Yangcheng

The best friends who haven’t seen each other this year, talk happily over wine, fish and meat with hot wine, talk happily and warmly, and the friendship is stronger when they are slightly drunk.

There are really a lot of things to talk about in this small place in He County, probably because Ge Xunqing likes to chat, and she can talk about trivial things happily for a long time.

Said that she and the county magistrate screened saplings together and planted hardy plants to withstand the winter wind.

Said that she hunted with Mao Er, and then took the meat from the prey and buried it in the snow for ice storage.The locals have been saving it for several years. There is no way, the supplies are scarce, and the taste of the meat after thawing is somewhat rotten. She vomited when she ate it for the first time...

It is said that there are very few people studying here, and even fewer people aspire to go to Boling to seek official positions. They have to help their families with fishing, hunting... doing various jobs since they were young, and have no time to study.In the past hundred years, there have been ten Jinshi, which is pitifully small.

"As a result, I am getting poorer and poorer. Although I have little knowledge, I am from the Mingjing after all, and I still have some skills in rote memorization. I can still teach a few words and analyze simple articles."

"So you became a teacher and accepted several students."

"The school here is incomparable with our Bailu Academy. Let alone thousands of people, you can count them on your hands. The youngest is six years old, and the oldest is sixteen. They all study together, and what they learn is still the same. Very basic, what we learned when we started. They are actually very smart, and they can learn it as soon as possible, but they didn’t have the opportunity to learn it before.”

When Ge Xunqing talked about all kinds of hardships in this impoverished He County, he sighed repeatedly and couldn't help drinking a few more glasses.

Shi Ruzhuo didn't disturb her desire to get drunk, and drank with her.

The smell of alcohol rose, his head was a little dizzy, but he was in a good mood.

With the help of the light in the room, it was rare for Shi Ruzhuo, who was a bit above his head, to look at Ge Xunqing's face directly and boldly.

Shi Ruzhuo propped his chin with one hand and stared at Ge Xunqing for a long time.

Ge Xunqing was a little flustered by her look: "What's wrong? What kind of eyes are these. Have I become ugly?"

Shi Ruzhuo shook his head, squinted his eyes and smiled, reached out and stroked Ge Xunqing's face lightly with his fingertips.

Shi Ruzhuo could feel slight graininess and some small wounds on his fingertips. Shi Ruzhuo said distressedly: "Before you set off from Boling, your face was as smooth as fat. You have suffered all these pains after you have only been here for a year...I want to put you Bring back."

Ge Xunqing didn't feel embarrassed when her face was touched.

The warmth of Shi Ruzhuo's hands and the familiar smell reassured her.

"It doesn't mean that you can leave if you leave. If I become a deserter today, it will be even more impossible to go up in the future. This is the so-called grinding. In the past year, I have studied in He County. The local chronicles and archives here found that most of the people who came here to work here were later transferred back to Boling. Only after experiencing honing in the prefectures and counties can they be qualified for the big job in the future. Don’t think I’m squeamish, although I’m sad When I was there, didn't I have a good time?"

The feeling of being cared about made Ge Xunqing very gratified, and the days when she couldn't sleep every night seemed to be less bitter.

The two were talking when someone knocked on the door.

Ge Xunqing asked, and a rough man outside the house said, "It's me! Yangguang, I brought you meat!"

Ge Xunqing said to Shi Ruzhuo, "It's Mao Er."

Opening the door, it was already late outside the house, and the cold wind was raging. The fur and thick jacket wrapped the whole body tightly, only a pair of eyes were exposed.

In his hand, he carried several hares that were too fat to fall to his hands. After Ge Xunqing took the hares, he dragged in a deer from outside.

Ge Xunqing said: "Enough is enough, there are only two of us, how can we eat so much?"

Mao Er said: "As long as you eat with wine, you can finish it. I'm afraid you won't be enough!"

Talking to Shi Ruzhuo in the room, he smiled naively twice: "Then you guys chat, I'll go first."

Shi Ruzhuo felt a little embarrassed. He braved the cold wind to come and deliver something and then left. Why don't you come in for a glass of wine?

Unexpectedly, Ge Xunqing didn't keep him, and he didn't say any polite words at all. When he said he left, he waved to him and said, "I'll make dried meat for you some other day. You won't be lucky with this batch. I'll give it to you." If I love food, I want to leave it all to her."

Mao Er didn't know whether his cheeks were flushed by the wind or because of other reasons. When he spoke to Ge Xunqing, there was an obvious warmth on his face:

"Hey, it's okay, I'm lonely and I'm not in a hurry. When will you give me my time, I'll pick it up, hehe."

After Mao Er left, Ge Xunqing told Shi Ruzhuo to let her play and read by herself, there are some scriptures by the bedside.

"I'll go and deal with the rabbit and I'll be back."

Shi Ruzhuo asked her: "Do you dare to kill the rabbit?"

Ge Xunqing: "Why don't you dare, it's already dead, I just peeled off the skin and removed the internal organs, don't worry, I'm pretty good now. It's you, don't come here out of curiosity, bloody scares you."

Shi Ruzhuo chuckled lightly.

Not to mention rabbits, she has even killed people, but she doesn't want Ge Xunqing to know about it for the time being.

Ge Xunqing went to deal with the rabbit, and behind Shi Ruzhuo was Ge Xunqing's bed, a stack of story books were piled up, almost all of which were prepared by Tong Shaoxuan for her when she set off from Boling.

Some of the scriptures are almost torn apart, and some are quite new.

You can tell which types of stories she likes to watch.

Shi Ruzhuo held the most worn-out book in his hand, and quickly flipped through it. This is the story of a chivalrous woman wandering the rivers and lakes.

The girl in the story book is heroic, and the plot is simple. When I see her helping the weak, I will also breathe a sigh of relief.

Reading the scripts quickly, Shi Ruzhuo went to get those scripts that Ge Xunqing didn't read very much, wanting to see what kind of stories she didn't like.

Opening it up, it turned out to be a book analyzing "Shangshu", Shi Ruzhuo almost laughed out loud.

Changsi is really well-intentioned, and actually included a book of learning in the book of relaxation and relief, even if Yang Guang is in the north, he will not forget to study.

But it can be seen that Ge Yangguang probably didn't read it again after reading it once.

Shi Ruzhuo could almost imagine that when Ge Yangguang read this script for the first time, he might scold Tong Changsi in the direction of Bo Ling.

When I was about to put the storybook back, a small square piece of cloth suddenly fell out of it.

Shi Ruzhuo picked up the cloth, and saw that there was a line of writing on it, which was a line of love poems copied in jerky handwriting:

"There is a beautiful woman, and you will never forget it. If you don't see her for a day, you will think like crazy."

The handwriting is not very beautiful, it looks like it was written by someone who doesn't write very often.

Although it is not beautiful, it is very careful. It can be seen that the person who copied this love poem has poured emotion into every stroke, but the explicit words made Shi Ruzhuo frown.

Shi Ruzhuo knew what Ge Xunqing's writing was like, it was not written by Ge Xunqing.

That was written to her by someone else.

After Ge Xunqing finished handling a rabbit, he spread oil and seasoning on the rabbit meat, let it marinate for a while to taste, and moved to the grill.

When the grill was put in place, Ge Xunqing rounded his eyes and said to Shang Shi Ruzhuo's teasing eyes, "What's wrong? These words must have been prepared for me by Changsi. What strange content are you looking at?" Don't spit on me, you go to Changsi!"

Shi Ruzhuo read the love poem again, and said with a smile: "It seems that even if Ge Meiren goes to a remote place, there will be no shortage of admirers."

"Oh, this." Ge Xunqing soon knew what she saw, "Liu Qiniang was just writing nonsense."

"Written by Liu Qiniang?" Shi Ruzhuo thought it was written by Mao Er.

"Yeah, she used to pester me to read her love poems, and I just taught her two random ones, and she was practicing calligraphy."

Shi Ruzhuo said: "You put other people's homework in the story book?"

"Oh, I just put it away, and I don't know where I put it. If you didn't find it today, I might never find it in my life!"

Shi Ruzhuo found that Ge Xunqing didn't look at her when he said these words, but was busy installing the stove. After saying this, he immediately started talking about how fat the rabbit is, and the taste of roasted rabbit meat in He County is similar to Su County is completely different...

Shi Ruzhuo helped her put the love poem back, came up to help, and installed the grill with her.

"Hasn't Yang Guang thought about getting married?" Shi Ruzhuo asked her.

"Well... yes, of course." Ge Xunqing carried the rabbit over, spread it on the grill that had started to heat up, and opened the window a little to allow the hot air to circulate better. But I'm poor and white now, who would take a liking to me."

"Why not?" Shi Ruzhuo smiled, "The one who wrote the love poems."

Ge Xunqing: "...Don't embarrass me."

There was another knock on the door, and Ge Xunqing went to open it, and it was a seven or eight-year-old girl who came back.

Shi Ruzhuo remembered her, her name was Xiaoman.

"Aunt Yangguang, my mother asked me to bring you a Tang Pozi." Xiaoman said, "She said it's cold here, and she was afraid that your friend from Boling wouldn't be able to sleep well."

Ge Xunqing was tall and blocked the door, and took Mrs. Tang: "Thank you, go back and tell your mother, I will send her back in a few days."

Xiaoman's pair of phoenix eyes quietly glanced at Shi Ruzhuo, and then left quickly.

"Why don't you let the kid in for a while?"

Shi Ruzhuo was a little curious.

It is understandable that Mao Er is not convenient to come in. It seems that the seven or eight-year-old child will not be allowed in.

"Well, I'm not used to people coming into my house, it feels very awkward."

Ge Xunqing put Tang Pozi aside, brought a broken copper pot over, dipped some sauce in the copper pot with a brush, and spread it on the rabbit meat.

The aroma of the meat became more pronounced.

"The little lady is Liu Qiniang's daughter?" Shi Ruzhuo watched as the flames sprang up and burst into the air, making a crisp sound.

"Ah? How do you know?"

Shi Ruzhuo chuckled lightly: "The person who looks so similar and misses you, who else is there besides her?"

"Oh." Ge Xunqing settled the matter with one word.

A moment of silence.

If it was in the past, Yishiruzhuo's personality would not ask.

But today she is different from before.

Silence made her feel cowardly. It was an unbearable past in a certain period of life that was controlled.

She didn't want to continue to be passive.

Moreover, the filth all over her body made her drift away from Yangon a long time ago, which is absolutely impossible.The current relationship is nothing more than a little bit of tenderness that she has worked so hard to win back.

Since she will lose it one day, she must at least be clear about it.

"It seems that Liu Qiniang is in love with you, and she doesn't want to give up at all." Shi Ruzhuo helped her wrap the rabbit's limbs with cloth, so that it could turn over better.

Hearing what she said, Ge Xunqing let out a long sigh: "I don't think she is a widow, I think so, I like to make friends, I like to have fun with my friends outside, and I am obliged to help anyone who asks me a favor. But I hope to have my own space. Just like this small room, I don’t want other people to come in and disturb me. My own reasons, the longer I stay together, the more uncomfortable I feel, and I feel that someone is choking my throat.”

"Have you stayed with Liu Qiniang?"

"Well, I lived with her and Xiaoman for half a year, but I felt uncomfortable, so we separated again."

When Shi Ruzhuo heard this answer, his heart suddenly ached.

Even knowing that sooner or later the knife will always fall, when it really cuts the heart, the pain is still unavoidable.

Shi Ruzhuo took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his emotions, and said with a forced smile: "Then why are you willing to let me live here?"

"It's different." Ge Xunqing said immediately, "It's different. You are my childhood friend and my best friend. The feeling of being with you is completely different. Although I often clamor for getting married, love is not the same as What is written in the storybook is different, more tiring than I thought, and restrained everywhere, I am probably really not suitable."