Chapter 57

"Look at Honger, does he look like you?"

...

Xue Tingxiang suddenly felt that someone was shaking him, opened his tired eyes, and saw the dark inner room, Hu San's face that was no longer young, even the lines on the curtains were so familiar, he knew He was just dreaming.

It's just that the dream was too clear, the sorghum fragrance in the air, and the curve of her stubbornly pursed mouth made him feel like he was actually there. There were also her tears from being angry, which were crystal clear and shone with colorful light. He wanted to reach out to touch it, but was woken up by someone.

"My lord, it's time to drink the medicine."

Xue Tingxiang was propped up and given medicine. He was so ill that he had to be taken care of even to drink medicine. How could he look like that extremely human minister Xue Shoufu who had ruled the court for decades.

Oh no, he is not the chief assistant now.

He has already written a letter to beg for bones, intending to return to his hometown for the elderly, and the Holy Majesty has already agreed, but he has no home to return to, and no relatives to rely on.

In fact, he didn't intend to go back.

"Master Zhang, Mr. Wang, and Mr. Li and Mr. Cao all came to visit you, but they obeyed your orders and blocked the door. They come every day, and they are here again today. Would you like to see me?"

What can they do? Didn't they think that his illness was an expedient measure, waiting for him to stand up and continue to lead them to fight against the emperor, but he was really ill, terminally ill, and the medicine was useless.

"not see."

"My lord, please sleep a little longer."

The room became quiet again, Xue Tingxiang's eyelids began to get heavy again, he blinked again and again, and fell into sleep again.

...

"How come Mr. Wang is free to visit this old man?"

Wang Mingcheng's eyes were a bit complicated, but he smiled on his face: "After all, I am a minister of the same court, and I should come to visit Mr. Shoufu because of emotion and reason."

"I didn't expect you, Wang Mingcheng, to say such hypocritical things, but to see if the old man is dying on behalf of the emperor?" Xue Tingxiang sarcastically said.

He is obviously a haggard old man who is obviously dying, but just because of his calm, indifferent eyes that seem somewhat unpredictable, people dare not ignore him in the slightest.

After all, this is Xue Shoufu, and the name alone is enough to intimidate everyone. That was Xue Tingxiang's deep-rooted roots left by him after going through three dynasties and dozens of years, just like a towering ancient tree with intertwined roots, without him doing anything, just standing there is enough to make everyone daunting.

If not, why would the new emperor have to exhaust all means, but still dare not act rashly, only dare to take that roundabout strategy.

"It seems that my lord has misunderstood His Majesty a lot."

Xue Tingxiang snorted and laughed, half closed his eyes, did not speak, and looked obviously too lazy to talk to him.

"Actually, I'm here for myself. I just came to see how lonely and miserable the villain who abandoned his wife and son was now. I'm afraid Mr. Xue is dead now, and even a descendant in mourning None, in fact, Mr. Xue is too hard to see, it is just a show, just listen to it and watch it, how can you take the fake show as real and make yourself like this? Is it because of a disturbed conscience or fear? His true face is known by the world, he is reviled by others, and he will be stigmatized for thousands of years?"

"you……"

"To say that you abandoned your wife and son is too much to save your face. It should be killing your wife and son, isn't it, Mr. Xue?"

No one knows about all this. The world only knows that Xue Shoufu had a first wife before Mrs. Xue, but they don't know what happened to that first wife. After all, the time is too long, Xue Tingxiang has stood in the court hall for dozens of years, and his former, former and current opponents have all been trampled under his feet.

People in the world only know that Mr. Shoufu is friendly and respectful to the corporals, but they don't know that Mr. Shoufu also has a vicious side. In recent years, anyone who wanted to make a fuss about his past events all became lonely ghosts. No one knows how many ghosts have been added to it, and the only one who can know is Wang Mingsheng, the "bitter master".

"You, you are..."

Wang Mingcheng leaned closer to his face: "It's a pity that my mother's life is so bad, and so is my life. The sinking ship didn't kill us, but was saved by others. Do you know that for so many years, day and night, I I want to see this scene every night. It's a pity that your life is too long, and the power is in the hands of the people. I can only climb up step by step, to the position where I can step on you..."

"You are... Hong'er..." Xue Tingxiang struggled to say this.

Wang Mingsheng stood up straight and smiled heartily: "My name is not Hong'er, nor is my surname Xue, but my surname is Wang. My mother remarried, to the person who saved us...don't get excited, even if You are dead now, and I am not your son..."

Wang Mingsheng has always been known for being calm and introverted, hiding his secrets, and it was probably the first time he laughed so freely in front of people.

"By the way, you don't have to think that even if my official surname is Wang, I can still pass on the family lineage to your Xue family. Let me think about it. Yao Ji released the rumor that my official is as good as Long Yang back then, as if you ordered someone to do it. You really hit the mark, I don’t like women, that’s why I haven’t married for many years..."

He smiled and looked at the old man on the bed, seeing how shocked, disappointed and remorseful he was.

But so what?

He suddenly found that he was not as happy as he had imagined, and even this smile seemed too fake. He suddenly lost interest, flattened the corners of his mouth, brushed off his sleeves, and said, "Since Mr. Xue is fine, I will take my leave."

...

"I didn't, I didn't..."

"My lord, what are you talking about?"

Hearing this voice, the fog in front of Xue Tingxiang suddenly dissipated, and he woke up suddenly from his dream. In front of the eyes is this dark inner room again, Hu San's unattractive or even ugly face, the air is filled with a bitter smell of medicine, and there seems to be a decadent smell floating gently.

Xue Tingxiang moved his lips, but no sound came out.

"My lord, what did you say?"

Hu San was very anxious, and kept asking, but Xue Tingxiang couldn't speak at all. Hu San could only ask based on his own guess: "Are you thinking about the past? Don't worry, your words have been passed on to Mr. Zhang , he already knows that Lord Wang is your only son, and will follow your instructions."

Xue Tingxiang blinked his eyelids. Hu San thought he still had something to say, so he put his ear next to his mouth, but only heard one sentence: "I didn't..."

After that there is no text.

When Hu San anxiously looked up, he saw Xue Tingxiang's wide-open eyes and gray-blue face.

He moved forward to touch the other person's breath with shaking hands, but was so startled that he sat down on the ground.

*

The cold wind came in through the holed window paper, blowing Xue Gouzi's face coldly.

Shocked, he opened his eyes.

What imprinted in my eyes was a small room with blue brick walls and black tile roof. The walls were plastered with white ash, but it looked gray. The beams of the house are log-colored, and because there is no dust, they are bare/exposed. There are several bamboo baskets hanging on them. There seems to be something in the baskets, and they are covered with blue cloth.

He was lying on a kang with a half-new quilt covering his body. The quilt looked clean and tidy, but in fact the cotton wadding inside had hardened.

Facing his kang feet, there is a row of dark brown kang cabinets, with brass bare nails inlaid with hinged leaves and copper tassel handles, and simple patterns of auspicious clouds and flowing water carved on them, which look thick and generous. . Although it is nothing in a rich family, it is already a piece of furniture that can be sold in a peasant family.

There is no problem passing it down for generations!

This is what his father said back then, and his father was the best carpenter in the village.

Xue Gouzi felt his head hurt, as if he had been hit hard with a hoe. He wanted to support himself to sit up, but he was exhausted and fell back onto the kang again.

It was only then that he realized that he was Xue Gouzi, the eldest son of the second room of the Xue family. Because of something that happened, he couldn't think about it for a while, and he was so angry that he became ill for a while, and he had been sick for many days.

He is not Xue Tingxiang, that Xue Tingxiang is the person in his dream.

How could he be like that?

In order to prove that all that was just a dream, he raised his hand to look at it.

really! The hand in front of him was slender and fair, and he hadn't developed the muscles and bones that a man should have. He was only fourteen this year, how could he live to be over seventy years old, and die in the end.

Xue Gouzi let out a heavy breath, looked around again, and finally felt more at ease.

Someone was talking outside, and the voice came in through the cracks in the window.

"I'm talking about recruiting, it's not my aunt talking about you, look at what you are now, a girl who stays at home all day, and learns from those small traders to do business. That business is what you can do. Did it? Look at your fourth uncle, you can’t save a lot of money by running around outside every day, so don’t worry about it, and if you have that little time, you can help fourth aunt with some work!”

The voice sounded like a young woman, but the sarcasm in the words was too strong. It is said that appearance is born from the heart, and it is no wonder that Mrs. Sun has a mean face.

This thought flashed subconsciously in Xue Gouzi's mind, and then he was stunned. It's true that he hated Fourth Aunt, but why would he miss her so much?

Before he could figure out why, he heard the voice in his dream.

"Fourth aunt, I would like to help you with some work, but you also know that the dog has been ill for a few days, and the family gave a few pennies for the medicine at first, but after taking it for half a month, grandma said that the family The money is not in hand, so I stopped the medicine. Gouzi is my man, I can't just watch him be so sick, it's not impossible for the fourth aunt to want me to help with the work, or you can lend me some money to buy medicine, I Can I pay you back slowly in the future?"

The owner of the voice was a young girl, and the tone revealed a capable and crisp taste, mixed with a bit of teasing.

That's right, Zhao'er deliberately ran on the Sun family.

Mrs. Sun has always had a temperament of only getting in and out, and it is more difficult to ask her to give out a penny, let alone lending it to the two half-children of the second room.

Now there are only these two people left in the second room, the top door is only fourteen, but there is an older one, only sixteen, and it is still a girl's family. Every time Mrs. Sun heard the rumors from the villagers that Zhao'er, a dead girl, had made some money by doing some business, she would be full of disbelief.

What kind of business can this dead girl do to make money, but she digs three melons and two dates from the wild, and takes them out to trick the people in the city into exchanging a few pennies.

"Your fourth aunt has no money to lend you. Our family's money is all in mother's place. You don't care about mother's going!" Sun patted her buttocks, stood up and went into the house, too lazy to talk nonsense with Zhao'er.

"Since the fourth aunt has no money to lend me, and I don't dare to take care of grandma, I can only figure out where to get some money to get some medicine for the dog!"

Zhao'er's voice was very loud, so naturally she was speaking not only to Mrs. Sun, but also to Mrs. Zhao who was sitting in the main room.

Sure enough, Zhao'er entered the house with his front foot, and Mrs. Zhao stood at the door behind him and scolded Mrs. Sun: "You haven't cleaned the pigsty, so you're going back to the house to hold a corpse?"

Zhao'er curled her lips, lifted the door curtain and walked in, bumping head-on into Xue Gouzi's eyes looking at her.

Not long after she fell asleep yesterday, the little man developed a fever again. After being busy for most of the night, luckily the fever subsided in the middle of the night.

She sat up, raised her hand to touch the little man's forehead, and made sure that her hands were not hot, then put on her clothes lightly and got off the kang.

The first thing to do was to open the door, and Heizi, who had been restless for a long time, got out with a swish. Zhao'er also walked out of the room, seeing Heizi hurriedly running out of the courtyard to pee, she shook her head with a broken smile.

At this time, someone has already got up in the courtyard, it is the Zhou family of the third bedroom and his eldest daughter Xue Tao'er.

Today it's the third room's turn to cook. The Xue family's rule is that apart from the housework of each room, the work in the office is shared equally. One day per room, in rotation.

The room responsible for cooking is not only responsible for the food and drink of the whole family, but also takes care of the livestock in the family. The Xue family raised two big fat pigs, and it was not an easy job to just serve these two ancestors every day. Not to mention feeding chickens, carrying water, and chopping firewood, so the female family members who do housework on this day do not have to go to the fields to work.

It seems to be fair and just, but in fact everyone inside knows how.

The eldest aunt Yang claimed that the man was a child student, and she was exceptionally superior at home. Since Xue Qingshan passed the child student examination, she never touched housework again. The key is that Mrs. Zhao is also looking towards her, so it's not easy for others to question her.

At first, it was Xue Gouzi's mother, Mrs. Qiu, who finally came in, the third-bedroom Mrs. Zhou, and the two sisters-in-law finally shared the burden. Afterwards, Mrs. Qiu followed her deceased husband, and Mrs. Zhou was left alone. It was not until Mrs. Sun of the fourth room entered the door that she would be able to catch her breath again.

It's a pity that Mrs. Sun is lazy and playful. In fact, Mrs. Zhou still does most of the work.

In the past, when Mrs. Qiu was still alive, Zhao'er also helped Mrs. Qiu to do it. After Mrs. Qiu passed away, Zhao'er was busy with the housework of the second room and had to do the work in the office. In addition, Zhao'er was still young at that time, Mr. Xue told her to take good care of Xue Gouzi and not to take care of the work at work.

Zhao'er now has free time to go around and get some money, but she is a person who looks at her conscience and will help out as much as she can in her spare time. As for those who used words to squeeze her like Sun, her sharp tongue was not forgiving.

Seeing Xue Taoer struggling to fetch water from the well, Zhao'er rubbed his face and went up to help her.

Thirteen-year-old Xue Taoer is like a small flower in bud. Although she is not very beautiful, she is very delicate. Seeing Zhao'er coming to help her, she couldn't help showing a smile and talking to her: "Sister Zhao'er, is the second brother better?" Xue Gouzi is the second grandson of the Xue family, so Xue Taoer called him the second brother .

"I had a fever again last night, and it got better in the second half of the night." Zhao'er looked around curiously, and asked, "Why isn't Third Uncle here?"

Although Xue Qingbai is a bit honest and reticent, he always loves his wife and daughter. Whenever he meets the third room to cook, he will get up early to fill the water tank.

The Xue family has its own well, but the well is too deep, and there is no pulley on the well, so it is really exhausting to draw water with the strength of the daughter's family alone. That is to say, Zhao'er was naturally as strong as an ox, and his strength was no worse than that of ordinary middle-aged men, so he could pull the bucket out of the deep well very easily.

"My father went to the field and said he would work for a while and return after breakfast."

Xue Qingbai is an honest farmer. Unlike other brothers in the family who have other skills, he only knows how to farm, so he puts all his heart on the ground. The Xue family has a total of more than 30 mu of land, and now he, Mr. Xue and the fourth son Xue Qinghuai are all planted.

Although the women of the Xue family also went to the fields, it was only during the busy farming season, and besides, the women only had so little strength, so how could they help. Fortunately, the three men from Xue's family are all good hands in the field, and they are really too busy, so they hired part-time workers to help out for a few days, so they don't have to worry about not being able to finish the work in the field.

Just as he was talking, the door of the fourth room opened, and Xue Qinghuai walked out from inside.

The men in the Xue family are all big, so Xue Qinghuai also inherited a tall body.

He was born with thick eyebrows, tiger eyes and a high nose bridge. He was dressed in dark blue coarse cloth and short brown, and looked very heroic. In fact, the men of the Xue family are not bad looking, but the women of the Xue family are a little mediocre, but all the grandchildren are born well, and they are all top-notch in the village.

"Zhaoer Taoer, you wake up so early." Xue Qinghuai walked over in a few strides, took the wooden bucket in Zhaoer's hand, walked to the water tank, and poured water into the tank.

"How can you two little girls do this kind of rough work? You go to do other things, and the fourth uncle is here to fetch water."

Zhao'er and Tao'er didn't refuse either, one went to the kitchen to help her mother cook, and the other took a basin to scoop up water for washing.