui Jin was talking about was Tan Si. When the tiger heard about these things from Cuilian, it was almost the end of the new year.Cuilian said that besides her and Tan Si, there are only a dozen or so left in the school, most of them are beggars who fled from Anhui.In those days, Baochen was already buying new year's goods. "Why don't those beggars escape?" he asked Cuilian. "Where can they escape? It's snowing so hard, after all, there is still porridge to drink and steamed buns to eat in the school." Cuilian said. The tiger asked her why she didn't escape?Why didn't Tan Si escape? Cuilian just smiled and said nothing. In the end, she was probably really annoyed by the question, so she poked his nose fiercely with her hand, "If you can understand the reason for this, at your current age, you are still too young." He heard that when the matter came to this point, the principal Xiumi felt at ease.As if nothing happened, he still reads in Jialan Hall every day, and occasionally plays chess with Tan Si.