The spring is cold and cold, and the wind is bone-chilling. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The spring rain that quietly came on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve continued to shroud the three towns of Wuhan in a fog-like coldness.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, in the early morning of Sunday, the morning bell of the red bell tower on the west side of the British Concession in Hankou rings, and the melodious bell that breaks through the hazy rain and fog echoes with the sound of the ship's whistle faintly heard in the distance, bringing some vitality to the gray city that is silent on both sides of the river.

Built in 1899, the Red Bell Tower is located in the sprawling Erudite Academy, which has always been a landmark building in Hankou and even the three towns of Wuhan.

For more than 20 years, the British-founded Christian school has trained thousands of people in Hubei Province, some of whom became officials, some became compradors, some became teachers, and many more became loyal employees of British companies in China.

The Zheng family compound across the lane from the Erudite Academy is a simple and heavy northern courtyard building, covering an area of three acres and a deep courtyard.

The late Zheng Yuming, the head of the Zheng family, whose ancestral home was Nanpi, Hebei Province, followed the cave of his fellow villagers to embark on his official career as a young man, and finally took root here, and the Erudite College prepared by the British missionaries was successfully opened with the help of Zheng Yuming, and the three generations of the Zheng family also benefited immensely from this Western-style school.

The second-generation head of the family, Zheng Lanting, is entering the age of no doubt, he not only inherited his father's tall and elegant appearance, but also inherited Zheng Yuming's nature of being a group of wives and concubines, and his prominent status as the commercial secretary of the British Consulate and the shareholder of Jardine Matheson in Hankou has made him famous everywhere.

Zheng Lanting has been known as a prodigy since he was a child, at the age of fifteen, he was admitted to show talent, and then because of the imperial court law to block the road to the imperial examination, he entered the Erudite College under the earnest care of British missionaries, and five years later crossed the ocean to study in the United Kingdom with excellent results, and returned at the age of 26.

Prior to this, Zheng Lanting, who had married a wife and started a family at the age of sixteen, already had a wife, two concubines and three children.

The three children are Zheng Heng, the eldest son and Zheng Xuan, the eldest daughter of the eldest wife Qiao, and Zheng Yi, the concubine born to the third aunt Tai Wu, all of whom were taught in the Erudite Academy across the alley.

It's a pity that the third aunt of Liyuan Mingling, who was born in the Wu family, did not live a happy day after marrying into the Zheng family, and suffered from the white eyes and squeezes of the Zheng family everywhere, and finally gave birth to a son, but because of postpartum hemorrhage, her humble background did not make the Zheng family feel much sadness, so that on the day of the funeral, only the two loyal servants who married into the Zheng family burst into tears, and in addition, only those fans and people outside lamented for her.

More than ten years have passed, the Zheng family has been full of children, flourishing, reputation and wealth accumulating day by day, and has truly become a famous family in the three towns of Wuhan.

Zheng Heng, the eldest son of the Zheng family, who has been praised by all walks of life, is very good, following in the footsteps of his father Zheng Lanting at the age of 17 to study in the United Kingdom, and returned two years ago with a doctorate in sociology from Cambridge University.

The eldest daughter Zheng Xuan chose to study in the United States after graduation, and returned to China last year to marry the Feng family, a famous family in Shanghai, and soon became famous for her beauty and talent.

Eighteen-year-old concubine Zheng Yi has been unknown since he was a child because of his mother's identity as a dramatist.

Perhaps it was the reason for his mother's dystocia at birth, Zheng Yi seemed a little stupid since he was a child, whether it was homework or daily affairs, he was always slower than others to comprehend, in stark contrast to his smart and well-loved brothers and sisters, and naturally became the object of ridicule of several aunts and all brothers and sisters, and even the servants and maids in the house often gave him white eyes.

In Zheng Yi's memory, his father never scolded himself, as long as he was free, he checked his homework, and gave some encouragement from time to time, never let himself and Uncle Xu's family lack of use, but he saw his father too few times, since he was sensible, he could see his father no more than ten times a year, if it wasn't for the New Year's holidays, he was not qualified to sit at the table in the main hall, so he could only stay with the loyal servant Uncle Xu's family in the small courtyard separated from the west of the back garden.

Soon after Zheng Yi went to middle school, the eldest mother, the second aunt, the fourth aunt and the fifth aunt added four younger siblings to him, Zheng Yi's situation became more difficult, whenever he saw his brother and sister younger brothers and sisters shouting for his mother, Zheng Yi, who was already inferior, always lowered his head and quietly hid to the side, if it weren't for the silent care of Uncle Xu's family who obeyed his mother's wishes, Zheng Yi really didn't know how to live his life.

At the end of November last year, Zheng Yi finally completed his secondary school studies, and among the more than 150 classmates in the same class, he belonged to the category of not performing well or badly, but he was admitted to the university department of the university with the fifteenth place in the subsequent promotion examination.

After the academy announced the results, the loyal Xu Bo and his wife shed tears of excitement, and Xu Maofu, the only partner from childhood to adulthood, danced happily.

Zheng Yi also rarely straightened his waist, with an irrepressible bright smile on his face, and told Xu Bo and Xu Maofu very proudly:

"After the spring of next year, our Erudite College will merge with the private Wenhua University to become the largest university hall in the five provinces in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, called Huazhong University, the new university not only has normal, business, law and other departments, but also to open two departments of mechanical and electrical and architecture, I plan to apply for mechanical and electrical departments, and become an engineer in the future."

Just when Zheng Yi was full of longing, the henchman in the eldest mother's room suddenly arrived and informed Zheng Yi to go to the main hall to see the old lady immediately.

Zheng Yi thought that his achievements had finally attracted his father's attention, and his silent efforts had finally been recognized by his aunt, so he forcibly resisted the excitement in his heart and followed the maid Yuxiu to the main hall.

After kneeling down and knocking on his father and eldest mother, his father's kind words shattered Zheng Yi's dream like a thunderbolt from the sky, making him stunned on the spot like a lightning strike:

"Xiao Yi, after the New Year, you will be eighteen and nineteen, and you will be an adult, you have worked hard in the past two years, and quietly followed Mr. James, the technician of the academy, to learn electrician, not bad!"

"Your performance is seen by everyone in the family, and I am deeply pleased with my father, but you really have no talent in learning, not as good as your brothers and sisters and a few younger siblings, but you have a resilience in hands-on work, which is your greatest strength."

"After discussing with your eldest mother and your eldest brother, I think it is better to put you in the shipyard under the steamship company, and you can give full play to your strengths, oh...... I almost forgot to tell you that your eldest brother is the largest shareholder of Huachang Steamship Company, and the shares of the subordinate shipyard were all taken down in the previous paragraph, the shipyard is already our family's industry, we are more at ease when you go to the shipyard, don't study in college, start a family as soon as possible, temper yourself for a few years, and the shipyard will have your shares in the future, so the arrangement is worthy of your dead mother. ”

Subsequently, Zheng Yi returned to his narrow room in a daze and cried for three days, and on the fourth day, he followed Zheng Heng, the eldest brother of Qiyu Angxuan, to the wharf of the British Concession and became one of the 165 workers and technicians of Huachang Shipyard.

Zheng Yi fell into a deep coma after the crash, and the workers thought that he was going to die, and he was in a coma for three days and three nights after being carried home, but then miraculously defeated death, defeated the assertion of the British doctor and two senior old Chinese medicine doctors that "it is impossible to save it, prepare for the aftermath as soon as possible", and rejuvenated after passing blood and urine.

However, the Zheng Yi who woke up again is no longer the original Zheng Yi. During the three days and three nights of deep coma, his gauze-covered head did not rest for a moment, and he never dreamed that he would still be alive after falling from a hanging ladder more than 30 meters high in order to extinguish the shipyard fire, living in a completely strange world, and he was twelve years younger.

Zheng Yi, who was in a coma, could hear the crying and complaining of Xu Bo and his only partner Xu Maofu, seemed to be able to see Xu Bo's wrinkled face and Aunt Xu's red and swollen eyes, could feel the sigh of "his father" blaming himself, and could hear the surprised whispers and touches of the two old Chinese medicine doctors, but he couldn't open his eyes......

All of this, like a constant image of the scene, filled his mind, extremely suppressed grief and melancholy accompanied by bursts of bitter pain, or clear or mutilated fragments of memory kept reappearing, from the initial chaos to the final order, exhausting all his energy, again and again forcing him to the edge of the abyss, until the familiar bell of the red bell tower woke him up completely.

"Daddy, Daddy, come on! The young master's eyelashes moved again. Xu Maofu's exclamation sounded again.

A rush of footsteps sounded, and the burly Uncle Xu hurriedly came to the bedside, carefully examined Zheng Yi's face for a while, and carefully checked Zheng Yi's pulse before whispering to his son:

"The pulse is even, stronger and stronger than yesterday, it seems that he can get through it, did he pee this morning?"

Xu Maofu, who was strong and energetic, quietly breathed a sigh of relief: "I urinated, there was a lot less blood than yesterday, and I fed him a decoction before dawn, and I was able to swallow most of the bowl slowly." ”

Xu Bo nodded with satisfaction, rubbed his astringent eyes and sighed again: "Xiao Yi's body and bones are still good, his physique and temperament are like his mother, he is crepe, he doesn't talk much but learns things quickly, alas!" I also blame me, I can't see him suffering, I haven't forced him to practice like you since he was a child, if he can insist on practicing with me like you, I'm afraid it will be much better than now. ”

Xu Maofu subconsciously looked at Zheng Yi, and after thinking about it, he finally couldn't hold back the resentment in his heart: "Dad, what do you say the master and wife are thinking in their hearts?" And those young masters and young ladies, the young master was injured like this, they turned a blind eye, is this a human thing? ”

"Shut up! Is this what you should say? Let me hear your whining again, and don't blame me for slapping you to death. ”

Uncle Xu glared at his son sternly, then glanced at the empty door behind him, and turned his head again:

"Don't say anything, go and see if your mother has cooked rice porridge, if it's okay, you feed the young master half a bowl, it's not okay to pad your stomach without some rice, I'll go to the West Market to buy a load of charcoal and come back."

Xu Maofu answered, followed his father out, and before he walked out of the door, he heard a familiar call from behind him: "Uncle Xu, Xiaofu ......"

The father and son suddenly stopped, were stunned for a moment, suddenly turned around and rushed to the bedside, and were pleasantly surprised to see Zheng Yi open his eyes, and an ugly smile appeared on his swollen face.

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ps: Open a new book, ask for collections and recommended tickets!