urban life

Chapter 574 Playing Mahjong

Fortunately, Zhou An and his wife adhered to the concept of "happy learning" and Zhou Liang did not attend a cram school. Even though Zhou Lingmeng's grades were poor, she still did not enroll her in a cram school.

They have always believed that learning is a very private matter that is difficult for outsiders to interfere and only concerns themselves.

If you have no desire to learn, enrolling in a cram school will not help, but will ruin your child's childhood life.

Therefore, the two siblings rarely had extracurricular tutoring since childhood.

Of course, there will be certain shortcomings accordingly.

That is, Zhou Liang had the ability to take the Qingbei exam, but missed it. Zhou Lingmeng at least had the talent for 211 University and barely passed the undergraduate exam.

For this matter, the high school head teacher talked to Zhou An frequently, and was even more impatient than Zhou An.

But after visiting Zhou An's home once, the cram school was never mentioned again.

With a family like that, it doesn't matter which university you go to.

"Don't bring up bad children." Li Lin looked at him deeply, "People's physiques are different."

Zhou Liang shrugged.

"Sister, sit down and eat."

Li Feng gave way.

Li Lin said: "I won't sit down anymore, I have many things to do."

After saying that, he left the table.

Zhou Liang looked at Li Lin, while doing things and greeting the guests, a smile appeared on his face, trying his best to entertain the guests.

It was a little different from what he imagined.

But then I remembered that Li Lin had been an important member of the club during college and had very strong communication skills. I suddenly understood that Li Lin was much more sociable than she thought.

But usually when the two of them stay together, Li Lin is very silent, trying to speak as little as possible, or even not speaking at all.

Has a double-sided personality.

"Hey." Li Feng touched his arm, "Brother Liang, aren't you pretty?"

Zhou Liang nodded.

To be fair, Li Lin has a delicate face, and her appearance is not outstanding, but her whole body exudes an aura of earthliness, like a fairy falling from the sky and living in the world.

This is particularly outstanding.

In college, there were girls who looked the same as her, but no one had her special temperament.

Li Feng lowered his voice and said secretly: "I will introduce my sister to you."

"." Zhou Liang said, "Thank you, let's talk about it later."

"It's okay. Which one of us will follow the other?" Li Feng waved his hand, "Then it's settled."

This kid seemed not to understand the second half of Zhou Liang's sentence, and he finalized it in a few seconds.

Zhou Liang tried his best to keep a kind smile.

At this moment, only Teacher Zhou in the audience knew that Zhou Liang and Li Lin knew each other, and Teacher Zhou was not a talkative person. Everyone else thought they were meeting for the first time.

wow wow~~~
The light rain suddenly turned into moderate rain, falling on the ground and making a sound, as if sending the old man off.

After dinner, Zhou Liang took an umbrella home and found a coat. Then he returned to Li's house and put it on his grandfather's shoulders to avoid catching a cold when the weather turned cooler.

When I came back, the banquet was over and the dishes were being cleared away.

He originally wanted to step forward to help, but Li Lin took the bowl and chopsticks and said, "No guest can help. Thank you."

Zhou Liang gave up the idea.

"Those are things women do." Li Feng said from the side, "Brother Liang, do you want to play mahjong?"

While talking, he and others brought out several automatic mahjong tables.

It was specially rented from the mahjong parlor in town this afternoon.

In the Sichuan and Chongqing areas, regardless of whether it is a "red event" or a "white event", mahjong is always indispensable after the banquet.

In people's perception, playing mahjong on red events represents happiness.

Playing mahjong during the day also represents joy, which is "happy and sad". People are more willing to face the death of their elders with an optimistic attitude.

Zhou Liang's grandma Lu Yulan once said that on the night of her death, mahjong must be played at home.

She has been playing mahjong all her life and cannot live without the sound of mahjong.

The tone was solemn.

No one can change his decision.

This is a hobby and also represents an attitude towards life.

In Lu Yulan's words: He's already dead, so what's the point of crying? It makes the atmosphere so solemn, it's better to happily take care of the funeral.

"Okay." Zhou Liang nodded.

Under the influence of Hou Mengting and Lu Yulan, Zhou Liang can also play mahjong. He knows the basic rules and rarely plays. He only plays with his family during holidays.

Regarding mahjong, he did not completely reject it and insisted on the concept of "small gambling and pleasure".

After a while, Zhou Liang, Li Feng and two other young people gathered at a table.

"How much?" asked a young man with short hair.

Another person replied: "It's just for fun, a small one, ten yuan."

As the host, Li Feng had no objection to being beaten no matter how much. His mission was to accompany the guests well. He immediately turned his attention to Zhou Liang and asked him.

Zhou Liang smiled: "Take it small."

The short-haired young man was a little surprised, but then said: "Five yuan?"

Zhou Liang replied: "Smaller."

"Brother Liang, how big is this? My grandpa only played for five yuan." The short-haired young man complained, "Then how much do you say?"

Zhou Liang is the richest man in the town. When they play mahjong with Zhou Liang, they feel a lot of pressure and are ready to play "high-priced mahjong".

Unexpectedly, five yuan felt like a big deal to him.

Zhou Liang looked at everyone's expressions and asked, "Can one piece be okay?"

"Ah?" The three of them couldn't help but make surprised sounds, and immediately looked at each other, "Okay, just one piece. Since Brother Liang likes it, the three of us will risk our lives to accompany you."

Then start mahjong.

Zhou Liang laughed.

He originally thought of [-] cents, but considering that the mood of the three more people in the car changed and they were willing to play mahjong with him, the psychological price was increased by [-] cents again, to one yuan.

When playing mahjong, you can only play one piece at most, no more.

This is Zhou Liang's "little gambling pleasure".

Any amount of more than one dollar is considered a "big gamble" and he will not participate.

The four of them started playing mahjong, and soon the other card tables were filled. Sounds like "Peng, Dui, Hu" echoed throughout the yard. The sound of playing cards complemented the mourning in the house, which was particularly interesting.

Zhou Liang doesn't have Zhou Lingmeng's incredible luck. He starts with bad cards and rarely has good cards. Whichever card he is "missing" will be the one he touches. Sometimes nothing can be "missed". .

Sichuan and Chongqing Mahjong is "deficient", including strips, tubes and ten thousand words. One of the three must be "deficient", and then think of ways to use tiles.

Therefore, in less than an hour, Zhou Liang had already lost dozens of yuan.

"Oh, what a pity." Li Feng sighed.

The short-haired young man said: "What's a pity?"

"It's a pity that we played for one piece. If we played for one hundred yuan, I would have made a fortune today." As Li Feng spoke, he turned to look at Zhou Liang, holding a piece of mahjong and knocking on the table, making a banging sound. Then he pushed down his deck of cards and showed them to everyone: "All cards, right and wrong. I'll touch the three houses and give them money." "Cao!"

"Fortunately it was one piece, otherwise my pants would have been lost in it."

The other two spit out the essence of the country.

Zhou Liang raised his eyebrows and looked at his cards. They were in a mess and he couldn't help but sigh.

There is nothing sadder than this in life.

"Too bad luck." Zhou Liang accepted his tragic fate and waved to a young man who had been watching behind him for a long time. "Come on, I'll take a rest."

"Brother Liang, just play and I'll take a look."

The young man rubbed his hands, still a little embarrassed and declined.

When Zhou Liang was playing cards just now, this young man had been giving him advice and wished he could play.

"I'm a little tired, I'll take a rest."

After saying that, he stood up. The young man did not continue to refuse and sat at Zhou Liang's seat. The other three did not say much.

"How much?"

"Take it small, twenty."

"to make!"

In two or three sentences, the stakes suddenly rise twentyfold.

Zhou Liang looked at the four of them and followed him, delaying the other three.

With this style of play, the biggest loser tonight will lose at least four figures.

After standing aside and watching for a while, he realized that the winning and losing in one round was more than the winning and losing in an hour of playing.

Ok.

Zhou Liang admitted that he was still too timid.

Zhou Liang had no intention of continuing to read, so he squeezed out of the crowd and took a look at his grandfather. He was still chatting with his old friends. He usually slept regularly, but he seemed particularly energetic today.

It was raining heavily and we couldn't go out, so we had to hang out around the tent.

Zhou Liang walked into the room.

There is a coffin placed in the middle of the room, and a photo is placed above it. It is of an old man with deep wrinkles on his face, each one full of traces of time.

At this moment, a group of masters of ceremonies in the room were beating gongs and drums to send the old man away. Li Lin, dressed in mourning clothes, knelt in front of the coffin and tore apart the paper money for use in the next few days.

"Why don't you fight?" Li Lin raised her head and asked.

"Oh! I'm so lucky." Zhou Liang knelt down and tore up the paper money as well.

Li Lin stood up and found two small benches in the corner. The two of them sat in front of the coffin, tearing up paper money.

"I took a few glances just now, and it's really bad." Li Lin said.

"..." Zhou Liang said, "You don't have to be so honest. You can praise me against your will."

Li Lin's delicate face had a smile on her face: "Do you really want to hear it?"

Zhou Liang smiled softly: "Forget it."

Immediately, both of them fell silent, and it became quiet. The only sound in the room was the master of ceremonies beating gongs and drums.

In the end, it was Li Lin who broke the silence. She looked at the black and white photo, familiar yet unfamiliar, and her voice suddenly dropped:
"Zhou Liang, why do you think people die?"

"Death is a law of nature." Zhou Liang replied in a calm tone, "Death can at least let people know that everything has an end. If there is no death, immortality is the most terrifying thing."

"That's right." Li Lin breathed out, agreeing with his statement, but then she changed her words: "I understand everything, but I just can't accept it."

"That's my grandfather. He brought me up and protected me from wind and rain. I thought I could live like this forever, but suddenly he told me that he passed away and could never open his eyes again. He would never see me again. He couldn't talk to me, and he was no longer conscious. I tried my best to understand death, but I still couldn't."

"He once said to me with a smile that he wanted to see me get married and have children and help me take care of my children. How could he..."

At this point, Li Lin's eyes turned red, her voice choked, and she exhaled: "Huh, why did you die?"

After speaking, Li Lin gasped for air, trying not to let tears fall and maintain a balanced mentality. But judging from the trembling tone, her mentality was already out of balance.

Zhou Liang did not answer, but took out a tissue from his pocket and handed it to the other party.

"No need, I'm not that fragile." Li Lin waved her hand to refuse, "I just find it a little hard to accept."

Zhou Liang took back the tissue, stood up, lit a candle, walked to the black and white photo, straightened his posture, bowed seriously and seriously three times, and then inserted the candle into the fire.

He sat down again, tearing up the paper money, and replied: "But you have no choice."

no choice.

There are too many things in the world that people can't let go of, family, friendship, money, material, wealth, spirituality... People always want to pursue too many things, but in the end there are only three words, no choice.

"I just want to choose." Li Lin's voice was hoarse.

"No choice." Zhou Liang shrugged.

Li Lin raised her head: "Why don't you always accommodate me?"

"Haha, will you be happy if I accommodate you?"

Li Lin bit her lip tightly and did not speak.

The scene became quiet for a while. Zhou Liang tore up the paper money in his hand, picked out a pile of paper money and burned it in the brazier. The fire filled up and burned fiercely, burning Li Lin's beautiful face red, making it look extraordinarily bright and bright. A special kind of beauty.

After the burning, Zhou Liang clapped his hands and tried to speak as calmly as possible: "I believe that if I were in your position, my performance would not be much better than yours, maybe even worse. You are already very good. It has to be perfect, let go of your worries.”

To be fair, Zhou Liang cannot accept the death of his grandparents. It is a huge blow, and he may be even more depressed and lost.

But Li Lin was able to withstand the huge blow, and even took care of the funeral arrangements and took care of everything in order, which was her ultimate achievement.

There is no need to criticize yourself anymore.

"I'm sorry, I lost my temper." Li Lin lowered her head.

"No, no." Zhou Liang shook his head, "It's a bit cold tonight, so put on more clothes."

After saying that, Zhou Liang left the room.

Grandpa was standing outside waiting for him.

"What are you two talking about?" Teacher Zhou stretched his neck and asked.

"It's nothing." Zhou Liang opened his umbrella and helped his grandfather leave the Li family yard.

Teacher Zhou has been around the system all year round. He is a person who is aware of current affairs. He understands the principle of talking less and watching more, and does not ask too many questions.

Li's house.

Li Lin sat in front of the coffin, still tearing the paper money, lowering her head, and her hair fell down, covering her peerless face and slightly pouted mouth.

"Linlin." At this moment, Li Lin's parents walked in and squatted down to tear up the paper money together. Li Lin's mother turned back and looked at Zhou Liang's back, "You and Zhou Liang know each other?"

As a mother, she naturally understands her daughter and treats others coldly. She just looked outside for a long time and saw her daughter chatting a lot with Zhou Liang.

"I don't know." Li Lin replied.

"Impossible. I just knew it clearly"

Li Lin's mother wanted to retort, but Li Lin's father rolled his eyes at his wife: "Oh, at what time, you are still thinking about your daughter's marriage, please finish these things first."

"Can't we work together? I'm worried about our daughter's marriage." Li Lin's mother replied, "Zhou Liang is not bad. He is handsome, has a good family, and is gentle and considerate."

"Are we worthy?"

"They are carrying one head on two shoulders, how can they not be worthy of each other?"

(End of this chapter)