The sunset once again dyed half of the sky.
A leisurely voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard where the old man lived.
"The setting sun is setting in the Western Mountains. When a beautiful woman enters the embroidery room, her peach blossom face is reflected by the candlelight! She is too lazy to take off her red makeup. She sits alone on the ivory bed, sighing with longing for her lover..."
The old man, who was being supported by Zhu Yunxi and walking towards the main house, looked up at the place where the singing came from with a smile, and cursed with a smile, "This crooked old coffin boy!"
Listening to the sound, the person singing the song is the old Taoist.
"Grandson!" The old man stopped slightly, "When we are gone, let this old man go!" He said, paused, "Give them money and let him go away."
Zhu Yunxi thought about it and said, "Yes! I will listen to you!"
"Whether it's the White Lotus Sect or other religions!" The old man sighed, "In the final analysis, as long as the people's lives are good, there will be no trouble! Remember, as emperors, we must let the people have a stable life, and don't worry about the good food.
As long as they don't starve to death, as long as they can live, the people will not be in chaos! In the daytime, they are thinking about the coming of all nations, the guests from all over the world, and the unparalleled prosperity. It is of no use. The gold and silver in the treasury have nothing to do with the people. They are not eating
Do you have to break your sweat and smash your petals to earn a bowl of rice?"
"My grandson understands!" Zhu Yunxi helped the old man and continued walking inside.
~
A dining table was set up in the house, and they fried and stewed six kilograms of fish they caught.
A few side dishes that the old man talked about, and hot wine.
"Okay!" The old man sat down at the main seat, touched the wine bottle, and said with a smile, "This wine is just right warm!" He said with a smile, "The old man used to say that if you spend dirty money drinking cold wine, you will get sick sooner or later.
.”
After mumbling a few words, he looked around and asked, "Where are the sesame seeds?"
"Here it comes!" In the back room, Li Jinglong smiled and held a plate of steaming sesame biscuits that were obviously freshly baked. He walked to the old man's side and said, "Old man, these sesame biscuits are freshly baked." He said, breaking one open, "
Look, each layer of the thousand-layer sesame cake is spread with sesame sauce, you can try it!"
"You are so capable!" the old man said with a smile, "You just came out of the pot?"
"I heard that you wanted to have this bite, so I bought the most famous Shaobing Li in the capital, complete with a stall!" Li Jinglong said with a smile, "I also brought his family stove here.
He worked hard to bake this oven specially for you!"
The old man moved his eyebrows, "It's too wasteful!"
"Old man!" Li Jinglong squatted beside the old man and looked up at him, "Don't mention the sesame cakes, even if you want to eat the Dragon King in the sea, I will catch it for you!"
"Then go ahead!" The old man said with a smile, "If I can't catch you, hereditary Cao Guogong, don't take it!"
Li Jinglong's face stiffened and he said with a smile, "Old man, you are just joking, how can you be willing to let me drink the northwest wind!"
"The urinal is rimmed with gold, so you have a good mouth!" the old man scolded, "You can sit down wherever you are!"
Everyone gathered around a table, with the old man at the head of the table, Zhu Yunxi at the bottom, Li Jinglong and Guo Ying at the end, and Pu Bucheng standing behind to serve.
As soon as they sat down, Liu Jin and Xiao Fu'er refused to admit defeat and climbed on top of the old man.
"Go down and let your ancestor have a good meal!" Zhu Yunxi stared.
"What are you doing?" The old man pressed Zhu Yunxi, "Can we have a good meal without them?" He said, reaching out to pick up the six kilograms.
but....
The old man's arms were dangling, but he didn't even pick him up.
Li Jinglong, who was next to him, had quick hands and eyes. He picked up Liujin and placed it on the old man's lap. He put one hand behind Liujin and held it carefully.
"Ancestor eats fish! My grandson caught it with his own hands!" Liujin said with a smile, holding up his chopsticks.
"Well, let's try it!" The old man smiled and nodded, but the next second he looked out the window.
"Grandpa Huang, you...?"
"They haven't eaten yet, right?"
Zhu Yunxi knew who the old man was talking about. Who else could there be besides Zhu Zhen, King of Chu, and Zhu Bai, King of Xiang?
"The kitchen should be prepared!" Zhu Yunxi whispered.
"Send me a plate of sesame cakes and some vegetables!" The old man pointed to the table. "Lao Liu loves to drink, so give him half a catty. Lao Twelve doesn't eat coriander, so make him two separate plates of cold dishes."
After saying that, he paused and said, "Lao Wu likes to eat fish, so give him some fried fish. Don't give him sesame cakes. We remember that he likes to eat rice..."
Zhu Yunxi felt sour in his heart after hearing this. No matter when the time comes, the old man will always be thinking about his children, even if he dies, he won't be able to let them go.
Poor parents in the world, they still miss their children and grandchildren even when they are dying.
He opened his eyes and smiled, looking forward to his son, but his hands refused to part.
"Grandpa Huang, please try the sesame biscuits!" Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit cold, Zhu Yunxi hurriedly forced a smile and placed the sesame biscuits in front of the old man, "It looks soft!"
The old man took a shallow bite and chewed it slowly in his mouth.
His hand holding the chopsticks kept shaking.
"Yeah! OK!"
"Have another drink!" Zhu Yunxi stood up.
"No more!" The old man put down his chopsticks and muttered, "Suddenly I'm not hungry anymore!"
Pu Bucheng quickly stepped forward and hugged Liu Jin and Xiao Fu'er.
Everyone put their chopsticks on the table and looked at the old man quietly.
"Would you like to eat more?" Zhu Yunxi begged, "Eat some more!"
"No more!" The old man waved his hands and smiled, "We want to take a bath! Grandson, please rub our backs!"
"Hey!" Zhu Yunxi lowered his head, not daring to open his eyes.
~
The bathroom was filled with steam and smoke.
The old man was lying in the bathtub, exposing his bony back.
His back was curved, his broad shoulders were slumped, and his skin was dark brown and seemed to be covered with spots.
Moreover, there were two hideous scars on the old man's back. There was a circle of dead flesh around the scars, which was hard to the touch.
"In the thirteenth year of the reign of Emperor Zhizheng of the previous dynasty, 120,000 Yuan troops besieged Haozhou." The old man lay on the bathtub and said slowly, "At that time, the rebels in Haozhou were less than 20,000 in number, and most of them were rabble.
beat!"
"Laoshuai Guo and I guarded the city wall day and night, fearing that our troops would be scattered by the Yuan army. On the seventh day of the siege, two Tatars jumped down from the ladder. In order to protect Mr. Guo, we were beaten on the back.
With these two swords."
With a towel wrapped around his hand, Zhu Yunxi used a ladle to gently pour hot water on the old man's back, "Grandpa Huang, how did you hold on to 20,000 versus 120,000?"
"Let's tell everyone!" The old man closed his eyes and whispered, "After the city is broken, the officers and soldiers will massacre the city, and no one, men, women, old and children will survive!" After that, he opened his eyes and sighed, "I'm not talking nonsense, Xuzhou II
Of the one hundred thousand people who were massacred by Tuo Tuo, only a few hundred remained. Those people were left behind because they had to bury their dead bodies!"
As he said that, the old man paused and said, "Later we went to Xuzhou and saw that those who left the dead bodies buried were all crazy!"
Swish, Zhu Yunxi rubbed the old man's back.
"Xuzhou is doing well now. According to the census last year, the population of single households was 110,000!" Zhu Yunxi said while rubbing his hands. "It is also next to the canal, and there are constant commercial and trade ships. The life of the people is pretty good. This time the Huaibei floods, people transferred from Xuzhou
We got a lot of money and food. My grandson was afraid of the heavy burden on the people, so he exempted them from taxes for a year."
"Yes, we know." The old man still closed his eyes, "You are not a bad person!"
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi's hand stopped.
"We made the right choice, you are a good boy who knows the sufferings of the people!" The old man continued, "No! No!"
"hiss!"
Zhu Yunxi's nose felt sore, he raised his head and pursed his lips, stubbornly refusing to let tears fall.
Not bad!
Is this the highest and best evaluation that elders can give to younger generations?
Men are reserved, especially when it comes to their children and grandchildren. It is a matter of pride to not say anything cowardly.
"Rub it, rub it hard!" The old man opened his eyes and said with a smile, "Why, you don't like me for embarrassing you!"
"It depends on what you said!" Zhu Yunxi rubbed the old man's back vigorously, and the mud balls came down one by one.
The old man picked up one with his backhand and rubbed it, "Actually, our bodies are not dirty. As we age, we have more dead skin. This is all dead skin!"
After saying that, he closed his eyes again, "People, come clean and leave clean."
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi's hand was beaten again, "Grandpa Huang, my grandson doesn't allow you to always..."
"If you don't allow it, we will die too!" The old man smiled heartily, "Don't worry, we are dragging our feet! Damn it, we haven't seen our sons come back, can we close our eyes?"
This chapter has been completed!