twelve

Chun Bao knew that Bao Zhu was angry, although his wife was willful, but this point was generally recognized, so he coaxed and promised to only eat Western food in the Garden Hotel from now on, which was calm, but with this discord, it was always embarrassing to meet, and soon Chun Bao had a solution that everyone could accept.

Jinan is Zhiqiu's hometown, and it is also Jiahui's mother's home, once the child came to the world, he has not seen his mother's family, and his father-in-law Tian Xuezhe is not in good health, and his daughter and son-in-law should also go back to visit. Chunbao and his wife travel to Jinan together, they can take care of it on the road, they can also avoid their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and they can also block the mouths of their elders, which is the best of both worlds.

Chun Bao first took out a sum of money to repair his father's grave, put the grave bag on the ground with water-milled bricks, replaced the tombstone with a larger bluestone stele, and planted a few cypress trees on both sides. After two days, everyone was ready to stop, take the train to Jinan Mansion, four people just sat in a first-class box, originally planned to take a nanny, and then thought that the journey was just one night, four adults are still afraid that they can't take care of the two children, but it turns out that not only the two big men will not take care of the nursing baby, even the treasure bead is not at all helping, holding the child will not, so busy feeding and urinating, all rely on Jiahui Zhang Luo. The car arrived at Jinan Railway Station, Tianfu sent a car to pick up, not a rickshaw, but a black and shiny Austin brand sleeper, pulled them to the house, the father-in-law set up a banquet to entertain, the Tian family Ding Xingwang, more than ten brothers and sisters of Jiahui, accompanied them to visit Jinan scenic spots, walked all over Baotu Spring, Daming Lake, Thousand Buddha Mountain, played for a few days, spent the fifteenth day of the first month in Jinan, Chun Bao said too long, it was time to go back to Shanghai, Zhiqiu let him go back first, and he had to spend a period of time here.

Chun Bao and Bao Zhu returned to Shanghai first, and before leaving, they left a brand-new English tailor's herringbone coat for Zhiqiu, and when the train stopped in Xuzhou to pick up and drop off passengers, Chun Bao stood on the platform for a long time. Zhiqiu and Jiahui lived in Jinan until the beginning of March before going back, not long after returning to Xuzhou, the bad news came, father-in-law Tian Xuezhe died of a violent illness, and the two rushed back to the funeral, the father-in-law went, the last reliable elder in Zhiqiu was gone, after the old funeral, he walked alone to the shore of Daming Lake, and pulled the erhu for an afternoon.

The autumn erhu is good, it is one of the best in Xuzhou Mansion, so it has also made a group of friends who love to pull erhu, every day is still qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine and tea, there is no worries about the economy at all, at this time the bad fang has been sold, the Liu family's income is divided into three pieces, one is the salt lead, the second is the rent of Shuyang County, and the third is the dividend of Lin Ji, which adds up to thousands of yuan per year, and it is not a problem to feed a family. The following year, Jiahui gave birth to another girl, named Chu Qi, but over there in Shanghai, Baozhu's belly still did not move, and Dafeng, who was a mother-in-law, could only be in a hurry.

Chun Bao has a letter every month, read to Dafeng by the autumn, the letter said that Chun Bao bought the land in Huxi before the price has risen, he took the opportunity to get rid of it, equal to not spending a penny in the French Concession to buy a Shikumen house, and finally left his father-in-law to separate the family after the order, the factory was changed to Pudong, the business is thriving, Baozhu takes Chinese medicine every day to recuperate, and the birth of a child is just around the corner.

In fact, Chun Bao still has a lot of things not written in the letter, he and Bao Zhu converted to Jesus Christ, every Sunday to go to the Catholic church to pray, in addition to the family cooking and grocery shopping aunt, but also hired a car driver, for Chun Bao to drive the new Oldsmobile car.

Although Chun Bao believes in foreign religion, but he feels that the world's religion is to teach people to be good, so every month always to do good deeds, to the poor to give steamed buns, of course, this move is not without other ideas mixed in, his father-in-law Lin Yanhe is a well-known good man and layman, and the fundamental reason for doing good and accumulating virtue is to add a boy to pass on the lineage, steamed bread for 20 years, and I don't see Baozhu has a younger brother, and now the son-in-law has changed the foreign Bodhisattva to worship, maybe it can be useful.

One day, Baozhu took a car to the British Concession to buy something, met a person at the intersection of the four roads, and couldn't see clearly in a flash, but vaguely felt that the figure and eyebrows wanted to be alone, she immediately asked the coachman to stop, got out of the car and walked back, seeing that the person turned into the four roads, chased over but disappeared, Baozhu suspected that he was wrong, and was about to go back, but saw the person coming out of a newspaper building, it was Fu Chongsi, who had not been seen for a long time.

Fu Chongsi was down, the elbows and cuffs of the tweed suit were grinding and the threads were blooming, and under the messy hair was a tired and emaciated face, Baozhu was distressed for a while, invited him to drink coffee, and asked him why Zhang Peiyu didn't take care of you, Fu Chongsi was puzzled and asked who Zhang Peiyu was? Baozhu was stunned, then understood, and then diverted the topic and asked another question that she couldn't put down, that night, why didn't Fu Chongsi go to the train station to make an appointment.

"It's a long story." Fu Chongsi picked up the coffee and said with a wry smile, "That day, my father took someone to tie me back to Haining, and the family arranged a family affair for me, just like you, I was forced to marry someone I didn't like." ”

After Fu Chongsi's father died, he left his wife and children and returned to Shanghai, relying on writing manuscripts for the newspaper to make a living, renting a pavilion room, three meals a day can hardly continue, in order to save postage, he walked to the newspaper to submit, but did not expect to meet Lin Baozhu.

Baozhu settled the account, gave all the banknotes on his body to Fu Chongsi, and couldn't help but shed tears on the way home, creating people, she and Fu Chongsi are inseparable after all, but Chunbao's deception is unforgivable, marrying Chen Chunbao, Baozhu has always been unwilling, but there is nothing she can do, today's encounter made her suddenly understand that in fact, there is another way to live in the day.

In the evening, Chun Bao went home after socializing, Bao Zhu went downstairs to pick up his briefcase and top hat, and helped him take off his blazer, Chun Bao bought a dozen ARROW shirts, and found a white Russian tailor to make a full suit, Bao Zhu knew that her husband did these to be worthy of himself, he tried to learn to dress in high society, but exquisite clothes can never hide the innate country temperament, he wears a shirt and does not know how to change it every day, wears a suit and does not know how to match the right leather shoes, a real gentleman, hair and leather shoes must be shiny, Wear yellow and brown leather shoes in spring and autumn, white leather shoes in summer, and black leather shoes in winter, instead of just knowing how to iron the trouser line straight.

The feeling of sitting in his own house is steady, Chun Bao thought. This new-style Shikumen house is his pride, but the land in Huxi bought and sold a house for nothing, whenever he returned to the door, saw two thick black lacquered wooden doors, even if there was no dust, he had to wipe the pair of copper rings on the door, this is the first industry he Chen Chunbao relied on his own ability to buy in Shanghai, the value has far exceeded the house that Liu Taigong is proud of, once upon a time, that house is the goal that can never be reached in his heart. The huge sense of satisfaction and accomplishment makes Chun Bao often a little panicked, which is why he did not add money to buy a garden house or villa in one step, people must learn to be restrained and content, his son of a long worker, can come to this day is already blessed by Jesus Christ, if he is not satisfied, I am afraid that there will be some calamity waiting in front of him. Lin Yanhe is Chunbao's benefactor, and he is also the idol he worships and imitates.

Aunt Niang brought hot tea, Chun Bao took a sip, and heard Baozhu sitting opposite say: "Allah has to go to the main road to buy things tomorrow, so I don't want Ah Fu to drive it." ”

Chun Bao said, "I know. ”

The next day, Baozhu went to the café on the four roads again, yesterday when they were separated, she didn't ask Chongsi's address, so she could only guard near the newspaper office, and waited for a day, people came and went on the four roads, but there was no trace of Fu Chongsi, and when she was ready to leave, Chongsi appeared, holding a stack of newspapers, walking in a hurry, passing by the café, Baozhu suddenly became timid, a heart thumped, buried his head and stirred the coffee with a small silver spoon, for fear of being seen by Fu Chongsi, after a while, a person sat down opposite, It's Fu Chongsi.

Fu Chongsi's complexion was much better, presumably he had eaten a full meal with the dozens of yuan given by the jewel yesterday, and his hair had been trimmed, and the jewel vaguely saw him back then.

Baozhu was a gift to Fu Chongsi, and she believed that Fu Chongsi was a buried writer, a truly talented person, which was what made him different from his father or a small businessman like Chunbao.

Fu Chongsi accepted the five hundred yuan given by Baozhu, and wrote an IOU to her on the café's note, saying that the money was borrowed and would definitely be repaid. On the way back, Baozhu tore up the IOU, that winter, Fu Chongsi's money for eating and renting a house was paid by herself, and the train ticket for elopement was also bought by her Yang Chunbao.

Baozhu saw the articles and poems written by Fu Chongsi under a pen name in the newspaper, beautiful and lingering, Baozhu knew that it was written for herself, and suddenly a strong thought came to her heart, she wanted to find Fu Chongsi, even if it was to talk.

Once, twice, three times, Baozhu and Fu Chongsi's tryst moved from the café to the restaurant, and Fu Chongsi's residence was changed from a pavilion to a bungalow apartment, and two months later, Baozhu found out that she was pregnant.

Chun Bao is a very meticulous person, the family's expenses have increased a lot inexplicably recently, all of them are quietly withdrawn by the jewels, but the family has not added any belongings, he is quiet, began to pay attention to his wife's movements, and after a follow-up, he found that the jewels did not go to play cards as she said, but went to an apartment on Fu Kaisen Road. Chun Bao didn't follow up, but spent a lot of money to ask the janitor, there was indeed a gentleman surnamed Fu living in Grixiang, who was a cultural person who made a living by writing for the newspaper, and Chun Bao understood it all in an instant.

Baozhu came to Fu Chongsi for a showdown, giving him two choices, one is to elope with himself to go to Beiping, and the other is to completely cut off contact, and from then on. Fu Chongsi lowered his head and put his fingers in his hair, and said: "The situation in Beiping is unstable, and I can't go, but it's still safe in the Shanghai Concession." "Baozhu said that it is okay to go to Tianjin or Hankow, where there is also a concession. Fu Chongsi said let me think about it, you come to me again tomorrow afternoon, and I will give you an answer. Baozhu said okay, I'll go back first.

That night, Baozhu tossed and turned in bed, Chun Bao asked her if there was something wrong, Baozhu sighed and said that she lost a lot of cards today, and she was not comfortable, and she must go to turn the book tomorrow.

Chun Bao remembered Aunt Tao's hand that was holding the smoke pattern and did not move, the green smoke curled, and women were born to be masters of lying.