It’s been a long time since Lao Chen saw a stranger... Lao Chen hasn’t actually seen anyone else for a long time.
Ever since Lin Ye had been leading troops outside and Zinai followed Yu Xintuan's ancestor back to the sect, there had been no guests at Lao Chen's residence for a long time.
He doesn't even need to go out.
The place where he lived in Geling City was so big that even today he has not looked at it carefully.
Lin Ye prepared a house for him in Geling City, but Chen Weiwei didn't allow him to live there. What could Lao Chen do? After all, he still had to listen to his son.
In order to express her filial piety, Chen Weiwei hired many servants in this big house. Each one of them looked respectful and kind, but each one of them looked cool and cold.
Lao Chen wants to go out for a walk. They ask you if you want to buy something. If you answer yes, they will buy it immediately.
Lao Chen said that I just wanted to go out for a walk by myself, and they would say that the master of the temple has told me not to let you do any work, so you'd better stay at home.
What can Lao Chen do? After all, he still has to listen to his son.
Lao Chen planted some vegetables in the backyard, but they didn't care about it now. Occasionally, they would help water Lao Chen's vegetables.
When the dishes were ready to be eaten, Lao Chen refused to eat them. He divided the dishes and gave them to the servants. They all happily accepted them with gratitude, then turned around and threw them away somewhere.
None of this is a big deal, and none of them are bad people.
But for some reason, Lao Chen felt like he was getting older and older. He had obviously lived the pampered life he had expected before, but even he felt that he was aging so fast.
He would often sit alone on the steps in front of his house at night in a daze. Occasionally, he would raise his hand and gently touch the air beside him, as if he was possessed by an evil spirit.
The servants thought that Mr. Chen might be ill, or perhaps possessed by evil spirits.
How can they understand that when Lao Chen is sitting on the steps looking at the moon, he will think of Xiao Zina sitting next to him, looking up at the moon with him, asking him many strange questions, and he will gently
He stroked Xiao Zinai's head and used his limited knowledge to answer Xiao Zinai's questions seriously.
The servants saw Old Chen talking to himself, but they would never ask Mr. Chen what are you talking about?
Therefore, they are becoming more and more afraid of Mr. Chen, even though Mr. Chen is really a very kind and close person.
They were afraid that Mr. Chen would go crazy one day and beat them to death. They were servants, Mr. Chen was the master, and Mr. Chen's son was the master of the temple in Shangyang Palace. If he really beat them to death, it would probably be the same.
Dead in vain.
Therefore, the people around Lao Chen are getting further and further away from him.
Late autumn, leaves fall.
Lao Chen once again sat on the steps and looked at the two trees in the yard, watching the leaves fall to the ground one by one.
He just thought, the leaves have fallen, why don't they come back?
He is like another old tree, except that no leaves can fall from it a long time ago.
Inexplicably, Lao Chen remembered that when he met Xiao Zizi in Yunzhou City, that guy frowned and looked embarrassed, but he still ate the shredded chicken noodles he cooked seriously.
At his home, he saw Xiao Yezi with some bruises on his face. He asked what happened? Xiao Yezi replied that he hit a tree.
Thinking of this inexplicably, Lao Chen actually stood up and walked straight towards the big tree in the yard. He just wanted to try whether hitting the tree would really hurt?
If the boy was here, he would definitely hold his hand and pull him back.
The boy would also say...Grandpa, why are you still so childish at your age?
Lao Chen's footsteps suddenly stopped, as if he felt someone at the corner of his clothes.
He smiled, his eyes full of surprise.
But when he turned around and looked over, there was nothing behind him. Maybe it was just his illusion, or maybe it was his hallucination, so he stopped there and was stunned.
Trance.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
The concierge was an old man who was about the same age as Lao Chen. He and Lao Chen should have had many topics to talk about, but he was polite but had no communication with Lao Chen.
He was really polite to Old Chen because he felt that Mr. Chen should be a person who should be respected.
But he was a little unconvinced. He just felt that the reason why Mr. Chen should be respected was just because his son was the master of the temple.
The door creaked open a crack, and the old guard looked out and asked in a polite but not very polite tone: "Who is it? Where did it come from?"
Xiao Gu, who stepped forward to knock on the door, smiled at him, but Xiao Gu, who could make people feel like a spring breeze, could not make the old man look better.
So Xiao Gu could tell at a glance what kind of character the old janitor was, so he decided not to talk nonsense.
"I'm from the palace, and a noble person came to visit Mr. Chen."
The old gatekeeper was startled at first, then immediately opened the door and bent down to ask Gu Xiujin to come in.
He didn't even ask which noble person in the palace it was, nor did he look at the waistband Gu Xiujin was going to show him.
Gu Xiujin turned around and looked at Xin Yanque: "Proprietor, you can come in."
Xin Yanque glanced at the old concierge, and with his sharp eyesight, he could naturally tell what kind of character this man was.
The moment Xin Yanque saw Lao Chen, he felt that he must have seen it wrong. That person should not be Lao Chen, and he really was Lao Chen.
I can't say that Old Chen was very strong when he was in Yunzhou, but he was still in good health even though he had been pulling carts and doing business all year round.
But now, Lao Chen's waist has been bent. It seems that even if he tries hard to straighten up, he can't straighten up at all. His body leans forward so much that it makes people feel distressed.
Lao Chen's hair is also white, not gray, but all white, but it is still neatly combed.
Even when he was living a very hard life, he would not let himself look dirty. He would always say that if an old man was dirty, it would be an embarrassment to his children.
Especially now that his son is already the Guanzhu of Shangyang Palace, he cannot embarrass his son, even if he is not free to go out.
When Lao Chen rubbed his dim eyes and saw clearly that the person coming was Xin Yanque, his face seemed like a flower had bloomed, from a bud to a full bloom.
"Mr. Xin!"
The first reaction was that it was Mr. Xin whom the old minister knew. He was the Mr. Xin who opened a medical clinic in Yunzhou City. He was very close to Xiao Zizi.
The second reaction came a little slower.
After walking a few steps, Old Chen finally realized that Mr. Xin was already His Majesty the Emperor.
So, this old man who had been taught etiquette in a serious way by his son's servants quickly knelt down and prepared to kowtow to His Majesty the Emperor.
Xin Yanque helped Lao Chen up: "I just came to see you, so I don't need so many rules."
When Lao Chen heard this, his face suddenly turned pale. He suddenly grabbed Xin Yanque's hand and asked, "Is it Chen Weiwei that something happened to him?"
Xin Yanque shook his head.
Old Chen asked: "Did something happen to Little Ye Zi?"
Xin Yanque pulled Lao Chen back and said, "Nothing happened to anyone. It was Xiao Zizi who wrote to me and asked me to come and see you."
Old Chen laughed, then became frightened again.
"You are Your Majesty, how can I ask you to come and see me? Xiao Zizi is also true, how can I bother Your Majesty to come and see me? Your Majesty, don't blame Xiao Zizi, he is just..."
Xin Yanque said: "Why should I blame him? He told me before sending troops, but... I forgot."
But Lao Chen immediately started to help explain.
"Your Majesty has so many things to do, and such a large country is counting on you. Your Majesty has not forgotten that your Majesty is... taking care of everything every day."
When Lao Chen said this, he was still wondering if he had said it wrong. There should be no shame in it.
"Sit down and talk."
Xin Yanque pulled him
Old Chen put his hands on the steps and sat down. Old Chen said, "Your Majesty, how can you sit on the ground?"
Xin Yanque said you can sit on the ground, why can't I sit on the ground?
"Little Ye Zi...it's pretty good, right?"
When Lao Chen asked this question, he seemed to be asking someone out of politeness who was related to Xin Yanque but not close to him.
But this is not a real emotion, it's just that he is very restrained.
"I guess he will be busy in Northern Xinjiang for a while. There are many things in the country."
"Yes, the country has many things to do. He is a general. He should do more for the country. Otherwise, how can he get the right salary?"
"Well, he deserves it."
Xin Yanque didn't know what to say for a moment, because he found that he was really not good at communicating with such an old man.
The old man he communicated with most before was the Master, but he never had any scruples when talking to the Master.
"The General sent another letter yesterday."
Gu Xiujin said with a smile: "The first sentence is to ask Your Majesty if he has seen you. General, he has made great achievements in northern Xinjiang again. This time, he destroyed millions of Loufan troops."
"oops!"
Old Chen's eyes shone.
"That's a good thing, it's really a good thing. If he has done great service, he will always be a general."
Xin Yanque sighed heavily in his heart. He didn't look down on Lao Chen for his poor communication skills, nor did he look down on Lao Chen for his lack of knowledge.
He just felt Lao Chen's humbleness from the bottom of his heart.
"I wrote a letter to Xiao Yezi."
Xin Yanque smiled and said, "I asked him what was his biggest difficulty in northern Xinjiang? He said that the biggest difficulty was that he couldn't eat a bowl of shredded chicken noodles when he wanted to."
Lin Ye would never write such words in a letter, because he knew that Lao Chen would not listen to such words.
So Xin Yanque saw that Lao Chen's eyes were redder than before, and the cloudy eyeballs were covered with a layer of mist.
"The general said, please come and eat a bowl of chicken noodles you made for him."
Gu Xiujin put the things he brought next to Lao Chen: "The general has told me what to buy, what kind of vegetables, what kind of meat, and there is a lot of everything."
Lao Chen became excited, rubbed his hands and said, "How can I let you spend money? I should be the one to buy it. Your Majesty, you are here as distinguished guests, and distinguished guests should not spend money."
One sentence, said over and over again.
Xin Yanque said: "If you are not tired, can you help us make two bowls of noodles now?"
"Okay, okay, I'm not tired. I've been idle at home all day. How can I be tired? There are people at home taking care of me, and I don't do anything..."
As he spoke, Old Chen picked up the things. The moment he stood up, Xin Yanque was surprised to find that Old Chen's waist seemed to be straighter than when he saw it just now.
"I'll make the noodles, boil the water, cook the meat, wash the vegetables, and the noodles will be ready when they're ready..."
He said this to himself and went to the kitchen excitedly.
The servants quickly said that if they wanted to do anything, just leave it to them, and asked Mr. Chen to go back and accompany the guests.
For the first time, Mr. Chen turned to them with a straight face: "No, do you know who that is? That's His Majesty! Your Majesty wants to eat the shredded chicken noodles I made!"
The servants were frightened and did not dare to say anything more. They wanted to help Lao Chen, but Lao Chen refused.
He took matters into his own hands and had to do everything by himself. The servants gathered around him and were a little at a loss. They were afraid that if they didn't do anything, they would make His Majesty sitting on the steps angry, and they were also afraid that if they did something, His Majesty would be angry.
Lao Chen looked a little confused.
When putting the ingredients, his face was obviously hesitant.
Two bowls of hot shredded chicken noodles were placed in front of Xin Yanque and Gu Xiujin. The two looked at each other and picked up their chopsticks at the same time.
After taking a sip, Xin Yanque's eyes lit up.
"delicious."
Xin Yanque looked at Gu Xiujin and said.
Gu Xiujin also took a bite and thought it was indeed delicious.
So the two of them couldn't understand why Lin Ye said that Uncle Chen made the noodles with the most care and seriousness, but they were just not that delicious...
Seeing their hesitation, Lao Chen thought that what he had cooked was extremely unpalatable, so he quickly trotted back to the kitchen and scooped up some soup to taste.
delicious.
But Lao Chen seemed to have really turned into an old tree, standing there motionless.
"How could I...forget...how to make noodles?"
The sound of him talking to himself was like the north wind blowing through dry branches without leaves.