Grandma smiled: "Neither." It turned out that on Saturday, the school suddenly announced that the professor had an important matter for the time being, and the lecture was held on the following Monday. ”?

"That's right." Xiao Wan also smiled, "Aren't the students right in the middle?" ”?

"The story wasn't over yet – the students were thinking, "What a coincidence, as you said, right in the middle of it. On Sunday morning, one by one, they were freshened up, and they ran to the theater garden with oily hair and powder-faced robes and green shirts, dressed up neatly than in class. Sit down and take a look, and guess what? It turned out that the first row of VIPs was sitting in the famous professor who had changed the date of the lecture temporarily because he had something important to do! ”?

"Really?" Xiao Wan's eyes widened, "This is too dramatic!" Grandma, you didn't make it up, did you? ”?

"Hey, how can I make it up? It's all written in the article. ”?

"Also wrote an article?"?

"Yes, there was a tabloid reporter at that time, whose pen name was Zhang Chaotian, who came to praise Miss every day, and wrote a lot of splendid articles to praise Miss, one of which was written about this incident."?

Everything has gone through the reporter's pen, but it is not so real. Xiao Wan guessed that grandma is not clear about the truth of the matter, mortals always like to remember the scenery side, and would rather take the exaggerated interpretation of the story as the original face, but doubt their own personal experience, after a long time, they simply forget the original, only remember the wild history that has been deduced.?

She swallowed her saliva and cautiously asked the most important question: "Grandma, do you have a record of Ruo Meiying's opera "Dream in the Garden"? ”?

"yes. I don't know where to put it, though. When people are old, they can't remember things. ”?

Xiao Wan was stunned again, so, how did she get that record and give it to her father??

The grandmother was immersed in the memories, and she didn't care about her granddaughter's uneasiness, but only squinted and said in detail: "When Mei Ying combed her hair, she was very particular. Her dresser and chair tops are all made of genuine leather and copper, branded with patterns, foreign style and luxury, with mirror loops on the mirror and chair backs, all of which are brocade embroidered. The vanity box and table are matched, and there are more than a dozen head and face boxes. Which head and face are placed in which box are all particular, and they can never be wrong. Sometimes she forgot about it herself, and would ask me, 'Qing'er, where is my crested hairpin?' When I gave it to her, she smiled, sad and praised, and said, 'Qing'er, what if I didn't have you?' ’”?

Xiao Wan listened to her grandmother's thin throat and learn Mei Ying's weak speech, and suddenly felt bitter. It's a story more than half a century ago, but when it comes to it so far, grandma's face is still so deeply nostalgic, perhaps, it is not only the most sunny day in Mei Ying's life, but also grandma's most unforgettable lily years, right? ?

"It turns out that grandma's nickname is Qing'er."?

"It was given by Miss Ruo." Grandma squinted her eyes and looked into the distant past, "Before I met Miss Ruo, I had been asking for food by the West Lake, and when I met Miss Ruo to perform in Hangzhou, I also fell in love, but I don't know how she fell in love with me at a glance and asked me, would you like to be with her?" I didn't want to, so I immediately kowtowed to her. Miss said, when you meet me by the West Lake, it's like the White Lady meets Xiaoqing in the West Lake, so let's call you Qing'er. So, I called Qing'er. ”?

"So legendary?" Xiao Wan was dumbfounded, feeling that the story was getting more and more strange, it turned out that everyone's past was an excerpt, "Grandma, how old were you at that time, and you remember so many things?" ”?

"Eight." Grandma replied without hesitation, "I followed Miss Ruo when I was eight years old." At first, I didn't understand anything, but I asked her to teach patiently little by little, and by the age of eleven, she was already her best assistant, and she couldn't leave it for a while. She began to consult with me about everything, treating me like an adult. But every time I went out of the church, he treated me like a child, remembering to bring food and play back to me. Once, when a Cantonese guest invited a church meeting, he opened a box of mooncakes with two duck egg yolks, and I stood next to it and looked at it with greed, so anxious that I swallowed my saliva. When the young lady left, she specially asked for a piece to wrap up so that I could go back to eat, but on the way, I don't know who flattened it, and the skin and stuffing were stuck together, and the young lady even called it a pity, saying that she couldn't taste it. But I still think it's delicious, and I've never eaten such delicious mooncakes. Grandma's voice gradually became full of emotion, "If Miss Ruo is six years older than me, to me, she is both a boss and a sister, if it weren't for her, I would have starved to death." ”?

Xiao Wan secretly calculated that if Ruo Meiying lived today, she would have a long life, and asked, "Do you remember what year it was?" ”?

"That's not exact, I just remember that at that time, the city of Beijing had just been opened to trains, and it came in through the city wall and went all the way to the front door. It was my first time on a train, not to mention how excited. In order to open the city to traffic, a gap was opened in the city wall, and many people secretly dug the bricks in the middle of the night. City bricks are a good thing, put in the house can suppress evil and subdue demons, after taking the soil, you have to turn over and dry, remove domineering, it will take three years to become a ......"?

Xiao Wan saw that her grandmother was far away, so she hurriedly pulled it back: "You are Ruo Meiying's coat, do you know who designed that set of Chinese Soul Leavers?" ”?

"Who else could design? Miss Ruo herself. The young lady may have done it, and she can draw flowers and embroider patterns, and she drew the size patterns herself and handed them to the tailor to do, and the tailor's surname is Hu, which is a bad thing, and she always wants to take advantage of the young lady. But he does a good job, and he is the best at being considerate of women, so although the young lady annoys him, every time she draws a new look, she still asks him to do it. At the door of their shop, there are two red lanterns, on which are pasted with a blessing word, which is half white by the rain. ”?

"Were there a lot of people who pursued Mei Ying at that time?"?

"That's a lot, that's a lot. Therefore, the young lady not only has a lot of costumes, but also has the most dancing skirts. Every day after the play, I either eat supper or go dancing. The young lady danced well, wearing shoes more than a foot high, satin surface, glass heels, and a large skirt, and when she turned around, the skirt was more than half a meter wide. After dancing, I went to Huifu Lou to eat crabs. Huifu Lou's crab eight cents a piece, with a gold tray to hold ......"?

"How do you remember so clearly?" Xiao Wan asked strangely.?

Grandma replied disapprovingly, "I often remember these things." ”?

Xiao Wan stopped talking.?

Remembering the past too many times, like a desktop that has been wiped too many times, will not be brighter, only older.?

She didn't really believe everything her grandmother said, but she didn't dare to show it, so she just made a respectful appearance and continued to listen.

"At that time, most of the servants liked to play with flowers and plants, like Xun Huisheng loved hostas, Jin Shaoshan loved plums, and our young lady, my favorite was chrysanthemums. Because I like those two sentences: 'I'd rather hold the incense branch and grow old, than dance with the yellow leaves in the autumn wind'. The chrysanthemums she raises are many and rare, and they are also famous in the whole of Kyoto, such as "Drunken Concubine", "Luo Shang Dance", "Singing Orioles in the Willow Waves", "Light Sweeping Moth Eyebrows", and what are the "willow lines", "Laughter", "Nian Nujiao", "Wuling Spring", "Frost Chanjuan", "Bright Moon Shines on the Snow"...... There are more than 100 kinds of it, every autumn, it is placed all over the garden, and it is filled with white jade basins, decorated with some fake stone landscapes, and it is more chic and chic. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, a chrysanthemum banquet was set up in the garden, and the dignitaries were proud to be able to participate in our lady's chrysanthemum banquet. ”?

"Would you rather hold the incense branches and grow old than dance with the yellow leaves in the autumn breeze?" Xiao Wan carefully played with these two poems, there is arrogance in the poems, but there is also helplessness. Perhaps, this is Mei Ying's heart??

Grandma said again: "Mei Ying's car is ......"?

This time, Xiao Wan couldn't help but interrupt: "Don't always say that the details of these little things about food and clothing are good?" Say something sensual and story-like, for example, Mei Ying's love. ”?

Grandma frowned, thought and thought hard, and shook her head again, as if she couldn't be sure.?

Xiao Wan couldn't help laughing, it turned out that grandma only likes to pick up these luxurious and exaggerated little things to recall, but she doesn't care about the real Mei Ying's joy and anger. Grandma, lovely grandma, what a material woman in the red dust.?

?

I wanted to ask again, but the phone rang at this time, and my mother shouted in the living room with a raised voice: "Xiaowan, looking for you." When he saw his daughter come out, he lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "It's a boy." ”?

"Who?" Xiao Wan also kept her voice low, she has a lot of playmates, but they are very fixed, they are all classmates or neighbors who grew up with children, it doesn't seem to be worth being so mysterious as her mother.?

Sure enough, my mother shook her head: "I don't know." The voice is unfamiliar. ”?

Xiao Wan has always liked uninvited guests, so she took the phone with high emotions and asked, "Hey?" Suddenly remembered Grandma's teachings, so he put his voice soft, pinched his throat and said weakly: "I'm Shui Xiaowan, who is looking for it?" ”?

The other party seemed to be stunned for a moment, and his voice was so gentle that it dripped water: "I am Zhang Zhiye, the reporter who once sheltered from the rain at your place." Remember? ”?

"Oh, yes!" Xiao Wan thought about it and couldn't help laughing, just now Sven's posture was thrown into Java in a blink of an eye, and asked fiercely, "How do you know my home phone?" ”?

"Ask Zhao Zihe and Mama for it." That's the one who is quick to recruit.?

"You've already interviewed the accounting mama?"?

"The interview went well...... However, the story in the middle seems to be more legendary, and I have to check some information again, maybe I have to go to Zhaoqing Guanyin Hall. ”?

"How do you tell it like a crime-solving story?" Xiao Wan's interest came, "Tell me." ”?

"Will I tell you slowly after we meet?"?

"Meet?" Xiao Wan was stunned for a moment.?

Zhang Zhiye's voice was even gentler: "Is it okay to meet?" At the premiere of "Nightmare in the Garden", I finally got two tickets, which are good seats. ”?

"Garden Nightmare?" Xiao Wan was stunned, such a coincidence, it's "Garden Nightmare" again??

"Wang Zuxian starring, it's worth watching. Come out, okay? ”?

"Okay." Xiao Wan is not a pretentious girl, and she doesn't know how to welcome or reject it. The coincidence of "A Nightmare in the Garden" made her can't help but want to go up and see what happened, and she didn't dislike that person.

?

Probably because of the premiere, the movie theater was full of people and asked for a seat.

Xiao Wan touched people's knees all the way and said sorry and walked in, it was easy to find her seat, but when she saw that someone had arrived first, she had to take out the ticket and say, "I'm sorry, please let me go, this son is mine." ”?

The other party is two young people, wearing old-fashioned suits and gold-rimmed glasses, very similar to Xu Zhimo's appearance in "April Day in the World", looking up at Xiao Wan, a little unhappy, but still stood up silently and gave up his seat.

Zhang Zhi also asked strangely: "Xiao Wan, who are you talking to?" ”?

"Those two people sat in our seats."?

"Who? Who's sitting in our seat? ”?

The bell screamed like an air raid siren, and the lights went out. Xiao Wan muttered in her heart, I don't know from which era this bell announced the start of the show from, can't there be a gentler way? For example, play a piece of light music or something. Mobile phone ringtones are becoming more and more diverse, why can't the bell of the movie theater be changed??

The singing of the Kunqu opera "Dream in the Garden" sounded melodiously, and the movie began...?

Lines? I was stunned again, when did I remember the lines of "A Chinese Girl's Soul", but I really flirted with the same strange boy in a fake play? What's more, the young man was still shooting vigorously with a camera in his hand.

This startled the whole person to come to his senses, and he couldn't help but blush with shame, and the wicked man complained first: "What about the reporter? Can journalists quietly peek at people? How rude! I couldn't help but say, pushed the young man out of the door, slammed the door shut, and his heart "suddenly" jumped, shocked and suspicious, hey, why did he suddenly sing? Even the steps are self-taught. Could it be that "after reading all the three hundred poems of the Tang Dynasty, I can't make poems and chant"? ?

After a while, he secretly glanced out, but saw that the young man was still standing in the rain, drenched like a chicken in soup, but he didn't know how to dodge. Xiao Wan couldn't bear to get up, only to find that the man's umbrella was still resting by the door, and couldn't help but smile - open the door and hand it over: "Hey, your umbrella." ”?

The young man was overjoyed and refused to accept the umbrella, but he flashed into the door and said with a smile: "It's raining so hard, can I avoid it?" ”?

"Okay, why not? But who the hell are you? Why did you come to our troupe? Didn't the porter stop you? ”?

The young man took out his ID and said again: "I'm Zhang Zhiye, this is my press card, and I'm here to do an interview." Hey, don't just judge me, you haven't told me yet, what's your name? ”?

"Shui Xiaowan." Seeing the corners of Zhang Zhiye's lips, he immediately rushed to say, "You can hear clearly, it's not a bowl of a water tank, it's a bowl like a swimming dragon." ”?

"Shui Xiaowan, good name."?

"It's okay if you don't have you." Xiao Wan smiled, "You are a reporter, who did you come to our theater to interview?" ”?

"Zhao Zihe Mama."?

"Accountant?" Xiao Wan was very curious, "What are you doing interviewing the accountant?" Is she a hero or a celebrity? ”?

"Neither. She is the only self-combing girl in Beijing. ”?

"Self-combing girl? What is a self-combing girl? ”?

"You're in this troupe, don't you know that Mama is a self-combing girl?"?

"I don't know." Xiao Wan smiled embarrassedly: "No one told me." ”?

Zhang Zhi also smiled, deeply fascinated by the pretty, lively and happy girl in front of him. As soon as he entered the gate just now, he had heard a singing sound as thin as a gossamer, and couldn't help but follow the sound, and saw a young girl in costume singing and dancing, with a figure and expression, not at all like today, and he was stunned, and he didn't know where he was for a while. Later, he was hit in the face by the sleeve, and he joked with the girl, and the girl suddenly changed her face and pushed him out of the door, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of loss in her heart. Just as he was disappointed, the girl turned back to color and invited him to take shelter from the rain with a smile, which made him feel even more rare—although it was only for a few minutes, many stories had already happened in waves, which made him feel an indescribable curiosity and emotion about this girl, and he just wanted to stay with her for a while and talk more. Seeing that she asked about the self-combing girl, she immediately poured out what she knew without reservation——?

"Self-combing women were a special group in Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta before liberation. Most of them come from poor families or middle- and lower-class women who have suffered setbacks in their marriages. In order to show that he would not marry for life, he tied up his hair and announced in public that he had become a self-combing girl through some kind of ceremony. If you are a self-combing girl, you can't have the idea of a man beating them, otherwise you will be ashamed of the world. The phenomenon of self-combing women is gradually extinct after the liberation, only a small number of self-combing women exist in individual areas of the Pearl River Delta, such as Zhaoqing Guanyin Hall, before the liberation, there are hundreds of self-combing women living in this place alone, until after the liberation, the government respects their personal choice, and they still continue to live in the hall, living a life of eating fasting and worshiping Buddha and self-reliance. In other words, there are several important characteristics of being a self-combing woman: not getting married, being a vegetarian, and having braids. ”?

Xiao Wan raised her head and thought about it, laughed, and said that the accounting mother is really a standard self-combing girl. It's just that since I knew her as a child, I have been watching her drag a long gray braid, and I know that she has never been married, but I have never thought to ask why. Almost everything in the world is like this, if you have seen an unreasonable thing or an abnormal person for a long time, it will be commonplace, regarded as normal, and you can't think of asking the truth. If Zhang Zhi hadn't mentioned it, she really didn't think there was anything strange about Mama Zhao.

"However, Mama is only in her fifties, she can't be a monk before liberation, right?"?

Zhang Zhi also smiled: "The self-combing girl is not a nun, so she is not called a monk." ”?

"It's pretty much the same anyway."?

"It's much worse. Nuns have to shave their heads, but self-combing women have to keep a big braid, and they don't have to be vulgar to work in society, and they don't have to stay in a nunnery. Zhang Zhi also said, "Before coming, we have done some basic research on Zhao Zihe's life experience, and learned that she was an abandoned baby, who was adopted by a self-combing female mother-in-law in the early days of liberation, and grew up in Guanyin Hall, and then became a self-combing girl." ”?

"Is that so?" Xiao Wan lowered her head, "It turns out that Mama's background is so pitiful." I never thought that such a legendary story would happen to me. ”?

"Will there be a shortage of stories around you? On and off the stage, in and out of the play, everywhere. What's more, the life of a beautiful girl is always colorful. ”?

Xiao Wan blushed and glared fiercely: "It's a reporter in the end, flamboyant!" ”?

The thunder was as tight as a burst, as if it was chasing something, and it was sworn to be slashed under the sword. Xiao Wan hugged her shoulders and suddenly shuddered. Zhang Zhiye immediately asked, "Are you cold?" ”?

"A little bit ......" Xiao Wan suddenly stopped in the middle of speaking, and found that she was still wearing that costume, colorful clothes and embroidered undergarments, overlapping and layering several layers, and it was in the middle of summer, although it was said that there was rain, but shouting cold was too hypocritical, but it was like being coquettish.?

Zhang Zhi also scratched his head, also a little embarrassed. Usually in this case, if the heroine admits to being cold, then the next action of the male protagonist should be to strip and give away. But he only had a shirt on him, and he was drenched. Please!?

For a while, neither of them said anything, only the sound of opera dripping in the rain.

Xiao Wan listened attentively for a while, and praised: "It's really a good song, the lyrics are beautiful, the music is beautiful, and the costumes are also beautiful." ”?

Zhang Zhi was also stunned: "You said the song you just sang?" ”?

"How can I be so immodest?" Xiao Wan smiled and gestured outside the door with her chin, "Listen, I don't know which group is playing the recording, this is the opera of "A Chinese Girl Leaving the Soul", the third fold, a section of a Chinese girl chasing Wang Sheng." ”?

"Really? Why can't I hear me? ”?

"You can't even hear that loud noise?" Xiao Wan was about to make fun of Zhang Zhiye's mobile phone, although he couldn't hear the other party's voice, but Zhang Zhiye's expression and tone revealed that this was clearly a woman, or his girlfriend.?

Xiao Wan got up and walked to the door in avoidance, and found that the rain was much lighter, she opened her hand to take a few drops of rain, and said to herself to the sky: "Summer is like this, the thunder is loud and the rain is less, so soon it stopped again." ”?

Zhang Zhi also closed the line, and when he heard Xiao Wan's tone of urging, he had to say: "Thank you for letting me shelter from the rain, I have to go, and I have to interview Zhao Zihe and Mama." ”?

Xiao Wan replied lightly: "Let's go." He walked over and took off his clothes in twos and folded them into the box. It's no wonder, the rain has just stopped, the sun hasn't poked its head out again, and the body doesn't feel cold anymore.??

That singer didn't come.?

Xiao Wan sat on the railing of the subway entrance in a daze, watching the dusk fall layer by layer, and the familiar subway entrance was empty. Crowds come and go, I don't know where so many people come from, but there is no him in the crowd, so many people have nothing to do with her, and no matter how crowded the subway station is, it is still empty.?

She closed her eyes and repeated a song in her heart. That's his favorite song to sing. Every time she came here, he would sing.?

The title of the song is "Dead Rose": ?

"I don't care, I'll give you a dead rose; My heart is ashes, and the heart that I will love is ashes; My tears, not a single tear can be squeezed out of my sad eyes; To you like a dead rose, withering ...... in winter"?

?

Xiao Wan has never listened to any popular song concerts, but she has always liked to listen to the wandering singers in the subway station, they are usually very young, with long hair, and their clothes are a little dirty, but they are not very dirty. When they sing, they half-close their eyes, and although they are begging for money, they do not look at the people who throw them - because they are not beggars, they are entertainers.