Someone asked: "How can you remember so clearly? It's been a long time."
How could he not remember? In the memory of Jiang Xi in the upper cultivation world, it was a bland half year, and in the memory of Xue Zhengyi in the lower cultivation world, it was a year with a lot of emotion.
In the memory of the burning ink, it is gradually becoming desperate, and the thirty-five days are like a year. Every day is better than death, and every day is still in purgatory.
Back then, when the price adjustment order came out, people panicked. If Duan Yihan and his children could not eat, they could only rely on picking up rotten vegetable leaves and moldy and rotten rice noodles to satisfy their hunger. Later, more and more people were hungry, and they couldn't even pick up vegetable leaves. In trouble, Mo Ran couldn't help but said to Duan Yihan: "Auntie, let's go to Rufengmen to find him and ask for some food?"
Duan Yihan murmured, "No one can beg him."
Begging and performing tricks along the street, nodding and bowing, laughing and shouting, are all forced to make a living, but if you go to beg Nangong Yan, the meaning will be different.
Although Duan Yihan was destitute, he didn't want to break the bottom line.
She refused, and the ink burned will not be mentioned anymore.
The child is not eye-catching, and his skills are surprisingly agile. On the ninth day after the price adjustment order was issued, he finally stole a white radish from the field.
Duan Yihan carefully hid the white radish, and only cooked a little bit the size of a fist every day, and the two shared it. By the time he ate the eighth meal, the radishes were already rotten, but because he couldn't see anything that could feed his stomach for a long time, Duan Yihan cut the remaining rotten radishes in half again, barely dealing with it for a few more days.
On the 21st day of the price adjustment order, they had eaten up the last bit of radishes and could no longer find any food to satisfy their hunger.
Twenty-fifth day.
There was a heavy rain in the sky, and there were earthworms in the ground. The ink burned and caged them together. After receiving some rain, they cooked and eaten.
The feeling of the earthworms being greasy in the mouth is disgusting. The ink burns and mumbles sorry to these thin little animals. There is really nothing to fill the stomach. If you survive this time, the earthworms are his benefactors. God is pitiful, he doesn't want to eat benefactor anymore, when will this nightmare pass...
Twenty-eighth day.
The ink burned.
Even if a child is gifted with extraordinary talent and has a very high spiritual energy, he can't stand such hunger and torment.
Duan Yihan had long since lost his strength, and his eyes were empty.
On this day, taking advantage of the burning ink to fall asleep, she finally made up her mind, got up and left the firewood room where she lived, and slowly walked towards the towering fairy city with the Confucianism Gate - she has her own bottom line, and she would rather die than beg for food from Nangong Yan.
But the child is innocent, he is still so young, how can he accompany her to leave the world.
The people in the hall were already showing sympathy at this time, and Mo Weiyu had the right to be innocent and not to mention it, but the old things back then were really too miserable.
Someone slowed down and asked with a sigh, "Did you get it?"
"No." Mo Ran said, "Bad luck, when I went, Nangong Yan was quarreling with his wife."
He paused, then continued: "The lady of the city owner was furious as soon as she saw my mother. She has a strong temper. Not only did she not give my mother a star of food, but she also kicked her out of the Confucianism Sect."
"What about Nangong Yan?"
"I don't know." Mo Ran said, "My mother didn't mention him."
It may have been blocked, or it may have just stood by, looking helpless.
Mo Ran didn't know what happened that day, but only knew that when the mother came back, she was covered in scars. She curled up in the woodshed and hugged him without speaking. Later, she started coughing up blood, spitting out blood foam and gastric juices, and the house smelled sour and sour.
Thirty-fourth day.
Duan Yihan was about to die, he could hardly speak or cry.
That night, she woke up from her drowsiness and regained some strength. Seeing Mo Ran shrinking beside her, she tried to warm her with a thin body. She was very light and light, and said to him very gently: "Xiao Ran'er, if there is a way, let's go back to Xiangtan."
"Auntie..."
"Go back to Xiangtan, go to Sister Xun, and repay your kindness." Duan Yihan stroked the ink-burning hair, "Go to Xiangtan to repay your kindness, don't stay in Linyi to seek revenge... Listen to my mother's words, well... When my mother came to Yi, I owed I have a lot of money for your sister Xun, and I can't pay it back... You go back, stay by her side, do something for her, and make her happy. In the future, if others give you kindness, you must remember it well. "
The ink burned with tears, looking up at the firewood room, she described a thin face.
Duan Yihan's eyes were so black that they even had grape-like purple in them.
"Then go and repay."
That was Duan Yihan's calculation for Mo Ran before he died.
She was afraid that after she left, the child would go astray, so she urged him to leave this sad place.
If a person has a rush, he will not think wildly, and it is not easy to fall into the prison of hatred.
She gave him a run - repay him.
Do not take revenge.
Thirty-fifth day.
This ridiculous price adjustment order was finally abolished in the riot, and it lasted for only one month and five days.
For the wealthy, it seems like a farce has finally ended. Linyi was full of smog, and they woke up stretched out in the warm tent, took the Babao Fragrance from the maid and rinsed their mouths, picked their teeth, and only complained when they heard the news that the price adjustment was invalid. , yawned.
Everything is painless.
But for the ink burning, it is an exciting thing.
I don't have to worry about rations anymore, so there are more good-hearted people on the street, and the ink burns to ask for a cake, and even a bowl of pitiful meat porridge.
He was reluctant to drink a sip, and held it carefully in his hand. He wanted to hurry back and hold it to his seriously ill mother.
Meat porridge is such a good thing, if my mother drinks it, she will definitely recover, right
He couldn't wait to save his mother's life with this bowl of porridge, but he didn't dare to rush home. This porridge bowl is cracked, and there is a big hole next to it. If it runs fast, it would be a pity to spill it.
In this way, he returned to the firewood room, both excited and tormented.
"Auntie!"
Holding the broken bowl in both hands, he used his dirty head to rub open the broken wood door like a puppy, with a smile on his face, full of longing for the future.
How good, with meat porridge to drink, my mother will get better soon, and finally the spring flowers are blooming, and they will go on the road together and go back to Linyi. There, singing and dancing are peaceful, and there is no hunger. There is a sister named Xun. Finally, they no longer have to be displaced and beg for a living.
How nice, they go home together.
"Squeak" sounded.
The door opened.
"She is lying inside." In the Danxin Hall, the ink burned quietly and indifferently.
Others are either surprised by his indifference, or cold-blooded by his cold blood.
When this person mentioned his mother's death, he turned out to be calm, with no warmth, no waves, or even tears.
But no one has ever thought about how many years of lingering dreams and breaking the liver will be able to smooth the scars and get such an ancient face without waves.
"I called her, she didn't wake up." Mo Ran said, "She will never open her eyes again, and she will never be able to drink that porridge again."
Long silence.
Mrs. Wang said in a trembling voice, "Then... Then, you... you went back to Linyi alone?"
Mo Ran shook his head: "I went to the Confucianism Gate."
Someone gave an "Ah!" and said, "You, are you going to seek revenge?"
"My mother said, repay your kindness, don't seek revenge." The ink burned lightly, "I didn't want to seek revenge, I just wanted to bury my mother. But I didn't have the money, and it was too late to raise money, so I went to his house, Ask him for some money."
"Did he give it?"
The ink burned almost smiled and said: "No."
"No, no? But according to what you said before, in Nangong Yan's heart, there is still some figure of your mother, how can you even pay for a funeral..."
Mo Ran said: "Because his wife also found short-sighted not long ago and died."
"what?!"
Jiang Xi narrowed her eyes: "... Nangong Yan's wife did leave very early, and she committed suicide... "
"That woman was pregnant, but her husband was entangled with people outside. After giving birth to the child, she always quarreled constantly, and her life was very unsatisfactory. My aunt went to the mansion to find them that day. After she bumped into her, she She became more and more furious. It is said that she stabbed Nangongyan with a knife at that time, which made Nangongyan anxious and said that she would divorce his wife."
The ink burned for a while, and then said: "She couldn't stand it. In the middle of the night, she hanged herself. She left a few days earlier than my mother."
Hearing this, everyone didn't know what to say. At the beginning, a dewy love affair with a wandering young master ended up causing the death of the beautiful woman and the death of her own family. The causal cycle in the world is probably like this.
"When I appeared, Nangong Yan was being reprimanded by the sect master, and his wife's family also came. He was a famous businessman in Linyi." Mo Ran said, "Nangong Yan has been scolded for a long time, and his heart is full of hatred. . Suddenly seeing me, where is there any good temper. "
Mrs. Wang is the most soft-hearted. Although she knows that Mo Ran is not a blood relative, she also deplores her heart and weeps: "Ran'er..."
In this past, Mo Ran is really reluctant to mention it.
Nangong Yan's face at that time, the face of those who were present at the scene.
There is also Mrs. Nangong's mourning hall - gold and paper silver flowers, paper-wrapped children, piles of spiritual implements, splendid soul-calling banners, dark and shiny gold silk nanmu coffins, too many things.
Hundreds of people knelt on both sides to wake and weep for the woman who was seeking short-sightedness.
The ever-bright lantern is filled with sperm whale oil, the ninety-nine volumes of heart-shaped incense burn silently, the wind blows the smoke, and the incense powder rusts.
Too lively scene.
And what about his mother
Xiangtan Lexian Duan Yihan has only one piece of rags that he might not be able to put on again, a scrawny young son.
She didn't even have a straw mat on which to wrap her body.
"If you hit three feet, you can hardly ask for one foot."
- That's what Nangong Yan said to Mo Ran when she was extremely angry and desperate.
Then, under the watchful eye of the head and the watchful eyes of his parents-in-law, this man shoved the illegitimate child out of the house, refusing to recognize him.
When Mrs. Nangong died, she should be equipped with a colorful coffin painted with gold and red paint, agate incense beads, a Xuehan shroud to keep her body from rot, covered with silk and silk, and satin to cover her eyes.
Duan Yihan died, a corpse, a person crying, yin and yang separated, and nothing else. According to Nangong Yan, she shouldn't even ask for a thin wooden coffin.
So, who dares to say that people are equal in the face of death
Fate has been unfair from the beginning.
to the end.
She's still skinny.
She is rotten to mud.
"I dragged her to the mass grave and buried her." The ink burned a few numbers, an understatement.
He did not elaborate on how he begged passers-by to give them a ride, and how he dragged the rotting and stinking body to the outskirts of the city for fourteen days.
He didn't say how he pushed aside the rocks and soil with his hands to bury his mother's thin body.
Mo Ran is not used to complaining in front of people.
He has always been a person who has buried the past deeply, and will not speak lightly unless forced to.
He had already suffered humiliation, malice, scorn, and slander in the first ten years of his life. His heart is as hard as iron, and he doesn't care what others think of him. He didn't even care that anyone sympathized with him.
"Then I went to Xiangtan."
He couldn't stand this place in Linyi any longer. One day, he hid behind the trolley of the Taoist priests out of the city, in a basket, and sneaked out of the city.
He began to follow his mother's instructions and walked to the side of Hunan for half a year, from midsummer to early winter. If the shoes are broken, then walk barefoot, and then thick calluses develop on the soles of the feet.
Just walking all the way, asking, when he walked outside the Wubei Temple, he finally fell into the haystack with a thud because of the cold and hunger.
"Auntie..." The little child was lying on the ground, with a pair of stray eyes under the messy black hair. He looked at the vast world.
It's snowing, it's snowing early this winter.
"I'm coming to see you... I'm sorry... I can't take it anymore... "
The snowflakes fell lightly, softly like a sigh, covering his eyebrows.
In a trance, there were footsteps approaching, rustling, and then he opened the grass with his hands, and he heard a young voice: "Master, come quickly! Look at him, what's wrong with him?"
After a while, a pair of mans shoes approached, and a man was talking: "Don't worry about it, go back first. I'll come and see him."
The man's voice was deep and cold, without much emotion.
The ink burned instinctively felt scared, he instinctively felt that the boy was close, and the man was cold. He did not know where the strength came from, and the desire to live made him raise his hand and weakly grabbed the corner of the young man's shirt in front of him.
Before he could speak, tears began to fall.
"meal… "
I'm so hungry, please, I want to eat.
The boy who was dragged by him was Chu Wanning who went down the mountain with his sins that day. Chu Wanning was stunned: "What?"
The ink burned reluctantly raised a dirty little face, tremblingly made a posture of eating rice, swallowing bitterness in the throat. Everything in front of me was blurry, dizzy, and buzzing in my ears.
He was crying and begging for the person in front of him. He knew that if this little brother, like many old masters and young masters he had met before, abandoned him, then he would definitely not be able to live, and he would definitely die. He really couldn't take it any longer.
"eat… "
Later, Chu nightning fed him a pot of rice soup.
A pot of soup saved a man on the verge of starvation.
After drinking the rice soup, Mo Ran left the Wubei Temple. At that time, his mind was dizzy. Regarding the appearance of "Brother Engong", he only remembered a pair of phoenix eyes that were slightly raised, with very dense and long eyelashes. Others No more impression.
However, day and night from Wubei Temple to Xiangtan, he wore the cloak that his elder brother had taken off to him. He was small at that time, and a boy's clothes looked clumsy and funny, especially when he put on the hat, the brim of the hat could almost cover his entire face.
On the road, there are always children who have no worries of food and clothing, snuggling up to their parents and shouting with a smile: "Dad, mother, look at that little beggar, what is he wearing? It's so funny!"
Ink burning is not angry.
What was the cynicism of others to him? He was only grateful that this ill-fitting cloak could shelter him from the wind and rain, and give him every inch of tenderness.
He wears it, and when it snows, the snowflakes don't fall on him. At night, darkness could not enter his heart.
And whenever night fell, he would make a fire and sit by the fire with his knees in his arms to keep warm. He put the cloak over his head, slumped in, and looked at the orange flames from under the gentle velvet edge.
The cloak is very warm, like the arms of my mother, and like the gentle phoenix eyes of my brother-in-law... The little child just curled up and fell asleep, and he could even smell the faint scent of the cloak in his sleep, as if leaning on With a begonia tree blooming to full bloom.
Looking back at this time, it is no wonder that I always feel that the smell of Chu nightning is very good. As long as there is his breath in the pillow, I can always sleep comfortably.
It's no wonder that the first time I saw Elder Yuheng under the Tongtian Tower, I felt that the phoenix eyes that were hanging down were extremely gentle. Seems like I've seen it somewhere.
It turns out that everything has a cause and effect.
He and Chu Wanning... It turned out that he had spoken so early, had contact with body temperature, and he even licked the palm of Chu Wanning. It turned out that so early, he smelled the fragrance of flowers on Chu nightning's clothes. It turned out that the elder brother he had been looking for was by his side, and life and death were never far away.
The ink burned down his eyes, and in this cold and cold Danxin Temple, there was a hint of warmth.
But this is the secret between them. Mo Ran thought in his heart. It was both sad and sweet. He put this secret in his heart, and no one told it, nor would he tell everyone to listen.
He took a deep breath, paused, and continued, "After arriving in Xiangtan, I found Xun Feng weak according to my mother's will."
At that time, Xiao Ran'er, who was only five years old, was wrapped in a thick cloak belonging to the young Chu Wanning.
The hem of the cloak was dragging on the ground, already dirty, and the child stuck out a dirty bird's nest head from the fluff, raised his thin yellow face, and asked softly, "Excuse me... Sister Xun Fengwei, are you here? "
"Xun Feng is weak?" The actor who was pulled by him laughed out loud and looked him up and down curiously, "Lefang Hua Kui? Although we don't show off our bodies here, right? But some of them don't like it because of the limelight of Miss Xun. She has more looks than I like her singing voice? How old are you, little brother, you know how to find her?"
Mo Ran opened her eyes, her eyes were sparse, and she didn't understand her words at all.
But the ridicule in the girl's eyes was naked, and the ink burned so embarrassingly, he tightly grabbed the collar of his cloak and blushed: "Please, I want to see Sister Xun. I, my mother let me come find her..."
"Huh? Who is your mother?"
"My maiden name is Duan, my name is Duan Yihan..."
"Ah!" The singer turned pale, took a step back, covered her mouth with a handkerchief, and even her originally lazy peach blossom eyes widened suddenly, "You, are you Duan Lexian's child?"
When Duan Yihan was famous all over the world, he never acted as a coercion, and often gave two cents of the extra jewelry money to those sisters who were old and had lost their singing voice. Therefore, when the actor heard that he was the child of Duan girl, he immediately changed his attitude and hurriedly took him to the Huage Conservatory, where he saw Xun Fengruo lying high in the room.
Closing the door, Mo Ran bowed down to Xun Feng, and told her the whole story. Xun Feng's heart was weak, and Luo Chang was wet with tears.
She immediately found her mother and said that she wanted the ink to burn to stay by her side. The mother was originally unwilling, but she couldn't help begging the oiran several times, and she looked at the ink and felt that the child could do something for the building, so she Reluctantly agreed. Beggars are afraid of getting bad luck when they enter the building, so according to the rules, they should burn all the clothes they once had, and then rinse them thoroughly.
There is no problem with taking a bath, but when it is said that the clothes are to be burned, the ink burned but cried.
"Why are you crying! It's not that I won't buy you a new one in the future!" The mother-in-law tapped the ink-burning head impatiently with a hookah, "Be interesting, the old lady will give you food and shelter, and it's too late for others to laugh, look at you poor and sour Sample!"
Mo Ran is afraid of hurting Sister Xun, she has already said good things for him.
So he bit his lip and endured it, rubbed his red eyes, and stood in front of the fire sobbing silently.
At that time, he really couldn't understand why all this was happening. Why does he just want to keep an old clothes, but because he is weak, because he is despicable, because he is a stinking beggar, in order not to cause bad luck and trouble to others, he can only let others take it from himself Chop off. He couldn't struggle, he couldn't say "no", he didn't even have the right to cry.
It once gave him so much warmth, sustenance and reliance. In order to protect him from the wind and rain, it was dirty and could not see the original color.
Now that he has a place to stay, he may never use it again. He just wanted to wash it carefully and fold it neatly, even if he didn't wear it again, it would be better to put it under the small box. It's his friend, not just an old garment.
But everything is up to him.
With a bang, the dirty cloak was thrown into the flames, and the people who threw it were just throwing it away, and in the end they thought their hands were dirty. But for ink burning, it was a cremation, a funeral.
He watched.
Tongues of flame roared upward, and the world was magnificent and blurred.
—
"Slow down... not enough and..."
"where are you come from… "
There was still the gentle voice of the young man in his ears. That was the rare goodwill he had ever received in his humble life.
All turned grey.
The ink burned like this and worshipped the aunt of the drunk jade building as the goddess, and he also got a righteous surname with the goddess, surnamed Mo. From then on, he became a janitor in the building, and finally passed Duan An's birthday.
However, the good times did not last long. At that time, Xun Feng was not too young. According to the rules of the building, although Lefang was not as good as a brothel, if he did not earn enough "self-pity" when he was old, then the first night of the girls would be handed over to the nanny. Sell it to those sons and rich businessmen.
Xun Feng is not worried, she has already made a lot of money for Zuiyulou.
"There's still 150,000 gold." Xun Fengruo said to Mo Ran with a smile at the time, "Xiao Ran'er, when your sister I earn enough money, I can redeem myself. My sister will take you to live a good life."
Mo Ran was assigned to the kitchen, and she was rarely seen at ordinary times. The mother-in-law had a heart to not let the people in the building form a gang, so Xun Feng weak and Mo Ran met, always quietly.
She stretched out her hand, pinched his cheek, and then gave him a handful of candy: "Shh, take it and eat it. It's a pity I can't give you the money, you'll be found out. The goddamn eyes are so poisonous, hehe."
The ink burned and grinned, revealing a mouth that lacked milk teeth: "Well, thank you Sister Xun."
However, Xun Fengruo was still short of 150,000 gold to redeem his life. Could this matter be unclear to the mother
Although her face was not moving, her heart was full of anger.
After losing Xun Fengwei, most of the money source of Zuiyulou was lost, so the mother-in-law calculated that before Xun Fengwei left, she must make a good profit.
At that time, there were many big households who coveted Xunfeng's weak beauty, and the prices were sky-high, enough for the mother to sit and eat for a lifetime. The mother finally moved her mind, carrying Xun Fengwei on her back, and negotiated a contract with a wealthy man who could reach the sky. The two took advantage of the Shangyuan Festival, Xun Feng sat weakly on the building and played music, gave her a cup of tea filled with intoxication, and then brought it to the room...
On the day when the ink burned, the dumplings were cooked, and they were carefully brought to the warm pavilion and given to Sister Xun to eat.
Before he went in, he heard the heavy breathing in the house, the ink burned, and he opened the door, and a strong scent of brain smoke came to his face, which made him almost vomit.
In the drowsy halo, he saw a greasy rich businessman who looked like pork belly. His mouth was drooling and his clothes were wide open.
"Dang!"
The tangyuan porcelain bowl shattered on the ground, and the ink burned into the house, and I don't know where the strength came from - his talent has been amazing since he was a child - he beat the rich businessman angrily, and then pressed the fat man tightly, crying. Rain, Xun Feng weakly shouted:
"Sister, let's go!"
"But you..."
"Let's go! I can't go, I have to hold him! If you don't go, we'll all tell you here when the maid comes. Go! Go! If you go, I'll run away right away!"
Xun Feng weak is his benefactor.
The ink burns her to fly away, escape from Yuezhou, and never come back.
That day, he finally became a hero.
Xun Feng weakly choked at him and ran out of the building. But the ink burned did not have time to leave. When the mother heard the movement, she quickly brought people up, and as soon as she came up, she saw that the ink burned the guest and let go of the Hua Kui, her angry face was distorted, and she wanted to vomit blood.
The mother-in-law has a son, the age is similar to that of the ink. The boy punished his peers who had angered his mother by punishing livestock.
He found a dog cage and let the ink burn in it. The cage was narrow and cramped, and the ink burned in it could only squat, couldn't lie down, couldn't stand, they fed him the leftovers and cold meals like a dog, and it was like this for seven whole days.
For seven days, Mo Ran was trapped in the old house where the wind was weak, and the smell of incense in the house was mixed with the stench of the man's body fluids.
He squatted, hunched over.
Smell this drowsy, sweet and greasy smell.
want to vomit.
seven days.
Since then, he has been sickened by the smell of incense, and fear and terror have overflowed from the crevices of his bones.