Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 91 Old Clothes
Any Chinese person seems to be resistant to seeing a doctor - after all, no one will go to a doctor because of comfort; after seeing a doctor, most Western doctors will do a head-to-toe examination and take films, while Chinese medicine will always go to see a doctor. In one breath, he prescribed a large prescription containing at least ten traditional Chinese medicines, and the boiled soup tasted so bitter that it made people frown.

That’s why there is a saying in Peiping: “After eating radishes and drinking hot tea, doctors crawled all over the streets.” Chinese people generally use various folk remedies to actively save themselves, and then go to the Chinese and Western medicine department to report if they are really dying.

Feng Jiu failed to save herself—because she slept on the ground with Ning Zheng all afternoon, she was still lying on someone’s body, but she was the one who fell ill. The pain, Dr. Wu found out that the main cause was internal fire, so he prescribed a decoction specially for the "cold-packed fire" type of cold.Ordinarily, this kind of cold is a summer specialty, but I didn't expect Feng Jiu to catch it in the winter.

This prescription was uniquely bitter, Feng Jiu drank it to the point of tears, just when Ning Zheng came in, he saw Feng Jiu with a bitter face, his mouth half-opened, subconsciously dancing his red tongue with a few blisters, as if to With the help of the cool air to dissipate the bitterness, that naughty appearance is really pitiful and lovable.

Since it was difficult to come back from the country, Ning Zheng has never been in a good mood, but now seeing his wife's funny look, he finally smiled, walked over unexpectedly, sucked the tip of her slender tongue, and tasted it again.Feng Jiu's long and delicate eyebrows twitched, and Ning Zheng said solemnly before she was about to teach him a lesson: "It's really hard, why don't you give me half and half of you? Anyway, I'm angry too."

Feng Jiu hurriedly picked up the medicine bowl on the table and drank it all up, fearing that Ning Zheng would snatch it from her.Ning Zheng raised his eyebrows and pinched the tip of her nose, "So stingy? You can't even part with me for bitter medicine? Didn't you agree to share the joys and sorrows?" Pretending to be relaxed made people feel more and more heavy.

Feng Jiu hastily drank water and rinsed his mouth, then cleared his throat and said, "You are suffering enough, I..." Suddenly she drooped her head and swallowed half a sentence, she was still not used to speaking bluntly. Tell him how you feel about him—I can't bear it, I really can't bear it.

Ning Zheng suddenly stopped laughing, a pair of black jade-like eyes looked at her so sadly, then sighed softly, and hugged her into his arms.

For the past few months, Ning Zheng's heart has been like a crumpled rag, or like a bound cocoon, always depressed and unable to relax.At this moment, what she didn't say was like an iron, ironing his heart smooth without leaving a single wrinkle; or that skillful hand finally pulled out the thin and translucent silk from the cocoon...

The husband and wife snuggled together quietly, Feng Jiu grabbed his neck, freed his feet from the slippers, stepped on his insteps naturally, and said in a low voice: "From now on, I can no longer sleep on the ground. It will enter the wind and get evil diseases."

"...Okay." Ning Zheng replied softly.

"It doesn't work if you open the window and face it... hey, you say it's too hanging." Fengjiu remembered what Mama Wu told her with fear when she learned that they had slept on the ground all afternoon, "Mama Wu said that she had A relative, because he was too tired from work, lay down on the ground for a short time, and after getting up, his mouth was crooked and his eyes were slanted, and he hasn't fully recovered after so many years."

Indeed, the more the seemingly harmless wind that sneaks in through the gap and blows people obliquely, the evil cold is the easiest to enter the body; some people don't care about it, so they suffer from facial paralysis and other diseases that are not easy to cure completely.

The couple just chatted without saying a word, without any vows, they have lived together.

Feng Jiu continued her studies at Yanda University: she studied "Comparison of Chinese and Western Poetry" with Mr. Wu Mi, and "Literary Theory" with Mr. Ye Gongchao. Her favorite is the French literature class taught by Mr. Wen De: Stendhal's "Red and Black", Baudelaire's "Flowers of Evil" and Fan Lexi's "Phantom Beauty Collection", etc.

These professors did not speak harshly to Feng Jiu because of her husband, and maintained the character of being neither humble nor overbearing as an intellectual should be - there is indeed no shortage of people in Yan Dali who dare to embarrass her face to face, although very few, but Feng Jiu learned it early In order not to be affected, after all, life has to go on, and she knew from the day she married Ning Zheng that the weight on her body could not be relaxed.

The time of studying always makes her linger, and there is no shortage of jokes: for example, a famous linguist surnamed Huang, with humorous language and a wide range of knowledge, but it is a pity that there is a quirk. It can be said that it was very immoral to stop abruptly, and said with a tired face: "Here, there is an important point, but I can't talk about it only with the salary of several hundred yuan from Yanda; Invite me to dinner." It made everyone sigh, and then the students took turns sitting in the village and invited him to a famous restaurant, so the dining table turned into an interesting classroom - if it were modern, this professor would be dismissed by the students.

Another example is a professor surnamed Qiu who Fengjiu likes very much. He insists that exams are the destruction of young students, so he created his own "face-to-face scoring". Students ask questions and listen to students' speculative discussions on a certain literary topic. Professor Qiu can evaluate the students' academic level; In some courses, students still go to the dean of academic affairs or even the principal to file a complaint.

Soon, it was Yaya's birthday, and the day before was "Xiaoxue".Since midnight last night, it has snowed in Beiping in a timely manner, and it has been snowing heavily, and it has just stopped this morning.

Early in the morning, Ya Ya, who looked like a little rabbit, was taken out of the warm blanket by her mother and put on a snow-white woolen blanket. When I wake up, no matter whether it is active or passive, even though my little lips become dry in the slightly dry air in the north, I can see my father and mother in front of my eyes as soon as I open my eyes. And laughed.

Feng Jiu first dipped a sterilized fine gauze cloth in water and rubbed her small teeth one by one, and then he and Ning Zheng took a red egg and rolled it up and down her body. Kaka laughed.

Feng Jiu fed her some warm water, then cracked open two eggs, slightly dipped in soy sauce and sesame oil, Ya Ya ate some egg white and egg yolk for each, and the rest of the parents helped her one by one.

The day before yesterday, Melanie, who had been by her husband's side all the time, finally regained some conscience and came back to pick up her son, so Long Sheng was not at home at this time.

Feng Jiu looked at Long Sheng, who had just passed his fourth birthday two months ago, although he didn't say anything or show it on his face, he was happy in his heart, and the expression in his quiet eyes was even more intense than usual.

Feng Jiu saw it hurt in his eyes and hurt in his heart, and he wanted to punch his best friend a few times - why are they so embarrassed, can they be regarded as an old couple?The price is still so sticky all day.But this is not so easy to say, as if he disliked Long Sheng.In fact, just like her own daughter, she loves Longsheng very much.Every morning when Yaya wakes up, the first thing she does is to find her "Brother Lailai".

Ya Ya was too young last winter, Feng Jiu just used a big wooden basin to hold the fresh snow outside, let her squat on the floor of the living room, and played for a while with a small shovel and bucket, so she hasn't experienced it personally The feeling of snow has long since lost the memory of playing in the snow.

This year is one year older, of course, the couple led Yaya to the courtyard, and Yaya was shocked when she went out. Looking at the white snow all over the ground, she felt that she couldn't get off her feet. She turned around and ran in place with her unique Ning Zheng stretched out his arms to ask his father for help, Ning Zheng scraped her little nose helplessly, picked her up and walked into the snow.

Yaya hugged her father's neck, with her chubby face drooping, looking over her shoulders, carefully observing the two pairs of parallel footprints left by her father and mother on the pure white snow, deep and shallow, large and small, a series of footprints .

Ning Zheng tilted his head slightly, saw that there was a door, and bent over to put Yaya on the ground. Yaya probably felt that he hadn't researched whether the white things all over the floor were harmful, so he hurriedly curled up his little feet and tried his best to put it on the ground. Formed into a ball, he still stretched his short neck and used his eyes to see how high he was from the ground. Feng Jiu laughed out loud at the unnecessary worry of the little man, and Ning Zheng also smiled lightly. Feng Jiu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

After going back and forth like this for a few times, Ya Ya, who has always taken good care of herself, decided to let go of her guard. Her little feet wearing two cowhide boots finally fell into the snow, and the fresh snow as soft as white sugar immediately buried her feet and ankles... It didn't stop until the height of the middle of the calf.

She lowered her head and looked in surprise at the little feet that disappeared from sight in an instant. Holding back her fear, she moved her left leg and lifted it up. Immediately, a little red boot appeared again. Now Yaya is happy, don't worry Boldly running wildly on the snow.

The new snow is very sticky, suitable for making snowballs. Ning Zheng made a lot of snowballs in a row and sent them to the couple. The couple played snowball fights with Yaya: Although Yaya missed many times, but for the sake of being a birthday boy today, Later, Feng Jiu simply stood still obediently, and asked his daughter to throw several pieces on his body; Ning Zheng was even more good at acting, pretending to be exhausted and collapsed on the snow, and let Ya Ya ride one up and stuffed one into his neck collar, Ning Zheng Shouting Leng exaggeratedly, begging Yaya to spare her life, Yaya is so beautiful now, screaming excitedly in a small squeaky voice.

In the evening, Fengjiu didn't have the heart to make cakes by himself, so he ordered a small white round cream cake from the pastry shop, it was only about six inches, and there were a few roses framed by the simplest cream of the same color on it. flower.After all, she is an authentic Chinese, facing this pure white, she still doesn’t feel comfortable: she simply scraped off the mounting knife first, then melted half a piece of chocolate in the heat insulation, and took the back of a spoon to place it on the smooth surface at will. On the cream surface, a winding tree trunk with branches was drawn; some red yeast rice powder was mixed with water, dipped in the small white clouds used for painting, and blossoming red plums were drawn on it.

The whole family just sat on the carpet in the living room, Feng Jiu put two small colored candles on the cake according to Western customs, and Ning Zheng took out a match to light it.Feng Jiu told Ya Ya, first make a wish, then blow out the candle, and the wish will come true.

After listening to her mother's words, Ya Ya closed her eyes and made a wish loudly instead of silently.Although the words were vague due to her young age, Feng Jiu, who had long been proficient in "baby language", could still hear it: she hoped that her father could play with her more like he did in the morning.

Feng Jiu told Ning Zheng in a low voice, Ya Ya didn't care about her father's sad expression, she puffed up her cheeks and began to blow out candles, but the air she blew out was only short and weak, and she ran away. So, although the two little flames were blown tremblingly and crookedly and dwarfed for a while, they still stood upright.

Feng Jiu watched the little Ya Ya blow himself up into a little squirrel with pine nuts in his cheek pouches. He was out of breath, and even his big eyes became cross eyes because of staring at the candle.

Yaya was taken aback, quickly closed her eyes, and turned back the black grape eyeballs that had gone to the middle of Xiaowa's unique wide nose bridge, then shook her head and let out a sigh of relief, Feng Jiu couldn't help laughing.

Turning around, Ning Zheng was also smiling, reaching out to rub his daughter's face, telling her in a warm voice that her parents would help, so "one, two, three", the three of them blew out the candles together, and this time it finally succeeded.Ya Ya patted her little hands and smiled, and Feng Jiu felt a little relieved when she saw Ning Zheng's smile that he managed to maintain for a long time.

…………

At the end of the year, Mr. Jiang could not escape the blame for the loss of the three eastern provinces, so he had to follow the turbulent public opinion and go back to his hometown in Fenghua to avoid the limelight.Of course, this old and cunning politician has his own considerations.Sure enough, within a month, under the escort of his brother-in-law Song Wencheng, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of China, he recovered smoothly.

At the beginning of the 21st year of the Republic of China, the sound of rumbling cannons rang out on the Huangpu River, and the first "Battle of Songhu", that is, the "January [-]th Incident" broke out again.

This is a "fake battle" carefully planned by the Japanese side - because the Chinese government has reported Japan's illegal occupation of the Northeast to the League of Nations, the pressure on Japan has increased sharply, and their goal of fully occupying the Northeast has not been achieved, so they came up with this Li Daitao A stiff idea: a feint attack on Shanghai to create pressure, so as to achieve the goal of losing the car and keeping the handsome.

But the Japanese politicians did not expect this time to mess up: just after singing the double reed according to the routine designed by special agent Jin Dongzhen, that is, after successfully provoking trouble, Wu Zizeng, the representative of the Nanjing government, has fully accepted Japan's unreasonable request to order the Chinese troops stationed in Shanghai to withdraw from Shanghai Unexpectedly, the Japanese army changed their minds and bombarded Zhabei again under complacency. The No. 19 Army stationed in Shanghai finally began to resist bravely after being fed up.

The "fake attack" turned into a "real attack", and the Japanese side was a little dumbfounded, so they had to quickly increase their troops from the mainland and bombard Nanjing from the sea.The "September [-]th Incident" investigation team of the League of Nations, which has always been slow to act, has not successfully organized a team. The Japanese side has come out like this again, and can't help scratching their heads.However, the interests of the League of Nations powers in Shanghai are much greater than those in the Northeast, so this time the attitude has obviously become more positive.

Although the 1th Army and the [-]th Army rushed to fight against the enemy, the number of Japanese reinforcements quickly surpassed that of the Chinese army, and they secretly landed from the Liuhe River to occupy the Nanxiang area in one fell swoop. The controlled Japanese side immediately demanded an armistice—after all, the casualties on both sides had exceeded [-]—so under the mediation of the great powers and muddy mud, the two sides signed another armistice agreement, but this was the first since the Qing Dynasty that both The agreement without cede land and without compensation is very progressive.

Although the equipment was backward, the heroic performance of the Chinese army greatly shocked the Westerners who were on the sidelines in the war zone, and also changed their attitude of contempt for the Chinese people, thus enhancing China's international image.

However, in the early stage of the battle, the Nanjing government sent several telegrams to the [-]th Route Army to retreat "to avoid the enemy's edge" due to strategic misjudgments, which aroused the dissatisfaction of quite a few soldiers from Guangdong, and also planted the seeds for the "Guangdong Incident" in the future.

…………

Of course, Feng Jiu, like all Chinese, followed the Battle of Songhu closely, and she knew that Xu Yong took his "Xu Day Volunteer Army" to Shanghai to participate in the battle.She couldn't help thinking that if the Japanese invaders attacked again, she hoped that Feng Jun would behave like this.

At this time approaching the New Year’s Eve, the Jinshui River, the “Royal River” in Beiping, has been frozen for a long time, and the original river water will flow eastward along the Yinding Bridge and flow into the Shichahai Lake, so all the rivers and lakes in Beiping have frozen.

Ning Zheng's family of three seldom have time to hang around—ever since Yaya made a wish on her birthday last time, saying that he hoped that his father would spend more time with her, Ning Zheng has tried every means to find time to play with her.

They got off the car in front of Tiananmen Square, Ning Zheng held Yaya in his arms, and Yaya looked at the street scene curiously with big eyes.They walked through the quiet square in winter, stood in the center of the square and looked around: here, there is a white as jade watch, there is a nine-foot-high front door building, there is a magnificent archery tower with many "eyes", and there is a Danzhu The city walls have elegant turrets.

Then go west and cross the Jinbie Yuchi Bridge. There is a huge ice rink on the left and right sides of the bridge. There are young people and children skating. The White Tower is not as beautiful as it looks in summer. It looks lonely and listless. in the cold wind.

Suddenly Yaya tugged at his father's collar, Ning Zheng stopped in his tracks, Feng Jiuyi looked up, and saw two men wearing monkey hats, big gray cotton jackets, black cotton trousers with fat tubes, and a pair of wide-faced and layered clothes on their feet. cloth shoes, rickshaw drivers with a white towel around their necks are greeting each other,

"Come on, Brother Wang, rest your feet, pull out 'Bie Ye' and hurry!"

"Coincidentally, brother, I just bought three taels of white dry, six big peanuts, brother also come to some!"

"It seems that business is still going well?"

"That's the way it is."

So the two of them each put the rickshaw handles behind them with polished rims and brass horns on the ground, squatted down together, and passed one cigarette case to the other, which was made of a cow's bladder covered with a layer of cowhide. The wine contained in the finished wine bag, and a kraft paper bag of peanuts, you take a sip of cigarettes and I take a sip of wine, just talking about the old days in the street. [1. Lao She; Xiangzi Luotuo[M]; People's Literature Publishing House; 1962.11 2. Lao She; Four Generations Living under One Roof [M]; Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House; 2008.07]
There was a picture of a villa on the cigarette box, and Fengjiu knew that since the day the "Villa" brand cigarettes came on the market, the name of the cigarettes had been changed by the drivers.

Ya Ya watched the excitement, felt bored, and began to be unable to stay on his father's body, swaying left and right.So they took Yaya to Houhai again.This year's weather was surprisingly cold, and the ice was extremely cold. Ning Zheng held Yaya back and forth and hit a few "slippers" before placing her on the ice to stand upright.

Yaya lowered her head and saw a blue-gray silver carp that was a foot long frozen under the crystal-clear ice—it was probably a muddled fish, and I don’t know if she woke up to find that she slept in the wrong place, but it’s a pity that she has returned Not going—with eyes closed, but with a leisurely demeanor—Yaya, who was dressed like a small fireball, immediately lay down on the ice surface strangely, stretched out her small hand to reach it, but was suddenly stopped by the ice surface.She slapped the ice surface in bewilderment, a little puzzled, her mouth clenched and her confused expression made Ning Zheng laugh out loud, and bent over to hug her precious girl.

Feng Jiu looked at Ya Ya, who didn't forget to bend her fat body enough to look at the poor fish even after being picked up, and Ning Zheng, who couldn't help but concentrate on kissing her daughter's face, smiled sweetly, and looked up again. Towards the ice surface not far away—some people skate really well, skimming over the ice like nimble swallows, suddenly a little confused: as she grows older, she seems to have to believe in fate—

Just like back then, if I hadn't been so happy and insisted on skating in Wanliutang, wouldn't I have never met Ning Zheng, and I wouldn't have married him?If so, where should she be now?
But if you ask her if she regrets it, she can reply right away: no regrets.

Feng Jiu stared at the young man skating for a long time, then turned around and met the eyes of Ning Zheng who had been silently watching her for the same long time.Yaya was busy studying the thick black fedora hat on her father's head. She held the hat in her hand and studied it over and over again.

The couple's eyes met, both in a trance of memories - so, at this moment, did he also think of that day?

How would he rate that day?

For Ning Zheng, that day, of course, was his lucky day, a big day in his life, because he got the favor from heaven.

However, perhaps, Feng Jiu's perception is different from his own...

Ning Zheng suddenly asked: "Is this the overcoat you wore when you went to the 'Grand View Garden' with me?"

Feng Jiu was taken aback, and looked down. At this time, she was wearing a light crab gray suit collar with a single row of round black buttons tweed coat, and a bright red cashmere scarf was loosely wrapped around her shoulders. Seeing Ning Zheng, why did he still have to obey his father's order to invite him to see the overcoat he wore when he went to the theater?

Since the national calamity, Fengjiu's clothing has become more and more simple, and he basically no longer makes new clothes, but wears old ones if he can—especially when he goes to Yanda University for classes and goes to Fengda University and Northeast Middle School to handle general affairs—the whole body is often covered with nothing but clothes. A pair of earrings, no other jewelry will be worn.

At a time when the nation is in peril, as Mrs. Ning Zheng, she is even more inappropriate to dress gorgeously, although her original dressing style is nothing more than low-key luxury.

This coat is from Melanie's ready-to-wear store. The material is thick and soft. The design is straight and slightly narrowed. , and was not willing to throw it away, but brought it here again. Fengjiu was also quite proud of being able to put on old clothes again after weaning——

If it is said that she had the "pigeon breast" of a young girl before marriage, then after marriage, she has begun to take shape, upgraded to fullness during pregnancy, and spectacular when breastfeeding; and now, it has finally shrunk to a round and not exaggerated state, and has The charm of a mature woman is very moderate.

Originally, the large size that lasted for more than two years did compromise part of her temperament: as a woman, she had to admit that there is no beautiful woman with outstanding temperament who has big breasts, and that is simply the mortal enemy of the word temperament.

More practically speaking, if a woman's breast size is too majestic, whether it is sports or dressing - especially evening dress - it is very inconvenient, and it can even be said to be a kind of restraint.

But for Ning Zheng, the shrinking of his wife's breasts was a little bit of bad news. It was a pity, but in the final analysis, he liked all kinds of Fengjiu, so he soon felt relieved.

A few days later, it was Mrs. Ning's 79th birthday. Ning Zheng's family of three went to the mansion on No. 32 Road in the French Concession of Tianjin in a low-key way to celebrate the ninth birthday for grandma.Fengjiu ordered a big longevity peach early in Tianjin's Zhongdian shop, ordered a red mouth, and put a dough-shaped "Eight Immortals" on it, and their expressions were all referring to the appearance in Yang Liuqing's painting "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea". Smaller longevity peaches are piled up in layers to form a pagoda, and red apples of similar size are piled up around the outside, implying peace and longevity, and that's it - when the country is in crisis, everything is kept simple.

If this is the past, it must be a tall greenhouse with a glass lattice fan on it, some auspicious paintings such as Magu's birthday greetings, Songhe Xiangrui, etc., and embroidered red chair covers. Thick red felt, and a few heavenly parties, please invite several famous restaurants in Tianjin, such as "Zhengyangchun" and "Dengyinglou" to make flowing water mats.

Grandma has always been familiar with the general situation, and she smiled happily at their arrival, especially when she saw the cute Yaya, she hugged her "heart and liver" and screamed endlessly.Mrs. Ning is very measured, she never kisses children, she is afraid that the "old man" in her body will be overwhelmed, and it will make Feng Jiu feel uncomfortable.

Now that we're in Tianjin, let's go see the Tang family again.

His hometown fell, the country was in dire straits, and most of the Tang family's property was destroyed. Tang Du had obviously aged rapidly in the past six months, and his spirit was not as good as before.Seeing Yaya, the eyes that were originally slightly dull suddenly burst into light. He hugged his granddaughter and refused to let go, and then took the two of them to the study, and took out a gold-encrusted Hetian white jade from the depths of the desk. Gourd, took a gold chain and put it on Yaya, wanted to say something, but stopped again.Feng Jiu knew that his father wanted to say that Ben left a lot of good things for his beloved little granddaughter, but now, all of them are gone.

Tang Du has always loved Yaya, his granddaughter, the most. First, Yaya is a lively and mischievous girl who is rare among girls. He finds out flowers every day, which is really cute; second, Feng Jiuben is his favorite. The daughter of the most beloved daughter, the child of the most beloved daughter, naturally has to be more partial; the third time, it is because Yaya has never even seen the face of the handsome grandpa, it is really pitiful, so Tang Du always wants to make up for her shortcomings that one.

At this moment, Ning Zheng, who was originally sitting in the living room, followed in with his head down, and stood aside a bit awkwardly. Tang Du took a look, and simply threw the two of them out, closed the door, and Weng and his son-in-law had a secret conversation. After a while, when the two came out, there were tears on their faces, but looking at Feng Jiu, the big stone in Ning Zheng's heart seemed to be lighter.

The two brothers, Buku and Buxian, are very promising. They followed their elders all the way to Tianjin and have been adapting well.Especially the older ones, who entered the Nankai Primary School founded by Mr. Zhang Boling, got up early every day to practice boxing seriously with Wei Lan, saying that they wanted to grow up quickly and go back to their hometown in Northeast China.

Feng Jiu nodded again and again.

(End of this chapter)