The child carried a lantern and walked in the dark alley where he could not see his fingers. The red candle casts light through the veil on the small area centered on itself, and in the flickering candlelight, you can see the toe of the child's shoes. A tiger is embroidered on the toe. The tiger does not have teeth and claws, but is a little cute.

When he came out of the dark alley, the child met Chen Huaisheng, the owner of the art shop. Wang Qiu was a delicate and pale man, always bending over and bowing his head when he walked. He rarely comes out at night, unless it is Boss Qiu from the coffin shop in the west of the city who buys the painting.

The paintings that Boss Qiu bought were not for himself, but were placed in coffins and sold along with the coffins to those vassal and elegant customers. It doesn't cost much to buy a painting alone. Selling coffins alone doesn't sell much money. But if Chen Huaisheng's painting is placed with the coffin, the price can be directly doubled.

Boss Qiu is a typical profiteer, and profiteers are generally smart.

The lantern in the child's hand swayed and illuminated Chen Huaisheng's feet. The shoes on his feet were old and had some signs of wear on the toes. When he walks, his shoes will be tilted to the side, as if he can't bear the weight of his thin body.

When he staggered by, the child raised the lantern in his hand a little higher, and he saw a person sitting on Chen Huaisheng's shoulder. A woman dressed in red and wearing a red hijab. The woman was barefoot, revealing a pair of white feet.

The child thought it was strange, but he only glanced at it, and then continued to walk forward with the lantern.

The woman sitting on Chen Huaisheng's shoulder turned around. A gust of wind blew away the red hijab from the woman's head. Beneath the red hijab is a white skull. The skeleton looked at the child with the lantern with its empty eyes. The child carried the lantern and jumped forward gently. On the ground, there was a shallow puddle, and in the puddle there was only the shadow of a lantern, and there were no children.

Chen Huaisheng walked quickly, as if someone was chasing him behind him. When he walked to the door of Boss Qiu's coffin shop, his close-fitting clothes were already soaked with sweat. I looked up and looked at the two white lights at the door of the hanging coffin shop. One left and one right, what is written is not the word "Qiu" of Boss Qiu, but "black and white yin and yang". As soon as the wind blew, the two white lanterns swayed.

Chen Huaisheng once asked Boss Qiu, why do you want to do the business of dead people, aren't you afraid to sleep in the coffin shop this big night? Boss Qiu only replied that the rich are afraid of ghosts because they are not benevolent to the rich. The poor are not afraid of ghosts because the poor are more terrible than ghosts. In other words, he is a poor man who opened a coffin shop in order to earn food. Chen Huaisheng is also poor, and he is a poor person who can't even afford to open a coffin shop.

Chen Huai's ancestors are not poor, although they are not rich enough, but they also have no worries about food and clothing. But his father is a sick man, and when he comes out of his mother's womb, he has to see a doctor and take medicine. Before the Chen family was ruined, her mother gave birth to him. There was more mouth in the house, and his father couldn't afford to take medicine anymore, so he was confused for a few years, and then he went.

Chen Huaisheng's mother is a strong one, and she was stunned to save money from her mouth for Chen Huaisheng to go to private school. Although he didn't get the top prize, he was able to rely on selling calligraphy and paintings.

Just as he was thinking, the door of the coffin shop opened, and out of it came a man with a red face and a round waist. This man is Boss Qiu of the coffin shop. Seeing Chen Huaisheng, he didn't say a word, and handed him a bag of broken silver first.

"It is said that your reading life is awkward, and I look awkward enough. You say, why can't you send me a painting in broad daylight? Is it because I'm not faceless enough to open a coffin shop, or do you think it's a shame that you sold me paintings? ”

"Boss Qiu misunderstood, Huai Sheng never thought so."

"I can't help it, yes, I don't force you. By the way, the taste of the customer has changed recently, and I don't like this kind of mellow beauty very much, so you can send some thin ones. Don't be the kind of dignified and rich, but the kind of graceful and graceful. Just Hanxiang Building, the girl standing at the door of Baihualou, this dress should be thin enough, this figure should be enough, and this eye wave should bring some charm. You don't know, these people who have died recently are all old and unserious. This old man is not serious, his son is not serious, and I am not right, who called us the money in the hands of rare people. ”

Chen Huaisheng blushed and nodded, which can be regarded as a resignation for this business.

"Come on, when will it be delivered?"

"Three days later, in the evening, I will send it to Boss Qiu on time." Chen Huaisheng stretched out three fingers: "It's still like this." ”

"Okay, that's it." Boss Qiu glanced at Chen Huaisheng, and then took out some loose silver from his waist and gave it to him: "Give it, take it too." ”

"Draw money, Boss Qiu, you have already given it just now."

"It's not the painting money, it's the polishing fee I give you. Look at the way you look now, skinny like a ghost. Take the money and go buy some delicious supplements. ”

"No need, Boss Qiu, the money you gave me for painting is enough for me to live."

"If you take it, you can take it, how can there be so much nonsense. I don't feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for the business in my shop. You also know that people like you who read books have the most stinky problems. If you weren't down, you wouldn't have taken over my work in this coffin shop. ”

"Then, I'll thank Boss Qiu." Chen Huaisheng bowed his hand, thanked him, and at the same time as Boss Qiu turned back to the coffin shop, he also turned around and walked home in the direction he came.

Boss Qiu is right, but any serious scholar will not take the work in his coffin shop. First, it is unlucky, and secondly, the paintings required in the coffin shop are all dirty and unbearable for the readers. But he was poor, so poor that he couldn't even afford to eat, so he was no longer qualified to ask himself to have the backbone of a scholar.

Chen Huaisheng took the painting money and walked home, and when he was halfway there, he reached out and touched his neck.

I don't know if it's because of the fact that he's been painting a lot lately, but he feels that his neck is getting heavier and heavier......

Xing Ruyi went to deliver rouge to Miss Ye Jin in the Splendid Workshop, and when she returned to the shop, she happened to bump into a young lady in a green shirt with a maid coming out of the rouge shop. The young lady lowered her head, Xing Ruyi couldn't see her clearly, she only felt that the green clothes lined her neck and earlobes more and more white.

Xing Ruyi's own complexion is not dark, but compared with this girl, it is a little unsightly. She looked at the side face like white jade with some jealousy, and said in her heart, just this skin color, without any makeup, is beautiful.

A master and a servant passed by her, and faintly heard the maid say: "Miss, you also heard it just now, that Yin Gongzi said that he has a family, even if we are not good, we can't rush to make a side room for a man who opens a rouge shop." It's a shame that the lord and the lady don't know this little bit of your thoughts, Miss, if they do, I'm afraid they won't even let us out of the door of the house. ”

"Qinghe, go and inquire, see which young lady Yin Gongzi is worthy of?"

Yin Gongzi?

The master and servant are not talking about the stinky fox in her shop.

Xing Ruyi looked at his own rouge shop, and listened carefully to the conversation between the master and servant.

"Miss, Miss asked the slave to inquire about this. Even if she inquired, what could Miss do? Can the young lady be asked to withdraw from Yin Gongzi's family affairs, or can the young lady withdraw her own family affairs? Miss forgot, you also have a marriage contract. ”

"The Old Testament is too old to count. Moreover...... Besides, that Chen Gongzi has never brought a token to my Li Mansion to ask for marriage. Qinghe, I'm seventeen years old this year, even if I'm willing to wait, my father and mother won't let me wait like this. ”

"Even if the lord and the lady are reluctant to marry the young lady Chen Gongzi, who has a marriage contract with the young lady, they will never agree to you marrying a rouge shop. This Yin Gongzi is indeed good-looking, but this good-looking skin can't be eaten, what a noble person the young lady is, where can he suffer with him in this rouge shop. ”

Suffer?

Xing Ruyi exhaled a breath, and said in his heart, how can staying in her rouge shop be considered suffering. Also, the fox's skin can be eaten, at least, since the day she met him, she has not worried about silver, and the food, drink, clothing, and wear are no worse than the young lady in front of her.

"Qinghe, you haven't met the person who makes you excited, you won't understand."

"The slave maid didn't meet it, but even if she did, the slave wouldn't be as impulsive as the young lady. Miss only knows that his surname is Yin, and he sells rouge gouache in this shop, but where his ancestral home is, whether his father and mother are still there, Miss doesn't know. What if he was just a good-looking liar? What if he's a bad guy? Miss, a lifelong event, how can it be child's play. ”

"I asked Qinghe for you to inquire."

"Miss, why don't you understand, this Yin Gongzi has a marriage contract, and people obviously don't like you, Miss. Miss is wishful thinking, Miss is willing to suffer for him, but people are unwilling, why do you have to practice yourself like this, Miss. ”

"He just has a marriage contract, so he can't respond to me." There was a slight grievance in the young lady's voice, but after this grievance, she was full of expectations: "He must have hardships, and there must be something unspeakable." Qinghe, can you help me inquire about it? I wanted to see who the woman he was engaged to belong. If she is better than me everywhere, I am willing to give Yin Gongzi to her. But if she is inferior to me everywhere, I will open my mouth to keep her away from Yin Gongzi. ”

Xing Ruyi was stunned, she had seen narcissism, but she had never seen such narcissism. The fox ignored her because the fox had something unspeakable. The fox told her that she had a marriage contract, and she thought that the fox was in trouble. Why else if she is better than me everywhere, I am willing to give Yin Gongzi to her? Have you ever owned it, and you let it? This person, when he can't figure out his position, it's really scary.

"Dare to ask what this girl said about Yin Gongzi, but is the white-clothed gentleman in charge of guarding the shop in this Ruyi rouge shop?"

"Who are you?" Without waiting for Qing He to speak, the young lady of the Li family, who was dressed in turquoise clothes, stared at her with a wary look.

"My surname is Xing, my name is Ruyi, and this Ruyi rouge shop is mine." Xing Ruyi pointed to the shop, and then pointed to himself.