Shang Cheng couldn't find any good excuse for the time being, so he had to walk into the grass pavilion with a smile. He casually found an empty stone bench and sat down, looked at the needlework basket made of gold and bamboo strips on the stone table, and asked with a smile, "Are you making needlework?" "No way, since he can't leave, he has to pretend that he is very interested in these things; But the perfunctory tone in which he spoke could even be heard by the two little maids who came with him.

"The eldest sister is teaching me how to winch window flowers." Pan'er whispered. She took the teapot from the maid's hand, took a clean cup, poured some hot tea, and poured a cup of water for Shang Cheng. “…… Brother," her voice was so low that she could barely be heard, "...... You drink water. ”

"Oh." Shang Cheng responded. He lowered his head and tugged at the various small objects in the sewing basket. He didn't know what to say to the two girls, and he didn't know how to bring up a topic. But sitting there like this is obviously not a problem. He picked up the half-twisted pattern in the sewing basket and looked at it, and asked without words, "What kind of pattern is this?" ”

“…… It's "The Boy Sends Blessings". "It's still Pan'er talking.

Shang Cheng stopped talking for a while.

Three years ago, around this time, he returned to Yi County from Duanzhou and saw the same window grilles in the small courtyard he had just bought in Huojiabao. I remember that the "Boy Sending Blessing Picture" was carefully hung and pasted by the eldest girl, and the tribute paper for pasting the window was also bought for him by the eldest girl with the ladder money accumulated by the eldest girl; Until he got married, the window grille was still there. In the spring of the second year, when he went to drive the horses for the officials, he woke up in the morning and saw Lianniang sweeping the dust falling on the window flowers. Three years have passed in a blink of an eye, and many things in the three thatched huts have become blurred with the passage of time, but the faded window flowers have always been reflected in his heart: a fat doll surrounded by horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens, holding corn, seeds, horses, wheat, rice, and grains in his hands, grinning happily at him; Before leaving the house, his wife also said to him, "Be careful along the way." All the memories are so vivid, as if it happened in the last moment, and I can vaguely hear my wife's deep instructions......

He asked the two girls to sit down too, pretending not to see the eldest girl's pale face without a trace of blood, and said to Pan'er first: "Didn't the two young ladies of the Lu family invite you to go on an autumn trip to the West River today, why didn't you go?" ”

Pan'er hesitated for a moment and said, "I, I...... A little uncomfortable. ”

"Uncomfortable? What, are you sick? Shang Cheng asked with concern.

Pan'er blushed and shook her head.

"Have you seen the doctor?"

Pan'er's face turned even redder. She muttered, "No, I didn't see the doctor......

Shang Cheng frowned and was about to count her two sentences, when he suddenly reacted. He couldn't continue the conversation, so he had to mutter two clichés such as "rest more, what do you want to eat, let them cook for you", and hurriedly picked up the tea cup to cover up his embarrassment.

Pan'er was also embarrassed. Her face burned hot, and she didn't dare to look up at anyone with her fingers twisted. After a while, she whispered, "I remember, there's something going on in my house." ......, you sit with the eldest sister first, and I'll come when I go." After speaking, she didn't wait for Shang Cheng to speak, and hurriedly left after greeting her maid. Soon she asked the pretty maid who Shang Cheng thought was called Hui'er but was actually called Rouge, and called the eldest maid away.

On the grass pavilion, there are only big girls and Shang Cheng left.

The two of them didn't know what to say for a while. Shang Cheng was still holding a tea bowl. He lowered his head, thinking about what topic to talk about after putting down the tea bowl. Since Uncle Zhuzi came to the door to propose marriage and was rejected by Aunt Seventeen that year, the two of them have never been alone; On the one hand, this is the caution of Aunt Seventeen, and on the other hand, Shang Cheng is also afraid that the eldest girl will be more sad after meeting; Of course, he himself is not very comfortable, one by one, before marrying Lianniang, if he has to choose a wife for himself, there is no doubt that he will definitely marry a big girl. But assumptions can always be assumptions, the cruel reality made him rub shoulders with the eldest girl, and later he married a good woman, and the eldest girl also married the short-lived man, and kept filial piety in her husband's house for three years, and also endured three years of humiliation...... Now, the eldest girl sat next to him across the stone table, although she had a smile on her face, she didn't look happy at all, and there was only a dead gray in her eyes when she looked at a pool of fallen leaves. He was surprised to find that the whole person of the eldest girl became almost unrecognizable, in his memory, the eldest girl had a red and fluttering goose egg face full of vitality, but now her cheeks were collapsed, and even the two crimson blush on her face were smeared with rouge......

He put down the teacup, swallowed with difficulty, and opened his mouth to say, "You ......" He couldn't say any more, and lowered his head sadly.

The sensible girl immediately stood up and picked up the teapot to help him refill the tea.

"I ...... Sister Pan'er is in a bad mood these days, so I came over to talk to her. The big girl said.

"What's wrong with her?" Shang Cheng immediately asked. In fact, he didn't care about Pan'er's mood at all, he just wanted to find a topic that could be continued.

"A few days ago, the fourth lady of the Tao family and the second son of the Cheng family made a ......."

Shang Cheng knew about this, and he also went to Tao's house to congratulate him. Tao Qi and Cheng Qiao were Jinshi in the same year, and the next one is the capital of Yanzhou, and the other is the prince Zhan Shi, which is a good family affair. The second son of the Cheng family is working in the Wei Mu Mansion, and he has seen it a few times, he speaks in an orderly manner, and he looks like a down-to-earth young man, who is just as good as Tao Qi's knowledgeable little daughter. But what does all this have to do with Pan'er? He thought about it and asked casually: "What, Pan'er also takes a fancy to the second son of the Zhongcheng family?" ”

"The second son of the Cheng family is the ...... who destroyed his relatives in front of him"

"Ruined relatives?" Shang Cheng frowned, "The Cheng family doesn't dare, right?" "It's a terrible thing to destroy relatives in these years, not to mention that Cheng Qiao is just a seven-grade small Beijing official, even if the Cheng family is the emperor and noble, if he dares to do this kind of thing, he will be drowned by overwhelming spit!

"The second son of the Cheng family is the one who looks forward to the younger sister."

was reminded by the eldest girl, and Shang Cheng immediately remembered it. Yes, there is such a thing, when he rescued Pan'er from the Zhidu store in West Malaysia, he also taught Sun Zhongshan to escort her to Yanzhou to join her family, and it seems that she voted for the Cheng family; As a result, the Cheng family pulled out her father's letter and didn't recognize her, and Sun Zhongshan "kidnapped" her maid halfway through...... Speaking from the heart, he is very disgusted with the practices of Pan'er's father and the Cheng family, it is too ruthless and too unacceptable to do this, these people only care about their careers and reputations, and they don't take into account Pan'er's feelings at all, she is a teenage girl, staying alone in a strange place, calling every day should not be called the earth is not spiritual, if you can't think about it for a while, then what should I do? Could it be that those people could bear to watch her go to find a short-term vision?

He let out a long sigh and said heavily, "You are a sister, persuade her more." It's been so long, don't worry about it all the time...... I will talk to my aunt to see if there is a suitable person and tell her to be a family. ”

"My mother told her twice, they are all good people, and she herself is reluctant......"

Is there such a thing? Shang Cheng raised his head in surprise and asked, "Why is she reluctant?" Only then did he realize that the eldest girl had been standing and talking to him all the time. He hurriedly said, "You sit." Sit down and talk to me, why didn't she say yes? ”

The eldest girl didn't sit down, shook her head and said, "She didn't say why she didn't want to, she just didn't agree." ”

"That's the case......" Shang Cheng couldn't help it. The minds of these little girls will change, today and tomorrow, who can guess it? And this marriage event has always paid attention to the words of a parent's matchmaker, the more the official eunuch family pays more attention to these, her parents didn't nod, and she can't seem to get married in a hurry like this. Or will he be the master of this and nod this head? As soon as this idea came up, he immediately denied it, and he didn't want to complain! Pan'er can marry if she wants to, if she doesn't want to marry, as soon as she gets married in two years, no one in the family will talk and be lonely, so she will naturally change her mind.

Pan'er's matter couldn't be continued at this point, and Shang Cheng had to turn his mind to find a new topic. But where can I find any interesting topics in a hurry? Every day, he is either a yamen or a study, and he goes back and forth to talk about official affairs, even if there is something new in the city, no one comes to tell him. After a while, he said, "You sit." One by one here in Yanzhou, are you still used to living? ”

The eldest girl nodded, but still did not sit. She didn't dare to sit down, for fear that as soon as she sat down, the monk brother would see the tears in her eyes. Even now, when she stood beside him, she had to gather all her strength to make herself stand firm. She didn't even dare to say a word, let alone look at him. She used her last strength to maintain her pitiful reserve and dignity......

She didn't remember what she had said to Brother Monk later, or how she had come home, and when she came to her senses, she was already in the hut that belonged to her. She was lying on the kang with a thin quilt on her body, but her heart was cold. The cold that soaked into her bone marrow stretched from the top of her head to her limbs. She stared at the two large eyes, which had long been tormented by pain and suffering, staring straight at the roof dimly illuminated by a cloud of oil lamps. The black beams of the house were like an evil eagle crouching above her head, spreading its wings and swooping down on her viciously. In the darkness, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't scream, her hands and feet could barely move, and she could only clutch the little purse attached to her chest!

The purse is embroidered with the word "Shang".

Before getting married, she gave this purse to the monk, and when she helped the man's coffin back to her hometown, Lianniang quietly stuffed it to herself. Fortunately, with the company of this purse, she has the courage to live. This was her only hope during those unbearable years, and it was also her last hope......