Somewhat unexpected.
Luo Qingzhou didn't expect that the second lady would be here today.
What's more, he didn't expect that the little girl who used to secretly go to him to play, but was mercilessly hurt by him in the end, was also there.
"Qing Zhou, come in quickly. It's very cold outside. Your body is still too weak."
Luo Yu greeted him at the door with enthusiasm.
The second lady, Mrs. Yang, was also smiling, but her tone was strange: "Qingzhou, since you came back last time, you haven't been back for more than a month. Are you having a good time there and forget about us?" Has it become a national government?"
Luo Xiaolou stood in the corner, looking at the young man outside the door with complicated eyes, but did not dare to step forward.
Luo Qingzhou bowed his head and held his hands outside the door, saying respectfully: "Second Madam, Second Young Master."
"Family, why are you so polite? Come in quickly."
Luo Yu took his arm affectionately, led him to the table, and said with a smile on his face: "I asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of good dishes for you today. Let us two brothers have a good time together."
"Thank you, Second Young Master."
Luo Qingzhou lowered his head and said.
Luo Yu smiled, looked at the cold girl who was still standing outside the door, stepped forward and held her hands, and said politely: "Girl, please come in and sit down to eat together, we are not outsiders, there are not so many rules."
Xia Chan turned around, stood under the eaves with her sword in her arms, and looked outside. Her pretty face was as cold as ice, and she ignored him as if he were nothing.
The muscles in the corners of Luo Yu's eyes twitched, and she smiled slightly. Without saying anything more, she turned back to the house and ordered the maid to serve the food.
"Xiaolou, didn't you just say you wanted to see your brother Qingzhou? Come here quickly."
Luo Yu smiled and greeted the girl in the red dress standing in the corner.
Luo Xiaolou glanced at his mother timidly, and then at the familiar yet unfamiliar boy. After a few glances, he did not see the familiar and friendly smile on his face.
"Xiaolou, come here and call someone!"
Yang said with a straight face.
Luo Xiaolou then walked out of the corner and came to the young man. He lowered his head and said softly: "Qing...brother Qingzhou."
Luo Qingzhou glanced at her and nodded slightly without any unnecessary expression on his face, nor did he reply.
He turned to look at the gentle and smiling man in front of him, cupped his hands and said, "Second Young Master, I have already had dinner in the mansion."
Luo Yu took his arm and sat down, smiling: "Then eat less, just treat it as eating with me. I haven't been out to eat like this for a long time."
Mr. Yang next to him also said with a smile on his face: "Yes, yes, Qingzhou, you have finally come back, so just have a good meal with your second brother, and I will pour you some wine."
With that said, he went over to pick up the wine flask and came over to pour wine for the two of them himself.
Luo Yu turned to look at the girl next to him and smiled: "Xiaolou, sit down and eat together. Sit next to your brother Qingzhou and talk to him."
Yang quickly smiled and said: "Second Young Master, don't worry about her. She just had snacks before and she is not hungry now. You two brothers just eat. She is a little girl. Just let her stand and pour you wine."
After saying that, he went over and put the wine bottle into her hand, patted her on the back of the head and said, "Stupid girl, go stand aside and pour wine for the second and third brothers."
Luo Xiaolou took the wine bottle and walked behind the two people without saying a word.
Luo Yu smiled, said nothing more, picked up the wine glass and said: "Qingzhou, come, let me toast you first."
At this moment, the cold girl who was standing outside the door suddenly walked in and stood behind Luo Qingzhou, staring coldly at the wine glass in his hand.
Luo Yu was stunned for a moment, glanced at her, and suddenly understood. He smiled and drank all the wine in the glass. Then he said to Yang next to him: "Er Niang, you also have a drink, and then eat with some food." .”
Yang was such a smart person, he understood immediately, glanced at the girl holding the sword, murmured something in his mouth, went over to pick up the glass of wine in front of Luo Qingzhou, and drank it down in one gulp.
Immediately, he picked up the bowls and chopsticks, took a little of each dish on the table, and ate it into his mouth.
When she finished eating and raised her head to say something sarcastic, the girl holding the sword unexpectedly walked outside the door and stood under the eaves again, as cold as ice and motionless.
"Hey, the heart of a villain!"
She muttered and put down the bowl and chopsticks.
"Small building, pour some wine."
She took a new wine glass from the maid and placed it in front of Luo Qingzhou.
Luo Xiaolou stepped forward and carefully filled the wine glass.
"Qingzhou, please."
Luo Yu picked up the wine glass with a smile on her face.
Luo Qingzhou also picked up his wine glass.
The two drank it all in one gulp.
Yang was holding dishes for them at the side and said with a smile: "Qingzhou, how are you doing in the Qin Mansion? Are you living with that Miss Qin?"
The girl holding a sword under the eaves outside turned her pretty face slightly to one side.
"Good."
Luo Qingzhou looked down at the vegetables in the bowl and said calmly.
Yang looked at Luo Yu next to him and smiled again: "That Miss Qin..."
At this point, he lowered his voice and said, "Is there no problem? I heard people say that she can't speak or laugh...is that true?"
Luo Qingzhou was silent for a moment.
Yang said with a smile on her face: "Qingzhou, we are all our own people, this Chengguo Mansion is your home, what can't you say? You can tell Er Niang any grievances in your heart."
Luo Yu next to him had a smile on his face and didn't speak again.
Luo Qingzhou replied: "She is quite good, but she is a bit introverted and doesn't like to talk."
Luo Yu's eyes flashed and she picked up the wine glass.
Yang glanced at him and asked with a smile: "That Qingzhou, that Miss Qin, does she... like you?"
The wine in Luo Yu's wine glass rippled slightly.
Luo Qingzhou said: "I don't know."
Yang smiled, gave him another dish and said, "Come, eat the vegetables, eat the vegetables."
Luo Qingzhou lowered his head to eat.
Yang glanced at Mr. Luo again, thought about it, and asked in a low voice: "Qingzhou, Er Niang, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart. If you don't like it there, and if those people treat you badly, you You can come back at any time. Your second brother is going to Kyoto in the future. The government's industry is so big, and you are well-educated and smart, so you can help take care of it when the time comes."
Luo Yu smiled and said: "Er Niang is right, Qingzhou, I am actually not interested in these things. I will still have to rely on you in the future."
Luo Qingzhou said nothing.
"Come on, Qingzhou, let's drink."
"Qingzhou, eat vegetables, eat vegetables."
One of them made a toast and the other served food.
After chatting for a while, Yang suddenly changed the subject and whispered: "Qingzhou, when your second brother is admitted to Longhu Academy next year, you will also be happy. That... the second son of the Qin family , have you seen him recently? Have you seen him practicing martial arts? "
Luo Qingzhou put down his wine glass and said respectfully: "I have been studying in the house recently and have not seen him."
Luo Yu lowered his head, his expression unclear.
Yang smiled, chatted a little more, and said, "Eat food, eat food."
After more than ten minutes, the table fell into silence.
Luo Qingzhou stood up at the right time and said goodbye.
Luo Yu stood up and said with a smile: "Qingzhou, I know that you have been studying hard recently to prepare for next year's autumn exam, so the second brother does not dare to keep you any longer. Come back more often in the future, and we brothers can get together more often."
Yang also smiled and said: "Yes, yes, Qingzhou, you will come back more often in the future. Not to mention coming back every day, you should come back two or three times a month, right? According to the rules, you should come back every month to pay your respects to your father and wife Yes, you are a scholar, so you can't let others gossip. What is the greatest thing in the world? Of course, parents are the greatest, and filial piety is the greatest. You have to remember that."
Luo Qingzhou lowered his head and said, "Qingzhou remembers it."
"Xiaolou, go see your third brother off."
Luo Yu said warmly to the girl next to her.
Luo Xiaolou glanced at his mother.
Yang immediately glared and said, "Why are you still standing there? Listen to your second brother, put down the wine bottle, and go see your third brother off."
Luo Xiaolou quickly put down his wine bottle and followed the young man.
After the figures disappeared from the outside gate, the smile on Luo Yu's face gradually disappeared.
Yang looked at him with some anxiety and whispered: "Second Young Master, I don't know if that kid is deliberately hiding it, or if he really doesn't know anything."
Luo Yu looked at her and smiled faintly: "It's okay, Er Niang, it doesn't matter whether you know or not. I don't even bother to defeat Qin Chuan in this way. Don't worry, I have confidence."
Yang flattered with a smile on his face: "Second Young Master can definitely defeat that boy, absolutely."
Luo Xiaolou walked outside the door. He looked around and saw that there was no one else. He suddenly ran quickly to Luo Qingzhou and hugged his arm. His eyes were red and his face was full of grievances: "Brother Qingzhou, how are you doing there? Is anyone bullying you?"
Luo Qingzhou stopped, frowned, and said with an indifferent expression: "Very good. You don't need to send me off, just go back."
He withdrew his arm indifferently.
Luo Xiaolou looked at him with tears in his eyes: "Brother Qingzhou, I know... I know that brother Qingzhou is ignoring me for the sake of my mother and me..."
"Go back to study."
Luo Qingzhou didn't say anything more and left quickly.
Xia Chan followed him and looked back at the little girl in the red dress who was standing there, crying with pear blossoms in the rain, and there was a ripple in her cold eyes.
Luo Qingzhou was silent all the way out of Chengguo Mansion.
Xia Chan held a sword in her left hand and an umbrella in her right hand, walking silently in the snow with him.
Luo Qingzhou stopped on the street outside the house and looked back, with a hint of complicated emotions in his eyes.
He didn't stay any longer and left quickly.
"Baozi! Baozi! Baozi just came out of the cage!"
On the street, there are vendors shouting.
When Luo Qingzhou heard the sound, he looked there and seemed to remember something again. He walked over, took out his money and bought five buns.
"Miss Xia Chan, wait for me here."
He took the bun and left quickly.
Passing through the alley next to it, he walked around to a dark alley behind Chengguo Mansion.
Entering the alley, he kept walking forward.
After walking through a small door behind Cheng Guo Mansion and reaching the end of the alley, I didn't see those two frail and frail figures.
When he first came to this world, he was curious about everything in Chengguo Mansion. While wandering around, he saw this small door. After opening it, he saw two people shivering in the wind and snow, too hungry to stand up. Little beggar.
They were a pair of eight or nine-year-old brother and sister, wearing tattered clothes, no shoes, no cotton-padded jackets, their four feet were red and swollen from the cold, their hands were covered with frostbite, and they were dying of hunger.
If he had found out one day later, the brother and sister would have died here due to hunger and cold.
He brought them steamed buns, ointment, cotton-padded jackets, and bedding.
In the days before he married into the Qin Mansion, he would ask Xiaodie to get a few more steamed buns every time he ate, and then bring them over.
Just a little effort.
But in this era, there are too many poor people and people dying of hunger.
So after he left, he didn't think about it anymore.
When I came back today and saw the small building, I suddenly thought of the brother and sister again.
However, they are no longer here.
I don’t know whether he died in the snow, was taken away and thrown into a mass grave outside the city, or whether he went somewhere else.
Luo Qingzhou stood in the alley for a while, then walked out of the alley in the wind and snow, holding the increasingly cold bun.
At the entrance of the alley, the cold girl stood there, as if looking at him, or looking at the silent alley behind him.
"Let's go home."
Luo Qingzhou took the oil-paper umbrella in her hand, opened it, and covered her head.
The two left the alley.
After taking a few steps, the girl turned back and took another look at the silent alley in the wind and snow. In a daze, she seemed to have seen the scene from that day again.
Snowflakes were falling, and two little beggars were nestling in the corner of the alley, wrapped in big cotton-padded jackets, eating steaming steamed buns.
The young man sat on the steps next to him, soaked in the wind and snow, watching them quietly, his handsome and peaceful cheeks shining as brightly as the winter sun in the cold alley...
"Tanghulu! Tanghulu..."
On the street, the sound of vendors shouting candied haws suddenly came from the street.
The girl came back to her senses, took a look, and then looked at the boy beside her.
Luo Qingzhou was thinking about something in his mind and walked for a while. Suddenly he found that the person under the umbrella was gone and looked back.
The girl stood sideways under the eaves not far behind her, with her arms folded across her chest and a sword in her arms. She looked at the wall next to her with a cold face.
One step behind her, there was a candied haws hawker, holding up the candied haws in his hand and shouting hard.
