Zheng Wuji ate a meal without feeling satisfied. After a while, his appetite subsided, and the game of cards started again.
A tallow candle, a bright-horned lamp, an ivory dice with a touch of red.
The sound of shouts, dominoes, laughter and curses, mixed together, tightly wrapped people in, like being wrapped in a dream mixed with gold powder and silver foil.
Zheng Wuji touched the cards in his hand, his mind wandering away again.
Can someone like her get sick?
Tired and sick?
Are you tired?
Does she still look calm even when she is sick?
It must have become ugly.
The next person urged him several times, and he just threw out a card as if he was startled.
"Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Zheng!" The next family was short of this card and happily took it.
"Uncle Zheng, how do you do this?" Others were puzzled, "You can't be so defeated when you open a bank!"
Zheng Wuji smiled and said, "It's boring to win all the time, but it's refreshing to lose twice."
He put back his wandering thoughts, cheered up, and won two games in a row.
But before I knew it, I lost my mind again and lost all the money I just won.
Someone at the table next to me asked, "What time is it now?"
Someone replied: "The hour of You has just begun, and the city gate will be closed in half an hour."
Zheng Wuji suddenly couldn't sit still. He felt that the chairs here were rubbing against his buttocks, the people were noisy, and he didn't know who had body odor, which gave him a headache.
Unexpectedly, I held a card and pondered it for a long time. I wanted to play it but suddenly took it back, then picked up another card and continued to ponder it.
Zheng Wuji urged impatiently: "Which card are you going to play?!"
The man became unhappy and retorted: "You were just dilly-dallying, and I thought better of it, so why don't you do it?!"
"Are we still thinking about it until dawn?!" Zheng Wuji didn't know where the anger came from.
"What's wrong with me waiting for dawn? If you can't afford to lose, don't play!" The man was not willing to show weakness.
"If you don't want to play, you won't play!" Zheng Wuji pushed away the cards in front of him and called to the boy who was following him: "Xiao Shun! Come with the horse! Let's go!"
Xiao Shun immediately agreed to go get the horse, and the manager of the villa came over to act as peacemaker: "Uncle Zheng, you don't want to play anymore? Come back another day."
"After settling the accounts tomorrow, go to our house to get the money." Zheng Wuji stretched his body and said, "I'm leaving first."
After he left, someone immediately came over to sit down and complete the game.
At this time, the sky was filled with stars outside, and the northwest wind was blowing. Although it was not strong, it was still biting.
Zheng Wuji tightened his cloak and got on the horse. Xiao Shun pulled the horse out of the villa.
As they walked eastward, the wind was relatively favorable and there were no pedestrians on the road. At this time, almost no one was entering or exiting.
After walking for a while, Zheng Wuji wanted to relieve himself and asked Xiao Shun to stop.
"You wait here, I'll go over there to relieve myself." Zheng Wuji jumped off his horse and walked to the south. There was a mountain col over there, with the wind at his back and no one behind him.
Xiao Shun had followed Zheng Wuji all year round and had long been accustomed to it. He leaned on the horse's head and turned his face away from the wind, waiting for Zheng Wuji to come back.
Why did the uncle suddenly want to go back today?
Xiaoshun thought while waiting, if you dare, you are still thinking about grandma?
But he doesn’t like this grandma at all!
Even if you don’t like it, you still care a little bit, right?
Or do you want to go back and watch the excitement?
Xiao Shun thought wildly, he never understood, the eldest grandma was so kind, like the moon in the sky, how could the uncle still have the heart to ignore her?
The boys among them talked privately, and they all said that Aunt Liu was too far behind Grandma.
Gu Fei
Whoever has a daughter-in-law like a eldest grandmother has burned high incense for her ancestors.
Uncle Hua once drank too much and said that the uncle had a blind eye and could not see gold inlaid with jade.
"Flowers are stuck on cow dung!" Hua Sanbo hummed, "Cow dung can't go up the wall!"
Uncle Hua is very brave, but he doesn't dare.
At most, he felt that the uncle's eyes were covered with cow shit.
The horse moved its hooves a little uneasily, and Xiao Shun suddenly became excited. It had been a long time since the uncle left, why didn't he come back?
Xiao Shun pulled the horse and called "Uncle" while walking towards the col where Zheng Wuji went before.
He held a lantern in his hand, which didn't shine too far, but it was clear that no one was there.
Xiao Shun called a few more times, but still no one answered, so he had to tie his horse to a book nearby, pick up a lantern and continue walking forward.
A few clumps of wild grass, two stone walls, and no other place to hide.
"Uncle! Where are you? Don't be scared, little one." Xiao Shun's voice was trembling, and he couldn't tell whether he was cold or scared.
The only answer to him was the whistling of the wind.
"It shouldn't be. The uncle is obviously coming here," Xiao Shun tried to calm himself down, "You can't fall down from this place!"
Xiao Shun looked around again, but there was no one around.
"Uncle, where are you? Don't be scared, little one." Xiaoshun shouted, pulling his neck, his voice blown to pieces by the wind, and there was no reply for a long time.
He stood there, at a loss.
Finally decided to look for it again.
"Although the uncle drank a few glasses of wine during dinner, he is not drunk at all." Xiao Shun said to himself while searching, "There is such a leeward area nearby, and he can't go anywhere else.
!”
I searched again along the original path, but still couldn't see Zheng Wuji's shadow.
Xiao Shun hesitated whether to go back to the villa and ask the people there to help him find it.
He walked over and led the horse, and when he accidentally glanced, there seemed to be something in the cracks in the rocks over there.
He walked over, raised a lantern to shine it, and saw a piece of paper pressed against a stone.
He knelt down and took out the paper.
It was folded into a square shape and there were words inside.
It was actually a letter.
Xiao Shun squatted down, blocking the wind with his body, and opened the letter with his chest trembling.
He was literate, and he accompanied Zheng Wuji when he was studying in his early years. Zheng Wuji didn't learn well, but he did learn a lot of words along with him.
The lantern illuminated dimly, and the words on the paper were rather scrawled.
After Xiao Shun finished reading, he couldn't help but call out "Mother".
He stood up and ran towards the city. After running a few steps, he remembered that there was still a horse, so he quickly came back to fetch it.
After leading the horse for a few steps, I remembered that it would be faster to ride a horse, so I didn't care about anything else, so I got on the horse and ran towards the city.
He rode his horse and galloped all the way into the city. Fortunately, there was no one on the street at this time.
Arriving in front of the Zheng Mansion, Xiao Shun rolled off the saddle and banged on the door desperately.
The gatekeepers all fell asleep and shouted impatiently: "How can anyone break down the door like this in the middle of the night? They are announcing a funeral!"
After putting on my clothes, I got up and opened the door. When I saw it was Xiao Shun, I asked, "Why are you back? Where is the uncle?"
Xiao Shun's head was covered with sweat, his eyes became very big and black, and his lips trembled as he said, "I want to see grandma!"
"No, grandma is sick and has already gone to bed." The concierge said, "Go and call the housekeeper!"
"Something big happened!" Xiaoshun said, "The housekeeper is not working well!"
As he said that, he ran inside, and the concierge chased after him: "What's the big deal?"
"The uncle has asked someone to kidnap someone!" Xiao Shun was extremely anxious, "You should pay attention to the door, they may send a letter!"