Chapter 3 Huian Pavilion Legend III

Holding an empty bottle and a bamboo chopstick in my hand, I walked gently into the Hui'an Hall, and pushed open the door across the courtyard. As expected, there were many green insects hanging from the locust tree in the courtyard. Xiuzhen said it was a hanged ghost, like Like the silkworms of Xiuzhen, hanging from the tree with a thread spitting out of its mouth.I put the hangman strips into my empty bottle, and I go home and feed the chickens, and I can get a bottle a day.Those hanged ghosts were packed in small bottles, and they gurgled and quivered. It was really nasty. When I held the bottle filled with hanged ghosts, my arms often felt itchy and numb, as if the hanged ghosts had crawled from the bottle to my hands. not at all.When I was putting the hanged ghost in the bottle, I suddenly thought of Niu'er, and I felt very uneasy.She was beaten again yesterday. She took two pieces of clothes and secretly looked for me. When she entered the door, she said:

"I'm going to find my parents!" One side of her face was red and swollen from the beating. "Where are they?" "I don't know, go to Qihua Gate and look for it slowly." "Where is the Qihua Gate?" "Didn't you say you knew that place too?" "I mean I seem to have dreamed about that place." Niu'er stuffed the two pieces of clothes into an empty box in the west wing, wiped away her tears very consciously, and said bitterly: "I must find my own father." "Do you know what he looks like?" I really admired her, but thought it was too big a thing.

"I search day by day, and I will find my own father and my own mother. I know what they look like in my heart." "Then" I don't know what to say, because I have no idea. Before leaving, Niu'er said that she might leave secretly one day, but she would definitely come here to tell me first, and take away the two pieces of clothing that are here. I was thinking about my little girl yesterday, and I felt very uncomfortable. I couldn’t eat at night. My mother touched my head and said, "It seems a little hot, so I don’t need to eat. Go to bed early." When I went to bed, I still felt uncomfortable, and I couldn’t say anything, so I started to cry. My mother was very strange, she said:

"Why are you crying? Where is it uncomfortable?" I didn't know why I cried and said: "Niuer, her father..." "Niuer's father? What's the matter? What's wrong with her father?" Song's mother also came over, she said: "That's not a thing, must have scolded us Yingzi, or hit you?" "No!" I suddenly realized that I had said something stupid, so I cried desperately: "I want to find my father!" "I'm looking for your father! Alas! It's scary!" Both Song Mama and Mama laughed.Mom said: "Your father is going to visit your uncle today, he will come back late, you go to sleep first!" She said to Song's mother: "Yingzi is used to her father when she is born, and when she feels uncomfortable, her father hugs her to sleep. "

"Are you ashamed?" Mama Song scratched my face with a finger, I ignored her, turned my face to the wall and closed my eyes. I woke up this morning much better, not as restless as yesterday.But now thinking of Niu'er again, I couldn't help but stop the work of catching bugs, thinking blankly, I don't know when Niu'er will leave me. I threw the bottle under the tree, got up and went to the window to look in.Xiuzhen is sitting on an armchair in front of the bed in the back room, facing the bed, all I can see is her flat back, her braids are not done yet.She gesticulates and raises her hand to coax the flies, but where are the flies?I walked into the room quietly, leaned against the table in the outer room, and looked at what she was doing, only to hear her say: "I must know that you went to bed without eating last night, didn't you? How can that be done!"

what!How strange, how did Xiuzhen know that I went to bed without eating last night?I leaned against the door frame of the back room and said: "Who told you that?" "Ah?" She turned her head and saw my frowning expression, and said to me seriously: "Do you still need someone to tell me? This bowl of porridge hasn't been touched at all!" After speaking, he pointed to a bowl and a pair of chopsticks on the tea table beside the bed. That's when I realized that Xiuzhen wasn't talking about me.Ever since the weather got warmer and the closed courtyard door was opened, Xiuzhen has been going in and out of these two rooms all day long, saying things that I both understand and don't understand.At first I thought it was Xiuzhen playing "play house" with me, but later I realized it was not a fake thing, it was too real!Xiuzhen stared blankly at the empty bed for a while, then turned her head, gently pulled me out of the room, and said in a low voice:

"Asleep, let him go to sleep! This illness is really due to him, there is no reason for no relatives!" On the desk in the outer room was the tank of goldfish bought in spring, several of them had already died, but Xiuzhen still changed the water frequently every day, and added a few aquatic plants to the glass tank, and the red fish burrowed around among the green aquatic plants. Go, it's great fun.How do I know that the fish is red and the grass is green?My mother taught me, she said that the primary school entrance examination is coming soon, and the teacher will ask about the color, where I live, and how many people are there in the family.Xiuzhen also raised a box of silkworms. She said to me: "You want to go to school, so we Xiaoguizi should go to school too. I raised some silkworms and spun the silk, so that Xiaoguizi can use it as an ink cartridge."

Some silkworms were already spinning silk, so Xiuzhen put them on a teacup covered with paper and let them spin silk on the paper.It's funny, those silkworms are very good, so they won't crawl under the teacup.Many other silkworms are still eating mulberry leaves. Xiuzhen was cleaning the silkworm excrement. She put the silkworm excrement into a tin can. She had saved a lot and prepared to pack it into a small pillow for Uncle Sikang.Because he needs to take care of his eyes when he reads every day, and silkworm excrement can see clearly. I watched the fish tank quietly from the side, watching the spinning.The tree in the yard is leaning against the window, and the room is very shady, neither of us dare to speak loudly, as if there is a sick person lying in the room to rest.Xiuzhen suddenly asked me:

"Yingzi, do you remember what I told you?" I couldn't remember what it was for a while, because there were too many things she said to me that were true and false.She said that in the future, Xiao Guizi and I would go to school together, and Xiao Guizi would also be admitted to Changdian Primary School.She also told me to go home from Changdian Elementary School, walk along Liulichang to the west gate of the factory, see the pair of big deer horns in the glass window of Lei Wanchun in Lujiao Alley, turn into Chunshu Alley and arrive home.But she also said that she was going to take Xiao Guizi to Uncle Sikang, made a lot of clothes and shoes, and packed all her luggage.

I remember what Xiuzhen said most, or what she said about giving birth to Xiao Guizi.One day, I sneaked here early to find Xiuzhen, and she saw that I didn't even braid my hair, so she took out the hair comb box, took out a horn comb, bone needles and a big red string from it, and spread my hair out, Comb slowly.She was sitting on a chair, and I was sitting on a small bench, sandwiched between her legs, my arms were just on her legs, and my hands were touching her knees, two bones They were all turned into sharp stones, and she was extremely thin.I carried her behind my back, and she asked me, "Yingzi, when were you born?"

"Me? The grass grows and the green leaves come out. My mother said, I was born in that lukewarm spring. What about Xiaoguizi?" Xiuzhen always linked my affairs with Xiaoguizi's, so I also I immediately thought of Xiao Guizi. "Little osmanthus," Xiuzhen said, "the grass is turning yellow and the green leaves are about to fall. She was born in the lukewarm autumn. At that time, osmanthus was fragrant. Have you heard it? Just like I gave you This sweet-scented osmanthus oil is so fragrant." She said, shaking her palm in front of my nose. "Xiaoguizi." I sniffed, smelling the smell of oil, and couldn't help saying it word by word, as if I understood the meaning a bit. Xiuzhen happily said: "By the way, Xiao Guizi, that's how she got her name." Why didn't I see the sweet-scented osmanthus tree?Which tree here is sweet-scented osmanthus? "I asked. "It's not born in this house!" Xiuzhen was already braiding my hair, it was so tight that it hurt to pull my hair, I said: "Why do you use so much strength?" "It would be great if I had so much strength at the time. I gave birth to Xiao Guizi, and I was so weak that I fell into a drowsy sleep. When I woke up, Xiao Guizi was no longer by my side. I heard her crying when I was sleeping. Why? Is it gone after waking up? I asked, where is the child? What did my mother want to say? I was arguing with you, so I carried me to my room. I said, oh. I fell asleep again." Xiuzhen stopped talking here, and my braids were tied up, and she continued: "As if I listened to me Mom said to my aunt, "You can't let her know. It's really confusing. What's the matter? Why can't I get here? Did they give the baby? Or throw it away? Never! Never were able!" I had already stood up and looked at Xiuzhen, who was frowning and thinking blankly.She often stopped talking suddenly, and then said in a low voice, "It's really confusing, what's going on?"When she was putting away her hair box, I saw that the watch I gave Xiao Guizi was in the box. She picked up the watch, put it in her palm, and said, "Xiao Guizi's father also had a big pocket watch. He died and pawned that watch." , He just came back home, don’t mention this poverty! I didn’t tell him that I had it. Anyway, he will come back after a month or so. He told my mother, don’t worry, he went home and sold the ones at the bottom of the mountain. Sweet Potato Field, come to Beijing to marry me. Thousands of mountains and rivers, it’s not easy to go there, if I tell him that I have it, don’t let him think about it! You don’t know how deep his affection is! I didn’t tell I have my mother, so I won’t tell it, anyway, it’s hers, and it’s not too late to talk about it after she gets married..." "What do you have?" I don’t understand. "I have Xiaoguizi!" "Didn't you just say that there are no more?" I didn't understand. "Yes, no more, no more, no more, Xiaoyingzi, why are you bothering me? Listen to me and count for you." She put away the watch I gave Xiaoguizi, and then counted it to me with her fingers listen: "He left in spring. The day he left, the weather was so good. He carried the suitcase and didn't dare to look at me. Some of his classmates and classmates escorted him to the door, so he didn't Well, tell me something else. Fortunately, when I packed his suitcases the night before, we both talked about the same thing. He said that the life in Hui’an is very hard, and everyone who can manage has gone overseas to make a living. I can't grow anything, but I have grown a lot of sweet potatoes. Their family eats sweet potatoes all year round, sweet potato rice, sweet potato porridge, dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries, and sweet potato chips, which can make people outside cry. So, he I was reluctant to let me, a person from the north, go through that hardship. I said no, my mother gave birth to me as an only child, and went to eat sweet potatoes with you, how could she be willing to let me go! He said, you are a dutiful daughter, and I am also a dutiful son, What if my mother detains me and forbids me to come to Beijing again? I said, then I will chase you. Send him to the door, watch him get into the rickshaw, look up at the sky, a white cloud, like a strip The boat moved slowly towards the horizon, as if I was on the boat, my heart was floating, as if I had lost my master. I sent him out and came back to the house, feeling nauseous and dizzy. I regretted not telling him about it, and it was too late to chase him out.Day after day, he never came back. I had a big belly, and I couldn’t hide it from my mother. She was so anxious to question me that I couldn’t tell the truth, but I didn’t care about being shy, so I told everything. my mother.I said, he will come back one day, if he doesn't come back, I will go!After hearing this, my mother gagged my mouth with her hands and said, "Girl, don't say that, it's embarrassing!"If he really doesn't come back, we can't shout out, that's all, and send me back to Haidian. "It was not easy for Xiao Guizi to be born. I didn't have any strength at all. I just smelled the fragrance of the sweet-scented osmanthus tree outside the window. I said to myself, the girl who gave birth will be called Xiao Guizi. The old woman who delivered the baby Tell me to bite my braids, use force, force, and finally fall to the ground, croaking and crying so loudly!" When Xiuzhen said this, she took a big breath, her face turned blue, she couldn't continue the story, so she casually Having said that, she said: "Xiaoyingzi, don't you love your third aunt?" "Who is Third Aunt?" "Me! You call Sikang the third uncle, and I'm your third aunt. You can't settle this. Call me." "Yeah." I laughed, a little embarrassed, but still called her: "Third Aunt, Xiuzhen." "If you see Xiao Guizi, bring her back." "How do I know what Xiaoguizi is like?" "Her," Xiuzhen closed her eyes and thought, "I saw a little meat dumpling from Fendudu when it was born. When I passed out, I heard my mother tell the old woman, look! What a crime, there is a green mark in the middle of the back of the neck, it should not come, but it must come, so that Lord Yan would poke it into the world with his finger! Xiaoyingzi, there is a green mark as big as a finger in the middle of the back of the neck, that is us Xiao Guizi, do you remember?" "Yes." I replied in a daze. So, she asked me now if I remember what I said, is this the thing?I replied to her, "Remember, isn't it about Xiaoguizi's green diary?" Xiuzhen nodded. Xiuzhen packed up the silkworm boxes on the table and said to me again: "Let's paint our nails while he's sleeping." She pulled me into the yard.There are several potted flowers under the wall, Xiuzhen pointed to me, "This is mint leaves, this is nail grass." She picked a few red flowers from nail grass, put them in a small porcelain dish, and we went to the room. Sit down on the doorstep.She was gently pounding the safflower with a piece of rock sugar.I asked her: "Is this what you want to eat? With rock sugar?" Xiuzhen giggled and said: "Silly girl, you just know how to eat it. This is alum, where did you get the rock sugar! Just watch." She smashed the red flowers, and asked me to reach out, and took a clip from the head, picked up the rotten things, piled them on my nails, and told me not to touch them with open hands after they were piled up one by one. , she said when they dried, my fingernails turned red, like hers, and she held out her hand to show me. I opened my hand for a while, already impatient, and I said: "I'm going home." "You must break it when you go home, don't go, listen to me tell you a story." She said. "I want to hear the story of my third uncle." "Be quiet," she waved her hand to me, and said softly, "Let me see if he wakes up first, and if he wants to drink water." She went in and came out again, and sat down with her hands resting on the With his chin resting on his lap, he suddenly stared at the locust tree in a daze. "Say it! You." I said. She was startled, "Huh?" She didn't seem to hear my question, but then she burst into tears, "What's more, there's no one left, no one left! The old one! The young one!" I didn't say a word, and she cried for a while, sobbing, and then she took a big breath, looked at me and smiled, that tear pit!I felt like I had seen Xiuzhen with this face somewhere. Xiuzhen wiped away the tears with her fingers, and took my hand and put it on hers, so that I could relax and not feel tired when I opened my hand with painted nails.She turned sideways again and looked at the gate across the courtyard, as if she was looking at someone.She said to herself: "He came here at this time. He moved into this small room with a roll of bedding and a suitcase. He was wearing a gray coat with a pen pinned to the lapel. I was in the room. The cleaning is not finished yet! Father led him in and said to him, "The houses in the main courtyard of the guild hall are full, and the second master of the Chen family asked you to spare these two small rooms." He said: "Okay, okay, That's good." Dad unpacked the luggage for him and spread out the thin and old quilt. I thought to myself, how will he survive the severe winter in Beijing? Xiaoyingzi, a student who lives in the clubhouse, how many A rich one? Those who are rich will live in an apartment. My father often said, I think back then, the second master of the Chen family came to Beijing to take the exam, and he brought a small reminder to serve the pen and ink! The second master won the exam and was in Beijing When I became an official, I renovated this guild hall. Now, when poor students come to Beijing to study, they always talk to the second master. The second master said that Sikang is a poor student in their village, and he can study well. We asked us to pack up the two huts where the coal piled up for him to live in. I was still rushing to clean the glass, so I didn’t look at him. My father said to him, this quilt! It won’t survive the winter. My father really likes to take care of others. He must have been embarrassed, so he just said nothing. Dad asked him which school he was in, and he said he was in Peking University. Drink! My dad said again, this is not close, I went to the beach! It's a good school! Dad helped him pack those pieces of broken luggage and went out. Before leaving, he saw that I was still cleaning the glass, and he said, that's all right, girl.I followed out and looked back at him, who knew he was looking up at me too!My heart skipped a beat, Maimen Kaner almost fell out!Look at his appearance, how deep are his eyes!Before you see him clearly, he sees through you.When I came back to the house, I ate and slept, with his two eyes that looked at people like that before my eyes.This is fate. There are many college students coming and going in the hall throughout the year, so why do I just...cough! "Xiuzhen's face was slightly flushed, and she raised my hand to see if my dyed nails were dry. She gently blew on my nails, her eyelids drooped, and her eyelashes were like a row of small curtains. She asked me: "Xiaoying, do you understand? Fate?" She didn't necessarily want me to answer her, and I didn't intend to answer her, but I just thought in my heart that there is someone with such long eyelashes, and I thought of mine in the west wing. A crying friend.Xiuzhen went on nagging: I bring him boiled water every day, my father should have done this.Twice in the morning and evening, we boiled a large pot of boiling water and sent them to each room to wash the gentlemen's face and make tea.Father is used to walking around the main courtyard, and always forgets the cross courtyard.Sometimes Sikang would come down to our window to ask for it. 'Long class. ’ he called softly, ‘Is there boiling water? Dad just remembered, and hurriedly sent it to others.Sometimes my father would think of it before he was called, but he was too lazy to go, so he sent me to go.After going back and forth, this errand to deliver boiled water across the courtyard seems to be the one I should do. "I brought water, and didn't say a word to him. I entered the room, and he was sitting at the desk, reading and writing with the lamp on. I just opened the lid of the teapot with a sullen face, and brushed. I heard the sound of boiling water being poured into the pot. He was so timid that he didn’t even dare to tilt his eyes, so he just sat with his eyelids crossed. One day, I was so fresh, I took a step forward and leaned slightly to look at What did he write, but he turned his head and said, "Can you read?" I shook my head. From here on, we started talking." "Where was Xiao Guizi at that time?" I suddenly remembered This person is related to Xiuzhen. "Her!" Xiuzhen laughed, "There's no sign yet! By the way, where did Xiao Guizi go? Did you find it? Is that the lifeblood of both of us? I haven't finished telling you yet, He took my hand one day, just like I took yours, and said: 'Follow me!' He drank some wine, and I was confused, he drank to keep warm, two rooms, Start a small fire, and it happens from time to time. The wind was so strong that day that the door frame slammed. My father and mother went back to Haidian to rent the land, and asked my aunt to accompany me. She fell asleep, so I slipped here. Came across the courtyard. His face was hot and pressed against mine. He talked a lot, and the smell of alcohol sprayed on me. I bought some peanuts and brought them to his room to serve him wine. The north wind beat the window paper, making it sound like a flute. I held his hand, it was warm, and the two of us were close It's not cold anymore. He was sick, and I ran back and forth, but I couldn't hide it from my mother.That day I was carrying porridge and wanted to give it to him, but my mother said, "Don't be suspicious, girl, do you understand?" 'I didn't say a word. From Xiuzhen's eyes, I seemed to see Third Uncle Sikang lying on the bed in the back room; he had disheveled hair, and he had no energy to drink or eat, so he hummed. "What happened later? Are you ready?" I couldn't help asking. "How can I go? I'm about to fall down! So it's Xiao Guizi who came!" "Where is it?" I turned my head to look at the Kuanyuan gate, but there was no one there.In my fantasy, there should be a girl standing by the gate of the courtyard; red-flowered shirt and trousers, a yellow braid like a dog’s tail, big eyes, and a row of long eyelashes like a small curtain, twinkling and twinkling Yes, they are waving to me!I was a little dizzy, as if I was about to fall down. I closed my eyes and opened them again. There was indeed a shadow on the other side of the door. It was getting closer and closer. It turned out that something so big was Xiuzhen's mother looking at me. Waving her hand, she said, "Xiuzhen, why did you let Xiaoyingzi bask in the old man's bed?" "There was no sun in this place just now." Xiuzhen said. "Move away quickly, isn't there shade here?" Old Wang Ma came over and pulled me up. The phantom disappeared in my eyes, and I suddenly remembered the story that Xiuzhen had not finished telling.I say: "Niu'er, no, where is Xiao Guizi? I just said that?" Xiuzhen laughed and pointed at her stomach: "Here it is, not yet born!" Xiuzhen's mother came here to hang clothes in the yard.A rope was pulled from the branch to the wall, and Wang Ma was drying each piece. Xiuzhen looked at it and said: "Mom, let's hang your trousers by the wall, it's inappropriate for Sikang to go in and out." Wang Ma scolded: "Screw you!" Xiuzhen was not angry when her mother scolded her, but said to me: "My mother loves Sikang too. She told my father that we don't have a son, and you have never been educated. It would be a good thing to have someone who can read and write in our house. My father agreed. I Where did I just talk! Oh, he’s cured, am I not sick? He said he was the one who killed me. Didn’t he say he wanted to marry me and teach me to study? At this moment, a telegram came from his home, His mother is sick, tell him to go back quickly..." "Xiaoyingzi", Wang Ma suddenly stopped Xiuzhen's words and said to me: "Why do you love to listen to her nonsense so much? It's really strange, children are afraid of her, and avoid her, but you don't." " Mom, don't disturb me, I haven't finished talking here! I still have something to ask Xiaoyingzi!" Old Wang Ma ignored her and just said to me: "Xiaoyingzi, it's time to go back. I heard Mama Song calling you in the alley just now. I dare not say you are here." After finishing speaking, Old Wang Ma took the empty basin and left.Xiuzhen saw her mother walk out of the courtyard gate, and then said: "Sikang is here, there are..." She counted with her fingers: "It's been more than a month, it's been more than six years, no, there's more than one more." I’ll be back in a month, no, I’ll give birth to Xiao Guizi in one month.” Whether it is six years or more than a month, Xiuzhen is as unclear as I am.At this time, she picked up my hand to have a look, and picked off the dried rot on the nails, oh, my nails are all red!I was so happy that I laughed and played with my hands. "Xiaoyingzi," she said in a low voice, "I have something to ask you. When you see Xiaoguizi, call her and go find her father together. If we find her father, I will be cured." "What disease?" I looked at Xiuzhen's face. "Yingzi, people say that I'm crazy. Do you think I'm crazy? People are picking things up all over the floor and beating people. How can I be crazy? Do you think I'm crazy?" "No," I shook my head, really, I just think Xiuzhen is so cute, so pitiful, she just wants to find her Si Kang and Niu Er, no, Xiao Guizi. "Why can't they come back after leaving?" I asked again. "Sikang must have been detained by his mother. As for Xiao Guizi, I also wondered what happened. She wasn't in Haidian or in my aunt's house. When I asked, my mother became anxious and said:' Throw it away! Why do you keep such a barbarian seed? He won’t come back anyway, cheating people!’ When I heard this, I passed out immediately. When I woke up, they said I was crazy. Xiaoyingzi, I trust you so much You, if you see Xiao Guizi, bring her here, I’ve prepared everything, let’s go back.” I was stunned to hear this, and there seemed to be a picture in my mind, which gradually grew bigger and bigger, and my head felt a little uncomfortable , I promised: "Okay, okay." I ran out of the Kuayuan, ran out of the Hui'an Pavilion, kicked small stones all the way, looked at the red nails on my hand, and returned home.