Qiao's jewelry did not get much silver.
Those jewelry were expensive when they were hit, but when you went to the pawnshop, you couldn't get 30 percent of them back.
After changing about three hundred taels of silver, this time Mr. Qiao did not let the injured Ruan Siyi go out, but changed into humble clothes and went out with Chuntao and Mother Chen in person.
After two days, I finally bought a small house in a slum area of the outer city.
On the day they moved in, Mrs. Qiao explained to Ruan Siyi ramble that the family was running out of money, and all the houses in the capital were expensive, and this kind of place was bought for more than 200 taels.
The house is very small, it looks old from the outside, and the inside is also old, but it is extremely clean. As soon as you enter the courtyard, there are two main rooms, one main room and one bedroom. There is a small room on the left and right sides, one is a wing room and the other is a kitchen room. There is a well in the courtyard and a latrine behind the house. Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs.
And then it's time to go by.
When I bought the house, there was no furniture in it, and Qiao took Chuntao Chen's mother to buy some cheap furniture in advance. This time, Ruan Siyi didn't have the embarrassment to stay in the room, but stayed with them.
He changed into an ordinary cloth shirt. Chen's mother borrowed a scooter from the neighbor next to him, and then went to the market under the guidance of the kind neighbor, and came back after shopping for a few pieces of furniture at the market.
After a large car was piled up, Ruan Siyi overestimated his physical strength, and finally the four of them pushed it back together.
After buying groceries, things for the stove, and some food, Mr. Qiao had very little money left. After two days, Mrs. Qiao gritted her teeth and pawned some of her and Ruan Siyi's good clothes. Although she didn't have much money, she thought about it. Anyway, she wouldn't be able to wear it in the future, and she wouldn't need to wear silk and satin in a place like this.
Living in the capital is not easy.
Ruan Siyi didn't understand this before, nor did Qiao's family. They were born rich and noble, they were born with golden spoons, they ate delicacies from mountains and seas, and they wore the best clothes. Who cares how much money a bucket of rice costs.
But now it's different, because he is sitting on the mountain, Qiao's last few dozen taels of silver in his hand are carefully calculated.
She began to put herself down to deal with the neighbors, inquire about the freshest and cheapest food, learn from others how to make delicious and inexpensive food, and catch up with the woman she knew to buy cheap food at the end of the morning market...
Mrs. Qiao is not at all like the noble lady she used to be. She has become very ordinary and very inconspicuous, but her face is ruddy and full of energy.
On the contrary, although Ruan Siyi was wearing a cloth shirt, he still had a dignified demeanor.
Just silent, taciturn, slowly began to lose weight...
…
After a long period of depression, Ruan Siyi finally fell ill.
When he couldn't get sick, Mr. Qiao panicked to find a doctor, but poured down a dose of decoction to no avail...
The silver is getting less and less...
Chuntao once said that she would accompany Qiao for the rest of her life, but suddenly she said that there was a family in the alley who was willing to marry her. Although that person was almost forty and had a child, she was a good person. Chuntao said that she was not good-looking, and she was not too young, so let's just get married...
When Chuntao said this, Mrs. Qiao sat outside and cried very sadly. She knew that Chuntao was not because she wanted to marry, but because she knew that the family couldn't afford to have a mouth...
…
Chen's mother also cried. She cried and said that she had no family, only a young lady. She was useless when she was old...
Qiao Shi hugged her and cried, saying that she would not let Mother Chen go if she starved to death...
…
The next day, Ruan Siyi stood up, tremblingly said that he wanted to eat.
In two days he was up, but still very thin. When he can get out of bed and move around, he will be active in the yard every day.
Suddenly one day, Ruan Siyi disappeared.
Qiao's panic searched everywhere, but couldn't find it. Just when she was about to despair, Ruan Siyi stepped into the hospital door.
"where did you go?"
"I'm just going out for a walk..."
…
Ruan Siyi began to go out for a walk every day, and Qiao was uneasy and wanted to follow, but he wouldn't let him.
In fact, Ruan Siyi didn't do anything, he just dangled around the place where he lived. No starting point, no destination, just walking...
The sun was so bright outside that day that he couldn't keep his eyes open. Ruan Siyi went out of the house, and after walking a few steps, he was at a loss.
"Are you a man from the Ruan family?"
An old man sat at the door of a house not far away, looking at him kindly.
Ruan Siyi nodded blankly.
"Come on, come and sit, you don't look like you're going out." The old man took out a small tumbler and patted it.
He walked over blankly and sat down.
The little tadpole was very small and short. He had never sat on such a thing before, and when he sat down suddenly, it seemed that he had suddenly become shorter and smaller, and became extremely low. Occasionally, one or two people passing by, obviously dressed as poor people, but at this time, he has grown taller in his eyes.
Ruan Siyi was at a loss for a while...
The old man was weaving a basket in his hand. His hands were very rough, and the sharp bamboo strips seemed to have nothing in his hand. Ruan Siyi felt that if he changed himself, his hands would be cut with blood, but the old man did not.
"After being a neighbor for so long, I rarely see you going out. I heard from your wife that you are sick. How are you, are you feeling better?"
Ruan Siyi is not suitable for this kind of chat, so Ai Ai said, "Okay."
"It's fine, we poor people can't afford to get sick. When you were sick, you saw your wife in a panic every day. Alas... This man is still the pillar of the family. There is a man in the family. People have a backbone…”
"Yes Yes."
"Seeing that you are full of bookishness, you must be a scholar. You are a good scholar, and you can shine on the lintel in the future. My little grandson will prepare for him to study in the future. When he comes back after the exam, the old man will wake up laughing from a dream. "
Ruan Siyi looked sad and lowered his head, "Hundreds of useless are scholars..."
"How can you say that? The old Confucius said that reading is good... Of course, it is not easy for us poor people to provide a scholar. Alas, after saying that, it is still important to make a living, even if you can't eat enough, you can't even think about it. Useless. By the way, what does your family do for a living?"
"No, no livelihood."
The old man looked at the thin-skinned and tender-fleshed scholar-like person in front of him, and suddenly nodded his head in understanding, "No wonder you say that you are a scholar... In fact, that's wrong. There are scholars on our street, and we usually help People can make a living by writing a letter, copying a book, etc., but life is hard. Study hard and study hard, and once you can pass the exam, you will be able to succeed.”
Ruan Siyi was taken aback.
After a while, after Ruan Siyi left, the old man sighed.
The woman of the Ruan family is also pitiful. The man is a scholar, too aloof, and the family life cannot be sustained. I felt that speaking out would damage the dignity of a man, so I actually asked him to say this.
After thinking about it for a while, the old man stopped thinking about it.
After all, you have to live your life by yourself, and you will suffer a loss when you fall somersaults. Only then can you understand the truth of this, and I hope this future generation can figure it out.
…
Ruan Siyi continued to sway around with a hesitant attitude, but this time he had a purpose, not a random situation.
After watching it for a few days, he also had some clues in his heart. After returning home, he rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find things.
"Master, what are you looking for?"
Ruan Siyi was stunned for a moment, and said softly, "I remember when I moved here, there were some ink, ink, ink, and ink."
"That's what you said." Qiao turned around to open a box and took out a pile of things, "Hey, it's all here."
There is a piece of inkstone with missing corners, the two nibs of the ink have been caked with the brush, and there is a stack of white rice paper.
Ruan Siyi likes elegance, and the books, calligraphy and paintings in the study are of the kind that are extremely valuable. At the beginning, those people fled with the things, but in the end they had nothing to turn around, so they swept away everything in the study. After everyone picked it up, Ruan Siyi was left with this little thing.
Ruan Siyi touched these things with a complicated expression, but did not speak.
The next day, he asked Mr. Qiao for two taels of silver. He didn't say what he was doing, and Mr. Qiao didn't ask.
In the evening, he came back with a special book case. It is the kind of box that is one foot and a half wide and half a person high, which can be carried on the back or used as a simple small desk.
The next day, he went out with this bookcase and pen, ink, paper and inkstone.
…
It is easy to think, but difficult to do.
When Ruan Siyi went out with the bookcase on his back, he didn't feel it yet. When he arrived at the place he was optimistic about in advance, he stood there for a long while without putting the bookcase down.
On the street, the crowd was hustling. There were small traders and hawkers on both sides shouting and begging for a living, and he would also be begging for a living in such a place.
Ruan Siyi stood there, a strong sense of shame and shame attacked his heart.
"Hey, are you a scholar or not? I wrote a letter, and I'm still waiting for something to happen."
He turned his head and saw an aunt in her fifties standing there, looking at him impatiently.
"Swing, swing."
He mechanically put the book box down, took off the small stool above it, then took a thin board to put it on top of the book box, and took out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone from the side cover.
The ink was ground in advance, and he walked carefully and did not spill it. Spreading out a piece of snow-white rice paper, he took a deep breath and whispered to ask the aunt what she needed to write.
The aunt seemed to be a frequent letter writer, and spoke quickly.
Ruan Siyi listened and pondered, and after polishing, he wrote the first family letter written to a person in his life. After writing, he followed the example of others, and Zhiqi repeated it to the aunt.
After listening to it, the aunt said urgently, "Will you be a scholar writing letters? I don't understand what you're writing. If you can't write, I'll find someone else."
Ruan Siyi blushed and didn't know what to say.
He was a little confused and didn't understand why he was not good at writing. He was proficient in poetry and poetry, how could he not even be able to write a letter.
Suddenly, in his mind, he passed through the aunt's words, "I don't understand," and suddenly realized that he hurriedly said, "This aunt, let me rewrite it for you."
"Then it's not worth the money, is it?"
Generally, helping people to write family letters is billed by paper. For one page of letters, only three cents are charged for self-provided paper. If you do not bring your own paper, it is five cents.
Ruan Siyi smiled bitterly and said, "It's not necessary."
As he spoke, he hurried to write, and in just a few breaths, another vernacular version of the home letter was released.
Seeing that he wrote so quickly, the aunt was a little surprised, "You wrote it right? I didn't even start dictating, so you wrote it?"
Of course Ruan Siyi understood what the aunt meant. He had always had a good memory, and it was only after a short period of time that he would not forget it.
Seeing that the aunt didn't believe it, he took up the letter and dictated it.
After listening to the aunt, she looked at him in surprise and said, "You are a good scholar and have a good memory. You don't know. My daughter married to a foreign country, and she will go to seal the letter every few days. I have written them all, and they have to repeat them several times each time to finish writing one.”
Ruan Siyi felt both joy and bitterness in his heart, and said, "Xie Auntie's praise, this is nothing."
Auntie took out a 'people seal' and handed it to him, "You help me put it up, and write a letter from Sun Yuejiao on the cover."
"OK."
The aunt took the letter and left happily, leaving five coins behind.
Ruan Siyi stared at the five dirty copper plates for a long time. . .