Chapter 163: Liang Zhu (End)

For the next few days, Luo Jun went out to read the newspaper during the day and returned home to read novels at night as usual, living a very regular life.

At the same time, it was also very dangerous.

Qin Huai clearly felt that the enemy's bombing frequency was increasing. When he first entered this memory, it was the end of the bombing.

Three days later, the second bombing.

The fifth day of the third bombing.

The fourth time on the sixth day.

The third and fourth bombings were both during the day. Two consecutive days of bombing made the public's spirit highly tense. When Luo Jun walked through the streets and alleys to find a place to read novels, Qin Huai could clearly feel the panic and anxiety of the poor, and even the peddlers selling firewood and vegetables were much fewer.

Families didn't dare to close their doors too tightly, nor did they dare to open them. Property and valuables were all packed up, and as soon as the air-raid siren sounded, they hugged their children and brought their property to run desperately to the public air-raid shelter.

High-frequency bombing completely destroyed the lives of the masses, but it didn't affect the gentlemen and ladies in the foreign-style buildings at all.

A gentleman named Ge even had the leisure to hold a small birthday party for his newly married third concubine the day after the fourth bombing ended.

Purely Western-style, the guests were all dressed in suits and long skirts, properly dressed, with dazzling jewelry. The banquet provided champagne and red wine, all kinds of desserts and snacks were available, and the specially ordered 16-inch cake was only cut once before being taken down, because the focus of this banquet was the birthday gift Mr. Ge gave to the third concubine—

A specially customized necklace embedded with rubies, emeralds, jade, and broken diamonds.

This necklace had been stained with blood.

As for why Qin Huai knew, it was because he saw with his own eyes that Luo Jun handled a small trouble that would affect his daily life in the gap between the third and fourth bombings. In order to solve it thoroughly and solve the problem from the root, he also collected a hard-earned fee from his safe.

There were a lot of things in the safe. When packing, this necklace fell out. Luo Jun was very disgusted because it was stained with blood, so he gave it to Mr. Ge as an actor's fee.

Yes, Mr. Ge was the "business cooperation partner" newly chosen by Luo Jun.

Although Minister Cao had been raising two mistresses outside for years with the excuse of working overtime, not only not returning home during the day but also not returning home much at night, he was a very good cooperative actor because he was very well-off in time.

But Mrs. Cao had a fiery temper and couldn't control her mouth, and she liked to push others and look at Luo Jun very unpleasantly. Luo Jun felt Minister Cao wasn't an excellent acting partner.

Of course, Minister Cao, this actor, hadn't completely exited the stage, and occasionally still had to make a guest appearance. For example, talking business with Mr. Ge during the day and talking business with Minister Cao at night, occasionally swaying back slowly after dark, Liu Tao wouldn't be suspicious.

Plus, the enemy hadn't bombed for a full week after the fourth bombing, and Liu Tao wouldn't be as nervous as before.

Days passed normally like this, so plain that Qin Huai couldn't even remember the time, feeling that every day was spent reading novels, reading novels, reading novels.

It might be that there weren't many newspapers with serial novels during the war. Luo Jun had been reading old newspapers from before during this time. Organized by date, he read from the beginning, chasing the serial novels all at once, without the trouble of breaking chapters.

Another good day for reading novels.

The sun was bright, and the temperature was pleasant. Luo Jun went out with the excuse of talking business with Mr. Ge after drinking Chen Pi tea, carrying a pocket of newspapers as usual, turning around and coming to a slum area with a wide field of vision.

Luo Jun had been reading the newspaper in this area during this time; it was a good place he had newly discovered. A woman in a family planted some wild flowers in the yard that would occasionally be taken to the rich area to sell. During this time, the flowers were blooming, and the faint floral fragrance in the air was very pleasant.

Luo Jun negotiated the price with this family, gave a silver dollar to rent the open space at the door and a chair, and came over to sit and read the newspaper every day.

Facing such a good deal, the woman naturally wouldn't refuse. Her husband was a carpenter, working overnight to make an exclusive bamboo chair for Luo Jun, cleaning the door clean every day to wait for Luo Jun's arrival.

Luo Jun was very satisfied with this new place, arriving early every day, finding the place with the best light to sit and read the newspaper.

Qin Huai was also very expectant. Yesterday, he just saw the wonderful plot of the hero coming out of the mountain, shaking the four directions, and punishing evil and promoting good. Luo Jun had read it once and could endure it, but Qin Huai was reading it for the first time, how could he endure the pain of chasing updates.

If it weren't for the fact that Qin Huai couldn't flip the newspaper in the memory, he would have secretly taken the newspaper out at night and read it by the moonlight.

Finally able to see the following plot, Qin Huai stood beside Luo Jun, lowering his head and reading with relish.

Suddenly, the air-raid siren sounded.

Having not heard the air-raid siren for a long time, Qin Huai was startled. Looking up, he found that the people around were indeed in chaos.

Some packed property, wishing they could stuff even bowls and chopsticks into the bundle and run while hugging them. Some held children in their left hand and old hens in their right hand, holding the chicken tighter than the child.

The woman's family was also like this. The woman held the child, her husband took the property, and when running out of the yard, seeing Luo Jun still at the door holding the newspaper unhurriedly, the woman kindly reminded him.

"Mr. Luo, the air-raid siren has sounded, the nearest air-raid shelter is far away at the front mountain, run quickly, if it's late, you won't be able to squeeze in."

After speaking, the woman had no heart to care about Luo Jun's whereabouts, picked up the child and ran.

Luo Jun didn't leave; he took the chair and walked into the yard, sitting in the yard and continuing to read the newspaper.

Fortunately, the area where Luo Jun was located wasn't bombed. Two hours later, people returned from the air-raid shelter one after another, rejoicing and cheering at their undamaged homes. The woman's husband even took out two small eggs from the bag to celebrate, letting the woman boil them for the child to eat, and at the same time shared one with Luo Jun to let Luo Jun share the joy.

Luo Jun wasn't polite either, accepting everything, sharing this joy, didn't eat it, and put it in his pocket, presumably intending to bring it back for Liu Tao to eat.

As a result, at noon, the air-raid siren sounded again.

The air-raid siren sounded twice a day, and no matter how tired people were, they could only curse and pack their things again to run to the air-raid shelter.

This air-raid siren sounded very late. Just two minutes after it sounded, Qin Huai heard the bombing sound from afar.

Luo Jun was annoyed by the bombing twice a day and couldn't read the novel, so he put away the newspaper and swayed slowly in the city.

After swaying in the bombing for more than an hour, Luo Jun calculated the time and started to walk back. Bombing twice a day, both during the day, Luo Jun knew that if he didn't return immediately, Liu Tao would definitely be worried, so he had to return on time.

Hurrying and rushing, it was still a bit late when Luo Jun arrived home, and the sky was getting dark.

It was a bit too chaotic along the way. Luo Jun didn't like the noisy crowd, didn't like the chaotic crowding, walked deliberately avoiding people, and also subdued three thugs who intended to take advantage of the fire to rob him, delaying some time.

If it were usual, Liu Tao would definitely be waiting at the door at this time.

But today, Luo Jun's door was very lively.

There were many people.

Minister Cao with a nervous expression, the maid of Minister Cao's family in a mess, Minister Cao's concubine covering her nose with a handkerchief and not knowing what she was saying, Mr. Ge's third concubine with a face full of horror, Mr. Ge who seemed to be rehearsing crying and howling...

These were the ones Qin Huai recognized, and there were many others he had seen in the air-raid shelter, looking familiar, living nearby, gentlemen and ladies and their servants, gathered here, either anxiously or gloatingly watching the excitement.

What made Qin Huai feel shocked was that he seemed to see a doctor wearing a white coat.

Someone saw Luo Jun.

"Mr. Luo is back!"

"Mr. Luo is here!"

"Mr. Luo..."

People called out, as if triggering some switch. Mr. Ge, who was still rehearsing, suddenly wailed loudly, tears streaming down his face, panicked, rolling and crawling, slapping himself while running to Luo Jun, almost kneeling to him directly.

"Mr. Luo, I'm sorry for you! It's all my fault, it's all I who harmed Mrs. Luo!" Mr. Ge slapped his mouth fiercely with tears and snot, very hard, and his face soon became red and swollen.

"What are you saying?" Luo Jun asked expressionlessly.

Mr. Ge didn't answer, just continued to slap his mouth fiercely, as if wishing to slap himself unconscious immediately, repeatedly crying that it was all his fault.

Qin Huai didn't hesitate at all, running towards the house with a stride.

There were many people outside the house, but few inside.

Mrs. Cao's makeup was ruined by crying, grabbing the doctor's sleeve and shouting non-stop: "She still had breath just now, she was still talking to me just now. She looked quite good, just a small cut on her foot and not much bleeding, how could she be gone now? Check again, send her to the hospital to check!"

The doctor wearing a mask could only explain over and over again: "Mrs. Cao, Mrs. Luo's heartbeat and breathing have stopped. Her internal organs have been shattered by the bomb, even if she was sent to the hospital immediately, it would probably be of no avail."

"Mrs. Cao... please mourn."

Qin Huai saw Liu Tao wrapped in a white cloth lying on the ground.

Her eyes were closed, her face had been wiped clean, her lips had no blood color, looking like she was sleeping with her eyes closed, very quiet.

Mrs. Cao collapsed on the ground and cried loudly.

Luo Jun came in, followed by Mr. Ge, whose cheeks were already highly swollen and whose mouth was bleeding, and Minister Cao, who was hesitant to speak. Facing his wife's unseemly behavior of collapsing on the ground and crying, Minister Cao didn't stop her, just signaled the maid to help Mrs. Cao up with his eyes.

"What's going on?" Luo Jun asked lightly.

Qin Huai looked at Luo Jun's expression and found that he had no expression like before, and his tone didn't have much fluctuation, calm and terrifying. It seemed that what appeared in front of him wasn't Liu Tao's corpse, but Liu Tao having a strange illness and falling into a coma.

Mr. Ge slapped himself even harder, not daring to say a word.

"Old Luo, please mourn." Minister Cao sighed, patted Luo Jun's shoulder, and blocked in front of Mr. Ge to explain for him.

"The devils went crazy and bombed twice today, right? The one in the morning didn't last long, Old Ge was unlucky, fell down before entering the air-raid shelter and hit his head. The servant passed the news home, saying Old Ge was injured and went to the hospital."

"Your wife thought you were with Old Ge and ran to the hospital worried about your safety. Old Ge was anxious and made up an excuse that you went to the bookstore to buy books. Your wife went to the bookstore to find you, and the devils' bombers came."

"Those two servants of yours are also gone, I had people collect the bodies."

Speaking of this, Minister Cao could only sigh: "People have their own fate, your wife still had breath when she was just carried back. We thought we were lucky and it was just a small injury, called the doctor over, who would have thought that before the doctor arrived..."

Mr. Ge wailed loudly: "Mr. Luo, I'm sorry for you, it's all I who harmed Mrs. Luo. If I hadn't said you went to the bookstore, Mrs. Luo wouldn't have walked that road, I'm sorry for you!"

After speaking, Mr. Ge fainted with a big breath.

Minister Cao hurriedly signaled the servants to carry the person out with his eyes. Luo Jun quietly looked at Liu Tao wrapped in a white cloth lying on the ground, didn't speak, had no expression, looking as if he was thinking about something.

Minister Cao very sensibly signaled the people in the house to go out again, leaving enough time and space for Luo Jun to calm down and accept reality. The maid helped Mrs. Cao, who was still crying and stumbling, out. Mrs. Cao walked limping, and when she was about to reach the door, Luo Jun spoke.

"Is there any auspicious burial site with good Feng Shui nearby?"

Minister Cao was stunned, then said: "Yes, definitely, I know a famous Feng Shui master, he can definitely pick a good one."

Luo Jun nodded: "That's fine, pick a good auspicious burial site, and bury her in these two days."

Luo Jun's calm tone made everyone in the house feel incredible, even the maid helping Mrs. Cao looked at Luo Jun secretly, clearly not believing that there was such a heartless husband in this world, with his wife's corpse right in front of him, yet he could say such things so lightly.

Luo Jun took the egg out of his pocket and placed it on the antique shelf.

"Can butterflies eat eggs?" Luo Jun asked.

Minister Cao was so shocked that his eyes widened, he was a bit suspicious if Luo Jun was a bit too unable to accept it and went crazy.

Luo Jun was very calm, but Mrs. Cao exploded.

"Luo, are you still human!" Mrs. Cao roared angrily at Luo Jun, "Even if Liu Tao doesn't have children, she is your wife married with proper ceremony! Your wife is dead, not only do you not shed a tear, but you don't even have a sad expression, and you still have the heart to care if butterflies eat eggs."

"She was worried about you going out to find you and was bombed to death, but you don't even want to pretend, not even giving her the last decency. Still looking for an auspicious burial site to bury her in these two days, you are simply a beast..."

"Hurry up and pull the lady out!" Minister Cao roared, blocking the last two words of Mrs. Cao with a roar, then looked at Luo Jun with a smile, "Mr. Luo, I'm really sorry, my wife is too sad, so she spoke out of turn."

"I know," Luo Jun said. "So she doesn't like being a butterfly?"

Minister Cao felt that Luo Jun might really be crazy.

Liu Tao's funeral was handled by Minister Cao and Mr. Ge, possibly because they were worried about Luo Jun blaming them and wanted to make up for it as much as possible. Mr. Ge held the most glorious funeral in the shortest time.

Not only did he order a high-quality coffin, but he also found a Feng Shui master to set an auspicious burial site in a very remote place with no people, which was said to be a good position.

Luo Jun bought the land of that piece and found people to build a house there.

The subsequent memories were like a movie accelerating time for Qin Huai.

Time passed very quickly, basically blinking, a moment of distraction, and a day passed.

It might also be that this part of the plot was very long and boring. Luo Jun built a small house beside Liu Tao's grave and lived there, moving a chair to read newspapers and books in front of Liu Tao's grave every day.

At first, many people came to this place to find Luo Jun.

Some came to handle things for him, some came to seek a way, some came to seek wealth, some wanted to do business, of course, more wanted to introduce him to a new wife.

Luo Jun didn't pay attention to any of them, just sat in front of the grave reading books and newspapers every day.

Gradually, no one came to find him.

Time passed faster and faster, stars shifted, sun rose and set, the trees planted beside the grave grew taller and taller, and the grass needed regular cleaning. Luo Jun hadn't ordered newspapers for a long time, just reading the ones he had read before over and over again.

He lived a life isolated from the world, knowing nothing about the situation outside.

Time seemed to stand still on him.

Qin Huai felt he seemed to be waiting for something every day, but what could he wait for?

Waiting for Liu Tao to turn into a butterfly?

But turning into a butterfly was just a story in Liang Zhu, a play script.

Finally, on a quiet afternoon, the fast-flowing time pressed the pause button, and someone came to the door.

It was Mrs. Cao.

Not seen for several years, Mrs. Cao looked much haggard.

She was no longer as bejeweled and wealthy as she was a few years ago. She had no gold or silver jewelry on her, the pearl necklace she wore every day was gone, she didn't wear a cheongsam, but ordinary gray cotton clothes. Even she herself was thin, her cheeks slightly sunken, her eyes and face full of wrinkles, looking much older.

"Mr. Luo, long time no see." Mrs. Cao's temper was much better, no longer rolling her eyes at people.

"Is it a long time?" Luo Jun clearly had no concept of the passage of time.

Mrs. Cao smiled: "It's been four or five years, I'm going to leave here and go back to the countryside, I want to see Liu Tao before leaving."

Luo Jun signaled her to look as she pleased.

"They all say you're crazy," Mrs. Cao said. "Say you're obsessed with watching operas and reading novels, living like a lovesick person in a play script, not living a good wealthy life, staying in this ghost place guarding the grave of your deceased original wife."

"A few years ago, I said unpleasant things. You and my old Cao colluded to deceive Liu Tao that you were going out to talk business. I thought you were raising a little one outside, and I instigated Liu Tao to let you take her back to Shanghai and break up with the little demon here," Mrs. Cao looked at the tombstone. "Now thinking about it, it's better to instigate Liu Tao to let you take her back to Shanghai, maybe she would still be here."

"I'm not crazy," Luo Jun said lightly.

Mrs. Cao smiled: "I really like playing mahjong with Liu Tao."

"I am the country wife my old Cao married in his hometown, illiterate, don't like Western clothes, can't wear high heels, can't drink coffee, a country bumpkin looked down upon by everyone. If it weren't for my brother's promotion, Old Cao would never have picked me up to the city in his life."

"My old Cao wants to climb the ladder, so he told me to suck up to Liu Tao and curry favor with you. At first, I wasn't willing; I hate sucking up to people the most. These young, pretty wives, relying on the fact that they've seen the world, all look down their noses at us country-bumpkin first wives. They even look down on the way we pick up mahjong tiles, calling it tacky."

"But she... forget it, don't say it, I have something for you this time." Saying that, Mrs. Cao carefully took out a cloth bag from her pocket, opened it, and inside was a small cloth bag, opened it again, and it was an earring.

A small silver earring.

"I'm going back to the countryside, right? When I was organizing things yesterday, I found it in the jewelry box. It was one that Liu Tao lost before. She said it was the dowry given to her by Sister Ah Hong when she got married. Although it's not valuable, it's very meaningful. She didn't dare to wear it usually for fear of losing your face, only dared to wear it when coming to my house to play mahjong."

"She was always so cautious, for fear of doing something wrong and losing your face. Remember there was a period of time when my family's maid often sent gastrodia stewed pigeon to your house? It was all stewed by Liu Tao. She didn't learn much, every time the pigeon was stewed very old and could only drink the soup, she didn't dare to let you see the pigeon meat, so she said it was stewed by my family's cook."

"How is Minister Cao recently?" Luo Jun asked.

"Dead," Mrs. Cao said casually. "My brother is also dead, the concubines in the family all ran away. I don't have a son, just a daughter, and I didn't get much money, I really can't live here, so I plan to take my daughter back to the countryside."

"I'm afraid I won't come back again after leaving this time, so I came to see Liu Tao, to see her for the last time."

Luo Jun looked at the clothes on Mrs. Cao, reached out and signaled Mrs. Cao to hand the silver earring to him. Mrs. Cao handed the whole cloth bag over, Luo Jun took it and went into the house.

In less than two minutes, Luo Jun took out a small box and handed it to Mrs. Cao, inside were 6 small yellow croakers.

"Write a letter when you go back, to avoid losing contact. Liu Tao hasn't made many new friends over the years, I can't let her have one less friend after turning into a butterfly."

Mrs. Cao took the wooden box blankly, blurting out: "What turning into a butterfly? You aren't really crazy, are you?"

"Don't lovers turn into butterflies after death?" Luo Jun asked back. "Just like in Liang Zhu, although the human form is dead, it can continue to live in the form of a butterfly, turning into a yellow butterfly."

Mrs. Cao was stunned for a long time, as if confirming whether Luo Jun was joking with her. Seeing that Luo Jun was really serious, she stammered: "But... but that's a story in the play script."

"What do you mean?" Luo Jun asked back.

"Those are all stories in the play script, they aren't true."

"Aren't the Oath of the Peach Garden, Executing the Son at the Gate, and Female Consort true?"

"That's different," Mrs. Cao was confused, not knowing how to explain for a while, "Some parts of the stories in the play script are true, and some parts are false. Whether the story of Liang Zhu is true, I don't know, but turning into a butterfly is just a story in the play script."

"People can't turn into butterflies."

Luo Jun was stunned.

"People are dead when they die, they can't turn into butterflies."

"You've been... for so many years... could it be..."

Luo Jun seemed to have suddenly woken up. He seemed to have had a dream for many years, and suddenly one day someone patted him and told him, hey, don't sleep, it's time to wake up.

"What did you say?" Luo Jun asked in a hoarse voice.

"I said... turning into a butterfly is just a story in the play script, it's not true." Mrs. Cao pursed her lips, as if making some decision, "Mr. Luo, I don't know why you would misunderstand like this."

"But... Liu Tao is already dead, dead for 5 years, she won't turn into a butterfly."

"You should wake up."

Qin Huai looked at Luo Jun, this was the first time Luo Jun showed a stunned expression.

The astonishment was also mixed with confusion, just like a child who thought he had learned the rules of the world, suddenly being told that the rules you learned were wrong, and you didn't understand the world at all.

In the 5th year of Liu Tao's death, Luo Jun knew his wife was already dead.

Long buried in the dust, turned into white bones.

Truly dead.

Qin Huai knew that Luo Jun had failed the tribulation.

Qin Huai left the memory.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 164 =====