Chapter 28 My sister-in-law who asks me to think of a way

The third brother and I are a bit alike, both in looks and temperament, so we can talk the most.When I was teaching at a certain university in the western suburbs of Beiping, he was studying there. After class, we often went for walks and chatted with each other in the wild.Like me, his interest in women is limited, and he rarely makes further plans.So until he graduated from university, went abroad, and came back to work in the factory, he still didn't have a lover. Six years ago, I went abroad for the second time. I passed through Nanjing and stayed for a week. My third brother came from the factory in Gejiang to accompany me to play every day.One Sunday, a foreign friend drove a car and took us to see the Great Stone Monument and had a picnic there.It was originally scheduled to come back at four o'clock in the afternoon, but the car broke down halfway, and it was not until six o'clock that he entered the city gate.The third brother was very restless in the car. When he arrived at my residence, he hurriedly took a shower, changed into a beautiful suit, and hurried out again.I was busy at the time and never asked.Until the spring of the following year, when I was in Paris, I suddenly received a letter from him, saying:

"Brother, let me tell you something. I'm engaged. I'm going to get married soon. ... Remember the day we visited the Great Stone Monument last year. On that night, I met her for the first time. ... We are planning to marry in mid-June Get married, and go north after marriage. If you come back from Siberia at the end of June, we can pick you up at Beiping Station. ... How is Paris? Is there any good news? Well, see you in Peiping!" I carefully read the attached letter A photo of the two of them came here, and I hurriedly wrote a card, saying: "I envy you, you actually have a spiritual destination! Paris is very lonely, just like Beiping. You should think of a way for me." I hurriedly put on my overcoat again, went straight to a large department store, bought a set of silverware, put the cards in a case, and sent them back to Nanjing.

At Beiping Station, among the family members, I saw my third sister-in-law, who shook hands with me very affectionately, as if she was a very familiar friend, and she walked side by side with me.Looking back at everyone's smiles, the third brother was especially happy. I squeezed his hand tightly and said in a low voice, "There's yours!" They invited guests in the city first, and then went to the western suburbs to rest.In our upstairs, all the single male professors live, "female guests are not allowed"; I introduced them to my friend X's house to live. X and his wife went to Guling to escape the summer heat. The house was empty, just a stone's throw away from us.They come to eat every day, and I will send them to Xishan to play after the meal.The third sister-in-law often said, "Brother, come with us."

I shook my head and said, "These are places I'm tired of playing, it's so hot, I don't want to go. And I'm not a fool! The third brother laughed and said, "Don't pay attention to him, he gets weirder as he gets older."Let's go by ourselves! " After visiting Xishan, the third brother often said that he had a bad stomach and refused all entertainment. God knows that he was really sick——I had to treat him as a sick person. I had three meals a day and asked the cook to bake some bread and cook some porridge. Sent it over.He always lies on the sofa in the living room and listens to the third sister-in-law playing the piano.When I had nothing to do, I would sit there and look at the two of them coldly. They were very suitable. They were both calm and pure. They liked to talk about ideals and religion. I thought that there was absolute truth, goodness, and beauty in the world.Although there are also love and cuddling in the newlywed era, in terms of talking and demeanor, they are always solemn and sullen. I think I like them very much.

Once, the third sister-in-law talked about their new family, and all the equipment used domestic products as much as possible, so when she talked about the domestic carpets of Beiping Renli Company, she thought the materials were very good and the patterns were quite exquisite. He said he was going to buy one or two for them.We set a date and went to choose together.They go into the city to accompany father, and I will go back in a day or two.I still remember that it was the day before the Marco Polo Bridge incident. I went to the city early in the morning, and when I got home, I saw everything in a mess. The second brother and the second sister-in-law were helping the new couple pack their luggage, and the children were pulling the bride's hand. Clothes, the father is holding a hookah, frowning.It turned out that the station master of Zhengyangmen Station—a relative of ours—called in the morning, saying that the wind outside was unstable and that Pingpu Road might be cut off at any time.I was stunned for a while, and then said: "If you have a chance, you should go first. Your business is in Nanjing. It is inconvenient to stay in the north for a long time. Come and play again next year." I immediately called a car and took them to the station. I stuffed the roll of banknotes that I was planning to buy a carpet into the purse of the third sister-in-law, and watched them squeeze into the train, and the train squirmed away from the station again, like a wild dream in my heart.

They arrived in Nanjing, where they spent the first few months of their wedding in the factory's air-raid shelter.After that, they withdrew with the army and went up the river. The two of them only carried a small suitcase.The set of silverware I gave them was also lost with the capital, luckily the carpet was not bought!And every letter they wrote to me was always very stable, very satisfied, very optimistic, and all kinds of hardships and wanderings were written in a humorous style.Friends wrote to me, mentioning the life of the third brother and his wife in the interior, saying that they couldn't see that the third brother's wife, such a delicate daughter, would work like that.They rented a thatched cottage next to the factory, which included all living rooms.In the hot weather, the third sister-in-law cooked and washed clothes in the small room, sweating like rain, and singing in her mouth.Everyone advised her to save some effort and stop singing. She laughed and said, "Exert a little more energy, and you can sweat less." This is the spirit of the great Chinese sons and daughters. I take off my hat to her!

They had a new son, I wrote to congratulate them, and said: "Your child should be adopted to me, I am the elder brother!" They wrote back: "Don't think about it, you want a son, you can figure it out yourself!" They thought there was nothing I could do on my own. "Okay, let's see!" Men, post income. )