"Mrs. Li, so early?"

"It's gone, it's not early."

"Where can I see the sun when the rain curtain covers the sun? I don't know what Mrs. Li has to say? ”

"Please make a picture." Li Liangchen handed a small bag to Chu Feng, and his tone was as light as the cold rain that hit his body, "This is a moisturizing pen." ”

Such a conversation took place in the city of Hangzhou in late June of the first year of Xuanhe, in a rain that lasted for more than half a month.

There are almost no pedestrians on the streets, and even if anyone passes by occasionally, they are all in a hurry.

The vendors who used to come and go on the street, the familiar faces who pushed carts to sell breakfast, have not appeared for a long time.

The rain slowly began to put their lives in a difficult situation, and the overwhelming rain and the victims who could steal for a bite of food blocked their only way to live.

In the huge West Market, the illusion of a depression gradually emerged.

The rain is heavy and gradually charming to the eyes.

Li Liangchen seems to have been standing here for a long time, so much so that the pale red cloak is stained with a lot of water.

Chu Feng leaned sideways and motioned for her to enter the door and sit down for a while.

Li Liangchen only didn't do it. Or, maybe I really didn't see it.

"Painting is just a casual thing, Li Niangzi's pen is too heavy, I don't dare to accept it." Chu Feng smiled slightly, looked at Li Liangchen's face with a thin coldness, and handed the money bag back, "I'm afraid that the things I draw are not as good as Li Niangzi, if Li Niangzi doesn't dislike it, Chu Feng naturally doesn't dare to hide it." ”

Li Liangchen glanced at the money bag and didn't raise his hand to take it.

She had been standing outside the door, the eaves of the house could not completely cover the surface of her umbrella, and the rainwater that had only accumulated on the top of the oil-paper umbrella was slowly dripping down and falling on the half-worn threshold with countless tiny scratches.

"I want a landscape of ink painting, the mountains should be steeper, the color elements should be lighter, and the sketches can be used." She said.

Chu Feng tilted his head and thought for a moment, and nodded: "This is not a difficult matter. ”

Li Liangchen bowed his head and said "thank you" expressionlessly, and then walked into a cloud of smoke and rain.

"Mrs. Li, can you ask what is the use of this painting?" Chu Feng stepped over the threshold and took a step, the sound just drifted out of the eaves, and was quickly washed down by the rain curtain.

Li Liangchen did not answer. She pretended not to hear, or really not.

The pale red figure gradually blends into the layers of rain curtains, as if it is constantly diluted and diluted, like a washed Danqing painting.

Chu Feng smiled helplessly and sighed softly.

The rain was blown up by the wind, and occasionally a few fell on Chu Feng's face, which was slightly cool.

……

……

"Actually, it's all Huashigang's trouble. Does Chu Langjun know that Yiming caused a lawsuit a few days ago? ”

Gold is gone, a hangover.

No matter how many victims there are outside, the Qinglou painting boat on the shore of the West Lake is like a perpetual motion machine, and it will never stop.

"When I first saw it, I heard about it, but I didn't want to say much about these things."

Chu Feng recalled the first meeting with Liu Zhengqing, the down-and-out but arrogant temperament, and the wind bones who starved to death and did not receive food, and couldn't help but sigh slightly.

Liu Zhengqing is the kind of literati who really has his bones, he may seem to be giggling and sociable on the surface, but his dealings with most people are gentlemen's friends, and once something happens to him, he will not ask his friends for help, not even mention it.

He is a person like Bo Ya Ziqi and Jie Zitui. It is precisely because of this that Liu Zhengqing will not tell his friends about his tragic situation and the ups and downs he has experienced, and he does not need others to help him share anything.

For this, Chu Feng had to admire him. Because he asked himself that he couldn't do that.

It may be possible not to bend over for five buckets of rice, because Chu Feng knows very well that officialdom life cannot be suitable for a person with low emotional intelligence like himself, so don't do it. However, when he was about to starve to death, he refused to eat the food that was handed to him by others...... Giving up his life for the sake of backbone...... This choice was too heavy for Chu Feng.

Of course, Chu Feng admires this kind of person, but he doesn't think that he can be this kind of person.

After all, he is a person who is deeply educated by modern times and feels that freedom and life are the most precious. I haven't experienced too many things and waves, and even if I really talk about what the moral concept should be under any situation, if I really encounter that situation, I may change my perception.

He is not as persistent as Liu Zhengqing, and he is not as arrogant as Liu Zhengqing, so he admires Liu Zhengqing very much.

It's just that, on this kind of issue...... Chu Feng would rather Liu Zhengqing's guy tell the ups and downs and problems he has experienced as they are, so as not to guess around, and finally have to find Liu Zhengping here to listen to his story.

Liu Zhengping drank a glass of wine, filled it himself, and smiled helplessly: "Yiming has been this kind of character since he was a child, everyone has fun, and he has to bear the hardships himself, and it is difficult for others to pry his mouth open." Sometimes, he is stubborn...... How to put it, it is probably too clear to see things, black and white, and as a result, it will always cause some unnecessary trouble. My relationship with him, in fact, has been very good since he was a child, after all, he is a brother. If it hadn't been for last year......"

Speaking of this, Liu Zhengping frowned fiercely, and with a wave of his hand, he lowered three glasses of spirits in succession, and the expression on his face gradually eased.

The surroundings are lively. There is even some hustle and bustle.

This is the lobby on the first floor of the Drinking Moon Boat, with a raised table in the middle, and women in silk bamboo clothes are playing music and dancing slowly on the stage, laughing and singing.

More than a dozen tables were set up around the countertop, and now they are almost full, and the guests are drinking, laughing, and going to and from Ayara.

Chu Feng and Liu Zhengping did not ask a woman to accompany them at this table, but the two of them, one is a talented man who has been in the limelight in Hangzhou recently, and the other is a capable person with some means in the Zhizhou Mansion, which inevitably attracted a lot of attention.

Even when the two were chatting, there were many people who came to toast and say hello, including the benefactors who came and went to the Drinking Moon Boat, and there were also girls who had heard of the two big names in the Drinking Moon Boat.

Fortunately, people who have been messing around in the party for a long time can see the faces of others. After saying hello, everyone saw that Liu Zheng's face was black and his brows were deep, so they didn't dare to linger longer after saying hello, and retreated with a smile. It's just that after retreating to his desk, he couldn't help but laugh and talk about Chu Feng and Liu Zhengping, and was also curious about why these two people, who seemed to be unrelated to each other, got together, and it seemed that the relationship seemed to be very good.

"That Liu Zhengqing is the scholar who helped Chu Feng get out of the limelight at the Ink and Wash Club, and he seems to be the younger brother of this Liu Fushi. It seems that the two have a very close relationship. ”

"Liu Zhengqing? Is that the scholar who just passed the township exam? I've met him once, but how did I hear that he had a bit of a problem with his brother? It seems that last year because of some things, the family broke up, and it was not good-looking. ”

"And such a thing? Then this Chu Feng is very strange, do you have to participate in other people's family affairs......

This kind of discussion gradually began to spread in the corner of the lobby of the Drinking Moon Boat.

These words couldn't reach Chu Feng's ears, and even if they did, he wouldn't care much.

I want to find out what my friend is going through, and I want to find out how I can help him. This may be a trivial private matter that should not be taken care of by the people around him, and other people's family affairs should not be taken care of. But for Chu Feng, it was something he had to figure out and wanted to work hard to help make up for it.

But there is always some skill to help. Just like Liu Zhengqing once fell so down, he went to sell "Beijing Wine Post" to himself. This kind of thing, with Liu Zhengqing's self-esteem, it is impossible to want his brother to know, so Chu Feng also feels that he will not say it.

"How did Chu Langjun and Yiming meet?"

When Chu Feng faced this question, he only replied simply: "He often goes to our store to hang out, and he is familiar with each other after coming and going." ”

Liu Zhengping nodded and drank another glass of wine.

"It doesn't seem like the two of you have known each other for a long time, but the matter of our two brothers, hey! Where to start...... Yes, Yiming's lawsuit, does Chu Langjun know? ”

"I've heard of it, but he hasn't elaborated on it."

Liu Zhengping sighed: "Actually, in the final analysis, this incident is caused by me." A lawsuit, in fact...... Ay! It's a bit ugly to say, and I hope that Chu Langjun won't look down on our Liu family because of this. But now, there is nothing to hide. The root cause of the lawsuit is to divide the family. Yiming wanted to split up, but I refused, and as a result, there was a scene of confrontation in court. ”

Separations are almost unheard of after a thousand years, and even if they occasionally hear about how the group has been divided, it is not considered such a big deal. After all, the era is different, and the perception of many things has changed.

In fact, the ancients attached the most importance to the concept of clan, once someone was kicked out of the clan because of something, it was almost the price of exile.

Most of the people of this era are the entire clan for generations and live in one place. Like the big family in "Dream of Red Mansions", the tulou of the Hakka people, and even the Lu family of Shanyin, where Mr. Wen Duan was born, these are all typical examples of family gatherings.

In the true sense of the word, the number of people living in single-family households is very scarce, and in an environment without the protection of a large family, it is very difficult to avoid being bullied by outsiders.

Later, Mr. Fei Xiaotong outlined the main characteristics of the entire grassroots society in "Rural China". The main structure of this characteristic, although it was basically only circulated in the countryside in later generations, was actually **** and had already gradually taken shape in the era of the Western Zhou Dynasty, permeating the entire social class during the Northern Song Dynasty.

Everyone is a member of this class, whether it is a peddler or a dignitary. Liu Zhengping and Liu Zhengqing are naturally the same.

The two are brothers, but they broke up because of some irreconcilable contradictions. In the eyes of outsiders, this kind of thing has reached the point of "family ugliness". The Chinese people pay attention to the ugliness of the family and do not publicize it, but Liu Zhengqing, who was biased, actually stabbed this matter to the government and sued Liu Zhengping, which made the whole city know.

It's really ugly.

Liu Zhengping smiled bitterly, and then said: "After that, I think Chu Langjun himself can guess it." Anyway, although I am only a small military attaché, after all, I have a little reputation in the yamen, and the adults also take care of me. Lord Zhizhou actually appreciates Yiming's talent, and this case was finally pressed down by fifty boards each. The adults originally wanted to persuade him, but Yiming was stubborn, and in the end he made a lot of trouble, so he had to divide the family according to his ideas......"

"I am the eldest son, and according to the "Song Law", it is impossible to divide it equally with him. There weren't many things in the house, and he didn't want any fields and the like, just some calligraphy and paintings left by his father, and an old house in the city. After discounting the price of these things, he still owes me dozens of taels of silver. Of course, I can't ask him for it, but this kid has the same temper as a cow, and I have to pay it back. ”

"He has been studying for so many years, and he doesn't know anything about running a family. I don't know where he got some silver taels to return to me, I inquired around, and I heard that he made Mr. Xixi for a lady in the Fan family's mansion, presumably the Fan family lent it to him! Ay! This self-inflicted thing! ”

Liu Zhengping used such words, but his face couldn't help but show pity.

Chu Feng listened silently, and had a general plan for this lawsuit in his heart, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Liu Zhengqing is not the kind of person who makes waves on the ground, if there is nothing principled that angers him, he should not do anything to break off his brother's righteousness.

Chu Feng frowned slightly, and asked in a worded manner: "Lord Liu, you two brothers, what is it that caused such a big contradiction?" ”

Liu Zhengping glanced at him, smiled bitterly, and looked down at the wine cup.

"So, in the final analysis, it's my fault for this matter."

Liu Zhengping wanted to pour himself wine, but the wine pot shook for a long time, but only poured out half a glass.

Laughing miserably, Liu Zhengping said: "It's all because I am greedy for wealth and wealth, and I made that Huashigang incident." ”

"Officials love Taihu stone, so officials from all over the country compete to donate it. Does Chu Langjun know about this matter? ”

"I've heard a little."

Liu Zhengping laughed, and leaned back on the back of the chair with his upper body back, looking a little weak.

"I was also confused back then, and I wanted to take this opportunity to please me...... This flower stone gang was only spread in the capital at the beginning, and those big officials successively collected the strange stones and strange trees hidden in their homes and dedicated them to the official family. The official family is sometimes happy, and it is not uncommon for the official to immediately promote the person who presents the strange flowers and stones to the third level, so this matter is getting bigger and bigger, and it is not only prosperous in Bianliang City. ”

Liu Zhengping lowered his voice a little, and lightly pointed at the table with the index finger of his right hand: "The speed at which this atmosphere spreads to our Jiangnan side is extremely fast. At first, those adults just paid tribute with their own family treasures, but seeing that some people were promoted and made rich, others were naturally greedy, so they ran to Jiangnan to find things like Taihu Lake stones, and this atmosphere was brought over in this way. ”

"The last adult who was a general judge in Hangzhou City was appreciated by the official family because he presented a beautiful Taihu Lake stone to the official family, and now he has made a right servant shot in Shangshu Province, which can be described as a smash hit. This is precisely because of the presence of Zhuyu in front, all the officials in the south of the Yangtze River have made enough efforts to look for flowers and stones everywhere, and this upward and downward effect has spread overwhelmingly. ”

Although Chu Feng also vaguely knew the extension of the scourge of the Huashigang Rebellion, it was the first time that he had heard people talk about it in detail like this, and he couldn't help but really realize what it meant to be "good at the top and bad at the bottom".

Liu Zhengping continued: "Three years ago, I made a proposal in the Zhizhou Mansion to manage the procurement and miscellaneous affairs in the Zhizhou Mansion, and now that I think about it, it is actually quite good. After I heard about the matter of Huashigang, I remembered that there was a Taihu Lake stone in my yard, and I had some thoughts that I shouldn't have...... My father's body was a little weak in his early years, and the Taihu Lake stone at home was left by his ancestral industry, so he naturally didn't let me move. I was also confused at that time, so I forcibly asked someone from the yamen to help dig out the Taihu Lake stone. In order to transport it out, he also demolished the door of the house with others. Now that I think about it, what a ****** bastard! ”

Speaking of this, Liu Zhengping clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and his eyes were bloodshot. Even across the table, Chu Feng could feel Liu Zhengping's anger towards him.

"Because of my unfilial piety, my father fell ill in a fit of anger and died after being bedridden for three or four months. On the contrary, I used that side of Taihu Stone in exchange for the official position of the government. But now that I think about it, hehe, it's a fart! In the end, whether the cover is suppressed or suppressed by others, it is still necessary to see the faces of others! Moreover, everyone in the yamen knows how I Liu Zhengping climbed up, what a dog thing, who can really look up to me! I've really fucking figured it out, shit! All fucking shit! Lost my father, no brother! In the end, all the people who came to me were a group of wolf-hearted snobs, just looking at me in the name of this government affair and wanting to seek some benefits from me! It turned out that I went around camping and camping, and this is how I got it! You really deserve it! ”

A tear slipped down Liu Zhengping's eyes, he hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve, and laughed: "This wine is really big!" Ha ha! Doesn't Chu Langjun drink? Let's eat! Eat vegetables! The roast duck here is a must, Chu Langjun must try it! ”

Chu Feng responded softly, not knowing what it was like in his heart. He only felt that the person in front of him was really hateful and pitiful, and it seemed that he should say something, but when the words came to his lips, only a sigh remained.

At this time, three more people brought wine cups to salute. Liu Zhengping got up and talked and laughed a few words like no one else, and introduced Chu Feng to those people, laughed a little, and then he was revealed, and they went separately.

Sitting down again, Liu Zhengping looked at Chu Feng and laughed at himself: "Presumably Chu Langjun can also see it by now, I, Liu Zhengping, am a wolf-hearted thing!" So Yiming doesn't forgive me, in fact, it's a reasonable thing. After Chu Langjun heard the truth of this matter, he didn't even leave the table angrily, and I, Liu Zhengping, were already very grateful! But Yiming's approach is not wrong, I, hehe, have fallen into such a field, and I am just to blame, and there is nothing to sympathize with! If Chu Langjun was embarrassed to leave, he didn't have to endure it anymore. Leave me alone here to find a girl and have some wine. Chu Langjun, please take care of yourself! ”