chaotic world

After dinner, it was already dark, after cleaning up and washing, the yard was quiet, and everyone went back to their houses to sleep.

When Zhou Lan entered the room, Shumei had just washed and was sitting at the table combing her long black hair. When she heard the door knock, she turned her head and stood up.

Standing upright, she was wearing tight white silk pajamas, her eyes were slightly lower than level, and her voice was also very low: "The old lady has always let me live in your room." After she finished speaking, she unconsciously twirled the clothes Bian: "How about I go out." After saying that, he lowered his head and wanted to leave.

"Don't leave, just stay here." Zhou Lan turned around and closed the door. He didn't lock it. He knew that Shumei's identity at home was actually his housekeeper. used", so it is pointless to let her go out, it is also slapping her in the face.

"Go to sleep." Zhou Lan waved towards the bed.

Shumei went to bed silently, sat up and turned around. She wanted to ask Zhou Lan if she would not sleep tonight, but when she was about to speak, the room suddenly became dark, and it was Zhou Lan who turned off the lights.

The bedroom was very big. Zhou Lan changed into long-sleeved pajamas and pajama pants next to the closet in the dark, and then put on a thin coat. He counted his steps and walked to the edge of the bed. He reached out and sat down facing the outside. Shumei could vaguely see his back.

"Shumei?" He asked in the dark.

"Master" Shumei didn't know why, but the other party's voice couldn't hear the emotion.

Zhou Lan said in a low voice, "Thank you for taking such good care of my mother."

"This is my duty, and the old lady has been very kind to me."

Zhou Lan nodded in the dark: "I will make it up to you. I will talk to my mother later, let her recognize you as a daughter, and find a good family. You will never be wronged forever."

It was dark and silent, and Zhou Lan didn't hear a reply.

Suddenly, his back softened, and someone leaned forward cautiously. The voice was gentle, with the sweetness and emotion unique to girls: "Master, I'm a little girl, so I won't make things difficult for you."

Zhou Lan turned her head, gently pushed the other party away, hesitated for a while, and reached out to gently touch the other party's hair to express comfort, his voice was calm, without a trace of emotion: "I'm doing it for your own good."

After speaking, he stood up, opened and closed the door silently, leaving only Shumei lying on the bed in a daze.

Hanging on a crescent moon, Zhou Lan's footsteps were very light, more silent than the cat on the wall. When he walked to Du Yunfeng's door, he just stood still, and the door opened before his hands were put on the door frame.

Like a movie on silent film, Du Yunfeng stood inside the door laughing, stretched out his hand to lead him in, and closed the door gently.

Du Yunfeng picked him up and buried his face in his arms before he dared to speak in a muffled voice: "Xiao Mu'an, I knew you would come. I wanted to find you just now, but I was afraid there was someone in your room."

Zhou Lan smiled, then broke away from the other party, turned her head and walked towards the bed, took off her shoes and lifted her legs to get on the bed, leaned back on the bed, and turned her head to look at him.

Du Yunfeng understood it immediately, and pressed the switch with brows of joy, groped on the bed in the dark, and made him feel stronger.

"Be practical with you." Zhou Lan opened his eyes in the dark. He used to disdain to come to this room, but now he came to the door in the middle of the night.

As soon as he turned around, he hugged the other party. He was exhausted, and he was a little sleepy, so he murmured that he would go to bed early, and that he would go to the ancestral grave tomorrow to pay homage to his nominal father, Zhou Hanshi, and to Butler Du. .

"Yunfeng, go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow to see your father."

It was rainy in Qingming, and it began to patter at night. The water droplets collected in the roof tiles and ditches beat the ground rhythmically. He tossed and turned all night, thinking that the new tomb was too wet and cold, and the people lying there must be uncomfortable.

I haven't returned for three years, and I will go to the grave at dawn.

He hugged Zhou Lan sideways, and lowered his head to smell the smell in the other's neck. He liked the smell, the sound of even breathing, the temperature in his arms, and quietly closed his eyes. It was not like the old tossing and turning, and the sadness was a little less. , the temperature is a little higher.

Early in the morning, Du Yunfeng escorted Zhou Lan to Zhou's ancestral hall. Zhou's ancestral hall is a large ancestral hall with the surname Zhou.

The Zhou family from far away came together one after another. First, they worshiped their ancestors under the leadership of the elders of the Zhou family, and then they took turns to offer incense in the ancestral hall according to their seniority. It was his turn to enter the ancestral hall at the end of the queue. Du Yunfeng sent him in, stood outside the high threshold, turned around and wanted to leave.

Zhou Lan turned around and grabbed his sleeve, and said loudly, "Brother, come in with me," and then he led him in without asking for the old man's opinion.

Du Yunfeng is a servant, and his surname is not Zhou, so he doesn't need to enter the ancestral hall, but the elders also know that he is the adopted son of the third concubine, and he is barely half a male in the Zhou family, and they all know that Zhou Lan's temper has been tempered since childhood. A little ruthless and stubborn, no one stopped him.

The incense was put into the censer, Zhou Lan knelt on the cattail mat and kowtowed three times, and Du Yunfeng followed him and kowtowed three times.

After the ceremony, Zhou Lan didn't deal with the people on the side branches of the Zhou family. Since he was a child, those branches and leaves with strong blood in the Zhou family didn't pay attention to the small branches on his side, so he never Take the initiative to post.

He took Du Yunfeng and his concubine away.

Stepping on the wet slatted stone steps, Du Yunfeng followed Zhou Lan up the mountain. He held a black umbrella in his hand, and the umbrella was tilted towards Zhou Lan to ensure that no drop of rain would fall on him.

Yunhai and Dumb Uncle each held an umbrella and walked not far behind, and everyone was speechless along the way.

The aunt and the third aunt had bad legs and feet, and they were getting older, so they waited in the teahouse at the foot of the mountain.

Soon arrived at the Zhou family cemetery halfway up the mountain.

The cemetery is not big, and several generations of the Zhou family are buried. There is no grass on the tomb, and the surrounding area has been swept clean.

"Uncle, you have worked hard." Zhou Lan turned around and said to the dumb uncle.The dumb uncle made a simple gesture to respond to him, his eyes were full of sadness.

What is the relationship between Uncle Dumb and Zhou Hanshi? Zhou Lan heard the clues from the private gossip of the servants since he was a child. He didn't ask, but he felt that his guess was not far from the ten. When he looked at the neat cemetery, There is also the clean cup and saucer in front of Zhou Hanshi's tombstone, which looks like someone always worships him. He feels that the dumb uncle is not that simple to Zhou Hanshi.

After setting up the offerings and lighting the incense, Zhou Lan knelt in front of the tombstone of his father whom he had never met, kneeling straight, holding the incense in his hand: "Father, my son is here to see you." Then he bit his lip lightly and continued Said: "The Zhou family's incense is not well-known, but it's not without it. Mu An has never met you before, and he can grow up only by receiving the blessings of the Zhou family. He will be a member of the Zhou family in this life. Father, you have a spirit in heaven, and bless the old Zhou family." Xiaoping is safe." After speaking, he inserted the incense stick and kowtowed three times respectfully.

He stood up, shook the front of his long robe, and took the umbrella from Du Yunfeng's hand. The other person's body was slightly wet from the rain, and Zhou Lan brushed off the mist from his body: "Yunfeng, kowtow to... father "His voice was very soft, he seemed to say "I", but he didn't seem to say it, he could hardly hear it.

Du Yunfeng believes that Zhou Lan is admitting the relationship between the two in front of Zhou Hanshi, and Zhou Lan has him in his heart.

According to the words, Du Yunfeng also kowtowed three times, the kowtow was very loud, and he burnt incense seriously, this is the gift of the son of the Zhou family.

The dumb uncle gestured that he would stay in front of Zhou Hanshi's tomb for a while and let the others go first.

Zhou Lan patted him on the shoulder and didn't say much.

Butler Du's tomb is also in Zhou's cemetery. People were burned to the ground back then, and when the heat got hot in spring, they couldn't be transported to their hometown in Cangzhou, so they occupied a cemetery in the master's house. For a housekeeper, this is already a great honor .

The drizzle was getting weaker and weaker, and when they reached Butler Du's tomb, there was no rain at all.

The two brothers of the Du family raised soil on the grave symbolically with tools. Zhou Lan stood in front of the grave, holding an umbrella, and pulled out a new weed, carelessly throwing it away.

Then he went to the tree not far from the grave, lit a cigarette, and smoked it on his own. Butler Du was a servant, and it was already a matter of etiquette to pull a weed.

The Du brothers knelt in front of the tombstone. One was tall and the other was short. Du Yunfeng was tall and straight, and Du Yunhai was strong and healthy. Looking from the back, although they were both young, they were of completely different statures.

Exhaling a puff of smoke, Zhou Lan leaned on the umbrella with one hand like a cane, lightly brushed the cigarette with the index finger of the other hand, and the ash fell silently. Half-mother and half-father, they look alike except for their eyes. Du Yunhai's stature is like Housekeeper Zhou's, he's solid and not tall, and as for the big Yunfeng—"

Zhou Lan took a sharp puff of the cigarette, and before the smoke blew away, he sucked most of it back. He lowered his head and stomped out the cigarette butt, thinking to himself: "Yunfeng probably looks like Zhou Hanshi when he was young. Bar!"

Even Uncle Mute looked at Du Yunfeng in the wrong way, Uncle Mute knew that too, right?

The cigarette butt was crushed into the soil, and Zhou Lan's thoughts flashed back to when he was 14 years old.

That year, he overheard the conversation between Steward Du and his second concubine by accident.

On that restless summer day, the door of the second aunt's room was locked tightly, and there were whispers inside. The second aunt's voice was coquettish, and Du Butler's voice was full of eager, intermittent conversations. 14-year-old Zhou Lan listened. He didn't get it clearly, but he quickly figured it out in his mind——

Zhou Hanshi died on a woman back then. He spent money like water and raised many boys, but there was only one woman who took care of him. The woman's surname was Liu. The reason why Zhou Hanshi spent so much money on her is because she has a twin younger brother with similar faces. The siblings are both beauties, so Zhou Hanshi fell in love with Shuangsu Shuangfei.

The wine and lust hollowed out his body, and Zhou Hanshi died suddenly. It seemed that the incense had been cut off, but in fact, a seed was planted in that woman.

A few months later, the woman came to Zhou's house with a big belly. At that time, Mrs. Zhou was still alive, desperate to save the face of the big family of Zhou's family, she wished she could call the servant to throw the dirty woman out with a basin of water.

Seeing her beauty, Steward Du secretly plotted against the child in her womb, so he embezzled the Zhou family's money from the woman surnamed Liu, and took her to the countryside of Cangzhou. A few months later, the child was born, and it was Du Yunfeng.

Due to motherhood, raising a son has become the biggest priority in life, and she can't take her child back to her old career. The woman surnamed Liu has no choice but to commit herself to Steward Du, and only hopes to raise her son.

Butler Du didn't let the two of them go to Tianjin. He wasn't there usually, and he would come back once a year or so, and he would definitely use a good-looking woman. Du Yunhai came and went.

Butler Du and his second aunt have always had an affair. It was originally planned that Du Yunfeng would grow bigger and look more and more like Zhou Hanshi, and he would recognize his ancestors and return to his ancestors.

Ruyi's abacus was crackling, and the second aunt and Butler Du were having a sweet dream.

"From now on, this big yard and the big mine outside the pass will be ours." The second aunt suppressed her voice, her voice was broken and panting.

Butler Du was out of breath: "That kid beat me to be filial to me, and when he is righted, I will let him, in the name of the Zhou family's young master, drive out Sanfang and that little bastard. I have long thought they were an eyesore."

In the house, Yingying and Yanyan were screaming in full of spring, and Zhou Lan, who was under the window, felt chills all over his body.

The Zhou family is the only safe haven for him to live and work. If this harbor is lost, he will not be able to beat the little beggars on the street for food.

The classmate of the foreign school lives in heaven, and he lives in the dirt. He thought of relying on his own efforts to climb up, but before he could climb, the sky collapsed and the earth fell, and he was about to fall into the [-]th floor of hell.

A few days later, a big fire broke out in Zhou's house.

The fire was so big that it hurt people's faces. Looking at the raging fire, he was sure that it was impossible to save him, so he began to shout for help. Du Yunfeng, who had come back from outside, rushed into the sea of ​​flames.

It's not like he didn't have the idea of ​​letting Du Yunfeng die with him, cutting the weeds and eradicating them once and for all, but when the real thing happened, he almost instinctively hugged him tightly and pinched his own hand green.At that time, a voice in his heart kept shouting, Xiao Yunfeng should not be buried with him, Xiao Yunfeng is good, Xiao Yunfeng can't die.

Zhou Lan wants to keep this secret in his heart forever, Du Yunfeng will always be surnamed Du, and he doesn't know what his life experience is so important, can he just treat him well in the future?Besides, Zhou Lan thought about it, Du Yunfeng at least knew who his mother was, but he really didn't know who his parents were and where they lived.

Therefore, he secretly made up his mind to be the other party's reliance—it would be good if I was with you forever.

"Mu'an," Du Yunfeng covered Zhou Lan's shoulders with his warm hands. Zhou Lan turned around in shock, and was stunned for a moment. After a moment, he came back to his senses, took out a cigarette and handed it to the other party: "Here."

Du Yunfeng took it, and with the fire in Zhou Lan's hand, the two of them smoked on a flame.

Yunhai is still a non-smoker, with a pair of beautiful red eyes, obviously crying just now.

Zhou Lan walked over and put his arms around his shoulders, and lowered his head slightly to tease him: "Yun Hai, you're almost eighteen, are you still crying?"

Yun Hai has a simple mind, and he feels very embarrassed when he teases him, saying that brother Mu An and my father died so badly, and it makes him feel uncomfortable when he thinks about it.

Zhou Lan hugged him tightly with one arm, and said a lot of comforting words very naturally, and the two walked in front, all the way down the mountain.

When Du Yunfeng went to call the dumb uncle, he fell behind. When he got down the mountain, he saw Zhou Lan helping the third aunt to get into the rickshaw.

The place to get on the bus was a turn, and the third aunt had just sat down when suddenly a black car appeared from the turn, and it was in front of it in an instant.

Du Yunfeng rushed down the mountain in a few quick steps: "Mother, are you alright?"

The third aunt has bad eyesight, so she doesn't know what happened, she hasn't been scratched or touched, and her whole body is fine.

Zhou Lan was annoyed and yelled to stop.

The car stopped not far away, and a middle-aged man in a black suit jumped out first, bowing like a shrimp and opening the door.

One foot wearing clogs and white socks stretched out the car door, followed by the other foot slowly landed, and a middle-aged man in loose clothes got out of the car with a calm expression.

Zhou Lan rushed up quickly, and when he came up to him, he was still annoyed: "Why did you drive, you scared my mother."

The driver jumped out of the car from the other side. He was completely dressed like a Japanese ronin. He yelled a sentence in Japanese, very arrogant, and pointed his gun at Zhou Lan. The black suit like a shrimp was an interpreter. He bowed his waist: "Looking for death, dare to offend the Japanese prince, how many heads do you have?"

Zhou Lan's hand had already touched the gun in his lower back, and Du Yunfeng pressed his hand lightly. Du Yunfeng said without humility: "This is a place in China, you are so happy to die, you dog!"

Then he patted Zhou Lan's hand: "Forget it, the godmother and uncle are behind."

At this time, the loose-clothed Japanese took off his round smoky crystal glasses, fully revealing his face.

His face was like a crown jade, not vicious, but his expression was indifferent, just like the clear and gloomy sky, with a trace of imperceptible sadness in the quietness.

He spoke in blunt Chinese with a polite tone: "It is a good virtue to be filial to your parents." After finishing speaking, he slightly waved his hand.

The ronin driver lowered his gun.

"Offended!" He seemed to be nodding his head, then he ignored everything and walked up the mountain on his own.

Da Xiami didn't forget to turn around and say intimidatingly: "It's your fate, there are not many people who can save their lives in front of the chief, get out of here." Then he chased up the mountain like a dog chasing his master.

After getting into the rickshaw, Zhou Lan was unhappy, and Du Yunfeng patted him on the shoulder.

Du Yunfeng felt that the Japanese just gave people a strange feeling, and he couldn't explain why, so he turned his head to look, and happened to see the big assistant looking back, looking at each other for a second, Du Yunfeng heard the third aunt's rickshaw calling in front: " Xiaolong and Yunfeng don't provoke the Japanese, absolutely don't provoke the Japanese."

The third aunt asked very uneasy, Du Yunfeng withdrew his gaze, and shouted to the front: "Got it, godmother"

"Xiaolong, you are also obedient." The third aunt continued.

Zhou Lan lowered her head and replied in a muffled voice, "Mother, I know."

Three rickshaws went downhill on the gravel pan mountain road and disappeared when they turned a corner.

Imanobu Yaqing stood on the rocky steps, turned sideways to give some instructions to the Japanese driver behind him, the other party bowed his head to accept the order, ran back and started the car, turned slowly and disappeared.

The wooden clogs made a rhythmic sound when they stepped on the hard rock. He would go up the mountain once every Qingming Festival.

Da Xiami followed behind him, not daring to overtake, not daring to disturb, not even making a sound, and tiptoeing up to follow him, he had just heard Colonel Imanobu order his attendant, military officer Yamashita Teruo, to follow the Chinese all the way, and deliberately Tell him not to disturb the other party, and I don't know what the intention is.

As a Japanese translator, the Japanese gave him dignity, a generous salary, and let him be the top of the Chinese people, but the price was that he would live like a dog in front of the Japanese.

In front of Colonel Konshin, he is a dog, not a wolf dog, but a pug at best. The other party is a dog owner who is neither fierce nor savage. He is always polite and polite. As the chief of staff of the Tianjin Garrison , cunning and full of wisdom.

After following Imanobu for too long, Translator Li knew that the domineering Japanese are like a pack of wolves whose goal is to tear up and gnaw all their prey.But Colonel Jinxin is different, he is taciturn and looks like a gentle animal, like a snake, soft and quiet, able to swallow huge prey silently without spitting out any bones.

The more silent the other party was, the more frightened Translator Li became.

There are many forks in the road, and Jinxin took a familiar turn and came to a small cemetery. He raised his hand to signal Translator Li not to follow, then he took the small package in Translator Li's hand and walked in.

A dog is not fit to enter such a holy place.

In the cemetery, there was a solitary grave surrounded by lush green grass and flowers. There was a small Buddhist niche in front of the tombstone. He opened the package, took out a joss stick, lit it and inserted it.Then he walked slowly around the grave silently, pulling out small wild flowers and weeds as he walked, pulling out so gently, like caressing a lover, from time to time he used his hands to collect the soil, and walking down in a circle, there were too many flowers in his hands. A small wreath.

Putting the garland in front of the tombstone, he spoke blunt Chinese with a very gentle tone: "Meizi, I came to see you, I miss you very much."

He ran his fingers along the writing on the tombstone, like a lover's face. The red Chinese characters on the bluestone tombstone were not correct. It was his handwriting of the year "Tomb of Mrs. Xiao Meifang, the first family" and was inscribed in the fourth year of the Republic of China. , Husband Jinxin Yaqing.

The rickshaw crossed the street, and Zhou Lan was silent. He had been outside the customs for several years, and when he suddenly returned to Tianjin City, he felt obvious changes. There were more tall buildings, more Japanese people, and more beggars on the street. There are no fewer Japanese than Manchukuo.

Du Yunfeng also noticed this change. In his eyes, those Japanese ronin were idle and dedicated to provoking troubles, and the world in Tianjin was really getting more and more chaotic.

But people can't change the way of the world. The bravery of ordinary people can't stop the cannon and bayonet of the foreigners. He and Zhou Lan can only protect themselves wisely. Just like what the third aunt said, don't provoke the Japanese.

After returning to the Zhou family compound, the two began to discuss business matters, hung up the phone to the Cheng family compound, and after carefully clearing up the original business path, the two decided to contact each other.

Lu Baiyu, the manager of Jardine Matheson's Tianjin Branch, used to do opium business with Cheng's family.

The Lu family was born as a comprador from the grandparents. In the late Qing Dynasty, the dying state did not stop the Lu family from making a fortune. They acted as Chinese agents for businessmen from Britain, France and Germany.

In Lu Baiyu's generation, the British have reduced his actual power in order to reduce the comprador commission, but Lu Baiyu has a business mind, and he does not rely on foreigners to do his business well. Foreign yarn, paint, steel building materials , even medicines, which he would not buy and sell without him. Of course, these are not the most lucrative ones, but the most lucrative ones are opium and arms.