Aunt Lin was so skillful that she folded it into a gold ingot in just a few clicks. There were several strings of gold and silver ingots nailed to the table beside her. They were intertwined with gold and silver and decorated with colored paper tassels.
Tan Ran has clumsy hands and thick fingers, and the gold foil paper is almost pitiful in his hands. When a gold ingot is folded out, he feels a little aggrieved, as if he has ravaged it.
He neatly put the things he had folded, and sat together with Aunt Lin, saying nothing, but showing a touch of warmth.
When they saw Song Huiyue coming back, they both raised their heads at the same time. Aunt Lin folded the gold foil paper in her hands, clapped her hands and stood up: "Madam, you are back. You must be hungry. I steamed the candied lotus root and heated it up."
You can eat it now, and the soup is still hot. You can eat it before going to bed."
She called Tan Ran again: "Hurry up and heat the hot water!"
Tan Ran nodded, bolted the door first, put the ingot in the basket, moved it down the corridor, and hurried to the kitchen to boil water.
Aunt Lin thought that Song Huiyue had to eat, drink, wash and change clothes. She didn't know what to do for a while. She walked around Song Huiyue, trying her best to imagine that Mrs. Song was taking good care of Song Huiyue.
appropriate.
However, she could not resist the desertedness of her home. Song Huiyue smiled and asked her to heat up the sugar lotus roots. She went back to the house and changed her clothes. When Tan Ran brought hot water, she washed her face and hands and went out to eat.
Food tends to get cold outside, so Tan Ran moved the table to the kitchen, and Aunt Lin gave her two steamed rolls, a plate of candied lotus root, lamb bone soup, and eggplant bream: "You have to put away all your summer clothes.
I'm afraid I won't be able to wear the one last autumn. I see that you are a lot taller. I will measure it for you after you finish eating. Then go to the shop and ask the tailor to make a few pieces. I will do the inside."
Song Huiyue ate half of the candied lotus root: "Okay."
Aunt Lin sat on the threshold and continued to stack the ingots: "You can go out later tomorrow. I want to burn some ingots for my wife. I also need to bring my wife's spiritual tablets to the main room."
Song Huiyue hummed, finished her meal amidst Aunt Lin's chatter, got up and went to the room to let Aunt Lin measure her length.
Aunt Lin gestured for a long time and said with a smile: "You are too tall. I will pack up last year's clothes and make a box."
"I'm not busy," Song Huiyue pulled her to the table and sat down, "I have something to tell you."
Aunt Lin quickly sat down and waited for her to arrange herself.
Song Huiyue got up and opened a camphor wood box in the room, took out a stack of banknotes from it, tore a piece of bamboo paper into a roll, tied it with a hair tie, walked back to the table, sat down, and stuffed it into Aunt Lin's hand.
In hand: "Auntie, there should be more than a thousand taels here, take it."
"What!" Aunt Lin threw the roll of banknotes back into Song Huiyue's hands as if it was hot, "I don't want it! I won't take it! Don't give it to me!"
She jumped up from the chair and waved her hands: "Don't give it to me..."
Song Huiyue put down the banknote and pushed her back into the chair: "Sit down, I haven't finished speaking yet, you listen to me."
Aunt Lin had no choice but to sit back. She didn't dare to sit full but only sat on a small amount of the chair: "You tell me."
"Auntie, I know you have never had any ideas. You always listen to grandma's arrangements for everything. Now that grandma is gone, I'll ask you to make arrangements. Although Tan Ran is an honest man, you must not marry him."
Aunt Lin suddenly blushed: "What are you talking about? I am the concubine of the Song family. Where can I get married? Don't worry, my wife is gone. I will serve you forever."...
Song Huiyue shook her head: "I don't mean to let you stay here. I mean that if Tan Ran does long-term work for you, you give him two taels of silver a month, and he will do all the work for you. If you marry him,
, I have to spend my own money on him, and I have to work by myself, so I don’t want to marry."
Aunt Lin heard that she spoke clearly and eloquently at such a young age. Although it was a bit funny, she also felt that what she said made sense.
"Yes, I listen to you."
Song Huiyue said again: "You should keep the money first. I won't give it to you for nothing. Besides, if I give it to you, I won't lose it either. I still have something to entrust you with."
"You say."
"My grandma was buried in Kyoto, but she also lived in Tanzhou for so many years. I would like to ask you to take my grandma's tablet to Tanzhou to collect my grandma's footprints."
Aunt Lin said in a daze: "I am so careful, I didn't even think that Tanzhou has high mountains and long roads, so how could my wife get there by herself?"
The dead will retract their footprints where they have walked. When Aunt Lin thought of Mrs. Song, tears immediately burst out of her eyes, threatening to burst the dam.
Song Huiyue had no time to comfort her, but continued to explain: "As a woman, it is not convenient for you to go out. I asked Tan Ran to go with you. You can still give him the moon silver as usual. It will be enough to support him for a lifetime."
Aunt Lin was crying and trembling: "I know, when I get to Tanzhou, I will take my wife to Lushan Temple and set up a memorial tablet for my wife in the temple to pray specifically for my wife. You don't have to worry."
Song Huiyue smiled: "That's good. You don't have to rush back when you get to Tanzhou. You can take Auntie to have a good look. Auntie likes the tea in Meishan County, so you should go there too."
Aunt Lin nodded repeatedly: "I will leave after the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Let's go tomorrow," Song Huiyue said calmly, "I am thinking about this matter in my heart. If you don't go, I will go in person. But Qinghui is still here, and I can't let go."
Aunt Lin thought the same thing. The eldest lady said that wind is like rain. There is no way to wait for half a month. She immediately put away her tears and wiped her nose clean: "I will ask Tan Ran to pack things and burn my wife before I go out tomorrow."
Take the baggage and light a glass lamp on the pier."
Then she thought for a moment: "I'll call Yuanyuan back. Who will take care of you after I leave?"
"No, it's not like I have no hands or feet. I order my meals from the restaurant and send my clothes to Mrs. Jiang on the corner to be starched. Don't worry about me. I have my own opinions."
"Then you must take good care of yourself. I will write down the size of the clothes for you and you can take them to the shop."
Aunt Lin remembered that there were still many trivial things to do, which occupied her small brain, leaving her with no time to explore the strangeness in Song Huiyue's explanation.
She hurriedly called Tan Ran. When Tan Ran learned that she was going to Tanzhou, she quickly found linoleum cloth to cover the pile of firewood. Seeing that there was not enough water in the water tank, she went to fill the water tank overnight and gave it to the incense shop next door.
The boy gave him a handful of copper coins and asked him to pick up a bucket of water and put it at the door every day.
Tan Ran and Aunt Lin cleaned up separately. When the bell of Xiangguo Temple rang the next day, the three of them set up an offering table in the yard, lit incense and candles, offered some fruits, burned gold and silver baggage in front of the table, and lit colored glazes.
The lamp, holding Mrs. Song's memorial tablet, was sent all the way to the passenger ship at the pier.
Song Huiyue sent Aunt Lin and Tan Ran away and walked to Zhouqiao alone.
The shadows of the trees on both sides were whirling, a few crows were howling on the trees, the thick clouds in the sky had dispersed, the sky had turned blue, and it would be dawn soon.
The moonlight gradually faded, and blue light shrouded Song Huiyue, casting a long shadow on her body. She walked with her head lowered, shivering as if she was cold, and her whole body was shaking.
She walked very quickly, walked all the way to the clothing store, handed over the silver, made three sets of clothes, and then walked to Zhang's house.