Chapter 20 The Rising Waters

　　After that day, mother became ill. 　　Dou Zhao was worried and stayed with her mother every day. 　　Her mother smiled and touched her head, "Mother is fine, she'll be fine soon. You go play by yourself!" But her face grew paler every day. 　　Father came to see her. 　　Mother took the initiative to shake Father's hand. 　　Father's fingers were long, white, and bony, jade bamboo-like and straight. 　　"I like it best when you smile." Mother pressed father's hand against her own face, "Every time you look at me and smile, I think, how can someone smile so cheerfully, so carefree? It's as if the spring sunshine warms one's heart." 　　"The doctor said that your pulse is calm, you rest well and you'll be fine soon." Father reddened his eyes, "When you get better, I'll smile for you every day." 　　"Fool!" Mother pursed her lips and laughed, looking at him as if she was looking at a naughty child, with a few moments of doting, "When two people are together, they laugh because they are happy. If you're not happy, naturally you can't laugh. No need to force yourself." 　　Father froze. 　　Mother had already laughed, "I just want you to come and make amends with me, saying that you left me to live a bad life at all." 　　Father was stunned, then smiled sardonically, "I was very uncomfortable with you ignoring me." 　　"You're just not used to me not being around!" Mother laughed and teased father, her eyes were very tolerant and calm, but her voice gradually lowered, "I thought that only when I was by your side, you could laugh like that. It turns out that other people can make you laugh as much as I do ......" 　　Father did not hear what his mother said, he ambled to the head of her bed, warmly asked her, "What did you say?" 　　"Nothing!" Mother laughed, "Just a little tired!" 　　"Then talk less." Father held mother's hand, "I'll stay here with you until you fall asleep." 　　Mother nodded and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep. 　　Dou Zhao, who was listening to the wall, ran out and smashed the small sandbag on the hot bed hard on the floor. 　　What is this? 　　Making up? 　　The thought flashed, and suddenly felt deflated. 　　What can you do if you don't make up? 　　She was still missing a brother! 　　But why did it feel like there were hands clutching her heart, making her feel a tightness in her chest? 　　Dou Zhao sat on the edge of the bed. 　　Father came out of the inner room and saw Dou Zhao, he paused slightly in his steps and turned to sit beside her, "Shou Auntie, everyone praises you for your intelligence, saying that you can now say very long sentences in one breath, can you say one for me to hear?" 　　Dou Zhao glanced at her father, looking down and playing with the sandbag in her hand. 　　Father laughed good-naturedly, "This sandbag is very delicately made, who helped you make it?" 　　Dou Zhao still ignored him. 　　Father was not disobedient, laughed and hugged Dou Zhao: "Go, father told you to write!" 　　"I don't like to write." Dou Zhao rebelled, "I'm going to swing!" 　　"Good!" Father laughed, "Let's go swinging." 　　The grass and trees still competed in the back garden. 　　Dou Zhao and her father swung for a while, and their mood gradually improved. 　　Mother this may be right. 　　Taking the initiative to bow down, the father enlisted in their own house ...... is better than this cold war goes on, even a step down can not be found. 　　She looked at her father a little more obedient. 　　"Father, to swing higher!" 　　"Good!" 　　Father swung her into mid-air. 　　She was like riding on the wind, and every blade of grass and tree in the Dou residence zoomed in and out under her feet. She saw people washing their clothes by the well in the side yard, saw Aunt Ding standing under the eaves of the house and scolding the little maid, and saw her mother's yard quiet and unoccupied ...... as if everything around her was in her eyes. That feeling, very marvelous and interesting. 　　Dou Zhao s laughter was as clear and pleasant as pearls sprinkled on a jade plate. 　　Father also raised his eyebrows and laughed. 　　Only Touniang, foolishly jumped out and stopped in front of Dou Shiying, "Seventh master, it's too high, fourth young miss will fall, please put her down!" 　　Dou Shiying recognized Touniang and laughed, "I didn't expect you to be a red-blooded loyalist!" Instead of rebuking her, he went around her and pushed Dou Zhao, who was sitting on the swing, out again with great force. 　　Touniang was sweating with anxiety. 　　Dou Shao enjoyed Touniang's concern and laughed heartily. 　　She saw Sister Yu hurriedly run out of her mother's house, stood on the steps of the eaves and shouted, and the maids and daughters-in-law who had been nowhere to be seen surged over like a tidal wave and fled in all directions, making the scene seem a bit chaotic. 　　What happened? 　　When the swing swung up again, Dou Zhao stretched his neck and looked toward the main courtyard. 　　The little maids were still disorganized, but Sister Yu was nowhere to be seen. 　　Dou Zhao was puzzled and ordered her father, "Stop, stop." 　　Father tugged toward the swing and laughed, "So our Aunt Shou is a coward." 　　Dou Zhao doesn't plead with him, but just as her feet hit the ground, Sister Yu runs over panting with a pale face. 　　"Seventh master," she held tears in her eyes, her eyes were red, and she looked like she was about to cry out, "Seventh grandma she, seventh grandma she ...... hanged herself!" 　　"What did you say?" Father's eyes widened, the smile froze on his face, "Who did you say? Who hanged herself!" 　　"Seventh Grandmother, Seventh Grandmother ......," Sister Yu cried, her legs went limp and she knelt on the ground, "Seventh Grandmother hanged herself ...... " 　　Dou Shiying looked around blankly. 　　Saw the daughter who stood motionless by his side like she had been given a fixation, and only then did she have a little sense of reality. 　　"How can ...... just now also good ...... " he murmured, tall body suddenly very short a few points, face like gold paper, lips white, trembling non-stop. 　　Dou Zhao has lost the ability to speak, his mind is like a million horses galloping, rumbling and rumbling. 　　Why did mother still have to die? 　　Didn't Wang Ying Xue become a concubine? 　　Even if she gave birth to a son, he is still the eldest son of the concubine ...... 　　Why did mother still want to die? 　　Then what was the point of her coming back? 　　Dou Zhao pursed her lips stubbornly, her tiny hands clenched into fists. 　　The spring sunshine and warm and warm, quietly shining on a small two clay-like people, only that swing, still swaying more than, attracting several colorful butterflies around it dancing, a race of flowers. 　　※※※※※ 　　Dou Zhao wearing coarse linen mourning robe, expression dull kneeling in front of the spirit, along with the singing and drinking sound woodenly kowtow to return the salute. 　　The mother is hanged himself, not counting the full return of life, and there are elders in the hall, at most, can only do five seven thirty-five days of the ceremony. 　　There is no one in charge of the family, grandfather asked the third uncle and third aunt to help organize the funeral of his mother, and also took out the nanmu coffin prepared for himself to give his mother. 　　The people who came to pay their respects paid their respects to the incense, and inevitably had to ask about the cause of death. 　　Dou family of people to the outside world, said it is a violent illness, listen to all the tears: "...... is not yet under twenty years old it!" 　　Dou Zhao's eyes followed the red. 　　Yes, how did she forget, although her mother is her mother, but is still less than twenty years old! 　　She was thirty years old before she understood the truth, how could she expect her twenty year old mother to figure it out? 　　There are some wounds, buried in the bottom of the heart, even if they are bloody, not a trace of them can be seen on the surface. 　　Mother, never really assured, never really relieved, right? 　　Dou Zhao looked toward the opposite side. 　　A plain white father's face was green, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he appeared very haggard. 　　He was kneeling in front of the mourning basin, burning paper money for his mother one by one, with a serious and pious expression, as if he was holding a list of talismans in his hands. 　　The red-eyed Wang Ying Xue came over, she knelt side by side beside her father, silently picking up a stack of paper money from the side, tearing it apart one by one, and throwing it into the mourning basin together with her father. 　　"Seventh Master!" Her voice was hoarse, with a few choked sobs, "You have been kneeling here for a day and a night, if you continue like this, your body will drag ...... sister's funeral is still counting on you to organize it!" 　　The father did not say anything, gently pulling the paper money away from Wang Yingxue's hands and continuing to burn the paper money. 　　Wang Yingxue face flashed a trace of embarrassment, kneeling there for a long time, the father did not look at her, her eyes slightly dark, quietly retired. 　　Sixth uncle came over and took his father's arm: ''Yuan Yuan, don't be like this. The dead have passed away, it is all the more important for the living to take care of themselves." 　　Father refused to get up. 　　In front of his best friend and subordinate brother, he cried in a low voice: "I and Gu Qiu agreed to have five boys and three girls ...... She is now gone, but there is not even a person to wrestle the spirit ...... You let me burn a few more pieces of paper money for her. ...... It's really hard in my heart ......" 　　Sixth uncle stomped his feet, but his eyes were glistening with water, "You are just sad, now is not the time ah!" He said, his voice sinking, "Ruifu is back! He didn't take part in the pew selection for the plebeian scholar ......" 　　Dou Zhao raised her head. 　　Rui Fu, was her uncle Zhao Si's cousin's name. 　　"Counting the hours, he should be arriving soon." Sixth Uncle's voice was bitter, "Have you thought of what to say when you see Rui Fu later? Third brother and the others are all in Little Uncle's study. This matter, we have to discuss a statement beforehand beforehand ......" 　　"A statement? What argument?" Father muttered, his mind apparently still wandering too far away, "It's all my fault ...... That time when Sister Yu said she was going to hang herself, I thought she was trying to blackmail me ...... It turned out that she was really sad and desperate about me ...... but I know nothing about it, but also complacent that I won ...... she said, waiting for me to give her to make amends, said to me to recognize that I left her to live not at all good ...... "He cried out in front of his wife's spirit," I did not know it would be like this, really did not know it would be like this ...... I promised my uncle that I would take good care of Gu Qiu, would be good to Gu Qiu for the rest of my life ... ...I went back on my word ...... She said I was nasty ...... Not wrong at all ......" 　　"Ten thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars!" Sixth Uncle wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand and dragged his father up vigorously, "We'll talk about all this later. Right now it's imperative to give Ruifu an explanation. You can't get carried away." 　　Father shook his head, his heart ashen as death, "It's me who's sorry for Gu Qiu, when I finish Gu Qiu's funeral, he can do whatever he wants to do with me!" 　　Sixth Uncle was furious and called out for two boys to come in and set his father up to go to Heshou Hall. 　　Dou Zhao ran out. 　　Wang Ying Xue was standing under the magnolia tree outside the hall looking at the distant backs of her father and her sixth uncle. 　　Dou Zhao called out to her, "Aunt Wang!" 　　Wang Ying Xue looked back, glancing at the servants outside the spirit hall out of the corner of her eye, and walked over with a decent smile, "Aunt Shou, what is it?" The tone was gentle. 　　"You really want to have a son, don't you?" Dou Zhao raised her head, her dark eyes staring fixedly into hers, and said in a voice that only the two could hear, "However, it's a pity that you're giving birth to a daughter this time! When the mourning is over and the new master mother enters the door, I wonder if she is as good as my mother?" 　　"You ...... "Wang Ying Xue was creeped out and backed up in terror, looking at her as if she had seen a monster. 　　Dou Zhao was satisfied. 　　Coldly skimming her mouth, her stance was like a pine as she walked past her.