The old house in Shikumen, Shanghai, is the most sad in Huangmeitian, not to mention dark and damp, and there is a musty smell in the air, which makes people's noses always feel itchy and breathless.

In such a sultry weather where the sun is not seen for days, the mood will also be low.

Zhou Erya sat in a comfortable armchair with a book in her hand, but she was not reading, just looking at the white curtains.

It was raining outside, and his study was brightly lit, illuminating every corner clearly.

Adjutant Cai knocked on the door of the study, walked in and whispered to him, "The master has arrived." ”

Zhou Erya retracted his gaze, put down the book, and straightened his bow tie - he would wear meticulous clothes when reading at home, and he could participate in the neatness of the upper class party at any time.

A vintage car was parked at the garden gate, and several officers lined up in front of the door, looking guarded.

Adjutant Cai held an umbrella and personally went to pick up the people in the back seat of the classic car.

Zhou Erya stood at the door and saw the familiar and unfamiliar man, with a very indifferent expression on his face.

This is the Great Overseer of Shanghai Beach - Zhou Renshan!

He is completely opposite to the delicate and handsome Zhou Erya, although he is over half a hundred years old, his age only increases his charm, his facial features are deep and powerful, his eyes are unruly and powerful, domineering and majestic, and he knows at a glance that he was also a heroic and beautiful man.

"When I came back, I didn't go to the old mansion to take a look, but I actually asked me to come to you!" Zhou Renshan glanced at him, snorted, walked into the room, his windbreaker shook, Adjutant Cai tacitly caught it, hung it at the door, and then silently retreated outside, not to disturb the father and son.

Zhou Erya said lightly: "You don't have to come." ”

"You!" Zhou Renshan raised his eyebrows, according to his temper, who dared to be so contemptuous, he would have proposed to feed the dog a long time ago, but the person in front of him was his son.

The eyebrows and eyes are slender, and the jade tree is in the wind, and it has an elegant style of its own - exactly the same as the facial features of his dead lover.

Every time he sees Zhou Erya, his heart is full of pain, anger and love.

"If I don't come, are you going to stay here without seeing me for the rest of your life?" Zhou Renshan took a deep breath, controlled his emotions, and sat on the sofa and asked.

Zhou Erya didn't answer, which can be regarded as a tacit acquiescence.

He didn't like the old mansion at all, it was full of disgusting people.

"Did you see the email I sent you?" Zhou Renshan took out his cigar and wanted to smoke, but thinking that his son hated the smell of smoke, he played with it in his hand for a while, but did not light it, and asked.

"Marriage with Miss Murong? I disagree. Zhou Erya sat opposite Zhou Renshan, poured him a cup of tea, and said lightly, "Presumably, Miss Ren will not agree." ”

What age is it, and arranged marriages are no longer in place.

"People are rich businessmen in Jiangnan, I have seen Miss Mujia, she is beautiful and beautiful, has a gentle personality, and is knowledgeable, so you can refrain if you don't see it?" Zhou Renshan was very angry, but he was helpless about this son, so he softened his tone and continued, "Besides, you are twenty-eight years old, and in two years it will be the year of establishment, and you are unwilling to take over the career I arranged for you, and you don't want to start a family......"

"If you're here to talk to me about this, please come back." Zhou Erya interrupted her father's words, stood up, and the gentleman elegantly stretched out his hand and made a gesture of inviting a guest to leave.

Zhou Renshan "snapped" and slapped his palm on the pineapple tree, and the teacups on the table jumped up.

Zhou Erya's eyebrows were not shocked, and she still maintained the posture of inviting guests to leave.

However, Adjutant Cai heard the movement, hurriedly pushed the door and walked in, and whispered a few words to Zhou Renshan.

Zhou Renshan's face was ugly, he was not angry and arrogant, and his current expression was even more daring to face it.

"Marriage and career, you have to choose one." Zhou Renshan has always wanted to train him to be his successor, and although Zhou Erya looks delicate and sharp, he definitely has the ability to become the next Overseer.

"Give you a month, on the fifteenth of next month, I will have a banquet for the Mu family, if you give me a bad thing, don't blame me for ignoring the relationship between father and son, take your house, and go back with me!"

Seeing that Zhou Erya was not moved at all, Adjutant Cai hurriedly appeased the angry Zhou Renshan: "Master, the distinguished guests in the house are still waiting for you, go back first, this ...... Let the young master think about it. ”

Zhou Renshan snorted coldly, glanced at Zhou Erya fiercely, and left helplessly.

Hearing the sound of the car disappearing outside, Zhou Erya rubbed her eyebrows, dragged her heavy legs, and walked upstairs.

His bedroom was on the second floor facing south, spacious and tidy, although it was rainy and moldy weather, but the bedroom was incense and smelled pleasant.

Zhou Erya knew that his father wanted him to enter politics, but he didn't like the deceitful political world, and now the only thing he wanted to do was to solve the mystery of his mother's death.

Zhou Erya walked to the desk, there was a handkerchief on it, and a delicate orchid was embroidered in the lower right corner.

Word.

The girl who lost her handkerchief on the cruise ship was his betrothed object, Murong.

The young lady of the Mu family, in terms of appearance, is really good, slender and quiet, and cute, he doesn't hate it.

But Miss Mujia has been sullen on the cruise ship, her eyes are very assertive, as if she wants to break free of something, she is not an old-fashioned woman at first glance, and she must not be satisfied with the marriage.

I don't dare to say that I am a gentleman, but at least he is a gentleman, knowing that the other party is unwilling, he still ignores it and forces others, which is not his style.

Therefore, instead of letting a weak woman rebel against her parents' orders and refuse this marriage, it is better for him to speak about the beauty of adulthood.

Anyway, his relationship with his family has always been bad, and this time he is not bad.

"Young Master." Adjutant Cai walked in at some point, stood behind him, and shouted respectfully.

Zhou Erya put away her handkerchief and sighed softly: "I won't promise him anything." ”

He didn't return the veil, also because he knew the identity of this girl on the cruise ship - the old grandmother next to Miss Murong was chattering, often saying things like "Our Mu family is famous", no matter who listens to a few words, they can guess her identity.

Before returning to China, he received a telegram from his father, asking him to return to China and marry Miss Murong, and he also knew a little about the Mu family, after all, he was the richest man in Zhejiang.

So Zhou Erya got the handkerchief and saw the name embroidered on it, so she was even more sure of her identity, she didn't want to have more branches, and she had too much contact with her, so she simply left the handkerchief.

"The lord has been really hard over the years, the domestic situation is turbulent, he needs you to come back......" Adjutant Cai wanted to persuade a few words, but was stopped by Zhou Erya raising his hand.

"I'm not a pawn of his interests, I just want to be myself." Zhou Erya's eyes slowly fell on a painting tightly wrapped in cloth in a conspicuous place on the desk.

As if she had finally made the most important decision in her life, Zhou Erya walked up to the painting, her slender white fingers trembling slightly and caressing the frame wrapped in cloth.

Adjutant Cai clenched his fists tightly, and his breathing followed his fingers for a pause.

This painting is Mrs. Zhou's favorite painting, and since that night's upheaval, Zhou Erya has sealed this painting and has been tightly wrapped in a white cloth, as if she had wrapped her painful memories tightly and refused to open it.

And at this moment, Zhou Erya slowly unraveled the painting.

This is the famous work "Wild Poppy" by the impressionist master Monet.

It was a painting that his mother saw at an art exhibition when she was studying in France when she was young, and because she liked it so much, she copied it.

The figures in the painting are the painter's wife, Camille, and their six-year-old son, Jean. Mother and son were collecting flowers in the fields, enjoying the sunshine and reveling in nature.

Mrs. Zhou was originally a talented painter, and Zhou Erya was almost six years old at the time, and she often held him, admired the painting, and said to him, the mother and son in this are them.

has been substituting such feelings since childhood, so when Zhou Erya saw the characters in it, her heart hurt as if she had been pricked by a dense needle.

The bright red poppies in the original "Wild Poppy" are like bone-eating poison, and like blood dripping from the heart, dyeing on the picture drop by drop, overlapping with amazing beauty.

"Young Master......" Adjutant Cai looked at Zhou Erya's lowered eyes worriedly, for fear that he would faint in pain.

Watching him grow up since he was a child, Adjutant Cai knew him better than Zhou Renshan.

Adjutant Cai knew that under his strong and calm appearance, he had a slender and sensitive heart.

But people will always grow, and those who carry the dark past will grow faster.

Zhou Erya took off the white cloth, as if talking to herself, and said in a low voice: "I know what I want to do." ”

The frame in the lower right corner of the portrait had been burned black, and the traces of the flames, like a black and terrible shadow, spread to the picture, almost devouring the little boy in the painting.

Zhou Erya gently stroked the blurred face above, and the expression that had been as warm as jade gradually became hideous, gritting her teeth and saying word by word: "I always knew what I was going to do!" ”

Adjutant Cai was frightened by his appearance and hurriedly wanted to pull up the white cloth to cover the painting.

But Zhou Erya grabbed his hand, the strength was amazing, and the wrists of Adjutant Cai who pinched them were blue.

"Don't touch it!" Zhou Erya's eyes were scarlet and she roared.

"Yes, I don't touch it." Adjutant Cai immediately withdrew his hand and looked at Zhou Erya worriedly.

Zhou Erya also discovered that he was out of control, reluctantly took a deep breath, and said in a dumb voice: "Hang it here." ”

Adjutant Cai looked at him in surprise: "Young Master...... Are you really going to hang up? ”

It's time to face your demons.

He is no longer the helpless child he was twenty years ago.

Zhou Erya nodded firmly: "Hang up." ”

Adjutant Cai didn't dare to say anything, so he put nails on Zhou Erya's bedside, put on gloves, and carefully picked up the painting that was burned out.

As he moved the painting, a small object suddenly fell from the broken corner of the burnt frame.

With a "ding dong", the metal object fell on the edge of Zhou Erya's shoe.

Adjutant Cai thought that he had damaged the painting, his face froze, and he did not dare to move.

Zhou Erya's long legs slowly bent, squatted down elegantly, and picked up the golden thing at his feet.

This is a key made of gold, which is very long and exquisite.

He never found anything hidden in the frame.

It is also because after the death of his mother, this painting was wrapped in white cloth by him, sealed and sealed for a full twenty years.

"What kind of key is this?" Adjutant Cai looked at it fixedly, and it was not what was painted, so he relaxed slightly.

Zhou Erya looked at the key carefully, he didn't know what kind of key it was, but his intuition told him that this key would open the mystery he had been searching for for twenty years.

"I'm looking for someone." Putting the key on her chest, Zhou Erya said to Adjutant Cai.