Chaos

A rickshaw ran not far from Li's house, and a jade-like girl got out of the car, dressed in a green shirt, gentle and elegant.

Li Kang came forward with a smile and said, "Miss Ning, long time no see."

"Long time no see." Like a gust of wind, Li Kang's heart was blown.

When I was a child, Lu Ning’s house was not far from Li’s house, and he often came to play with the Li’s children. The adults in the Li’s family also liked her very much, and always treated her as their own child. Later, her parents were sent by the company to England, so they went to stay with her. for several years.Later, Lu Ning's parents heard that the domestic situation was very tense, and decided to come back to do things for their country.

Li Kang looked at Lu Ning and said with a smile: "I heard the third wife say that you are back yesterday, and I wondered if I would become unrecognizable if I haven't seen you for so many years. I didn't expect that I was only half right."

"Why do you say you are only half right?"

"It's changed, but I can still tell that it's the beautiful Ning girl from childhood!" Li Kang smiled, the smile was exactly the same as in Lu Ning's impression.

Lu Ning showed two dimples and said, "Kang, you've become slippery!"

As they walked towards Li's house, the two chatted about the changes and current situation over the years.

As soon as he arrived at the gate of Li's house, he ran into the second wife who was about to go out.

"Lu Ning?" The second wife exclaimed unexpectedly, "Are you back? When did you come back?"

"Second wife! I just came back last week!" Lu Ning smiled decently.

The second wife's eyes were shining, and she pulled Lu Ning and kept boasting: "Come and let me see! Oh, children who have stayed abroad are different!"

"Where is the second wife going?" Li Kang asked.

"Oh, I'm going to see Buxin make some clothes."

After hearing this, Lu Ning asked with a smile, "I heard that Ruixiang has put on a few new bolts of satin. May I accompany you to see them?"

"No hurry! The fabrics are not always available, and rare customers don't come often! It's not too late for me to go back tomorrow. Come back and have a seat, Kang, you come too!" The second wife happily pulled Lu Ning into it.

"Ah, I won't..." Li Kang just wanted to refuse, but was interrupted.

"No, no! Come!" The second wife scolded.

"Brother Kang, come and sit with the second wife too!" Lu Ning said with a smile.

"Hey." Li Kang responded, but he was thinking about how many years had passed since he heard "Brother Kang" last time.

The second wife pulled Lu Ning to sit at the table, and Li Kang sat next to Lu Ning.

The second wife, Dai Yuexin, was a well-known beauty in Shanghai when she was young. Although she was not from a wealthy family and was a singer in the previous "Night Shanghai", she was beautiful and sweet, and she soon had countless suitors.But why did she marry Mr. Heng after seeing her son-in-law so much?The second wife said that Mr. Heng will not give away roses that will wither the next day, nor will he give all kinds of expensive jewelry that are often asked about. Every time there is a performance by her, Mr. Heng will appear in the auditorium on time In the corner of the room, she clapped earnestly. Every month, she would receive a stack of photos of herself singing on stage. Even if she didn't become his second wife in the end, she would treasure these photos.However, things are unpredictable. Within ten years of marriage, Mr. Heng passed away. Immediately afterwards, her youngest son Li Lugang couldn't control the direction of the gun when he held the gun, and beat his eldest son Li Shang until he was bleeding.Those days were too dark, but in the end the second wife still chose to love life and dress herself up beautifully, to this day.

"Are you still used to eating in England? You look thin..." The second wife grabbed Lu Ning's hand like a mother who hasn't seen her daughter for many years and asked this and that, "Ning, do you have someone you like now?"

Lu Ning hesitated for a moment, smiled embarrassedly, and said, "I don't know either."

The second wife glanced at Li Kang with a smile. Li Kang was a little flustered by this. He didn't know if it was a signal or a hint, and he opened his mouth falsely waiting to answer.

"Kang, do you have someone you like?" Hearing the second wife's question, Lu Ning also turned to look at Li Kang, waiting for his reply, as if Lu Ning said this sentence through the mouth of the second wife.

"Ah...I..." Li Kang looked at the second wife and Lu Ning helplessly.

Lu Ning withdrew his gaze, bowed his head and smiled softly, Li Kang's flustered appearance made Lu Ning inexplicably at ease.

The second wife saw the careful thinking of the two of them, and she pursed her lips and smiled, like a beautiful face printed on a cream.

"You are young," the second wife said to herself with a smile, "It's good to be young. There are so many wonderful things waiting for you to know. When I was young, I fascinated the whole Shanghai. Right."

"You are beautiful now!" Lu Ning said very sincerely.

The second wife smiled bitterly, lowered her head and patted Lu Ning's hand, looking at her slender but somewhat old hand, felt very uncomfortable.

Seeing that the second wife suddenly became sad, Lu Ning asked cautiously, "Second wife, what's wrong with you?"

The second wife shook her head, "It's nothing, I just suddenly remembered Mr. Heng."

Lu Ning and Li Kang looked at each other and continued to ask, "What's wrong with Mr. Heng?"

The second wife put away her sad expression and said with a smile: "Mr. Heng must be disgusted to death if he sees Kang so shy, and he will tell me several times how he thought of taking pictures of me and chasing me back then, why did you say that?" Didn't learn his parrot tongue!"

Li Kang's neck and ears immediately turned red into cherry fruit, the second wife and Lu Ning bent down laughing.

Coming out of the second wife, the two walked on the way to the bamboo garden, talking about interesting things that happened in the past few years.

"I heard that Lu is going to marry Miss Wu?"

"Yes. Lu likes her very much."

"It's really rare to see someone that Brother Lu really likes. What does she look like?"

"Smart, beautiful, the second young lady of the Wu family, she plays a good hand of cards, she is proud and arrogant, and many rich men would not like her after her."

"Then why does such an arrogant lady like Lu?"

Li Kang smiled: "Compared to Sister Nan, Lu is far behind, but it's not that bad. His poker skills have been in Shanghai for so many years, but he hasn't found many opponents. Miss Wu counts as one."

"His poker skills are so good? I just remember his marksmanship is very good. He never lost a game when he was young!"

Li Kang pushed open the door of the bamboo garden. The three old ladies were lying on rocking chairs basking in the sun. Seeing the two coming, they stood up to greet them.

The third old lady, Li Qi, is Li Gong's younger sister. When she was young, she mainly escorted the arms out of the province and supervised some scattered opium dens in the Li family.Being low-key and introverted, after Li Mu started to take over his own affairs, he built a small yard in the bamboo forest in the backyard of Li's house and lived in semi-reclusion.

"Ning!" The third old lady happily grabbed Lu Ning.

"Three old ladies!"

"Hey! I haven't seen you for many years. You look so beautiful! Go and make a pot of tea!" The smiling aunt behind the third old lady responded and turned to make tea.

The three old ladies pulled Lu Ning to the hut: "Come on, let's go inside and talk!"

After the tea was brewed, it was brought to the side of the tea table, and my aunt poured tea for the three of them using a very complicated tea ceremony.

Lu Ning picked up the teacup and smelled the tea carefully, and said, "It smells so good!"

The third old lady smiled and asked: "Do you like it? Huangshan Maofeng, you like it, I'll put some back for you!"

Lu Ning asked excitedly: "Really?"

"That's still fake? But, you have to answer a few questions for me, and I'll give it to you when I'm satisfied!" The third old lady smiled slyly.

Lu Ning put down the teacup and sat upright to show that he was seriously preparing to answer, "Ask!"

"Okay! First question, have you found a job when you come back?"

"Find it, and do English translation at the newspaper office!"

The third old lady was very satisfied: "Not bad. Second, how are the parents?"

"Very good, the old man can eat and sleep well!"

"Well," the third old lady nodded with a smile, looked at Li Kang, and continued to ask, "The third one, do you have a sweetheart?"

Lu Ning seemed to have expected it, pursed his lips and smiled, and said, "Yes!"

"Okay!" The third old lady didn't ask any more questions, and said with a smile, "I'm very satisfied, I'm living a good life, and I can't wrong my Mao Feng! Go, put all the rest of Mao Feng on Miss Ning!" Then he directly ordered the aunt to pack the tea.

"Don't stop!" Lu Ning hurriedly stopped, "It's too much! How can I afford such a price?"

"I won't give it to you! Little girl!" The third old lady stroked her caressingly, "Your mother likes to drink Mao Feng the most, so take it to her! What are a few catties of tea leaves? Isn't an old friend more precious than anything else?"

Lu Ning couldn't refuse, and said, "Then I will thank you on behalf of my mother!"

The third old lady smiled and said, "No thanks! Ning, the three questions I asked you are to let you understand that having things to do, a healthy family, and lovely people are very happy things, and you should cherish them. "

Lu Ning nodded in approval.

"You are so young and you have everything, but I will not realize until I have lived to this age, man, in this life, I will always face some... accidents that will happen at any time," the third old lady said bitterly. With a smile, "Isn't it just for the things you like and the people you love?"

"Third old lady..." Lu Ning called her in a low voice, trying to pull her out of her memories.

"Well," she came back to her senses, "cherish the people in front of you, cherish everything in front of you."

Lu Ning responded sentence by sentence, not understanding the weight of these few words to the third old lady.Li Qi chose to live in seclusion as soon as he reached the age of knowing his destiny, not for other reasons, but because of his husband's sudden death.For so many years, she has forgotten what the doctor said at that time, and there seems to be a gap in her memory. There is only a piece of white cloth, a very long white cloth, which can't be stretched out, and she can't see his appearance.She couldn't figure out for a long time why the person who was joking in the morning would be covered with a white cloth at noon, since his unfinished cup of tea was still on the table and he couldn't come back.

It wasn't until some time later, when she was flipping through the ledger that no one was reading beside her, and she could smell his scent while sleeping on the bed, but she couldn't find anyone with her hands, that she could vaguely feel that he was no longer there. With this information, thoughts and memories came flooding in. She couldn't lie on the bed that smelled of him anymore, and she couldn't even stay in the house where they had lived for more than 20 years.

How painful it is to lose, she has the right to speak more than anyone else.

For Lu Ning, the old people in Li's house are just the elders in memory, and for the old people, Lu Ning is the alarm clock sent by time to remind them that they are old, and it is the passage of rouge, gouache and tea that cannot be concealed. time.No one is forever young, but someone is always young.And being young, just being young, means having a healthy body, full of vitality, a beautiful youthful appearance, the courage not to be afraid of difficulties, and everything that time has not taken away, including the whispers of the person next to the pillow, including Only one life.