Shou Yulou did not return to Yunnan on time.
When Lin Daiyu had recovered from her illness,
They had not been able to return.
Not long after the rebel army retreated, it was the winter of the year she turned eighteen. Even though Yunnan was like spring all year round,
Even though her body was much stronger than when she was young, Lin Daiyu stayed up for several nights to write articles and argue with people on the South Xunnan tabloid,
She was still sick. She was seriously ill,
She lay in bed all day.
Lin Ruoshan was so angry that he sealed her pen and did not allow her to take a step out of the courtyard before she recovered. He hired a young woman to take care of her.
The trees outside the window were still green, but when the children played in the courtyard,
They exhaled cold air.
The young woman who took care of Lin Daiyu was called Guihua.
Guihua was only two years older than Lin Daiyu,
She was almost twenty this year. She hurriedly snatched the book from Lin Daiyu's hand,
She said with a bitter face, "My ancestor, why did you come! You're already sick,
Why are you still reading books! "
Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "I've been recuperating in bed until my bones are lazy. Sister, don't tell anyone. I'll take a few peeks. "
Although she was sick,
She looked much thinner. But there was a kind of person,
The more haggard and pale, the more beautiful she was.
Lin Daiyu was such a person.
Her smile flashed Guihua's eyes. Guihua was speechless for a moment. "Oh my, why didn't I see such a fairy in the past! It can be seen that those men are all lying. "
Lin Daiyu retracted her gaze from the children chasing the ants outside the window.
She was stunned. "Men? Lies? "
Guihua had a straightforward personality,
She was the kind of daughter-in-law who was famous in the countryside for being quick-mouthed,
She had always been outspoken,
She blurted out, "It means that you can't get married!" Just as she finished speaking,
She remembered that this was the master who hired her,
She slapped her own mouth in hatred. "Who told you to have a cheap mouth! You're just daydreaming! Miss Lin, those are all vulgar words from the countryside. A noble person like you shouldn't take it to heart! "
"Sister, what are you doing?" Lin Daiyu saw that her hand was heavy and her face was red. She hurriedly pulled her back and said with a smile, "You weren't the one who said that. There were a lot of unpleasant things that outsiders said about him. If I take those jealous literati in the newspapers to heart, wouldn't I not need to eat every day? Would I be able to fill my stomach with anger? "
Only then did Gui Hua feel relieved.
As soon as she saw her son fall outside, she yelled and lifted the curtain to go out.
There was no one in the room. Lin Daiyu let out a long sigh of relief. Looking out of the window, he was a little dazed. Gui Hua was teaching her naughty son a lesson.
Can't get married?
Gui Hua was only two years older than her, but her son was already five years old.
Nowadays, most women were like this. She became a grandmother at the age of thirty, and it was even rarer to live to forty.
In the eyes of the world, it was rare to see someone like her still unmarried at the age of eighteen. She was really an old lady.
Ever since outsiders knew that Xiaoxiang was a woman, there were often some jealous literati who were flustered and exasperated. They talked about her gender in the tabloids, saying that she was "sharp-tongued and morally corrupt" and would not be able to get married. "Old grandaunt".
She didn't care.
She was originally someone who liked parting and didn't like to get together. Since young, she had seen that marriage in this world was really terrible. She was already afraid, so how could she be willing to be a couple again?
However, it was inevitable that there would be people who knew about her background who would insult her father, mother, and ancestors. They said that the Lin family, which had been a noble family for several generations, actually gave birth to a daughter like her because of several lifetimes of "bad morals". They even said that this was the reason why "the Lin family should be cut off from descendants".
She also heard news that the Jia family was cursing the short-haired thief every day because the Jia family was born in Nanjing and most of their family business was in Nanjing. Now that Nanjing had fallen, many clansmen and old houses were trapped in it.
There were people who gossiped, saying, "Miss Lin also had short hair. If we knew that she didn't have good intentions, I'm afraid that she would have taken the lead to destroy our house."
Grandmother was so angry that she fell seriously ill. She sent away those gossiping servants and punished them with the family law. However, from then on, all the old traces in Xiaoxiang Hall, which were left by the original mother as a memento, were also demolished. The whole family was not allowed to mention the surname "Lin", let alone the two words "Daiyu". Grandmother would have a heart attack when she heard it.
She had also washed her face with tears for several days. She had also been angry and could not be comforted.
In the end, it was her own decision, so she could only grit her teeth and endure it. Until —
Someone knocked on the door. Gui Hua sighed and went to carry a stack of letters.
There were also baskets at the door, all covered with cloth.
She sat on the bed and read the letter. The loquat tree outside the window swayed. The cold wind blew in, but it carried a fragrance.
"Mr. Xiaoxiang said,
Reading the great notice, yearning especially deep. This humble concubine bowed again.
This concubine was a silversmith girl, a pearl in the hands of my parents since childhood. Thinking of the resentment of my mother when I was young, I was a married woman when I was fifteen. Marrying a talented man and having children, I have been married for ten years. Also loving a great husband, perhaps a pair of mandarin ducks will grow old. Alas! How can it compare to the yellow pearl in the mirror, the withered flower in the dream. This concubine is haggard when doing housework. My husband has succeeded in ten years. His scholarly achievements have been achieved, and he already has a new lover. He sings and dances in the red house, and this concubine sits in the deep courtyard. Suddenly, I feel that life is a dream, and I want to abandon my family … "
"Poor and weak as Lian 'er still has the heart to fight for life. What's more, I have a skill? How can I belittle myself to this extent? Reading Sir's great work, it is like waking up from a dream, drenched in cold sweat … I no longer have the heart of the next life … "
"Sir's great kindness, I will never forget it."
She picked up a hairpin that the woman sent her. This was personally made by this woman. It was carefully carved, and the thin bamboo was arrogant. It was far better than the common people in the world. There was a line of extremely small Hairpin-style Small Regular Script engraved on it: "To Mr. Xiaoxiang."
Other than that, there was a charred piece of tile and a bag of ash in the letter.
She opened the second letter. There was no stamp or signature on the letter. There was only a line: "To Mr. Xiaoxiang." She opened the envelope. There was only a charred piece of tile and a bag of ash.
The third letter … the fourth letter …
She suddenly pulled up her clothes and opened the basket. The basket was still filled with blackened bricks and tiles that emitted a charred smell.
Although her illness this winter had only started after staying up late to write her essay, the root of the illness had originated in Suzhou and the capital.
That was before the rebel army had fought all the way to Nanjing. Suzhou was still under the rule of the dynasty.
Her name had just spread, and everyone in the world knew that Mr. Xiaoxiang was actually a woman called Lin Daiyu. She was from the Lin Family in Suzhou.
Thus, an inexplicable fire burned the Lin family's Suzhou ancestral home to nothing. Even the faraway ancestral grave and graveyard were not able to escape the disaster.
The South Seeking tabloids covered the sky and covered the earth. People who rejoiced in other people's misfortune said that this was the punishment that the literary thief deserved.
She did not believe it. She knew that this was someone's malicious revenge and provocation.
She did not sleep a wink that night. Because when she closed her eyes, all she could see were the graves of her grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and younger brother. They had all turned to ash. Their ancestral home for generations had turned to rubble.
Even though her uncle had comforted her, she still fell ill.
When Lin Ruoshan came to see her, he saw that she was still staring blankly at the letters and baskets of rubble. He said, "When they were transported over, they went by water. In order to be careful not to spill them, they wasted a lot of effort."
She wanted to ask about the origins of these things, but her eyes were red, her nose was sour, and her throat was soft. She could not say a single word.
Lin Ruoshan said, "Be careful. Those children dug it up hard. We'll find a few jars in a bit and put these … in. From now on, bring your loved ones and your home with you. Wherever you go, you can take them. No one can burn them. "
Some people loathed her, loathed the uncle and nephew. Because of this, they burned down Suzhou, their hometown. However, the fire had just finished burning during the day. At night, there were still sparks in the ashes and the rubble was still hot. Many, many young people came from the Suzhou area. They knew that this was the location of Mr. Xiaoxiang's ancestral home and ancestral grave. They took advantage of the night to dig up these rubble and put them piece by piece. They gathered them together into one blue box after another.
These were all young people who worshipped Xiaoxiang as a gentleman.
Despite her "misdeeds," she was called a literary thief. She was treated as the disgrace of the family.
But the young people who were troubled by the hardships of the world did not think this way.
They were grateful to her. They loved her.
In these letters, in the hearts of one blue box, it was as if she was not a weak woman with a notorious misdeeds, but a matchless hero.
"What do I have to teach people to be grateful for?" As she spoke, she sniffed her sour nose. She was in danger of losing her composure. Instead, she droned, "What great kindness and kindness did I do to them … I'm afraid I've still harmed them."
She thought of the woman who read her "Li Xianglan's Work Diary" and cut herself off from eating and dying.
Lin Ruoshan said, "Yu 'er, if, when I was young, I had someone like you. I would also be grateful to you. "
"Do you remember 'Blue Silk' who often came to your door to look around when you were doing land registration? It was because he read your novel that he finally made up his mind to break free from the family's cage. "
He thought of his own experience in his youth. "You'll never know, when you feel that you've sunk into a deep quagmire, everyone tells you, 'Repent, rebel!' And when you finally give in, suddenly someone tells you, 'You're not wrong, it's this quagmire's fault! You just have to worry about breaking free! ' How excited you will be. No matter what the result of the struggle is. As long as you know that you're not crazy, but just sober, that's enough. "
After Lin Daiyu finished listening, she hugged the letters tightly to her chest.
When she finished reading the stack of letters, her illness was cured.
Gui Hua clicked her tongue in wonder.
"Your heart is too heavy. Your illness, ah, it's all mental illness." Lin Ruoshan said.
Not long after her mental illness was cured, Nanjing, which had been silent for a month, suddenly erupted into civil strife at the end of winter.
Shou Yulou could never come back.
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