In June of the eleventh year of Tianbao, in the Yellow River section of Guozhou, the tomb of Nuwa was lost due to heavy rain.
In the great summer of the following year, people along the river downstream heard the sound of wind and thunder. At dawn, they saw his tomb emerging. There was a huge stone below and two willows above, each more than ten feet long. A Taoist priest said: "The tomb has moved by itself, and the world has been destroyed."
In the twelfth year of Tianbao, at the beginning of November, Bachuan Market.
In the South Street wine shop, Du Fu raised his wine glass and said to his colleagues and friends who came to see him off: "I'm going to Fangzhou now. I'm afraid I won't be able to return to Chang'an until Yuan Zheng. When I meet you again, it will be Tianbao Ten
Three years."
Everyone sent congratulatory messages, most of which said they had a safe trip.
After finishing the wine, Du Fu packed his bags and planned to go to Shuilu Xing to rent a carriage.
A friend asked: "This place is not far from Bachuan Villa. Would you like Du Shaoling to bring a copy of the post and visit before bidding farewell?"
Du Fu smiled helplessly, thinking a lot in his heart.
At first, I was in Jixianyuan, but I didn't get an official position for a long time. Later, I was appreciated by Zhou's prince-in-law, and I got the position of Secretary Secretary in the Secretariat Province.
After receiving the news of becoming an official, he was overjoyed and wanted to thank Zhou Jun in person. After spending all his money to prepare gifts, he learned that Zhou Jun had accepted the imperial edict and went to Shazhou to quell the rebellion.
After Zhou Erlang became the prince-in-law, he not only won the favor of the Holy One, but also received the titles of Jiedu Envoy of Anxi and Deposed Envoy of Longyou. Whether he can remember that he helped him in the first place is still a matter of debate. Now I hear others mention the word "visit".
, I just feel ashamed of myself.
Looking for an excuse to evade, Du Fu walked out of the wine shop and looked back at his friends who had said goodbye. He couldn't help but think of his situation as a school clerk in the past few years.
Although the Secretary and Provincial Secretary are only minor officials under the ninth rank, they must be knowledgeable and memorized, and must collect books from all over the world. This is an important position that is highly respected by others in the literary world.
On weekdays, most of the gatherings of literati, scholars, students, etc. would send invitations, and Du Fu was quite contented.
This time, the secretary-general revised the map of the Tang Dynasty and needed to go to various places to collect information. Therefore, Du Fu had the opportunity to leave Chang'an and go on business in other places.
As he walked north along the long street, Du Fu saw that both sides of the street were being repainted, and there were servants walking back and forth, carrying objects, and he was puzzled.
Looking for a person who looked like a steward, Du Fu asked: "This used to be a cloth art workshop under the name of the Princess Mansion. Why did it change its name?"
The steward was sharp-eyed, and seeing that Du Fu was an official, he handed over his hands and replied: "Most of the shops here have been sold, and now they will be turned into theaters."
Du Fu was stunned for a moment, then asked: "Originally, there were many skilled weavers in the cloth shop. Now that the shop has changed hands, what should they do?"
Steward: "Those weaver girls are old and shabby, and they won't like it when customers come in. How can they be the face of the shop? Besides, they are all lowly households. They should be with the master's family. Now they have no livelihood.
I heard that he was relocated to another place?"
After hearing this, Du Fu sighed, stopped asking, and left.
After walking the entire Bachuan market, Du Fu looked back and took another look.
The street market is bustling with people and extremely prosperous.
But he always felt that compared with the old Bachuan, there was something different. If he were asked to elaborate, he couldn't explain why.
Shaking his head, Du Fu got on the land and water carriage and began his journey north.
The first stop on the journey was Fengxian (now Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province).
Fengxian is Du Fu's clan and the residence where his family lives.
Taking advantage of his secretary's official business trip, Du Fu returned to his hometown and first planned to spend time with his family.
As soon as he entered Fengxian, Du Fu looked into the city and felt something was wrong.
Pedestrians walking on the streets mostly had food to eat, the shops and restaurants were also in a depressed state, and not much hawking could be heard.
Full of doubts, Du Fu returned to his house and met with his wife and parents.
Seeing that it was getting late, the family was happy, and Du Fu's wife prepared a meal for Du Fu alone.
Du Fu's youngest son, smelling the aroma of Hu cakes and millet porridge, sneaked to the table and wanted to reach out to pick up some cake scraps to eat. When his mother saw him, he grabbed his ears and scolded him.
Hearing the cry of his youngest son, Du Fu was washing his face in the house. He ran out and saw that he was the only one with food and food. He asked his old wife, "What's going on? Don't you have dinner?"
The wife replied hesitantly: "We have all eaten some..."
Seeing his youngest son crying and staring at the cakes, Du Fu knew that this was an excuse, so he ran to the kitchen to take a look.
There is not much food stored in the rice jar, and there are even less vegetables and non-staple food.
Du Fu looked at his wife in surprise and asked, "Don't you send your salary home all the time? Why do you only have so much food left at home?"
Seeing that she could no longer hide it, the wife had to say: "The price of rice and noodles in the county is getting higher and higher day by day. The food that used to last for ten days can now only be bought for three days. Although Alang sent back his salary, there are so many people in the family.
There are so many people, and relatives come over to borrow food from time to time, so we have to do this..."
Du Fu was surprised and asked: "Is the price of grain in Fengxian so expensive?"
Wife: "Alang is in Chang'an, hasn't he noticed that food prices are rising?"
Du Fu had a lot of social activities on weekdays and often went to dinner parties. He also had a secretarial department and a dining room in Hongwen Pavilion. In addition, he was not sensitive to food such as tea, rice, oil, and salt, so he did not pay attention to food prices.
Returning to the living room, Du Fu saw that his family members were all looking at the food on the table. He sighed slightly and said, "I ate a lot of dry food on the way. You should eat all of this."
With the approval, the food on the counter was divided up in the blink of an eye.
Du Fu sat on a folding chair and asked his wife: "Now is the time when autumn grain is on the market, and the price of grain is very low. How can it be like this?"
The wife said: "Guanzhong suffered a disaster. I heard that tens of thousands of acres of fertile land were first affected by drought and then floods, and all the grain rotted in the soil."
Du Fu: "During this natural disaster, the government should find ways to suppress food prices."
Wife: "How can the government have the time to take care of this? I heard that in Chang'an, the government requisitions land, builds houses, and finally sells them. Is this true?"
Du Fu: "It is true, but what does this have to do with food prices?"
Wife: "I heard that I made a lot of money by selling houses in Chang'an. Governments in other places have seen the success and have been busy requisitioning land and building houses in recent years... I don't know about other places, but just for Fengxian, there are Vast tracts of good farmland were expropriated and designated as residential land. Alang thought, even the fields for growing crops were gone, and it coincided with a natural disaster, how could the price of food not be so expensive?"
When Du Fu heard this, he froze on the spot.
Seeing Du Fu's ugly face, his wife couldn't help but persuade him: "Alang, don't worry too much. In the past, the weather was not always smooth every year. Natural disasters come when they come. You can just survive this period. Besides, the great disaster in Guanzhong, The state capital will definitely report it to the imperial court. With the imperial court making the decision, there will always be ways to provide disaster relief, so Alang is relieved."
After hearing this, Du Fu felt it made sense, shook his head and stopped thinking about it, and then talked to his wife about his youngest son's schoolwork.