Liaocheng is located in the west of Shandong, on the bank of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, adjacent to the south of the river in the west and Hebei in the north, and is a famous city of Dawenkou culture (1), which has given birth to many civil and military generals since ancient times, and has produced a large number of wonderful allusions. Around the time of the Republic of China, most of the country was in chaos, and it was almost unaffected by the warlord melee and was still a prosperous scene. Although it fell during the Anti-Japanese War, the damage to the ancient city and cultural relics was not very serious.

Three of the five major families in the city are famous families, and the Fan family in Louxi Street has had more officials since the Qing Dynasty, and now the two two sons are working in the government, and in recent years, the prestige of the business and school has been quite prosperous. In the Gujia Hutong on the east side of Lou Nan Street in the South Gate, there are dozens of families surnamed Gu, which are said to have been handed down from the scholarly family of the official eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty. In the middle of the two alleys in the east and west is a large family Gu Qingyuan, who has been in business since his grandfather, and until his generation of salt shops and department stores became more and more prosperous, he controlled the Luyan * power in the Luxi area. But his family is a bit thin, the old man left early, and he has no brothers and sisters. The old couple have been married for decades and have guarded the Nuo family's business, and there is only one daughter named Xinyi under their knees. Mrs. Gu Guo Jiezhi is the niece of the Fan family on Louxi Street, and the daughter of Guo Youning, the son of the late Qing Dynasty in Qufu. Miss Xinyi has been gifted and intelligent since she was a child, and her female workers in piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, and knitting are all fine. And she herself is not happy with this family business, the main reason is that there is a box for one person, the person is called Fan Junsheng, and the box is a seven-trick exquisite brocade box.

In the twelfth year of the Republic of China, a swastika (2) lock shop suddenly appeared on the north side of the road opposite the Zhuangyuan Mansion on Loudong Street. The locksmith has been doing a thriving business since it opened, as his locks are quite unique, with only one key for each lock. If you want to say who goes to other places to match the key, the key can be matched back but cannot be unlocked, in the words of the shopkeeper, "one core cannot be used twice". There is a diamond-shaped sign hanging under the eaves at the door of the lock shop, with exquisite lace and rustic tones, and two sentences embedded in the middle: "Linglong lock, lock Linglong, exquisite key lock thousand weights." He threw away the silver spoon towards the core, and was angry with the twelve abilities of the thief mountain. This brand like a word card and like a poem brings a sense of mystery to the lock shop, and many people can't help but stop when they walk here, and are led by curiosity to enter the store to see, so as to be shocked by the exquisite lock art inside. And this shopkeeper is called Swastika Thirteen, and he does not object, so that no one asks what his surname is. only knows that the lock made by Swastika Thirteen only recognizes a key, and others can never open it except for smashing the lock, which is the main reason for his family's prosperous business.

Swastika is a withdrawn person who has no friends, no family, and relatives in Liaocheng. So there are always people talking about him behind his back, and more than forty people don't have a wife. Some people also said that he had saved a huge amount of money, and he did not buy houses and land, nor did he eat flowers and wine and visit the garden, so he was not sure that he was a revolutionary party. And he turned a deaf ear to these, didn't mind at all, and still got up early and concentrated on running the lock shop.

Eight-year-old Gu Xinyi often takes the same age envoy Xi'er to play in the lock shop, and thinks that the things here are novel and interesting. A short walk from the back door of her house is Dongkou South Street, and the swastika lock shop is diagonally opposite the intersection of the north end of Dongkou South Street. It is common to miss meals when you are happy, and when you get home, you will inevitably be counted down by your mother, so that the cook Zhu Qiaozhen will open another small stove to cook for her. Xi'er must have been scolded by Qiaozhen, and then the hippie smiled and ate with the young lady. Because she is the daughter of Qiaozhen and the housekeeper Gu Chong, her cleverness and cleverness have won the favor of Gu Qingyuan and his wife, and she is also Gu Xinyi's playmate since childhood. Swastika also likes these two little girls very much, and has said several times that Gu Xinyi is pure in heart, and there will be blessings in the future, chatting with them in his spare time, buying jelly beans and cooking cakes for them to eat. They affectionately called him "Uncle Le", and they didn't understand whether it was because his original surname was Le, or because he was always happy when he looked at them.

Time flies, in the early morning of the second day after Gu Xinyi's twelfth birthday. When she got up, she saw the snow outside the door, and she liked it very much, and excitedly called Xi'er out of the house, and the two of them rushed to play in the snow before going to the school. Went out to the alley on the east side of the yard, only to shout that he should take a shovel to build a snowman to play, Xi'er ran back after listening to the legs, and ran for the main family to share the worries of running errands was taught by his parents since childhood. Gu Xinyi looked at the spotless snow in front of her, there was not even a firewood torch in the clean, and she couldn't help but slide north along the road, sliding very happily.

One was careless and slipped and fell at the root of the wall of the Sixth Uncle's Mansion on the east side. Gu Xinyi pressed her hand into the snow and climbed up, but suddenly felt that her hand was soft, which scared her to sit on the snow again. I had the courage to pick up the snow and take a closer look at it, a familiar face, "Uncle Le"? Isn't this the "Uncle Le" of the lock shop? How do you sleep in a snow nest on a cold day? Just as he was wondering, "Uncle Le" opened his eyes and called her name with great difficulty. She hurriedly asked him why he didn't sleep at home, and he said that he didn't have the strength to let her find a place where no one was going to slow down, and she remembered that the old courtyard of the sixth uncle next to her was empty. Just when Xi'er came back, the two of them laboriously picked up "Uncle Le" and walked into the gate of the courtyard more than ten meters away with a shovel. After entering the house, they looked for firewood and lit it, and after a while, the two found that "Uncle Le's" trouser legs were frozen into blood, and the melted blood was soaking the ash ground, and they hurriedly took out cotton wool from the rags to wipe the blood for him. His pale face gradually turned red, and he still smiled and told them that this matter was a secret of the three of them, and that he would give them good things when he returned.

From this day on, they would sneak out morning and evening to give food and drink to "Uncle Le", and they also bought Chinese medicine noodles for him in Guang'an Hall, probably gall stars, blood exhaustion, myrrh, strychnine, saffron and the like. He often told them the story of the structure of the lock and the town lock bridge, and told them the truth of being a human being. Especially when he said the sentence "one lock, one core, one key, choose one person to promise a lifetime of love", and the meaning in it, Gu Xinyi's future life was deeply affected.

Half a month has passed in a blink of an eye, and "Uncle Le" is almost about to leave. Before leaving, he opened the burden behind him and gave Gu Xi'er a golden lock. He also took Xi'er to give Gu Xinyi something, a six-sided carved square box made of pure copper larger than the palm of his hand, and a double-ended three-edged key made of silver and copper alloy. The box is called the Seven Tricks Exquisite Brocade Box, the pattern on the six sides of the box is the same, there are seven small movable petals on the front and back, there are seven keyholes in the petals, and she told her how to unlock the lock.

That night, Xi'er asked Gu Xinyi what "Uncle Le" gave her. She remembered that "Uncle Le" said that she couldn't tell anyone how to open the lock, so she only told Xi'er that it was an antique shell that was worthless, and took it out for Xi'er to touch. Of course Xi'er didn't believe it, because she saw the two fiddling around through the crack in the door for a long time, but she didn't hear what they said. Despite this, she couldn't see any doorway, and there was no sound in it after shaking it for a few moments, so she had to do it. But the small heart breeds mustard, and he is dissatisfied with the master-servant relationship between the two, but he doesn't tell anyone.

A few days later, some people in the city talked about the fact that Swastika was a thief, and that one place could not stay for a long time and change places and steal again. It is also said that Swastika 13 was killed, and on the day of the snowfall, someone heard the sound of fighting, and even depicted the scene of someone sentry and someone breaking into a house. Anyway, Swastika has since disappeared along with his swastika lockshop. Slowly, the people of Liaocheng don't seem to remember that there is such a person and such a shop. But the news that the Gu family has a treasure brocade box has spread far and wide, and even the various treasures hidden in it have been constantly refined, and they are simply conveyed by people, and Gu Qingyuan and his wife have never seen or heard of any boxes.

When they graduated from the school, Gu Xinyi and Gu Xi'er were both under the age of thirteen, and Xi'er's grades were particularly outstanding, far exceeding the provincial No. 3 Normal (4) enrollment score next to the Jiaoguan Temple (3) on Guanqian Street. According to Gu Qingyuan's meaning, the two still studied together, and after graduation, they went home to manage the shop together. Gu Zhong thought that it was enough to recognize a few words as a subordinate, and it was a serious matter to marry someone sooner or later, so he didn't let Xi'er continue to go to school. For this reason, she made a big fuss, and the result was that she was beaten up by Gu Chong, and after crying a few times, she went to the shop to help. The injustice in her heart gradually made her jealous of Gu Xinyi, why is she not qualified to study if she lives in a courtyard, Gu Xinyi is superior because of her status as a young lady.

Gu Xinyi has a classmate named Fan Junsheng, who is two years older than her and lives in Weidamiao Village, Xiguan Street. Because of his father's early death, his widowed mother bought tofu brains and raised him for him to study as a teacher. Therefore, he was very filial to his mother, dressed and ate very frugally, and helped his mother before and after school in the morning and evening. I also studied very hard, and at the beginning of this year, I went to the Primary School Attached to the Third Normal School to work as a trainee teacher, and all my meager salary was handed over to my mother. In Fan Junsheng's eyes, Gu Xinyi is a fairy who does not stick to the fireworks of the world, and no ordinary man is worthy of possessing her pure heart. So he chose to secretly admire her, and since the first day of school in the third division, he has acted as her protector. No matter which boy greedily spioped on her or talked about and slandered her in public, he would quietly stuff that person's schoolbag with a "gentleman is lustful but not lewd, lewd and disgusting!" "The little evil is not admonished, the big evil is repented late!" A kind of note. When he was found to be him, he would be beaten up after school, and his nose and face were swollen were common for him, and he would always comfort himself to contribute to "cutting off evil deeds". In order to express his admiration for her, he occasionally copied small poems and threw them at the Nanjiekou where she had to pass every day, and often "passed" by Xigujia Hutong when he came home from school. From a distance, she walked into the gate and hurried to Louxi Street to help his mother clean up the tofu brain stall at the entrance of the archway. Gu Xinyi has also picked up his small poems a few times, and feels that the calligraphy and thoughts are quite positive, but I don't know who unintentionally or intentionally dropped them.

The formal acquaintance between the two was at the school commendation meeting before the Spring Festival in the year of graduation, and six students including Fan Junsheng and Gu Xinyi had excellent grades and were recommended by the school to the attached primary school for internship, and everyone shook hands and congratulated each other. Fan Junsheng was excited about this handshake for several days, but Gu Xinyi didn't pay much attention to Fan Junsheng, who looked ordinary and dressed ordinarily, just regarded him as an alumnus.

Years later, Gu Xinyi inexplicably got a serious cold, and took several pairs of Chinese medicine to recover, but because of this, he missed the time to report to the primary school, and continued to study in the third division after he recovered, waiting for the graduation certificate to be issued. Fan Junsheng didn't see Gu Xinyi after signing up, and when he inquired at Gu's house, he found out that she was sick, so he wrote a letter to comfort her when he went back, and put it in an envelope with a few new poems. I was going to hand it over to her, so I didn't write the recipient and didn't sign my name. The next morning, when I was sending it to catch up with Gu Zhong at the door to receive the goods, I thought it was Gu Xinyi's father when I saw someone shouting Uncle Gu, so I stepped forward and carefully saluted and said, "Please transfer it to Ling Qianjin" and left in a hurry. Gu Zhong thought that Xi'er was a bad boy who seduced him, so he ignored him, and handed the letter to Xi'er at night, warning her not to associate with men who were of all religions and nine ranks. Xi'er liked the letter very much, but she didn't know who the other party was and where she lived, and silently looked forward to a good marriage.

Fan Junsheng thought that Gu Xinyi had read his letter and didn't reply because she was subtle, and that kind of fairy-like girl shouldn't have more contact with the laity. Since then, the new poems written have been sealed and sent to Uncle Gu directly, still without signature or address. In his opinion, this can be regarded as a shallow exchange, because of the different family backgrounds, he did not dare to have too many extravagant expectations.

Gu Xinyi was not yet sixteen years old after graduating from the Provincial Third Division, and originally planned to teach at the attached primary school in Dongmen. Gu Qingyuan was too busy, and because of his age, his physical strength was declining day by day. Mrs. Gu persuaded her to give up teaching and help the firm, after all, it was a matter of time before she took over the family's business as an only daughter. In filial piety, she went to the Changlong Department Store on Loudong Street, which was closest to her home, mainly to familiarize herself with the business and manage the accounts. Gu Xi'er has been working there as a cashier for more than half a year, and she knows the prices and sales of various items in the trading house well, so it is easier to have her help. So the two commuted to work together, chatted when they had nothing to do, went shopping after work, and lived a leisurely life.

On this day, Fan Junsheng went to school after lunch, and happened to see Gu Xinyi and Xi'er crossing the road from the north end of Dongkou South Street into Changlong Department Store. When I saw the time, I decided to go in and say a few words, and I was worried that others would see that the impact was not good, so I hesitated for a while before going in. After he entered the door, he saw Gu Xinyi reading a magazine in front of the counter, and slowly went over to say hello: "Gu Xinyi, are you here to buy something?" ”

Gu Xinyi looked up at Fan Junsheng, recognized him as a classmate of the same level, and said generously: "Hello, I'm not buying things, I'm selling things." He waved his hand again and called Xi'er, "Xi'er, this is my classmate." As he spoke, he forgot what his name was, and smiled awkwardly, "She is my good sister Xi'er, what's your name?" ”

Fan Junsheng instantly felt left out, and the object of his crush for several years didn't know his name. I couldn't erase it even more, but I was embarrassed to say anything else, and said with a red face: "My name is Fan Junsheng." Xinyi, what do you think of the new poem I wrote? ”

Xi'er just wanted to say hello to Fan Junsheng, and when she heard the words of the new poem, she immediately thought of those letters from half a year, and instantly understood that he wrote them to Gu Xinyi. I couldn't help but turn over in my heart: Why did something that should be mine become hers in the end? The flower box given by the locksmith that year should have been mine! I should be the one who goes to the normal school! This man should be mine too! Why is this always the case? Is it just because she's the eldest lady?

"New poems?" Gu Xinyi was slightly surprised, she didn't expect this honest person to be able to write poems, and she forwarded the cover of the magazine to him, "Where are you submitting?" This is a good friend, not a poetry magazine. ”

"No, no, no, I don't." Fan Junsheng felt even more embarrassed, "I didn't vote for Liangyou Pictorial, nor did I vote for any magazine, I gave it to Ling Zun." ”

"Huh? My dad? Gu Xinyi was even more surprised, turned her head to glance at Xi'er, and looked at him again, "You don't think my father can publish it for you, right?" ”

"No, I don't dare to make it public, but I just give it to you." Fan Junsheng's face turned into eggplant sauce, "I hope you can pass by in your spare time, and it's best to dial it again." ”

"So? I'm sorry, my dad hasn't given it to me yet. Gu Xinyi was a little embarrassed, and felt that since her father encouraged her to learn culture, she shouldn't stop what was given to her without authorization, "By the way, this is my family's shop, do you need anything?" I can give it to you, and you can come here to find me in the future, and I will find Xi'er when I am not there. ”

"Okay, okay, thank you." Fan Junsheng didn't expect Gu Xinyi to be so frank, he was a little flattered, "Xinyi, why did you give up teaching and start business?" ”

"There's no way, my father and mother are getting older, how can I bear to see them always working hard......" Gu Xinyi felt that the person opposite was quite interesting for the first time, and unconsciously talked to him.

When she got home that day, Gu Xinyi called her father and asked him if he was holding her things. Gu Qingyuan didn't know what was going on at all, so naturally he couldn't give her a satisfactory answer, so that she could buy what she needed on the street, and don't just collect things from idle people. She went to her mother to comment, the matter was not big but to be clear, and she didn't stop eating dinner.

Gu Chong passed by the front hall and heard the discussion between the master and the mother, knowing that it was a misunderstanding, and hurriedly went back to the room to question Xi'er. Xi'er disappreciatively said that he gave those papers, not to mention that he didn't write them to anyone and didn't sign them, Gu Zhong was so angry that he almost beat people. Xi'er Momo took out the letter from the room, burned the letter and sent the remaining poems to her, and apologized to her repeatedly, saying that if she didn't know who to give it to, she would throw it in the waste book pile as waste paper. Gu Xinyi knew the ins and outs of the misunderstanding and did not complain, but comforted her that it was not important. It wasn't until after the second watch that she finished scrutinizing a few poems that she felt that they were precious. It was also from that moment that she felt that the humble classmate had such a talent, and the new ideas he expressed in the poem also made a lot of waves in her heart.

It was also an extraordinary night for Fan Junsheng, he felt more and more that Gu Xinyi was innocent, and her every move and even every expression excited him. I wrote another poem that night, and took it to Changlong Department Store at noon the next day to show her. She liked it and discussed it with him. From that day on, the two truly became friends who knew each other and admired each other. In addition to writing poems to each other, they also occasionally admired the moon on the Xiguan Inner Bridge outside the West Gate and ate the chicken tofu brain he brought. Over time, feelings arose in her heart.

On the same East Street, not far from Changlong Department Store, there is a Wenhua Printing Company. It is the largest bookseller in Liaocheng and has a semicolon in Jinan and several surrounding counties. Ji Wenhua, the chief treasurer of Wenhua Books, is a native of the local family, and his ancestors have been running private schools and stationery business for generations. After the Republic of China, new culture and new ideas became the mainstream, and private schools became public schools. He concentrated on printing and expanded his business with the times. Relying on his brother-in-law Han Fuguang is an important member of the provincial military and political circles, and the two burdens are also working in the government, the Ji family successfully annexed several studies, and more than ten branches have been opened.

Ji Wenhua not only has a good vision and courage, but also is kind to others. He has a good relationship with merchants, employees, subordinates and even neighbors, and is simply a good person. Maybe most of his time is busy with his career, or his wife Bazhou Han is too domineering, and the four children in the family always like to get into trouble from time to time. The eldest Ji Guang is twenty-eight years old, and he has a rough temper and is ambitious since he was a child, and he has been out of private school for a few years to follow a group of idlers. Six years ago, on a snowy night, someone somehow broke a leg, and since then, he has low self-esteem, violence, alcoholism, and beatings at home, causing his daughter-in-law to run away with her child. Daughter Ji Ying is twenty years old, she loves to dress up, and she is lazy to eat. At the end of last year, he eloped with a peddler, and two days later he came back alone, hiding in the house and crying all day. After a few months, her belly gradually grew bigger, and I didn't know what the vendor's surname was. The angry Ji Wenhua slapped her a few times, and she whimpered and said that he was beaten to death not far from running out of the city with the hawker, and the murderer raped her. Now she can't figure out whether the child belongs to a peddler or a murderer. The youngest son, Ji Yan, was just eighteen years old, and he caused trouble all the time, and he didn't graduate from three schools. The second son, Ji Tang, is twenty-three years old, tall, handsome, and relatively capable. After graduating from National Central University (5), he helped him take care of his business and worked efficiently. The only drawback is that it is a little too radical, a worker stole books and resold them, and after being caught by him, he was directly paralyzed, and Ji Wenhua took a lot of effort to settle down. Not long after, he beat a person to death, lost money and suffered a lawsuit, Han's maiden relatives helped resolve it, but Ji Wenhua was not lightly angry.

often passed by the door of Xinglong Department Store, Ji Wenhua found that Gu Xinyi was good-looking, and asked someone to find out that it was the only daughter of the Gu family, so he discussed it with the Han family when he went home. After listening to the music, the fame of the Gu family in Liaocheng and Guo Juren in Qufu will be unacceptable. Immediately put down the words to the three mahjong partners, who can promote this marriage and reward 10,000 yuan. Within three months, during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the twentieth year of the Republic of China, the two families made a high-profile marriage agreement. Han's two younger sisters and brother-in-law made a special trip from Shanghai to witness, and Mrs. Gu's wife Guo Jiezhi invited her cousin Fan Zhongcheng to be the woman's matchmaker, and the three major families in Liaocheng were gathered. At this time, Gu Xinyi was not yet sixteen years old, and she didn't know or approve of this marriage contract, and in fact, she didn't need to make decisions that year.

Note: (1) It refers to the regional culture centered on Dawenkou, Tai'an, and studies the degree of civilization and the scope of influence through the civilization and ruins that have been produced in this region. (2) wàn, the swastika often appears in Tibetan and Buddhist terms. (3) Liaocheng is a unique way of worshipping the gods, which refers to dropping the miniature Guandi Temple on the top of a tree branch or a stone lion's head. (4) The full name is Shandong Provincial Third Normal School, formerly known as Dongchangfu Simple Normal School. (5) The main source of the current Nanjing Normal University can be traced back to the Sanjiang Normal School in 1902.