Lately, Shu Yu had suddenly become fascinated with light spirits, concocted by his wife. After dawn, he would light a few small braziers in the room, open the windows, and sit by the window in his wheelchair, warming up a pot of the mild liquor. When the mood struck, he would even bring out his old guqin and play a few notes. The sound of the guqin was clear and resonant, and next door, it was the sound of the guqin that had woken up his wife. With a creak, a person, carrying a gloomy air and wrapped in a cotton jacket, stormed out from the wife’s room. Rushing to the window of Shu Yu’s room, with hair as messy as a bird’s nest and looking quite murderous, he exclaimed, "Elder brother, what are you playing early in the morning?" Shu Yu calmly pointed and said, "Naturally, I’m playing the guqin." He cast a sidelong glance as if to say, aren’t you blind — can’t you see this guqin right here? Lao Wu scratched his head fiercely, "No, I mean, why are you playing the guqin so early? You almost woke up the wife, she was exhausted last night!" "Blame me?" Another cool glance. Due to his poor health, although it was still the brothers’ turn to keep the wife company at night, whenever it was his turn, well, it was skipped, with another brother taking his place. So instead of each of the six brothers taking one night, it ended up being five brothers alternating, as the wife’s craving hadn’t yet passed. Yue Ning was taken aback by his response. The wife was tired yesterday... it wasn’t Elder brother’s fault, but his! He wasn’t happy in his heart, just, just accidentally carried on until dawn before he and his wife went to sleep together. He looked gloomily at Elder Brother, "Then could you stop playing for now? Look, it’s early in the morning... let the wife sleep a bit longer. Today, today... even Elder Brother said, we won’t let the wife go to Balibao, we’ll keep her company!" Shu Yu paused for a moment, then suddenly thought of something, "Alas, sorrow, now even playing the guqin has become a sin, sigh..." A trace of sorrow crossed his face, and then he waved his hand, "Go back, I don’t want you in my sight, it seems you don’t hold this Elder brother in your heart anyway, go back to your wife!" "Eh? Elder Brother?" Liang Yuening wanted to say something, but heard a bang — Elder Brother had shut the window. He mused, was Elder Brother angry? But then... forget it, a wife and kids in a warm bed, Elder Brother was right, he should go back to his wife. His wife was warm and soft, so he pushed the matter to the back of his mind. Footsteps sounded, it seemed that the younger brother had left. Shu Yu then reopened the window, but this time he didn’t resume playing the guqin, instead he took a sip from the warm light spirits. The little woman next door had told him that he could drink this light liquor as it was medicinal and harmless to his body but he shouldn’t overindulge, only consuming a little each time. Thinking this, he turned his head to look at the snowy scene outside the window, his expression deep and unfathomable. Eventually, after a long time, he finished the cup of liquor and then smiled suddenly. Picking up the guqin, he turned it over to look at the Phoenix Marsh positioned below the goose feet of the guqin. This Phoenix Marsh was recessed, and he had hidden a small packet of something there. He took the packet out and opened the small paper package, revealing some fine powder that emitted a unique and faintly strange fragrance... Suddenly, he remembered the woman called Mother from his childhood... This substance was inherently deadly, originally kept by him as a last resort. But perhaps in these days, it was not so bad after all. Was this last resort still necessary to keep?
