Xiao Chen picked up the tea bowl on the table, shook it slightly, and waited for the tea leaves floating on it to sink before taking another sip.
Let's just say that this shopkeeper Xu runs such a large inn and employs seven or eight waiters, but he still has to do everything himself. It turns out that he is also a man who has shouldered the burden of the family since he was a child.
At first, when I was ordering, I thought the shopkeeper was very verbose, but now I feel some sympathy for him.
"Is this a member of the Ouyang family, here to cause trouble?" Duan Tianming on the side was not as calm as Xiao Chen, and said angrily.
Shopkeeper Xu let out a long breath, and his trembling right hand gradually subsided. He picked up the tea bowl on the table and drank it all. After a moment of silence, he continued.
"I'm not here to cause trouble, but to threaten you." A hint of helplessness flashed across Shopkeeper Xu's face, "When he saw me going out, he learned that I was the shopkeeper of Tianyi Inn. Chief Ouyang didn't say anything, but was accompanied by a housekeeper.
Then he started to curse loudly. He scolded me for not knowing how much I weighed and for wanting to climb up to the Ouyang family."
"Young Master Ouyang is from a well-known family, so why should he marry a woman of the right family? Hearing the scolding, all the neighbors on the street came out to watch. Seeing that there was an audience, the housekeeper scolded even more vigorously, saying anything unpleasant.
, just pick out whatever words you say and curse them out."
"In order to calm the situation, I didn't dare to say a word. I didn't dare to return to the inn until they had scolded them enough and left."
"Originally, I thought about hiding this matter from my sister. However, when I returned to the inn and prepared to close the door and suspend business, I discovered that my sister had already gotten up and was hiding behind the door. She was in tears.
It flowed down my face and wet my clothes."
"I know that all my comfort is of no use to my sister. I can only persuade her to go into the back room, and then arrange for people to move all the prepared dowry into the warehouse and store it."
"Seeing the waiter carrying the dowry, my sister stopped crying and comforted me not to be sad. She also persuaded me to open the inn and operate it normally."
"The more my sister acts like this, the more uncomfortable I feel. I know that when my sister grows up, she pretends to be strong just because she doesn't want to make me sad. But the one who really suffers the most is herself."
Duan Tianming picked up the kettle, picked up the tea bowl in front of Shopkeeper Xu, filled it with hot water, and put it back in front of him.
Xiao Chen didn't know how to comfort Shopkeeper Xu for what he was going through, so he had to stand up and pat his shoulder with his right hand.
"It's all in the past, so don't get too hung up on it. Don't force yourself to do something like this. Just live the present moment."
Although in Xiao Chen's eyes, there is no such thing as being well-matched, but in most of the rich and powerful families in the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing is being well-matched. A powerful eunuch family will never agree to a marriage with an equal.
In their eyes, marriage is a bridge and a means to achieve a certain goal.
"What about your little sister? Where did she get married to? In fact, there is no need to be so sad. Your relatives can just move around frequently." Duan Tianming said.
Shopkeeper Xu shook his head and forced a wry smile on his face.
"If I could get married, I wouldn't be what I am today."
"Not married? Is your sister still in the inn?" Duan Tianming asked.
"At that time, after people from Ouyang's family came to our door to make a fuss, we never mentioned it to each other. As time went by, I gradually came out of this incident. I thought that my sister, like me, would be affected by time.
Dilute everything."
"One day, my sister asked me if I could carve out a place for her in the hotel lobby, where she would like to play the piano. My parents are gone, and my only relative is my sister, so I naturally agreed to this request."
"So, I placed the guqin in the hall. From that day on, my sister would play a piece of music in the hall every day. In the days that followed, my sister's music became more and more sad, as if she had returned to the time when her parents died.
Those days.”
"The difference is that my sister's appetite is getting smaller and smaller, and her body is getting weaker and weaker. In the end, she is so weak that she can't even finish playing a piece of music."
"Seeing my sister like this, I was extremely anxious. I invited several doctors from Yizhou City to treat my sister. After checking her pulse, no one wrote a prescription. They all shook their heads and left. I was unwilling to give in, so I chased her outside and stopped her.
I picked up the last doctor and asked him what was going on."
"The doctor told me that this is a heart disease, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. He also told me to prepare for the funeral, as my sister's death is not far away."
"After hearing what the doctor said, I was mentally prepared, but I still couldn't accept it. I knelt on the ground and begged the doctor to give me a prescription. The doctor thought I was being troublesome, so he threw off his sleeves and left angrily."
"Three days later, my sister left. She left peacefully and quietly."
At this point, shopkeeper Xu was already crying.
Xiao Chen took out the handkerchief and handed it over, but he didn't know how to comfort him.
After sobbing for a while, Shopkeeper Xu stopped his voice and continued: "On the day of my sister's funeral, Mr. Ouyang suddenly appeared at the grave. The handsome, gentle and elegant young man before was no longer there. He had sunken eyes, an unkempt beard, and messy and thin hair.
Skin and bones, he threw himself on my sister's coffin like a ghost, wailing loudly."
"Later I found out that when my sister started playing the piano in the hall, Mr. Ouyang hid outside the inn door every day and listened secretly. He didn't dare to come in because the words given to him by the Ouyang patriarch were that if he dared to meet his sister again,
If we see him once, we will burn the Tianyi Inn to the ground."
"After my sister died, Mr. Ouyang stayed at the grave for three years, no matter whether it was winter or summer. His clothes were in rags and his hair was messy. He was no different from a madman."
"There are two young masters in the Ouyang family. The eldest son is working as an official in another place. He expected the second son to inherit the property, but he didn't expect that he would be forced into this situation. So he had to send people to deliver food to the grave every day."
"Later, I couldn't bear to see him sink like this, so I went to find him at the grave. I told him that my sister's piano was still there, and if he wanted, he could come to the inn and play the piano in the place where my sister was playing the piano.
"
"Since then, Mr. Ouyang has become the piano player of Tianyi Inn."
"Then how often does Mr. Ouyang come to play the piano?" Xiao Chen couldn't help but ask.
I have been sitting here for a long time today, and I have never seen the true face of Master Ouyang in Lushan.
"In the past, he came once every three days. But in the past few days, I don't know if he has something to do, so he hasn't come." Shopkeeper Xu said.
"When was the last time he played the piano? It's a bit regretful that we can't get to know such a strange man." Xiao Chen said with a faint smile.
Shopkeeper Xu was silent for a moment, then raised his head and said: "The fourth day of the first lunar month, yes, it is the fourth day of the first lunar month."
