On February 2, the dragon raises its head, and everyone in the small household makes cattle.
In the hearts of the people of the Tang Dynasty, whenever this festival comes, it means that the slack time of the year has passed, and everyone should step out of laziness, get active, and work hard for the new year's life.
However, at the same time of year, for the Turks in Dingxiang City in the North, it seemed that they had nothing to do with them.
Because at this time, the wind outside Dingxiang City was still biting and the ice and snow on the grassland had not melted at all, they still had a lot of time to spend their time enjoying themselves.
In the early morning of this day, when the first ray of sunlight shone on the city lord's mansion, Xiao Han changed his usual laziness, put on an apron early, and appeared in the kitchen of the mansion.
The cook was dismissed, leaving only Xiaodong as a helper.
Xiao Han skillfully kneaded a large piece of dough with eggs, oil, and sugar in a white porcelain basin, then rolled it into a cake shape with a rolling pin, and finally used a knife to cut it into one centimeter square prisms.
Just pour these small noodle pieces into the pan and fry them twice, and you will get a small noodle called "chess piece".
According to the old people in the past, if you eat chess pieces and beans on February 2, you can bless your family with a good harvest, no disease, no disaster, and good health!
However, Xiao Han has always been skeptical about this statement, always thinking that it is just the wishful thinking of the ancestors.
And he deliberately got up early today and made this chess piece just to commemorate the past, lest some things should be buried in his heart for too long and be accidentally forgotten in the depths of his memory.
The first pot of chess pieces was quickly fried. Xiao Han spread them on the board, picked up one of them, put it into his mouth, and tasted the sweet aroma.
I remember that in his previous life, when he was still young, he especially liked to eat the chess pieces that were fried for the first time.
Because the chess pieces were not completely fried at this time, they tasted soft and sweet, just like the kind of gummies described by others, even though he didn't know what gummies tasted like at that time.
At that time, when February 2nd came, the old dean would always get up early to fry chess pieces for them.
After the chess pieces were fried for the first time, he would always take them outside to dry, but when he took them back again, there would always be a lot of missing chess pieces inexplicably.
Xiao Han still remembers it clearly. Whenever this happened, the old man would always frown, then run outside to look at the sky, and muttered: "Hey? Why is it missing? Could it be eaten by a bird?"
When he was a child, he would cover his bulging cheeks and hide behind the door laughing so happily that he was completely unaware of the smile on the corner of the old man's mouth.
"Bata..."
Thinking of all the past events, unknowingly, a drop of crystal clear tears slipped from Xiao Han's face and fell on the chopping board with a slight sound.
"ah?"
Hearing the strange noise, Xiaodong, who was reaching out to eat next to him, was startled. He quickly raised his head and looked at Xiao Han.
"Master Hou? What are you doing..."
"Um?"
Xiao Han had also woken up from his memories at this time. When he saw Xiaodong's surprised gaze, he quickly pretended to be blinded by the wind, lowered his head, and wiped his red eyes with his sleeves.
"It's okay, there's sand in my eyes!"
It seemed that he hadn't thought of the old man for a long time.
This is not that he is ungrateful, but Xiao Han feels that everything he has done now has deviated from the old man's original expectations for him, and he has no face to think of this kind old man again.
What a kind person the old man was?
For a group of children, he spent his whole life in that orphanage! Even to the moment of his death, the people in the orphanage were still in his mind!
"Xiao Han, the old man doesn't ask you to be successful, I just hope you can be a good person and have a safe and smooth life!"
Thinking of the old man lying on the hospital bed and mumbling to himself, Xiao Han felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if he had been pierced by a sharp knife.
It is precisely because of being an old man that Xiao Han has great respect for the old people he meets in this world! So much so that most of the people around him are elderly people, and there are not many people of the same age.
"Old man, there is no way I can be a good person in this life! In the next life, you will teach me to be a good person again in the next life!"
The more he thought about it, the more painful it felt in his heart! Taking a look at the chess pieces in front of him, Xiao Han wiped away his tears and resolutely turned around and left.
He is afraid that he will be hurt by the situation and unable to control his emotions!
——————
"Where's Su Zhi!"
After walking quickly back to the study, Xiao Han sat behind the desk and casually flipped through a few secret letters sent by the messenger. Suddenly he frowned and asked to the side.
"I went out early in the morning."
Before he finished speaking, Ren Qing had already walked out of the corner of the study. He had been sleeping in the study these days. He already knew it as soon as Xiao Han entered the door.
"Going out? Is he alone?" Xiao Han asked angrily.
Ren Qing glanced at Xiao Han in surprise, then shook his head slightly: "No, he went out with all his men."
"oh……"
At this time, Xiao Han nodded slightly, said nothing more, and continued to lower his head and read the letter.
"Aren't you curious about what he went to do?"
Seeing this, Ren Qing frowned, and his tone suddenly became serious: "Did you know that yesterday, he had confiscated the last person who participated in the rebellion? This city is now at peace!"
For some reason, Ren Qing had a bad impression of this Xi man named Su Zhi. He always felt that there was something extremely uncomfortable about him!
But there was no way, Xiao Han wanted to use him to control the Turks in the city, so for the sake of the overall plan, Ren Qing had to endure it.
Originally, he thought that after Xiao Han was done with these people, he should kill them all immediately, but as of today, he didn't see any action from Xiao Han, which made Ren Qing somewhat dissatisfied.
Because he has always believed that people like himself and Xiao Han are all upright good men in this world! How could he use a group of men like wild dogs to tarnish his reputation for nothing!
"Don't worry, even if there is peace in the city, they will stay for the time being!"
Xiao Han seemed to have seen through Ren Qing's thoughts. He took a deep breath, sealed up the guilt he felt towards the old man in his heart, and then slowly said to him: "In a few days, we will leave here! By then,
, they are a nail in this city!
As long as we have this nail, it won't happen that as soon as we leave, those Turks will take over Dingxiang City! So we can't kill them yet."
