The Golden Hairpin

The hibiscus fence outside Zhang Xingying's yard is slightly sparse in some places. When Huang Zixian and Zhou Ziqin walked under the big locust tree in the shop with two catties of dried fruits, they saw Zhang Xingying coming from the other side of the alley, with a worried look, bowed their heads and walked slowly step by step.

Zhang Xingying’s stature is stalwart, even when he was reduced to Duanruitang Medicine Hall, he was still heroic, but now Huang Zixia watched him coming from there, but he was in a daze. He seemed to be walking not on the way home, but walking on On a single-plank bridge with narrow bumps and no end.

"Second Brother Zhang!" Zhou Ziqin called him.

Zhang Xingying looked up and saw them, and a smile on his face: "Oh, yes... it's you, why are you here today when you have time?"

"The day before yesterday I heard you mentioned that my uncle was not in good health, so we came to visit." Zhou Ziqin lifted the two catties of red jujube longans in his hand and stuffed it into Zhang Xingying's arms. "For uncle, Chonggu reminded me carefully."

Huang Zixian quickly said: "No way, I have a short time in the Kui Palace, and Yueyin hasn't issued yet, so I have to come here empty-handed cheeky."

"Oh, don't be so dismissive, I will be the happiest if you can come!" Zhang Xingying interrupted her quickly, and a smile appeared on her face, "By the way, I have something good to tell you, thanks to you. , This morning, the Beijing Defense Department has officially sent the official document, and I can join the team tomorrow!"

"Great, congratulations!" Zhou Ziqin laughed happily on his shoulders, "Let me just say it! Wang Yun was really convinced by us yesterday. I guess he knows that he will not accept Zhang Er. I can't explain to the three princes when I join the division!"

Huang Zixia was also happy, and felt that she finally owed Zhang Xingying no longer. She looked at the smile on Zhang Xingying's face and said, "Second Brother Zhang, congratulations!"

Zhang Xingying said: "It's still double happiness. Originally, my father had been in bed for several months, but he was very energetic when he learned that I could enter the Defense Department of Beijing. He was able to get out of bed in the morning! A pair of medicine was prepared, saying that the heart disease has been eliminated, and it will be cured in a few days!"

As he said, he opened the courtyard door and led them inside: "You came here by coincidence, the weather is so hot, and Ah Di said to make Sophora japonica as a snack. Come, let's eat together."

As he was talking, only the soft sound of wooden clogs was heard. Ah Di, who was standing in the courtyard, had already avoided the inside when he saw a visitor.

Zhang Xingying smiled embarrassedly and said: "Adi is afraid of strangers, don't mind."

Zhang Xingying took Lengtao and tableware inside, and the three of them sat down under the grape rack.

Zhou Ziqin looked at the green and cool cold Tao in the big basin, and almost forgot his intention. He took the bowl sent by Zhang Xingying and filled a small bowl first, and praised as he ate: "Adi is really good at craftsmanship, I really want to come and eat every day!"

"You can come anytime, welcome anytime!" Zhang Xingying smiled.

Huang Zixia took a bite and asked, "Second Brother Zhang, where did you go? I think you didn't seem to be very refreshed before."

"Oh... my sister-in-law’s younger brother, who just turned four, was lost in the chaos at Jianfu Temple the day before. The family was too anxious to look around. Fortunately, there are still many people in this world. The child was sent home, so I went over and took a look."

Huang Zixian asked in surprise, "Isn't your sister-in-law the only child?"

"Yes, this child was adopted by her parents from the clan. After all, there must be someone who inherited the family business. I heard that they were looking for a child the day before, but because I have been running around recently, I couldn’t. I can help, and I feel guilty." Zhang Xingying's eldest brother lived in his sister-in-law's home after marriage. At that time, the marriage custom in Chang'an was that both husband and wife lived in the homes of both men and women after marriage. Zhang Xingying's eldest brother was not counted as a parent.

Zhou Ziqin said, "Second Brother Zhang, you are really right. It will be fine if the child comes back. I'm still worried about this matter."

Listening to the four-year-old child outside Jianfu Temple, Huang Zixia couldn't help but think of the figure of the child holding the muddy child in the heavy rain that day. She looked at Zhang Xingying and asked, "Who was the one who sent the child back?"

"I was late, and I only saw him in a hurry. He was a...a fairy-like character!" Zhang Xingying put down the bowl very seriously and said, "Standing at the door of my sister-in-law's house, the whole yard is brighter. For the rest of my life. Ah, I have never seen such a good-looking person."

Zhou Ziqin smiled and said, "Pengxuan is brilliant? Xuanxuan is like a rising sky?"

Huang Zixian was silent and said nothing.

Zhang Xingying didn't understand Zhou Ziqin's words, and just said: "Well, it's good anyway."

"So..." Huang Zi Xia shook her chopsticks hand unconsciously, "What is his surname and what is his name?"

Zhang Xingying shook his head: "I don't know. So there are so many people in the world. He drank two sips of tea and left without leaving his name. Even Xie Yi confiscated him. The child was young and didn't know his name and whereabouts. I don't know how to thank him."

Zhou Ziqin asked: "Then how did he find your sister-in-law's house?"

"Yeah, it's really difficult to say. The child can't tell where he lives. He can only take the child to look for in Chang'an. How can this year-old child walk around the seventy-two workshops in Chang'an? He walked over with one family in his arms, and it wasn't until the child saw his own house that he was yelling this morning."

"It's a pity, I don't know who he is." Zhou Ziqin sighed: "I really want to get acquainted with him. I have the style of an ancient benevolent gentleman, and I heard you look so good."

Zhang Xingying nodded repeatedly: "Really! A particularly outstanding young man."

Huang Zixian turned the subject and asked, "Second Brother Zhang, don't you ask Adi to come out to eat?"

Zhang Xingying hesitated for a moment and said, "She...she is afraid of life, so I don't think it's necessary."

"Chonggu is right! Everyone will be friends in the future. It is not good for Ah Di to be so afraid of life. We will often harass, and we want to say hello to Ah Di." Zhou Ziqin now only needs to say what Huang Zixia said. They all agree with each other, and they are exactly an echo bug.

"Oh... yes, then I will let Adi come out to meet the guests." Zhang Xingying stood up and walked into the house.

As soon as Zhou Ziqin saw him entering the door, he tiptoed up and pressed his ear to the wall.

Huang Zixia looked at him with contempt, and silently asked, "What do you want to do?"

Zhou Ziqin also lip-synched to answer: "Listen to the corner and see if Brother Zhang and Adi are suspected of committing a crime!"

Huang Zi Xia was stunned by his awe-inspiring and brazen eyes. Knowing that he was not kind, she couldn't help but lie on the back wall with him.

There was the sound of the stove beeping and peeling. They heard Zhang Xingying say: "Adi, they are my friends, they are all very good people."

Ah Di was silent. After a long time, Zhang Xingying thought she had acquiesced, so he raised his hand to hold her sleeve and said, "Come on, I will take you out to meet..."

Suddenly, Ah Di suddenly shook his hand away, and said in a low voice but firmly: "I...not going!"

Zhang Xingying raised his hand awkwardly, and was stunned on the spot.

Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia looked at each other. Before they had time to communicate, Ah Di’s weak and trembling voice came: "Second Brother Zhang, please...I don’t want to see people! I, in my life, have been shameless. NS……"

Zhang Xingying looked at her silently, and asked softly: "Could it be that you have been in this small yard all your life, and you have been like this for the rest of your life?"

"You don't know... You won't understand..." She covered her face, squatted on the ground, desperately suppressing her uncontrollable crying, "Second Brother Zhang, you are a good person...I, I just want to be with you I just want to stay at home and please... don’t let me go out to see people."

Zhang Xingying didn't seem to expect her to go out to meet her friend, but she would have such a big reaction, she couldn't help standing in front of her without moving for a long time.

There was a dead silence inside and outside the room. I only heard her sobbing, which faintly echoed in the room: "Second Brother Zhang...I would like to wash and cook for you for the rest of my life, and wait for you all my life... Settle in the small yard, let me stay here till death, stay till the decay and turn into mud... Brother Zhang, please don't throw me outside, don't let me go out to see people!"

Zhang Xingying listened to her crying silently, and turned his head to pay attention to the courtyard outside. They didn't seem to be making any noise outside, and then approached Ahdi a little bit, and said softly, "Okay, if you don't see it, you won't see it. Actually... Actually, I can't bear to let it go. You go outside."

Ah Di opened those tearful eyes and stared at him.

He scratched his hair and blushed embarrassedly under her gaze: "Because every day I think of you at home waiting for me to come back, knowing that you will definitely not leave me, knowing that you only have a place for me, like Hidden a secret that no one knew..."

Ah Di's tears for a long time finally fell, and she whispered to him softly: "Second Brother Zhang..."

Zhou Ziqin sounded a little embarrassed. He touched Huang Zixia with his elbow, indicating that she could leave.

But Huang Zixia frowned slightly, put her index finger on her lips, and made a silent gesture.

Zhou Ziqin was a little surprised when she saw her look sad and thoughtful. He thought and thought about it. Is there anything wrong with Zhang Xingying's words just now?

The atmosphere in the house also suddenly calmed down. Ah Di looked at Zhang Xingying with a trembling body. After a long time, he trembled and asked: "You, when did you...know that I don't have a place to stay, know...my business?"

Zhang Xingying was stunned for a moment, clenched her fists unconsciously, and bowed her head to avoid her sight.

There was silence. Outside the Mujinhua courtyard, people enjoying the shade under the big locust tree laughed faintly, and they were being sent by the wind. On the pomegranate tree lay a new cicada that had just ended its darkness and dormant. As soon as the shell was removed, the cicada's sound, dull and sharp sound, lay in the small courtyard.

Zhang Xingying paused for a long time, but finally opened his mouth, using a very slow, very light, but very clear voice, and slowly said: "Last summer, I saw you in the West Market. At that time you were squatting in the candle shop. At the door, I was picking white orchids in a flower basket. It was raining, and you were picking the flowers with a smile. I passed by you. I was stunned by the smile on your face and accidentally splashed a muddy spot. Flew to the back of your hand..."

Ah Di looked at him blankly with tears, then raised his hand subconsciously, looking at the back of his white and flawless hand.

"At that time, I stammered and apologized to you, but you didn't care about taking out a handkerchief to wipe off the mud, and holding a bunch of white orchids back to the store. I was thinking about your hand over and over again on the way home. I was too engrossed in thinking about that spot of stain. When I got back to my mind, I realized that I had actually taken the wrong way home..."

Huang Zixia outside the wall listened to him, feeling that his eyes were hot, and warm water vapor began to flow in again.

And the Adi inside the wall slowly grabbed his own skirt and pressed his chest hard, as if only in this way could he suppress the huge and complex waves that surged in his chest and prevent it from overwhelming himself.

Zhang Xingying squatted next to her. Before the stove spit out the tongue of light and darkness, he fixedly looked at her in front of him and said softly: "Later, I also went to your door to see you secretly. I saw your father right. Your abuse and practice, I also heard you often hum a mulberry tiao song, and I also know that many people come to propose to you, but your dad asks for a big gift, so that you have never said about your next in-law’s..."

He said, smiling bitterly and stopped, and then said again for a long time: "At that time, I stopped my own thoughts and didn't dare to see you again. Until I joined the guard of honor at the Royal Palace, I thought about you again, but After all, it didn’t happen because of the changes. Until...until I saw you on the mountain road who passed out, still holding a hemp rope in my hand...Later I realized that it was your father who threw it to you and forced you to commit suicide. ..."

"He is not my father." Ah Di, who had been clenching his lower lip to listen to him, finally squeezed out a few words from his teeth, "I don't have a father... I only have a mother, a mother who has long been dead. !"

Zhang Xingying nodded, did not say anything, just continued: "At that time, I took you home. When you woke up, you said that you were Di... At that time I thought you would say that you were Di Cui, but who knew you I changed my mouth and said that I was called Adi. At that time, I thought, you must have encountered a major event. Later, I learned from the rumors in Beijing that you had such a major event. I was shocked and angry. I wanted to kill Sun Feizi. ...But the deepest thought is that I must treat you better-I think it's all my fault. If I ask someone to ask for a kiss early, maybe... Maybe I beg your father, your father. Will agree, then you won't face such a fate..."

"Second Brother Zhang..." Ah Di trembling softly called him. She squatted on the ground, her petite body curled up, trembling like a small flower in the wind.

Zhang Xingying stretched out his hand, seeming to want to hug her to comfort her, but looking at her pale face, and thinking of the humiliation she suffered, I was afraid that she didn't like contact with people, so she could only hold back.

However, Di Cui gently took his hand and pressed his face to his arm quietly.

Zhang Xingying raised her trembling hand and couldn't help but put her arms around her.

The two leaned against the stove like this, and the fire cast a trance warm color on them.

They heard Zhang Xingying's very slow and clear voice, word by word: "Don't worry, Ah Di, everyone who has done bad things will get retribution."

Ah Di also stopped for a long time, then slowly nodded and said softly, "Yes, just like we watched Wei Ximin burned to death that day-you know Wei Ximin, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't end up like this To the point."

"I know, the **** in the princess mansion." He didn't say how he knew it, but everyone who listened to it knew that, in fact, he secretly knew more about Ahdi than they thought.

They stayed together for a long time.

Huang Zixian and Zhou Ziqin Moran returned to the grape racks and sat there eating cold sophoria leaves, but they didn't know how to eat them.