An Shi

Even in June, the nights in the Northeast are a bit cold, and you need to cover yourself with a thin quilt to fall asleep.

Sima Yan was already lying down, but a crow seemed to have landed on the elm tree outside the window, and it kept screaming hoarsely, which disturbed him.He hugged the pillow, rolled up the quilt on the bed and tossed and turned, the images in his mind were chaotic, for a while the spider that was crawling away quickly flashed, for a while it flashed the "The Story of Climbing Mount Tai" that he had read during the day, and finally stopped at Pei Xiu's touch The smile that seemed to see everything, only made him pull his hair straight in annoyance.

He couldn't fall asleep, so he put on his clothes and got up, lit a candle and carefully checked the kit that Sima You asked him to hand over to Pei Xiu.The edge of the kit was a bit worn out, as if it had been opened and sealed many times; if you pinch it lightly, you would feel that there was something like a pill inside, and it creaked.

"Is this his... medicine?" Sima Yan thought to himself.

He gritted his teeth, hid the kit in his pocket, picked up the candlestick and walked to the wing where Pei Xiu lived.

Seeing him coming with a candle, Pei Xiu raised her eyebrows slightly, but she didn't show any surprise.He pulled a chair over to signal Sima Yan to sit down, then poured a cup of tea, put it on the table, and pushed it in front of Sima Yan.

Sima Yan hurriedly thanked him and took a sip from his teacup.The fried barley is brown in color, and after being brewed in hot water, it has a tangy aroma and warms the heart, making him almost forget the purpose of coming here for a while.

There is a faint, special sweet smell in the room, mixed with the smell of barley tea, which makes people intoxicated.Sima Yan narrowed his eyes, looking at the situation inside the house through the steaming mist.Although the second watch had passed, Pei Xiu seemed to be still reading and writing.As soon as Sima Yan raised his eyes, he saw a large sheet of rice paper spread out on the pear wood desk, with several volumes of books scattered beside it; at this time, Pei Xiu put on glasses very rarely, and held a very The familiar Langhao Xiaokai sketched meticulously on the rice paper, and neither greeted him nor issued an order to evict him.

Sima Yan stared at the other party's focused profile for a while, and couldn't help asking curiously, "Sir, what are you painting?"

When Pei Xiu heard this, the hand holding the pen paused for a moment.

"It's a map," he raised his head and smiled at Sima Yan. "From next week, I plan to teach the young master a geography class."

"Huh? Geography class?"

Pei Xiu nodded and stopped talking.He lowered his head, continued to hold the pen of Langhao Xiaokai, and wrote like a snake on the paper.

Sima Yan was lying on the table, looking a little dumbfounded.Without any reference, with only his hands, Pei Xiu outlined the outline of a map of China, which was no different from the ones he had seen at Yangxiu's house before.

Seeing that he was fascinated, Pei Xiu coughed lightly.Sima Yan came back to his senses, touched his nose in embarrassment: "Ah, I'm sorry... I was distracted."

Regarding his apology, Pei Xiu didn't comment.He picked up the rice paper with both hands and dried the ink, then spread the rice paper on the table again, and then handed the Langhao Xiaokai into Sima Yan's hands.

"I haven't seen the young master practicing calligraphy for a few days. Then, the young master should write the inscription on this map."

Sima Yan nervously held the pen.With the help of the light, he saw clearly that the pen in his hand was the one he left behind when he left in a panic during the day, and the smooth barrel still had a slight warmth—when his fingers touched the barrel, the warmth seemed to melt away quickly. A cluster of small flames were ignited, burning from his fingertips to his cheeks and ears.

He turned his face away, not wanting the other party to see his reddish ears, and then asked calmly, "What do you want me to write, sir?"

"First write 'Administrative Region Map of the Republic of China'..."

Sima Yan obeyed obediently.His handwriting is strong enough to penetrate the back of the paper, but it is not very beautiful.

Pei Xiu poked her head over from behind him, carefully studying these words. "The young master's handwriting is good, the pen is vigorous and heroic. It is worthy of praise."

Sima Yan, who was suddenly praised, felt his heart skip a beat again.He suppressed the excitement in his tone, and thanked Pei Xiu for his compliment.

Pei Xiu just bent her lips, and then instructed him to continue filling in the names of provinces and cities on the map. "Here," he pointed at a place on the map, "is the city of Harbin. The place where we live is in the southeast of Harbin... 47 Li. According to the scale I marked, it should be easy to find. "

Sima Yan nodded, and wrote the small word "Harbin" where Pei Xiu's finger was.In this way, he successively found Fengtian, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing on the map... and many interesting places that he had never heard of before.

Fourteen or fifteen-year-old boys are always bold and curious, yet inexplicably full of self-confidence.While filling in the place names, he thought: When he grows up, will he have the opportunity to travel all over these cities?

"If the young master wants to, there must be a chance." Pei Xiu's voice rang out in a timely manner with a little smile, "Just before that, you have to learn geography well, and you can't be vague."

Realizing that he accidentally said what was on his mind, Sima Yan couldn't help feeling embarrassed.Not to be outdone, he asked, "Have you ever been to these places, sir?"

Pei Xiu shook her head. "No. There are a lot of things I read from books."

"Sir, who knows so much, must have read a lot."

"Not really. Books are not expensive, but expensive." Pei Xiu took a sip from her teacup and continued: "The ancients said, 'If you read a thousand volumes, you can write like a master'. We read books to imitate and learn from others. The way of expression, the second is to enrich knowledge and broaden horizons, especially when the conditions are limited and it is impossible to "travel thousands of miles". Therefore, when it comes to reading, you need to really understand the words, read them into your heart, and memorize them. If the young master is willing, we will start with the books you like to read and work slowly."

He spoke kindly, and he looked kind and gentle, so Sima Yan couldn't help but fell silent, and most of the reluctance in his heart disappeared.

He opened his mouth, wanting to tell Pei Xiu that he would study hard and attend lectures seriously, and that it was his fault that he threw the spider into the pen holder, but suddenly he felt drowsy and yawned involuntarily.

Pei Xiu sensed his exhaustion, and said: "It's getting late, I'll take the young master back." She didn't even ask Sima Yan why he came here.

Sima Yan stood up, and suddenly touched the kit in his pocket, and hurriedly took it out and handed it to Pei Xiu: "Mr. Pei, I found this peach charm near the study, I will return it to the original owner..."

When Pei Xiu saw the kit, her eyes lost focus for a moment.He took the kit, put it in his pocket casually, and thanked Sima Yan calmly.

Sima Yan felt strange, so he asked hesitantly on the way back: "Mr. Pei, are you taking any medicine?"

Pei Xiu nodded, then shook her head again.

"I hope that the two young masters have never touched the contents of the kit," his voice suddenly turned cold, "never."

Hearing that he was so serious, Sima Yan couldn't help cheering up. "what is that?"

"It's a medicine, and it's a drug."

"...!"

Although Sima Yan hadn't been in contact with the medicine shop business, he had seen some medicinal materials when he went to play in the shop.He thought of the strange aroma in Pei Xiu's room just now, and the description of "it's medicine, it's also a drug", and immediately guessed what was in the kit.

Seeing that Pei Xiu's face was still as serious as ice, he hurriedly shook his head like a rattle: "No, I swear to the moon, I haven't touched it. Neither have peach charms."

Pei Xiu's face gradually softened.Sima Yan saw that he seemed unwilling to dwell on this topic, so he suppressed his curiosity and went back to bed in silence.

He stood at the door, watching Pei Xiu's back gradually disappear in the mist in the middle of the night.The mist condensed into dew, which stuck to his hairline and skirt, moistening the already thin clothes.

He turned around and closed the door of the room.The crow that was sitting on the tree suddenly yelled loudly, spread its wings and flew away, swaying the elm leaves to the ground.

From that day on, Sima Yan gradually put away his thoughts of playing, and began to take every course seriously, reading and practicing calligraphy seriously.

The satisfaction of learning new knowledge and the joy of being praised by Pei Xiu became his biggest motivation.His mind is actually quite clever, as long as he is willing to take it seriously, his progress will be very obvious.He studied hard, and Pei Xiu taught carefully, so the knowledge that had been lost in the past was slowly recovered.

Sima Zhao, who had always been troubled by the fact that his eldest son didn't like to study, was amazed by Sima Yan's changes.So one day after class, Sima Yan saw his father carrying a gift box to thank Pei Xiu.

He hurriedly bent down and hid under the window sill.

He didn't want to eavesdrop, but Sima Zhao's loud voice was so powerful that his ears could not control the whole conversation.

"Master, why do you have to be so polite to me?" Sima Yan heard Pei Xiu's refusal, "If you hadn't drawn out your sword to drive away those debt-collecting rogues that day, I, Pei Jiyan, would have been a dead bone by the roadside long ago. Therefore, I should give all the knowledge I have learned all my life to repay the grace of saving my life, how can I accept your gift again."

Sima Zhao was silent for a while, then suddenly said in a gloomy voice, "If you still need that... pill, just ask."

There was the sound of rustling clothes in the room, as if Pei Xiu stood up and saluted. "Thank you for your care, master. Now my drug addiction is not so strong, and it is just around the corner to completely quit it."

Sima Zhao sighed. "I know that you have always been cautious. Although you have been taking medicine, you have never delayed your business.... I have seen Yan'er's progress, and I sincerely want to thank you today."

Sima Yan heard Pei Xiu laugh softly. "What I've done is just my duty. You really don't need to thank me. What's more, the young master is already very talented. He is diligent and inquisitive... Given time, he will become a master."

Sima Yan outside the room was stunned, and Sima Zhao inside the room seemed to be stunned too.

After a long time, Sima Zhao's voice sounded again, with a hint of ridicule: "I, as a father, don't know Yan'er is as good as Ji Yan, you speak so well."

Pei Xiu replied almost without thinking: "Of course the young master is excellent."

"Ji Yan said so, then I will take it seriously. Yan'er is indeed blessed to be praised by the son of the Pei family in Hedong." Sima Zhao sighed in a low voice, "If Tao Fu also has the blessing of his brother... "

Pei Xiu didn't speak any more.After a while, Sima Zhao coughed, as if he had gently placed something on the table.

"You don't need to accept other gifts. And this pen, please be sure to accept it. You have learned from the West, and you usually like to draw maps. It will be easier to write with this hard pen."

"If I decline again, it would be rude. In that case, I will accept it. Thank you, master."

"You are still so polite." Sima Zhao's voice became gloomy again, "You just changed the address of that 'Master', so why not call me 'Zi Shang'..."

Sima Yan couldn't understand the rest of the conversation, so he stopped listening.He covered his already hot ears, ran all the way to the Ash River, and yelled happily at the high blue sky and rolling hills.

Pedestrians passing by looked at him and laughed like monkeys.He yelled so much that he took out a few silver dollars from his pocket, bought two candy figurines from a street vendor, held them up high, and bounced happily back home.

In September of the 14th year of the Republic of China, the autumn was crisp and clear.The young man's mood is just like this autumn day, lofty and beautiful.

***

55-year-old Sima Yan rubbed his eyes.

He saw that the quietly blooming pansy suddenly changed from purple, yellow and white to a delicate red, and the petals gradually closed.The large expanse of red is gorgeous and gorgeous, even more beautiful than the burning clouds in summer.

The flower bloomed for a while, but suddenly withered and withered, a fruit the size of a walnut emerged from the bud.

He watched helplessly as the figure reached out and picked the fruit, and picked up a garden knife to draw straight lines on the shell.The fruit immediately oozes white milk, condenses in the lower part, and slowly dries up into a brownish-yellow gel.

"No...!" Frightened, he tried to reach out his hand to stop it, but it was in vain.