fifty-nine

The moonlight was like water, and a hazy shadow was printed in the room through the thin window paper. Suddenly changed places, Zhao Chengjin couldn't sleep a little, tossed and turned for a long time, and suddenly remembered something to untie the cat card on his wrist, his palm rubbed slightly, and his eyes couldn't help but be sour.

"Look, you saved me again." He muttered in a low voice, involuntarily gentle, and even a low cry. In fact, he hadn't cried for a long time, and the last time he was by the river, when he almost fainted while holding his bloodied cat.

Its grave was under a large locust tree on the east side of the creek, and there was no tombstone, only a small dirt bag, and he carved a dagger on the locust tree, on which was written the name of the snow ball.

When the snow tuan just left, Zhao Chengjin couldn't adapt to it, many nights he would even call it by its name involuntarily, and when he got up in the morning, he would subconsciously glance into his arms, but the snow tuan was gone. Then, expecting that he would dream of it, he seized every time to go to sleep, but even in his dreams, he still did not see its shadow.

Out of nowhere, there was a cat meow like a baby's whimper, one long, one short, and it made people's hearts sour to hear. Zhao Chengjin yawned, stuffed the cat card under the pillow, turned over, and finally slowly fell asleep.

He woke up early, and when he opened the door, a glow had just appeared in the sky, and Xue Daddy and Second Uncle Meng were boxing in the courtyard. Zhao Chengjin looked at it curiously for a long time, and followed them. After a set of punches, all three of them were sweating profusely. The family had already gotten up, and Xu You and Ah Chu also began to trot around the yard.

Ah Chu was still in the stage of being full of curiosity about Zhao Chengjin, and after running for half a circle, he couldn't help but run to Zhao Chengjin and asked, "Brother Xiaoshun, you can also box?" Is it okay to go back and teach me? ”

Zhao Chengjin was a little embarrassed, "I don't fight as well as your uncle and second uncle?" ”

Second Uncle Meng interjected with a smile, "It's very good, it's very good, it's just that the road is a bit wild, where did Brother Shun learn his boxing skills?" "They are all experts, and you can see at a glance that Zhao Chengjin has practiced, but most of the boxing techniques are wild, and it doesn't seem like they were learned from the palace guards.

Zhao Cheng said solemnly: "I learned it from a master in the village before, and I didn't learn it for a long time, and as soon as I learned some routines, the officers and soldiers came to encircle and suppress, and the master was hit by a stray arrow and died of serious injuries." When he talked about these things, the expression on his face was very calm, as if it was as natural as drinking soy milk in the morning and eating steamed buns at noon, but it was very sad to hear it in Xu You's ears. In the past three years, what has he experienced that makes him able to mention these life and death in such a calm tone.

As soon as Ah Chu heard that Zhao Chengjin's boxing skills were not as good as his own father, he immediately aimed at Second Uncle Meng, holding his thighs and refusing to let go, and said coquettishly: "Daddy, Daddy, you teach me to practice martial arts." ”

Second Uncle Meng slapped him on the brain angrily and said, "You read the book first, and I'll teach you when you can write a hundred big characters one day." ”

Ah Chu blinked, stopped talking, and went to curry favor with Zhao Chengjin after a while, "Brother Xiaoshun, will I follow you every day to practice boxing in the future?" ”

Zhao Cheng looked at him with a smile, and then glanced at Xu You, who was smiling at the two of them with his waist crossed not far away, and said embarrassedly: "Didn't you run with your sister Xiaoxue?" ”

"That's not interesting." Ah Chu said, he blinked, and quietly said to Zhao Cheng: "It's all a trick played by girls, we are men, how can we be the same as girls." As soon as he finished speaking, his ears suddenly hurt, and he immediately let out a cry like killing a pig, "Sister, you light, light, it hurts." ”

Ah Chu finally found a new playmate who was a very "man", and he was so happy, this little ghost who liked the new and hated the old immediately left Xu You behind, and devoted himself to brushing his favorability in front of Zhao Chengjin, and even did not hesitate to betray Xu You, "...... Brother Xiaoshun, I'll tell you, don't say it, my sister is very strange, her hands are itchy, no matter what she sees on the table, she keeps it and lifts it down, and once she also dropped the cup I drank water from, I went to complain to Grandma, Grandma still didn't believe it, saying that it must be that I didn't put the cup well, and said that Sister Xiaoxue didn't go crazy, how could she do such a thing......"

This mouthy imp! Xu You rubbed his hands together and glanced sideways at the heads of the two who were muttering together. Zhao Chengjin just looked up at her, the two looked at each other, and Xu You couldn't help but bark his teeth at him. Zhao Chengjin seemed to see something strange, and was slightly stunned.

Xue Daddy didn't go to the yamen today, and led Zhao Chengjin and Ah Chu to a nearby private school.

This private school is close to home, in the alley next door, only ten minutes away from Meng's house. The gentleman in the private school is a Xiucai surnamed Fang, not very old, looks like a gentleman, has two mustaches, smiles slightly when he sees people, and has no shelf for a scholar.

Seeing that Xue Dad led the three children over, Fang Xiucai was very happy, touched Ah Chu's head, and wanted to pat Zhao Chengjin's shoulder, just stretched out his hand, Zhao Chengjin looked up at him, Fang Xiucai's movements were sluggish, somehow, this arm couldn't be stretched out, and retracted again, touched Ah Chu's brain again, and smiled kindly.

"This ...... The little girl is also here to study? Fang Xiucai looked at Xu Yu and asked with a smile.

Before Xue Dad could reply, Ah Chu became excited first, "Can my sister also come to study?" That's great! As soon as he was happy, he went to pull Daddy Xue's clothes and begged: "Uncle, let Sister Xiaoxue also come with us, let's study together." ”

Don't want it! Xu You yelled in her heart, how many years of books she had studied in her previous life, elementary school, middle school, university, the best years of her life were spent in the wide and bloated school uniform, and she finally survived, and now she has to be stuffed into the school hall to go to school with these little ghosts who don't have any hair, it's just torture! Besides, what can she learn when she comes to the school? "Women's Rules" is still "Women's Training", just listening to the stories in it can make people vomit blood and die.

"The school also accepts female disciples?" Xue Daddy was slightly surprised, and glanced back at Xu You, Xu You immediately opened his eyes and strongly said that he had no such intention. Snow Daddy smiled and nodded with relief, "Xiaoxue also wants to come to study?" It's great, even though I'm a girl, I have to be sensible, and it's good to study......"

Is it because her eyes aren't big enough? Why is it so clear and clear that the word "unwilling" Snow Daddy can't see it! Do you really want her to say it with a straight face? Isn't that a little too unmotivated!

Xue Dad didn't look at her again, turned his head and talked to Fang Xiucai about the restraint, Xu You wanted to interject several times, but he was embarrassed, and his face turned red. Zhao Chengjin, who was talking to Ah Chu on the side, suddenly raised his head and glanced at her, and quickly looked away, and after a while, maybe he felt that Xu You didn't pay attention to him, so he quietly glanced at her again, and saw that she was so anxious that she grinned, and finally couldn't help but hook the corners of her mouth.

Xue Dad usually doesn't talk much, but his aura is quite strong, and he gave this matter in a few words, Xu You couldn't even say anything against it, as if as long as she objected, she was particularly unmotivated. She was really in pain, she knew that this was the case, and she wouldn't go out with her to join in the fun.

Xu You followed Xue Daddy and them to the shop to buy pen, ink, paper and inkstone in frustration, Xue Daddy was very generous, let them choose by themselves. Ah Chu pulled Zhao Cheng to help choose, but Xu You was not interested at all, so he bought all the same ...... Dirt cheap.

The second aunt happily cleaned up a well-lit room in the east wing, and Xue Daddy found two tattered old tables out of nowhere, repaired them, and re-polished them, and then spread a burlap on them, and put the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone of several of them on the top.

Ah Chu was very excited, even if he wanted to learn to read and write, Zhao Cheng taught him patiently, Xu You held his cheeks and looked on the sidelines, and couldn't help sighing for a while, his eyes stared at the bamboo pen holder on the table, and his hand began to move a little bit in that direction again, little by little.

As soon as the tips of his fingers touched the pen holder, Xu You suddenly raised his eyes and suddenly met the profound gaze of Zhao Cheng on the other side. He always looks well-behaved and sensible in front of the Meng family, but when he doesn't speak and looks at people silently, it makes people feel an indescribable sense of oppression for no reason.

Xu You pretended to be just curious, picked a wolf pen from the pen holder, took it in his hand and looked at it for a while, and returned it honestly, retracted his paw and put it under the table, and patted it a little angrily.

"Does Xiaoxue want to write?" Zhao Chengjin retracted his gaze, Xu You suddenly felt that the pressure on his body had decreased sharply, and he quietly exhaled, secretly scolding this little ghost in his heart for becoming more and more difficult to serve, so that he didn't hear Zhao Chengjin talk to him at all.

"My sister is literate." Ah Chu is a little traitor, since he met Zhao Chengjin, he has become his follower, he will tell him everything, he can't hide a word, "My father said that grandma taught my sister to read and write, if Brother Xiaoshun doesn't believe it, he will test her." ”

Zhao Cheng smiled, didn't make a sound, got up and went to the bookshelf to get the paper, and said to Xu You: "I'll cut the paper for you." ”

Hey, she didn't say she wanted to write? The soft brush can't be held at all.

Zhao Chengjin didn't seem to see her accusatory look, lowered his head, cut the rice paper into the right size very seriously, compared it with the last one, took a dozen of them and put them in front of Xu You, looked at her and smiled slightly-this is no way for people to refuse.

Xu You picked up the pen hard, and was just about to dip it in ink, Zhao Chengjin stopped her, "Your posture is not right," he said, and when he spoke, he also took a brush that was exactly the same as Xu You's hand, "The fingers should be put like this, don't use too much force, otherwise your arm ......will hurt for a while."

He patiently taught her and demonstrated in person, Xu You was not embarrassed to be distracted, pricked up his ears to listen, and Ah Chu, who was reciting the "Three Character Classic" with his throat on the side, was a little anxious, and glanced at Zhao Chengjin's hand, and after a while, he finally couldn't help but quietly draw a brush, learned Zhao Chengjin's posture and held it, and asked: "Brother Xiaoshun, do you think this is the case?" ”

Mrs. Meng stood at the door and watched them read and write obediently, and her heart softened into a puddle of water.

Not long after the three of them entered the school, they were highly praised by Fang Xiucai, especially Zhao Chengjin, who simply calmed down Mr. Although he hasn't touched a book for three years, genius children are different, not to mention, Zhao Chengjin's foundation is good, and the enlightenment teacher is the leading Confucian of the Liang Dynasty, even if he doesn't study for a few years, he is several times faster than ordinary people as soon as he gets started.

Ah Chu is also very clever, he studied in the school during the day, and when he returned home, he also had Zhao Cheng to open a small stove, so he naturally walked faster than other people's children, as for Xu You, Fang Xiucai didn't have any high requirements for girls, Xu You had also read books for more than ten years, although there were some differences between traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters, but it was not a big problem for her, so, among the limited number of female students, Xu You was obviously the smarter one - especially when she didn't like to study very much.

One day the second uncle met Fang Xiucai on the road, as a parent of the student, he was greatly praised, the second uncle's vanity was extremely satisfied, and when he went home, he was happy, so he bought two catties of pork belly for the child to replenish the body, but Ah Chu was very happy.

However, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, even if it is just a small private school, the birth of the three of them has also brought some waves to this peaceful elementary school.

The author has something to say: hey, once a month a relative is here again, and I'm in exactly the same state as a deflated balloon