In the sixth year of Tianbao, November 29th is the winter solstice.
Bachuan Market.
Early in the morning, the laborers on Jiazhou Middle Street walked along the lakeside, using windshields and claws to extinguish the night lights, and then beat the morning drums.
In the small building where the palace residents lived, the governor in charge entered each wing and loudly urged the palace residents to get up.
The kitchen maid Hu Wu Niang was fat and wide. She opened her eyes and struggled to get up. After several attempts to no avail, she had to grab the edge of the bed and sit up sideways. She quickly finished washing herself and hurried downstairs to get her body badge.
With her body tag tied around her waist, Hu Wuniang walked along the long street in the back alley, first went to the kitchen of Zhongjie Restaurant, and began to prepare breakfast for the palace guests.
Today is the winter solstice, so Hu Wuniang made steamed cakes, red bean porridge, flat pork, winter stuffed glutinous rice paste, baked egg croquettes, etc. according to the recipes prepared in advance.
When the morning gong rang, a large number of palace ladies poured into the restaurants in the back alleys of the middle streets.
Before the palace residents in Bachuan Market were dismissed, they were very particular about eating, working and resting in the palace, and they were very hierarchical.
Now that I have come to Bachuan, although there are fewer rules than in the palace, there are still many hidden rules.
Shang Gong, the palace servants of Shang Yi, they are responsible for the hospitality and shop management in the market. They have the highest status, so the location and food for eating are also the best.
Shangfu and Shanggong are responsible for the weaving, dyeing, bleaching, spinning and construction of labor in the market, and their status is second.
The palace servants who are still in charge of food and sleep are responsible for taking care of the food, wine, food, clothing, and sweeping, so their status is also the lowest...
In addition, the treatment of palace servants of the same minister also differs based on their positions and years of service before dismissal.
These rules, whether explicit or implicit, have nothing to do with the management of Bachuan Villa, but they are followed by the palace people voluntarily. In the final analysis, perhaps it is also the long-term palace life that has given them a stereotyped thinking, which is difficult to change in the short term.
.
When thousands of palace people were seated, Hu Wuniang did not rush to start serving meals. Instead, she dropped what she was doing and followed her companions in the kitchen to the dining room hall, where she lowered her head and waited.
Every once in a while, as usual, before breakfast, the owner of Bachuan Villa will send someone to "train" you.
The content of the training mainly consists of three parts.
The first is to clarify the performance of the palace people in the market some time ago, and those who perform well are rewarded, and those who make mistakes are punished; the second is to arrange the recent work, and if there are important matters, they will be explained to the specific personnel in detail; the third is to teach the palace people to be grateful and not to
Be lazy.
Hu Wuniang secretly raised her eyes to look at the restaurant hall, and was surprised to find that today was different from usual. The two top stewards in charge of the Bachuan market, Lady Huayue and Lady Qingchan, were actually present together.
Huayue took the Kan book from the maid's hand, and while reading it, she talked with the palace officials.
After a while, Hua Yue handed the Kan book to the maid, and said loudly: "Today is the winter solstice, and it is also a Yang birth year. You will be in your prime at one year old. Follow the instructions and don't make mistakes."
Everyone in the palace took the lead: "Here."
Hua Yue added: "In a few days, distinguished guests will arrive in the shop. Everyone must be careful in their words and deeds to avoid making any mistakes."
Everyone in the palace took the lead: "Here."
Huayue nodded towards Xiao Qingchan and left the dining room first.
Xiao Qingchan was dressed in a green jacket and said to the palace people: "Congratulations on the winter solstice, my master is kind and has prepared rewards for everyone. Come and receive them one after another after breakfast."
When the palace people heard this, they looked happy.
Xiao Qingchan: "We have drafted a charter for the past few days, and we are working hard."
When Xiao Qingchan led a group of maids out of the dining room, Hu Wuniang breathed a sigh of relief.
After looking up, Hu Wuniang accidentally saw Dong Yanniang not far away, smiled and waved her hand.
When distributing breakfast, Hu Wuniang secretly gave Dong Yanniang some more flat meat and an extra spoonful of winter glutinous rice paste.
Dong Yanniang said with a smile: "Don't add more, I can't eat so much."
After sharing the food, Hu Wuniang came to Dong Yanniang's side. While eating her breakfast, she whispered: "This flat meat is made from roasted lamb, and the winter wine glutinous rice is added with flower koji grains. Not to mention ordinary people, it was in the palace back then."
It's rare to see them here.
Dong Yanniang nodded, raised her arm with difficulty, and took a sip of the soup.
Seeing this, Hu Wuniang asked: "How is the wound?" Dong Yanniang said: "When I was burning porcelain embryos in the palace, my whole arm was burned. I thought I would be a useless person in this life. I didn't expect to get the moon painting that day.
Thanks to the lady’s elixir, things are slowly getting better now.”
Hu Wuniang: "You are also lucky. Lady Hua Yue has a distinguished status. No matter who she is, she doesn't even say a word to anyone. She only treats you with special eyes... She is in a hurry now. I don't know where she went?"
Dong Yanniang: "There are two palace residences in Bachuan Jiazhou, and there are also two in the newly built Xizhou. Each place has a thousand palace residents, which adds up to more than 4,000 people. I am afraid that the Lady Painting the Moon will have to live there."
Have a run."
Hu Wuniang recited the Buddha's name, and then said: "I heard that most of the dismissed palace servants from Chang'an have been resettled. The palace servants from Luoyang, Shu County and Taiyuan will also move to Bachuan one after another."
Dong Yanniang frowned and said: "The current population of Bachuan has exceeded 20,000. If this continues, next year it may exceed 40,000. After that... even if the last pavilion is built, I'm afraid it won't be able to accommodate so many people.
"
Hu Wuniang was about to speak when she accidentally caught a glimpse of the palace servants nearby looking at her coldly.
Shrinking her neck, Hu Wuniang said to Dong Yanniang: "I still won't eat here."
Dong Yanniang held down Hu Wuniang who was about to get up, and said coldly to the people around her: "We are all doing our best for the master's family, so why do we need to separate ourselves?"
When the palace servants around him heard this, they talked in a low voice and stopped looking over.
After finishing breakfast, Hu Wuniang bid farewell to Dong Yanniang, first packed up the dining room, and then carried the old food and kitchen leftovers into the cart according to today's itinerary, and followed the convoy to the customs house at the entrance of Bachuan.
The convoy arrived at the fork of the official road.
I saw a sea of people at the pass at the entrance to Bachuan.
The troops and guards responsible for entering Bachuan were maintaining order while reviewing the merchants coming and going.
Seeing the convoy coming from Bachuan Market, the leader of the guard team waved and led a group of people to escort them forward.
The convoy left the customs and continued forward, arriving at an open space next to the official road.
The huge open space was filled with temporary wooden sheds and thatched huts.
It's freezing cold, and the dripping water turns into ice.
Countless refugees huddled in shacks. When they heard the movement of the motorcade, they swarmed out and crowded towards the motorcade.
The guards at the gate picked up water and fire sticks and set up a human wall while shouting loudly.
Among the refugees, some were crawling on the ground trying to steal food, some were crying hoarsely about hunger, and some were raising their young children above their heads, begging to be taken in.
After the refugees calmed down a little, Hu Wuniang and the other chefs dared to get off the carriage.
When carrying out the old food and kitchen scraps, Hu Wuniang saw that the refugees looked like hungry ghosts, walking unsteadily, and there were many young children among them, and she suddenly felt sad in her heart.
If I had not entered Bachuan, I would have been the same as them...
With this thought in mind, Hu Wuniang sighed and began to distribute the food.
After a while, the food distribution was completed.
The guards entered the shack again and carried the refugees who had died of freezing and illness into the cart behind them.
Hu Wuniang saw among the corpses a woman who had untied her undergarment and was breastfeeding. In her arms, the frozen baby was still holding the mother and never let go. Her body was trembling. She could no longer bear the tightness in her chest and squatted down.
I kept retching on the roadside.
The guards carrying the corpse also showed unbearable expressions.
Someone whispered: "There are many more refugees in Chang'an City this year than in previous years."
Before he finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves came from the distance on the official road.
The sound of horse hooves sounded uniformly from far to near, like a military formation, which made people feel frightened.
The leader of the guard stood on the high mound, glanced into the distance, and his eyes widened in shock.
He shouted to everyone: "Put down what you are doing! Come over here, come over here!"
Some people were confused and asked.
The leader of the team pointed to the cavalry in the distance and shouted happily: "Zhou Lang is back!"