Chunbao couple came after the Spring Festival, arrived at Xuzhou Railway Station on the eighth day of the first month, the railway passenger traffic decreased significantly during the old calendar year, and only a few people got off the first-class carriage, including Chen Chunbao and his wife, the first-class car was close to the locomotive, the heating supply was sufficient, and they felt the cold of the north when they got off the train, Baozhu wrapped the fox fur scarf tighter, and began to regret not buying the mink coat hanging in the window of the Sincere company.

The platform was deserted, and even the shadow of the porter could not be found, Chun Bao was anxious about how to carry so much luggage, and suddenly saw a group of people at the door of the second-class carriage looking forward to it, and it was Zhiqiu who was the leader.

Zhiqiu didn't expect Chunbao to come first, and after finding out that he was looking for the wrong carriage, he rushed over with a group of friends, first greeted each other, introduced each other, and then walked out with his luggage. Chun Bao said that these were just carry-on luggage, and I also checked in a batch of things.

Chun Bao checked a bed, and a copper frame bed imported from the UK was dismantled and checked as luggage, which was one of his gifts to Zhiqiu.

When he left the station, Chun Bao stopped, and vaguely seemed to see a group of soldiers in gray and blue military uniforms coming out of behind the box office.

When entering the city, Baozhu was not happy, the foreign car was bumpy on the gravel paved road very uncomfortable, the trees beside the road were bare and lifeless, even the telephone poles were a head shorter than those in Shanghai, and as far as the eye could see, only the gray city walls and low houses could be seen, and the husband spoke loudly to his friends in the local dialect that she did not understand, everything made Baozhu depressed and bored, but when she saw the crowd waiting in front of the house, Baozhu still showed her greatest friendliness and politeness.

Dafeng was looking forward to it at the door of the house, she was going to the train station to pick up Chunbao, and was persuaded by relatives, they said that you are a mother, don't suffer from the cold anymore when you go out on a cold day, just wait at home to sit with your son, but Dafeng still can't sit still, to wait at the gate, when the team composed of foreign cars appears, even Liu Shaoshi, who is as stable as Mount Tai, can't sit still, with Jiahui, holding two granddaughters out to greet, Liu's family is a single family in Xuzhou Mansion, and the people who come to help are all classmates and friends of Zhiqiu, and the man goes to the train station to pick up people, Women and children are waiting at home in the new clothes of the visitors, and the flowers are spectacular from afar.

When I saw my mother, Chun Bao didn't shed tears, just slammed his head on the ground, his hometown was timid, his tears were finished on the train last night, Dafeng was crying with a handful of tears, she was mainly crying Chen San died too early, and she was not blessed to see her son have a big life. It was Baozhu's turn to meet her mother-in-law, she bowed and shouted to her mother, Dafeng's tears were so happy that she couldn't close her mouth before she could dry, and she took out a gold ring and stuffed it into Baozhu, praising her daughter-in-law for being handsome and a good match for her son.

The men spread out firecrackers in the open space in front of the door to prepare for fire, the autumn deliberately changed the full moon wine into a 100-day banquet, according to the customs of Xuzhou Mansion, the new house to "burn the bottom of the pot", also arranged to be carried out today, plus Chun Bao home, proper three happiness to the door.

In the sound of firecrackers, red confetti flew all over the sky, Baozhu and Jiahui hid behind holding hands, greeting each other like sisters, this is the first time the two of them met, Jiahui just came out of confinement not long ago, rich and fair-skinned, wearing a satin cotton robe, but also able to compete with the rich lady in Shanghai, Baozhu in order to shorten the distance, but also hugged two children carved in powder and jade, asked if the name, Jiahui said that the big one is called Chu Tong, and the small one is called Chu Zhao, all of which are given by Zhiqiu.

There are too many guests, there are not enough tables, chairs, bowls and chopsticks at home, so this banquet is placed in the most famous restaurant in Xuzhou Mansion Yanchun Garden, set up twenty tables of rice, the wine is the rose dew, Wujiapi and sorghum Daqu from the Xiecheng trough workshop, the dish is the signature dish of the famous chef of Yanchun Garden, what sheep Tibetan fish, green onion grilled duck, roasted conpoy, Xuzhou is the intersection of Jinpu and Longhai two major railways, visitors from all directions, the taste is complicated, Yanchun Garden belongs to the southern cuisine, this is also to take care of the guests who come from afar, but Baozhu did not taste the taste of hometown at all, Her mouth was just salty and spicy, and she symbolically moved her chopsticks, and she only ate a small bite of each dish before putting it down. Chunbao noticed that his wife had a poor appetite, and left the table to find Zhiqiu to arrange other dishes, Zhiqiu was talking to a person, and when he saw him coming, he introduced: "This is Li Keran, the young east of Yanchun Garden, he has just returned from Shanghai, and he is a teacher at our Xuzhou Art College." The man bowed his hand to Chunbao: "I often hear Brother Liu mention the legendary story of Mr. Chen. Chunbao said a few polite words and asked Li Shaodong if he could serve a few dishes with a sweet taste, Li Keran said with a smile: "It's easy to do, I suggest adding a shredded apple and an eight-treasure rice." After serving these two dishes, Baozhu really ate more.

After the banquet, everyone went back to their homes, Zhiqiu and Chunbao returned to Liu's mansion, first let Chunbao put three incense sticks in front of Mrs. Liu's tablet, kowtowed three heads, Liu Shao sat cross-legged on the futon and twisted the Buddha beads and said Chunbao, your uncle and your father bless you in heaven, and you have to kowtow a few heads to your father when you go to the grave tomorrow. It is one of the last wishes of the Taigong to find Chunbao, the Taigong is gone, and the wish falls on the living, Chunbao went home, the house was built, and Liu Shaoshi felt that he was worthy of his husband under Jiuquan.

Chun Bao opened the suitcase, the box was full of gifts, the family had a share, the silk and velvet for the old man, the German-made fountain pen razor for the autumn, the jewelry box for Jiahui, the small clothes and toys for the two nieces, the whole family was happy, lively and lively, and talked until late at night.

Jiahui arranged the bed of Chunbao's two people by the hot pot for washing feet and heating quilt, when she returned to the house, the two children were already asleep, Zhiqiu sat on the edge of the bed and read a book, she adjusted the wick of the kerosene lamp up to make the fire brighter, Zhiqiu stretched and asked, "Did they sleep?" ”

"If you fall asleep, your younger siblings may not be used to it." Jiahui said, "When eating, she didn't move her chopsticks much"

Zhiqiu pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose up and said, "No wonder Chunbao wants to add vegetables...... Eat it at home tomorrow, you stir-fry, and put less salt. ”

Jiahui stopped talking, cut a few urine rings, turned off the lights and went to bed to rest.

Early the next morning, Dafeng brought a plate of hot water to his son and daughter-in-law, standing at the door and calling Chun Bao to get up, Bao Zhu is used to sleeping on the brown trampoline bed at home, the bed outside is not steady, the house is cold, she was woken up not long after falling asleep at dawn, she was angry and ashamed, and pushed Chun Bao who was sleeping to wake up, Chun Bao got up with sleepy eyes and opened the door a crack, saying Mother, don't be busy, I'll come by myself. Dafeng handed the enamel basin and towel to her son, and went with a smile, in her heart, her son was still the sixteen-year-old boy eight years ago, no matter how big the shopkeeper was, he was still a child who needed to be taken care of by his mother.

Chun Bao brought the basin in, a little embarrassed, although Liu Taigong was the same brother and sister as Chen San when he was alive, he and Zhiqiu were not brothers but brothers, but these things Baozhu couldn't understand, last night there were already suspicions, and now the mother came to serve with hot water, and it confirmed Baozhu's guess, Dafeng is the Liu family's helper, that is, the aunt of the Shanghai family.

The two washed their faces and went downstairs to eat, Dafeng was very enthusiastic to let her daughter-in-law eat more, Baozhu couldn't understand her country dialect, so she had to keep nodding and smiling, facing a table of breakfast, it was difficult to get off the chopsticks with chopsticks, these foods were bought from the morning shop in the autumn, steamed buns, steamed buns, fritters, spicy soup, in Baozhu's eyes are not very clean, especially black, the sticky spicy soup is not made of what materials, and there is no appetite when you look at it, so you put down the chopsticks and say that you are not hungry, Nong eats first. Jiahui saw it, went back to the room and brought two cream bread wrapped in wax paper, so that Baozhu could eat it with hot tea.

Today's arrangement is to go to the grave and visit friends, Chen San's grave is outside the city, the family came to the tomb, put down incense, candles, paper horses and offerings, and sacrificed with great fanfare. It was cold, and Chun Bao was afraid that he would freeze the orb, so he burned the sacrifice and went back with the orb to meet friends. There is a group of very good friends who play in the autumn, they get together to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, discuss the current situation, Chunbao's joining makes them very excited, and they have asked the ins and outs of the 128 incident, Chunbao has been a soldier in the warlord army, and has seen the world in Shanghai, and must have a unique view of the current situation, sure enough, Chunbao said amazingly, he said that Shanghai will not be peaceful for long, and he has to fight! Some of my friends retorted that no, that the foreigners in the Shanghai Concession would not allow the war to expand, and that they would inevitably come out to mediate, and even if they did, they would start fighting in North China first. Chunbao shook his head and said no, Shanghai is the richest place in China, only a few hundred miles away from Nanjing, the Japanese really want to fight, they will not be reluctant to seek far, and if they destroy Shanghai, Nanjing's taxes will be cut off, how to raise soldiers without money, how to buy arms, this battle will naturally be lost, everyone listens to it and thinks it is true, silent. After a long time, Zhiqiu said: "If the Japanese invaders are smart, they will encroach instead of swallowing the whale, occupy Shanghai, fight Nanjing, strategically correct, but ignore the determination of the Chinese to resist, really fight Shanghai, the government will definitely go all out, and it is not yet known who will die." ”

The scholars talked about it, after all, it was on paper, they talked about it all afternoon, talked until their stomachs growled, and some friends wanted to set up a banquet to entertain Chunbao, this time the restaurant was of slightly lower grade, the dishes were rough, the portion was full, the long green onions, the whole clove of garlic, soy sauce and salt were extremely heavy, this time Baozhu didn't even move the chopsticks, Chunbao also only meant to accompany his wife to retire, Zhiqiu saw that the momentum was not right to chase out, and saw that the two of them were whispering something in Shanghainese, Chunbao saw him come out and bluntly said that your sister-in-law is not used to eating Xuzhou cuisine, Zhiqiu said let's go home and cook by ourselves, Chun Bao said no need, I'll take her to the street for a walk, you hurry back to accompany your friends.

Chun Bao shopping in the middle of the shop, has decided not to live at home, there is a garden restaurant on Chayuan Street, is a Western-style hotel opened by Suzhou people, there are heated fireplaces and toilets, more importantly, to provide Chinese and Western food, the quality level and Shanghai hotels are no different, during the Spring Festival rooms are sufficient, the price is low, the manager said that can provide the room where Chairman Jiang lived, Chun Bao was still a little hesitant, see the expression on Baozhu's face to know that this hotel must live.

The garden hotel for a night to five yuan, catch up with a small job for a whole month's income, Dafeng heard that his son and daughter-in-law put the family ready-made house does not live, to spend money to live in the hotel, when a burst of scolding, scolding the son of a loser, a few money do not know what the surname is, Chun Bao always accompanied the smiling face, Baozhu blushed for a while, she felt that this is the mother-in-law pointed to Sang scolded Huai, to give herself a horse, patiently listened for a while, finally couldn't help it, raised his feet and left, went upstairs to get the luggage.

Liu Shao and Jiahui pulled Dafeng into the north house, and let Chun Bao send Baozhu to live in the hotel, Chun Bao sent his new wife to the Garden Hotel and turned back, explaining to his mother that he was taking the Lin family's salary, and the money spent was also from the Lin family.

Chun Bao coaxed the old lady, and then went back to the hotel to coax Baozhu, saying that my mother is used to living a poor life and is afraid of spending money, she is not aimed at you, just this straight temper.

Baozhu said that he would buy a train ticket back to Shanghai tomorrow, and I had enough to live here.