Shen Manzhi walked to the front hall with a bunch of wintersweet and found a cyan porcelain vase on the countertop in the corner.
Turning around, I saw the old man carrying a tray, placing a large porcelain bowl and a spoon on the table, and then carrying the kettle on the stove to the table to make a cup of tea.
It seems that he didn't see such a big living person standing next to him.
Shen Manzhi watched the old man sit down and play chess at leisure from half the living room.
"Why are you so cold and violent, Master?"
Tang Duo lowered his head and played with the chessboard without looking at her.
"Don't call me master, I don't have any apprentices who need my white-haired people to send black-haired people."
Shen Manzhi curled his lips, walked to the dining table and poured a glass of water.
Tang Duo glanced at her calmly and said, "Don't say you're hungry in the middle of the conversation."
She raised her eyes and saw the round and plump glutinous rice balls in the white porcelain bowl, and felt a softness in her heart.
Si Dai was sitting in a wheelchair from the back hall to the front yard, and saw this scene in the living room.
Shen Manzhi sat at the dining table and ate quietly with his head lowered. His slender jade hands contrasted with the thin porcelain cup. His bare face and fair skin were the cleanest and most transparent.
The old man sat on the ground under the window sill, with a cup of chess pieces in hand, competing with himself.
Three years ago, it was the same picture.
But at that time, Shen Manzhi was still an unruly girl, covered in thorns.
The wheelchair is smart and electric and can be set off with just one button.
Tang Duo looked over when he heard the sound, and when he saw Si Dai coming in from the front yard and sitting in a wheelchair, his eyebrows almost jumped twice.
Shen Manzhi was unmoved, just eating. She suddenly froze for a moment, biting a hard object.
After eating the bun, she lowered her eyes and saw that it was a dime coin.
Si Ke turned to Tang Duo and leaned forward to hold the chess piece from the white cup on the table to block the black chess piece on the board.
Tang Duo exchanged hands with him and couldn't help but look up at his legs covered by the blanket, and then his eyes fell on the young man's face.
Si Ji fell into silence without saying a word.
A few minutes later, Black was losing ground, and White broke out of the siege and made a comeback.
Tang Duo dropped the black chess piece in his hand back into the cup and said with a smile, "After all, he is a young man. His thinking and reactions are excellent. An old man like me cannot keep up."
Si Dai sat upright and looked out the window at the dazzling white snow shrouded in the sun, "It's better to be better than blue. You should be happy in your heart."
"As long as you are obedient and abide by the rules, I am afraid that you will be willful and paranoid and enter the wrong path."
Tang Duo is already over sixty years old, and he has been on the mountain of Xianghuo Temple all year round. His voice carries a heavy sense of exhortation and otherworldly enlightenment.
Shen Manzhi put down the porcelain spoon and listened quietly to their insinuations about himself.
The green sparrow seemed to come looking for a sound, but it had not been seen for many days. It broke in through the window and landed on Si Dai's shoulder.
"Standing abiding by the rules will only limit your own development. Being willful and paranoid only wants your own wilderness. You only need to protect her."
Tang Duo answered casually, "I'm old and can't protect you." Si Ke tilted his head, avoiding the green bird's intimacy, and looked at the old man with a chuckle, "Then let's find someone else to protect him."
Tang Duo paused his fingers slightly and raised his eyebrows.
After Si Ji left, Shen Manzhi stood up and cleared the table, "Seek the skin of a tiger, and you will also be addicted to it in the future."
The old man snorted softly, "You went out for two years and secretly crammed in nine years of compulsory education?"
Shen Manzhi did not refute, but walked to the stove and sat down to warm himself, "Didn't I just learn to hide your words behind your words? This is what I call learning now and selling now."
It's not like Tang Duo didn't hear it. The tiger she was talking about was Si Ke.
After a few seconds of silence, he replied, "He's right."
"What did the master say?"
"It's a good thing to have someone to protect you. I don't want the white-haired person to send the black-haired person away."
Shen Manzhi lowered his eyes and looked at the position of his ring finger. Two days ago, he was still wearing the wedding ring.
She responded lazily, "You want me to enter Lingjiang?"
After all, isn't the subtext of Si Ji's last sentence saying that she, Shen Manzhi, has no one to support her, except for Tang Duo, a master in his sixties, so she is alone with no way back? Tang Duo had always been puzzled before, why Si Dai was unwilling to take his naughty disciple under his banner, but suddenly he had an idea after such a long time.
"It's because you don't want to return to Linjiang, but it's not that Si Ke doesn't want to take you in, right?"
Shen Manzhi suppressed the emotion in his eyes and raised his eyes with a smile, "I will not leave my life to others."
Tang Duo looked at her slightly stunned. She still looked like she needed a beating, but the stone that had been resting on her chest finally fell.
He looked away and coughed lightly, "What did that kid do to you?"
Shen Manzhi raised his eyebrows, "Who?"
"Who else could ask you to leave just because of a marriage contract?"
There seemed to be some sharp dissatisfaction and hostility hidden in the old man's words.
Talk about the person in her household registration book.
Shen Manzhi leaned on the soft cushion and rubbed his back, making it slightly moist, "It's quite polite."
When Tang Duo saw her actions, his face darkened, and he hastily ended the topic.
Before Shen Manzhi left, he asked him, "How disabled is Mr.'s leg?"
Tang Duo was really stunned now.
Obviously less than three hours ago, when he asked Si Ji to help him check on Shen Manzhi, the man was still standing in front of him alive, but who knew he would suddenly be in a wheelchair.
On the other side, the person in the wheelchair had just left the Villa, and someone was waiting under the stairs.
He is Si Ji's bodyguard.
The bodyguard was about to help the person down, but Si Dai finally stopped pretending to be lazy, lifted the blanket from his legs and stood up, walking down the stairs, holding a branch of wintersweet in his hand, and said in a light tone, "Go back."
(End of this chapter)