Flower Moon

Chapter 24

After the fire in the Salesian Bureau, Tao Yue'er has been sluggish and can't cheer up anything.

Hua Ling persuaded her several times, but she couldn't lift her emotions at all.She seemed to have returned to the time when she first met, lifeless and doing nothing.

On this day, after the successive rainy seasons of Huangmei, the sun cleared. Hua Ling made a cup of tea and held the teacup to enjoy the flowers under the eaves. Tao Yueer behind him was still out of focus, like a walking dead.

Hua Ling frowned, and couldn't help asking her: "How long will you be sad?"

Hua Ling's concern not only did not play a positive role, but instead aroused Tao Yue'er's dissatisfaction.

"You have taken care of them longer than me, why are you not sad at all? Don't you have no feelings for them?" Tao Yueer asked.

"I have feelings. But I won't waste my feelings." Hua Ling said coldly: "Because we have been together for a long time, I know that they will leave one day. I have cherished them when I was alive, and I will feel sad after death. Meaningless."

"Really? You really can think about it." Tao Yue'er drooped her head and said distressedly: "I am not as open-minded as you. They...they are still so small...so cute..." Tao Yueer As he spoke, he choked up again, covered his face again, and cried a lot.

At this time, half a month had passed since the fire at the Salesian Bureau.For half a month, they hid in a deserted house in the slums, relying on flower buds to go fishing and dig wild vegetables for a living.

Hua Ling doesn't eat much, it's mainly for Tao Yue'er.But Tao Yueer's mental state is not good, and she has no interest in food. She often glances at it and puts it aside.In just half a month, Tao Yue'er lost a lot of weight, making her look even thinner.

"You can't go on like this." Hua Ling realized that the torch caused by the epidemic had hit her far more than he imagined. She seemed to be in poor health since that day, and it was difficult to sleep every night.

Because as long as you close your eyes, what comes to mind is that fire.And the smell of meat in the air.

This made her even lose her appetite.

In order to cheer her up, Hua Ling had to find another way.

In order to let Tao Yue'er sleep peacefully, Hua Ling made a censer out of clay.

The incense burner is very simple, with a two-layer structure. A candle is placed on the bottom, and a thumb-sized incense ball is placed on the upper layer. A breeze blowing in with the scent of green grass.

After having the incense, sleeping on haystacks in a leaky broken house became less uncomfortable.

And Tao Yue'er seemed to be able to temporarily forget the scorched smell and was able to sleep peacefully.

Tao Yue'er gradually recovered a little bit, she began to sleep well and eat well, and occasionally even wondered how Hua Ling made these incenses, and would pester Hua Ling to tell her something about 'spices'.

Hua Ling answered them one by one, and gave her a book - "Temple Incense".

This book is different from "Records of Quiet Drinking and Meal" in that it has more text.Although there are pictures, the usage and proportions in them require a lot of literacy.Tao Yue'er studied for a period of time, but she could barely recognize some of the vanilla shapes.

And Hua Ling seems to be very happy for her to read more books, and always finds all kinds of spices for her in different ways, and then tells her how to write and pronounce the words next to the pictures.

"This is spirit fat."

"This is the canopy."

"This is Qionghua."

……

The original 'flower' is written like this.

Tao Yue'er remembered the word 'Qinghua' written on the book.

"Then how do you write the character 'Ling'?" Tao Yue'er was a little curious.

Hua Ling's name sounds so nice, but she can't write it.

Hua Ling took a dead wood branch and wrote the word "Ling" on the ground in the yard.Tao Yue'er imitated the example and wrote another word "Ling" crookedly.

"The murals are not like this, but like this." Hua Ling held her hand and taught her to write stroke by stroke.

The scent on the flower Ling is different from the incense at night.

She has never seen Hua Ling serve other incense, which means that the fragrance on his body is natural.Although she didn't know how it was formed, but his body smelled really good...

A clean, ethereal taste, as boundless as the sea.It is also like the gardenias falling on the bedside after the rain in spring.

Tao Yue'er was enjoying the pleasant fragrance of his body, when suddenly, she was surprised to find several small wounds on his hands.

"What happened to your hand?" Tao Yue'er grabbed his hand and examined it nervously, only to find that the palm of his hand was covered with scars, large and small, densely packed.On the back of the hand, it was just a scratch.

It would not be surprising if these injuries appeared on others, but on Hua Ling's body, they were particularly glaring.

"How did you get hurt?" Tao Yue'er was very nervous, but Hua Ling didn't care.

"It's okay." After Hua Ling finished speaking, she wanted to withdraw her hand, but for the first time, Tao Yue'er held her tightly.

"These injuries shouldn't have appeared on your hands, how did you get them?"

"Chopping firewood, fishing, hunting, making incense burners, pounding medicine...etc." Hua Ling had never done a lot of menial work in the past, and even in the Salesian Bureau, she just couldn't handle it.Now accompanying Tao Yue'er every day, in order to feed her and sleep well, she needs to spend money.He can only try his best to make money.

So, besides going to the city to write letters for him every day, he would also go to the pier to carry goods on the way back. He didn't tell Tao Yueer about this, just because he was afraid that she would worry.

But Tao Yue'er can fully imagine the hardships he has experienced these days.

Hua Ling should be the young master sitting at home, fondling incense and ink.Mundane matters, daily necessities, rice, oil and salt should not be his consideration.

This should be her consideration.

"I'm sorry to drag you down these days. Without me, you will definitely find a good job..."

Hua Ling knows how to be literary and fragrant, whether it is to become a teacher in a private school or a clerk in a fragrant hall, it will not be difficult.But because he was worried about himself, he could only live with her in a dark, broken house.Do some chores all day long.

She is really sorry to let a younger brother take care of her daily life.

Tao Yue'er lowered her head, feeling very sad.

Hua Ling didn't think it was important.

Hua Ling: "You are unhappy. I take care of you because I want to. You don't have to feel ashamed of me. I treat you well just because I want to treat you well, and I don't expect anything in return. It's getting late, you Rest early."

After Hua Ling finished speaking, she withdrew her hand and ignored Tao Yue'er.After lighting the incense for her, she went back to her room and went to sleep.

Tao Yue'er looked at Hua Ling's thin back, and suddenly realized that his figure seemed to be much taller than Lu Guanting's.

Memory will beautify many things. She used to think that Lu Guanting was the most stalwart and most protective man she had ever seen. Although that stalwart did not fall on her head after all, it did give her hope.

This hope has been enlarged day by day, and it has become as magnificent as mountains and seas.

But now, as thin as a flower, what he gave her was real company, care and comfort.For a moment, she actually forgot what Lu Guanting looked like...

Is Lu Guanting really that reassuring?
Not necessarily.

That night, Tao Yue'er finally didn't dream of the children from the Salesian Bureau again. What she dreamed of was the broken flower buds.

In her dream, she was worried about Hua Ling, worried that he would be like a porcelain doll, which would shatter at the slightest touch, and then dissipate when blown by the wind...

(End of this chapter)