All afternoon, the Meng Mansion was very quiet, and even if there was anything, the servants only whispered, as if they were afraid of being heard.

In the backyard, Xiaohuan stayed in front of the bed, comforting from time to time, but Mrs. Meng, who was lying on the bed, just closed her eyes and did not speak or move.

In the study, Meng Ran was still kneeling there, his knees aching from the beginning like pins and needles, and then both legs slowly lost sensation, and he only felt a cold feeling below his waist.

In the Meng Mansion, the anger between the two masters affected the operation and vitality of the entire mansion.

Xiaohuan persuaded for a while, but seeing that Mrs. Meng was still indifferent, she had to put the breakthrough point on Meng Ran's body.

She bowed slightly to the figure on the bed, and slowly walked out of the bedroom, gently opening the door and leaving.

When Xiaohuan closed the door from the outside, Mrs. Meng slowly opened her eyes and sighed faintly.

Xiaohuan walked through the courtyard, walked around the corridor a few times, and came to Meng Hao's study.

She looked at Meng Ran, who was kneeling on the ground, feeling a little distressed and complaining.

"Young master, do you still think you're right?"

Meng Ran snorted sullenly, and didn't say much.

Xiaohuan squatted beside Meng Ran gently, not knowing whether he was talking to Meng Ran or telling himself: "As a maid, it is good to have a master who can protect herself, but you can't be proud of it, this is the duty of a subordinate." If you abandon your duty, you will be a villain without virtue and wisdom.

As a master, knowing how to protect and safeguard the interests of his subordinates, and knowing how to cherish the lives of others, that is the master's conscience and good person. But you can't contradict your parents because of your own preferences and ignore the distinction between master and servant. If he only relies on his own preferences and does not care about the opinions of the world, then he is destined to be an isolated person. ”

Meng Ran turned around slightly and asked with a slight grievance: "Sister Xiaohuan, should I really punish Xiaolian for my own reasons?"

Xiaohuan smiled reluctantly, "Isn't the subordinate just to serve the master?" You went out in the middle of the night, but she didn't know it, this is the fault." She didn't do her part well, and she was punished by her wife, which she deserved. If the young master doesn't believe it, you can ask Xiaolian to see that she is half unconvinced. ”

Meng Ran was a little frustrated: "I know that she must have felt that she did not do well, so she was willing to be punished, which made me even more sad......"

"The young master can feel sorry for his maid, although it is commendable, but the method is wrong. Xiaohuan said quietly: "As a maid, you are the master, but you have to take responsibility for yourself when you encounter something, this is one thing, it will make people feel that there is no distinction between master and servant, dignity and inferiority;

Meng Ran's face was flushed, but he couldn't refute it, he just didn't say anything.

Xiaohuan continued: "Now I want to give the young master three points of my personal opinion. First, the young master will go to Madame to apologize first, Madame's kindness to you is greater than heaven, you can only honor her and love her well, not make her angry.

Second, like Xiaolian, I am a subordinate, and when we see the young master loving her so much, we are also happy for her in our hearts. But has the young master thought about it in the future? Or has he never thought about it? If you really care about her, you must pay attention to dignity and humility, and you must not exceed the rules, the master is the master, and the servant is the servant, and this will not change.

Third, this time, the young master should not resent Bai Shao, she just did what she should do. Back then, you didn't choose her to be your maid, that was because she was not blessed, but in the past few years in the backyard, she worked hard, never counted small profits, and was kind to people, although there were some visions of wanting to fly on the branches to be a phoenix, but it was also under the premise of not harming the interests of others.

My opinion, the young master can listen to it or not, but whether it is my duty to be a subordinate or not. ”

Xiaohuan slowly got up, blessed Meng Ran, and walked slowly.

The back that was originally standing tall and kneeling now looks a little decadent.

Meng Ran thought about it for a long time, was it really his fault? Is it really his own bad doing?

The afterglow of the setting sun dissipates, the faint birds return to their nests, and the night breeze rises.

At this time, Meng Ran could no longer maintain a kneeling posture, and collapsed to the ground obliquely, he tried to straighten his legs and gently rubbed and massaged. You don't need to look at it to know that your knees are already bruised, and your calves are swollen and purple.

After a while, the blood slowly circulated in the legs, the feet began to feel tingling and tingling, and the soles of the feet gradually began to feel warm, until they were able to twist the ankles, which were still a little stiff.

Meng Ran stood up in an extremely embarrassed posture and staggered out of the study. By the time he walked across the courtyard and into the dimly lit backyard, his legs were almost fine.

There was only one candle burning in Mrs. Meng's room, which was left alone next to the dresser.

In the darkness, Meng Ran heard two slight breaths in the room, thinking that it was his mother and Xiaohuan.

Under the guidance of the faint candlelight, Meng Ran came to the bed accurately, knelt down gently, and said with remorse: "The child asks his mother for peace, and asks for his mother's guilt." ”

As he spoke, he knocked his head three times on the ground.

The moment he looked up, his forehead was already red and swollen, and he looked at his mother with his back to him, and didn't say much, just knelt quietly.

After about a cup of tea, the figure on the bed finally moved, and she slowly sat up, looking down at her son, who was kneeling on the ground.

After a long time, he slowly opened his mouth and asked, "What are you wrong?"

Meng Ran was very respectful and said: "The child should not contradict the mother, should not ignore the humility, and should not make the mother angry. ”

Mrs. Meng nodded, "You figured it out?"

"Understood. ”

"Know what to do?"

"Yes. ”

"Tell me about it?"

“...”

There was silence in the air again......

Mrs. Meng waved her hand, "Okay, I won't embarrass you, this time it's like this, there's no next time." If so, go and tell your father. ”

Her words were extremely heavy, and Meng Ran knew in his heart that the reason why his mother was like this was all for himself, so he nodded heavily.

Xiaohuan, who was standing on the side, looked at the mother and son relieved, and asked, "Madam, the food has been warm in the kitchen, where are you eating?"

Mrs. Meng thought for a moment, "Let's go to the dining room." ”

Xiaohuan snorted, and went out to order.

On this night, the mother and son released their previous suspicions and reconciled as before.

From spring to summer, the flowers bloom a few degrees, then wither and turn into dust. There is decay and destruction, there is new life and hope, and the flowers seem to wither away, but they also bring fruitful fruits.

A drink and a peck are nothing more than that.

Meng Ran studied and practiced martial arts every day, although his life was full, but there was a faint uneasiness in his heart, he was afraid of the uncertain future, and he was also convinced by the words of Mr. Qi and the old Taoist priest who divined the hexagram.

The words were burning, and he couldn't believe it.

Absurd dreams made him feel nightmares.

As long as he thinks of that bloody face, he will lose sleep, although he no longer has nightmares, but reality is nightmares, and waking is torture.

He began to get restless and began to behave unusually.

After Meng Hao's fourth anniversary, his behavior was already a little abnormal. He had no energy during the day, but at night he was full of energy, his studies were no longer as serious as before, and his martial arts practice began to slack.

For all this, Mrs. Meng looked at it in her heart, at first she only thought that her son Meng Ran was a little tired, and it would be fine after a while, but she never thought that the situation was getting worse, so she had to put away her wait and see, ready to have a good talk with Meng Ran.

On this day, as usual, after dinner, Meng Ran instructed Xiaolian to go back to the room, and he went to his father Meng Hao's study alone.

After Mrs. Meng cleaned up, she took the maid Xiaohuan to the study.

When Mrs. Meng walked to the bluestone steps of the study, she suddenly stopped, turned to the maid behind her and said, "Xiaohuan, you just stay here, don't let people in, no matter what happens, wait for me to come out." ”

Xiaohuan snorted, and stood there as a guard with a cautious expression.

Mrs. Meng pushed the door in, and then closed the door again.

Meng Ran, who was sitting behind the desk, looked at Mrs. Meng, and then stood up, "Mother, why are you here?"

"Come and see you, talk to you. ”

Meng Ran nodded slightly, then took a few steps forward and stood in front of Mrs. Meng.

"Don't stand, sit down. Mrs. Meng sat down first, then pointed to the chair next to her.

After Meng Ran sat down, Mrs. Meng asked, "Ran'er, you have been in a bad state lately, what happened?"

"No... No. Meng Ran was about to deny it, and then saw Mrs. Meng's calm face, and hesitated to tell the truth.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else I can't say?"

Meng Ran frowned and gritted his teeth, as if he was making a difficult decision, and his eyes were a little hideous and terrifying under the light of the candlelight.

After a while, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief, "Mother, do you really want to know?"

Mrs. Meng snorted, "Just say anything about it, you and I, mother and son will bear it together." ”

Meng Ran was relieved and said, "Before I say it, I'll show you a letter." ”

He reached into his arms, took out a somewhat crumpled envelope with badly worn corners, and handed it to Mrs. Meng with both hands.

Mrs. Meng took it gently, took out the letter paper, and read it carefully.

Her eyebrows furrowed, forming a shallow 'Chuan' character, and then slowly relaxed, and asked in a heavy tone: "This is the letter that Mr. Qi left you, right?"

Meng Ran nodded, "Mr. left a total of two letters, and this is one of them. ”

"What about the other one?"

"The gentleman said that there are two letters, and I only need to read one of them, and the other one should be burned and destroyed. ”

Mrs. Meng sighed, "Then did you destroy it?"

Meng Ran shook his head, "No, it's just put away." ”

"Actually, I've heard about it for a long time, and that's when your father was still around. Once he was talking to Mr. Qi at night, and when I went to bring them some pastries, I overheard the ......"

"What did they say?" Meng Ran asked with an eager expression.