Mo Jiu doesn't talk a lot, he always has a warm smile on his face, he will smile stupidly when he looks at Ye Ruzhen, and Ye Ruzhen will also smirk when he looks at him.

The family lives poorly, Mo Jiu has no money in his pocket, but there are still so many children to raise at home, although those children are very well-behaved and will take the initiative to go out to beg for food, but now that they are experiencing an epidemic, Mo Jiu did not let them go out, but the rice and food at home have all been eaten, and he has to go out to think of a way.

In the past, he would help rich families write a few calligraphy to earn a few pennies, and then go to the nearby grain store to buy some old rice and take it home as food for a few days, but now the streets are silent, and he searched around the streets, but he couldn't find anyone to write calligraphy.

Ye Ruzhen saw Mo Jiu's difficulty, so she took out some jewelry from her side, which she brought with her when she was carried out of the Qinglou that day.

"Brother Jiu, you can take these jewelry, you can get it to the pawnshop for a few dollars." Ye Ruzhen carefully put the jewelry on Mo Jiu's hand and said.

Mo Jiu wanted to refuse, shook his head and said, "Don't, this is something you have close to you, how can I ask for it?" ”

Ye Ruzhen wanted to stuff it into Mo Jiu's hand again, but Mo Jiu's attitude was very resolute, and he turned around and left.

Ye Ruzhen saw that some of the children in the family had not eaten for several days, and all of them had fallen to the ground, so she had no choice, so she quietly went out, planning to go to the pawnshop to exchange some money and silver to buy some rice and go home.

Mo Jiu helped her too much, she just wanted to help him.

She had never dared to go out before, because she was afraid of being discovered by the people in the Qinglou, and once she found out that she was not dead, she might be arrested again.

So she specially found a way to get around the Qinglou, and when she took the pawned silver two and was about to turn around and leave, she ran into Zhou Gongzi, who used to be often received.

Zhou Yaozong is the eldest son of a well-known salt merchant in the town, because he is engaged in palace trading, so he is very well-connected in the court, and it can be said that he wants money and power.

At that time, Ye Ruzhen was in the Qinglou, and Zhou Yaozong often went to look for her, and he was also tricky about her, and she was always tossed half to death by him. Ye Ruzhen begged Zhou Gongzi to let her go, but Zhou Yaozong pinched her chin with his hand and laughed: "You are just a girl in the building, you still want to order me?" ”

When Ye Ruzhen saw Zhou Yaozong, the whole person couldn't stop shaking, his whole body stiffened, and his face turned pale.

The shattered and ugly images of my memories poured out.

Zhou Yaozong saw Ye Ruzhen at once, his eyes were shining with a cold glow, and he slowly walked in front of Ye Ruzhen, looked left and right, and smiled after reading it, with some mockery in his laughter: "Yo!" Isn't this Miss Ye in Mingyan Building? How do you dress like this and appear here? ”

Ye Ruzhen lowered her head and said in a trembling voice: "No, you recognized the wrong person." ”

Zhou Yaozong's face came to Ye Ruzhen's ear, turned his head sideways and said with a smile: "Yo! Miss Ye, have you forgotten that I am your regular visitor? I remember this mole next to your ear very clearly! ’’

Ye Ruzhen hurriedly covered her ears, wanting to cover the black mole next to her ear.

"Nope! You're mistaken! Ye Ruzhen denied in a panic that she wanted to escape.

Just as she was about to escape, Zhou Yaozong grabbed her arm at once, and Ye Ruzhen felt that her arm was about to be pinched off.

"Miss Ye, I haven't been to Mingyan Tower for a long time, I never thought that you had already taken off your gorgeous clothes and changed into plain clothes, and you were redeemed fast enough! But I've always missed you! If you wish, you can come to my house and serve me again, and I will give you a higher price than you in the building!" Zhou Yaozong's words were seductive.

"You've mistaken someone!" Ye Ruzhen pushed away Zhou Yaozong's hand in fear and shouted, covering her ears and escaping.

Ye Ruzhen fled, she just wanted to stay away from that place, she wanted to stay away from those gray memories of the past, she suddenly felt like she was being eaten by 10,000 maggots, and that painful and disgusting thing was crawling in her bones and blood.

She may not be able to change the filth of her flesh and blood in her life.

She thought that she liked Brother Nine, but Brother Nine was such a clean person, what could she do to match him?

I'm so dirty, why do I have to make my ninth brother dirty?

She came home in a panic, and everyone else was at home, and everyone was sitting around the fire, under which there was a fire, and on the stove was boiling fragrant rice soup.

The smell of rice soup suddenly reached her nose, and she didn't know why, her heart was sour, and her eyes became wet.

Mo Jiu stood up, slowly walked in front of her, took her hand and said with a smile: "Xiao Ru, you are back, today I helped a rich family write a few calligraphy, made some money, bought some rice, cooked a little rice soup, let's drink together....."

Mo Jiu saw that Ye Ruzhen's mood was a little wrong, Ye Ruzhen pursed her lips without saying a word, her lips trembled, she looked at Mo Jiu holding her hand, his hand was so warm.

But Ye Ruzhen thought that she was so dirty, and Mo Jiu would also get dirty if she pulled herself like this, so she slapped Mo Jiu's hand holding her hand at once.

Mo Jiu didn't come back to his senses, the whole person was a little dazed, and somehow, his heart began to cramp.

The whole person stood a little stiff, as if he was standing on the edge of a cliff and was shaky.

Zhou Meng looked at the strange two people standing at the door and hurriedly ran to them, and shouted in a childish voice: "Brother Nine, Sister Ye, what's wrong with you?" Come and drink the rice soup! ”

Ye Ruzhen reacted, turned her face to look at Zhou Meng, smiled and said, "Okay, Brother Nine and Sister Ye will come soon." ”

Sitting by the fire, the dim and jumping firelight reflected on their immature and young faces, Mo Jiu's body was warmed by the firelight, but his heart was as cold as ice.

He likes Ye Ruzhen, he likes her from the first time he sees her, she is like a bright white pearl, always shining with a warm and soft light.

But he is a person who is so thoughtful, he likes Ye Ruzhen but he doesn't dare to say it, Ye Ruzhen is so beautiful, what can a person like him who has nothing give her? The more I thought about it, the more I felt that I was not worthy of her.

That day on the side of the street, there was a stall selling women's hairpin jewelry, and he only had five cents left on his body, and those hairpins were shining silver and gorgeous. Mo Jiu thought that if Ye Ruzhen could carry one on her head, it would definitely look very good.

The appearance of Ye Ruzhen wearing a silver hairpin appeared in his mind, the silver hairpin shone silver in the sun, Ye Ruzhen showed his bright teeth, and smiled at him with crooked eyes, he felt that the picture was very beautiful.

So he walked to the front of the stall, and the boss in front of the stall looked at Mo Jiu dressed poorly, so he didn't look at him at all.

"How much is this silver hairpin?" Mo Jiu took one and asked.

The boss turned his head and said with a disdainful expression: "One or two." ”

Mo Jiu's face turned pale all of a sudden, he put it down tremblingly, and changed to a simple style, he continued to ask, "Boss, how much is this one?" ”

"Two-two." The boss's voice was disdainful.

"Obviously this one looks simpler than the other, why is it so expensive?" Mo Jiu frowned and muttered to himself.

"How can you, a poor scholar, understand? Because that one is made of sterling silver, and I just earn a manual fee for silver in exchange for silver! The boss snatched back the hairpin in Mo Jiu's hand as he spoke, and said, "Look at how little money you have!" The hairpin on my side is the lowest twenty wen, and the most expensive is ten taels. If you can't afford it, let me go! Don't let me bother my business here! ”

Mo Jiu was gently pushed by the boss, took a few steps back, he lowered his head in a panic, his face was pale, and he touched his pocket again, the five cents in it were jingling, but he couldn't afford a decent piece of jewelry.

He lowered his head and walked back with heavy steps, and suddenly a little girl about eight years old walked up to Mo Jiu's side, she stretched out her hand and pulled the corner of Mo Jiu's pants, blinked her eyes and asked, "Brother, do you want to buy a hairpin, I have one here, I can give it to you." ”

Mo Jiu looked at the little girl at his feet, slowly lowered his body, was level with the girl, and asked with a warm smile, "Where are you from?" How do you know I'm going to buy a hairpin? ”

The girl pointed not far away, and saw an old man sitting on the stone steps not far away, and suddenly Mo Jiu remembered that the old woman was the old man who had helped her write a free letter not long ago.

At that time, he helped the old man write a letter to his family, but the old man didn't bring any money with him, so Mo Jiu gave it to the old man for free.

I didn't expect the old man to remember him, Mo Jiu never thought that he would give others kindness, others would repay him, he has been silently doing a lot of good things.

Because he always remembered that there was a brother Mo who also treated him like this.

"Brother, this is a piece of jewelry from my grandmother, and my grandmother said she wanted to give it to you." The little girl looked at Mo Jiu with bright eyes.

Mo Jiu looked at the hairpin, although the style was simple and there were no gems inlaid, but he had already learned a little about it at that stall just now, and such a hairpin was more expensive.

"Little sister, the price of this hairpin is very expensive, I can't ask for it." Mo Jiu refused.

At this time, the old woman walked slowly to Mo Jiu's side on crutches, her face was full of fine lines left by the years, her hair was white and dry, but her eyes were very kind and kind.

"Young man, you can accept this hairpin, if you hadn't helped write a letter to the family last time, I might not have been able to contact my son, and I don't know if he is dead or alive now, no matter what, I want to repay your kindness." The old woman said, earnestly.

"But it's too valuable." Mo Jiu refused again.

The old woman continued: "If Engong thinks that he can't take it for nothing, then how much money Engong has, I will sell it to you!" In fact, I have a lot of things in my house, and such a thing is nothing. ”

Mo Jiu pinched his pocket, he sighed and said, "No, grandma, I only have five cents, but I can't afford anything." ”

The old grandmother smiled and continued to persuade: "It doesn't matter, this hairpin is an old object many years ago, or my wife bought it for me, when he bought it was also five cents, but unfortunately he is not here now, if you want to give this hairpin to your beloved, that is the best gift, it should be the blessing of me and my wife, I hope you can also grow old like us." ”

As he spoke, Mo Jiu's heart was a little moved, and when he thought that if he could grow old with Ye Ruzhen, his heart suddenly became sweet.

He took out the five cents from his pocket, put it on the palm of the old grandmother's hand with some embarrassment, and said in a low voice: "Grandma, where do you live, when I save enough money to send it to you in the future, I know that this hairpin will definitely not be worth only five cents, I hope I can buy this hairpin and give it to my beloved girl by myself." ”

The old woman laughed, patted Mo Jiu's shoulder and said, "Young man, you are the most honest person I have ever met, that girl is so blessed!" ”

Mo Jiu scratched his head embarrassedly and asked, "Grandma, where is your house?" ”

The old woman pointed to the west and said, "My family lives on Xiangzi East Road in the West Lane. ”

"Thank you, grandma." After speaking, he put his hands together and bowed, and thanked him sincerely.

The old grandmother took the little girl's hand and left with a smile, Mo Jiu looked at the silver hairpin in his hand, starlight fell in his eyes, he wanted to give this hairpin to Ye Ruzhen.

That day, he made up his mind and mustered up the courage to give the hairpin to Ye Ruzhen, but he grabbed Ye Ruzhen's hand, but she slapped it off. Mo Jiu looked down at his hand, a little painful, and his heart was also a little painful.

After a few more days, Mo Jiu often took out the hairpin from his pocket and looked at it, in a daze.

Maybe Ye Ruzhen doesn't like herself, that's why she is like that.

But the strong love made him a little fantasized, maybe she slapped her hand away that day just didn't want to touch her, and she didn't tell her that she liked her, why did she think she didn't like her when she slapped her hand away?

Recently, the epidemic in the town has gradually dissipated, and the streets have gradually returned to their former liveliness, with a lot of traffic and bustle, and it is clear that so many people have died, as if the world had been destroyed, but now it has been forgotten, and not even a trace is left.

The sun came out, the clear and clear sunlight shone on Mo Jiu's body, the earth was no longer dark and heavy, the wind in March woke up the land of Changsheng Town, the green willow trees, the verdant grass, a vibrant appearance, the swallows also flew back to build a house and build a nest.

Zhou Meng ran to Mo Jiu's side and said with a smile: "Brother Jiu, the weather is so good, let's go out for a picnic!" ”

Mo Jiu smiled and nodded: "Okay! Let's go out, you go and call Sister Ye to go together. ”

Zhou Meng nodded obediently, and then jumped in front of Ye Ruzhen, showing a bright smile, and staring at Ye Ruzhen with a pair of big watery eyes: "Sister Ye, Brother Nine is going to take us to go on a trip together!" Sister Ye come with us! ”

Ye Ruzhen squatted down and looked at Zhou Meng, and said with a smile: "Did the ninth brother call you here?" ”

Zhou Meng nodded and said, "Yes, Brother Nine said that he wanted to call you to go with him." ”

Seeing that Ye Ruzhen was also hesitant, Zhou Meng immediately shook the corner of Ye Ruzhen's clothes and said coquettishly: "Sister Ye, you can go with me!" A family is meant to be together. ”

When Ye Ruzhen heard the words "family", her heart somehow became hot.

"Okay, I'll definitely go with you." Ye Ruzhen smiled and nodded, and then reached out and touched Zhou Meng's little head.