Brocade tears

On the third day of September in the 11th year of Wanli, autumn was already in the middle of autumn, and the city of Beijing gradually became cooler. The sky was clear during the day, but it was already a little cold at night.At the moment of unitary justice, it is the evening of sunset, and the golden sun that sets in the west fills the west alley of Lingji Palace, reflecting dazzling light on the smooth bluestone road.In the distance came a tall figure, dressed in coarse cloth and vertical brown, with his hair in a bun casually, wearing a bamboo hat, carrying a burden on his shoulders, carrying a basket of firewood and a basket of dates, and a pheasant and a hare were tied to the pole. , with a long bow and quiver on the back, and a long strip tied with linen, which looks very heavy, like a weapon.He wears heavy weights made of heavy iron on his hands and feet, and the weight on his whole body is at least a hundred catties. Even so, he still walks like flying, and his hands and feet are agile.

She soon came to the door of a family. There was a pair of red doors on the door, and a letter was written, "Bamboo marks the safe day, when the flowers bloom and prosper."She didn't even bother to look, she just pushed the door open and walked in. Once she entered, she laughed and shouted:

"Mother, Wan'er, I'm back!" The voice of a woman was as sweet as a clear spring, and it turned out that the bearer wearing the bamboo hat was actually a woman.But he is tall and tall, with strong shoulders and a flat chest.For those who don't know him well, at first glance he would be a sharp and sharp young man.She went in to put down her burden, took off her bamboo hat, revealing a beautiful face underneath.The eyebrows of the distant mountains, the long eyes of Ruifeng, the bridge of the nose is straight, the red lips are slightly curved, and the smile is as sweet as the warm sun in spring.But she is really a pretty and beautiful lady, how can she have the slightest masculinity?It's strange to say that this pretty face coupled with this tall and strong body actually exudes a [-]-point handsome and handsome look, which makes people feel good when they look at it.

"Sister!" A little girl popped out from the entrance of the North House. She was in the year of the head, and she was dressed in a plum red dress. She was pretty and cute.She trotted all the way to the door, and hugged the waist of the woman in the bamboo hat who was locking the door with her back facing her from behind, buried her small face in the back of her clothes and rubbed against her intimately, making the woman in the bamboo hat laugh out loud.

Following the little girl, another beautiful middle-aged woman appeared at the entrance of the hall. Her skirt was elegant and simple, she wore an apron and her sleeves were rolled up. While wiping the wet hands on the apron, she ordered in an orderly manner:

"Don't make a fuss, don't be so anxious and panting again. Let your sister come in and talk. Meng Qing, go to the well and wash. Look at your dirty. After washing, you are ready to eat. By the way, fetch a bucket of water and go to the kitchen Come, soak the jujube. Ai Er, go and ask your second brother to come down to the kitchen."

"Yes, mother." The two sisters said in unison, then Meng Qing turned around, picked up Wen'er, and teased her:

"My little sister has gained weight after not seeing her for a day! She's so heavy."

"It's not! It's sister, you are tired and have no strength." Wu'er argued, and then laughed in her sister's arms.

The two sisters quarreled twice, Meng Qing put Meng An down, and Meng ran away to the east room.Meng Qing picked up the pole again, walked through the main room, entered the backyard, piled up the basket of firewood on the firewood stand, and then leaned the long strip wrapped in linen to the side of the firewood pile, where the bread It is her unsharpened sword.She came to the well and fetched water to wash.She got up early in the morning and went to the mountains on the outskirts of the city to hunt and practice martial arts. At dusk, she brought back a basket of firewood, a basket of wild jujubes, two pheasants, and one hare. The harvest was full.She goes there about once every five days, and every time she comes back, she can bring enough firewood and mountain goods for her family. The family has not bought these things in the market for a long time, saving a lot of money.

She fetched a basin of water and soaked the wild dates on the stove, and beside the stove, Mrs. Zhao had already put out the stewed vegetables in the pot, and put them on the table not far away.

"Mother, I put the pheasant and hare here at Huoyan first, and I'll kill them for you later." Meng Qing smiled and didn't care that the front of her clothes was unraveled when she got up, but a door opened on her chest, revealing A corset wrapped tightly inside.

"You girl, look at you..." Mrs. Zhao looked at Meng Qing and said, "You don't look like a girl, and you have your breasts tied? You won't be too tight when you're about to untie it later. It's all your father's fault, he was so hot back then that he insisted on letting you learn some martial arts."

"Oh my dear, why did you bring this up again? Didn't you agree at the beginning?" Meng Qing smiled and covered her skirt again, and came over to help Mrs. Zhao serve the dishes.

"Can I not agree? I can't resist your father's temper. Mother is afraid that you will not be able to marry in the future. You have been married for more than half a year, and no one comes to kiss you. You are in the field all day, and you don't care. Home, Niu Wazi, who strikes iron at Caishikou, is not as strong as you."

Meng Qing laughed out loud, and said: "I haven't seen the three daughters of the Meng family before, so why did you come to kiss me without thinking? Don't you all think I'm the second brother?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a young and elegant male voice sounded from behind: "What are you talking about me?"

Meng Qing turned her head to look at the door, and she saw her elder brother Longfeng standing at the door of the kitchen, looking at her with a smile. The 15-year-old boy's weak body is not as tall as Meng Qing's, his hands and feet are slender, and his skin is pale, but his face is very handsome. He is full of Confucian demeanor, and his appearance is eighty percent similar to Meng Qing's.Beside him, Meng Yan, who was just as tall as his shoulders, tried to support him, but also looked thin and unruly.In contrast to Meng Qing, these frail brothers and sisters look like two families if you don't look at their similar faces.

"Second brother, I said that you are a strong and capable guy among the neighbors in all directions." Meng Qing deliberately joked.

"Smelly girl, don't hurt your second brother. Come and eat." Mrs. Zhao gave Meng Qing a shudder on the forehead, and Meng Qing stuck out her tongue while covering her forehead.Meng Kuang, who was at the door, came over with a smile and rubbed Meng Qing's head as revenge with the support of Meng Yan.

Everyone sat around an old table with scratches and engravings, and ate with chopsticks.The dishes are simple, stewed tofu with green vegetables, wild duck with sauce that was marinated just two days ago, the remaining half is shared, and a small dish of Liubiju pickles.The rice is a large bowl of white rice, and the most indispensable thing in the family is rice grains. Zhao's natal family will send rice grains every now and then.However, the two men who can eat the most in the family are not at home at the moment, and Meng Qing eats the most.After a day of hunger, she devoured food voraciously, but only ate vegetables and not meat, and she always put meat in the bowls of her mother and siblings.But Meng Kuang and Meng Ai don't like to eat meat. Meng Kuang has a weak spleen and stomach and can't eat it. Meng Ai is picky and addicted to sweets. She eats more, otherwise asthma will occur.Mrs. Zhao also felt sorry for her eldest daughter who wasted up practicing martial arts all day long, and the meat that the eldest daughter put in her bowl was sent back.In the end, most of the half duck went into Meng Qing's stomach.

It is a rule not to talk when eating or sleeping, and it is the rule not to talk at home when eating.Parents, brothers and sisters, the whole family eats at the same table, regardless of seniority or inferiority. Some of the Meng family's rules are as big as the sky, but some of them are like dirt. The whole family has their own personalities.After eating, Meng Qing helped her mother clean up the leftovers, wash the dishes, and boiled water to remove the hair and belly of today's prey, scrub it clean and pickle it with coarse salt.Meng Kuang and Meng Yan sat at the dining table eating dates and drinking tea, and the family chatted.

"How is the second brother today?" Meng Qing asked her mother while she was busy.

"Shang Ke, I got up in the morning and took a walk in the yard, basking in the sun for a while. I had a good lunch, took a nap in the afternoon, and then I have been reading in the house. When I added water for him, I saw him concentrate on writing. An article." Zhao Shi said, as long as her son is in good health, she will be happy, with joy in the corners of her brows and eyes.But then he sighed again:

"Hey, I just passed the college examination and became a granary student in the beginning of the new year, but I didn't enter the government school until now. There should be some opinions from the government school."

"It's okay. Dad has taken care of it, and Mr. Liang is here. The school knows that the second brother is weak and can't run back and forth." Meng Qing comforted.

"Yes, mother, don't worry, Mr. Liang and Xuezheng are from the same township, and they have both passed." Meng Kuang on the side echoed.

Seeing that her mother was worried and didn't answer, Meng Qing turned around and said, "Is Wu'er obedient today? You didn't run around."

"Not at all." The little girl frowned, chewing wild jujubes and mumbled.

"She can't run far, but she always runs to your uncle's house and asks your uncle for sweet cakes. Your uncle's heart is as soft as water, and he loses his temper when he begs for a good one, so he surrenders to that little glutton .Looking at her like that, I'm afraid she'll be panting, and I'm worried, and I don't have to worry about it." When mentioning this little girl's film, Mrs. Zhao couldn't get angry.

Meng Qing pretended to be angry, and said, "It's time to teach her a lesson. I'll talk to her tonight." But she thought in her heart that it would be nice if Wu'er could be more lively. Uncle is a sensible person and has a sense of proportion.She secretly winked at the little girl, and Wen'er covered her mouth and smiled.In the end, the second brother beside him caught him straight, scraped the bridge of his nose, and pouted involuntarily.

Meng Ai now sleeps with Meng Qing in the Westinghouse at night, and the two sisters have a very good relationship.The main hall of the north house is the sleeping place of the parents, while the east house is the residence of the two sons.Now that the elder brother Meng Xu has joined Jinyiwei as an errand, and these days happened to be on rotation, and his daily duties are all in the palace city, so only the second eldest, Meng Kuang, lives in the east room.

These days, Meng Kuang forced himself to eat well, sleep well, and exercise more, trying to keep his body healthy.Eldest brother is getting engaged right now, when we get married, it will be difficult for him to live with elder brother, and then he will have to move out to study in the government.It's just that this matter has not been decided yet, what the eldest brother Meng Xu means is that if he gets married, he will move out to live elsewhere, so that Meng Kuang will not be troubled.Meng Kuang felt that the elder brother had to be filial in front of his parents. Since he was not in good health, it was really difficult for him to be filial. Instead, he had to let his parents take care of him.Recently, the two brothers had an awkward fight for the first time because of this matter.Another day, Meng Xu, the eldest brother of the fifth day of junior high school, will return home from his duty this time, so he thinks he has to talk to his eldest brother again.

Mrs. Zhao glanced at the sky outside the kitchen door. The golden sun was fading and night was falling. She estimated that it would be the first watch, so she said to Meng Qing:

"Your father is going to talk to Li Laosan, who is in charge of the prison, to talk about things. He should be back now. At [-]:[-][Note], he will be beating the evening drum. If he is delayed, he won't be able to come back at night. Go to jail."

"I'll go to the alley to have a look later. It's likely that Li Laosan, the drunkard, dragged daddy to drink a few more drinks. Dad knows the number, so don't worry." Meng Qing comforted.

His father, Meng Yi, escorted the Zhang family's female relatives from Jingzhou to the capital three days ago. After the task was delivered, he stayed at home for the past few days and did not take turns.Today is also a holiday, and I should have stayed at home, but my mother said that my father seemed to have something in his heart, and he tossed and turned during the night and couldn't sleep.I got up early this morning, prepared some wine and food, and said that I was going to look for Li Laosan, who was in charge of the prison, and he would be back before the curfew, so there was no need to prepare evening food for him.

Li Laosan's full name is Li Xuming, and he is currently in charge of thousands of households in Fusi Prison, North Town of Jinyiwei, specializing in edict prisons.He was born in the Liaodong Army. It is said that in the early years he served as a personal guard under Li Chengliang, the general soldier of Liaodong, and was an inspector in the army.Later, he was recommended to the Fusi of Beizhen and let him take charge of the imperial prison, so he got the nickname of "King of Hades".But Meng Yi has always had a good relationship with him, saying that although he is cruel, his nature is not bad, and he has lofty aspirations for his family and country.It's just that Meng Qing has never met this King Li Yan, so she really doesn't know how a person who is described as cruel can have high ambitions.

Meng Qing finished her work and walked out of the kitchen. Meng Kuang told her, "Ah Qing, put on a blouse, it's getting cold outside now."

"I can save it, second brother."

Meng Qing put on a coat and waited for a long time at the entrance of the alley.I thought that my father was only delayed by drinking, and he would definitely rush back before the curfew, but I never thought that my father would not be seen when the drums were ringing.The night was dark, the time for lighting the lanterns had passed, and the crossing was dark, only the light of the lanterns in the restaurant not far away from the alley could barely illuminate the scene.Meng Qing was a little anxious, and she was afraid that her family would be worried, so she took a few steps, turned back and went home, intending to say hello and then go find her father.

As soon as he turned around, he saw a donkey cart approaching slowly at the other end of the lane.There were two people sitting on the shaft of the chariot, their faces could not be seen clearly in the dim light, but the outline of one of them was very familiar, it seemed to be his father.Meng Qing hurriedly took a few steps to meet her, and called out:

"Father? Is that you?"

"Qing'er." The person on the shaft responded, and it was indeed Meng Yi.

"What's going on?" Meng Qing was very confused, where did the donkey cart come from?She shifted her gaze to the other driver and was startled.This man looked terrifying, a scar ran across his face obliquely, the scar cut right through the center of his left eye, his eye was blind, his mouth was crooked, his face seemed to be wrinkled by a huge force, dark and solemn , There seems to be an evil spirit brewing in the dark night.

"Mo Shengzhang, this is you, Sanbo Li." Meng Yi briefly introduced.

"Sanbo Li..." Meng Qing greeted timidly.Li Laosan seemed to pull out a smile, that smile was uglier than crying, and Meng Qing was so frightened that she averted her eyes and dared not look at him directly.

Meng Yi jumped off the shaft of the car, walked to the rear deck, and lifted the tarpaulin covering it, and there was a thin girl lying underneath. There was nothing good about the girl's body, her face was unkempt, and her clothes were indistinguishable Stripes of colored cloth, barely covering the body, seem to have just crawled out of a cesspit, and the stench is suffocating.Meng Qing subconsciously held her breath and frowned.

"Qing'er, come and help, take this girl into the house."

Meng Qing was stunned for a moment and didn't realize it until her father urged her again: "Hurry up." Then she hurried forward, wrapped her hands around the girl's shoulders and legs, and hugged the girl horizontally.The girl was so thin, she curled into a ball in Meng Qing's arms, her eyes were closed tightly as if she had passed out.At that time, her father had already opened the door of the house, urging her to come in quickly with gestures.Meng Qing strode into the house, and from the corner of her eye, she saw her father standing at the door and silently gesticulating with Li Laosan, then Li Laosan said nothing, kicked and kicked the donkey cart again, taking it easy leave.

"Father..." Meng Qing was almost fainted from the smoke, and stood in the front yard with the girl in her arms, calling her father helplessly.

"Go, boil water and wash her. This girl will live in our house during this time." However, his father gave her an answer that made her even more difficult to understand.