Envy

The carriage traveled for more than ten days, and when it arrived in Lizhou, it was afternoon and the sun was shining.Lizhou is like spring all the year round, and there is no chilling intention.The stream is gurgling, and the branches and leaves of the trees on the banks are still green.Hawkers peddle enthusiastically along the street.

The subordinates settled down at the inn, making a pot of tea and chatting to rest.Lingzhi felt a little unwell, and fell asleep in his own room after lunch.

Yan Zhaohan accompanied Meng Xie along the street and walked back to Meng's house. Seeing the little girl's greedy eyes, he bought her some food along the way, such as snow candy hawthorn and milk cake soufflé.Meng Xi bit the snow sugar hawthorn in his mouth, opened the oil paper bag, and asked him to taste it.

He didn't like sweets, and he didn't like hawthorn, so he declined.

"Shaojun, try one. The snow candied hawthorn here is the best in Lizhou. I have liked it since I was a child. Can you eat one?" The little girl looked at him eagerly.

... It's hard to be generous.He looked into the oiled paper bag, picked one of the hawthorns wrapped in sugar, pinched it, and took a bite.

Unappetizing.The hawthorn is sour and astringent, and the layer of white sugar is too sweet.

Meng Xi stared at him and asked expectantly, "Young Master, is it delicious?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"I just said it's delicious." She smiled happily, and stuffed the whole bag of snow sugar hawthorn into his arms, "I'll give you all, eat slowly."

He lowered his eyes and asked, "Don't you like it very much, why give it to me?"

"It's because I like it very much, so I'm willing to give it to you. I'm from Lizhou, so I can still buy it often in the future." With her hands behind her back, she jumped on the bluestone slab with every step, and said, "Oh, what a shame! It's such a pity. If it wasn't for Shaojun, you would have to go back tomorrow, and I'd like to take you to eat all over Lizhou City."

As she spoke, she turned around, faced him, and walked backwards: "But it's okay, I will let third brother take you shopping in the future. The future will be long, and the future will be long."

He only came to Lizhou once, just to see Meng Tou, and then left disheartened, never remembering the appearance of Lizhou in his heart from the beginning to the end.When he was in the small town of Fulian, he had dreamed of it several times.Dreaming of misty rain, clouds and mist on the clear lake, peach blossoms in full bloom on the banks, and red clouds reflected in the water.

Maybe he came back at the wrong time.Lizhou is not the most beautiful.The scorching peach blossoms have not yet bloomed, and the wind blowing through the streets has not yet been contaminated with the strong fragrance of milk cakes. People come and go, and he still feels like a wandering soul when he walks among them.

He sent Meng Xi to outside Meng's house.He was familiar with the plaques and black lacquered pillars of the Meng family, and all his impressions of the Meng family were limited to these.

He suddenly remembered that he had never even entered Meng's house.

there has never been.

Meng Xi ran into his mother within a few steps after entering the door.Her mother was accompanied by two servant girls, as if she was about to go out.

She called "A Niang" and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I was idle and wanted to go for a walk." Mrs. Meng was surprised and happy when she saw her, holding her face and said, "Why did you come back now? How are you doing these days? Did you suffer? Ouch , the face is thinner. I haven’t been home for so long and I don’t know how to write a letter back. A Niang is worried about you every day.”

Meng Xi held his mother's hand and said with a smile: "No, no, I had a great time outside and went to many places. I have my third brother here, so don't worry. I'm back well."

Mrs. Meng patted the back of her hand with a smile, and asked, "Where's your third brother? Has he come back?"

"Third brother still has things in his family, and he won't be able to come back for the time being. He said he will come back after the New Year, so you can rest assured that everything is fine with him."

Mrs. Meng reassured: "Okay, okay."

Meng Xi said: "Mother, let me tell you, I brought a guest back this time, and he is outside the door, please wait for me." She let go of her mother's hand, ran towards the door, held his He lifted up his skirt and crossed the threshold, looking for Yan Zhaohan's figure.

But there was no one outside the door.

Yan Zhaohan has already left.

……

Yan Zhaohan was wandering around in the streets of Lizhou, holding the oily paper bag filled with snow sugar hawthorns in his hand, he couldn't bear to throw it away.He walked alone, until the sunset, until the night fell, the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras sounded in the attic, dancers danced lightly, and their silhouettes fell on the window paper.

He ate a bowl of wontons on the street.

After nightfall, the number of people on the street gradually increased.Lizhou people hang lanterns on the trees.He thought there would be a temple fair or lantern festival in Lizhou that day, and he just wanted to finish eating and leave as soon as possible before the crowds made it difficult to move.

The night wind was a little cold, and it penetrated directly into the skirt of his clothes.He held the hot bowl wall in his cold hands.He took a last sip of the hot soup, put down the bowl, checked out and left.

It was still a bit late for him to leave.When passing by the Yongtai River in Lizhou, the painted boat slowly swam in, and a group of people squeezed onto the ferry.After the huge painting boat docked, the people rushed forward.He couldn't dodge and was carried over by the flow of people.

A man from Lizhou next to him saw that he looked like a foreigner and seemed to want to leave, so he said to him in half-baked Mandarin: "Brother, you can't leave for a while anyway, so go on board and have a look. Today It's very lively."

He glanced at it, and there were densely packed human heads behind it.People are shoulder to shoulder.On both sides of him are the arresting officers of the Yamen.

He thought to himself that he really couldn't leave, so he resigned himself to his fate and boarded the boat.After he stepped on the board, the policemen with knives at the ferry quickly stopped the people who wanted to pour into the boat, and shouted loudly: "There are too many people, next time, next time, later." Get on board again!"

There are many people on the ferry, and there are also many people in the boat, but they can still move freely.

After entering the boat, many people climbed up the stairs to the top floor of the boat.Yan Zhaohan came later, he couldn't get to the center of the boat, so he just stood at the bow and watched.The boat swam slowly.

On both sides of the bank are the people of Lizhou, who surrounded the river.There are several boats moored on the river not far away.The boat is decorated with lights and festoons.Several boats face several boats.On one side of the boat stood a man from Lizhou, and on the other side was a girl from Lizhou.

The boat is approaching.

Yan Zhaohan didn't understand what they were going to do, someone beside him said, "Look at it, I'm going to sing, I don't know how well these guys sing."

A man sang a few lines first.His voice is loud and his singing is bright and moving.The people on both sides of the strait clapped their hands better, and the people who filled the boats also clapped their hands, the sound was deafening, Yan Zhaohan felt that the boats were shaking, and someone even whistled a few times.

After that, several men sang in unison, singing the tune of Lizhou, and the tune was lingering and long.He couldn't understand Lizhou dialect, but he could barely understand a few words. They sang like love songs.The man's singing on this side fell, and the woman on the other side picked up the tune.

Sometimes they sing together.The men sang a line, probably asking when they could marry the girl back home, and the girl responded immediately, singing: "Take care of my red makeup, fifteen to one pair."