evildoers

After dinner, Lu Zhixu carried the baby to take a bath, while Xia Chen was talking to Mr. Xia in the living room.

It's New Year's Eve, it's the cold wind howling outside, and it's the warmth of spring indoors.

Such a night is most suitable for the whole family to sit around the fire and chat about some warm memories.Instead of talking about an old murder case.

Xia Chen sat on the sofa, and pushed a cup of hot tea in front of the old man.

Mr. Xia has never been a warm person, and in front of the juniors, he is more majestic than kind.Although he looked at Xia Chen differently, he still called Xia Chen by his first name.

"Xia Chen, are you blaming me in your heart?"

Xia Chen didn't answer him directly, but just said lightly: "I didn't count on anyone."

Because there is no hope, there will be no disappointment, and there will be no so-called resentment.

To put it bluntly, it is "I never counted on you."

Old Master Xia naturally understood Xia Chen's meaning, so his veined hands clenched the armrest of the wheelchair, trembling slightly.

"Your uncle and the others were actually confused for a while..." The old man's tone couldn't convince himself.

Such a deliberate murder, such a seamless aftermath, the truth was not made public until 12 years later.Behind such a murder, how long is the accumulated resentment?How long should it be planning and deliberating?

"Grandpa's health is not good, so don't bother about these trivial matters. Stay here and have a good year." Xia Chen ignored Mr. Xia's words, and stood up calmly.

Mr. Xia grabbed his hand.

The hand of the old man can vaguely see the strength with which he swung Fang Qiu in the poor mountains and rivers. His skin is like old bark, with dark purple age spots.Holding Xia Chen's slender and fair hand together, the contrast is cruel.

"When you were young, I thought that this family business will still be handed over to you in the future." The old man's voice was slow but firm: "Since you have this ability now, let me leave it to you while I can still be the master. "

He waved his hand to prevent Xia Chen from interjecting, pointed to Wu Jiang who had been guarding the bed and said, "The family is all from your uncle and others, so Wu Jiang is more reliable. After the new year, you can accompany me back to Beijing They made it clear in front of your uncle, I will live in Xiaotangshan, out of sight and out of mind.”

What Old Master Xia meant was to hand over the power of the Xia family to Xia Chen in front of those uncles of the Xia family.

Mr. Xia is not the first case of this kind of passing on to grandchildren but not to sons.Next to Xia Chen, there is an example - Li Zhurong.

Mr. Xia made this decision not to protect Xia Chen, but purely for the future of the Xia family.

Of course, when he made such a decision, he secretly hoped that Xia Chen could let his uncles go because of a single thought of kindness.

But hope is hope, after a month of getting along, Xia Chen's character, he already knows very well.

It's like what Xia Chen said when he persuaded Xia Chen to let go.

He said: "Grandpa, I am different from you. You have four sons, but I have only one father and one mother. So you can forgive, but I cannot."

Mr. Xia knew very well that by making such a decision, he took away the only chips in the hands of his sons.But he has no choice.

Xia Chen was determined to take revenge, but the Xia family didn't give it to him. He used Xia Zhifei, Li Zhurong, and the hidden chess he had laid out over the years to get revenge.He is only 19 years old, so smart, and so tolerant.Xia Zhifei didn't have a son, and he wanted him to be his heir. Rather than let the Xia family be destroyed by his revenge by then, it would be better to hand over the Xia family to him now.

It was already late at night.

The old man insisted on sitting in the living room for a while.Xia Chen had already gone upstairs to prepare the guest room. The tea he made was placed on the coffee table, and it was still steaming.

After this year, the fate of the Xia family can no longer be controlled by oneself.

The old man sat in the living room, feeling a little sad for no reason.

In his life, apart from his career as a soldier, he was full of intrigues. The huge foundation of the Xia family was on his shoulders. He never stopped for a moment. Even when Xia Zhixiang died, he returned to his position just after the funeral. I didn't take a day off.

However, people are always getting old.

Children and grandchildren have their own blessings, he is already old and can't control so much, how Xia Chen deals with them depends on their fate.

The old man sighed, turned his head, and glanced at the Dripping Guanyin beside the sofa.

The old man had never seen this kind of plant before. Among the green stems and leaves, there were white flower arrows sticking out, like a hooded Jade Guanyin, looking down at all living beings with compassion.

There are so many wonderful things in a person's life, but also so many regrets and helplessness.Things in the world are like chess, but few people can break the game.

This is the only thing I can do.

At least, when they see Zhi Xiang and Bi Wei in the underground in the future, they won't have nothing to say.

New Year approached.

After the Lunar New Year's Eve, Xia Chen began to be busy buying all kinds of food for the New Year. Lu Zhixu was a hands-free shopkeeper, and he would stand by and watch every day without getting his hands wet. Take two bites.

Xia Chen grew up in the north, but the food he ate was southern taste - he spent most of his years with Mr. Li, an old-fashioned southern literati, he wanted to eat water shield and sea bass, and he would talk about southern snacks from time to time.

27 On this day, Xia Chen was frying cat ears.

This is what Xia Chen used to eat at Mr. Li's house when he was a child. The dough was dyed, rolled into a ball with a special technique, and cut out piece by piece. The pattern was circled, like a cat's ears.

Xia Chen boiled the oil, put down the soft cat's ears, fried them until they were crispy and crispy, took them out with a strainer, put them in a strainer to filter out the oil, and let them cool down.

Lu Zhixu never liked to eat pasta, but it smelled delicious and it was fried, so Xia Chen gave him a piece, and he ate it too. He thought it tasted good, so he called the baby over to eat.

"This food is deep-fried and contains a lot of oil. If you eat too much, you won't eat." Xia Chen put a small dish for the baby, walked to the kitchen door and handed it to him.

Holding this thing, the baby ran to the living room on short legs, and ran to Mr. Xia who was watching TV: "Grandpa, I'll eat it for you."

Grandpa Xia smiled and patted his head: "Grandpa can't eat it, you can eat it yourself."

In the past two days, the old and the young have shown feelings. The baby is sensible, honest, and kind to the old man. He is very pleased with Mr. Xia. Mr. Xia secretly gave him a piece of jade, which he got in Xiangxi back then. There is a white and fat boy carved on it, which was worn by Xia Zhixiang when he was a child.

It is a custom in City C that when entertaining guests during the Spring Festival, take out a round box, which is divided into compartments and contain various dried fruit snacks. cake.

Mr. Li is a native of C City. During the Chinese New Year, Li’s house is used to entertain guests. They are all red lacquered round boxes. Inside are homemade olives, dried plums, sunflower seeds, almonds, cat’s ears, and delicate small twists that are as thick as fingers. ... Some customers even joked that Mr. Li really came from a wealthy family, and they used antiques to entertain guests.

Xia Chen doesn't know how to make dried fruit, but he knows how to make fried doughnuts, deep-fried golden twisted doughnuts, first soaked in syrup, then rolled in sesame seeds, it is fragrant and crispy, for someone like Lu Zhixu who doesn't eat sweets, I couldn't help but eat a little bit.

Xia Chen grew up with Mr. Li. In his view, a man must first let his family live a safe and comfortable life. He doesn't believe that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen.Tao Yuanming is a gentleman, and he also worked hard in Nanmu.Yuan Mei is a gentleman, and there are many things to eat in Suiyuan Shihua.

Like Li Zhurong, wearing a crisp suit and turquoise cufflinks, eating steak on the 79th floor.During the Chinese New Year, sitting there majestically is naturally a way of life.

However, like Xia Zhifei, who wore a custom-made shirt, but rolled up his sleeves to cook for Lu Feixia. During the Chinese New Year, Lu Feixia forced him to wear a "couple outfit" Tang suit, and put down millions of dollars in business for him. Peanuts are also a way of life.

Xia Chen chose the latter.

Therefore, the Lu family had a wonderful year this year.

Few of the younger generation know that there are three things that are absolutely indispensable on the New Year's table, that is, fish, meat, and chicken.As for other dishes, here in C City, there are pork belly, pig heart and so on. Now that the living conditions are better, many people have more seafood on the table during the Chinese New Year.

It was the first time for Xia Chen to prepare things for the New Year by himself.

Mr. Xia was worried, so he leaned on crutches from time to time, and asked Wu Jiang to help him to the kitchen to watch, point and express his opinions.He is an older generation, the most respectful of rules.There are rules on how to cut meat, what size fish to buy, what dishes can and cannot be served.In his words, if the rules are broken, accidents will happen.

29 On this day, Xia Chen spent the whole day washing and rinsing. Some ingredients are difficult to wash, which one should use soda and which one should use vinegar. A steel wool brush removes the burnt layer, exuding a unique meaty aroma.Grass carp that weighs more than ten catties can be cut into a plate.Xia Chen is preparing to cook hot pot for the Chinese New Year.Bought beef balls and the like.The New Year's Eve dinner is a huge project.He was doing the preparations alone.

Mr. Xia was sitting in the dining room watching, and suddenly he began to feel emotional. He thought of Xia Chen's grandma, and talked about his married wife, a virtuous woman...

Lu Zhixu kowtowed the melon seeds and comforted him: "Old man, don't worry about these things all the time, no one can live well if there are fewer people."

He was effective in consoling others, although he knew very well that he could not live without some people.

It's like a fish that has been living in cold water for ten years.But after living in the warmth for a long time, and returning to the cold, it is impossible to live for a day.

He knew that he was such a fish.

His warmth depends on this person named Xia Chen, as long as this person is still here, even if he stands at the kitchen door and only looks at his back, he will be warm.