Gone Water Lane

Not long after the Ye family's festive days, Beiping began to be shrouded in shadow.

At first, no one believed that the Japanese had really entered Wanping City. They only thought it was rumors. Only the students were like frightened birds. They quickly organized street parades and protests, but they were quickly suppressed.People have seen too many students parading the streets, and they no longer find it unusual, until a female high school student was shot to death by a patrol member, and it really caused a fatality.This matter has been published in newspapers for a long time, but it occupies less and less space—Tongzhou, Miyun, Fangshan, and the suburbs fell one by one. "Common prosperity" articles suddenly increased.When people noticed something was wrong, the gates of Beiping City had already been closed, and they were heavily guarded to prevent them from entering or leaving at will.Panic spread like a plague among all the Chinese living in Beiping. The older ones remembered the burning, killing and looting by foreign devils in the Gengzi Year, while the younger ones had not experienced that catastrophe, and felt the fear of the unknown.

Peking is in chaos.

Because the Ye family refused to bow their heads to the Japanese, they were often put on small shoes.Under many difficulties, not only the master Ye Zhenlian lost his job in the government, but also many old things in the family had to be pawned for money to make ends meet.Once Ye Zhenlian turned back to the pawn shop by accident, and saw the owner nodding and smiling shyly at a Japanese military officer. The officer was holding a Song Dynasty Ru kiln flower goblet that had just come out of his hand.Returning to Ye Mansion in a daze, Ye Zhenlian fell to the ground as soon as he stepped through the threshold, not knowing about his personnel.He didn't die suddenly, it took more than a month to die. When he died, he was thin and out of shape. He was holding Ye Xuantang's hand on the sick bed and couldn't breathe. He said that he was sorry for his ancestors and he had no face to enter Ye Hena. La's grave.

Ye Xuantang was just crying at that time.As soon as Ama died, half of his backbone was removed first. Even though there were Niu Hulu and several mothers, he was still in charge after all.He and his brothers finished Ye Zhenlian's funeral tremblingly, not daring to make a fuss about spending more money, so they quietly found a piece of land in Xishan and buried their father.Niu Hulu was unwilling at first, but the family really couldn't afford any more money, which made her cry even more mournfully.

If it is said that when Ye Zhenlian was alive, the Ye family could not keep up internally, and looked passable from the outside, then since his death, the Ye family has really fallen from the inside out.

In the winter of [-], the fourth leaf Xuankai was found dead under the bridge next to Zhihua Temple.According to the beggars in that area, he often hides in the bridge hole and smokes opium with the stolen money. He is afraid that others will find out and hides it. In fact, everyone knows it.The night before his death, because he smoked too much opium, the prisoner was dazed and yelled to sleep outside for the night.

Xuan Kai's biological mother just heard the news and immediately passed over, while the Ye family was busy collecting the corpse and burying it, and comforting the four old ladies at the same time, they were too busy to touch the ground.Fortunately, Chen Hui, the sixth daughter-in-law, really lived up to the word "Hui" in her name, and stood up to provoke the overall situation when the whole family was struggling.Knowing that the savings of her brothers and sisters-in-law had been squandered long ago, she gritted her teeth and took out half of her little dowry, at least enough to deal with Xuan Kai's funeral affairs, and ran up and down to calm down the emotions of several old people.It was the first time for Ye Xuantang to face up to this woman who had always been silent, and his heart ached slightly with guilt and gratitude.He learned to hug her, like a child learning to skate on an unfrozen lake, afraid of falling, and afraid of falling when the ice shattered.In his arms, Chen Hui finally cried out the tears she had accumulated for two years.Ye Xuantang thought in a daze, if you fall, you can fall, and the two of you will sink together. Fortunately, the lake water under the ice is warm.

During Ye Xuankai's lifetime, there was quite a glorious time when he called his friends, accompanied him, walked his dog with an eagle, and at the height of his prosperity, the whole Dongcheng City would call him Fourth Master, but now that he is dead, very few people came to the funeral, and he even had to keep things simple. So, the comparison between the two is embarrassing.

What surprised Ye Xuantang was Li Ruoxuan.He has married Ms. Xu, and now he is doing business for the Japanese, and he is the largest cotton cloth dealer in Beiping.When he came, he held Miss Xu's black gloved hand on his left arm. The two bowed to Chen's coffin in the hall, and then Li Ruoxuan explained the purpose of coming.

"I bought the Guanghe Building and plan to rebuild it to revitalize our Peking Opera in Peking. You also know that the Shanghai style is gaining momentum now. There is a saying in Liyuan that 'If you want to be famous, you have to go to Shanghai', which has attracted famous actors from all over the north. Son, the team keeps running to Shanghai, so we can’t just sit and watch, can we? With your Sixth Master’s reputation among fanciers in Forty-Nine City, as long as you are willing to come out of the mountain, won’t everyone respond to it?”

Ye Xuantang frowned and said, "What do you want me to do?"

Li Ruoxuan smiled sincerely: "Please be the shopkeeper of Guanghe Building. In fact, I even formed a team to ask you to take the lead, but you have a high status, and you have stopped singing for a long time, especially since you got married. I’ve met Ping Liyuan. I know that it’s up to you to be a shopkeeper, but you don’t need to work hard, you just need to go out with a name, and the people who do the work have their own people, and you just wait to collect the money.”

"There will be such a good thing? It's not the same as before. Who is in the mood to watch a show? I'm afraid the people sitting in your building are not from Peking?"

Li Ruoxuan's face tightened, and he restrained his expression. "Yes, I was trying to please the Japanese, but I didn't say that we people in Peiping couldn't watch it! When the Japanese soldiers attacked the front gate, they wanted to demolish all the abandoned buildings. If I hadn't bought Guanghe Building I asked someone to intercede again, and it was rejected! Later, when people found out that it was a Peking Opera stage, they came to me and told me that China’s national quintessence must be protected, and that if it is well managed, another Mei Lanfang may not be able to emerge. Listen, Isn't it unreasonable?"

Miss Xu left early in the morning, leaving Ye Xuantang and Li Ruoxuan to talk.At this moment, there were only the two of them in the hall, and the disastrous candle gave off a dim light. The light bounced and hit Li Ruoxuan's face, casting a few strange shadows.

He felt that Li Ruoxuan had gone crazy.

"Reason? The Japanese would not attack China if they were reasonable, they would not rob our family, and they would not just give people Gonghe noodles mixed with sand and stones! Yes, you have no worries about food and clothing now, and you still have the energy to revive Liyuan, but can you really not see more and more dead people in Beiping, and the living people who can't see the road and are lingering?" Ye Xuantang took a step back and reluctantly bowed to him, "Differences do not conspire, please go back Bar!"

Unexpectedly, Ye Xuantang would refuse so directly and sternly, Li Ruoxuan frowned and then stretched his eyebrows, and his smile gradually faded away.He took a look at the coarse white linen on Ye Xuantang's body, and said, "Even if you don't want to, don't you think about the whole Ye family? Uncle and Xuan Kai's funerals are so simple because they have no money. Seeing that you and I have Xuan Kai only gave you a chance for the sake of friends, do you really plan to let so many people accompany you to endure the storm?"

Ye Xuantang hesitated for a moment, then snorted softly: "Don't worry about it!"

Li Ruoxuan bowed his hands to him with a fake smile, turned his head and walked down the steps at the entrance of the hall.Strolling into the yard, he stopped, sighed half-truth, and said faintly: "It's better for people to learn to judge the situation. For example, the Fucheng that you often stay with is restless after arriving in Shanghai. You will know it after being punished a few times. Changed. Later, he was also favored by the daughter of a high-ranking official, and insisted on marrying him. The whole Shanghai beach was full of ups and downs, don’t you know? If you say he is really capable, he became the son-in-law who plays the huqin. To be able to get into the officialdom, tsk, Liu Ye should learn more from others. Not only Fucheng, but now there are many insightful people who have changed their way in Beiping, so why do you have to be the last student who holds a pillar? Waiting to be drowned?" After saying that, he walked towards the door.

Ye Xuantang was stunned for a while, but after chasing after him, he saw Miss Xu smirking at him in the shiny black car, and Li Ruoxuan got into the car without saying a word.The German-made Mercedes blew its horn, sprayed fuel all over his body arrogantly, accelerated slowly from the gate, turned around and disappeared at the corner of the alley.

Fucheng, Fucheng.He almost convinced himself to forget it, but now that Li Ruoxuan mentioned it, it still hurts his heart.He suffered in Shanghai.He is married.He seems to have a good home.He must have forgotten me.

Chen Hui came up to shake his arm, but Ye Xuantang was unmoved, still poking there in a daze.Chen Hui was a little anxious, and her voice was crying faintly: "What did the surnamed Li tell you? Did he threaten you? Or is he going to arrest our family again? Don't scare me, just talk..."

Her tears fell on the back of Ye Xuantang's hands, he felt like he had been scalded, and his whole body shivered.

Chen Hui looked at him in fear, her big eyes filled with tears, her hands tightly clutched his arm, and her strength was transmitted through the thin cotton coat.Ye Xuantang looked down at her rough, callused hands.These hands were once tender, and they could only read and write, or do simple needlework.Now, Ye's family can't even afford a larger coal stove, her hands were slitted by the cold, and her little finger, which was the most frozen, was wrapped in a thin bandage and slightly swollen.

For a moment, he also wanted to break free from these hands, wanted to give up all the previous efforts, confess everything to her, say sorry, and go to Shanghai regardless.However, as soon as the idea came out, he snuffed it out in his heart.

If you fail one person, do you want to fail another person?

He asked her in a hoarse voice: "Working for the Japanese can earn money. Will you let me go?"

Chen Hui reacted and kept shaking her head, with deep-seated hatred and anger on her brows.She said: "Our family can bear no matter how hard it is. If you also work for the Japanese, I..."

Ye Xuantang took her by the hand and walked towards the gate, talking in a low voice.His tone was somewhere between sorrow and comfort. I don't know if it was to Chen Hui or himself: "Don't worry, I won't. Even if I die, I won't seek refuge with the Japanese." The two of them stepped into the high threshold together, Ye Xuantang Slowly and solemnly closed the door, and inserted the thick long lacquered wood bar.

In the alley, many people were leaning against the door of their houses or watching from a distance, some were looking at the cars, some were watching the Ye family's jokes, and some were simply watching the excitement.Most of them were driven out of the land occupied by the Japanese. They just "planned" this alley not long ago. I heard that the family with the widest gate was once wealthy and prominent, and I saw them being the most oppressed. Times were tough, but none of them dared to say hello to the family.

Seeing that the door was closed, the people who came out to watch were slightly disappointed and went home.