Liujia courtyard belongs to the typical northwest courtyard, three into the courtyard, the high blue brick gatehouse into the big wall full of exquisite brick carving patterns, the wall is the work of the famous brick carving master Wang Yanling in Lingzhou Mansion, the pine crane on the longevity map, even each branch of the pine tree is carved in detail, not to mention the two dancing cranes, even the look in the crane's eyes are skillfully expressed, this Wang Yanling is really born to eat the brick carving of this bowl of rice life, in the face of such a work, it is really not good to make people unconvinced.

"Mr. Xie, please—" A man with a fat face and a smile bowed slightly, making a polite gesture to a middle-aged man wearing a hazel robe and carrying a small medicine box.

The man known as Mr. Xie didn't have time to appreciate this wonderful carving skill, his eyes swept over in a hurry, he smiled humbly, and quickly followed the Grand Butler of Liufu to continue walking.

I was invited to check the pulse of Aunt Liufu just before yesterday, and I hurriedly came to invite me today, is she going to give birth early?

Turning around the wall is the main hall, which is where Master Liu does business and meets guests, and there are guest rooms and study rooms on both sides.

Further back, the second into the courtyard, the main house is the residence of Master Liu and the eldest lady of the main house, and the left and right wings are the bedrooms and boudoirs of the aunt and children.

Mr. Xie's eyes glanced hurriedly, and he glanced at the rear, surrounded by high walls, and there was no third courtyard here, and he knew that the houses there were narrow, densely covered with people's houses, kitchens, and warehouses. Bypassing the kitchen and the warehouse, on the easternmost corner, there is an isolated small courtyard carved out there, a few decades ago there was an old girl in the Liu family who had never married all her life, with a strange personality and did not want to be gregarious with everyone, and the small courtyard was where she lived. It's secluded and cold, and no one wants to set foot there, so everyone gave a special name to the small courtyard, called Kakunoin.

That corner courtyard, he only had the opportunity to really set foot in yesterday. It was to diagnose the pulse of a little girl who was unconscious. The little girl didn't know how to get it, she hurt her head, and according to the pulse, she either continued to be unconscious or had died of breath, and it wouldn't be better anyway. is too sick zhòng, even if Bian Que is reborn in the world, he may not be able to save him. Fortunately, the people of the Liu family just asked him to take the pulse, and briefly talked about the condition, when he said that he was so strict, he was afraid that he didn't even need to prescribe medicine, and the people of the Liu family nodded convincingly, no one pestered him to try his best to save it, and he breathed a sigh of relief, he saw that the girl's status in the Liu Mansion was not very good, and she was a dispensable character, otherwise the main family would not accept the hopeless conclusion he gave lightly.

Mr. Xie thought about his thoughts as he walked, and soon he had passed through the big photo wall of the first courtyard, bypassed the wide and long corridor in the front hall, and passed through a small moon doorway, and the residence of the eldest lady of the Liu family was visible in front of him.

There was already a little girl ring gently opened the newly sewn cotton curtain, and a big girl with a slender figure and a good face appeared at the door, she looked at the person who came and lightly blessed a blessing, and the corners of her mouth were just right to purse a smile, "Mrs. is talking about it, Mr. Xie is here-"

Mr. Xie bowed down with a smile, his steps were brisk, and as soon as he stepped into the door, the cotton curtain behind him had fallen silently. Outside the house was cold and snowy, but inside it was as warm as spring, the fire was burning vigorously, and the water in the yellow copper kettle was creaking. The eldest lady of the Liu family wore a pale green nine-purple silk jacket, and a few dark red peonies were sprinkled on the pale green background, the flowers were fat and full, and they bloomed very vigorously, which was close to the extreme of beauty and showed life to the extreme. Below is a dark blue pleated cloth skirt, a pair of sharp and thin three-inch golden lotus is hidden in the skirt legs, a yellow golden hairpin is placed on the black bun, a few plum-shaped silver flowers are pressed on the left and right sideburns, and an affectionate smile has already been piled up on a full and bright face, "Oh, this is nine cold days, and I have to trouble Mr. Xie to come and go, I'm really embarrassed-"

Mrs. Liu's voice is very good, which is very consistent with her appearance, neither high nor low, not hurried, graceful, rich, giving people a natural sense of majesty, but also revealing a thick cordiality.

Mr. Xie was not very polite, and sat down gently on the beauty hollow embroidery stool arranged by Yahuan, and took the celadon tea cup presented by Yahuan's hands.

Mrs. Liu herself slowly picked up the teacup in her hand, lifted the lid, and a wisp of green smoke accompanied by the fragrance of tea immediately came up, and the mist shrouded her big face like a full moon behind the water vapor.

The two of them scraped the tea cup in their hands with celadon lids at the same time, and a few pieces of the green rippled on the quiet and quiet water surface on the Ming Qianlongjing, and suddenly, a voice full of water came out through the water vapor: "Yulin, I am in such a hurry to find you, you know what it is for." ”

Xie Yulin's hand holding the teacup trembled. The trembling was silent and invisible, but it was still caught by Mrs. Liu's gaze.

Her eyes fluttered, and she gently pursed the corners of her mouth, and a soft and boneless voice as thin as a mosquito floated in the silent room, "Yulin, cousin, you have to continue to help me, you know, Yufang has no other way to go." ”

Her voice has changed, becoming extremely gentle, if you don't look at your face, just listen to the sound with your eyes closed, it will completely make people think that this voice with a little coquettishness around her is a girl in the prime of her cardamom years, and she is showing her love to her sweetheart.

Even if the owner of this voice was no longer a cardamom girl, nor a young woman, but a half-old, Xie Yulin was still hit by this voice, and he looked at the woman in a cloud of light water vapor in a daze, until the water vapor became lighter and lighter, and gradually the face became completely clear.

He suddenly turned his head to look at the room, as if it was the first time he had stepped into it. The furnishings in the house are complex and luxurious, the curtains are the most fashionable double-layer hollow models on the ground of Lingzhou Mansion, a layer of red cotton silk outside, lined with a layer of light pink semi-transparent yarn weaving, the two layers of curtains are perfectly combined with hand-embroidery, gently pulling up a half-moon arc curvature, the style is hung on the brass color openwork hooks on both sides, and the tassels at the hem flow all the way like water waves, such a color match seems to be not calm enough, as if it is not suitable for a bedroom of a woman in her forties, but it is this unusual choice that creates an extremely warm and charming feeling for the house。

Beneath the curtains are half-closed windows, the lattices are densely wrapped in intricate carvings. Through the carved panes, you can faintly see the pale gray sky outside and the fine snow drifting in the sky.

Leaning against the east wall is a large yellow rosewood cabinet, and a wisp of faint smoke slowly escapes from the Boshan stove on the counter, and Xie Yulin smells a hint of pear blossoms mixed with the sweetness of pear fruits.

This shows that the green clay incense was burned in the furnace of Nabo Mountain.

Green clay incense is the most precious incense in Lingzhou Mansion.

Boshan furnace to the right, there are several pairs of porcelain vases of different shapes on the counter. One of the pot-bellied porcelain vases was filled with a cluster of newly opened lilies. A faint fragrance flows slowly between the noses. The winter in the territory of Lingzhou Mansion is very cold, and everything has already been killed outdoors in the cold winter, and this flower can only be cultivated in the flower house of a large family.

Green clay incense with lilies, both are light fragrances, but they can be matched with an unexpected effect, elegant but not vulgar, calm and calm, there is an ethereal meaning in it, I can't imagine that the eldest lady of the Liu family has finally realized the true meaning of this layer of home health.

Next to the cabinet was a dressing table, on which a pale red wooden shelf was inlaid with a large polished bronze mirror.

A square wooden table was near the fire, and now they sat at the wooden table by the fire, with the warm fire at their feet.

The charcoal fire in the hearth must have been added just before he entered the door, and it was burning brightly, making a crackling sound of coals popping.

The voice rang idly in my ears, close and yet far away.

As early as when he first sat down, a room full of aunts, girls, maids, and servants who were talking and laughing with the big girl and the big girl retreated with a look, and they withdrew cleanly.

In the house of Nuoda, there are only two people, Mr. Xie and Mrs. Liu.

Mrs. Liu has always been stiff-handed, and no one dares to say anything more about the guests she wants to meet alone.

Mr. Xie has long been well aware of this.

"Cousin, I'm begging you. The sweet voice seemed to be dyed by the green clay incense, and it was even sweeter and more moving, and the incense generally lingered in the ears.

There was a moment of intoxication in Mr. Xie's eyes.

He looked at the tea that was gradually cooling, and finally took a sip of tea gently, and suddenly sighed without waiting for the fragrance of tea to spread on the tip of his tongue.

"Yufang, does it have to be like this?"

His voice sounded in her ears, how good it sounded, how good, deep, steady, warm, with a familiar taste from his youth, decades of years, it seems that he has not been able to change this sound, but only adds a little bit of vicissitudes of the passage of the sun and moon in the background.

A pair of water droplets slid down, one fell on the back of the hand, and the other fell right on the tea in the hand, and the turquoise tranquility of the pool was instantly shattered, and the fine ripples quickly and silently spread out a halo.

"Yulin, since marrying into this gate and becoming the Liu Chen clan, you know, I have no way out, no choice, except to keep moving forward, going forward. If I hadn't been accompanied by my cousin along the way, I would have fallen down a long time ago, cousin, thank you. ”

The voice was still very light, so light that it was better than the green clay incense escaping from the Boshan furnace, and better than the invisible natural fragrance of lilies, but he could hear it, he could understand it, not a word of it, and he heard it all clearly.

He took another sip of tea.

"It's a pity I'm just a doctor. ”

This sigh was lighter, lower, lighter than the light smoke of water vapor.

She buried her head deeply, staring intently at the ground beneath her feet. The green bricks there are scattered one by one, paving a lotus shape one by one. The floor is clean, and it seems that the servant wiped it with a wet mop not long ago.

"It's only with this identity that we can see each other a few times a year, don't we?"

She suddenly looked up at her with some resentment, and this rhetorical question was accompanied by a sigh that floated out of her mouth.

That's right, he nodded.

The wind blew the hollow tiles at the corners of the eaves with a light whistle.

The world was so silent that even the sound of falling snow was clearly discernible.

He finally finished drinking a cup of tea, pushed it away, and his voice suddenly became higher: "Okay, but Yufang, you have to promise me, no matter what, this is the last time." ”

Her face, which had always seemed relaxed but actually nervous, finally showed a completely relaxed smile, and nodded gently and gently: "Don't worry, this is the last time." ”

He didn't cherish this gentleness, and resolutely stood up, carrying the medicine box in his hand.

She stood to the side faster than him, and a voice pierced through the thick curtain and floated out of the door: "Lan Mei, take Mr. Xie to see Aunt Jiu, the road is slippery, walk carefully." ”

Mr. Xie did not hesitate, nor did he say goodbye, strode out of the threshold, walked out of the warmth of a room, and crashed headlong into the flying snow flakes and the bone-chilling cold outside.

When he crossed the high threshold, his tall body suddenly trembled, but he quickly adjusted, and when he passed through the long corridor on his right hand and stood in front of the door of the ninth aunt of Liufu, Mr. Xie had already recovered his posture and expression, which was as steady as Mount Tai.

The servant woman sweeping the snow in the yard held a long broom and pulled the green brick floor one by one, from the time the eldest lady welcomed the guests into the door to the time when Mr. Xie walked out of the main house, the time only passed a short teacup.