In the woods of the mountain col, a cannon sounded, only a "boom" was heard, the earthquake shook the mountain, Shen Zhiqing's eyes were full of fire, and everyone was fighting and fighting, falling and falling. She struggled to get up from the rubble, as if in a dream, and the smoke of gunpowder spread out, fading and fading, and suddenly like a falling flower.

Two years ago.

Xizhou in the late Qing Dynasty was also regarded as a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River, with a north-south thoroughfare, a dense river network, and a large number of merchants. The small town under the smoke and rain in early spring is particularly moving, with smoke and willows stacked and green, and the city is full of fragrant flowers, which always makes people feel like a gentle country. The spring was cold and warm, and Shen Zhiqing had not taken off her jacket yet, she tied up two braids, rolled up her sleeves to wash and dry the dishes and moved them into the cupboard.

The spring rain in the south of the Yangtze River is continuous, and the Qinghebang, where her home is located, lives on the river. Shen Zhiqing must clean up the tables, chairs, dishes and chopsticks before her parents go out of the stall every day, although this is not a serious shop, but the old customers are all neighbors, so they must not lose face too much. The parents told me that no matter how broken things are, they should be wiped clean with a rag, otherwise the morning dew on the stool will wet the guests' clothes early in the morning.

On this day, the sun lifted the mist, and it was rare to show a smiling face, and in the early morning, the mist revealed a faint sunshine, and an alley suddenly had a fresh atmosphere, and the faces of pedestrians were a little more energetic. Shen Mao set up the stove and burned the stove hot, and soon the water in the cauldron was bubbling and boiling, and Shen Qin slowly pushed a plaque of wontons into the pot. "Xiaoqing, call your brother up, what time is it, the guests are here." Shen Qin turned around and shouted to his daughter. The voices of people on the stall gradually increased, anyway, most of them were familiar neighbors, and they were not in a hurry to eat, everyone sat and chatted for a while, which was nothing more than rumors of troubled times and parents.

"Lazy pig, get up quickly." Zhiqing casually lifted the quilt that covered her face. "Sister, why are you lifting my quilt, it's so annoying." Zhiyun rolled over and continued to sleep.

"Hurry up, A-Niang told you to work." Zhiqing slapped him on the head, and Zhiyun, who was still wrapped in getting out of bed, lay on the bed for a while, and slowly got up slowly.

The sunlight finally dispelled the fog, and the streets of Qinghebang gradually became noisy, with shouting and talking mixed with the sound of some women beating and scolding children. In front of the shop is not so much a street as an alley, and a few feet wide, you can see the food on the table inside the house door to door. On rainy and hot days, shops along the street often set up river sheds, and you can't get the rain and heat when you walk on the street. Like their parents, the elders moved here to escape famine or war, or to make a living.

The valuable belongings of each family are just a small fishing boat, and before they go ashore, most of them live on boats, and somehow they find the bay here and live together. If the family conditions are better, there is a river port along the river. Pillow River, people almost eat and drink, Lazar leans on the river. For Shen Zhiqing, the happiest thing for her is to see the merchant's boat, accompanied by a shout, she has to go to the window to look at the new things in the ship. It's just that she doesn't dare to spend money randomly, often with needles and threads that the girl's family likes, or headbands and the like.

"You go to the market and buy some flour and come back." Shen Qin stuffed Zhiqing with a few copper plates, and handed over a flour bag. "There are a lot of guests today, I want to roll out more skins, go and come back quickly."

The bazaar is not far from this street, but there is also a distance, separated by a few streets and alleys, mostly inhabited by locals, and the accent is also different from their Qinghebang. The locals generally do not come to Qinghebang and do not deal with them, and Zhiqing sometimes hears the locals call them "from the net boat", mostly with some contempt. Even the old wives of large families will scare their children not to run to the river, saying that they will be abducted and "sold on a net boat". Estrangement is estrangement, but the bazaar is a gathering of merchants from all over the world, eating, selling, and shops are lined up, and it is also Shen Zhiqing's favorite place to visit.

She went back to the house, tied two new hair bands in her braids, picked up the flour bag, and ran away. Since a rainy day, she has not seen the scenery for a long time, walking across the small bridge, it is a lively street market, the babbling sound in the Qiaotou teahouse, and the tea guests drink tea and chat with melon seeds; In a noodle restaurant over there, the diners were chatting enthusiastically while sipping noodles and drinking morning wine; The women by the river carried baskets on their shoulders, spread the clothes in the baskets one by one on the bluestone slabs by the river, washed and brushed.

After passing through several streets and alleys, you can see the Guandi Temple when you arrive at Sanhuang Street, and there are several large households near this street, all of which are whitewashed and tiled horse-head walls. Occasionally, following the trend of foreigners, a few pieces of stained glass were installed on the windows, which are said to be more valuable than the glass jars of the Forbidden City. "Wow, that's beautiful." She walked along the wall to the end, and saw a white jade flower, which she had never seen before, like a pear blossom at her door.

"Red beans are born in the south, and a few branches are sent in spring." She looked up at the broken jade on the branches, did not pay attention to the sound of the drifting, and moved a few steps forward to see more realistically, only to feel as if she had touched something.

"I'm sorry." Only then did she notice that she had bumped into someone, and she had slammed someone's book to the ground. She leaned over and picked up the book, handed it over, and across from her was a young man, dressed in a blue and white robe, with a tall figure, and a delicate and beautiful face that was even better than the person in the painting she saw. This glance suddenly blushed, she patted the dust on the book, and said, "I'm sorry for knocking your book off." ”

The other side smiled and accepted it, "It's okay, you also like to watch red beans?" ”

"Red beans?" Zhiqing wondered for a while, is the red bean she usually eats, how can there be it on this tree? She looked around and swept the whole tree.

Seeing this, Childe couldn't help but smile again, "Don't look for it, this is the red bean tree, this is the flower of the red bean tree." ”

"I see, for the first time I knew it was called a red bean tree. It's really similar to our pear blossoms. She pinched her braids and smiled, revealing two pear vortices at the corners of her mouth.

"What is the girl's name, Xiaosheng's surname is Bai Mingxuan, and the word contains jade." Bai Xuan made a gesture to Shen Zhiqing.

"The little girl's name is Shen Zhiqing." She returned a blessing.

"Miss Shen just said that pear blossoms also look like this, forgive me for my lack of knowledge, I really haven't seen pear blossoms." Bai Xuan was a little embarrassed.

"Oh, the pears we eat, and the trees look so good when they bloom. I've never seen red beans before, so I thought they were the same as the red beans I ate. ”

"Well, that's right." Bai Xuan took out a handkerchief from his cuff and spread it out, revealing a few red beans, the tail was a little jet black, and the beans were so red that they were estimated to have been treasured by the owner for a long time.

Shen Zhiqing looked at it for a while, very curious, she had never seen such beautiful beans. "Can you eat it?"

"It can be used as medicine."

Shen Zhiqing wanted to pick it up and look at it, so she looked at him. Bai Xuan smiled, "This is for you, as a meeting gift, I have the honor to meet the girl for the first time today." ”

"It's not good." How can anyone accept something from a strange man when they meet for the first time, although it is just a few beans.

"Even if the girl takes it, even if we meet under the red bean tree, it will be a witness." He wrapped the towel and handed it to her.

She was stunned, took it without obeying the call, and gave him a bright smile, "Thank you, Bai Gongzi." ”

He saw the flour bag in her hand, "Miss Shen, are you going to the market?" I also live near here, so I'll come with you. ”

"No, no, no." Shen Zhiqing hurriedly waved his hand, "The bazaar is in front, don't bother the son." She blessed Bai Xuan again, and left in a hurry. Walking out not far away, looking back, the boy in white is still in the same place, brilliant as a flower, beautiful as a person, how much spring light has been taken away in this scene, which makes people think about it. Bai Xuan looked at her back and silently recited, "May you pick more, this thing is the most lovesick." ”