The sky was slightly bright and before the cockcrow, Chen Pingan had already gotten up. The thin bedding could not trap the heat. Moreover, when Chen Pingan was a porcelain apprentice, he also developed the habit of getting up early and going to bed late. Chen Pingan opened the door of the house.
When I came to the small yard with soft soil, I took a deep breath, stretched, and walked out of the yard. I turned around and saw a slender figure, bent over, holding a bucket of water in both hands, and using his shoulders to open the door of his yard.
, it is Song Jixin's maid, she must have just returned from fetching water from the iron lock well over there in Xinghua Lane.
Chen Ping'an withdrew his gaze, walked through the streets and alleys, and trotted all the way to the east of the town. Mud Bottle Alley is in the west of the town, the easternmost city gate. There is a person who is responsible for the entry and exit of business travelers in the town and night patrol. He also collects and transfers some on a regular basis.
The next thing Chen Pingan has to do is to deliver the letters home to the people in the small town. The reward is one copper coin per letter. This is the way to make money that he finally found. Chen Pingan has already
We made an appointment there to take over the business of this stall after the second dragon rises in February.
In Song Jixin's words, he was born poor. Even if he was lucky enough to enter the family, Chen Pingan would not be able to keep him. Song Jixin often said some obscure words, which were probably copied from books.
Chen Ping'an always didn't quite understand. For example, two days ago, Chen Ping'an was talking about something cold and cold in spring that kills young people. Chen Ping'an didn't understand it at all. As for the fact that after surviving the winter every year, it gets even colder for a period of time after spring. The boy knows it firsthand.
, Song Jixin said that it was called Chunhan, which was as powerful as a carbine on the battlefield, so many people would die when these hell gates were closed.
The town is not surrounded by a city wall. After all, there are very few thieves and bandits, let alone bandits. Therefore, it is a city gate in name, but in fact it is just a row of old and rickety fences. There is only a place for pedestrians and vehicles to pass. Even if it is
This town has lost face.
When Chen Ping'an was jogging past Xinghua Lane, he saw many women and children gathered near the iron lock well, and the water well's windlass kept squeaking.
After walking around another street, Chen Pingan heard a familiar sound of reading not far away. There was a rural school there, which was jointly opened by several wealthy families in the small town. The teacher was a foreigner, and Chen Pingan was a junior.
When he was a child, he often ran to hide outside the window, squatting secretly and pricking up his ears. Although the gentleman was extremely strict when teaching, he did not scold or stop children like Chen Pingan who "study and learn". Later, Chen Pingan
I went to work as an apprentice in a dragon kiln outside the town and never went to school again.
Going further, Chen Ping'an passed by a stone archway. Because the archway building has twelve stone pillars, the locals like to call it the Crab Archway. The real name of this archway is very different according to Song Jixin and Liu Yangxian.
, Song Jixin swore that in an old book called the local county annals, it was called the Great Scholar's Square, and it was the royal memorial arch given by the emperor, in order to commemorate the civil and military achievements of a high-ranking official in history. He was a country bumpkin like Chen Ping'an.
Liu Yangxian said that this is Crab Fang. We have been calling it Crab Fang for hundreds of years, so there is no reason to call it such nonsense as Grand Scholar Fang. Liu Yangxian also asked Song Jixin a question, "What does the official title of Grand Scholar mean?"
How big is it? Is it bigger than the mouth of the iron lock well?" Song Jixin's face turned red when asked.
At this time, Chen Ping'an ran around the twelve-legged archway. There were four big characters on each side. The fonts were weird and looked different. They were "do your duty", "hope to be natural", "don't ask outsiders" and
"An angry bullfight". I heard from Song Jixin that except for certain four characters, the other three stone carvings on the plaque had been daubed and tampered with. Chen Ping'an was ignorant of these and never thought about it deeply. Of course, even if the young man wanted to
Inquiring deeply was in vain. He didn't even know what the local county annals that Song Jixin often talked about were actually.
Not far after passing the archway, I soon saw an old locust tree with lush branches. Under the tree, there was a trunk that was moved here by someone unknown. After being chopped slightly, there were cushions under the head and tail.
Two bluestone slabs and this large tree are used as a simple bench. Every summer, people in the town like to enjoy the cool here. The elders of wealthy families will also fish out a basket of ice cream from the well.
After eating and drinking fruits, the children formed gangs and played in the shade of the trees.
Chen Ping'an was used to walking up mountains and rivers. He ran to the gate of the fence and stopped at the door of the lonely yellow mud house. His heart was not beating and he was out of breath.
There are not many outsiders in the town. Logically speaking, now that the money tree of official kiln firing has fallen, there will be no new faces. When old man Yao was alive, he once got drunk, just like Chen Ping'an and Liu Xianyang
These apprentices said that what we are doing is the only official kiln business in the world. It is royal porcelain for His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress. No matter how rich other people are, no matter how high their official positions are, if they dare to touch it, they will be punished.
He was going to be beheaded. That day, Old Man Yao had a very different spirit.
Today Chen Ping'an looked outside the fence and found many people waiting to open the city gate. There were no less than seven or eight people, including men, women, old and young.
And they are all strangers. When local people come in and out of the town, whether they are going to make porcelain or do farm work, they rarely go through the east gate. The reason is very simple. The road from the east gate of the town extends out, and there are no dragon kilns and fields.
land.
At this time, Chen Ping'an and the foreigners looked at each other across a wooden fence.
At that moment, the boy wearing self-made straw sandals was just a little envious of the thick clothes those people wore. They must be very warm and able to withstand the cold.
The people outside the door were obviously divided into several groups, not one group, but they all looked at the thin young man inside the door. Most of them had indifferent expressions. Occasionally, there were one or two people who had already looked beyond the young man's figure and looked further into the town.
.
Chen Ping'an was a little surprised. Did these people still not know that the imperial court had banned all dragon kilns? Or did they think they had an opportunity because they knew the truth?
There was a young man wearing a strange high crown, with a slender figure and a green jade pendant hanging around his waist. He seemed to be impatient with waiting. He walked out of the crowd alone and wanted to push open the unlocked gate.
When his fingers were about to touch the wooden door, he suddenly stopped suddenly, slowly retracted his hand, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the straw-shoe boy inside the door with a smile, without saying anything, just smiling.
From the corner of his eye, Chen Pingan accidentally noticed that among the people behind the young man, some seemed disappointed, some were playful, some were frowning, some were sarcastic, and their emotions were subtle and different.
At this moment, a middle-aged man with messy hair suddenly opened the door and cursed at Chen Ping'an: "Little bastard, have you fallen in love with money? I came here so early to wake you up, why don't you rush to reincarnate to see you?"
Damn parents?!"
Chen Ping'an rolled his eyes. The young man didn't take these harsh words seriously. Living in this rural place with few books in total, he would get annoyed if he was scolded a few times, so he would just find a well to jump into.
You can go down, it will save you trouble. Secondly, this middle-aged bachelor who is the gatekeeper is himself a frequent target of ridicule and teasing by the people in the town, especially those bold and aggressive women. Don't just scold him, but beat him.
There are quite a few of them. In addition, this man also likes to brag to children wearing crotchless pants. For example, I had a great fight at the gate of the city, beating five or six big men until their teeth were all over the ground, and the ground was covered with blood.
The entire two-foot-wide road in front of the city gate is almost like a muddy road on a rainy day!
He said angrily to Chen Ping'an: "We'll talk about your crap later."
No one in the town takes this guy seriously.
But whether outsiders can enter the town, men have the power of life and death.
As he walked towards the wooden gate, he reached out and took out his crotch.
This man, with his back to Chen Pingan, opened the door and from time to time collected a small embroidery bag from others, put it into his sleeve, and then released them one by one.
Chen Pingan gave up the road very early, and the eight people were roughly divided into five groups and walked toward the town. In addition to the young man wearing a high crown and a green robe hanging from his waist, he also passed by two seven or eight-year-old children. The boy wore a
Wearing a festive red robe, the girl looks as pink and tender as fine porcelain.
The boy was half a head shorter than Chen Pingan. When the boy passed by him, he opened his mouth. Although he made no sound, there was an obvious mouth shape. He should have said two words, full of provocation.
The middle-aged woman holding the boy coughed slightly, and the child calmed down a little.
The little girl behind the woman and the boy was led by a burly old man with a frosty head. She turned to Chen Pingan and said a lot of words, not forgetting to point at the boy in front of her of the same age.
Chen Ping'an couldn't understand what the girl was saying at all, but he guessed that she was complaining.
The burly old man glanced sideways at the straw-shoe boy.
Just being glanced at intentionally or unintentionally, Chen Pingan took a step back purely subconsciously.
Like a mouse seeing a cat.
After seeing this scene, the little girl who was chattering like a little oriole suddenly lost interest in fanning the flames. She turned her head and stopped looking at Chen Pingan, as if one more look would dirty her eyes.
It is true that young Chen Ping'an has never seen the world, but that doesn't mean he can't understand faces.
After the group of people had gone away, the man at the door smiled and asked, "Do you want to know what they said?"
Chen Pingan nodded and said, "I think so."
The middle-aged bachelor was delighted and said with a smile: "I complimented you on your good looks. They are all good words."
Chen Ping'an twitched his lips, thinking, do you think I'm stupid?
The man saw through the young man's thoughts and smiled even more happily, "If you weren't stupid, could I let you deliver the message?"
Chen Ping'an didn't dare to refute, for fear of offending this guy and the copper coins he was about to receive would fly away.
The man turned his head, looked at those people, stretched out his hand to rub Hu Li's bruised chin, and whispered: "That woman just now, her legs can pinch someone to death."
Chen Pingan hesitated for a moment and asked curiously: "That lady has practiced martial arts?"
The man was stunned, looked down at the young man, and said seriously: "You kid, you are really stupid."
The young man was confused.
He asked Chen Pingan to wait, and strode towards the house. When he came back, he had a pile of envelopes in his hand. They were not thick or thin, about ten copies. After handing them to Chen Pingan, the man asked: "Foolish people are blessed with stupid things.
Good people are rewarded. Do you believe it?"
Chen Ping'an held the letter in one hand and opened his palm with the other, blinking, "We agreed that a letter would cost one penny."
The man became so angry that he slapped the five copper coins he had prepared in advance on the young man's palm. He waved his hand and said boldly: "I owe you the remaining five cents first!"