Chentan's Memories

No.30 Six times under the lantern, the lonely Linjiafu reunited with Jinling City during the fireworks

He warmed up today's share of books again, pulled himself together and poured himself a cup of tea, rubbing his sore and swollen temples.

Master Lin came into the room: "...you don't have to work so hard."

"It's not bitter." Lin Lang smiled: "There are ancient people who hang on their beams and stab their buttocks. In comparison, I am sneaking."

"Where did you hear the allusion of hanging beams and thorns!" Sitting down at Lin Lang's table, Master Lin took out a small porcelain figurine from his arms, which seemed much more delicate than the one Tang Yushu bought—— Tang Yushu's little porcelain figurine was made by someone else before, and it resembled Lin Lang in a slightly crooked way; while the one that Dad took out seemed to be made in the same way as Lin Lang.

Seeing his gray beard trembling even though he opened his mouth, Dad said, "Here you are!"

There was a bit of flattery in his tone when he spoke.

"You don't need to look like this..." Lin Lang took it and fiddled with it in his palm: "They are all insignificant things, if they break, they will break."

Master Lin picked up the tea that Lin Lang had poured for him, took a sip, and sighed: "If it's broken, you can't let it be broken, you can mend as much as you can - it's inevitable to drop it clumsily, but let it go." Leaving it alone is unforgivable."

Lin Lang didn't bother to digest his father's words.

Putting the teacup aside, Master Lin said: "When you ran out of the mansion earlier, you made me anxious--little brat, it's so hard to find Daddy after a meal. Later, I thought, you came out Going out the door, there must be expenses, so I posted a message at various ticket offices in Jinling: Everyone who redeemed our Lin family's bank notes, please give me some money! But after checking your whereabouts, they sent you money. You ran away in fright—Daddy cried anxiously that day, he really cried, for such an old man, he hid in your mother's ancestral hall and howled like a fool."

Lin Lang raised his eyes and looked at his father.

Master Lin shook his body and leaned on the table: "After that incident, Dad was thinking--did I do something wrong? I tried to find your trace but scared you away. You have no money to spend. What do you do in the future? How do you eat? How do you add clothes when the season changes? What if a local ruffian begs for money, and you can’t find half of your body after a search. Our Lang'er was born beautiful..."

Lin Lang "coughed" twice to interrupt Master Lin's delusions of being persecuted.

"...Hey. I just realized that I did something wrong." Master Lin's voice was a little weak when he spoke. Lin Lang could hear his sadness, and he could also hear his forbearance.Dad continued: "It's always like this—I was too afraid that you might make a mistake, so I arranged a lot of means to help you plan and plan for you, but in the end it made you more and more scared, so scared that you ran away."

Lin Lang didn't speak, and Father Ren continued.

"Your uncle told me all about it—it told me that you went to Chentan, met a reliable little brother, and opened a restaurant together as a partner, experienced a lot of ups and downs, and made a small fortune... Daddy has heard all the ups and downs for so many years, but your story in just a few months has fascinated me." Master Lin paused: "You have this ability, and you are willing to continue to do it in the future, and Daddy is willing to help you .”

Lin Lang lowered his head: "I won't do it."

Master Lin didn't hear clearly: "Huh?"

Lin Lang repeated: "I won't do it. Making money is not interesting... I want to go to the exam and become a high official now, so I won't do business."

Master Lin was stunned for a moment, then nodded.Shaking a few times at a loss in the current space and atmosphere, he finally reached out and touched Lin Lang's head: "Today is New Year's Eve - there will be fireworks in the city later, do you want to eat at home? Or should we go out? Or should I call your uncle over for you?"

"No, I'm tired today and plan to go to bed early..." Lin Lang said.After finishing speaking, he raised his head and added with a smile: "Father, you don't need to worry about me, it will be closed this year—I know you have a lot of business matters to take care of, so let's do it."

Master Lin nodded and left.

Er Shun'er came into the room with a bunch of miscellaneous food: "Master, do you want something to eat?"

Lin Lang said, "No, I have no appetite."

"You haven't had an appetite these days." Shun'er said, "It's really harder to manage than a child."

Lin Langcai couldn't help laughing because of the sense of conflict from the overreach of the subject's words: "Hey, by the way, let me ask you: If you want to eat anything, I can immediately make a table for you—what do you want to eat at this time?" ?”

Shun Er said without hesitation, "I want to eat hot pot."

"...I want to eat it too." Lin Lang nodded: "Do you think hot pot has this kind of temperament? ——It doesn't matter what season, what day, what happened, what kind of person you are with, it's up to you If the head wants to be lively and hot, it will want to eat!"

"Correct!"

"This is also a selling point!" The light from the newly lit lantern outside the window streamed in Lin Lang's eyes: "If this theme is the main theme, it will be written as a poem for people to recite by mouth - hey, you said to find Jinling If a famous poet in the city writes it, will the effect of publicity be better?"

Shun Er stared blankly at Lin Lang, dodged the sparkle in Lin Lang's eyes, and hurriedly replied: "Yes..."

As if Lin Lang just remembered something, he nestled his heavy body into the chair.

After a while, he sighed faintly: "Actually... everything is caused by myself now. If I hadn't escaped from the Lin Mansion, hadn't gone to Chentan, hadn't met Tang Yushu, and hadn't eaten the hot pot made by him, Without going through everything with him, he's—wouldn't it be a stranger to me?"

He looked at Shun'er: "And the life and death of a stranger...isn't it a big deal to me?"

Shun'er asked, "But are you willing?"

"If you ask...it's really not reconciled." Lin Lang sat up a little bit: "What did I think that day? Guess—it's funny to say. I suddenly thought that day: If I bring the current memory, I can revisit it again. What would I do if I came here once?"

"At first, I thought that I would never go to Chentan, and I would never go in my life... But then I thought, I should go for a while, I just pretended to pass by, and looked at him from a distance-if he didn't If he met me, he should be working on the pier, maybe he did something else... I didn't bother him, and there was no story, I just hid in the distance and watched him..."

Shun'er came up with an idea: "Then you have to pretend to be a prophet of divination and tell him: 'Go see a doctor sooner - treat hidden diseases earlier!'"

"Yes!" Lin Lang clapped his hands, as if his life really let him plan: "But then I thought about this again, and felt that he couldn't die of illness in vain. I want to rush there early—— Before he came here, before his symptoms became serious, he was prescribed a prescription to cure him! Ha..."

Shun'er came up with an idea: "Then don't waste your time awkwardly, tell him earlier: 'I like you...Brother Yushu~'."

"What nonsense!" Lin Lang stared, but his face turned red with honesty: "That's right... If I could have told him earlier, I wouldn't have waited so long for only one kiss—Shun'er, you Said: If Tang Yushu can't wake up, am I in a panic? I only ask him for a kiss, and I will pay for the rest of this long life...Whether it's studying, getting a job test, or leaving him, I can't do anything. Because I'm greedy for that kiss..."

The night completely enveloped Jinling City.

In the dimly lit study room, Lin Lang was drawn with a red edge by the lantern.

"I have a date, and I will remember him forever... I had a strange dream last night: I dreamed that I was in the flames of war in Chengdu, and he was guarding me, using a steel gun to kill me in a circle—— Not too big or too small, just enough to accommodate me. Then I dreamed that I was married to him. He was wearing a beautiful red gown, leading me carefully, and walked to the head of the bed to remove the veil for me... …I joked with him and pretended to be annoyed and said 'I don't agree, we are both men, why did you come to lift my handkerchief?!' Guess what he said?"

"what did he say?"

"He frowned, thinking that I had changed my mind, and was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead: 'You covered the quilt my mother made for my daughter-in-law, you have to admit it!'"

After speaking, He Shun'er laughed together.

Laughing and laughing, but gradually fell silent.

When Xu time arrived, the sound of firecrackers outside pinched a little bit one after another.

Lin Lang was flustered and ordered Shun'er to close the window.

But no matter how tightly it is closed, it will keep those happy sounds from entering the ear canals that are forced into it, and show off its might in the head—probably there is a balance between joys and sorrows in the world—just like this night, No matter how much happiness the entire Jinling City enjoys, there is also an equal amount of suffering growing in the dark.

And all these sufferings are expected to be contained under his tongue.

Lin Lang remembered the story Tang Yushu told himself one night.

When he was young, he and Qing Yang had a New Year's Eve, braved the snow and picked up some waste wood smeared with oil paint from outside, built a fire around them, and the two of them kept warm.Those oil paints burst out from time to time among the tongues of fire, and there were inch by inch sparks, as well as the sound of "beeping".

Qingyang asked: "What is this?"

Tang Yushu didn't know either, squatted down and watched for a long time, and told Qingyang: "This is fireworks."

When he finished speaking, he laughed spontaneously, and after laughing for a long time, he turned his head, only to see Lin Lang frowning with complicated emotions.

Tang Yushu panicked a little: "It's not funny...it's not funny, let me tell you—"

"Funny!" Lin Lang nodded in cooperation.

After a few dry laughs, he secretly made up his mind: on the most beautiful night of Jinling fireworks, he must be taken to the best wine shop and the most expensive stand to watch the clearest fireworks.

Shun'er seemed uncomfortable sitting in such a quiet study, got up and said, "Master, let's go watch the fireworks too."

"You go and read it, I'm sleepy..." He scribbled the book on the desk, but he regretted it, turned his head and said to Shun'er: "Okay, let's go!"

Habitually walking towards the backyard, intending to climb over the wall and sneak out, but was reminded by Shun'er: "Today is New Year's Eve, it doesn't matter to go out through the main entrance."

The lights in the Lin Mansion were brightly lit, and the servants and servants were talking and laughing one after another.

When he didn't turn to the main entrance, Lin Lang heard someone hugging and shouting in front of the door, and he muttered "What's the matter..." But he was suddenly stopped by his father's scolding sound.

The noise in front of the door also returned to silence.

Lin Lang and Shun'er took a few steps forward, and suddenly heard a stubborn voice: "I want to see Lin Lang!"

His feet softened, and Lin Lang fell to his knees on the ground.

Shun'er ran forward quickly, and stood still towards the door. After a long while, he called out "Master Tang!"—then he answered "Chen Ni!" and his voice broke.

Lin Lang stood up by himself.

Although I didn't eat much during the day, I suddenly felt very energetic.

Stumbling around the bend, looking past Master Lin and a group of servants, he saw Tang Yushu leading the horse standing in front of the gate of the Lin Mansion—exactly the same as in the past, intact and exactly the same.

Lin Lang rushed over.

Although it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, Tang Yushu was still sweating all over his body due to the speedy ride all the way.

Lin Lang didn't care to dislike him, but hugged him tightly, as if he was afraid that the person in front of him would disappear suddenly.

It doesn't matter what the onlookers are whispering, and it doesn't matter what the etiquette and customs are talked about hundreds of times, as long as it is all followed by the fireworks in Jinling City.

Tang Yushu's return hug was firm and powerful, and he must have recovered very well, but Lin Lang felt a little hurt from being strangled.

It hurts, but I can't bear to let him let go.