Chapter 4 fourth quarter
"He's coming."
Zhang Shuai held an old pipe in his left hand, his right hand was behind his back, he looked lazily at a plaque on the wall, and said casually.
The plaque was more than four feet long, the wooden frame was shiny black, and the word "benevolence and righteousness" was written on it in vigorous and scrawled strokes, each of which was the size of a human head.
Zhang Shuai took a drag on his cigarette.It was exotic tribute smoke, with a sweet aroma like oranges.He turned his head slightly to see how the people behind him reacted.
The man was sitting behind a desk with Zhang Shuai behind his back, still holding a book and reading carefully, his eyes did not leave.
He turned the page of the book with his fingers, and after reading a few lines, the man closed the book.
"I know." The voice was slightly feminine, without showing any tone of emotion.The man examined his fingernails and played with a carved silver bracelet on his left hand. "Haven't we been waiting for him?"
"I know that Rong Yushan and his son are ready to welcome him." Zhang Shuai put the cigarette stick on the stone ash dish in the corner of the desk. "I can guess what they're going to offer him."
"what is that?"
"It's an offer that he can't refuse." Zhang Shuai said with a smile.
"Will he accept it?"
"Of course." Zhang Shuai looked sideways at the garden outside the study. "He will not refuse any power. This is what he came to Kyoto for."
The man nodded, but wasn't sure whether to agree or approve. "Zhang Jijiu, I trust your vision." He paused and said, "Otherwise Pang Jijiu's death would be in vain." When he said the last sentence, his voice became hoarse.
Zhang Shuai silently stroked the neatly trimmed short brown beard on his lips.
"Almost fifteen years..." the man sighed. "So many people died, but they only bought fifteen years of peace. Those memories are still so clear...It started again so soon..."
"It's different this time." Zhang Shuai replied. "There are many things that are within my control this time."
"Fortunately, after so many years, you are still here." The man turned around with the chair - two pairs of wheels, one large and one small, were installed under the chair. "My 'curse army division'."
Zhang Shuai lowered his head slightly, and said respectfully:
"I won't let you down, boss."
Yu Agou still remembers his mother telling him half a month ago: "We are going to Kyoto." She stroked his sunken dirty cheek and said hopefully, "We'll go with the other villagers. We'll have enough to eat when we get to Kyoto. There's rice and hot soup there. Every day." Therefore, in Agou's little head, the imaginary Kyoto is a place full of white rice and buckets of hot soup everywhere, where people are eating and drinking soup non-stop. Now he doesn't know where his mother is. When the people outside the carriage shouted to arrive in Kyoto, Ah Gou couldn't help but climbed to the window excitedly to see what Kyoto looked like. No hills of white rice.No steaming barrels.No one was eating or drinking soup either. Outside the window was a tall, long, hard, cold gray wall. Agou was not particularly disappointed.Anyway, he was already full, his face was no longer dirty, and he changed into warm and soft clothes.He was wearing a hard sackcloth over his clothes, and a white cloth belt was tied around his head—Agou didn't know why he wore it like this.But he saw that other people in the same industry were also dressed in this way, and the new father and mother were the same. He adores his new mother.She often hugs him, feeds him, and dresses him.She asked him if he could write.He shook his head.She taught him to write his first characters—his new last name.Agou is very happy because this character is easy to write. Now the new mother tugged at his hand and told him, "We're getting out of the car." The new mother's palm was warm.It's as rough as my mother's hand before. When stepping out of the carriage, Ah Gou imagined, what would he see in Kyoto?People have put so much effort into building such a high wall, and what must be guarded inside must be very, very beautiful things. Agou got out of the car and walked forward with the new mother.The other hand of the new mother is held by the new father. So Agou saw the biggest door he had ever seen since he was sensible.He didn't know if such a big thing could be called a "door" or if the grown-ups called it another name—in his village, a "door" was just a small and narrow hole, and many of them didn't even have a door panel. Hang dirty cloth or bamboo curtains. A Gou looked back at the carriage he had been in just now, and then at the "door".The gate was wide enough for five or six large carriages to pass through at the same time.Agou didn't understand why he got off the car in front of the door. He saw that other uncles in sackcloth also got off their horses and carts.Except for some guarding the horses, the others followed behind him and his parents. As he was walking forward, Ah Gou suddenly felt that everything in front of him was covered with a layer of darkness. He looked up and realized that it was the shadow of the huge wall that fell on them. Feeling a little frightened, he looked sideways to see if Daddy and Mama were the same. Agou saw it: the man who just became his father yesterday was staring intently at the "door" in front of him, with a strange light in his eyes. Seeing his father like this, Agou understood: his father was different from all the adults he had ever met. He hopes that he can become such a man when he grows up.
Yu Agou still remembers his mother telling him half a month ago: "We are going to Kyoto." She stroked his sunken dirty cheek and said hopefully, "We'll go with the other villagers. We'll have enough to eat when we get to Kyoto. There's rice and hot soup there. Every day." Therefore, in Agou's little head, the imaginary Kyoto is a place full of white rice and buckets of hot soup everywhere, where people are eating and drinking soup non-stop. Now he doesn't know where his mother is. When the people outside the carriage shouted to arrive in Kyoto, Ah Gou couldn't help but climbed to the window excitedly to see what Kyoto looked like. No hills of white rice.No steaming barrels.No one was eating or drinking soup either. Outside the window was a tall, long, hard, cold gray wall. Agou was not particularly disappointed.Anyway, he was already full, his face was no longer dirty, and he changed into warm and soft clothes.He was wearing a hard sackcloth over his clothes, and a white cloth belt was tied around his head—Agou didn't know why he wore it like this.But he saw that other people in the same industry were also dressed in this way, and the new father and mother were the same. He adores his new mother.She often hugs him, feeds him, and dresses him.She asked him if he could write.He shook his head.She taught him to write his first characters—his new last name.Agou is very happy because this character is easy to write. Now the new mother tugged at his hand and told him, "We're getting out of the car." The new mother's palm was warm.It's as rough as my mother's hand before. When stepping out of the carriage, Ah Gou imagined, what would he see in Kyoto?People have put so much effort into building such a high wall, and what must be guarded inside must be very, very beautiful things. Agou got out of the car and walked forward with the new mother.The other hand of the new mother is held by the new father. So Agou saw the biggest door he had ever seen since he was sensible.He didn't know if such a big thing could be called a "door" or if the grown-ups called it another name—in his village, a "door" was just a small and narrow hole, and many of them didn't even have a door panel. Hang dirty cloth or bamboo curtains. A Gou looked back at the carriage he had been in just now, and then at the "door".The gate was wide enough for five or six large carriages to pass through at the same time.Agou didn't understand why he got off the car in front of the door. He saw that other uncles in sackcloth also got off their horses and carts.Except for some guarding the horses, the others followed behind him and his parents. As he was walking forward, Ah Gou suddenly felt that everything in front of him was covered with a layer of darkness. He looked up and realized that it was the shadow of the huge wall that fell on them. Feeling a little frightened, he looked sideways to see if Daddy and Mama were the same. Agou saw it: the man who just became his father yesterday was staring intently at the "door" in front of him, with a strange light in his eyes. Seeing his father like this, Agou understood: his father was different from all the adults he had ever met. He hopes that he can become such a man when he grows up.