Living Paper

nostalgia/article

Liu Ma got up early in the morning. She killed a black fish and stewed soup to nourish the young master, and then stewed bird's nest for the young grandma.

Ah Zhen went into the kitchen and saw that Mama Liu was already busy, so she quickly put on her apron and looked into the pot: "Mama Liu, what kind of stew is this?"

Two small porcelain cups are steamed across the water, and the eldest and young grandma only eat one cup of bird's nest. Who is this cup for?

Just as Ah Zhen was about to open it to have a look, she was slapped off by Liu Ma: "Don't move around, this is what the young master wants."

It was for Miss Bai.

Liu Ma smiled so much that her eyes narrowed: "The young master came to see the young master yesterday and bought several boxes of bird's nest cups. He said half of them would be given to the young mistress, and the other half would be stewed by me every day and sent to him."

Mama Liu felt that the young master had really grown up and would love others.

"It's that... I bought it from an Indonesian businessman." Mama Liu took good care of the two stew pots, and made Miss Bai her favorite steamed cheese.

Ah Zhen asked Liu Ma while making breakfast: "Is there a wedding going on at home? The seventh young lady doesn't know what she looks like. Liu Ma, haven't you seen her brother? How does he look like?"

Liu Ma remembered Bai Zhun's appearance again, she turned her head and said to these little girls: "Miss Bai is so similar to his brother, she is also a fairy!"

Ah Zhen laughed, no wonder the Seventh Young Master didn't go home.

The Bai mansion is only a few roads away from the Huo mansion. Liu Ma stewed the bird's nest and went to the Bai mansion with a food box.

Zhou Yunyin carried the fish soup upstairs, her husband couldn't lift his right hand, and had to be taken care of by someone for food and clothing. She frowned first when she entered the door: "I have only one hand to read."

Huo Chaozong closed the book: "I am one hand, not one eye, even one eye can read."

Just as Zhou Yunying was about to sit on the bedside and feed him soup, she saw a small piece of the quilt curled up. She lifted it to see that her daughter was curled up next to her father, sleeping soundly.

"This little thing, why is it here again?" Zhou Yunyin covered her daughter with a quilt and fed her husband soup, "Mama Liu has sent food to the Bai Mansion."

"Ah."

Huo Chaozong was not enthusiastic, Zhou Yunyin felt a little strange, why was he not in a hurry to get Lao Qi married?

"You don't need to ask about the affairs over there." Huo Chaozong drank a bowl of soup and opened the book again, "That Secretary Chen, don't let him come home so early."

Zhou Yunyin put away the bowl: "I know, I'm looking for excuses to drag him. Liu Ma, Ah Zhen, and Lao Zhao are all brought out of the old house, and they don't usually have contact with people, so it's still credible for the time being."

If the Huo family can employ fewer people, they are afraid that someone will stick a nail in their side. These things were originally done by Zhanqing, but now that he is not around, Zhou Yunyin does it.

"I want to hold a sacrifice at home. Everything has been arranged. Lao Qi said that he will make the paper tie himself."

He Zhanqing had no family in his hometown for a long time, and no one offered sacrifices, so the food supply was cut off. Zhou Yunyin then arranged to pay homage to him at home, and even his original room remained as it was.

Zhou Yunyin didn't know about Bai Zhun's existence, and Huo Zhenye immediately agreed to make paper sticks. She still felt a little strange. Although Lao Qi was a bit more imaginative, how could he still learn these things.

"Let him do it." Huo Chaozong turned a page of the book, "Anyway, he is willing to do it."

Zhou Yunyin saw that her husband didn't have anything to say, so she didn't inquire, and listed the menu and the tin foil of incense candles to buy, and prepared to burn them to Secretary He.

Huo Zhenye was splitting bamboo sticks in the garden. He used to chop bamboo sticks in the courtyard of Bai's house, but now he just changed the location, chopping bamboo sticks one by one and putting them away for later use.

Bai Zhun has completely rested.

He used to make random things for fun. Before the Temple of the City God was burned, he wanted to make a paper lantern. He used a knife to carve out pavilions, towers and pavilions, and covered the lamp with layers of rotation inside, changing scenes and characters.

But now he is like a lazy cat spending the winter, covered with a thick velvet blanket, and only occasionally goes to the yard when the sun is good.

Huo Zhenye pasted the paper and tied the color, and when he turned around, he saw him by the glass window, basking in the sun and drowsy.

He's been sleeping more and more lately.

"Are you a cat?" Huo Zhenye put down the paper bundle, walked to him with a smile, and reached out to touch him.

Bai Zhun's energy is lacking, it's like this every winter, but this year he won especially. Fortunately, Huo Zhenye has never seen him spend the winter in previous years.

"You don't care." He yawned lazily.

Huo Zhenye couldn't help frowning, no matter how lazy Bai Zhun is, he still eats energetically. Recently, apart from drinking milk tea and creamy snacks, he doesn't eat much meat.

"Are you sick?" Huo Zhenye sat next to him and reached out to touch his forehead, "I've slept a lot lately, and I don't like meat."

Bai Zhun yawned again, his eyes watered a little, and he opened his mouth just to joke: "According to what you said, can I still have a baby?"

Huo Zhenye's heart tightened. Even if the two were joking, they would never make such a joke. They both knew where the other's boundaries were.

"It's so annoying." Bai Zhun rolled his eyes, as if accommodating him, "Then go and bask in the sun."

Huo Zhenye heaved a sigh of relief, and pushed him to take a walk in the garden. This garden was meticulously remodeled by someone he hired. There are flowers in all seasons. Now it is the season of camellias, and the garden will be full of wintersweet in one month.

"This pond has been drained in winter. Next summer, let's raise Wanlian and build a small pavilion here. Let's play chess here. What do you think?"

Bai Zhun looked at a dry pool with a smile in his eyes, it would be nice if he could see it.

"If you don't want to plant some gardenias and jasmines, you can smell the fragrance when you open the window." Bai Zhun likes the pot of epiphyllum very much. If it doesn't have the fragrance of flowers, it would be better than the paper bundle he made.

Huo Zhenye didn't hear Bai Zhun's answer, turned his head and saw that Bai Zhun had already fallen asleep.

Mama Liu took the food box and just walked to the door of the Bai Mansion. Before she rang the doorbell, someone came to open the door for her. She looked up and opened her mouth wide: "Bai...Miss Bai."

Axiu blinked and nodded, Liu Ma stared blankly for a while: "Our young master asked me to deliver the bird's nest."

Axiu reached out to take it, and led Liu Ma into the door. The moment the door was opened, all the paper-stitched figures in the room were honestly hidden upstairs. Only the little oriole, relying on its small size and fast flight, pretended to I am a living bird.

Mama Liu wanted to ask Miss Bai about her age and birthday, but Axiu kept looking at her, neither smiling nor speaking.

Mama Liu thought that the Bai family had good rules, so she asked Axiu: "Then, is the young master there? I want to ask what to send tomorrow?"

Axiu pointed to the garden, Mama Liu looked out the window and saw Mr. Bai taking a nap in a wheelchair, and the young master sitting on the grass. It was rare to see a warm sun today.

The two were sitting in the sun, the young master was doing something with his head down, and after a while he looked up at Mr. Bai.

Mama Liu opened her eyes wide at first, and then opened her mouth wide. She looked at Miss Bai in horror, and saw Miss Bai's face was taken for granted, as if she had been used to it for a long time.

When Liu Ma looked over again, Huo Zhenye had folded a paper flower, and he placed the paper flower on Bai Zhun's knee.

Mama Liu gasped, her forehead was buzzing, the young master is not with Miss Bai's family, but he has fallen in love with the young master of Bai's family!

No wonder the young master is so angry!

"I just, don't bother the young master, I'll go back first."

Mama Liu's face was red and then white, white and red again, and she left without saying a word. Axiu put the food box in the kitchen, and they should come in after seeing the weather.

Sure enough, after a while, Huo Zhenye pushed Bai Zhun back, knowing that Mama Liu had come, and brought out the stewed bird's nest to Bai Zhun: "Should I eat it with milk or honey?"

Even if he eats another hundred or one thousand cups, it will be of no use to him.

"Add milk." He chose one, and ate half of it spoonful by spoonful.

When Liu Ma walked out of the White Mansion, she felt that the sun on her head was making people's eyes dizzy. This was really fatal. The fourth young master liked a dancing lady, and if he wanted to marry him, he made the old man fly into a rage, beating him until he couldn't get out of bed for half a month. .

In the end, it was the Eldest Young Master who persuaded the Fourth Young Master to come back. Although it was to cut off his food and expenses, it was also for his own good.

Since then, the fourth young master has been staying in his hometown. The master has never used him again, and he is not even allowed to take care of the shop and fields at home. How can you rest assured to let him watch.

If Mr. Huo found out about the Seventh Young Master, he might come to Shanghai himself to arrest the Seventh Young Master.

Seeing Mama Liu coming back, Ah Zhen came up to her and asked, "Mama Liu, how are you doing? Have you seen Miss Bai?"

With a pale face, Mama Liu spat at A Zhen: "I don't do anything every day, I only know how to inquire about things, you are always inquiring!"

Ah Zhen felt aggrieved: "If you don't talk about it, don't talk about it, what's wrong with it." After speaking, she turned her head and went to work.

Mama Liu wandered around in the kitchen. The young master must have been bewitched. Thinking of this, she quickly took off her apron and said to Ah Zhen, "I'm feeling a little uncomfortable. I'll ask the doctor to feel my pulse. You can tell the doctor for me." Say something, young lady."

Ah Zhen agreed: "No wonder Liu Ma, you look so ugly, do you want to see a western doctor?"

"What kind of western medicine are you looking for? Western medicine is too expensive. It's an old problem. I'll find the doctor in Huichuntang and prescribe some medicine." Liu Ma went out with her satchel. , Just burn it a few more times.

Going in and worshiping incense first, muttering, begging the Bodhisattva to bless Huo Zhenye was a momentary confusion, so I quickly figured it out, but I must not go all the way to the dark.

When Mama Liu was worshiping incense, there was a woman in black kneeling beside her. When Mama Liu finished kowtowing, the woman turned her head and smiled at her, and opened her mouth as if to say something.

Mama Liu didn't hear clearly, but her expression was in a daze, she didn't even insert the incense, she stood up and followed behind the woman in black.

The woman gave her a talisman with a smile, and told her that as long as the talisman paper was burned to ashes and added to the soup for people to drink, all evils would be cured.

"Add it to the soup."

The voice came into Liu Ma's ears as if through the veil, and each sound became more urgent. Liu Ma stunned and put the talisman into her sleeve, she kept nodding, and repeated what the woman said: "Add it to the soup."

The woman smiled and sent her all the way back to the Huo mansion. People on the road could only see an old woman dressed as a servant, talking to herself on the road alone.

When they reached the Huo mansion, the woman in black was about to follow Mama Liu in when she was stopped by a white light at the gate of the mansion.

The woman in black was bounced to the ground, and when she looked up, she saw that the entire Huo Mansion was enveloped in white light. Through the window, she saw a young man staring at her vigilantly under the ginkgo tree.

Mama Liu was hit by the white light, she came back to her senses, she didn't know how she came back, she just remembered to burn incense, looked down, she was still holding the handles of three sticks of incense sticks in her hand.

The three sticks of incense had already been burned, and she didn't offer incense to the Bodhisattva, but came back holding the incense?

Then she touched her sleeve and found a talisman. Mama Liu rushed into the kitchen with the talisman and threw it into the stove: "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, the blue sky and the day have hit a ghost!"

The author has something to say: Liu is not so easy to deceive Mom