Chapter 4 Hua Ling

Author: Bai Xia

Chapter 4 Hua Ling

At nine o'clock, the east was getting whiter and the sky was brighter. Tao Yue'er followed the strange man through the smoke and grass, shallow shoals and rivers, and finally came to a dilapidated wooden door.

This is a single-open wooden door. The door is uneven and mottled with ravines, and the grooves are full of mud. The walls on both sides of the door are made of stones, which are covered with mud and rustle when the wind blows.

The earth fell down.

Tao Yue'er has been to the outskirts of the city many times, and this is the first time she has seen such a dilapidated house. From the outside, it looks worse than the slums in her hometown.

"Where is this?" Tao Yue'er couldn't help but ask.

"My home."

"Why did you bring me to your home?" Tao Yuer'er was confused.

"Don't you want to die?" The man slowly turned his head and asked her indifferently.

Only then did Tao Yue'er realize that his profile was very good-looking. His nose was high, his eyes were narrow and slightly raised, and there was always a cold and vague smile at the corner of his mouth. His lonely and unique temperament was incompatible with the surrounding buildings.

.

It turned out to be a young man with a jade face and a silk scarf.

He looks like he is only seventeen or eighteen years old, but his calm and calm demeanor is even calmer than that of a twenty-five-year-old himself.

It's really irritating to see people compare to each other. Not only does his voice sound better than hers, but his face is more beautiful than hers. His figure, pace, and temperament are all-round crushing. As a woman, she can't compare to a man in everything. It's really a failure.

.

When Tao Yue'er was frustrated, Hua Ling said again: "Everyone who comes here will not walk out alive. Do you really want to come in?"

After the man finished speaking, without waiting for Tao Yue'er's answer, he opened the door and walked in. He didn't even give her any time to wait.

Dust flew up under the door and fell around Tao Yue'er. She coughed several times and was choked so much that she could hardly open her eyes. However, she still followed the young man into the courtyard firmly and resolutely.

She has wanted to die for a long time. If she can die, it will be considered a merit.

The yard was even more dilapidated than she imagined. It was surrounded by a circle of houses made of earth, one next to the other, all asymmetrical in size. There was a big tree in the middle of the yard, and under the tree there was a table that could accommodate three people.

There was a table for more than ten people and more than twenty chairs with missing arms and legs scattered around. The young man walked in front, picked up the chair that had fallen on the ground, and then went to the backyard with firewood.

It was hard for Tao Yue'er to imagine that a young man dressed in white would live in such a place. She looked around and saw no one else, so she could only follow the young man step by step.

The two came to the woodshed. In the corner of the woodshed lay two large black pots. On the chopping board next to the pots were placed large and small colorful pastries, all of which were freshly risen dough.

"Can you make a fire?" The young man squatted in front of the stove in the back and asked Tao Yue'er, pointing to a pot on the side.

"Yes!" Tao Yue'er nodded, squatted on the ground holding the firewood, and started playing with the fire stick skillfully. After a while, the fire rose and the water in the pot quickly boiled.

The young man brought several steaming trays and placed various kinds of pastries that had been cooked on them. A quarter of an hour later, the aroma spread out, making Tao Yue'er move her index fingers. She had been working hard all night, and she was already so hungry that her chest was pressing against her back.

When I smelled the aroma, I wanted to eat all the steamers in front of me!

The young man took a large basin from the side and scooped up the mixed vegetable and lean meat porridge from another pot. The porridge contained carrots cut into the shape of plum blossom petals, cucumbers shaped like five-pointed stars, and very few rhombus-shaped ginger slices, mixed

With shredded pork and green onions, it exudes an indescribable and wonderful aroma.

Tao Yue'er looked at the young man longingly and swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva: "Can I..."

"No." The young man interrupted her without looking at her.

He was busy working in front of the stove until Tao Yue'er's saliva dripped on his shoes. He frowned with disdain, took a step to the side and said calmly: "This is for people to eat, don't waste food."

.”

Tao Yue'er was anxious: "I'm a human too!"

"You're not."

The young man shook his head and said, "You are a dying person."

"..."

Tao Yue'er's throat tightened and she found that she couldn't refute. She turned pale and danced in thought for a long time before saying: "Then just because I'm about to die, let me be a dead ghost, okay?

?”

"No."

The young man's words were concise and clear, with an unquestionable certainty. As he spoke, he took out the cakes in the steamer one by one.

Tao Yue'er could only watch as those two-color lotus rolls, rose steamed dumplings, purple sweet potato and brown sugar cakes, and three-color flowering steamed buns were picked out one by one, filling the whole plate with colorful flowers. Then he held the vegetables in one hand.

Porridge, holding the pastry plate in one hand, walked out without looking back.

"When will you take me to die?" Living was too hard. Tao Yue'er shouted, holding her stomach, and her saliva immediately flowed all over her body.

The young man seemed not to hear her and ignored her. He walked to the courtyard, placed the porridge basin and pastry plate in the middle of the table, then took out a stack of iron rice bowls from the hole in the big tree, and placed them on the table one by one.

There were about twenty of them lined up on one side.

"Dingling——" The young man held a copper bell. As soon as the bell rang, strange noises were heard in the surrounding houses, and gradually there were voices. Soon, many children, big and small, rushed out of the house.

There were about ten people. The oldest was at most ten years old and the youngest was only five or six years old. They all looked like they were half asleep. They were wearing shabby clothes and their bodies were thin. Their skin exposed to the air had large and small marks.

Small sores.

"Have breakfast after freshening up." The young man said calmly and began to distribute cakes in everyone's bowls.

"Yes - Brother Hua Ling!" the children replied in unison, and then ran to the backyard in unison. There was a well water there for washing.

It turns out his name is Hua Ling.

He really lives up to his name.

Under the sun, he stood alone at the wooden table, with the mountains and courtyards full of greenery and flowers and trees behind him, like an elf among the flowers. He was as beautiful as a mortal.

And what he was doing was not like something a mortal would do. Tao Yue'er was surprised to find that the children running around the yard were all infected with the epidemic and would not live long. At this time, he looked at the table again

Hua Ling, who was standing next to her, understood what he meant by "Those who come in will never come out alive" - ​​the disease is contagious, and she was afraid that she would be in danger as well.

But she's not afraid.

What about Hua Ling? Isn’t he afraid too? Why?

Ten thousand doubts arose in Tao Yue'er's heart, but Hua Ling's attitude towards her was very cold. Even if she asked, he would not answer.

The children finished washing and sat down on their seats, but they were not sitting next to each other, but scattered. Tao Yuer'er noticed that not everyone had food in the bowls on the table, and two-thirds of them were filled with food.

It was vacant, and there was no one sitting on the corresponding chair.

"Brother Hua Ling, today's breakfast is so rich! Ping..."

Hua Ling rolled her eyes and said coldly: "You don't speak when you eat, you don't speak when you sleep. Have you forgotten what I said?"

"Oh..." The child was glared at by him, and immediately shut his mouth, buried his head in the bowl, and drank the porridge with concentration.

Tao Yue'er felt relieved, and realized that he was not just indifferent to her, but also had the same tone towards his children. Perhaps he was born with a cold temper. Thinking of this, Tao Yue'er felt a little happy.

Hua Ling walked to the only child in the crowd who hadn't eaten and sat down. Then she picked up the bowl, took a spoon, and fed the porridge into the child's mouth. The breeze blew by, blowing up the child's sleeves. Tao Yue'er's words

Only then did he realize that his sleeves were empty - this child had no hands.

Hua Ling patiently finished feeding the whole bowl of porridge and asked him, "Do you still want to eat?"

The child shook his head: "Thank you, brother Hua Ling, I'm full."

"Yes." Hua Ling took out a handkerchief and wiped the child's mouth. His movements were slow and gentle, which was completely inconsistent with his cold face. The sun shone through the shade of the trees, and several light and shadows fell on Hua Ling's body, soft and gentle.

His cold and lonely temperament has been replaced with a bit of sacredness.

Tao Yue'er felt mixed emotions in her heart. Seeing such a jade-faced young man carefully taking care of a group of children suffering from the epidemic, she was deeply shocked.

What were you doing when you were seventeen?

Blind date, blind date, blind date. Year after year, it seems like she is waiting forever, waiting for a man to descend from the sky with a willow branch and take her out of the slum. He will give her a phoenix crown and harem, and she will be stable for the rest of her life.

But she couldn't wait in the end. She could only wait for year after year of disappointment, and year after year of aging...

Compared with Hua Ling, her life is really monotonous and meaningless.

Tao Yue'er wanted to die even more.
Chapter completed!