Chapter 61 On the Art of Language
A few days passed in a flash, and that night was the seventh day after the death of boatman Lao Zhao. In the past few days, Wang Jingzhe had been lingering by the Wei River. When he had nothing to do, he would stroll around, and sometimes take a boat to the Wei River to relax. The boat capsize accident a few days ago did not make the people on both sides of the Wei River feel disgusted.
As the saying goes, if you walk by the river, you will get your feet wet. For people who live on both sides of the river all year round, the most common thing is that someone drowns in the water.
Lao Zhao's wife and children were burning the ladder to heaven on the shore, with offerings placed on the ground. Sobbing sounds could be heard faintly. Once , it truly meant the separation between heaven and earth. Wang Jingzhe was watching silently by the side, and then he saw the little grass girl walking over.
Today, Xiaocao was wearing a plain long dress. She stood quietly by the Wei River, gazing into the distance, not knowing what she was thinking. She pinched a handful of paper money in her hand and suddenly threw it into the sky. The paper money fluttered into the river and slowly floated forward.
Later, Lao Zhao's family left and it was getting late. All that was left on the bank of the Wei River were the little grass that was playing with the ripples in the water with its hands, and Wang Jingzhe, who stared at her for a long time and finally walked over hesitantly.
Neither of them spoke at the beginning. Xiaocao might be quiet and didn't like to talk too much, while Wang Jingzhe was shy around women and not good at speaking, because the person who had the most contact with him in his life was his eldest sister Wang Dongzhi.
After his mother died early, he was raised by his eldest sister. Although there was not much difference in age between them, the eldest sister played the role of an elder brother who was like a father and an elder sister who was like a mother, and raised Wang Jingzhe with great difficulty. The main reason was that Wang's father was not very reliable and often adopted a laissez-faire policy towards the brother and sister. He often abandoned them and sometimes disappeared for ten days or half a month or even longer. If the two children did not want to starve to death, they had to struggle to survive on their own.
When Wang Jingzhe was growing up, when Wang Dongzhi was gentle, it was like a spring breeze blowing on him, but when he was in a bad mood, it was like winter frost, which made Wang Jingzhe tremble with fear. Sometimes Wang Dongzhi would play the role of a master and teach Wang Jingzhe the Tao, so whenever he did something wrong, the eldest sister would give him a good beating.
Of the three books of the Book of Changes plus Qi Men Dun Jia, Wang Jingzhe only knew Gui Zang and the latter, and had only a basic understanding of Lian Shan. However, Wang Dongzhi had read Lian Shan, Zhou Yi and Gui Zang countless times.
The knife-selling lineage is passed down to males only, but that did not prevent Father Wang from giving all these Taoist books to his daughter. In his words, it is enough to have a successor to the knife-selling lineage, and I did not break the rules of the knife-selling lineage. My daughter has only read the Book of Changes several times, and I have not taught her any tricks, so the ancestors cannot blame me.
Wang Dongzhi is entirely self-taught, which really proves the saying "Read a book a hundred times and you will learn it without a teacher."
Later, Wang's father lamented that if Wang Dongzhi was born a boy, eight Wang Jingzhe would not be able to catch up with her. So until he was in his twenties, Wang Jingzhe had always lived under the wings of his eldest sister and was always suppressed by her. This led to his deep-seated shyness and poor speaking skills towards women.
"Hey, do you often suffer from insomnia?" Wang Jingzhe may have felt that the atmosphere of the two of them standing by the river and looking out was a bit awkward, so he took the initiative to speak first.
But I have to say that this guy is completely clueless when it comes to talking to women. Others always start with talking about beautiful women and then move on with the conversation step by step , but he actually starts by asking people if they often suffer from insomnia.
If Wang Dongzhi was here, he would definitely slap him in the face: "Do you know how to pick up girls?"
Xiao Cao tilted his head and frowned at Wang Jingzhe. He took a deep breath and seemed to feel that he had hit on the point, so he said confidently: "Insomnia and night sweats are caused by kidney yin deficiency, which is often due to endocrine disorders. So before going to bed at night, soak some wolfberries in vinegar, and then stick two slices of ginger on the soles of your feet. After about half a month, your night sweats will be almost relieved, and the frequency of insomnia will also be reduced a lot. Keep doing it for another half a month without interruption, and your insomnia will eventually be cured."
Xiao Cao said, "Oh," nodded, and said, "Anything else?"
Wang Jingzhe tilted his head and thought for a while, then his face turned slightly red, and he said cautiously: "If you were married, this situation might be better."
Xiaocao was stunned with his mouth open. Wang Jingzhe's eyes rolled around for several times and his heart suddenly skipped a beat and he felt something was wrong.
What he said about "if you get married", actually has a very simple underlying meaning, which is that you have to experience the world . Such words would be a bit abrupt if you said them to an ordinary woman, let alone to a woman with a toad's seal on her arm. This means that she is a very conservative woman or has a psychological mysophobia, so these words are not appropriate.
Xiaocao stood up slowly, Wang Jingzhe nervously took a few steps back, and the other party also stepped forward.
The little grass girl stared at Wang Jingzhe's eyes and uttered two words: "Fool"
Wang Jingzhe pursed his lips and said nothing, then smiled awkwardly. Xiaocao turned around and walked away.
Wang Jingzhe squatted on the ground, took out a cigarette, lit it, and gently slapped himself with his hand: "Language is really an art..."
When Xiaocao returned home and passed by the main hall, she saw her parents chatting. Uncle Li was standing behind them. When he saw her coming back, Mao Qingshui waved his hand and said, "Daughter, come, come, come."
Xiao Cao walked in with a frown. Mao Qingshui pulled her arm and said happily, "In a few days, the Qinghe Cui family will set off to propose marriage. Come, you see, they have already sent the photo and horoscope of the eldest son of the Cui family. Tsk tsk, you have to admit that the eldest son of the Cui family is really a handsome man."
Li Lanrong nodded and agreed: "He is indeed a good person, which is rare."
Xiao Cao didn't even look at the photo in Mao Qingshui's hand, and smiled faintly: "Well, as long as you are happy"
"Of course I'm happy. Xiaocao, I'm telling you that my judgment of people is absolutely correct. The eldest son of the Cui family has broad eyebrows, a high nose, and an upright figure. How can this appearance be described as a dragon or a phoenix in the world?"
"Yes, yes, as long as you are happy." Xiaocao nodded again, and then said to Li Bo: "Help me get some ginger, vinegar and wolfberry and send them to my room."
"Yes, Miss."
Mao Qingshui asked in confusion: "What do you want these things for?"
"I've been having insomnia lately..."
