Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and Kyoto is becoming more and more prosperous year by year. It is just after noon, and the streets in the city have become overcrowded.
Li family.
Xiaohuan poked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Uncle, I want to eat sesame stuffing, and the second lady also wants to eat sesame stuffing."
The small kitchen space is not big to begin with. Li Yi is making Yuanxiao, Ruo Qing is helping on the side, Tsundere Loli is helping on the other side, and Yong Ning is running around inside. The place seems a bit crowded. Others just want to
If you want to help, you can't come in.
Li Yi waved his hand and said he understood.
Yongning approached Li Yi and said sweetly: "Brother, Xinyi wants to eat some candies."
Li Yi's hands were full of glutinous rice flour. He tapped it on the tip of her nose and said, "You can only eat two candies. If you get cavities, it will be very painful."
Yongning thought for a while, looked up at him, stretched out three fingers, and said, "Can three be okay?"
Seeing her pitiful look, Li Yi could only nod, "Just three, no more..."
"Yes!" Yong Ning nodded vigorously, worried that Li Yi would regret it, so he hurried to Shouning's side and stared with wide eyes.
Tsundere Loli was holding a small sieve and shaking it constantly. Inside the sieve were dumplings and glutinous rice flour. The dumplings that came out were round and round. She never tired of this task.
After shaking for a while, she slowly walked over, looked at Li Yi and said: "Sir, can you make some bean paste filling? I will bring it to my father when I return to the palace in the afternoon. My father likes to eat bean paste filling the most.
.”
Li Yi smiled at her and said, "Sister Xiaoqing is already preparing the stuffing. We will make it together later."
The tsundere loli suddenly became happy. Yongning walked to her side, looked at the small sieve in her hand, and whispered: "Sister Huang, can you let me play with this..."
…
The Lantern Festival is prepared for dinner in the evening. It is still early now. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in Kyoto is the most lively and prosperous day of the year. Yongning and Shouning spend most of their time in the palace. They have to go back in the evening, so naturally they cannot miss this
Chance.
After lunch, Li Yi took the two of them to the street.
Compared with the crowds at night, it is better during the day because the main events such as lantern festivals and fireworks do not start until night.
On the street, there were people selling various snacks, some performing street jugglers, and some displaying all kinds of clever gadgets... The two little girls were dazzled by what they saw.
Li Yi looked at the bustling crowds, row upon row of shops, and endless hawkers on the streets, and felt deeply how much Kyoto had changed in the past two years.
I bought Yongning and Shouning a candy man representing their zodiac sign, and casually asked the old man selling the candy man: "How is business today, sir?"
The old man grinned and said, "Business is good. It used to take a day to sell goods, but today they were sold out in half an hour!"
Li Yi looked at the candy figures in their hands and said with a smile: "My father-in-law's skills are good, and the candy figures are so lifelike. It's not surprising that the business is good. I think we should be living a good life at home, right?"
The old man shook his head and said: "The old man has been boasting about being a candy man all his life, and his life has only gotten better in the past two years. If His Majesty hadn't shown compassion for us people and cut taxes three times, the old man would have froze to death and starved to death at home the winter before last."
Already..."
The waiter at the tea stall nearby curled his lips and said: "Old man Zhang, you are still selling miserably here. You are a sugar man. This year, you have built new houses for your two sons and married new wives. Next year, your candy shop will
It’s about to open soon, what do you think you have to cry about?”
The old man frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "The reason why the old man is alive this year is because of His Majesty's benevolent policies. It's not that he has never had a hard life. It's because you, Wang Erlu, caught up with the good policies from the beginning..."
The tsundere loli finished eating the candy, licked her red mouth, shook Li Yi's arm, and said: "Sir, I want more..."
Li Yi looked at Yongning on the other side and found that she was also looking at him eagerly.
He nodded, looked at the old man selling candy, and said, "Old man, here are two more."
The old man took two more candy figures. When Li Yi paid, he waved his hand, looked at Yongning and Shouning, and said with a smile: "The little baby is so handsome. Today is a good day. The old man gave them these two candy figures."
…”
Li Yi handed the candy man to them and said, "Thank you soon, grandpa."
"Thank you, grandpa..."
"Thank you, grandpa..."
The two little girls said something obediently, and the wrinkles on the old man's face stretched out, like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Li Yi held the hands of two little girls and stood on the street. These shouts, cries, conversations, and quarrels reached his ears, and together with the pictures in his eyes, they woven together the prototype of a prosperous age.
It's a pity that the people who weaved it with their own hands could not see the birth of this prosperous age.
"It's a pity that His Majesty's body..."
"Alas, everyone is saying that Your Majesty is afraid..."
"Oh my god, why can't you open your eyes and take a look..."
The old man and the boy were still chatting. The tsundere loli bit the candy man in her mouth, lowered her head and whispered: "Sir, let's go home."
Li Yi nodded, held their hands, and walked in the direction they came from.
At the stall, after the old man finished chatting with the waiter next door, he casually glanced at the extra ingot of silver on the table with a stunned expression.
…
When they walked into the yard, the arrogant Loli suddenly looked up at him and said: "Sir, when I return to the palace later, you will give me a jar of good wine. Father said that your wine is the best...
"
"good."
Li Yi smiled and nodded, suddenly the tip of his nose felt cold.
He raised his head and looked at the sky, and Yongning's clear voice came to his ears, "Brother, it's snowing!"
Boom!
From a certain direction, a dull bell rang.
One sound, two sounds...
This sound came from the east, one after another, resounding throughout Kyoto.
Kyoto, somewhere in the doorway.
"Where is the bell ringing in broad daylight?" A big man murmured in confusion. Seeing the middle-aged man next to him suddenly stopped, turned around and walked outside, wondering: "Fifth Master, what's wrong? No.
Did you go to the theater?"
The middle-aged man shook his head and sighed: "I'm afraid I won't be able to watch the show today, so go back..."
The noisy long streets of Kyoto gradually become quieter as the bells ring.
Someone asked: "How many times did the bell ring?"
"Forty-five."
Forty-five, the number of ninety-five, the bell rings forty-five, the sound of great mourning.
One person faced the east and slowly knelt down.
Beside him, the second person faces east and follows, kneeling.
Three people, ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people, ten thousand people...
Officials and dignitaries from various government offices in Kyoto, regardless of rank or status, walked out of the duty room, walked into the courtyard, and knelt down facing the east.
At the palace gate, the guards guarding the city put down their weapons and slowly knelt down.
In the entire Kyoto, at this moment, there was only one echoing bell.
In the Li family, the palace guard who was kneeling on the ground stood up, walked to Shouning and Yongning, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Highness, it's time to return to the palace."
In the fifth year of Jinghe, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was the Lantern Festival.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Jinghe, when the first snowflake of this winter fell on the tip of Li Yi's nose, heavy snow fell in thirteen states of Jingguo.
In the fifth year of Jinghe, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor died.
