In the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi's reign, it was the twelfth lunar month.
An edict came from the Forbidden City, and the master of the Tianwang Temple on Jingshi Mountain, Shao Shoushan, the Master of Du'e, came to the capital to meet the emperor.
All kinds of miraculous rumors about this 'Taoist Shao' in the capital were agitated.
Outside the capital, a small village in Zhili Province ushered in its third heavy snowfall this year.
Snowy night.
Inside Chaimen Village.
There are three large tile-roofed houses in front of the courtyard that is also very conspicuous in Chaimen Village. A stooped old man with age spots on his face and a woman with silver hair are standing together at the door. Both of them are on crutches, supporting each other.
, standing in front of the door threshold.
In front of them, a middle-aged woman was holding a child of five or seven years old, accompanying a fat middle-aged man.
Everyone was talking and laughing, looking at the young woman at the steps of the courtyard gate.
The woman had a cloth wrapped on her head, covering her cheeks, leaving only a pair of dark eyes. She looked at the middle-aged couple in front of the steps, and then her eyes passed over the couple and towards the couple supporting each other behind the threshold.
The old couple, a gentle voice came from her mouth: "Father, mother, I'm leaving now. You two should take care of your health."
"Eh, eh!"
The old man responded, smiling heartily with the old woman, his eyes full of kindness.
"Your brother and sister-in-law will take you to the place. After you go there, don't forget to give your family more information and go home during the holidays - this is always your natal home!" The old woman's eyes were slightly red.
, she lowered her head to wipe her tears with a handkerchief and spoke.
The young woman nodded: "Don't worry, I will come back to see you more!"
Under the turban, those big eyes were gleaming.
If there were any bystanders here, even if they did not see the woman's whole face, they would only see her eyes, and they would know that she must be a beauty.
"Sister, just live a good life after you go back.
It’s really hard to find this family this time. It’s an honest and honest family. If you go to his home and give him a baby, don’t feel bad about anything - a woman like you can find a beloved..."
The middle-aged man touched his child's head and spoke to the young woman with a grin. Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the middle-aged woman next to him with a glare.
The middle-aged man had a stern look on his face. He probably realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he just rubbed his son's head, making his son's yin and yang head shine brighter and brighter.
The woman smiled and said: "Sister, your elder brother can't speak, so don't take it to heart.
After you get married, you will take good care of your body and give birth to a son... Once you have a child, it's time for you to grow up. It's okay to be a child. If you feel uncomfortable, you won't be able to live there.
Happy, just go home and stay for a few days!"
"Chuan Bao'er, thank you brother and sister-in-law." The young woman knelt down to give a blessing to her brother and sister-in-law.
"Well!" Seeing 'Chuan Bao'er' like this, the middle-aged man looked more and more satisfied, with a smile on his face, "Then let's go now, Bao'er!"
Chuan Baoer nodded slightly and said: "Okay."
The man turned his head to look at his wife beside him and said: "I will send Bao'er to the place and then come back. You and Hao'er are at home, don't worry about me - take good care of our parents!"
"It was still bright when we had dinner just now.
How long has it been, and it suddenly gets dark..." The woman put the child in her arms, looked at the gloomy sky, and suddenly turned her head to look at her husband, her eyes shining brightly, "I'm still with you.
Go, that family was introduced by me, it is a family in our village, you are not familiar with it, I'm afraid you won't be able to find the place."
The middle-aged man did not dare to look at his wife, he shrank his neck and his eyes wandered: "What are you going to do?
You just stay at home, and you still have to take care of the elderly at home!
I haven’t been there for too long, it’s just getting dark. When I get to your village, if I really can’t find a place, I can just knock on the door of a house and ask, and I’ll know where to go!”
"snort!"
The woman snorted softly, approached her husband who was looking away, and lowered her voice: "Don't think that I don't know what you want to do and want to take the opportunity to stay outside?
Don’t even think about it!
I just want to go!”
“Mom, I want to go too!
I'll go too!" The child in the woman's arms yelled.
The three members of the family were noisy for a while, and finally the man compromised and said, "It's so cold and I have to go... Then you go and bring a quilt over. The wind and snow are blowing on the road. You're not cold, but I'm afraid of freezing."
child!"
The woman nodded, but did not move. Instead, she turned back and looked at the old couple on the threshold.
The old couple laughed along with the three people while they were arguing and did not dare to say anything. At this time, their son and daughter-in-law discussed the outcome, and they nodded in agreement and did not dare to express any opinions.
When he saw his daughter-in-law turning towards him, before the old man could react, the old woman said, "Xiuhua, stay here, I'll get the quilt for you!"
"Oh, mother, please take your time, I can just go get the quilt myself!"
The snow is so heavy, don’t slip and fall again!”
The woman said this and wanted to stop the old woman, but she never really stopped her mother-in-law.
"How could such a little snow throw me down?
Don't worry!" The old woman waved her hands repeatedly, turned around tremblingly, and walked back into the house. Seeing this, her husband finally reacted and hurried to help.
Snowflakes were falling from the sky.
The four people standing at the door were relatively speechless.
Chuan Baoer looked at his brother and sister-in-law with no emotion in his eyes.
The middle-aged woman turned her head and looked at the aisle behind the door, frowning, her eyes full of impatience. Until the old couple each held a quilt and approached tremblingly, the impatience on her face suddenly disappeared and turned into
His face was full of joy: "It's really a trouble for my parents. You can have a good rest at home. Xiaoquan and I will go back as soon as we go!"
As she spoke, she took the quilt from the arms of her parents-in-law, went to the straw shed on the side behind the door, and spread it on the platoon cart pulled by a big black mule parked in the straw shed.
After getting off the bed, he waved to 'Jin Xiaoquan' and his son 'Kim Zhengshan': "Come on, let's get in the car and go!"
"Let's go!" Jin Zhengshan ran over happily.
Jin Xiaoquan quickly followed: "Slow down, slow down!"
Halfway through, he turned to look at Chui Bao'er: "Bao'er, let's go!"
Chuan Bao'er nodded, turned back to look at her grey-haired, old parents, her eyes were a little complicated, and she said softly: "Dad, mother, Bao'er is leaving now... Do you have anything else?
Do you want to talk to me?"
Dad opened his mouth, but in the end he just said with a smile on his face: "Have a good time at your husband's house, Bao'er."
"Yes, live a good life..." Mother looked away, not looking at Chubao'er, but just echoed her husband.
"good.
Dad, Mom, you should also take care of yourself."
Chuan Baoer's eyes suddenly lost their brightness and became even colder and more lonely than this snowy day.
She listened to the urging voice behind her. An elixir bottle that she had taken out from her sleeve pocket and held in her palm was crushed to pieces by her force. The broken porcelain fragments of the elixir bottle cut her palm.
He also chopped up the two wax-sealed pills originally contained in the bottle.
Bao'er turned around and walked towards the carriage.
The snowy night is cold and gloomy.
On the road she walked, black plum blossoms scattered.
If you get close to the black plum blossoms and smell them, you can still smell the smell of blood mixed with the smell of medicine - that is the blood and medicine that dripped down after Chuabaoer's blood dissolved into two pills.
Woo——
The cold wind howled, rolled up the snow dust, spread it on the ground, and covered up the blooming plum blossoms.
Chuan Bao'er was sitting on the platoon car next to her sister-in-law 'Yin Xiuhua' when she heard the sound of the backyard door being locked behind her.
Yin Xiuhua next to her sniffed and said suspiciously: "What does it smell like? It smells like herbs, with a bit of iron..."
"Our mule has been having diarrhea for the past two days. I gave it some herbal medicine this morning." Jin Xiaoquan, who was sitting at the front of the car, casually replied. He raised his whip and cracked it.
The whip collided head to tail, making a crackling sound. Hearing the sound, the big mule pulled the cart and slowly walked out of the hayloft and headed towards the road.
"This mule and horse are really strong. Didn't they cost a lot of money to buy them?" Chuan Baoer asked his sister-in-law Yin Xiuhua next to him with a smile on his face.
Hearing this, Yin Xiuhua turned to look at her. There was also a big smile on her fat face, but the meaning was inexplicable: "It will cost a lot of money, but it's not that much... Your elder brother must take care of these mules and horses."
Well, if he hadn't been worrying about it every day, he wouldn't be so strong now. You see, it's been seven or eight years since I bought this mule, and this mule is still so capable. That's why your elder brother worries so much..."
"Seven or eight years...
I also left home seven or eight years ago..."
Yin Xiuhua heard Chua Baoer's somewhat melancholy words, her eyes flashed but she said nothing.
Jin Xiaoquan, who was in the front, waved his whip even faster - he used to be reluctant to whip his mule and horse, but now he put in some force and slapped the whip on the mule and horse's buttocks, urging it to speed up.
The mules and horses felt pain and ran forward faster.
Four hooves fell into the snow dust, leaving hoofprints as big as the mouth of a bowl.
The carriage walked along the road for about an hour, but still hadn't arrived at the village that Jin Xiaoquan was talking about. Chubao'er looked at the increasingly dark sky and the snarling dead trees on both sides of the road. She seemed a little scared and said with a trembling voice: "
Brother, sister-in-law, this doesn’t seem to be the way to Yuan Liu’s house...
Are we going the wrong way?"
"You're right." Yin Xiuhua looked at Chubao'er with a smile, but her eyes were cold, "Don't worry, sister, we are walking this way closer now, so we can get to Yuan Liu's house earlier!"
"right!
Closer!" Jin Xiaoquan waved his riding crop and briefly agreed.
At this time, his voice sounded a little cold for some reason.
Hearing what her brother and sister-in-law said, Chua Bao'er seemed to feel relieved. She nodded and suddenly said: "The last time I went to Liu Yuanwai's home to visit me, the mule and cart didn't seem to take as long as they did tonight.