From Qiantang County to Wu County, if it is about 600 miles on foot, but the ox cart must take the post road, then it is necessary to detour to Huating, and it is necessary to walk more than 100 miles, Chen Caozhi and Liu Shangxin and a group of seven people travel 7 or 80 miles every day, and arrive at Huating on the evening of September 27, Huating is only 100 miles away from Wu County, and it can be reached in two days.

Chen Caozhi knows that this area of Huating is the Shanghai of later generations, Huating is on the left bank of the Songjiang River, it was originally a post station in the Qin and Han dynasties, and in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, it was still a desolate reed land, and after the northerners moved here one after another, both sides of the Songjiang River gradually flourished.

There is a famous allusion about Huating, related to the Lu family of the four major families of Wu County, Lu Ji, the grandson of Lu Xun, a famous general of the Three Kingdoms, has few geniuses, the article is crowned with the world, Zhang Hua, the most relied on minister of Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty, once said that "the battle of Wu is the most profitable Erjun", and the Lu Ji and Lu Yun brothers are regarded as the biggest harvest of pacifying Eastern Wu, Lu Ji's poetry and calligraphy are unique, and they are valued by the world, but in the rebellion of the eight kings, Lu Ji, Lu Yun, and Lu Tan were killed by Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, and Lu Ji sighed before his execution: "Huating crane, how can you hear it again!" ”

Huating area is mostly lakes, swamps, abundant aquatic plants, golden reeds, there are a large number of water birds inhabit here, among them, cranes are the majority, gray cranes, white cranes, black-necked cranes, from time to time from the dense reeds flutter their wings and fly up, send out the chirping of the empty pavilion, "Book of Songs" has clouds "cranes sing in Jiugao, the sound is heard in the sky", giving people the feeling that the sky is far away, Lu has a manor in Huating, Lu Ji loved to listen to the cranes here when he was young, so he will have such a sigh when he is dying.

When Chen Caozhi and Liu Shangzhi arrived at Huating, it was still early, and the sun was still some distance away from the top of the mountain in the west, and when the two stood on the south bank of the Songjiang River and waited for the ferry to cross the river, they happened to see the cranes on the north bank rising one after another, and the high-pitched cranes chirped, and there was a faint ethereal song in the cranes, which was poignant and mournful, like an elegy.

The captain set the boat close to the shore, and Chen Caozhi asked: "Uncle, why are you singing on the other side of the river?" ”

The captain looked back at the crane shadow in the air, and said with a smile: "That is the Lu family of Wu County who is here to worship their ancestors, that is, to pay tribute to Lu Ji and Lu Yun, Lu Ji's birthday is September 27, and the Lu clan people have to come here every year, not to do anything else, specifically to let Zhuang Ke expel the birds and cranes everywhere, and let the birds and cranes fly in the air and chirp——"

Liu Shangzhi laughed: "I see, Huating crane, I have to smell it every year!" ”

Seeing the descendants of the Lu family using cranes to commemorate Lu Ji, Chen Caozhi couldn't help but think of the "Zhang Han Si Perch Sticker" that he copied every day, Zhang Han and Lu Ji are fellow villagers, and they are the Zhang family of the four surnames Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang in Wu County, Zhang Han in the autumn before the outbreak of the Eight Kings Rebellion, because he missed the beauty of his hometown and sea bass, he resigned and returned to his hometown, and was spared, and Lu Ji was keen on fame and fortune, made friends carelessly, and finally suffered a tragedy-

Chen Caozhi looked down at the clear Songjiang water outside the ship, thoughtful.

After Songjiang, I found an inn to stay, then Liu Shangzhi was naturally living with the maid Gillian Shuangfei, very happy, Chen Caozhi still copied his books and played his flute, Liu Shangzhi said that when he arrived in Wu County, he must buy a recorder and learn to play the flute from Chen Caozhi.

There was nothing to say all night, and I went on the road at dawn, but I saw that the ox cart was jammed, and the servants were in groups, and it turned out that the Lu family of Wu County returned to the city today after worshipping their ancestors yesterday.

Chen Caozhi, Liu Shangzhi and his entourage avoided the left side of the road, let the Lu convoy go first, there were dozens of ox carts, and there were more than 100 servants, in an endless stream, and an ox cart behind them, I don't know what was going on, rolled a flower pot from the car slightly, the flower pot was broken on the ground, the soil was sprinkled on the ground, and a juhua was lying in the broken tiles and mud.

Several Lu servants let out an exclamation together, as if this was a big deal, and then covered their mouths again and hurriedly cleaned up.

More than ten feet away, an ox cart stopped, and a young woman dressed in plain white and combed a horse bun came down from the cart, holding a skirt in one hand, and hurriedly ran over, and as she ran, tears flowed down, and she shouted: "Why are you so careless—don't move!" ”

Several servants were silent, and withdrew their hands to the side, not daring to touch the black chrysanthemum on the ground.

The girl ran to the broken flower pot, squatted down, carefully removed the broken tiles pressed on the flower branches, and muttered: "Don't break it, don't break it-" The two hands straightened up the lying juhua upright, but saw the lotus-shaped black chrysanthemum on the branch hanging down, obviously the flower branch had been broken.

The girl squatted there, and did not blame the servant anymore, but she couldn't stop crying.

The servants on the side panicked, they would rather the little lady scold them and beat them, the most afraid is that the little lady shed tears, the little lady cried, and she couldn't come to her senses for three days, it was really restless.

Chen Caozhi watched from the side, and recognized that this plain girl was the **** who came out of Lingyin Temple with her mother and met the flower girl on the edge of the West Lake, at that time he also helped the girl identify a golden hairpin dendrobium, but it turned out that this was Lu's girl, and the two sentences that sister-in-law Ding Youwei said came to mind - "Yongxu Xie Daoyun, Lu Weirui", this girl loves flowers so much, it must be the Lu Weirui.

Chen Caozhi saw the girl squatting there with her back on her back, her shoulders trembling, obviously very sad, and couldn't help but remind her aloud: "The flower branch can be connected, and it won't die." ”

The girl didn't raise her head, just looked at the ink chrysanthemum in her hand, and sobbed: "But, this flower is broken, and it will soon wither, this flower is only half-open, it's a pity, woo-"

Chen Caozhi said: "It doesn't matter, this flower can also be saved, quickly straighten the flower branch, wrap the broken part with beeswax, replant, and then use bamboo pieces to support, don't make the flower branch stressed, this flower can continue to open." ”

The girl was still squatting on Fuhua, turning her head to look at Chen Caozhi, the girl was extremely delicate, her eyebrows were fine and neat, her long eyelashes were hanging with small crystal tears, her eyes were getting wider and wider, and she suddenly narrowed into two crescents, and her pure and beautiful face bloomed with a pure smile: "Ah, it turned out to be you!" ”

The girl also recognized that this was the handsome young man she met on the shore of Mingsheng Lake, after half a year, this young man had grown a lot taller, and his complexion had changed from white to red and white, and his eyes were even darker.

Chen Caozhi smiled and responded: "It's me, hurry up and let someone find beeswax to pick up the flower branches." ”

Without the girl's instructions, the two servants had already rushed back to the manor to find beeswax, while the girl had been squatting there to support Mo Ju.

Chen Caozhi said: "Don't help it first, it's better to let the flowers lie down." ”

Only then did the girl put down the ink chrysanthemum in her hand gently, stood up, and looked at Chen Caozhi with the mud in her hands, slightly shy.

The maid hurriedly brought water to let the girl clean her hands, and at this time, a young man stopped and walked over, and was asking: "Seventh sister, how-" Suddenly saw Chen Caozhi, recognized it, and immediately recalled that Chen Caozhi did not answer his question by the lake that day, and said "What about Wang Xie's children?" What about the Shu family? He turned around and left, looking quite rude, and couldn't help frowning: "Who is here, why are you here?" ”

This was a rude and a bit silly to ask, Chen Caozhi smiled slightly and said, "It's strange, right, maybe we will meet again in the future." With a slight salute, he got on the ox cart and drove slowly past the Lu family's convoy.

The girl took a few steps and called, "Hey, hey, that little Langjun, wait a while and then leave, the beeswax will be picked up soon." ”

Chen Caozhi: "Do what I say, that's right." ”

Before the girl could shout again, a middle-aged man with a long beard and majesty turned out from behind an ox cart and rebuked in a low voice: "Rui'er, you are a woman, the road calls each other, what kind of body is it, hurry up and get in the car." ”

The girl was reluctant to say, "He will save my Mo Ju." ”