Xianghai returned to Guangfu, stepped into the house happily, and muttered loudly: "Father, do you think I have brought you some good news?" Li Shanren was bedridden in broad daylight and did not get up, but Mrs. Li hurriedly stopped: "Don't mutter, your father coughed last night, didn't close his eyes all night, and just fell asleep at dawn." At this time, Li Shanren had been woken up by Xianghai and asked on the bed, "Xiang'er is back?" Xianghai entered the house and said, "Father, it's me who has come back, and I'm here to bring you good news." ”

Li Shanren looked at him and said weakly, "It won't be to bring back your daughter-in-law, right?" Xianghai said: "This matter is more important than the daughter-in-law." Li Shanren got up and brought a cigarette stick, and was about to light it, but was dissuaded by his wife: "Master, your cough is not good, you still have to smoke less." Li Shanren reluctantly put down the cigarette stick and said to Xianghai slowly: "What is more important to you than your daughter-in-law right now?" It's just right for you to come back today, and tomorrow you will invite Mr. Zhang to dinner, and his baby daughter will also come over. Your mother is going to cook and show her hand and try to make ten thousand hooves ....... ”

"Father, look." Xianghai interrupted Li Shanren's words and handed him the newspaper in his hand. Li Shanren saw that it was an "outsider", so he said: "What kind of news is there in a mess? Xianghai took the newspaper and spread it out, pointed to the headline and said, "Father, Yuan is dead!" As soon as Li Shanren heard this, he jumped up from the bed "suddenly", grabbed the cigarette stick in his hand again, and said, "Who is dead, Yuan is dead?" As he spoke, he threw away his cigarette stick and grabbed the newspaper to read it, and saw that the newspaper was clearly published in black and white.

Li Shanren read it carefully from beginning to end, couldn't help but smile, raised his head and exhaled a long breath, and said in a deep voice: "Half a cage of cold fog locks Kyushu, and the butterflies quietly jump on the branches." A river of spring water flows eastward, and the child dares to worry about Qiu'an. Mrs. Li saw that after reading the newspaper, Mrs. Li changed her decadent appearance from the past, and suddenly became full of energy, and her cough was gone, and she said happily: "God opened his eyes, and finally the rain has passed, and the old man's illness has also been cured." ”

Seeing that his parents were happy, Xianghai chanted a pair in the newspaper on a whim, telling his father to see if it was right or not: "Yuan Qiangu, long live the Chinese." Li Shanren laughed when he heard it and said: "Boy, this couplet is very neat for thousands of years, but Yuan."

For the Chinese, how can three words be four words? Xianghai said, "I'm sorry!" Li Shanren was puzzled and asked what Xianghai meant. Xianghai said: "It's Yuan, I'm sorry for the Chinese!" Li Shanren laughed again: "You kid, you still play this game with the old man!" After that, he pondered for a moment, and then solemnly said to Xianghai that he wanted to rebuild the Li family's shop.

Xianghai was surprised when he saw that his father wanted to rebuild the family house, and persuaded him: "The Li family has a small population, and they don't need too many houses, and it is a waste to build an uninhabited house. Li Shanren said: "What kind of house is not to support people, trouble is not troublesome, young people do not know, the house of the hometown is the eternal destination, no matter where you work hard, the house of the hometown is your sustenance." No matter whether there are so many people living in the house in my hometown, it must be built in style and spacious. At the beginning, our family fled from Jilu to Guangfu, and the house built in a hurry was too cramped, and there was no place to put even a Taishi chair, and it is now dilapidated. Xianghai said, "The child understands." But the daughter-in-law doesn't have a word, how can you say that the daughter-in-law is welcome into the door? Li Shanren said: "Your mother has fallen in love with the daughter of the old gentleman of the Zhang family for you, the daughter of the Zhang family is like a flower, dignified and virtuous, and is a rare good woman." ”

Xianghai hurriedly stopped Li Shanren from talking further, saying that he was still young and his heart was not on marriage. Now that I have completed all my studies, I have one more thing to discuss with my father today, in addition to going home to report the good news. Li Shanren hurriedly asked what was the matter? Xianghai talked a lot about the prosperity of Shanghai, and the people who live and work in peace and contentment, saying that if they want to do stock business in Shanghai, they need the support of their father for the first pot of gold. Li Shanren felt that it was a great thing for Xianghai to have the ambition to do business, and he thought that he would definitely be more productive than himself after reading foreign books, so he intended to hand over the proceeds from the resale of the wooden boat to him as capital, and asked him to return to Guangfu to take care of the school when he made money, and marry a wife and have children as soon as possible.

Xianghai agreed, but the marriage should be decided by himself. Li Shanren reprimanded Xianghai Dao: "Everything depends on you, the marriage is not up to you, you are not too old, you don't want to get married, start a family, have children, inherit the incense for the Li family, and worry about your father until what year and month?" Xianghai said stubbornly: "Marriage is a big matter, it is not good for parents to be in charge, and children should be in charge of their own affairs." If the father refuses, the child does not want the father's capital, even if he does not do business, he will not agree. ”

Seeing Xianghai say this, Li Shanren felt that this matter could not be forced, and Xianghai took the silver ticket and was going back to the city tomorrow, so he had to give up the matter of inviting Mr. Zhang and his daughter to dinner. However, he was depressed in his heart, and a matter of heart was always not smooth, thinking that he would do his and I would do mine, and repair the house first, would he have the face to let the ancestral house be empty and not marry his daughter-in-law.