Chapter 2: Old Things

Dad didn't like him when he was a child. For he was born to his mother, to one of his concubines, to the children of a concubine who had been captured on the battlefield.

Whenever he met Mrs. Zheng, he and his mother had to kneel and salute, and they couldn't help but disobey. Once he looked up and glared at Mrs. Zheng unwillingly, and when his father found out, he tied him to a tree and smoked his skin and flesh. It was the mother, who blocked him with her body, held him deep in her arms, and begged bitterly. So, whenever his sister-in-law enjoyed exquisite food, he and his mother could only eat some leftovers. Sometimes, the subordinates deliberately poured leftovers on the ground, and he and his mother could only starve.

I remember one time when it was snowing heavily, he didn't eat for a day, and he was hungry and crying in his mother's arms. He looked at his mother with teary eyes, and whispered aggrievedly: "Mother, I'm hungry ・・・・・・", my mother's beautiful face was full of sadness and helplessness, but the tears in his eyes did not fall for a long time. She got up and opened the only old wooden cabinet in the room, and took out a wooden box with a beautiful silver flower engraved into it. The boy's eyes lit up, and every time he starved, the mother would always take out some ornaments from it that he had never seen her wear, exquisitely beautiful. Then turn them into silver, and then into food. But he also knew that it was the most precious thing for his mother. Every time she took out one, she always looked at it carefully, stroked it gently, as if to imprint it deeply in her heart, and then turned around and went out. When he was young, he only knew that his mother was going to the pawnshop to exchange for silver, but he never noticed the faint sadness on his mother's face.

The box was gently opened, and a jade bracelet lay quietly on the bright yellow silk brocade. The most amazing thing is that there is a faint red line on the transparent jade bracelet, as if a trace of blood is slowly flowing in the tears of a sad person.

"・・・・・・ this?" The boy's eyes widened.

"This is the marriage ceremony prepared by the mother for you, when you grow up and marry a wife, you don't need a mother・・・・・・" The mother's voice was a little strange.

"I don't want a wife, I want a mother!" The boy threw himself into his mother's arms.

The mother stroked his head gently, and said dotingly: "How can you not marry a wife, silly child, you must marry when you grow up, if you don't marry, I'm sorry for my mother." Be sure to marry a beautiful ・・・・・."

"Hmm, don't you want to be like a mother?" The boy raised his head, his dark eyes shining with innocence like stars.

The mother smiled, avoided answering, and only said to herself: "You have to treat her well・・・・・・..."

Valuable bracelets were exchanged for only ten taels of silver in the pawnshop. It's just Mrs. Zheng's money for a silk handkerchief, and my mother used it for a whole year.

The following year's winter came earlier and colder than usual.

My mother is sick. She had a fever, coughed incessantly, and fell into a coma several times. On a snowy night, the boy knelt all night. Dad invited a You Fang Langzhong at dusk the next day.

"It's tuberculosis." The silver-haired old man said affirmatively after careful verification.

"What? Tuberculosis?" The general of the past hurriedly retreated, hiding his mouth and nose after dodging far away.

"Someone, drag her away and bury her!" There was deep fear in his cold tone.

"This is the majestic general..." Lang Zhongzhong sighed, while busy dissuading, "No, people can still be treated, don't do this." There is still a strange recipe left in the old man's house, maybe this lady..."

"I can't do that much," the general waved his hand impatiently, "if you want to save her, carry her away." ”

"Then the old man took her away." The old man was very disgusted, and got up to take his leave.

"Slow!" The immature child's voice shouted loudly. The general was stunned, "What's the matter with you?"

"If you give me ten taels of silver, I will not bother you again. Otherwise, I will say that I will guard the door and disturb your chickens and dogs. The boy looked resentful. Even if you don't want to take his money, you have to redeem your mother's jade bracelet.

The general threw out ten taels of silver, sneered, and strode away.

In the thatched hut in the middle of nowhere, the cold wind tore through the broken windows that had just been pasted. The lamps and candles flickered, and a pool of clear oil in the bowl reflected the mother and son who accompanied each other. In the boy's hand, there was a bowl of freshly warmed medicine, and a strong smell of medicine permeated the narrow room.

The mother looked at him with great satisfaction and smiled. Even though I have seen a thousand charming smiles, at this moment, in that little heart, my mother's smile is the most beautiful. Immediately, the mother cried again, and tears fell on the child's face and flowed into the corners of her mouth. Taste, it turned out to be bitter.

Seeing that his mother drank a bowl of thick black medicine, he stretched out his hand, carefully wiped the medicine on the corner of his mother's mouth, and carefully helped his mother lie down.

"You've grown up・・・・・・ Niang's expression was a little tired, and her eyes closed slightly.

The boy didn't notice his mother's abnormality, and still played with the bracelet there: "Mother, I changed the jade bracelet back." It took me a lot of effort to redeem it, but the boss not only didn't give it to me, but also beat me... Mother, I don't want you to leave me, I want you to be with me, never separated..." He hurriedly swallowed back the words that he was about to utter, and gently blew out the light.

In a trance, he had a dream, dreaming that when he came back from the private school, his mother was looking at him with a smile in front of the exquisite food, and said softly: "Eat quickly, don't burn it."

The moonlight came in through the cracks in the roof, and on Niang Ruyu's face, two crystal teardrops had not yet fallen...

Mother is gone.

The mother didn't have time to say a word to him and quietly left, and when the sun shone into the house, the mother was no longer there, and her slightly pale face was still beautiful. The boy stared blankly at his sleeping mother, dazed. The cold wind was like a sharp blade, cutting off his only concern in this world.

After tidying up his mother's thin clothes, he silently said in his heart: "Mother, I will come back to see your ・・・・・・."

The burning hut crackled from time to time, and from the window, it was vaguely the quiet face of the mother, and the tongue of fire devoured the beautiful and graceful figure. Before the age of six, that figure was his whole world, and that figure was the most beautiful dream in the world. With a maturity and coldness that was extremely incommensurate with his age, he knelt down and kowtowed a few times.

Mother, you wait for me・・・・・・