The afternoon sun shines on an old red brick western-style building.A wasp, golden in the sun, flew past the dark window.All was silent. In this kind of old-fashioned house, the light in the room has always been very dark.Mrs. Xi Wu was sitting by the window, with a large round mirror on the table, and she was cutting her bangs in front of the mirror.At that time, the herringbone-shaped front bangs were still popular, and it was not easy to cut the two sides evenly, requiring a special kind of long scissors. She bought this one specially from Hangzhou. She suddenly snatched her front bangs up, to see what she would look like without her front bangs.The fifth wife will be thirty next year. There seems to be an unwritten law in the "women's world" at that time. Once you reach thirty, you have to lift your front bangs. After thirty, you have to wear front bangs and criticize others. of.Mrs. Fifth looked at her own face in the mirror.She has a fat face with the same character, and her appearance is very ordinary, but everyone says she is blessed, and some people say she looks very sweet.In any case, there is no sign of bad luck at all, but... a very strange fate was born.

She was filling the house, and the wife in front died very young, leaving behind a son and a daughter.The fifth master was young, but he already had three concubines. Later, because he wanted to renew his marriage, he sent them all away, leaving only the third concubine. This fifth master is very talented among their brothers, and his conversation is beautiful. He is very scheming, and the relatives of the older generation say that he is the only one who is the most promising, and he has the hope of revitalizing his family.Sure enough, he went out and served as an official for two terms, and he was very good at making money.It's a pity that it will cost more.When you squander it, your hands are astonishingly large.

Their Xi's family and the fifth wife's natal family were originally relatives, and the fifth master's absurdity was well known there.Therefore, before the fifth wife came out of the cabinet, her family members repeatedly told her to be careful not to be overwhelmed by others. The third concubine was always the most favored, and she had to be punished.On the second day after Mrs. Fifth passed the door, Mrs. Third Concubine came to see her and kowtowed to her. It is said that Mrs. Fifth's attitude was very arrogant. In fact, it wasn't Mrs. Fifth's own intention. Her two housemates were ordered by the family in advance. One of them supported her, forcing her arms to be tight, and she couldn't even bend her waist.The third concubine was very wronged, and she couldn't help crying to the fifth master afterwards. The fifth master was very angry and probably spoke to his wife. The son has a big temper.The fifth master didn't argue with her, but he just ignored her from then on.He originally got an errand in Beijing, but he brought his concubine to take up the post before the full moon.

At this time, after the Revolution of 1911, like Mr. Xi Wu, who became an official in the Republic of China as a widow, most people talked about it, and they already wanted to call him a traitor, not to mention that he himself was an official in the Qing Dynasty.Everyone felt that it was useless for him to go out again at this time.But the fifth master is also half out of anger, because he spends too much, and repeatedly runs into shortfalls, and his family always pays for his debts. The brothers are naturally very dissatisfied with him, and he feels that he is very discriminated against at home. , how could he bear this anger, so he would rather go out and seek another development.For this reason, Mrs. Fifth has always hated her uncles.She hated her natal family first, hated her mother-in-law for not making decisions for her and told her to go with her, and hated their brothers third, because their indifferent attitude drove him away.I don't know why, I hate him, but I can't hate him himself.

The fifth master arrived in Beijing, and he was very proud of himself for the first two years, and he was really relieved for a while. Later, it was also due to excessive waste and embezzlement of a large amount of public funds, which somehow caused trouble again. Fortunately, someone mediated and there was no accident. In the end, the family still took out money to fill the cracks, and he returned soon.The third concubine has been in charge of the north alone for the past few years, and she is used to birthday parties. She thinks that the old mansion has too many rules, and she doesn't want to go back, so she rents another house to live outside, and tells the old lady that she stayed in Beijing and did not come back together.The old lady pretended to be confused and didn't go into it.The fifth master also lives outside, and sometimes he comes to the old mansion, and he only sits in the study and sits in the old lady's room.

Year after year, in this family, the fifth wife's very uncertain identity, like an abandoned wife or a widow, has been established.My sister-in-law and nieces often come to play in her room, hanging out and coming in all day long, because she doesn't have any men here, so there is no need to have any scruples.The fifth wife is also a lively person by nature, she always welcomes people when they come, laughing and joking all day long, people say she is careless. That day, she was cutting her front bangs with her eyes half closed, so that her short hair would not fall into her eyes. One of her young ladies called out "Sister-in-law Wu, what are you doing?" Come in.The fifth wife laughed and said: "There is nothing to do. The past two days have been getting longer and longer, and I'm suffocating!" Miss Wan said: "Isn't it!" Stretching, she sat down on a concubine Yang's couch, He casually touched a big raccoon cat coiled up on the couch, and said, "Is there anything to eat? Do you still have the candy from last time?" Then, he went to open the tin canister and opened it inside. One, she puffed her mouth and said coquettishly: "Sister-in-law! The pine nut candy is gone!" The fifth wife said:

"I'll go buy it tomorrow. I asked Mama Tao to buy loquats just now. Wait for the loquats." Mrs. Fifth is most interested in snacks. Usually she always wants to eat this or that. We bought it for everyone to eat together, so the amount of money she posted on it every month is very considerable.In fact, those sisters-in-law are not short of her, but they often criticize behind her back, saying that everyone takes this little monthly fee at the same time, and she is the only one who has no children and no other burdens, and it is all spent on her. Mrs. Fifth finished cutting her front bangs by herself, and said to Miss Wan, "Your bangs are growing too, I'll twist them for you." Yin moved a chair over, and the two sat face to face.While Mrs. Wu was cutting, Miss Wan closed her eyes and said, "Look at my face, it's even darker than before!" Mrs. Fifth said, "What about me?" .Before they saw a western drug advertisement in the newspaper, which said that it could peel off a layer of skin and make the skin white and tender when applied on the face, so they bought it and tried it.As soon as I applied it, a large piece of skin on my face faded off, so I had to hide in the room and pretend to be sick to see no one. After the peeling was over, it was indeed white and tender.It takes more than ten days to turn white. The tender skin is probably very sensitive. It has not been exposed to wind and sun, but it has already turned dark. It was not as dark as before.Everyone was very angry.

The maid Tao Ma came back after buying a basket of loquats, when she saw the old aunt coming to their place, she called "Old Aunt" and opened the curtain for her.This old aunt is actually not very old, but she looks about 30 years old, and she still has a bit of charm, wearing a moon-white gauze shirt and black Chinese silk trousers.Miss Wan is wearing a moon white gauze shirt and trousers. What Mrs. Fifth envied most was their thin and timid figure, with a bony wrist protruding from the sleeve. She held their hands, loving and hating them indescribably, thinking that she was too fat and stupid.

Mother Tao brought tea in, and Mrs. Fifth smiled and said, "Auntie, we are missing one out of three." They often played cards secretly without telling the old lady. It seemed that Mrs. Fifth was more interested than anyone else.She just asked sneakily with a smile, "Come or not? Come?" The old aunt laughed and said, "I don't know if the third wife has time." Tao Ma was very happy when she heard about playing cards, because she could earn money, so she stayed by the side all the time and didn't go away.Mrs. Fifth was a bit afraid of Madam Tao. Her two maids who stayed with her had already left and she was replaced by Mama Tao, but Mrs. Fifth was still afraid of her, and she was always cautious when talking to her. Yes, when asked her to do something, she was always smiling and in a provocative tone.At that time, the fifth wife smiled at her quietly: "Old Tao, go and see if the third wife is free!" As soon as Tao's mother left, the place was busy asking another maid, Liu Ma, to set up the table. The old aunt also helped, tied up the tablecloth, and put a blanket under the tablecloth, so that there was no sound when playing cards, for fear that the old lady might hear it.At the same time, Mother Tao has already invited the third wife. Their family is headed by the third wife. She is already busy. The holidays are coming up these two days, so naturally she will be even busier.As soon as he walked in, he saw everyone counting their chips, so he smiled and said, "Hey, you're going to play cards again? What should I think of it!" Mrs. Wu laughed and said, "You don't want to play? You're going to put on airs again!" Three The wife said with a smile: "Later, people will say that Sister Wan has been spoiled by us." As she was talking, she had already sat down.

The fifth wife asked the third wife to eat a loquat. The old aunt had already peeled one loquat, and she peeled the skin of the loquat into the shape of an upside-down lotus, with the stalks facing down, and held it with the tips of her ten fingers.The old aunt was born in the hall, and she is the best at this kind of entertainment.The fifth wife said beside him: "This year's loquats are not good. I didn't buy sweet ones once." The third wife said: "Today, people came from the field and brought a lot of loquats. I don't know if they are better than the ones bought here. I also brought some sweet ones." I bought some glutinous rice. Oh, and those two girls also bought it."

They usually buy maids, because the old lady doesn't like people from other provinces, so she always sends a letter to the teacher in their hometown, asking him to buy it there and send it to her.They have many fields in the countryside, and a master often lives there to collect rent. Everyone sat down to play cards and played four rounds. Seeing that the sun was setting, the third wife said: "The old lady should wake up at this time, and someone has to go." The fifth wife said: "Okay, I will go and I will go." !” According to the rules, they all have to go, but if everyone goes together, the old lady will be suspicious, saying why there are so many people together, and it happens to be a mahjong table.So I had to take turns.In fact, their old ladies love playing cards the most. Now that they are old and suffer from back pain, they have to ask others to play for them after they can't sit at the table for a while, so they don't play much, so they are not allowed to play.The old lady wakes up early every day and goes to bed late, and the daughters-in-law have to accompany her to get up early and go to bed late, but she has to take a nap every afternoon, but she does not allow the daughters-in-law to sleep. Say very bad words.But she never swears in person, she always swears across the room, or asks a maid to pass the message, which makes the daughter-in-law feel more humiliated. Mrs. Fifth went to the old lady's place, and walked boldly into the dark and spacious room. The old lady just woke up from sleep, and she was sitting there eating milk, which was mixed with ginger juice because she thought the milk was smelly.A maid stood behind a chair with a comb and combed her hair.Mrs. Fifth called "Mom" and asked, "Did Mom sleep well?" The old lady just snorted indifferently.The Fifth Wife stood aside, ready to hand things over, but actually had nothing to do.Whenever she was a little embarrassed, she often made a slight coughing sound of "gnawing" and "gnawing" in her throat. Suddenly a car horn sounded.There were already cars in Shanghai at this time, and the ball-shaped horn made a short sound when pinched, and the sound was very short, like a dog barking from a distance.The fifth master bought a new car, so when the fifth wife heard the voice, she thought, if he had come back, she suddenly panicked.It's not that the couple don't see each other, but usually when the fifth master comes, the sisters-in-law would go to the old lady's room to say hello, but when they hear that the fifth master is there, they don't go, and the fifth wife is the same, but if she First there, then he came, of course she had no reason to avoid it.But did the old lady hear the car horn?Even the old lady thought that she was staying here because she wanted to meet him, and that would be too embarrassing. The Fifth Wife is Liushen Wuzhu, when the curtain was lifted, a man came in, and the maid called "Master Fifth".This Fifth Master, Xi Jingfan, is quite tall, with a pale rectangular face, a slightly hooked nose, a pair of watery and slightly bursting eyes, wearing a cherry white silk gauze gown, with a very chic figure, and a Panama hat. In your hand, put it on the table when you enter the door.The old lady has always been very polite to her sons, especially because Jing Fan never lived at home, and came back from the mansion every two days to talk with the old lady, and the old lady smiled even more when she saw him, very perfunctory he.Seeing that he had already put on summer clothes, he smiled and said, "Have you changed the season? It's not too cold, it's still cold in the morning and evening these two days." She turned her head and said to the maid, "I still have that Half a bottle of milk, warm it up for Lord Wu to eat, and put less ginger juice, it made me so hot just now!" The maid went to heat the milk, and the fifth master sat down on the next chair.The fifth wife still stood by.Ordinary couples don't say hello when they meet, they turn a blind eye to it, they just pretend that there is no such person in the room, of course they are also like this, but Jing Fan is calm and calm, with a very natural attitude, but the fifth wife is very embarrassed, There was nowhere to rest her hands, and it seemed that it was not suitable for her to stand. First, she stretched out one foot obliquely. She had a pair of half-big feet, snow-white silk stockings, and jade-colored embroidered shoes. These shoes seemed too small. Tightly squeezed, a large piece of flesh twitched on the top of the foot.Not fat again!Even the shoes are too small.She hurriedly retracted her feet, feeling more and more that she was so fat that there was nowhere to go.I also suspected that my hair was hairy, but I couldn't brush it with my hand, because that kind of action seemed a bit close to posing.I had no choice but to endure it.If she wanted to go out earlier, she felt that it was not good for her to leave as soon as he came. Some said it.So neither left nor right, stood there for a long time before walking out with accusations.As soon as he walked out, he immediately raised his hand to brush his hair. In fact, if the hair was really disheveled, it was already too late.Her fingers accidentally touched her cheek, and she felt her face was hot, but her fingers were cold. Before she returned to her own room, she bent over to the next room and whispered to Tao Mama: "The third wife and the others are going to eat here later. If there are any dishes to add, make a little more and send half to the study. The fifth master is back today." Their meals here were originally prepared in the kitchen Yes, there is one table for each room, but although the meals prepared in the kitchen are served every day, no one eats them, thinking that the dishes are not well cooked, and each spends money to ask the old lady to cook "small pot dishes", So it can also be said to be a separate cooking system.In the fifth wife's room is Tao Ma who cooks. Tao Ma is a vegetarian, so she can't taste the saltiness of the dishes, but the craftsmanship is very good. Even if sometimes the cooking is not very good, of course the fifth wife dare not say What, it is still full of praise from people before and after. At that moment, she gave Tao Ma some instructions, and then went back to her room. The third wife, Miss Wan, and the old aunts were sitting dryly by the card table, waiting impatiently, eating sunflower seeds all over the floor.The fifth wife hurriedly took her seat, and immediately started fighting again.Tao Ma came in to pour tea, while the Fifth Wife was playing cards, she smiled apologetically and said to Tao Ma: "Old Tao, please put less soy sauce in the dishes later, the fish was a little too salty yesterday." Tao Ma's face sank immediately. , said in a drawn-out tone: "Oh, is it too salty?" Fifth Mrs. laughed hurriedly and said: "It's delicious, but it's a little too salty." Tao Ma left without saying anything. They were playing cards here, and they didn't realize that it was already dark, and they were going to have dinner after the round of playing.Mama Liu was already knocking on the cat bowl in the outer room, "Mimi! Mimi!" calling.Mrs. Fifth has a lot of cats here. An electric lamp with green pearl wreaths was lit on the card table. The light magnified the figures and reflected them on the snow-white ceiling.Tao Ma suddenly led a ragged little girl in, pushed the child on the shoulder, and said, "Call me madam." Everyone turned their heads and looked at it, guessing that it was the newly bought girl. He looked no more than seven or eight years old at most, with gray hair tied in two braids, standing there as if terrified.Miss Wan couldn't help laughing and said, "What can you do at such a young age?" Mrs. Wu asked, "How old are you?" Mother Tao said, "Madam asked how old you are. Say uh!" Pushed her again "Say it!—Say it!" The child just kept silent.Tao Ma said: "It is said that I bought it when I was nine years old. How can I be nine years old like this?" "Twist her braids, shorten her hair and wash it, don't bring lice to the cat." Mama Tao agreed, and took her out again. The third wife and the others had dinner here, and continued for a few more rounds before going back to their rooms.Tao Ma and the others left, and said to the fifth wife angrily: "Ma'am, a good girl has been picked up by the third wife! That one is about eleven or twelve years old, and she is clever. This one is good, even You can’t even comb your hair!” The fifth wife was taken aback for a moment, and then said, “Forget it, don’t talk about it. It’s not good to be too clever.” Mother Tao resented: “My wife is too casual, so people always bully me. You." The Fifth Wife said nothing. The fifth wife named the little girl Xiaoai because it was about to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival when she came.From then on, they played cards at night, and it was Xiao Ai who waited on them.Playing cards until late at night, Mama Tao and Mama Liu went to sleep, and Xiao Ai often leaned against the door to take a nap. When the game was over and he ate a lot of melon seeds, shells, peanuts, and fruit cores, the fifth wife yelled: "Xiao Ai! Sweep the floor!" Sleepy-eyed Xiao Ai rushed to take out the broom from behind the door, but then put the broom on the ground and stood there in a daze.Everyone burst into laughter. Since Xiao Ai came, there has been a lot of jokes added.It is said that she was asked to feed the cat, but she actually robbed the cat of food.She is really young, so of course she can't do heavy things. She beats the fifth wife's legs at night, so she often stays up late. In the morning, Mama Tao and Mama Liu get up early in the morning. When Xiaoai comes, it is Xiaoai who will take care of them Carrying the washing water, I went downstairs to the stove and brought up a large pot of hot water.The people in the kitchen are snobbish, and they don't pay much attention to the people in the fifth wife's room. Seeing that Xiao Ai is a newcomer and a child, she is always told to wait. The people in the house came behind her, but they carried away the water first. When Xiao Ai came up with the washing water, Mother Tao yelled at her: "I still think you died in the kitchen! The girl is lazy, carry it with you!" It takes all this time! Where did you go to play?" He slapped his face.When Xiao Ai first came here, she always kept quiet, and later she sometimes disputed, but the more she argued, the more she fought, and she said: "This Xiao Ai has failed at school now, and she is still right when I talk about it!" The fifth wife is said to be the most tempered person, but she still beats girls as usual.As long as you call once or twice and don't come immediately, you will hit when you come.The fifth wife likes to eat melon seeds when she is free, so she needs to sweep the floor at any time. Sometimes, after the floor has been swept, Miss Wan and the others may come over again to eat some melon seeds on the ground, and they will scold Xiao Ai for not cleaning the floor cleanly.The cats in the Fifth Wife's house are all trained, and the feces of the cats are usually put in the gray basin, but there are inevitably exceptions.If cat feces were found elsewhere, Xiao Ai would be beaten again, because she always didn't put the cat litter box in the most appropriate place. No matter what was smashed, she didn't smash it, she smashed it anyway.When Mrs. Fifth got angry, she picked up a feather duster and whipped her!Then said: "Do you dare next time? Do you still dare? "Sometimes she was punished by kneeling and not allowed to eat. Xiao Ai's original temperament, I can't tell, it seems to be gloomy and stupid. When I first came, I asked her who was in the family, and she I couldn’t answer, everyone laughed, and said that it’s almost impossible to remember. In fact, I remember, but the more I asked, the less she said, because she had no other way to express the slightest Gradually, I really forgot it. It seems that there are fathers, mothers, and younger brothers and sisters in the family, but gradually even this is not sure. It is also because at such a young age, it suddenly seems to be uprooted , and fell into such a place, so the whole thing feels dizzy and bewildered. Her clothes were made for her by the master's house, so she was more particular than ordinary maids. As usual, she was dressed colorfully and brightly, and she often wore the old clothes of the sixth-grandson group for her.Miss Liusun is the lady born to the wife in front of the fifth master, according to the senior ranking, she is the sixth.Miss Liusun's silk and satin clothes are not strong in texture and delicate in color. They are worn and manipulated by Xiao Ai. Sometimes the upper body is torn or stained. It is inevitable to be scolded again, saying that she is not worthy of wearing them. good clothes. She was probably in good health, and had always been very strong.It's hard to imagine how strong and strong he would be without those tortures.In the year Miss Liusun got married, Mr. Ai was fourteen or fifteen years old. He was not tall, with a round face, watery eyes, big and dark, and a little slanted.She has a "happy look" on her face, although she rarely smiles.Perhaps because she has not seen the sun all year round, her skin is dark white, as solid as a rice cake made with water. That year was just after the Northern Expedition, and many people went to Nanjing to find work.The fifth master also went to Nanjing for activities, took his concubine with him, and rented a house in Nanjing to live in. After staying for a while, he suddenly wrote a letter to take the fifth wife to Nanjing. The people in the family were very surprised when they heard this, and discussed behind their backs, most of them thought that there must be some tricks in it.Although the fifth wife was as surprised as they were, she had her own explanation. She thought that when a person was older and had more experience, he would naturally underestimate all those flowers and grasses, or he would remember them. The relationship between the couple is also unknown.Moreover, she has been taking care of his two children at home for him. Now a boy has grown up and is studying in a foreign school, and the girl is married.Her responsibility in this respect is over.It was not easy to take her out in the past, probably because there was a girl by her side—it didn’t seem very good to bring Miss Liusun with her, and she would be criticized, even her marriage. get in the way.Now of course there are no such problems.The Fifth Wife was very happy in her heart, and immediately went to pack her bags, and took Tao Ma, Liu Ma, and Xiao Ai along, leaving a rough maid to guard the room and take care of the group of cats.She thought that if she took the cat with her, she would show it to the family members, as if she didn't plan to come back after this trip, which would be a bit embarrassing, and the fifth master probably didn't like cats either. When Mrs. Fifth arrived in Nanjing, she was naturally greeted by servants at the station, and they returned home together.The fifth master went out to entertain, only the third concubine was there, and the third concubine treated her very politely, but changed her address, instead of calling her "wife", she was called "fifth wife", like a sister-in-law or a relative of the same generation The title, invisibly raised his status for himself.The fifth wife came here with the determination to compromise, so her attitude was very humble, and she was very affectionate with her.At that moment, the two had cleared up their past suspicions, the fifth wife wiped her face, and the concubine accompanied her to eat together. When the third concubine was in the hall, her name was Yifei Laojiu. She has been married to the fifth master for more than ten years, and she can always dote on the special room. Miracle.The servants brought by Mrs. Fifth had heard for a long time how beautiful this third concubine was.But never seen it.Calculating her age, she must be in her thirties, but she can't tell it at all.She is petite, her hair is cut short and tousled, and swept down to cover half of her cheeks, her face is smeared with red rouge, and she usually wears a snow-green Indian silk flag shirt with a high collar open, revealing her neck Four or five purple-red traces of scraping and scraping.She smoked a cigarette with a slender ivory holder, spoke Suzhou Mandarin, and had a lively conversation with Mrs. Fifth. Jing Fan came back soon. The fifth wife has become fatter than before in recent years, Jing Fan has become thinner every year since she turned forty, and the couple tends to go to extremes.It was a very hot day, so he took off his long coat as soon as he came back, and put on a spun silk shorts, with a long dark blue sweat towel embroidered with white flowers drawn out from under the shorts.The glossy hair was brushed flat on the head.He met Mrs. Fifth for the first time, but he asked her how the old lady was in good health, and casually asked about the affairs of the Shanghai family, but his attitude was very pleasant. Mrs. Fifth was not as restrained and uncomfortable as before when she met him. Concubine Yi must have agreed with Jing Fan in advance. From then on, the servants of the family will call each other "Mrs. East House" and "Mrs. West House" regardless of what kind of wife or concubine they are. Moreover, she intends to leave the West House for Mrs. Fifth to live in. , I live in the East House, because as usual, "East" and "West" are called together, such as "East Queen Mother" and "West Queen Mother", and "East" always has a higher status.The fifth wife didn't mind, she still tried her best to contact Concubine Yi, and went to sit in her room when she had nothing to do, chatting and laughing, being very intimate, and went to the photo studio to take a few photos together, the two of them held hands , standing obliquely took a picture, and took another picture while sitting on an S-shaped armchair. Afterwards, Jing Fan and Yi Fei would always bring her along when they went out to play cards, watch theaters and eat big dishes.Among the people they interacted with, many female relatives were concubines from brothels, and the fifth wife was also very easy-going and didn't put on airs at all.She has never been envious of the life in the bustling market and those charming characters. Not long after Mrs. Fifth came, Jing Fan told her that although he had a good network when he came to Nanjing this time, it was a pity that the sports expenses were not well prepared, so he has not yet got a job, but he has already found out. It's all empty, and after much deliberation, there is no other way, except to use her jewelry to convert a sum of money and go out. I must discuss with her that she will not refuse. I always know that she is the most virtuous person.When Mrs. Fifth heard this, of course she didn't say anything, so she took out her jewelry box for him to pick out, and took all the valuable ones.At the end of that year, Jing Fan's errand was announced, and everyone was very excited.Jing Fan wrote a letter and went back to tell his family in Shanghai. On the one hand, Concubine Yi was already there urging him to send Mrs. Fifth back.That day, I was negotiating with him again, and suddenly I saw someone poking at the door. It turned out that the fifth wife had a vest that she took off in Concubine Yi's room and forgot to bring it back, so she sent Xiao Ai to get it. Xiao Ai saw Jing Fan Here, I didn't dare to go in rashly. But Concubine Yi saw it, and smiled at Jing Fan with her mouth flattened, and said softly: "He must have been sent here to listen to you." Jing Fan frowned and shouted: "What are you doing so cunningly over there? Get out!" Xiao Ai hurried away.She seldom did things in front of Jing Fan, but she always knew that this master's temper was the most difficult to serve.Get him a towel handle, the water must be so hot that you can't touch it, and twisting a towel handle makes your heart burn like a fire, burning hot.