Nine idlers

Chapter 2 The Children of the Chen Family (This chapter is free)

Because the locals in Chenjiachong know that the owner of Yizhuang likes to be quiet, and if there is no important matter, no one will come to disturb him, and because there are no street lights along the way, the outsiders dare not come to this wilderness without authorization, so Xu Changqing said this. The road is very quiet.When Xu Changqing reached the foot of Peach Blossom Mountain, he stopped suddenly. There were layers of dark clouds covering the moonlight and starlight, making the surroundings pitch black.Even so, Xu Changqing seemed to be able to see through the darkness. He turned his head and looked at the peach forest beside him, with a smile on his face, and said, "Come out! Breathing so loudly, even the deaf I can hear it too!"

The surroundings were silent, only some southern bugs chirping in the cool air, as if they were telling Xu Changqing that they were the only bugs here.Xu Changqing shook his head with a smile, and said, "If you don't come out, I'll leave!"

As he said that, he was about to walk up the Peach Blossom Mountain. At this moment, a hurried voice suddenly came from the place where Xu Changqing was looking, shouting: "Brother Xu, wait! Wait! Don't go, we will come out."

I saw that following the shouting, five lanterns were lit under several peach blossom trees, and three men and two women came out from under the trees. Under the faint light, the five people were all dressed in the latest The popular dress looks very energetic.The two leaders are the two youngest children of Chen Deshang. The boy is named Chen Tao, and the girl is named Chen Yu. They were sent to England by Chen Deshang when they were eleven or twelve years old. University, studying Western culture, only come back once a year or two.The two had a very good relationship with Xu Changqing when they were young, and they always liked to follow Xu Changqing's ass, running all over the mountains and plains, feeling like brothers and sisters.

Among the three people behind the Chen brothers and sisters, only the blond foreigner Xu Changqing had heard his identity from Chen Deshang.He is a British aristocrat named Sean Willner, and he is now a lecturer at Oxford University, teaching Eastern civilization.Chen Jingguo, the eldest son of the Chen family, was his roommate and best friend when he was studying, and once saved his life in an assassination incident against him, so the two became brothers with different surnames according to Chinese etiquette.When the Chen family developed their business abroad, he helped the Chen family a lot. This time he accompanied the Chen family brothers and sisters to China to experience the long-admired Chinese culture.

Although Xu Changqing didn't know the identities of the other two people, but from their demeanor, appearance, temperament, clothing and hairstyle, Xu Changqing was almost certain that these two people must be the sons and daughters of some merchants who came from Shanghai this time, and they had been educated in China. Very high education.

Xu Changqing looked at the people who came over, raised his hand and nodded at the two brothers and sisters of the Chen family, and said: "You two guys just came back, you jumped up and down, and even came to my place to mess around, if you let me Your father knows that he must be served by family law again!"

"Brother Xu, I love Xiaoyu the most!" Chen Yu hastily stepped forward and tugged at Xu Changqing's sleeve, and said coquettishly, "I will definitely not tell Daddy about this, so that Xiaoyu will be punished!"

"Okay! Don't pull anymore! I just don't tell Weng Chen!" Xu Changqing was covered in goosebumps by Chen Yu's coquettish voice. Knocking on her forehead, she said: "You girl, it's okay to gossip like this when you were a child, but now you've become a big girl, and you still behave like this, if your future husband-in-law sees it, I'm afraid it will kill you." I am in a hurry to retire!"

Chen Yu rubbed his forehead, wrinkled his nose towards Xu Changqing, then turned his head to stare at the young man in a neat suit with neatly combed hair, shook his fist at him, and raised his head Pretending to be arrogant, he said: "He dares! If he dares to withdraw, I will beat him until he swallows his words."

The young man shrank his neck very cooperatively, then walked up to Xu Changqing, bowed respectfully and said: "Zhang Yuan has met Mr. Xu!"

Xu Changqing now knows the identity of this Zhang Yuan. He is the second son of the famous Zhang family in Suzhou. His father is a well-known businessman in Shanghai and has a close relationship with the consul general of the French Concession.The Zhang family and the Chen family had some business contacts, and the relationship was unusual. Zhang Yuan had lived in the Chen family for two years when he was a child, and it was at that time that the parents of both parties made him and Chen Yu a child.The Zhang family's business was once suppressed by Hu Xueyan, but with the guidance of Master Xu Changqing, the family business was saved and expanded later. Therefore, their Zhang family is very clear about the skills of the descendants of the master of Yizhuang. Xu Changqing, like Chen Deshang, practiced the teacher's etiquette.

"Get up! We are all young people, there is no need to perform such customary rituals!" Xu Changqing stretched out his hand to help Zhang Yuan up, then turned to look at Chen Tao who had been standing beside the woman in the western dress, and asked, "Xiao Tao, are you ready?" Would you like to introduce this lady?"

"No, no!" Chen Tao quickly shook his head in denial, then blushed slightly, gave way, and introduced the woman: "This is Miss Xie Ling, the daughter of Mr. Xie Zhengjun, a tycoon in the textile industry in Shanghai. The Chinese and Western girls' school is a rare Western-style female 'female' in China!"

"I'm not as good as you said!" Xie Ling smiled at Chen Tao, turned around and performed a Western courtesy to Xu Changqing, saying, "Xie Ling has met Mr. Xu!"

Xu Changqing also nodded slightly. At this time, Chen Tao was about to introduce Xiao En who was standing at the back, but Xu Changqing raised his hand to interrupt.He took a step forward, raised his hand towards Sean, and said in very pure English, "I've heard of Mr. Sean's name for a long time, and it's really my luck to have a taste of it recently!"

The English that Xu Changqing blurted out not only stunned those new Chinese youths, but also made Xiao En stunned for a while, but he quickly recovered, and immediately stretched out his hand to shake Xu Changqing's hand vigorously. Not purely Chinese, he said: "I have also learned some things about Mr. Xu from Yasukuni. It's time to go!"

Xu Changqing was obviously used to hearing these compliments, he looked calm, smiled indifferently, then turned to Chen Tao and asked: "Now is the time to go to the riverside to put the lanterns, you come to me in pairs What are you doing?"

Chen Tao seemed embarrassed to say it, lowered his head, and said, "Brother Xiao En wants to experience the mysterious culture of ancient China. Brother Xu, you are..., so..."

Xu Changqing seemed to have sensed Chen Tao's thoughts, and frowned slightly. Seeing that the situation was wrong, Chen Yu quickly picked up the words and said, "Brother Xu, you see that you are the most knowledgeable and knowledgeable person in Chen Jiachong, and we will..."

"Tell the truth!" Xu Changqing looked at the Chen brothers coldly and said.

The brothers and sisters of the Chen family felt that Xu Changqing was a little angry, as if they were facing their father, they lowered their heads and dared not speak.Xiao En also sensed the embarrassment of the brothers and sisters, and hurriedly stepped forward to rescue them, saying: "Mr. Xiaotao and the others came over to have a look."

"We also have a share! I hope Mr. Xu can't be blamed!" Zhang Yuan and Xie Ling also stepped forward to share the responsibility for the Chen family brothers and sisters.

"You guys are really messing around!" Xu Changqing frowned, his face livid, and he said angrily to the Chen brothers: "Did you two forget that when you were young, you sneaked to Yizhuang to watch Master cast spells, and then got seriously ill and almost fell ill?" I lost my life! Now that the scar is healed and the pain is forgotten, it’s okay to be naughty, but now I dare to bring someone here, this time I will definitely tell your father to let you remember 'sex'!"

"Don't! Don't!" When the brothers and sisters of the Chen family heard that Xu Changqing was going to tell Chen Deshang what happened today, they immediately became anxious. While winking at Xiao En and the others, they stepped forward and admitted their mistake: "We were wrong. Brother Xu, we are wrong, can’t we? Please don’t tell my father, please!”

Xiao En and the others saw that the brothers and sisters of the Chen family looked so anxious, and they also realized that the matter might be a bit serious, so they hurriedly stepped forward to intercede for the brothers and sisters of the Chen family.However, Xu Changqing didn't seem to listen to what they said. Instead, he looked towards the dark fork in the southeast, his face changed from livid to astonished, and he said to himself: "Damn, why is this hour here? Is that old man crazy?"

Everyone looked at Xu Changqing in confusion, then turned their heads and followed Xu Changqing's gaze towards the side road, but all they saw was darkness, and there was nothing else.

Xu Changqing ignored the five bewildered faces, looked back, pinched his fingers, and seemed to have figured out something, frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said to Chen Tao and the others: "You guys follow me up the mountain immediately, wait a while No matter what happens, don't make a sound, and don't ask too much, understand?"

When everyone heard that things had turned around, they all breathed a sigh of relief by coincidence, showing surprise, but Chen Tao was still a little worried, and asked timidly: "Brother Xu, then you will still take tonight's event?" Do you want to tell your father?"

Xu Changqing's expression eased, he knocked on Chen Tao's head hard, turned around and walked up the mountain, the tall and thin figure quickly disappeared into the darkness, and a word came out from the darkness, saying: "This time even Now, if there is a next time, even if Chen Weng forgives you, I will not forgive you!"

Hearing Xu Changqing's words, everyone felt relieved, and under the leadership of the Chen brothers and sisters, they quickly chased up the Yizhuang on the mountain with a lantern.

Although Peach Blossom Mountain is called a mountain, it is actually just a small hill. When it was bought by the Chen family, it was just a barren hill. Later, the first generation owner of Yizhuang planted peach trees on the hill.However, what is strange is that since the peach trees were planted, no weeds have grown on the mountain, and in less than a year, the peach trees on the mountain have matured, blossomed and bear fruit, and the peaches are very red, but it is a pity to eat them. It tastes very bitter.But there is a kind of white-headed crow that likes to eat this kind of peach very much. Whenever the peach is ripe, this kind of white-headed crow will fly over to peck the peach, and then fly away immediately after eating the peach.

At the very beginning, some villagers in Chenjiachong felt that Peach Blossom Mountain was very strange and wanted to go up to the mountain to find out.However, because there were people sent by the owner of the Chen family at the intersection of the mountain, they could only go up the mountain through the peach blossom forest, but no matter how they walked, they would always walk back to the intersection. Both respectful and fearful, word of mouth, coupled with the strict order of the Patriarch of the Chen family, this place has become a forbidden place.

Because the mountain is not high, everyone soon came to the front of Yizhuang, and saw that besides the plaque on the main entrance, there was also a couplet written on the two large pillars on both sides of the main entrance, "Heaven and earth walk alone, I am alone, outside the world." Xiaoyao is alone!", the inscription is a nine-year-old idler, and between the lines reveals an aloofness of being alone in a troubled world.

The construction of Yizhuang is very simple. It is an ordinary courtyard house. You can see the inside clearly at the door. There are only a few simple stone tables and benches in the inner courtyard paved with bluestone bricks. A few plants are planted in the southeast corner. bamboo.Sean, who was originally full of hope, was a little disappointed after seeing such a simple scene. Under his influence, this place should be like the Water and Land Ceremony in the mountain city, with a high platform, and then use cinnabar to draw those weird symbols on the yellow cloth. , hanging around the yard, and the scene in front of me is really in contrast.

At this time Xu Changqing came out from the main hall in the backyard, carrying two bags of glutinous rice in his hand. Seeing that the five people had arrived, he asked them to sit down on the stone benches in the yard, and then walked to the left side with the glutinous rice in his hand, looking like In the room of the bathing room, pour all the glutinous rice into a large wooden basin filled with water for five people hugging each other.After everything was ready, he tested the temperature of the water, nodded, turned around and returned to the main hall, took out two packs of sacrificial incense, put them together, and walked to the room on the right.After he walked into the room, the hand holding the incense trembled. The incense seemed to be ignited by some invisible flame, and sparks were ignited on the top, and a strange fragrance spread out instantly, covering the whole world. Live the whole yard.

Xu Changqing looked solemn and respectful. He walked up to the scriptures written on the front wall of the room, held the incense sticks in both hands and raised them to the top of his head.After the three worships, he put the incense into the copper furnace in front of the Tao, raised his head inexplicably and said: "Everyone, use it slowly, don't grab it, and I will send you on the road in a few days. smoothly!"

With the slight fire light on the sacrificial incense, the whole situation in this room can be vaguely seen. On the top of the room, more than 2000 peaches are hung with thin wires. There are faces of people, male and female, old and young.As Xu Changqing's voice fell, the blue smoke from the sacrificial incense slowly floated up, and then condensed in mid-air to form a very peculiar ball, and kept rolling, gradually forming the shape of a Tai Chi Yin-Yang diagram.When the shape of the Tai Chi Yin-Yang diagram is fixed, the blue smoke that makes up the pattern seems to be alive. More than 2000 tentacles are separated, which are connected to more than 2000 peaches on it, forming more than 2000 delivery pipes. The expression on it also became very happy as the green smoke poured in.