Dusk.

The sunset was fiery red.

The moon is hidden in the western sky.

Donglin Temple, Sanhuiyuan.

Zhao Qingxiu gently opened the courtyard door and walked into the quiet courtyard.

Old Monster Sun walked out of the ward, yawning, and his white hair was quite messy.

"Girl, why are you here? Where's the food? I'm starving to death. Is there any meat? Come on, wine, wine! You have to feed me enough so that I won't waste my whole day helping this kid digest the tortoise-shell beetle."

"Yeah." Zhao Qingxiu obediently held a food box and handed it over.

In the courtyard, Mr. Sun happily took the box, opened it, smelled the aroma of wine and rice, and walked away with satisfaction, leaving the room behind him.

Zhao Qingxiu stretched out her hand and opened her mouth, but stopped talking.

Old Monster Sun waved his hand and drove him away impatiently:

"Go, go, wait until he wakes up and the food is cold. The effect of the medicine is too strong and it will take a while to digest. When the time comes, just throw two steamed buns next to the bed and let him get up in the middle of the night to nibble on it.

"Hey, dumb girl, your cooking is really delicious, but it's a bit spicy. I have some experience. I can't even order this local dish of yours, even if it's slightly spicy. These two words are more deceptive than a Taoist priest."

"Eh, that's not right." Old Monster Sun, whose attention was focused on the food box, reacted and turned around to mutter:

"Why are you bringing him food? Aren't you afraid that he will taste it and guess it's you? How will you leave then?

"No, no, these poor people have to eat them all. We can't keep him."

The old Taoist man in the crane cloak and fur coat embraces delicious food and wine, and he is upright and majestic.

The delicate mute girl lowered her head, retracted her little hands in Wu's skirt, and pinched the cuffs habitually.

Standing in the courtyard in the evening sun, she touched the hanging hair by her ears with her fingertips.

"You want to see him wake up with your own eyes? Do you not believe in Pindao's medical skills or something?"

Old Monster Sun pouted:

"No, even if you pretend to be a cook, it won't work. He has seen the two of us in the underground palace, and he must be suspicious."

He imitated in a weird voice: "How can a little mute who is no one wanted in the Beitian Almshouse be able to cook my hometown cuisine? It's weird, it's really weird. Could it be my mute wife?"

I caught a glimpse of the mute girl in the middle of the courtyard suddenly squatting down and hugging her knees, her little body started to tremble.

Old Monster Sun immediately stopped talking and waved his hand towards the ward behind him:

"Okay, you go in."

Under the setting sun, the old Taoist priest wearing a crane cloak held a food box in one hand and lifted a wine bottle with the other hand. He raised his head and opened his mouth to catch the trickle of wine.

He clicked his tongue, walked away alone, and disappeared from the entrance of the courtyard.

An old Taoist priest's voice came faintly into the courtyard, and it had a profound meaning:

"Mute girl, take a good look at him while it's still dark.

"Well, one last look."

The venomous old man Sun left, and peace returned to Sanhui Courtyard again.

The mute woman holding her knees stood up silently.

He walked to the wellhead, fetched a bucket of cold water, lowered his head and vigorously scrubbed his hands stained with vegetable oil.

Wiped very clean.

"Creak", the sound of pushing the door sounded in the house under the setting sun.

Zhao Qingxiu stepped on the drunken sunset and stopped in the hospital bed of a handsome young man with short hair.

Look back inside the house.

Empty.

In front of the bed, there were two people, one lying and the other sitting.

The mute woman made a soft "Ah" sound in her mouth, and slowly stroked Ouyang Rong's thin and determined face with her fingertips.

His movements were gentle, as if he were afraid of waking up his deep dream.

Only she and Tanlang were left again.

Zhao Qingxiu suddenly remembered.

When they first met Tanlang, they met like this:

Quiet dusk, empty house, hospital bed full of medicinal smell,

And he is unconscious...

At that time, her family was one of the poorest households in the village, and the only wealthy relative her elders mentioned was her cousin who married into the Ouyang family.

The Ouyang family is a large family in the village and town, with many members, and every generation has scholars who have achieved fame.

In fact, my cousin's life in Ouyang's family was not very good. She was young and widowed, taking care of her only son, and Tanlang was frail and sickly.

However, the Ouyang family is from a poor family and has a family of scholars. The family has designated fertile land, and the output is specially used for Tanlang and other children to study. It also provides support to the widows in the family.

The life of my cousin's family is still much better than hers, and they are decent.

As long as she can remember, Zhao Qingxiu has known that she is a loser in the mouth of her parents. Later, she developed a high fever. When she opened her eyes, she could only say "Ahhhhh" stupidly, and she became the object of ridicule and teasing by the children in the neighborhood.

Mute girl.

Zhao Qingxiu still remembers the silent and oppressive atmosphere in that small and simple thatched house all year round. The family of three ate in silence, and the dining table made a squeaking sound.

I remember the back view of my father sitting dully on the threshold, smoking a dry pipe.

I remember that every time my father and mother looked at her, they always had a frown on their face, with hidden worries in their eyes.

I still remember their occasional quarrels, the crocks and wooden stands smashed on the ground, etc.

No matter how hard she worked, she immersed herself in embroidery to support her family, and when she looked up with hope, she still didn't see her father and mother showing off their faces.

Until that day, it was a day that Zhao Qingxiu would never forget in her life.

Father's face, covered with dry wrinkles, finally broke out into a smile, and he rubbed her crooked little head.

The cloth she weaved that day was not exchanged for rice, but was cut into a new piece of clothing by her mother.

The mute girl changed out of her rags, put on new clothes, and was sent to a high-walled courtyard.

Outside the house, there was the chatter of the father and mother who looked fawning and the frowning and reluctant cousin Zhao.

She was forgotten in the outer room, and just like today, she walked alone into the inner room filled with the aroma of medicine.

I saw him sleeping on the hospital bed.

The setting sun in the evening slanted down on the side of the face, as if it was covered with a layer of golden light, clean, peaceful and beautiful.

Zhao Qingxiu fell in love with Tanlang from the first time she met him.

do not know why.

I should have clearly remembered the faces of my father and mother, but I have long forgotten them, but the look in front of the sickbed that day has been remembered for many, many years.

Later, without any accident, Zhao Qingxiu became Ouyang's child bride.

She didn't blame her parents for "selling" her. On the contrary, she was very happy for her parents at that time. Finally, she was no longer a loser who was eating rice for free.

At the same time, in front of cousin Zhao and Mrs. Zhen, the mute girl Zhao Qingxiu couldn't help but bow her head, feeling inferior and guilty, and felt that she was not worthy of Tanlang.

Her Tan Lang was a scholar whom she admired and envied immensely.

Zhao Qingxiu was very content and cherished the little husband in front of her, even though he often coughed on the hospital bed and woke up and fainted.

She stayed quietly by the hospital bed, smiling and embroidering, silently accompanying him.

Zhao Qingxiu will never forget the peaceful and beautiful days before her hospital bed.

Later Tanlang woke up from time to time and found that she was mute, but he didn't dislike it at all.

When she woke up, she got the Book of Songs and began to teach her to write by leaning on her body.

Three hundred and seven words.

Zhao Qingxiu clearly remembered that Tan Lang taught her a total of 307 words before the white ape appeared at the window.

From the first character, which is also her surname, is the character "Zhao".

As for the last word, the word "Qing" in "There is a beautiful person, as graceful as Qingyang".

As for later, the appearance of the restless white ape caused misunderstandings between her mother-in-law Zhao and her aunt Zhen, and she was kicked out of the house. Zhao Qingxiu and Ye Weilai told the story in detail.

After being picked up by a master who "happened" to pass by and brought back to Yunmeng Jianze, Zhao Qingxiu looked back and fantasized about it again and again for countless days and nights.

If Tan Lang had not been seriously ill and in a coma at that time, and she tried to use the only 300 words she had in reserve to explain to Tan Lang the truth about the white ape stabbing people, maybe she would not have been kicked out of the house by her mother-in-law and aunt.

But then I thought about it, maybe even if it was explained, it would be hard for Tanlang and his mother-in-law and aunts to believe such a bizarre thing.

In other words, even if she saw the white ape with her own eyes and believed it, she was sitting in the deep room, as quiet as a virgin, but she attracted an active white ape and stabbed her young husband.
To be continued...