The man lay quietly in the coffin, his pale, wrinkled face with a bloody streak across his face, from the right eyebrow through the bridge of his nose to his chin, his flesh turned out, and the shape was horribly shaped. The left leg wrapped in a gray robe was cut in two, and it was barely put together with black trousers.

Cen Xi's body shook and he held on to the coffin before he could stand. There were tears in his eyes, and his eyes seemed to see his father, who was holding his hand when he was a child, teaching him to write one stroke at a time, when his father was still young and had not yet grown his beard. Cen Xiyi thought about it, and leaned in slightly hesitantly to grab the hand of the person in the coffin, the familiar rough touch was tingling with coldness. My father used to like to pat his head with this hand......

The parting in the world always comes unexpectedly, or reluctantly, or sorrowful, but it is not until today that Cen Xijun understands that there is a kind of parting that can make people so heart-wrenching, and when he is defenseless, he suddenly gives him a heart-wrenching blow, and he is defeated.

His father, who had always been great in his mind, was now lying in front of him in pieces, no matter how he shouted and cried, there would be no response, and from now on he would have no father......

————————

Seven treasures in the west of the city

"Mother, I'm back."

It was getting late, and the half-branch pinched the time and came back half an hour later than usual. As soon as he entered the door, he bent his back, hung his head, and made a cowardly appearance.

"You dead girl, do you know how to come back? …… How much money did you make today? ”

The woman was originally in the back room, and only hurried out after hearing the sound of Banzhi outside, but her face was somehow a little red, and she drank a bowl of water before she gasped a little, and freed her throat to scold Banzhi.

"Mother...... I only earned 80 ...... today."

Banzhi shrunk his small hand and handed over all the copper coins in his arms.

"Why is it only eighty? Useless stuff! Look at how your dad teaches you when he comes home! ”

The woman snatched the copper coin, and while counting, she cursed and cursed, and her face was very hateful.

Half a branch buried his head lower and did not speak.

Banzhi didn't bring back the silver she got today, and she didn't even earn the hundred wen that her mother set for her yesterday. Half a branch has also been carefully considered. That amount of money is her personal belongings, and it can't be used easily, nor can it be used to make up for the money that hasn't been earned today, and eighty wen is already much more than yesterday, even if she has to be punished, it won't be very serious.

"Mother, I really can't do it...... It's already luck to earn eighty wen......"

Banzhi thought about it for a while, and then opened his mouth to complain.

"Don't be sloppy in front of me, say this to your father! If you rely on this little money, the whole family will starve to death! Let you embroider some handkerchiefs, you are still crying and crying unwillingly, your father and brother don't say bitter about farming every day, where do you get your face? ”

Women don't buy it, but what they say is getting meaner and meaner.

Banzhi seemed to be frightened, his shoulders shook, and he stopped sobbing, but where the woman couldn't see, he pursed his lips, and the mockery was unmistakable. Banzhi had already seen the egg yolk crumbs sticking to the corners of the woman's mouth when she came out, and she thought that she was choked before she came. Obviously, he was stealing eggs at home, but now he was yelling at himself that he was going to starve to death.

"Okay, okay, it's really unlucky, go cook, don't be an eyesore here!"

The woman looked at the half-branch like a gourd with a sawed mouth, and did not know how to speak, and suddenly became bored, and only impatiently sent her out.

……

It was dark, and the father and son of the Wang family arrived home.

"Master, you're back!"

The woman greeted her, with a smile on her face that Banzhi had never felt before.

"Well, let's eat, I'm hungry today."

The man handed the woman the hoe and basket in his hand, and sat down at the broken wooden table. It's just that when I saw the food on the table, I just wanted to take the chopsticks with my hand, but the next second it slapped on the table, and a muffled sound startled a few people in the room.

"It's wild vegetables again! I ate wild vegetables so much that my face turned green! ”

The man's appearance is not as honest and simple as that of the crop man, but like a mountain bandit and a thief, and the appearance of anger at the moment is even more terrifying to look at, even a tigress like Wang Wu is afraid.

"The ...... of the house Which dead girl made this meal, she has been even lazy these days, she hasn't made a few dollars, and she only earned thirty yuan today...... There is no rice to cook at home, although I feel sorry for you, but I can't help it! ”

The woman was afraid that her husband's wrath would burn on her, so she hid the money herself, not to mention it, but also to half the branch. While talking and wiping her tears, she was pretending to be a good wife.

"It's the other way around! Call that dead girl and see how I clean her up! ”

The man was also a fool, and he believed whatever the woman said, and his eyes widened, as if he was going to beat half of the branch to death.

The woman's heart was weak, and now she saw the man's angry appearance, and she didn't dare to say anything more, so she ran out and called for half a branch.

"Bang!"

Banzhi was embroidering a veil in the house, and suddenly the door was kicked open. She looked at the menacing woman, and before she could say anything, she grabbed her arm and dragged her out.

"Mother, what are you doing!"

Banzhi was also a little panicked now, and he didn't care about pretending to be anything, so he struggled to ask.

"I warn you, don't say a word for a while! Who let you not make money, your father is angry and you only have to suffer! If you dare to say anything, I'll tear your mouth apart! ”

The woman listened to Banzhi's inquiry, paused, grabbed her hand and tightened it vigorously, pulled Banzhi in front of her, gritted her teeth and threatened, with a fierce expression, as if staring at the enemy.

The alarm bell sounded in Banzhi's heart, and she was afraid to retreat, but the woman dragged her, and there was no room to escape.

"Dangchang"

The woman dragged Half Branch into the door, and when she reached out and pushed it, Half Branch stumbled to the dining table, and the dishes collided and splashed her with juice.

"Smack!"

Before she could raise her head, she was slapped to the ground by the man standing next to the dinner table, and the force was so great that half of her face was unconscious.

"You dead girl, I didn't raise you to let you eat rice! I can't make a lot of money, and the whole family can't eat enough! ”

The man was still angry after the slap, and stepped forward and kicked half of the stomach again, and she curled up in pain and couldn't move.

"Father...... I'm not lazy, I really don't have ......"

Banzhi trembled his lips and explained, but when he raised his eyes again, he saw the flat pole raised in the man's hand. Half of his eyes widened suddenly, as if frightened and incredulous, in the dim room like a cold light refracted by a blade, only to see the royal father's heart empty. The man made a move, but in the next second, the flat pole in his hand fell on Banzhi with greater force.

"Ahh

The flat pole hit half of the thin back, and there was a dull sound, but the pain made her scream.

"How dare you stare at me! I am your father! You no-up-and-down thing! Sure enough, I haven't taught you a lesson in a few days, and you don't even pay attention to me! ”

The royal father is outside the house, and he only dares to express his resentment at home. Fang was glared at by half a branch, and now that he thinks about it, he only feels faceless. Annoyed and angry, he even raised his flat shoulder and hit Banzhi several times, not caring about Banzhi's life.

"How have you ever ...... He used to treat me as a daughter! ”

Half a branch held on, holding back the painful cry in his mouth, but he held back enough strength to shout out such a sentence.

As soon as the words came out, her tense body softened, and she was relieved. His cheeks pressed against the cold ground, and large tears welled up in his eyes, slashing across the bridge of his nose and hitting the ground.

"Evil obstacles! You're going to me off! ”

The man was obviously enraged by Banzhi's words, his chest trembled greatly, and the force of the flat pole swinging to Banzhi's body was even more deadly.

But no matter how he tortured, Banzhi never begged for mercy.

The girl lay on the ground, her eyes closed, her face pale, and a stream of blood overflowed from the corner of her lips, which gathered into a pool on the ground, and she looked very miserable.

"Father, she seems to have fainted!"

A dark-skinned young man next to him frowned at the bloodstained face that was half exposed on the ground, and opened his mouth to remind.

"Father! She...... She seems to be dead! ”

The other boy, who was a little shorter, heard his brother say this, so he boldly stepped forward, stretched out his hand and probed under the wings of the half-branch's nose, but did not feel the breath of the half-branch, and was so frightened that he sat down on the ground, and shouted in panic.

"Bang!"

When the royal father heard this, the flat pole in his hand suddenly slammed on the ground, and he opened his mouth but did not say anything. He just stepped forward and took half of his breath personally. Sure enough, the fingertips didn't feel the slightest touch, but instead glowed with some cold yin qi.

The man looked flustered, and immediately stood up and took a few steps back, obviously frightened.

The woman guarding the door was also weak for a while when she heard the words, and hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to say anything.

The dimly lit room fell silent for a moment, and everyone had different thoughts, but none of them were half-branched.

"If you're dead, you're dead, what's the panic! Just throw it to the mass grave, I don't know how many people will die in a day, who cares if there is more of her now! ”

The royal father was ruthless in the end, but he decided where to go for half a branch in an instant, and he didn't want to give her a coffin.

……

Ugly at the end of the day

It was a sunny day, but in the middle of the night there was a strong wind, and the moon was obscured by dark clouds, and it was about to rain.

"Alright, just throw it here!"

In the jagged forest, a man and a woman carry a sack through it. When they reached a large pit in the forest, the man raised his hand, greeted the woman behind him, and then stopped, and the two of them threw the sack in their hands into the pit, and then turned and hurried away.

Looking into the pit, it was full of corpses, layered like a hill. Some of the flesh and bones are still complete, while others have turned into white bones and cannot be seen. The sack that had just been thrown in contained half a branch......

Suddenly there was a thunderclap, and the white light illuminated most of the woods, and then the bean-sized rain fell, as if it was about to submerge the whole crater......

——————

Two days after Cen House

Tomorrow is the day of the funeral of Master Cen, and today Cen Mansion has set up a mourning hall in the main hall for relatives and friends to come to mourn.

According to the rules, the spirit should be suspended for at least seven days, but now it is the height of summer, and Master Cen's body is seriously damaged, and he has been delayed on the road for a lot of time, so Cen Xijun has to bury his father as soon as possible.

The outside of Cen's mansion was full of white silk early, wreaths were also placed at the door and in the main hall, and the coffin of Master Cen was parked in the main hall. Cen Xi knelt on the futon on the side of the coffin, and someone came forward to worship him and bowed in return. To his left was Mrs. Cen, who was pale and tearful.

The news of the death of the old man of the Cen family came suddenly, and the funeral was held in a hurry, but with the reputation of the Cen family in Shanghai, there were many people who came to mourn.

"Mrs. Yu Jiayu and Miss Yu came to condole!"

Cen Ximian listened to the report of the little girl at the door, his brows relaxed, he raised his eyes, and sure enough, he saw the girl walking slowly.

"My sister mourns, and my children mourn."

Wang Baozhu worshiped Master Cen, and then turned to Mrs. Cen and Cen Xi's family to gently consol, looking very sincere.

"Aunt Cen mourns on Day, Brother Xi's Day mourns ......"

Yu Jin had a white face, quietly glanced at Cen Ximi, lowered his eyes suddenly, and persuaded softly.

Cen Xijun raised his eyes and stared at the girl in front of him motionlessly, with a sad expression, and there was endless affection in his beautiful eyes. But Yu Jin lowered his head and avoided his eyes.

Yu Jin was horrified in her heart, she and Cen Xi hadn't seen each other for a few days, how did he become what he is now? It actually made her a little ......

Cen Xijun has really encountered too many difficulties in the past few days. Before his leg could recover, his father was killed, and his mother was even more injured. His father's funeral affairs were personally handled by him one by one with his injured leg, and he also had to take care of everything in the Cen Mansion and Buzhuang. For three days in a row, he could only rest for a few hours.

He was born with a good appearance, but he was so tormented that he was not as handsome as he used to be. Therefore, what Yu Jin came to see was Cen Xijun who was kneeling on the ground, with a sickly face and a rickety back. Where is there a little bit of the demeanor of her brother Xihuan, who she was fascinated by in the past, to more like a sloppy poor scholar.

"Good sister, I have something I want to talk to you about alone, I don't know ......"

Wang Baozhu was halfway through his words, his face was embarrassed, and his eyes were earnest.

"Mother, go and rest first! Here I am. ”

Mrs. Cen didn't speak, but Cen Xijun took over first. Mother's health is not good, and now she is kneeling here and holding on, he is worried but persuasion is fruitless, it is better to use Aunt Yu's excuse to let her go back to rest for a while.

"That'...... Okay then......" Mrs. Cen didn't want to go, but Cen and Yu's families were world friends, and her relationship with Wang Baozhu had always been close.

Seeing this, Wang Baozhu stepped forward to help Mrs. Cen up and enter the inner courtyard. Yu Jin also stepped forward, and Cen Xi called her, but she didn't seem to hear it, and she didn't look back. Cen Ximian stared at the moon-white figure, but he didn't think much about it, just that it was the first time that the little girl saw the funeral, and she was a little absent in her heart.

Seeing the girl's figure disappear into the corner of the corridor, he also withdrew his gaze, still kneeling in place, with a blank expression.