Chapter 8: Sadness is hard to return, desperate to survive
Deng Zhixin
thirty-two
Tang Bohu looked up and saw that this place was in front of the cuixiang building, where he had been blocked by two wind and dust women ten years ago, and it was one of the two prostitutes who stopped him today, named Lihua. Only to see Li Hua suddenly come up and hold Tang Bohu's arm and say, "Old Master Tang, don't you know me?" I was the pear blossom of that year, where are you going today? It's a fate to meet you! "He said that he was going to drag Tang Bohu upstairs." Tang Bohu said, "I don't know you, and I don't want to go with you." Ewha said, "Ten years ago, if it wasn't for that old thing pulling you away, we would have been there a long time ago." Tang Bohu said, "You are not allowed to scold him for his old things, although my ex-wife is dead, he is still my father-in-law." Ewha said, "I don't know? Damn it, I don't dare in the future, now you think of me, right? Go, follow me upstairs, don't you do that or not? ”
Tang Bohu was pulled so hard that he involuntarily went with her. When I got upstairs, I entered the pear blossom room, and pear blossom enthusiastically poured tea and took snacks again, and asked warmly: "Bo Hu, don't be stupid, I also heard that you are not admitted to the official very well, more free, you see those who are officials, what is wrong with those who have three wives and four concubines in the family?" How many people don't come? Don't look at them as if they are pretending to be decent gentlemen, and come to us for fun when they have time. Ewha also said: "Men have no place to go, I am your home, as long as you are willing to come, hello I am also good." Li Hua looked at Tang Bohu was always unmoved, frowning and frowning, and did not say a word, guessing that it must be because the examination room was not smooth, and the family affairs were upset and hurt. He said in a different tone: "Although I am not younger than before, I am not old at twenty-seven years old now?" I promise to soothe your wounded heart with my warmth, to satisfy you with my body, or will you go to bed and I will serve you to try? Saying that, he took the initiative to pull Tang Bohu to bed and help him loosen his clothes.
Tang Bohu thought to himself that his fame was hopeless, he was a down-and-out literati, what was the use of being clean and self-reliant? So I went with the meaning of the pear blossom, and afterwards, I felt very good. This pear blossom can also be empathetic, she said: "I am a bitter person, when I was seventeen years old, I was tricked into a brothel and forced to sell myself, if Don Don does not hate to come back next time." She also promised that she would tell the bustard mother that the lowest price would be 300 copper coins per time, and if a rich man or an official came, he would have to give as much as he wanted, and at least three to five silver would be charged at a time. Since then, Tang Bohu has gone twice, and every time he comes out of the Cuixiang Building, Pear Blossom always carries Tang Bohu's arm and sends it far away, showing that he is reluctant to give up. In this way, people on the street saw it and spread the word, saying that Tang Bohu was a "talented man."
Tang Bohu also recognized when he heard the rumors, saying that the talent of the wind and the flow was the talent of the wind, and he also carved a seal, which was called: "The First Talent of the Wind Flow in Jiangnan". In the face of reality, Tang Bohu understood in his heart that although the wind and dust women in the brothel were suffering, they could not save them by their own situation, "poor" they had to pay a price, and to survive in this world, they had to earn money to support themselves.
Just after Tang Bohu had fun with Pear Blossom for the third and last time, Pear Blossom cried sadly. Tang Bohu was surprised and asked, "Is there anything you are not satisfied with?" Ewha said, "No, I know that you are a person with great ambitions and great ambitions, and there are too few good men like you, unlike those rich young masters and those dog officials who do not know the cruelty of pain." Then Ewha cried and complained bitterly, according to her: Those people came, they did not regard prostitutes as people at all, they came like beasts of catharsis, and they beat and scolded her at every turn. The most hateful one once met a high official called "State Lord", who was sixty or seventy years old, and he was the one who couldn't do it himself, and he blamed Pear Blossom for not making him happy. Later, he went to the bustard mother and said that Ewha did not serve him well, which caused the bustard mother to beat her up and scold her fiercely. Ewha also said: "Prostitutes like them were tossed to death, like a dead dog, dragged out with a bag of reeds, and the sisters were very sad, do you remember?" That's how the orchid sister who stopped you with me ten years ago was tossed to death. Hearing this, Tang Bohu couldn't help but ask again: "Over the years, haven't you met a beloved person?" Didn't expect to go out? ”
Ewha said, "Of course, I want to go out, and I have also met two good men, you are one, you and I dare not climb high." The other was the villagers who I had been sold to that family. His name is Zhang Chunwa, two years older than me, he loves me deeply, and his family has also entrusted people to ask for relatives, but his adoptive father is too cruel, not to force his family to pay a lot of bride price, he is a rural cropper, where is so much money? If you can't get it, you have to count it. Later, the adoptive parents said that there was a good family to court, rich and powerful, and said that the boy was young and beautiful, who admitted to selling me to a brothel? Li Hua cried again and said, "Last year, that brother Chunwa, who did not die, raised pigs for two years and sold them, and prepared two or three pieces of silver in a hurry, and he went all the way to Cuixiang Lou, expecting to redeem me with that little silver. ”
Tang Bohu asked, "What about later?" Ewha said, "Later, I went to Mother Bustard to intercede, and if I couldn't redeem anyone, I would have to stay in the room for three days, but Mother Bustard didn't agree, and if she didn't promise me, she would jump off the building and commit suicide, and Mother Bustard was forced to agree." Three days later, I advised Brother Chunwa to die of this heart, go back to the countryside to find a woman to live, and forget me! In this way, when Brother Chunwa was leaving, he was forced by a group of people to pay 500 copper coins by his mother, and when I sent Brother Chunwa away, I used my year's savings to force one or two pieces of silver into him, and told him not to come stupidly in the future. According to Ewha, although she told him that Brother Chunwa forgot that she did not want to come, Ewha was thinking of him day and night, waiting for him, and sometimes fidgeting and restless...
Hearing this, Tang Bohu was also deeply moved. He said, "Ewha, don't hide from you that my family has suffered misfortune, and now it is a lonely person with two people and two wealths." From tomorrow onwards, I will go to the rivers and lakes alone, and you are not here for a long time. Before leaving, I will write you a poem as a souvenir! With that, Tang Bohu took out a pen and paper from the bag he was carrying, pondered a little, and wrote a noun that had been passed down through the ages:
A plum pear blossom
The rain hit the pear blossom deeply closed the door, forgot youth, and missed youth. Who cares about pleasure? Spend the soul, the moon under the soul. Sorrow gathers eyebrows peaks to the end of the day, a thousand points of crying marks, ten thousand points of crying marks, xiao look at the sky and twilight to see the clouds, line also thinks of jun, sitting also thinks of jun.
The word was written, and Tang Bohu softly whispered to Pear Blossom, who was moved to cry and burst into tears. She folded it up like a treasure and put it on her body, and said that she would always remember this word in her heart and pass it on to future generations. That time, Li Hua sent Tang Bohu far away, and when he was parting, Li Hua said an intriguing sentence: "Bo Hu, you can also go!" Forget me, you are a good person, I will pray for you every day, God bless you, you will not come to this kind of place in the future, with your talents, you will definitely find a good wife. After saying that, I cried and went back.
After Tang Bohu returned, he carefully savored Pear Blossom's parting words. As a prostitute, why didn't she want her clients to go again? Isn't that the opposite of what was said when we first met? Thinking about it carefully, Ewha's parting words are from the heart and are true. As a dust woman, she is still kind and innocent in her heart, and she is the heartfelt care of the man she loves or admires. From this point of view, even the prostitute who is called a "slut" has a good side in her heart. After tasting the pear blossoms, Tang Bohu thought of himself carefully, although there are rumors of how he was mercurial, unruly, and fooled around with prostitutes all day, in fact, his heart was not like this, he only when he was greatly hurt by the spirit, felt helpless, and troubled, he only debauched and sought spiritual comfort and relief. Ewha's parting words are right, they care about and have high hopes for him, and they sincerely hope that he will use his talents in his career. Since then, Tang Bohu has indeed not set foot in brothels, and his impoverished situation does not allow him to travel through the flower streets and willow lanes all day.
After returning from Lihua for breakfast the next day, Tang Bohu picked up his simple bag, brought paper and pencil, locked the door of the house, and set off with only two or two pieces of silver left on his body, starting his first journey to survival. He walked slowly forward, this walk, can he come back? Where is the road? Completely unknown. Many neighbors walked out of the house and looked at his fading figure, and many people shed bitter tears for him. Sighing that the world is hot and changeable, a good Tang Bohu, a good home, not long ago vigorously entered Beijing to catch the exam, what a scenery! Why did he come only a few months ago, his wife was separated from home, alone, and when he left, what would be the fate that awaited him in front of him?