Chapter 1: The Prosperous Age (3) When the sun came out the next day, Li Mao got up, packed his things and went to the city. Before leaving, he picked out four pieces of raw cowhide, two baskets of dried mushrooms, and a bundle of beef jerky from the goods brought back from outside the Great Wall.
He handed it to his son and ordered: "Send it to your uncle. Don't go to school these days. You have something to do at home!"
"If you skip class casually, Master Yang will be angry!" Li Xu protested loudly. Seeing that his father ignored him, he mumbled and added, "These two days are about strategy. During the exam..."
"Go if I tell you to, what nonsense!" Li Mao was obviously not in a good mood, he raised his eyes and scolded
Li Xu didn't know why his always amiable father got angry. He didn't dare to contradict and hung a load of groceries on the back of the mule. He followed his father out of the house in panic. It was still early, the official road was very deserted, and the autumn wind blew the early yellow leaves.
Fallen leaves are flying in mid-air, and colorful butterflies are reflected under the light blue distant mountains. The splendor is a bit desolate.
"The Emperor may be going to war again. Our Shanggu soldiers have always been famous?" At the fork in the road, Lao Li Mao looked at his aggrieved son and sighed. Thinking about it, these words are far beyond the understanding of a fourteen-year-old child.
, smiled bitterly, and walked away.
"Wanting a war? Is it a good thing? I just joined the army to make a name for myself." Li Xu looked at his father's increasingly older figure and thought in confusion that Old Master Yang, who had been studying in the county and followed Yue Gong Yang Su to conquer the south of the Yangtze River, always mentioned his own past.
Whenever he talks about the heroic story of the army crossing the river with overwhelming force and the heroic feat of pulling Empress Chen out of the well, he slaps the case with his hands and seems to be more than ten years younger.
"When a real man is alive, he should establish a reputation that will last forever. He will serve the king at the top and protect the people at the bottom. If it is beneficial to the country, he will die a hundred times but not come back..." Old Master Yang showed off his frivolity in front of the young people at this time.
, Li Xu and others were also fascinated, as if they themselves had become Han Qinhu, He Ruobi, following the young King Jin to guide the country. They never thought that with their own identity and family background, they would only be able to join the army.
As a pawn, you have the chance to survive a hundred times without losing any chance. The chance of achieving unparalleled fame is not much greater than being struck by lightning.
After thinking about it, I came to the door of the "Youjian" inn. In recent years, the people have been in decline. Most people eat two meals a day. There is no business in the inn in the morning, and there is usually no fire. To Li Xu's expectation,
Uncle Zhang Baosheng didn't prepare any ingredients in the inn. The inn was so empty with not a single person in sight.
"I'm afraid I'm busy in the backyard!" Li Xu stood at the door and waited for a moment, then led his horse around to the back door inn. The backyard was his uncle's home. Two dilapidated earth walls separated an empty courtyard. Li Xu walked inward along the back door.
When I looked around, I happened to see the little concubine Zhang Liu who I was most afraid of seeing.
In this picture, Ms. Liu was a well-known shrewd woman. She stayed at home until she was nineteen years old, and no one in her neighborhood dared to ask her parents. So they accepted a betrothal gift of ten thousand yuan and gave her to Zhang Baosheng to fill a house.
At that time, Zhang Baosheng's business was booming, and he married a woman who was more than twenty years younger than himself. He was afraid of turning into a woman when she held it in the palm of his hand. Miss Liu's temper flared up after she came over, and her relatives, friends, and neighbors who came to Qiu Feng were soon frightened and did not dare to come to the house.
No, Zhang Baosheng's inn can't survive. The woman who is just such a good head of the family has never been able to continue the incense of the Zhang family. As a result, Zhang Baosheng always wants to have another concubine. Whenever he timidly puts forward this plan
, Zhang Liu was always pointed in the nose and scolded for going out for a long time, so she had to give up this unrealistic idea.
As a scholar, Li Xu would naturally not look down on Concubine. Mencius said: "There are three types of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is not having children." His uncle is not yet old, so he should marry a fertile woman to continue his family life. But as a junior, these public comments on him
I couldn't mention it in front of my uncle, so I had to try to minimize the chance of meeting the little concubine, in order to be magnanimous as a gentleman who "doesn't see or don't know, then he will always say something wrong"
He didn't want to see his concubine, but Mrs. Zhang and Liu seemed to be aware of the footsteps at the door of their house.
Feast, we can’t eat it and have to walk around!”
"Hey, - hey!" Li Xu shuddered, and then he realized that his little girl was holding a sharp knife in one hand, and was crouching to confront the big rooster at the base of the wall. The rooster obviously knew that a disaster was coming, and it raised its comb and stretched out
Neck, clucking, rushing left and right, trying to break through Zhang Liu's Five Fingers Mountain, but Zhang Liu was not a master willing to give up. He stretched his waist and raised his plump buttocks, and let the arms under his sleeves be rolled up to be pecked by the rooster.
Even though it is covered with bloodstains, it will not retreat even if it is fought to the death.
Seeing this, Li Xu pushed open the courtyard door, rolled up the hem of his gown, and tucked it into his arms. He rushed forward and pushed the rooster to the ground. Zhang Liu moved swiftly when he saw the person coming, unlike the old Immortals in his own family.
He was stunned for a moment and exclaimed: "Xuguan, I thought it was your uncle who came back. Put it down quickly. Put it down quickly. This is a rough job for scholars. God will punish you..."
With that said, he snatched the "captive" from Li Xu's hand, moved lightly with lotus steps, and rushed to the edge of the pit dug in advance in the yard. He slowly closed his orchid fingers and hooked the rooster's neck under the wings.
Hold the chicken wings and neck in one place, use your other delicate hand to wipe the rooster neatly
The blood spurted out with a "pop" sound and just fell into a pottery basin in front of Mrs. Zhang Liu. After a moment, the chicken's blood was exhausted. Mrs. Zhang Liu threw the rooster into the pit and reached out to another pot next to her that contained chickens.
The poor big rooster in the bamboo cage didn't know that his life span was over, and he was struggling in the pit.
"Xuguan, you can find water by yourself. You're welcome. Yang Daguan's family is hosting a birthday banquet at Shibali Store. Your uncle is arranging the food and drinks. He went out early in the morning to collect fresh food, and he will probably be back soon. There are no classes in the school today, or are you?
Old Master Yang went out drinking and went crazy again, leaving you alone...?"
Mrs. Zhang Liu was killing the chicken with very neat hands and feet. In an instant, four corpses were placed in the pit.
"My father is back and asked me to bring some mushrooms and dried beef!" Li Xu couldn't bear to hear Jin Jin continue to ruin Old Master Yang's reputation, so he interjected in a low voice.
"It's a good relationship, but I'm worried about not having enough food. It's already autumn, where can I find so much fresh food?" Hearing this, Ms. Zhang Liu thrust her sharp knife into the dirt beside her, jumped up, and ran quickly towards Li Xushuan.
Horse outside the door
"There are also four pieces of raw cowhide, which have not been tanned. My father asked me to bring them to my uncle..." Li Xu said while unloading the gifts from the back of the mount. The big blue and white mule was frightened by the bloody smell on Zhang Liu's hands.
, snoring and shrinking back as hard as possible
"It's not two, why is it four?" Mrs. Zhang Liu asked in surprise. Without waiting for Li Xu's explanation, she clapped her hands and said, "Ha, this is just in time. Yesterday I went to visit the old Liu's house who sells herbal medicine. His house was in the process of opening up.
The government was worried about collecting rawhide, so I sent him some charcoal in the snow, and I just happened to kill him with a knife, avenging your uncle's request for medicine in the spring!"
After saying that, he wiped a few bloody hands on his black apron, picked up the two cowhide rolls, and flew away.
Li Xu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to stay and clean up the remaining mess for Jin Jin. Then he gathered up the chickens in the pit, picked up the pottery basin with chicken blood, and was about to put it into the kitchen when he heard a string of sharp laughter outside the door.
, Lord Jinjin has already finished her business and rushed back.
"What makes this happen? You are a scholar. You shouldn't do menial work if God knows about it. He will punish me. Put it down, put it down!" Mrs. Zhang Liu shouted, snatching the pottery basin with her hands, sitting on the bench with her legs crossed, and grabbing
He wiped his sweat from the corner of his clothes and panted: "That damn old lady Liu, I sent her leather goods to her door to save her family's lives, but she had the nerve to bargain with me and made me angry, so she ran away.
Didn’t she chase her out with a cry? Haha, one hundred and fifty pieces of meat are good, but we won’t take any of the free money (Note 1)!”
After saying that, he took off a brand new linen bag from his waist, weighed it in his hand, and made a clattering sound.
"How about one hundred and fifty pieces of meat? Why don't you pay for it for free?" Li Xu's eyes immediately grew bigger than eggs. His father was a merchant, and he often helped his father calculate the grocery accounts according to the market prices in the Sui Dynasty.
Three pennies can be exchanged for half a bushel (Note 2) of brown rice. Even if it is white money issued by the new emperor, a piece of rawhide cannot be sold for fifty cents. It is already typical to exchange two rawhides for one hundred and fifty cents of meat.
She was taking advantage of someone's situation by taking advantage of someone's misfortune, but it was thanks to Jin Jin that she had the nerve to say it out loud.
Seeing her nephew's expression changing rapidly, Mrs. Zhang Liu immediately "understood" the truth. She reluctantly opened her money bag and muttered in a voice like a gnat: "Your father traveled thousands of miles to sell goods outside the Great Wall. Logically, the capital should be recovered."
The skin outside the wall is cheap, and it’s not salted. It looks quite big, so I can’t help but give you twenty pieces of meat. I don’t know if it’s enough or not?”
Looking at Li Xu's angry face, Zhang Liu's tone gradually turned cold: "Otherwise, I'll increase it to thirty for you. No matter how expensive it is, we'll hurt the face of our relatives!"
"Twenty dollars will be left for you to make makeup, and the rest will be returned to Xu Guan!" A cold voice came from the door, startling both Zhang Liu and Li Xu.
The two of them looked up when they heard the sound, and saw Zhang Baosheng leaning against the doorway, panting, carrying a basket of watered vegetables and a basket of large tofu.
"No, uncle, you don't mean that. My father said this is for uncle, and these dried mushrooms and dried meat. He usually drinks the wine made by his uncle. If his uncle needs anything, of course he should try his best!" Li Xu hurriedly said
Walk over and take the burden from my uncle's shoulders
"I'm just saying, my brother-in-law is in big business, why does he care about these small sums! When did you come back, why didn't I hear anything?" Ms. Zhang Liu hid the money bag behind her back and beat her husband's back while doing so.
Said with a smile
"As soon as I arrived at the intersection, I saw you rushing out of Lao Liu's house like you were on fire. I called you several times, but you didn't hear me. I was wondering. When I came back, I found out that you were robbing someone else's house!" Zhang Baosheng kidnapped himself.
The mother-in-law took one look at her and scolded her angrily, "Old Liu's family can't even make a hundred cents a year by digging up medicinal materials and selling them. Now, I'll confiscate the whole house for you!"
"This is a fair trade. If I find someone else, he can't buy it at this price. Who doesn't know that in the past few days, the rawhide has been sold out in the market!" Ms. Zhang Liu heard her husband scolding her, and immediately increased the intensity of beating her, "Besides,
Last year when you were sick, his old Liu family's ginseng seeds were sold for a sky-high price. Why should I care about his family's hardships?"
"Easy, please be gentle!" Zhang Baosheng was so beaten that he grinned. Thinking about it, he couldn't argue with his mother-in-law no matter how hard he argued, so he had to give up the topic and looked at Li Xu who was carrying the vegetables into the kitchen. He discussed with his wife in a low voice: "Qianli
Yuan Yuan, my brother-in-law is not a dedicated businessman, don't be so greedy. We have already owed a big favor by accepting two rawhide, and if we swallow the capital of the other two rawhides, the God of Wealth will scold us for being heartless!"
"My lord, Mr. Zhao from the county town didn't sell that bow even after paying three slings of money for it. Why didn't you just give it to his relative without frowning? How could there be so much trouble!" Mrs. Zhang Liu showed her unwillingness to give up her life.
Looking like a rich man, he deliberately shouted loudly
"You bitch!" Zhang Bao was afraid that his nephew would overhear what he said, so he quickly pulled his wife to the corner of the courtyard and blocked the sunlight with his body. He cursed in a low voice: "How can you say that? After all these years, my brother-in-law has never been there.
He didn’t bring us anything useful from outside the Great Wall when he came back this time. He’s a kind and righteous family, and we always take advantage of him and don’t say hello. It’s really heartless, isn’t it? Besides, what month does this kid Xuguan not come to help? He’s like a close relative to us.
Just like my father and mother, there are many scholars among my relatives, who is so conscientious as him?!"
"I know you blame me for not giving you a son!" Mrs. Zhang Liu huddled in the corner and argued aggrievedly for a long time. In the end, she couldn't resist her husband. She reluctantly took off the money bag hidden on her back and looked into the bag.
He looked around, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and handed over the purse. While handing it over, he muttered in a tearful voice: "He said he didn't want it. It's not like you didn't hear. Besides, my brother-in-law couldn't sell it like this without me to negotiate the price."
Come with more money!"
As he said this, tears already fell from the corners of his eyes, "Here you go, give me back as much as you love and just pretend I didn't see it!"
"Oh, you bitch!" Zhang Baosheng scolded helplessly as he picked up his money bag and went to look for Li Xu, only to find that his nephew had left at some point, a few chickens that had been drained of blood, and two baskets of dried mushrooms.
A bundle of dried meat and two raw hides were stacked neatly under the window, being basked in the autumn sunshine and giving off a warm feeling.
Note 1: White money, not long after Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the treasury was empty due to large-scale construction projects. Then a large amount of tin, lead and other base metals were mixed into the newly minted copper coins, which caused the copper coins to turn white and depreciate significantly, so the people called it white money.
Qian, evil money, to distinguish it from the standard five baht coins minted by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty.
Note 2: Dou, here is Sui Dou, weighs the same as Tang Dou. In the Han Dynasty, one dou was about 4 Jin today, and half a dou was equivalent to 2 Jin. According to research, each dou of millet weighed 3.6 Jin, and each dou of wheat weighed 3.6 Jin.
4. Tang Dou was three times that of Han Dou, and each Dou was about 12 jins today.
Drunkard's Note: Three updates, we will be closed tomorrow and continue working hard on Monday. Please help us with the publicity and promotion work. Thank you.
