Chapter 53: Praying Mantis Catches Cicadas
Li Aniu really didn't expect that his pharmacy work would be lost, it shouldn't be, he Li Aniu has worked hard in the pharmacy for so many years, and he has done a lot of hard work, and even the dirty work is he Li Aniu rushed to the forefront, how could he be kicked out of the pharmacy in a blink of an eye?
Thinking of his father's words in the morning, Li Aniu wanted to slap the two of them. Unexpectedly, my father's words of comfort to myself turned into a prophecy in the end, or did I say, what does my father already know?
Thinking of this, Li Aniu's face changed, and he sped up his pace of going home.
Although Li Aniu doesn't think much of his father, but his father is a child, and in these major events, Li Aniu thinks that he is not as good as his father.
It didn't take much time on the road, and when Li Aniu arrived home, his father and mother were about to enter the mountain. Looking at the two old men who were a little clumsy by the bamboo basket, Li Aniu suddenly felt very guilty.
Seeing that his son was back, Li Aniu's mother was about to speak, but was stepped on by his father, waved his hand and said, "You go up the mountain first, and I will accompany my son." ”
If Li Aniu's father dared to treat his mother like this before, Li Aniu's mother's temper would have sat on the ground and cried, but today she didn't speak for the first time.
Although Li Aniu's mother usually has a very broken mouth, and her speech is not in tune, she always dislikes Li Aniu and his father, but if something happens, she has to rely on the men in the family.
Glancing at his own man, Li Aniu's mother still didn't dare to speak, and went out obediently.
"Coming back?"
Seeing his mother-in-law go away, Li Aniu's father smiled and talked to his son, talking very casually, just like his son usually when he came home.
"Dad, have you already guessed it?"
Li Aniu took a deep breath and asked his father with some uncertainty.
Hearing his son's question, the old man sighed, patted the stone bench at the door and motioned for his son to sit down, but he squatted to the side.
Li Aniu didn't say politely to his father, he sat on the stone bench, looked at his father with his eyes, and waited for him to solve his doubts.
"Remember one night when you came back late, didn't you? And you came back that day and you were still upset, and I guessed what you were doing. ”
Li Aniu listened quietly, and didn't dare to miss a word.
"Actually, you haven't told us about the pharmacy, but what am I doing? Don't you know what's going on here? Our ancestors have been collecting herbs for a living for generations, but have we really never picked a good medicinal herb? How did your grandfather die, and why did I never mention it to you? ”
Li Aniu looked at his father in shock, he had indeed never heard his father mention these things.
"There are a lot of these things in the pharmacy, and the people in the town are used to it, so as soon as you came back that day, I knew what you did, but in fact, it's nothing, after all, it's not just you who did it, and I didn't pay attention to it."
Speaking of which, the old man somewhat regretted it.
"But as the old saying goes, if you walk by the river, you can't get your shoes wet. The next day, when I heard that the Ninth Master had an accident, I was a little scared, you children don't know about the Ninth Master and our patriarch, but most of our people in this generation know it, at that time I was afraid that it was you who did it, but I didn't dare to ask you. After all, the ninth master is old, and he doesn't have to rely on collecting medicine to make a living, how can he have the medicine that your shopkeeper can look at, so although I am worried, I don't take it seriously. ”
"Later, when I didn't see the patriarch make a move, I thought that this matter had nothing to do with you, so when you were dealing with Liu Mazi's little rabbit cub, I also thought that you were on a whim, so I didn't take it to heart. I know you're a good boy, you see, you can quit gambling, which is much better than Liu Mazi, who lost his family property. ”
When the old man said this, he wiped his face, and his voice trembled a little.
"Blame me, I didn't stop you, I didn't expect Liu Mazi to take you to do that kind of thing."
When Li Aniu heard this, he didn't know what to say, so he could only say weakly: "Dad, you know everything?" ”
"I know, you came back yesterday to see that something was wrong with you, so I went out for a trip, and I didn't need to ask, what was said outside was all your business. And ......"
Speaking of this, the old man looked at his son with tears on his face.
"And I also heard that the patriarch's wife went to the pharmacy once, and the head of the Song family also went. At that time, I knew that the matter of the ninth master was inseparable from you. ”
Li Aniu was like being struck by lightning, and looked at his father in disbelief.
"The head of the Song family? Madame Patriarch? ”
These two people are in the eyes of ordinary people in these small towns, they are no different from the emperor and queen in the eyes of the officialdom in the outside world, they are both high-ranking existences, Li Aniu never thought that a ninth master would involve so many people,
Especially Feng Ying, many legends of chivalry and righteousness in the town were handed down by this old woman when she was young, but after she married the patriarch, she never showed up again, but her status in the town did not decline but rose. As for the head of the Song family, outsiders may not know much about it, but Li Aniu is a buddy of the Song family's pharmacy after all, and he has more or less heard about this family master.
Thinking of the change of shopkeeper in the pharmacy today, and thinking about those legends, Li Aniu's face was pale and he called out to his father, but he was so frightened that he could barely speak.
"Dad, I'...... We are a pharmacy shopkeeper...... Substitutions. ”
Li Aniu's father was not much surprised, and said calmly: "You don't have to be afraid, if something so big happens, they will definitely push someone to top the cylinder, and your shopkeeper is not a good person, it is normal to be pushed out." ”
Li Aniu was even more frightened, pointing at himself, but he couldn't speak.
The old man took his son's trembling hand and spoke comfortingly.
"Don't be afraid, the shopkeeper is the son of the family, and life or death is all decided by the master, but you are not, you are a member of our Li family, although our family is poor, but your name is engraved on the family tree. Don't mention that matter in the future, since the patriarch didn't look for your business, it means that this matter has passed, as long as you don't say it, no one can come to you for trouble, even if he is the head of the Song family. ”
Although Li Aniu also understood what his father said, he was still afraid, and his whole person was trembling. In the end, he is still a teenager, he dares to do anything when he is hot, and when it comes to bearing the consequences, he will still seem at a loss.
The old man patted Li Aniu and advised: "If you are really afraid, don't go out for the next two days, no matter who calls you, don't go out, there is food at home, enough for you to eat for several days." ”
Hearing the meaning of his father's words, Li Aniu pulled his father with his backhand and asked anxiously, "Dad, where are you going?" ”
The old man patted his son's hand and replied gently: "It's okay, your mother and I plan to go a little farther up the mountain this time, so we will stay in the mountain for a longer time." ”
Good medicinal materials are generally in the deep mountains and old forests, so the medicine pickers sometimes need to walk for several days when they go into the mountains to collect medicines, Li Aniu is not unaware of this matter, but he is a little restless now, so he forgot about it.
Li Aniu wanted his father and mother to stay, but he couldn't say anything. Seeing his once strong son become like this, the old man felt very uncomfortable, but when he remembered what he was going to do, the old man still stood up fiercely, said "go", and turned to chase his wife.
Looking at his father who was faltering and walking farther and farther, Li Aniu regretted it, but now, what's the use of regretting?
In the past, Li Aniu felt that as long as he could please the shopkeeper of the pharmacy, then he could have no worries, and if he could become the son of a big family through the introduction of the shopkeeper, his father and his future children could lie down and enjoy happiness. So in order to achieve this goal, he tried his best to please the pharmacy, doing all the dirty work, and he was extremely ruthless, leaving no way out for himself at all.
At that time, my father didn't persuade him to restrain him a little, and for the fact that he wanted to be a family and have children, the always weak father was even more strongly opposed, and at that time he still felt that his father was too pedantic, short-sighted, and useless, so he quarreled with his family a lot, and the relationship with his family was getting worse and worse because of these things.
Before the accident, Li Aniu always insisted that he was right, but now that something happened, Li Aniu felt that he was the clown, if it wasn't for his father, would he be the top tank?
As soon as he thought of this, Li Aniu trembled, turned around and went back to the house, not daring to step out of the door.
In the next few days, Li Aniu often had nightmares, either dreaming that he was beaten to death, or dreaming that Jiu Ye was waving at him with a pale face, so in just a few days, Li Aniu lost weight several times, and the whole person looked sick, and he was still in a trance, and his temper was getting worse and worse.
Because of fear, Li Aniu lies at the door every day at dawn and looks out from the crack in the door, as long as someone passes by, he will see if his father and mother are back, but every time it is someone else. Except when he was a child, Li Aniu never thought about his father and mother so much.
On this day, Li Aniu was still the same as usual, he didn't even eat early in the morning, so he lay at the door and looked out, his father didn't see it, but let him see a little rabbit cub who made him hate it so much - Lu Yangsheng, the mourning star.
I didn't dare to sleep these days, so Li Aniu sorted out everything.
Li Aniu never hated the old shopkeeper Song Tong, because although the old shopkeeper had a bad temper, he never treated him badly Li Aniu, as for the matter of making a move on the ninth master, the shopkeeper did not force him, everything was his willingness to please the pharmacy, and Li Aniu saw this matter very openly.
But in this matter, in addition to the old shopkeeper, there are two other people involved, one is Liu Mazi and the other is Lu Yangsheng.
Li Aniu really hated the two people, because one of the two people aroused his greed, and the other blocked his financial path, so every time he thought of these two people, Li Aniu wanted to slaughter them.
So when he inadvertently saw Lu Yangsheng, an acquaintance, Li Aniu's first thought was to rush out and beat him, especially when he saw that Lu Yangsheng was still carrying a bag of grain, Li Aniu was even more angry, but remembering his own words, Li Aniu still resisted the urge to rush out.
At this time, Li Aniu suddenly remembered Liu Mazi's words, they had thought that Lu Yangsheng would hide a sum of silver, and now that Lu Yangsheng can carry so much food home, he must have bought it with that amount of silver, if he could grab it......
I have lost all my work because of these things, and if I can get this money, my family will definitely be much better.
Thinking of this, Li Aniu's eyes turned red.
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On the way home, Lu Yangsheng's tears couldn't stop flowing, he didn't want to kill people, but if he didn't do some things, he Lu Yangsheng couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart. And when things come to this point, the patriarch and the Song family should have taken action, right? At this time, it was no longer him, Lu Yangsheng said that he could stop.
Let's take a look, good will be rewarded, evil will be rewarded, if he doesn't report it, he Lu Yangsheng can only ask for it himself.