The Republic of China. A Dream of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies

Three days later, the two hurried back to Beijing.

After Yanlin entered the house, he went directly to the living room, where Taifu Jin was sitting with Brother Kun waiting for him.

The prince stepped forward and asked his mother, "Mother, are you okay?" What he was afraid of was that his mother would fall ill because of the stimulation of this incident, but the old lady sat calmly and called him to sit down. .

"I discussed it with Zai Kun, why don't you get up?" She made up her mind to say this. In the Qing Dynasty, she was disobedient and unfilial, and she would be sentenced to death, but The problem now is "If you are not afraid of the thief stealing, you are afraid of the thief thinking about it." Besides, the thief has already come to the door. If they let it go, the thief will come back again.

"Er Niang, this is absolutely impossible. Even if our family is so poor that we can't afford food, I haven't touched half a dollar from the ancestral grave. Do you want to make Ama feel uneasy?" He never dreamed that his mother would Say it.

She frowned and shook her head slowly: "Of course not, but it's not the same as yesterday, the world has changed, we don't have the ability to guard the graves of our ancestors, so we might as well take out everything in the graves, or the robbers will steal them all in the end." Let’s go, and face our ancestors with shame.” She felt heartbroken, but after thinking about it, it seems that this is the most appropriate way, at least the things left by the ancestors are not cheap to outsiders.

Zai Kun also nodded and said: "Well, yes, this is a last resort, but although such a bad thing happened this time, there is another good thing coming, so it is a good thing."

Yanlin asked puzzledly, "Is there something else going on?"

At this moment, Pu Ying also walked in and sat in a seat close to his father to listen.

Tai Fujin took over the conversation: "Well, it's a good thing. Didn't I tell you back then that your ama once raised a woman outside, and a few days ago our family's ancestral grave was stolen, and a young girl came to I went to guard it on the mountain, and later I found out that she was the child of that woman." Although she didn't want to admit that the girl named Hui'er was from her family, she could take out a few tokens.

"I have a younger sister?" Yanlin was very surprised. He only had an older sister before him, and they married one after another, and they didn't live in Beijing. One was in Mongolia, and the other followed his brother-in-law back to the Northeast. If he had a younger sister in Beijing, it would be It was indeed a good thing, but he found that his mother was not happy, yes, the seemingly honest father had been hiding in the golden house for many years, and unexpectedly gave birth to a child without anyone noticing, which must have made Erniang very sad.

Zai Kun had already met Hui'er, and felt that the girl was quite stable, so he said: "Well, she is a child who understands the general situation and considers the overall situation. Her mother died of illness at the beginning of the year, and she lived alone. Before, you Ama took them Settled in Tianjin."

"No wonder my Ama has to go to Tianjin every month on business. What does she mean?" Yanlin didn't know what the younger sister who had never met before was thinking. Could it be that she wanted to live with them?

"She is alone and has no husband's family. I really think you should live together." After Zai Kun finished speaking, he asked Zhou Ping to serve refreshments for everyone.

"For a while, you go to the mountain to have a look first. As for the matter of Hui'er, let's talk about it after the dust settles." Tai Fujin had a headache, if he said that his ancestral tomb was alive, but he wanted to give those officials a piece of the pie, It's really unfair, but even if Kun Belle is involved, they have to give [-]% to others.

After lunch, Puying and Yanlin went to the western suburbs. They drove to the foot of the mountain and saw Uncle Quan who had been waiting for a long time. In front of the small restaurant, I told the two about the situation, and I went up the mountain with them in a while.

While the three of them were talking, they saw an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl walking out of the restaurant. She didn't look particularly outstanding, but there was an intelligence in her eyes. She was well-proportioned, with a round face, and smiled. She is very charming. She is wearing a plain cheongsam with a jet-black braid, revealing an undisguised youthful charm in her simplicity.

"Brother, I'm Hui'er." She brought tea for the two of them, and introduced herself shyly.

"Don't tell me, you two really look alike." Pu Ying said with a smile, the two are brother and sister at first glance, although they were not born by the same mother, their outlines are very similar.

Hui'er was even more embarrassed when she saw the handsome elder brother, she lowered her eyes and remained silent.

Seeing his younger sister, Yan Lin got up quickly and said, "I didn't know you were a younger sister before, but now we know each other, we will be a family from now on, you can move in and live with us!"

Hui'er looked up at her brother, a little hesitant, she was afraid that Taifu Jin would not tolerate her, when her mother was alive, she was always reluctant to come forward because she was afraid of being rejected by the royal family.

This time, when she went up the mountain alone to pay respects to her ancestors, she encountered the burglary of her ancestral grave. She followed the grave watcher to find the policeman, and only then revealed her own life experience.

"You are helpless in Tianjin, and you are a girl's family. Brother, I am very worried about you. If Ama is still alive, he will definitely approve of you living with us." Yan Lin liked Hui'er from the bottom of his heart, He has been looking forward to having a younger sister since he was a child, but he has never been able to fulfill his wish. Now that he has an extra younger sister out of thin air, he is naturally happy.

Hearing this, the girl nodded. Although she didn't know what kind of person her brother was, hearing him speak like that made her feel warm.

The three chatted for a while, and then Liu Sanquan led the two young men up the mountain. The patrolmen were waiting on the spot, and asked the family members to come and count the belongings. Only Yanlin's great-grandfather suffered bad luck, and the other graves were still intact.

The grave was blown out to the size of the mouth of a water tank, which was just big enough for one person to go down. Yanlin simply recruited three strong men from the village to dig up the grave. Anyone can take the lead.

After working until the sun was about to set, Yanlin and Puying sat on the rocks on the mountainside to rest, and they went up the stone steps next to the ancestral grave. Tonight they lived in the keeper's hut next to the ancestral grave. Uncle Quan had already gone down the mountain. I have prepared bedding and food, and I am afraid that someone will steal things in the middle of the night when they are not prepared.

"I liked coming here when I was a child. At that time, I didn't know the meaning of the ancestral grave. This mountain forest belongs to my family, but now there is only this small piece left." Yanlin said, they would come here every year Worshiping ancestors, once in Qingming Festival, once before Chinese New Year, and sometimes Ama would take him to hunt in the nearby mountains on a whim, which was the happiest memory of his childhood.

Puying looked at the sunset not far away, and said leisurely: "My ancestral grave is north of you, and there is a Zhuangzi there. I have been studying in England for the past few years, but I haven't been there much. I must go to worship this year during the Qingming Festival. Otherwise, my Dada (grandfather) should come to me at night."

"The old prince is very kind, and he does things vigorously and swiftly. I really admire him." Yanlin turned his face away and looked at the elder brother next to him, who just happened to give him a face.

"When I was sensible, his old man's health was already failing. We have been in England all year round, and he missed him very much. Fortunately, we met for the last time, otherwise I will regret it in my life... However, sometimes I still think of the Qing Dynasty. The past." Pu Ying is not very nostalgic for the life of the Qing Dynasty, because when he was sensible, the Republic of China was about to come, and what he saw more was the people's resentment and dissatisfaction with the dynasty, and he even suffered from his peers. Of course, the younger brother Pu Xing is even more bullying, and he often fights with others because of this.

Yanlin sighed leisurely: "Although everyone knew that the Qing Dynasty could not enjoy eternal peace, no one thought that it would end so soon. My Ama told me that I probably wouldn't live as comfortably as he did in this life. , but I didn’t expect the dynasty to change so early.”

"Even if you don't change the dynasty, you're just lingering. Maybe you, a majestic prince, can only receive 200 salaries a year, and you can't even support your whole family... But it's really not good now. The people are fighting every day for three days. Peace." Pu Ying handed him a foreign cigarette, and helped him light the fire again.

Yanlin said: "No, the most powerful people are warlords, why don't I just hang out with them, maybe there is still a bright future."

"It's not difficult if you really want to be a soldier, but you just have to live with your head up. If there is a war, the guns don't have eyes, and they will die if they die. Can your wife and children bear it?" Fujin regards the prince as a treasure, if this person really dies, the old lady probably won't survive either.

The prince lowered his head, smoked and said, "I didn't join the army because of my mother-in-law. I was afraid that the old man would not be able to bear it, and I was also afraid that Qiaoping would become a widow early. If you really want to survive, you must have military merits." That’s fine, even if the dynasty changes again, this rule will not change.”

"You're wrong, it mainly depends on your brain, Wu Hai, my friend of Ama, he was just a green battalion soldier at first, but later became a school officer. If you really want to join the army and follow him, he will take care of you. He has the courage of a man." You can only be cannon fodder, and you have to be able to calculate, save your life, and you will be promoted to a noble if you are alive, and you will be gone if you die, don't expect the country to support your whole family." Pu Ying said, looking back at Uncle Quan came up from the bottom of the mountain with two people, one of whom was Hui'er.

"Hui'er, why are you here too?" Yan Lin was very happy to see his sister, and personally took the basket that the girl was carrying.

She wiped off her sweat and said, "I'll bring you food up, and I'll go down the mountain with the boss later."

Next to Sanquan was the owner of the restaurant at the foot of the mountain, Lao Zhong, who was nearly fifty years old, and he had to take care of the meals these few days. Hui'er was staying at his home for the time being, and he greeted the two of them politely.

"My lord, Beizi, it's cool in the mountains at night, I've prepared an extra set of bedding for you." Lao Zhong was still very careful when he spoke, although the lord is no longer a lord, but their family was still taken care of by the old lord in the past. So these years, I have been obliged to guard the ancestral grave for the prince.

"You're being polite." Yanlin met him several times, and every time he went to the mountain to visit the grave, he was in charge of entertaining him, and he and his father were also old acquaintances.

"Let's clean up the house first so that they can live in it. The house is too dirty." After Sanquan finished speaking, he followed Lao Zhong to clean the room.

Hui'er brought them food, poured tea herself, sat on the opposite step and asked, "I heard from Uncle Quan that Lord Belle is coming over tomorrow."

"Yes, I am going to bring my friends over to settle the matter, try to let them take less." Pu Ying took over the conversation, he found that the girl didn't dare to look at him directly, and was very shy.

"What I didn't expect is that I have to share my family's things with outsiders. What kind of world is this!" Yan Lin complained, drinking the cold tea, but fortunately, the food was still hot.

"Don't think about it so much, hurry up and eat, everything must come after eating." Pu Ying picked up the bowl and ate it. Although the taste of the food is not delicious, the ingredients are the freshest, and they should be bought in this village. of.