In the middle of the night, Mrs. Li sat up from the bed.

The moonlight shone through the latticework on her face, and her eyes were closed.

A sigh came from the faint shadows.

The night wind blew open the window, and a person stood outside the window, but she couldn't see her face clearly.

Mrs. Li got out of bed stiffly, walked to the door with her eyes closed, pulled the deadbolt and walked out. In the side room, the maid slept soundly......

In the study, Li Shen looked down at the table, on which was a portrait of a woman.

The portrait was just drawn, and the ink in the inkstone next to it still exudes its unique fragrance. Li Shen picked up the pen, and the tip of his nose touched the face in the portrait and stopped.

The woman in the painting has a graceful figure and black hair, but there is no nose and eyes.

"Wan'er, what should I do? I can't seem to remember what you looked like. ”

Li Shen held the pen hard, and the ink stained his fingers black, falling on the rice paper and becoming a blur. The woman who had just finished drawing had most of her face ruined by ink.

Li Shen first met Wan'er at the market in his hometown. In that remote town, many people have the habit of getting up early to drink soup, and Wan'er's family runs a soup shop.

Wan'er's father is a cook, and it is said that he made all the famous banquets in ten miles and eight towns. Wan'er Niang is a cook, she doesn't know how to cook feasts, but she often cooks all kinds of game, especially good at using those humble wild vegetables and wild fruits to eat. Wan'er has been exposed to it since she was a child, and her cooking skills are naturally not much worse.

At that time, he was not yet famous, just a shabby scholar who set up a stall on the street to help people write letters on his behalf. Sometimes, when business is better, he can help people write more than a dozen letters a day, and when the stall is closed, he will take out a few copper plates and go to Wan'er's house to buy a bowl of fresh fish soup for her mother. Sometimes, the business is poor, and no one even comes to him to write letters for a day, and when the stall is closed, he will habitually glance at Wan'er's shop. Looking at each other, Wan'er always smiled softly at her.

When he had money to buy fish soup, he would pretend to be generous and shout, "Miss Wan'er, bring me a fish soup, fresh." ”

When he ran out of money, he would smile in a panic and leave quickly.

Later, when it was time to get married, somehow only Wan'er's shadow appeared in his mind. He inquired around the bush and learned that Wan'er had not yet married, so he urged his mother to propose.

Mother is naturally a little reluctant, in her heart, only the daughter of the county lord can match him. The county lord has a daughter, but people look down on him as a broken scholar.

In the end, his mother still went to Wan'er's house to propose marriage according to his wishes. When Wan'er's father asked Wan'er's opinion, Wan'er nodded shyly and timidly. From then on, she became his wife, and he became her husband.

Li Shen knew that the reason why his mother agreed to this marriage was out of desperation, because she understood that no one except Wan'er wanted to marry him before she had won any fame. Mo said that the daughter of the county lord's family, even the people in the town who had a little head and face looked down on him. He studied hard and worked hard to gain fame, on the one hand, not to disappoint his mother, and on the other hand, to prove to Wan'er and those who once looked down on him that he Li Shen was by no means a waste in the pool.

He also knew that his mother treated Wan'er harshly, but he didn't expect that his mother would force Wan'er to that extent.

"Wan'er, if you can do it all over again, are you still willing to be my lady?"

Li Shen held the portrait blackened by the ink, and actually cried.

Outside the window, a gust of wind blew. The wind swept the leaves of the begonia tree and fell lightly to the door of the study.

Mrs. Li was sick, she couldn't eat water, and she was dying, but she always said vaguely that she wanted to drink fresh fish soup.

Mrs. Li loves soup, especially fresh fish soup.

Before she became Mrs. Li, she was the lady of the Li family, and before she became the lady of the Li family, she was the youngest daughter of the Hu San family who fished on the river.

Hu San is not her father's name, but the nickname given to him by people on both sides of the riverbank, as for his real name, even Mrs. Li, who is a daughter, doesn't remember it.

Although Mrs. Li was disgusted with her background as a fisherman, she preferred fresh fish soup made of fish, and later she married the most literate Li Jiaerlang in the town, but found that her rather literate husband could not even afford a fresh fish. Those hard days in the past are the sad past that the old lady of the Li family is most reluctant to mention.

When Li Shen came to visit his mother, he found that several bowls of fish soup had been placed on her bedside, one of which was still steaming.

Li Shen sat down at the head of the bed, first glanced at his mother, and then looked up at Tong Yu who was standing aside: "Why don't you feed your mother soup?" ”

Tong Yu pursed her lips and replied, "Hey, but the old lady doesn't want to drink it." ”

"Hello?" Li Shen frowned.

"Yes, but the old lady refuses to open her mouth." Tong Yu replied and added: "Xu is the old lady who is sick and doesn't want us to serve in front of her, thinking that we are clumsy." ”

Li Shen didn't say anything more, but picked up the fish soup and fed it to his mother's mouth with a spoon, only to see her mother open her eyes in a daze, and see that he closed it again.

"Mother, drink soup."

Old Madam Li closed her eyes, and her mouth was closed into a straight line.

Li Shen frowned, waited for a while, suddenly thought of something, lowered his head and took a sip of soup.

The soup is well boiled, but it doesn't have that flavor.

"Who made this soup?"

Li Shen put down the fish soup in his hand and asked Tong Yu.

"This bowl is boiled by the master of Xichuan Restaurant." Tong Yu said, pointing to the bowls next to him: "This bowl is boiled by the most experienced cook in the house, Zhang's family, this bowl is boiled by me, this is boiled by Xiaocui, and the bowl over there is boiled by the housekeeper in the house." ”

"I don't blame you, it's Wan'er who feeds her mother's appetite. Over the years, my mother only drank fish soup boiled by Wan'er. Li Shen said and stood up: "Take me to the kitchen to have a look." ”

"I can't go, master." Tong Yu stopped in front of Li Shen: "If you let the old lady know, I'm afraid she will scold us." ”

"There is no place in this world where a son cannot go, especially when his mother is seriously ill. Get out of the way, Mother won't blame you. ”

"Sir—"

"When I was not a master, I often stood outside the small window of the kitchen and watched Wan'er make soup. Wan'er is very powerful, she can use different parts of a fish to make soup with different flavors. Fish head soup, fish bone soup, and fish tail soup. Fish and meat were also available, but she was reluctant to use them to make soup, but made them into various dishes, one for her mother and one for me.

At first, I thought she would quietly keep a portion for myself, but later I learned that in those years, she hadn't even tasted the dregs of fish soup. Later, I became famous and became a master, and there was a special cook at home, but Wan'er still cooked soup for us to drink. Because my mother only likes the fish soup she boiled, it is smooth and tender, and it feels fragrant in the mouth. ”

"Sir—"

"Don't say it, take me to the kitchen, I can't watch my mother starve to death."

The kitchen was empty, except for a pot on the stove, which made a gurgling sound.

Li Shen walked to the pot, opened it, and found a bone stewed in the pot.

The bones are still fresh, and you can see the fresh, sticky flesh on them through the tumbling water.

"This ...... Not fishbones. ”

Li Shen took a closer look, took the chopsticks next to him and clamped the bones in the pot.

Not fish bones because fish bones are not that big.

It's not a cow bone, and the cow bone is not so thin.

Is it a pork bone?

No, it's not. Pig bones Li Shen has seen, not so long.

So, what kind of bones are simmering in the pot?

"It's like ...... It seems to be a human bone. Tong Yu stammered, pointing to the bottom of the stove by the way.

Under the stove, there was a skull, and the reason why I didn't find it when I came in was because the skull was covered by a piece of rice paper. Just now, when Li Shen was studying the bone in the pot, the rice paper was blown open by the wind, revealing a corner of Bai Sensen.

It was a skull, a skull that was also fresh.

Tong Yu covered his mouth and opened his eyes wide, while Li Shen leaned over to look at the skull that had just been discovered.

On the skull, two black holes and bloodshot eyes were also looking at Li Shen.