box of hearts

Chapter 24 Suo Nanzhi (5)
"There are three big places in Beijing's Fengyuechang. One is Huaihua Hutong, the other is called Lianzi Hutong, and there are mostly actors and actresses in it, and the other is the 'Yaozi Street' just passed by. Huaihua Hutong is the best in Beijing. The ground is next to Qipan Street and Fugui Street - Qipan Street is just outside the imperial city, and the gates of the imperial court's officials, households, rites, and clan mansions all open to Fugui Street. The women in Huaihua Hutong wear Hanging satin with silk, wearing gold and silver, whatever new dresses are emerging, the concubines in the palace have to follow suit. You live on the embroidered building paved with gold, and sleep on a carved bed. To get on your bed, a man must first Opening dishes, making tea, making flower heads, buying clothes for you, furry jewelry, buying furniture and shop rooms, worshiping the god of white eyebrows, lighting big candles... Dozens of procedures, thousands of taels of gold, coming and going, tedious flirting Yaozi Street is surrounded by Lingdang Courtyard and Jiangan Alley. The people who live in that area are either craftsmen or refugees. The women in Yaozi Street are just like you just saw. They are naked from morning to night. No matter what kind of rotten fish and rotten shrimps you have to fight over, you will welcome them into the house when you meet them. Needle [-] cents at a time, all taken away by Guizi Bustard, eat sour rice and sleep on the door panels. Huaihua Hutong and Yaozi Street do exactly the same thing, but one is Suet Baiyutian, the other is Pig blood red mud."

Qingtian paused for a moment, and his tone seemed to be a thin gold pen, slanted like a dagger, pressed like a knife, "Zhaohua, if you get out of this car today, if you meet a kind person who accepts you as a concubine or a maidservant, even if It's a lot of hardships, and it's a blessing compared to the life of flesh and blood. But the concubines and maidservants of ordinary people still have a mother's family and a few brothers. You are alone and young and ignorant. How to tell the difference? I’m afraid that if you become a concubine and maidservant for a while, you will end up in the Firework Alley. But do you know that after you change hands two or three times and endure for five or six years, you will want to return to Huaihua Alley——? The only end is Yaozi Street. It was you who said 'don't go this way', and I took you back. Think about it, if you really don't want to go back, I still have some scattered silver notes on me to make money with you , the sky is high and the earth is wide, let you go, and the future will be a blessing or a curse, and you will taste the karma. I know that Huaiyatang is 36 levels of hell, but I have only seen [-] levels of hell, and I have never seen the world. There is no better way out for you."

Each of these words, each word, was like a pellet of hailstones, which hit the head in the hot summer of June, tearing apart the flesh and tearing apart the bones.Zhaohua stared at Qingtian in a daze, her face was as miserable as frost.She sobbed and trembled, and then plunged into Qingtian's arms, crying uncontrollably.

"Sister, sister, why is my life so hard!"

In the ups and downs of the car dealership, Qingtian remained expressionless, "Don't talk about my own fate, you see those women just now were raised by their fathers and mothers, who knows what happened, and their lives are not as good as cows and horses. And even so, there will be poor people who envy them that they at least have food every day and sleep at night." She patted Zhaohua's shoulder with one hand and repeated: "Don't say that your life is hard, You have never seen a miserable person."

Qingtian persuaded him irrelevantly, who could be coaxed better by these comforting words?Anyway, she couldn't coax herself.She only knew that she hated him so much that she wished she could pull him out from all corners of the world, cut him and stabbed him to death. Then she thought about his thin lips, his innocent and beautiful smile, and she went crazy thinking about it.The bright moon hangs high in the motherland every night, and I can't bear to look back.She opened her eyes under the moon, and beside some other men, they were not even the eyes of a pair of insomniacs, but the eyes of the dead, who would never die.

Up to now, she was only waiting for that man, waiting for him to use his cruel and dignified strength, like a mortician's hand, to close her up.

5.
That person still hasn't come, but what came was a glimmer of hope that he would come.

When Zhao Hua was taken back to Huai Ya Tang, the back building was cleared and no one was seen, so Qing Tian knew that Qi She was coming soon.

She hastily washed and washed, and changed into a lake-colored cardigan silk dress. There was no embroidery on the dress, only dyed with a few rose flowers, and she had a hasty joy.Then the floor rang loudly, and he seemed to bring a whole guard with him every time he came, but all she could see was one eunuch and one guard—Zhou Dun and He Wuwei.

It was He Wuwei who opened the door curtain for him, and Zhou Dun accompanied him in.Qingtian is used to Qi She's walking posture, such a tall person, with a limp, even a slight limp, still looks a bit clumsy.However, it is precisely because of this clumsiness that it looks like a simple bronze ware, which is especially awe-inspiring.

He was still in casual clothes, dressed in soft Persian cloth, and raised his hand to her and Mu Yun, "I'm familiar with the back and forth, don't be so rigid, sit down."

Qingtian thanked him, and smiled lightly, "Third Master thinks our tea is not good, and today there is a gifted sweet-scented osmanthus dew. Third Master, take a sip to relieve the heat?"

Qi She also smiled and took a seat on the kang, "I'm really thirsty today."

"Mu Yun, ask Mrs. Wang to bring a bowl."

"No need." Qi She closed a folding fan in his hand, and raised his jaw slightly at Zhou Dun who was beside him.

Zhou Dun answered "Yes", opened the curtain and called out, "Little Xinzi." Hearing quick footsteps, a jade-faced prisoner in his twenties, dressed in the livery of an ordinary family, came outside the curtain , bowed his head and stood by.

Zhou Dun said leisurely: "Go and serve tea."

In the past, Qingtian was used to seeing Zhou Dun's groveling around Qi She, but now he saw that he ordered others with a majestic demeanor, which was even better than that of high-ranking officials, but when he turned around, he had another look. The grinning servant, stood respectfully to one side with his hands tied.

Not a moment later, I heard the little Xinzi come back in small steps, calling "Grandpa Zhou", and a huge huanghuali case was handed in through the curtain.

Zhou Dun took the suitcase and opened the cover with the pattern of flowing clouds and beasts. He saw that the box was divided into layers, and each layer was divided into several small compartments, either round or square, covered with pure white snow silk, and contained a full set of silver plates, silver plates, Silver bowls, silver chopsticks, silver teapots, silver teacups, silver wine glasses, silver folding bowls... there are as many as [-] to [-] pieces, large and small.Zhou Dun picked out four bowls and four dishes from them, removed the chiseled silver lids, and served them up on a tray.

Qing Tian and Mu Yun looked at each other dumbfounded. For a long time, Mu Yun patted his chest and laughed, "Hey, isn't this the iced drink and pastry in our own tea room in Huai Ya Tang? It's almost unrecognizable."

Qingtian also smiled as if realizing something: "The third master of the strange way never eats a sip of tea or a grain of rice with us."

Qi She took a silver bowl and drank most of the sweet-scented osmanthus dew in it, then wiped the corner of his mouth with a smile, "When I go out, all the tea sets, tableware, and toilet utensils are carried by a special person. This is the rule. It’s not for showing off, it’s just because of the turmoil in the current situation, I have to take precautions. You have a complicated day of communication, so you should have a set. Do you want to give it to you?”

The tone was joking, but Qingtian's heart stabbed when he heard it, and the scene of Xizhu dying suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. "Thank you, Third Master, but there is no need. The redness on the top of a crane can be tested with silver, but the blackness of the heart, what can be tested?"

The falling sun slanted in, casting a layer of golden light on Qi She's skin.He glanced at her, with Yunshu Yunjuan in his eyes, "I just came out of Qianqing Palace. Today I am eleven years old. I am an uncle and I live in the prison country, so although you have a lot of experience in the study Sir, but state affairs and current affairs still need to be explained to the little emperor by me in the palace every day. I don’t feel much when I’m with him, but I feel it when I’m with you.” He paused, then continued, “' Companion, Jun, Ru, Companion, Tiger'. I am afraid that if you say something wrong, it will make you paranoid."

This time he didn't allow her to say anything, he only opened the fan in his hand wide, looked down at the ink cloud mountain on it and asked, "What about you? What were you doing this afternoon, are you on business?"

Qingtian shook his head, there were two hibiscus flowers on his temples, one pink and one purple red, scattered scatteredly, "Mom bought a new little lady two days ago, I took her out for a stroll. Turn around and wait for the third master to leave. My mother also asked me to teach her some internal methods."

"What internal law? Let's talk about it."

"Since it is an internal law, it should not be announced to outsiders."

"I think on that day, I witnessed your unforgettable pain with my own eyes, and you listened to the unspeakable things in my life with your own ears. How can you be called an outsider if you are so close to each other?" He was half joking and half serious, and picked a bowl of rose marinade from the table. Pass it to her, "You drink some too."

(End of this chapter)