Midnight, that house. The old and dilapidated two-indoor courtyard was pitch black, with only a little light in the main room in the backyard.
Qingyuan sat at the Eight Immortals table with a frown on his face. There was a lamp like a bean on the table. Under the dim and gloomy light, the old man's face was bright and dark, disappearing and appearing, which was extremely strange.
"Uh~" Suddenly, the old man groaned in discomfort, and hit the lame leg with his fist several times. He hit the lame leg with great force, making a banging sound, as if he was going to break the leg.
Ever since his leg was injured, it would ache and itch every time it was cloudy or rainy. The pain and itch that penetrated deep into the bone marrow was so torturous that it would be easier to saw the leg off.
"Please bear with it a little longer, Dad." Na Dongzhen, who had been staying awake with her father, suddenly walked out of the darkness. She was holding a piece of dog skin plaster in her hand. Chu Heng specially asked for it from Mr. Tang. Relieve the old man's symptoms.
I took a lot of them at the time, but after using them now, this is the only one left. Na Dongzhen put the plaster on the oil lamp and baked it for a while. After it was hot, she came to squat in front of Na Qingyuan, and carefully applied the somewhat hot plaster to a hideous scar on his calf, and said to herself He muttered to himself: "We've run out of plaster. Brother Hengzi will come over later and I'll ask him if he can get some more."
"Hey, you can't say whether our family is lucky or not."
"It's hard to say. You know Brother Hengzi, a person who values affection and righteousness. It's easy to say, but..." Qingyuan waited expressionlessly while listening to his daughter's nagging, his eyes full of vicissitudes of life staring at the table. I don’t know what I’m thinking of writing when I put on the oil lamp.
After a while. The dog-skin plaster took effect, and the pain and itching on his legs immediately subsided a lot. Qingyuan breathed a long sigh of relief, and his furrowed brows relaxed. He moved his eyes to look at the girl who was still nagging, and suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and cracked: " What time is it?" Na Dongzhen subconsciously raised her wrist to check the time, but suddenly remembered that her watch had been taken away, so she came to the wall with an oil lamp and looked up at the watch hanging on the wall. The tattered clock said: "It's half past one." The old man showed a smile on his face: "Boy Chu is coming soon. Go take out the tea leaves I have hidden and make a pot."
"Oh." When she thought of Chu Heng, Dongzhen's mood improved a lot. She responded with a smile, then ran to the chest of drawers and took out a small can of tea from the secret compartment.
I don't know what's going on, but this girl is talking a lot today. She has tea in her hands and her mouth is not idle: "Hey, it's a pity that there is no Longjing anymore. Brother Hengzi likes to drink that the most. I don't know what he can do with this towel." Can’t you like it?”
"Don't listen to his nonsense. He's just a wild boar who can't eat fine chaff. He's still in Longjing and Maojian. Even if you soak two leaves for him, he won't be able to drink it." Qingyuan thought of the time when he drank Dahongpao like a cow. Chu Heng couldn't help but roll his eyes, and the smile on his lips became thicker.
"Pfft!" Na Dongzhen laughed out loud, turned around and rolled her eyes at me: "If Brother Hengzi hears you talking about him like this, he will definitely become anxious with you."
"If you're in a hurry, go ahead." Qingyuan curled his lips and touched the pipe stem on the table. Na Dongzhen came over with an aluminum teapot and put it on the table, and asked curiously: "Dad, why are you looking for Brother Hengzi today?"
"You'll know later." The old man kept it secret.
"You are so successful, why are you kissing your daughter without telling me?" Na Dongzhen wrinkled her nose in displeasure.
"Dongdongdong!" At this moment, a very light knock on the door suddenly came into the house.
"Brother Hengzi is here." Na Dongzhen didn't care about being angry anymore, walked quickly to the door, picked up an old oil-paper umbrella leaning on the door frame and ran out.
Chu Heng, who was mercilessly slapped on the face by the cold icy rain, was almost frozen like a dog at this time. He was standing outside the gate of the house shivering with his arms folded, his handsome pale face was wet. One piece, the upper and lower teeth were chattering, and it was very rhythmic, clanging like a telegraph.
It must be said that this is a peaceful era. If the Anti-Japanese War had not happened, he would have been arrested and whipped several times for interrogation.
"Squeak!" The courtyard door was finally pushed open, and a cheerful Na Dongzhen poked her head out of the door. Seeing that it was Chu Heng, she quickly opened the door: "Come in quickly, brother."
"It's freezing to death." Chu Heng quickly pushed his bicycle into the courtyard. After setting the bicycle up behind the door, he ran into the courtyard.
"Slow down, don't fall!" Na Dongzhen followed closely with a worried face, like a little daughter-in-law who cares about her husband.
soon. The two came to the main room. When Chu Heng entered the room, he took a big sip of the tea that Qingyuan had poured in advance, and then began to say: "Sir, I have suffered a lot in order to keep your appointment. If you don't take your Even that three-legged tripod made of gold and silver from the Warring States Period cannot make up for the trauma I suffered in my soul!"
"Really? I'll give it to you later." Qingyuan smiled and gave him another cup of tea.
"Then it's settled, let's pull the hook and hang ourselves." Chu Heng didn't take it seriously, and smiled and stretched out his little finger.
"Are you a kid wearing crotchless pants? And you're still pulling hooks." Qingyuan gave him a speechless look.
"Who says adults can't pull hooks?" Chu Heng took another sip of tea, then straightened his face and said, "Hey, by the way, sir, I have something to discuss with you."
"Don't be impatient." The Qingyuan man said, "I also have something to discuss with you. You drink tea to warm yourself up first, and we'll talk about it later."
"What's the matter with you?" Chu Heng put down the teacup and looked over curiously.
"Drink tea first, and then talk after you finish it." Na Qingyuan waved his pipe.
"Tsk, you old man is really interesting." Chu Heng picked up the teacup with a helpless look, drank the hot tea in several sips, smashed it and said, "It's done, you say it."
"Why are you in a hurry?" Qingyuan shook his head with a dumb smile, then picked up the flashlight on the table, stood up and walked out: "Follow me."
"What are you going to do?" Chu Heng followed with some confusion. Under Dong Zhen's resentful eyes, the two of them came out of the house holding an umbrella and went straight to the second room in the east wing of the backyard.
This room was originally the old man's collection room, but due to some reasons, it has always been empty. There are not many furnishings in the room. There is a bookshelf on the south wall, ancient bookshelves on the east and north walls, and a huanghuali round table in the middle. Judging from the shape, it should be from the mid-Qing Dynasty.
"Why did you lead me to this house?" Chu Heng looked at the dark and midwinter room and touched the light cord, but there was no response after pulling it several times: "Is your light bulb broken?"
"The light is not broken, but the electricity was cut off." Na Qingyuan sneered and put the turned on flashlight on the table, came to the book shelf on the north wall, and greeted him: "Come here and help me."
"What?" Chu Heng walked over curiously.
"Move this." Na Qingyuan pointed at the middle section of the split rack and said.
"Did you hide something? Is there a secret room?" Chu Heng stepped forward with some excitement, and worked together with him to pull out the middle section of the ancient shelf.
Then I saw that there was a secret door on the wall blocked by the Bogu rack!
