He Hanzhu stood beside the mountain road, facing away from the distance, smoking a cigarette.

He went down the mountain, got on the car, turned to Wang Xiaokun, who had already arrived at the back of the car, and said, "The monk will collect and do rituals for him, seven, seven, four, nine days."

"I'm sorry for you."

Wang Xiaokun opened his eyes slowly.

"In life, people must be responsible for their own actions. If you give him a chance, it is his own fault and no one can blame you."

"Yanqiao, to be honest, did you know that it was him before? Because of my face, I pretended not to know?"

He stared at He Hanzhu and asked.

He Hanzhu was silent for a moment: "I can't hide anything from you."

"Actually, you don't have to worry at all. You should tell me as soon as possible. He can attack you. Such ungrateful people may be bought by others in the future and deal with me."

"Forget it, I won't talk about this!"

Wang Xiaokun brushed his hand and changed the topic, with a smile on his face, "Let's go back, bring Lanxue tonight. There are no outsiders, so let's have a good meal for our family. I haven't had a meal with you brothers and sisters for a long time."

He Hanzhu nodded and drove away.

In the evening, Wang Tingzhi drove to Helanxue's girls' high school as ordered by his mother, Mrs. Wang, and brought Helanxue from school to the Wang family.

On the dinner table, the meal was steaming hot.

Mrs. Wang was born with a round face, rich and kind face, so she asked Helanxue to sit beside her, pick up food for her, and smiled happily. He Hanzhu accompanied Wang Xiaokun to drink. Several concubines did not serve the table, and took the servants of the Wang family to serve him, serving the soup and water. Everyone had a smile on their faces, and the atmosphere in the dining room was lively and harmonious.

The birthday party is approaching, and the topic at the dinner table is naturally inseparable from this matter. Mrs. Wang and her husband reported a list of VIPs who had been prepared to invite her, and asked again: "Just that group of people from the sect, you said you would invite them yourself. How about it? Have you agreed?"

Wang Xiaokun said: "I called and said I was unwell and pushed me."

Mrs. Wang looked unhappy and snorted: "What a big air! The president has sent special envoys, but he can't even invite you to ask yourself. Is he going to openly sweep your face?"

Wang Xiaokun frowned: "Forget it! Mr. Zong has this temper. Last year, the president lost his temper for the issue of funding from the Ministry of Education. It would be best if he could invite him, but if he didn't come, it wouldn't be considered a face-sweeping."

Mrs. Wang originally expected that Zong Fengxian would make an exception and attend her husband's birthday party to add a glory to the birthday party. Now she was disappointed, and saw her husband say this again, so she had to shut up. Suddenly, she remembered something again and looked at her son who had not spoken opposite her and said nothing: "By the way, Tingzhi, last time I asked you to greet the last time... the surname is what I had saved you on the boat..."

He Lanxue reminded her: "The surname is Su, and his name is Su Xuezhi."

"Yes, look at my memory..."

Mrs. Wang gently hit her forehead, "Just the one named Su, ask him to come to the birthday party, have you called me?"

At the dinner table tonight, everyone was laughing and in a good mood. Wang Tingzhi seemed bored alone, poking a fish tail in the plate in front of him with chopsticks, and responded impatiently: "Call me, I'm—"

He originally wanted to say, "I am noble and look down on me, and I don't want to come." He started to say that, and then he paused and changed his words: "I happened to have something happened that day, and I can't come. I'll give it apologies."

Helanxue's beautiful eyes suddenly showed a look of loss.

He Hanzhu, who was talking to Wang Xiaokun, looked at his sister.

Mrs. Wang looked at her son suspiciously: "You didn't call me? You can come to your father's birthday party, so many people can't even ask for it. What's so important about him? I tell you, someone saved your life, we can't live without this etiquette, so why don't they be criticized behind the scenes!"

Wang Tingzhi said: "All right, I didn't call me, okay? If you want to send someone to call me, I can't control this!"

Mrs. Wang didn't plan to count on her son anymore. Seeing that he was not doing well in his meal, she was afraid that her husband would be unhappy and whispered: "Sit down, what are you doing?"

Wang Tingzhi muttered: "It's all my family, why are you pretending..." As he said, he caught a glimpse of his father's words and stopped talking to He Hanzhu. He seemed to have noticed himself, took back his chopsticks, and sat up slowly.

After almost two hours of meal, Wang Xiaokun and He Hanzhu went to the study to talk again.

Outside, Mrs. Wang asked her concubines to play mahjong with Helanxue, and went to instruct the company to do business by herself. When she came back, she called her son who was about to leave, pulled the person into the house, closed the door, and asked in a low voice: "How are you and Lanxue?"

Wang Tingzhi inexplicably: "What's wrong?"

Mrs. Wang was smiling in her eyebrows and twisted her son's arm hard: "What are you pretending to be? You two have been together since childhood, and now you meet again every three days. You don't know what your father means? Your father is older, and Lan Xue is almost eighteen years old. Otherwise, I will ask Yanqiao to propose marriage and settle your affairs early so as not to have too many dreams!"

Wang Tingzhi shook off his mother's hand and jumped up: "What? Lan Xue and me? How is that possible! I treat her as my sister! She has no intention of me! Mom, I tell you, hurry up and tell your father, don't make such an idea! I will never agree!"

Mrs. Wang was stunned: "You don't look down on Lan Xue?"

Wang Tingzhi said word by word: "It doesn't matter if you like it or not. I treat her as my sister at all! Don't force me, if you are too impatient, I can do anything! Don't act like I'm scaring you!"

The good thing that had been planned for a long time was like this, and Mrs. Wang was anxious: "What do you mean? Why don't you agree to such a good ready-made marriage? Explain it clearly to me!"

She lowered her voice: "If you don't say you have grown up together, you know the truth. Your fourth brother is going to marry the president's niece now. If you marry Lan Xue, you will be happy. It's a good thing for our family. Do you understand?"

Wang Tingzhi was extremely depressed: "I don't care about these things! I won't agree anyway. Besides, the fourth brother doesn't like me either!"

Mrs. Wang said: "Why don't your fourth brother look down on you? What's wrong with him if he marryes his sister into our family? Would I be bad to Lanxue? Be careful. If you ruin this good thing and make your fourth brother divorce our family, your father will not let you go!"

Wang Tingzhi was so angry that he suddenly said, "Since that's the case, I'll tell you the truth-"

He stared at his mother: "I'm not interested in women, I like men."

Mrs. Wang was struck by lightning and stared at her son with wide eyes: "What did you say? Say it to me again!"

Wang Tingzhi snorted: "Your son, I like men! Have you heard it clearly? Mom, if you hit me and Lan Xue again, I will immediately expose this matter! Anyway, I don't care. It depends on you and your father. If you don't care, you are not afraid that others will know, then go and propose marriage. I want to know, what will he think if the fourth brother knows that your son likes men and wants to marry his sister as his daughter-in-law?"

"You...you..."

Mrs. Wang was so angry that her hands were trembling.

"Don't be angry, mom. I advise you to give up your thoughts as soon as possible. Your son will be fine and nothing will happen! You need to get close to your fourth brother. There are many ways to do it. Why bother to marry Lanxue! I'm leaving!"

Wang Tingzhi ran out of the house, leaving Mrs. Wang alone, and she didn't dare to tell her husband about this terrible thing. She was so angry that she walked around the house, her head hurting.

At around nine o'clock, He Hanzhu ended his visit tonight and took his sister to say goodbye to Wang Xiaokun and his wife. After returning home, it was nearly ten o'clock in the evening.

Helanxue looked a little tired and listless. She went upstairs, said goodbye to her brother, and walked towards her room. Suddenly, she heard the brother behind her call out to her, and stopped and turned her head.

He Hanzhu walked up to her and whispered, "Lanxue, when will the next time? If Aunt Wang proposes to recognize you as her goddaughter, don't agree."

He Lanxue was stunned: "Why?"

He Hanzhu said: "Anyway, don't just agree."

Helanxue nodded: "Okay, I understand. Then why should I refuse?"

"You just say that the deceased mother often falls into dreams, and is afraid that she will be sad, so she dare not recognize her godmother. But even if she doesn't recognize her, you will treat her like her mother."

"I remember."

He Hanzhu nodded: "It's getting late, go take a break."

After talking to his sister, He Hanzhu went to his study room, sat down for a while, and saw his sister bringing in a bowl of midnight snack.

"Don't go to bed?" he asked.

Helanxue put the midnight snack on the table.

"My Ma Wu made it for you. I can't sleep, so I've sent it by the way. Brother, you should also be careful of your health, don't smoke, and go to bed so late every day."

He Hanzhu smiled: "It's not bad, I know you care about your brother?"

Helanxue bit her lip: "Actually, I am here to apologize to you brother. That day was your birthday, I shouldn't be angry with you. Brother, don't be angry with me. It's my fault."

He Hanzhu smiled and said, "It's good if you know you shouldn't lose your temper. Okay, my brother is not angry, you go to bed."

Helanxue said oh, turned around and walked outward.

He Hanzhu looked at his sister's back and suddenly shouted: "Lanxue!"

Helanxue stopped, turned to see her brother get up, and walked over.

"Do you like the son of the Su family?"

Helan Xuexin thumped, and under the eyes of her brother's eyes, she couldn't help but lower her head and said nothing. After a while, she heard her brother slowly say: "The son of the Su family is really good, but he can't be with you. Don't think about him in the future."

He Lanxue slowly raised her eyes, looked at her brother, and plucked up the courage to ask: "Why? Do you disagree?"

"He already has a sweetheart. He is in his hometown and will get married when he goes back in the future." He Hanzhu said in a deep voice.

"Others are in love with each other, you won't want your brother to destroy other people's happiness and help you, right?"

He Lanxue was stunned. At first, he didn't move, and his eyes gradually turned red. He suddenly raised his hand, wiped the corners of his eyes quickly, and shook his head: "No, brother, don't force him, then even if he gets along with me, he will be unhappy. I know, I won't like him in the future, so it's great to think he is a friend. Brother, don't worry."

He Hanzhu looked at his sister and smiled: "It's right that you can think about it like this. Brother believes in you. It's okay, everything will not go well in life in the world. No matter how unhappy things are, they will pass soon."

He thought for a while and said, "Isn't Uncle Wang's birthday party in a few days? At that time, the famous ladies and ladies of Tiancheng will gather together. Are your new skirts ready? Is it beautiful enough? My sister of He Hanzhu must be the most beautiful princess in the audience, and must not be suppressed by other women!"

Helanxue burst into tears and smiled, smiling, her eyes turned red again, and she sniffed quickly and responded quietly: "Well, you're all ready..."

"That's good, my brother will take you back to your room."

He Hanzhu sent his sister to the door of the room, watched her push the door open, and her figure disappeared behind the door.

He returned to the study, sat alone for a while, touched the cigarette from his inner pocket of his shirt, and brought out a piece of folded paper, which fell onto the table.

It was the letter I received this morning.

He glanced at it, picked it up, pressed the lighter, and lit it at the corner of the letter paper.

The flames burned. He leaned over his face, lit a cigarette with the fire on the paper, then raised the paper that was trapped in the sea of ​​fire, and watched the flames intimately wrapping the thin paper with small black characters, slowly rolling up between his fingers.

After burning nearly one-third of it, he seemed to have suddenly changed his mind, threw the fire paper to the ground, raised his foot twice, and stepped on the fire to put it out.

The burned letter was picked up and he blew the circle of gray and black paper apart on his head and put it into the drawer.

Su Xuezhi's day was very busy.

After delivering the letter in the morning, she went to the police shed to visit her cousin.
To be continued...