The wind was blowing hard, and the snow was flying in the air like torn cotton wool, drifting around aimlessly. There are a few lanterns floating in the corners on each side of the riverbank, sparse, as if to make way for boats of all sizes passing in the center of the river.

There were passengers and porters on the boat, who could not fight the wind and snow, and looked like they were cowering. The snow became more and more enjoyable, and the white sky was all over the sky, falling in all directions, on the top of the boat, on the umbrella, on the porter's hat, on the willow oars.

The wind played with the umbrella and blew it to the ground, and every now and then it blew it out of the hands of the boatman, and almost blew it down into the middle of the river. The wind roared in the air, the sound was terrible, and the willow leaf oars were accompanied by the endless sound of the wind beating the beautiful peach blossom waves, and at the same time, they also slapped the hearts of the boatmen who were anchored and returned to the earth in spring.

It was already evening, everything around them gradually disappeared into the gray twilight, the lights on the river bank gradually ignited, and the shadows of people were faintly reflected in the river, the air was cold, and the river water was cold.

A small boat swayed leisurely towards the direction of the hopeful home - the Qinhuai River.

"Fourth sister, watch your step."

It was a twenty-year-old man who spoke, holding an umbrella in one hand and a woman stepping off the boat in the other, and nodding to the captain who was pulling the rope, his face was even thinner, and a saber engraved with the word hatred was tied around his waist.

The younger sister, who jumped lightly from the pedals, was draped in a brown robe, under which was covered by a thin turquoise smoke gauze loose flower skirt. She was no more than sixteen years old, and her face was as white as jade, but her eyes were exceptionally bright.

"Brother, let's go!" She said in a cheerful tone, and couldn't help but quicken her pace with joy, but without looking back behind her......

The mist rises from the surface of the Qinhuai River, and the boats dotted in the distance gradually fall silent at the end of the river, mottled and shadowy.

"Don't worry, it's almost there. ...... Fourth sister, recently in the Water Pavilion Song Taichung, the gang of disciples in Heijinfang, can you embarrass you again? If so, be sure to tell your brother, and he will help you teach them a good lesson. ”

Brother Bai Sheng's tone suddenly became serious, and at the same time he helped the saber on his waist. From time to time, pedestrians walk by on the road.

"Brother, don't worry, it's just a swarm of ants, they don't have that guts," the younger sister Bai Bait said with a smile, and stopped. "If they really dare to bully Xiaobait, then I will tell them that my brother is born in vain, but he is an errand at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and he is extremely brave, and he is one as ten!"

The younger sister said vividly, without a hint of fear.

Bai Sheng seemed to blush a little, he glanced around, and said eagerly: "You will laugh at my brother, my brother is just a pawn guarding the city gate, how can I be as majestic as you say, but the fourth sister can rest assured, one day, my brother will be promoted to a general, in this way, no one will dare to bully my Bai family again, and my brother will also redeem you from the Water Pavilion Getai......"

A gust of wind blew the umbrella in his hand into a spin, and he quickly stopped and pinched the handle of the umbrella hard.

The wind was blowing by, and a little snow fell from the big trees on the side of the road, and when I looked at it, it was white.

"At that time, you will no longer be a singer, you will no longer have to wear a thin dress in front of others on a cold day, and you will not have to look at other people's eyes," Bai Sheng continued with the words he had just interrupted.

"It's a pity that you were sold into the Water Pavilion at a young age...... In the final analysis, it's all my incompetence as a big brother, and I can't let a few people in my family live a life of fine clothes and food. The elder brother's voice was a little low, revealing self-blame.

"No, you're the best brother in the world. Poor and strong, do not fall into the clouds, Xiaobai firmly believes that you will succeed! Bai Bait comforted, and deliberately raised his head to continue.

"Brother, don't worry about Xiaobai, Xiaobait is not an ordinary singer, your sister is now a singer who is popular all over Qinhuai, and she is popular! Drink spicy! Happy to live! ”

Bai Sheng looked at his sister's childlike innocent face, and felt a lot more relieved in his heart. The footsteps on the snow are soft, and they make a relaxed cry.

Bai Bait was silent, she was grateful for her brother's dedication, she knew that her brother would go to the Water Pavilion early to pick her up at the end of his errand every day, and she also knew that even if his brother got married, he would still be worried about his younger brothers and sisters at home, his parents were old, and his brother wanted to support the entire Bai family alone, and so did she.

"Brother, do you feel cold?" Bai Bait suddenly asked with concern.

"No, I'm very warm, every day I look at these familiar scenes, Wuyi Lane, Zhuque Street, Taoyedu and Qinhuai's grass and trees, I feel very down-to-earth in my heart, I can't say anything specific, in short, my heart is hot."

Bai Sheng habitually looked around, and knew that he was about to get home, so he said, "Fourth sister, go quickly, turn a corner and get home." ”

Bai Bait nodded, and the two of them sped up, and in a blink of an eye, they entered a cleaner alley.

The bright yellow lanterns were blown to and fro by the wind under the eaves, the lights and shadows were uneasy, and against the ever-increasing snow, a few pedestrians in the alley hurriedly walked, leaving some footprints on the snow, and then disappeared silently.

When the wind stopped, Bai Bait took the umbrella, shook off the snow on the umbrella, and collected the umbrella; When night came, no one noticed, only the snow fell quietly.

Bai Sheng walked in front, and was just about to step forward and knock on the door, when the door opened, and a girl's voice jumped out.

"Big brother, fourth sister, you're finally back. The snow is so heavy, my mother and I are worried to death, come in, it's cold outside. ”

The girl who spoke, Xiao Taotao, was the youngest fifth daughter of the Bai family, eleven years old, and a blue cloth cotton jacket wrapped around her slender body. She looked at them innocently with her bright eyes, and smiled like a flower in an instant.

"Little Taotao, don't worry, this is coming." Bai Bait replied loudly, and entered the main hall of the courtyard with Xiao Taotao. Bai Sheng also crossed the threshold and walked to the upper room on the other side, and under the eaves, a pair of wives and children seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

"It's back, your sisters can talk about it, come and bake the fire." Mother Jiang said and grabbed Bai Bait's cold hand and leaned towards the brazier, and Bai Bait hurriedly sat down.

The fire illuminated the mother's white hair with golden gold, and although the mother was old, she was in good spirits.

Xiao Taotao took the initiative to help her sister widen her robe and shake off the residual snow on it, but her mother hurriedly stopped her: "Tao'er, don't sprinkle the residual snow on the ground, tomorrow is the day of your third sister's big day, everything has to be clean and auspicious, and there can be no unclean ......"

"The fourth sister is back! It's just right to come back, you come to comment on it, your third sister didn't say, the happy couplet I wrote for her is not good enough, what do you think? ”

The mother's voice was not interrupted, and the voice from the inner room had already livened up the entire main hall.

Bai Bait raised his eyes and saw the second brother Bai Yan and the third sister Bai Ling holding a pair of Xilian with ink not drying out of the inner room arguingly. Xiao Taotao was cleaning up the residual snow on the side, and the two naughty smilers couldn't hide it anymore.

The second brother has always had a good face, but there is an outspoken third sister in the family, and the two of them can always spark some small fights when they collide together, and Bai Bait, as a younger sister, is inevitably often sandwiched between the two people. Looking at the second brother and third sister who were not convinced, Bai Bait responded with a faint smile.

"The second brother's Wenmo is well-known in Qinhuai, and the third sister is also the most beautiful bride in Qinhuai tomorrow.

I saw that Bai Yan and Bai Ling didn't look at each other, silent, but the corners of their mouths were secretly raised.

When the mother saw this, she couldn't help but nag: "You two, one is about to have a weak crown, and the other is going to be a wife and daughter-in-law tomorrow, and you are as ignorant as a drooping child. If there is an injustice, dissatisfaction, or dislike on weekdays, don't argue, don't quarrel, don't make trouble, and tolerate each other for a while, and the day will be steady. ”

The flat tone was word for word, and the room suddenly quieted down, Bai Yan blushed and immediately put away the happy couplet.

At this time, the eldest brother Bai Sheng and his wife Liu entered the main hall, Liu carefully held the infant child in his arms to ask his mother-in-law to say goodbye, and the sisters did not rudely greet their brother and sister-in-law, and the atmosphere in the house became quiet. There was a stove in the room, but the air was still cold.

"Dinner is ready, just wait for my father-in-law to turn around and eat. On weekdays, my father-in-law goes out of the city early to deliver goods for the people of the horse gang, and it's not too early, why haven't I seen my father-in-law turn around......" Halfway through Liu's words, the baby in the swaddling clothes seemed to be a little anxious and began to cry quietly. Liu hurriedly soothed.

Bai Bait looked in the direction of the window, and she heard the sound of snow falling on the windowsill clearly: "Maybe the wind and snow are too strong today, the trip has been delayed, the weather is cold, and the carriage is inevitably inconvenient." ”

"Yan'er, what time is it?" Mother asked.

"The time has not passed, and the time is coming."

When my mother heard this, she tightened her eyebrows and said, "The time is coming, and your father should have come back a long time ago," and the mother looked at the large and small people in the hall and continued. Don't wait, it's cold, let's have a table. ”

Dinner went slowly, the wine and tea were warmed several times, and the dinner ended in twos and threes. After the meal, Liu went into the upper room to put the children to sleep, and the two elder brothers put on cloaks, held umbrellas, and went outside to inquire about their father's news, and what the sisters could do was to bake the fire in the main hall with their mothers and wait for their father together.

After a long time, the wind blew open the unclosed window, and the charcoal fire in the stove was extinguished at once, and a chill suddenly invaded the not very warm room. A few candles were also blown out, and the whole room was darkened, making people suddenly scramble.

Bai Bait immediately walked to the window sill and was about to lock the window, but found that the neighbor's lights were gradually extinguished, and there seemed to be some unknown restlessness outside the window. I couldn't help but pause, the wind was strong, so I quickly locked the window.

The third daughter, Bai Ling, rekindled the fire, and the house was much brighter.

At this time, the second son Bai Yan had come back from outside in a hurry, his clothes, shoes and socks were wet, as if he had fallen.

Unexpectedly, Bai Sheng was still looking for his father, and the news was uncertain, but what Bai Yan brought back was even more terrible news.

"Oh no, something is wrong, I don't know why, now there is a mess on the street, a group of people are fleeing with their burdens, asked the bartender Zhang in Wuyi Lane, but he looked flustered, couldn't tell, couldn't tell, and repeatedly said that something was going to happen! The neighbors, the front and back, are already on the run, and this time I'm afraid something really will happen! Bai Yan's tone was filled with fear and panic.

Liu heard the movement and hurried into the main hall.

"Bah, second brother, what are you talking nonsense, those neighbors always like to make trouble out of nothing, this time maybe they heard some rumors. What big deal can be? Could it be that the day is going to fall? Bai Ling listened to these unclean and unlucky words, and her eyebrows and eyes were obviously a little displeased.

"I'm afraid it's going to collapse this day......"

This news was like a storm, and it was terrifying for a while. Bai Yan went down to the hall to change his clothes, and told his sisters not to move around at will to avoid trouble. The time was approaching, and the night was cold again, and Liu was worried about her mother-in-law's health, so she went to the back hall to get her robe.

At this time, there seemed to be an intermittent knock on the door, and several girls were next to their mothers, obviously a little uneasy.

Bai Bait was a little familiar with this voice, and planned to go and see what was going on.