Chapter 238: Already Confessing
In the study, the young scholar sweeping the dust and dust is no longer there.
In just six days, the bookshelf was covered with dust, and the edges of the books were slightly yellowed, showing a bit of antiquity.
In the daytime, there would have been some poor and cold boys and girls, but amid the laughter, they came to the study room to learn how to pray.
But these days, the study has been deserted and a bit lonely, as quiet as a tomb.
Mr. Meng may be old and a little tired. Without Ji Ting's help, he is too lazy to clean the spider webs under the corner of the house.
In the early morning, winter snow started again.
There are very few pedestrians on the street. When some people pass by the study in a hurry, they will cast a suspicious look at Yun Rong and Bai Lian.
They didn't dare to look more. After a quick glance, they looked away, lowered their heads and continued on their way.
Bailian came to Mr. Meng who was pruning branches and leaves in front of the window sill and politely said softly: "Mr. Meng, I've been annoying you these past few days."
The old gentleman seems to be somewhat deaf. After all, for an old man who even has age spots on the back of his hands, it is normal for him to be blind and deaf.
He continued to hum a little tune, his withered old hands pruning flowers and grass a little unsteady and trembling.
Accidentally, the not-so-sharp scissors scratched a piece of flesh on his fingertips, and dark red and somewhat black, sticky blood seeped out from the wound.
Waiting for the blood to drip into the flowers, grass and soil, the old man tremblingly guarded his fingers and sucked them twice.
Bailian didn’t care whether the old man could hear him clearly or not. He took out a banknote from his arms and put it on the window sill. No rent is charged, but after all, Mr. Meng, you are the owner of this shop.”
Mr. Meng's eyes were dim and he squinted at the brand new banknote on the window sill, with a layer of dead greenness in his cloudy eyes.
He rolled his eyes, opened his wrinkled eyelids a little, looked at Balian and shook his head.
The old man shook his head, but accepted the brand new banknote without saying a word.
Bailian was not in a good mood today. He no longer had the desire to continue reading. He said to Master Fourth Sword who was still squatting in the small corner: "Miss Yunrong, I want to go back early today. What about you? "
As the Fourth Sword Master who reads and waits every day, he will not leave this study so early.
Balian quickly left the study, but did not return to the inn immediately. He went to the Bashu Noodles restaurant opened by an old woman across the street, ordered two bowls of hot, non-spicy noodle soup, and returned to the study.
A copy was placed at Yun Rong's feet, but she didn't get any response from her.
Bailian smiled and gave another portion of hot noodle soup to Mr. Meng.
In the cold winter, he knew that the old man's hands and feet were stiff, so he opened the food box for him, arranged chopsticks and spoons, and carefully said: "Sir, it's cold, you have to eat on time, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable with a cold stomach. "
Mr. Meng's hunched figure sitting in front of the window lattice looked a little cold, but his originally cloudy eyes became much clearer under the fumigation of the hot noodles.
He didn't touch the bowl of hot noodle soup in front of him, as if he couldn't hear Balian's words. He stared quietly into the void with no expression on his face and hummed an incomprehensible tune.
Just when Balian left the study for the second time, the old man’s voice behind him sounded slowly, like sand flowing in an ancient river: “It’s been a long time since a child bought something for me. Hot and fresh noodle soup.”
He has opened this bookstore for forty years, and every day, young people who cannot afford to go to school come to his place to read and study.
Those teenagers have no money, so they usually huddle in the crowd, bullying them into being old and stupid, and reading these books for nothing.
It’s just that some books of sages are too mysterious and obscure to be interpreted.
Seeing that these children from a bitter cold background were in difficult conditions, he not only had no complaints about them reading books for free, but also patiently explained to them the mysteries in the classics.
Seeing that he was kind-hearted, the children gradually saved the remaining coins from their homes. Everyone collected enough money for a bowl of noodles and brought a bowl of hot noodle soup to the old man every morning. A thousand books can't bring about a moment of happiness, but a meal can bring about a lifelong feeling, and a humble gift can turn into happiness.
As time goes by, the young people gradually become accustomed to accepting the kindness of the elderly.
The old man's selflessness, and under the old man's leisurely teaching, most of these bitter young men entered the academy and became knowledgeable students. In the bitter cold, they were regarded as successful.
Those who are successful and famous fill the border towns with glitz.
Who would have thought that there was an old man teaching and reading at night in the old city.
For students in border town colleges, although life is far better than that of ordinary people in border towns, it is still far inferior to that of a sweeper in the inner city.
They knew that the old man came from Baimu Academy in the inner city. Even though he was full of glory, he did not want to humiliate himself by coming here again.
Anyway, the elderly should have no less than them.
The few remaining people were disappointed after failing the exams. They watched the prosperous villagers gradually become famous and were protected by the university, but they themselves were still suffering from cold and poverty.
In contrast, the gap in my heart made me feel a little bit of blame and complaint towards the old man.
They are all obviously taught by you. They obviously save their own rations and spend the same amount of money to buy hot soup noodles for the elderly every day.
Why can others achieve success while I suffer from hunger and cold.
You are partial and you teach to hide something.
This kind of young people who feel that their fate is unfair and that the elderly are unfair are unwilling to save money to buy soup noodles every day.
But some young people who are sincere in their studies and enthusiastic in repaying the elderly are so poor that they can only buy a few green onions with a few pennies because they are single and unable.
As time goes by, in this old study, it is no longer rare to see a bowl of hot noodle soup brought by the lively young man Lang.
Bailian walked out of the study, and from the other side of the window, there was a soft sound of eating noodles.
The old man's humming and murmuring ditty finally stopped.
Just after leaving the study, at the corner, Fang Geyu was dressed in a pure white crane feather cloak robe, holding a sword and standing against the wall. His voice was as arrogant as ever: "You still run here every day."
Baili An said: "I won't come tomorrow."
Fang Geyu was quiet for a moment and then said: "Three days ago On the night of , Meng Chengzhi was killed under the imperial monument in the inner city."
Bailian didn't look surprised at all. He just said lightly, and then asked calmly: "Is it because of Ji Ting's disappearance? ”
“Yes and no.”
The heavy snow blows and the wind blows on people's faces with a biting chill.
Fang Geyu got under his glass umbrella and said calmly: "The reason is that Lan Youdie wrote a warrant for arrest. She has a personal maid beside her who has been missing for three months. In the past few days, Her body was found in the old well of Chengshan House.
Later, there were always young boys and girls missing in the border town, and the three brothers and sisters of Ji Ting's family were among them. The second sister of the Ji family disappeared first, then the third sister, and finally Ji Ting.
Lan Youdie followed this clue and found the head of Meng Chengzhi three days ago. That night, Meng Chengzhi was forced into a desperate situation by three thousand defenders in the inner city. He confessed and was executed, and was killed on the imperial monument."
(End of this chapter)