Gao Shuying sat in an ebony armchair by the window, reading attentively with a book in his hand. He looked up in surprise, glanced blankly at Qian's son and smiled, as if he didn't understand Qian's words.
"Young lady, our wife will invite you to play cards! Mrs. Wang's uncle is here. " Qianer couldn't help laughing when she saw Shuying absorbed in reading, so she raised her voice and said it again. She went to Shuying and stood at her desk, waiting for Shuying's answer.
Shu-ying frowned slightly and politely declined, "Why do you want me to fight?"? Why don't you ask the third wife to call? " The third wife, Zhang, is Shuying's mother.
Qian said, "I invited you. Third Lady asked you to play for her." .
Shuying felt very embarrassed when she heard this sentence. She put down her book, stood up, stretched herself and was about to leave. She immediately sat down and frowned and said, "I don't want to go, just say I'm a little under the weather today."
"Our wife invites you to go," Qian Er knew her mind, but deliberately joked with her and refused to leave. Instead, she made a chase, said the above words and smiled at her.
Shu-ying smiled, too, and with a little pleading tone, she quickly said, "Qian, you go." This gentleman will be back soon, so ask him. I really don't want to play cards. "
Qian son smiled knowingly, obediently agreed, and walked away. Before leaving the door, she turned to look at Shuying and said, "Miss Er, if you study so hard, you will definitely win a female champion in the future."
"Dead girl," Shu Ying scolded 1 with a smile. She was relieved to see the back of money out of the door. There is no need for her to think blankly for a while, then suddenly pick up the book and want to continue reading where she left off. But she felt that she couldn't concentrate on reading. The number four printed on thirty-two books became blurred before her eyes and jumped alternately from time to time. The European life full of sunshine and laughter that is worth looking forward to is fading away. Instead, she thinks about her past days and her present environment. She is a person with a strong memory. She can remember many things, especially the past year. Indeed, many great changes have taken place in this mansion in the past year, and each change has left an indelible mark on her heart, which has opened up her new horizons and let her know something that she never thought of before. The biggest of these changes is the death of grandfather, sister-in-law, and cousin Chueh-hui, especially the latter one, which has given her considerable stimulation. She learned from another cousin why she left. It never occurred to her that a young man would run away from home. Leaving home is a terrible place. But now it seems that my cousin took something from home, and everything at home is different from before. She seems to have changed herself. A year ago, others criticized her for being outspoken and joking, but now she can sit quietly in the room with a book for several hours, sometimes walking in the garden alone with a thoughtful look, or leaning against the railing on the circular arch bridge and looking at the lake below. Her mood at this time is indescribable. There seems to be a desire to scratch her heart, and at the same time, it seems that something has flown away from her heart, and with the past days, there is a gap in her heart, from which there is a dull pain from time to time, sometimes even for no reason. Although the slight pain in her heart sometimes strikes suddenly, she will understand the reason after a while. She immediately thought of another thing and then timidly put it aside. Although this has a lot to do with her and worries her, she dare not think about it. At the same time, she also knows that even if she thinks too much, it will not be good. This is about her marriage. She only knew a little and guessed a little. Her grandfather promised her to give it to Chen Kejia's second son on Sunday. Geng's post has been exchanged. This marriage was initiated by my grandfather and arranged by her father Keming. The date has been fixed, but it was postponed because my grandfather suddenly fell ill. Recently, she heard what to do during the year. She knows little about the Chen family. However, she heard that the Chen family's reputation was very bad, and she also heard that the master was not good at learning, liked gambling and held actors hostage. This was heard by Cui Huan, a girl outside, because her father's law firm Keming and Chen Kejia's law firm are located in a big house, and her father's servants and bearers know something about Chen Jia. Her cousins, Chueh-min and Shuhua, often criticized Chen Guren in their conversations, causing her dissatisfaction with marriage intentionally or unintentionally. In fact, she doesn't want to marry at such a young age, let alone into such a family. However, she felt that there was no other way but to obey her father's orders, and she could not ask about it herself. She has no courage and is embarrassed. She just stuck to the day helplessly. This is the main reason to keep her quiet. Melancholy took the opportunity to grow in her heart. Although she is only seventeen years old, she already feels that her future is bleak.
None of this is known to her parents. These days, apart from talking to the brothers and sisters next door, I only borrowed some translations of western novels and some new magazines from her eldest cousin Chueh-hsin. She can't fully understand the articles in the magazine, but there are many places that touch her heart and inspire her enthusiasm; As for the western novel, it has a charming charm. In those books, she saw another novel life, where there were women her age, but their behavior was so brave and natural. The most enviable thing was that they could control their own destiny, live freely and fall in love freely, which was completely different from her. So she loves reading those novels, often holding a book until late at night and melting herself into it. No one interfered with her in this matter, but occasionally someone laughed at her with words like "bookworm" and "female champion" This is not necessarily malicious. Although she doesn't like that, she doesn't feel hurt. Recently, however, things have been somewhat different. Some new things began to bother her, which often took her some time to deal with, such as playing cards with the elders at home. She is not interested in that kind of thing, but her aunt sent someone to invite her and her mother invited her. How could she refuse? She is forced to do not only this, but also other things on weekdays. She is living in such an environment, and her future life is so worrying. She thought for a while, but she still couldn't solve the problem. She felt that her eyes were just dark and hopeless. Her heart is a little excited. She put down her book and walked out of the room listlessly.
The weather is fine. There are only a few white clouds on the vast blue sky. The sun hung wistfully on the walls and eaves. There are two tall osmanthus trees in the yard, with a rectangular flower bed in the middle, and three peonies are in bud on the flower bed. Under a Zhu Lan tree on the right, there are two children lying on the goldfish bowl with goldfish, and a girl is watching. Her compatriot brother, Jueying, is a fifteen-year-old boy. He is also good-looking, but he doesn't like reading. One day, she was busy raising pigeons, catching goldfish and catching crickets with her cousins Juequn and Shijue. Another child is Juequn in Room 4, who is ten years old this year. When she saw them, she frowned slightly and said nothing. Chueh-qun casually looked up and saw her at a glance. He ran to the top of the stone steps and stood there smiling at her. Chueh-ying stood up straight in surprise. He turned around and saw that it was his sister, so he called "Second Sister" with a quiet smile. He still has a small net in his hand to catch fish and insects.
"Four elder brother, stop fooling around. Dad will scold you when he comes back and sees that you don't study! " She gently warned Chueh-ying.
"No," replied Chueh-ying confidently, still turning his head and bending down to get the goldfish.
The girl is Shu Fen from Room 4. She is nine years old. She turned around and greeted her cousin with a smile: "Look, second sister, the goldfish is really beautiful!" " "
Shu-ying vaguely agreed, shook her head slightly and walked out of a corner door next to her. Just then, one of Juequn's brothers and sisters, Shi Jue, an eight-year-old child with a broken nose, ran in from the outside, jumping and running, and almost hit her. She turned to one side in horror. Chueh-hsin called "Second Sister" with a smile and ran down the patio without waiting for her to say anything. Shu-ying frowned wearily and silently walked out of the corner gate. There is also a small courtyard with a wisteria rack in the middle. The kitchen is opposite the courtyard, and two or three maids are coming out. She walked along the wooden wall to cousin Shuhua's window. She heard someone whispering in the room. This seems to be her cousin's voice. No sooner had she stopped than she heard Shuhua shouting in the room, "Second Sister, come quickly. Sister Qin has just arrived. "
Shu-ying threw her head back in surprise and saw Chin's oval face, heavy eyebrows and eyes, sticking to the glass in the middle of the paper window, and Chin was smiling at her. She cried happily, "Sister Qin!" Then he complained, "You haven't come to see us for days."
"Three cousin just complained to me. Say it again! " Chin answered with a smile. "You don't know, I miss you every day. Mom is in poor health these two days. I am busy preparing lessons at school again. It's easy to find time to come to you now. You still have the heart to complain about me! "
Shu-ying was about to answer when Shu-hua put her face on another piece of glass and interrupted:
"Come in, what's the point of you two talking through the window?"
"Whether you come in or not, we'll go for a walk in the garden," Chin replied.
"Just wait for us at the gate of the garden."
"Good," Shu Ying replied, nodded slightly, and then hurried out. She walked to the door of the aisle on the right, stopped for a while, and saw Chin and Shuhua turn into the aisle and come this way. She said hello to Chin, said a few words, then turned around with them, turned a corner and entered the garden.
They entered the Moon Cave Gate, turned the big rockery, crossed a cave and came to Meilin. All kinds of red berries are planted here, and only bright green leaves are on the branches. They walked out of Merlin along a path and came to the lake. They walked up the winding stone bridge. At this time, the sun is about to set. The sky turned bright light blue, with some Xia Hong. These are reflected in the satin lake, adding brilliant decorations to reflect bridges and pavilions.
They stopped at the railing and silently looked at the scenery on both sides. In this short time, all the troubles of the outside world seem to have vanished. Their hearts are free at this moment.
"Sister Qin, are you going back tonight?" Zhang Shuying suddenly turned around and asked Qin.
"I think it's better to go back," Chin replied thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow is a week, you have no class, why do you want to go back. I think Second Sister wants to talk to you, "Shuhua said.
"You didn't come for several days, just sit for a while will go back. You are so cruel, "Shu Ying scolded chin.
Chin smiled gently, put her left hand on Shuying's shoulder and said softly, "You are complaining about me again. Look what you're talking about. It's pathetic. Well, I won't go back as you say. ..... See what you have to say? "
"In her words?" Shu Hua chimed in unconvinced. Then she happily took Shuying's arm and said with a smile, "Second sister, don't believe what she said. She is happy to sell a fake, in fact, she is for the second brother ... "
"Bah," Jean spat before Shu Hua finished, blushed, and then scolded 1 with a smile, "ivory can't grow in a dog's mouth! What does this have to do with my second cousin? I'll tear your mouth off and watch you chew your tongue in the future! " He said, and began to twist Shu Hua's mouth. Shuhua immediately flashed through her body. Jean almost missed the air and tried to catch Shuhua's braid, but Shuying held her back. Shu-ying was holding the piano, laughing so hard that she almost put her whole body on it.
"Give her a break this time. You almost hit the railing. " Chin held back her laughter and tried to get away from chasing Shuhua, but when she heard Shuying's words, she burst out laughing and quickly took out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her mouth.
Shuhua bent down beside her, patted her hand and smiled. When she finished laughing, she went to Chin and pleaded, "Good sister, good sister, please spare my sister this time. I dare not speak again next time. " As she spoke, she peeked at the piano with her braids, and the expression on her face made people laugh.
Chin put her handkerchief back in her pocket, raised her hand and patted Shuhua on the head twice, then took her arm and said, "Who is as knowledgeable as you! ..... words are sweeter than sugar. Who has the heart to punish you? ……"
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