Chapter 304: Different Scenes in Different Places
On New Year's Eve, the city of Dunhuang was covered in snow, and the wilderness was covered in white. Looking at the desert in the west, the sweeping snow particles blurred the vision, and at the end of the field of vision, the muddy yellow sand was faintly visible.
In the cold wind, the white smoke from the kitchen filled the air with the aroma of meat, and the big black dog barked greedily. The old blind man sitting on the stage in the teahouse immediately changed his tune when he heard the sound. A series of vivid barking sounds rang out, first the barking of a young dog, which was begging for food, then the crisp whimpering, which was acting coquettishly, and finally the barking with full energy, which was demonstrating. The dog's barking became lower and lower, and its voice was mixed with the snoring of an old dog basking in the sun. When the last sound was about to die, the young puppy's barking sounded again, and a new life was born.
The merchant who had been laughing earlier stopped laughing. Everyone was silent for a moment, then raised their hands and applauded.
The cold northwest wind ran across the wilderness, accompanied by the rise and fall of applause. The grunting of pigs and the chewing of camels all followed the cold wind out of the city.
In the wilderness outside the city, the mounds of earth were weathering under the wind and snow, hares were vigilantly digging for grass roots, wolves were running and hunting in the wilderness, and in the slanted earth holes, wolf cubs were curled up together and sleeping soundly.
The biting cold wind swept away the sounds of all things, and wrapped in the cool air of snow and the fishy smell of soil, it rushed into the village where smoke was rising from cooking fires.
The unfastened wooden door was blown open by the wind with a loud bang. The old woman sitting in front of the stove warming herself by the fire was startled. She hurried out, muttering, "Could it be that the third brother and his family have come?"
Second Sister Zhao couldn't help but curl her lips. She pouted at First Sister Zhao and whispered, "What are you doing? If you wanted to come back, you should have come earlier. You really don't know what's going on. Third Brother's family doesn't live in the big house anymore, but comes back to squeeze into our small house?"
The next moment, Zhao's mother was heard cursing in the yard: "Who can't even fasten the door properly? You idiot, you only care about your head and not your butt. The door is clamped with your tail, run away quickly."
"Alright, alright, it's New Year's Day, save your energy, or you'll make a fool of yourself." Father Zhao shouted while sitting on the bed and stretching his neck.
Mother Zhao locked the door in the wind. After coming out for a while, the heat from her body dissipated and she shivered with cold.
"It's better to stay at the Third Brother's house. Their New Year's Eve dinner should be served by now." Mother Zhao sighed. Standing in the yard, she looked west and said, "Could it be that the Third Brother's wife didn't go to Chang'an this year? I should have known not to wait for her caravan. We're stuck waiting here, old couple, unable to leave."
"Mom, next year, after we finish our farm work, we'll send you and my dad to Dunhuang to visit our third brother," said Zhao Ersao. She poked her head out and said, "If we don't go, we, the brothers and sisters-in-law, will forget which way the third brother's door faces."
Mother Zhao didn't dare to respond, but the three brothers not seeing each other all the time wasn't a big deal. She went straight into the kitchen, occupied the fire and warmed herself by it. After smacking her lips for a long time, she said, "Wait until spring and have the eldest son go into the city to find a passing caravan and send a message to ask the third son what's going on. If the third son's wife is too busy to come home, we won't go over and cause trouble."
Mrs. Zhao Dasao and Mrs. Zhao Ersao both curled their lips. This old woman had never been so polite to them.
The stewed chicken in the pot was cooked. Mrs. Zhao wiped her hands and went into the house to call the men to get up and eat. It was freezing cold in the heavy snow. If you walked for a while, your toes would be frozen off. The best way to keep warm in winter was for the whole family to squeeze into one bed, eat two meals a day, and not get out of bed until you were hungry.
Father Zhao hunched his shoulders and opened the door to go out. As the door opened, the old wrinkles on his face trembled three times in the cold wind.
"What a strong wind! It's going to snow again." Erya looked up at the sky, but was immediately drawn in by the aroma from the pot. She strode in and said, "I'm going to eat more tonight. I won't get out of bed tomorrow morning."
"After dinner, build some snowmen in the yard. Every New Year, your uncle and aunt take the kids to build snowmen outside the gate. They start on New Year's Eve and stay there until the end of January." Father Zhao said, "You kids are strong and energetic, why don't you move around more? Why are you lying in bed all the time? Your hands and feet are so lazy."
No one paid any attention to him. A pot of chicken stewed with radish and half a pot of sauerkraut and pork soup were served on the table. Adults and children squatted on the spot and each picked up the dishes quickly with a pair of chopsticks.
After eating the meat and vegetables, his body warmed up. Old man Zhao took a sip of the wine and smacked it, feeling better.
"Come, come, come. Grandpa will give each of you ten copper coins as New Year's money." Old man Zhao took out a cloth bag from his pocket and gave each of his grandsons and granddaughters ten rusty copper coins. "Count them all. If you give me too much, you must return it to me."
There was a crisp laughter coming from the kitchen.
The wind in the yard died down, and the cold wind, carrying the aroma of meat and the sounds of laughter, crossed the city, carrying the heavy flavor of the New Year all the way eastward, wading through water and climbing over mountains.
On Hongchi Ridge, heavy snow obscured the sun, and the murky sky spread all the way to the southern slopes of the mountains. The dry, cold wind and snow subsided, and below, the gurgling water, carrying yellow and green fallen leaves, crashed against the sheepskin rafts tied to the shore. On the north bank of the river, the roofs were deserted. The former boatmen had retreated to the foot of the mountain five miles away. Inside the wooden huts, the boatmen warmed themselves by the fire, their faces grimacing.
"The wind's picking up, dark clouds from the mountains are blowing in. It's going to rain again in the next couple of days. My legs are aching like hell." The man, no more than forty, sat by the fire. Sparks flew onto his pants, peeking through the black fabric. Unextinguished, the sparks burned the catkins to a charred black. His pants were nearly a mesh, yet he couldn't bear to move away from the fire. If he could, he'd cut open his leg, shove a hot poker into the bones, and roast them, forcing out the tormenting moisture and cold trapped between them.
"I heard a while ago that Lao Shuan got two jars of tiger bone wine. Is it effective? Are the bones in the wine tiger or pig? I heard that he got the two jars of wine and asked someone to transport the caravan to the other side of the river overnight, confiscating all the shipping fare."
"It's useful." An old voice sounded outside the door, and then Lao Shuan pushed the door open and walked in without asking for help.
Lao Shuan walked around the fire and said with a smile, "The tiger bone wine that boy gave me was real. It was very strong. I took a sip and my stomach felt like it was on fire. The water I boiled wasn't even hot yet, but my whole body was already warming up."
"Old man, you don't have the final say. Bring us something and let us have a taste."
"I won't taste it for nothing. Your grandson is coveting my grandson's slingshot. Tomorrow morning I will send the slingshot to your house."
"I'll give you a piece of sheep tendon..."
Lao Shuan smiled and took out a sheepskin water bag the size of a palm from his arms. The bag was less than half full of wine. He asked the younger man sitting by the door to go out and get a wooden spoon so that the old fellows in the room could each take a sip.
"I heard from that kid that this tiger bone wine was exchanged by the caravan with the Hu merchants outside the pass. The quantity is small and the price is expensive. I was thinking that if there are Hu merchants crossing the river in the future, we can ask them to help us find tiger bone wine. What do you think?" Lao Shuan asked, holding the empty water bag.
No one said anything, everyone was waiting for the alcohol to take effect.
With the fire burning, it only took half a cup of tea before I felt the heat in my stomach and a surge of hot steam came up. People who couldn't drink much would face it as red as if it was boiled in water.
"If the Hu merchants can find tiger bone wine, I won't do anything bad in secret if they cross the river," said the man in his early forties.
"Lao Shuan, does the caravan that gave you the tiger bone wine still have any tiger bone wine?" someone else asked.
Lao Shuan shook his head. This was his lifeblood, and he couldn't let anyone else take it.
"No, that guy told me that if the tiger bone wine is effective, he will come back to find it for me next year when his caravan leaves the border," he said.
"Whose sheepskin raft was blown away by the wind?" Someone outside the door shouted.
Everyone in the house went out and saw an unfinished sheepskin raft flying in the sky. Three half-grown boys were chasing it, picking up the sheepskins that fell to the ground.
A strong wind swept across the water, and a sheepskin hit the water with a "snap". Without anyone chasing it, the sheepskin floated on the water and ran away quickly with the current.
The river flows through the mountains. Deep in the forests, the trees are still green, the grass is still green, and the wind is warm.
After crossing the mountain, the wind became much weaker. Although there was snow on the ground, the wheat in the fields beside the road was growing green.
"It turns out you can grow wheat in the winter inside the Great Wall. It doesn't freeze to death." Sui Liang muttered, "It's snowing, so why can't we grow crops in Dunhuang in the winter?"
"Judging from your appearance, you should be from the south, right? Don't you know that winter wheat can be grown inside the Great Wall?" Hua Maoqing asked.
Hua Maoqing is the son of the head of the Hua family. He followed his father's instructions and was responsible for taking care of Sui Liang and his group.
Sui Liang shook his head and said, "I was still very young when I went to Dunhuang, and I have long forgotten the people and things inside the pass."
"That's a pity. I heard from my father that your sister is a very learned person. She knows about the desert outside the Great Wall and the sea in the east. I heard that from your father. It's a pity that you were too young to inherit the family knowledge."
Sui Liang laughed out loud and said, "It's not a pity. My sister is a person with great ambitions, but I am not. Even if I inherit the family tradition, it will be useless."
Hua Maoqing choked. How could he respond?
"It's time for Mr. Hua to come back. Let's go back too." Sui Liang left the field. He stomped off the mud on his feet and said, "Brother Lao, tell Uncle Hua to come and see me someday when he can spare some time."
"What's the matter?"
"Let's do a deal. When the Hua family caravan brings seafood back to Chang'an, they'll give 10% to my family's caravan. We'll take it to Dunhuang and sell it. We have people with goiter in the four counties of Hexi as well." Sui Liang said, "My sister and Uncle Hua agreed that if this deal goes through, the Hua family will give us 10% of the profits, which we can offset with dried kelp."
"Can you make the decision?" Hua Maoqing asked.
Sui Liang nodded confidently. He was in charge of the guesthouse's account books. After coming to Chang'an, he knew the caravan's ability to make money. He was sure that his family would not lack the 10% share of the Hua family caravan's profits. Compared with money, seafood was more valuable.
"I'll go back and tell my dad." Hua Maoqing took on the job.
The cold wind swept through Chang'an City, carrying the sound of footsteps and sporadic words. As it went east, the cold wind gradually lost its strength.
When spring disperses the clouds in the sky, spring returns to the earth, and green extends all the way westward, across the mountains, rivers and glaciers. When the snow melts and the riverbed is flooded, farmers begin to dig the fields.
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