Chapter 115 Chapter 115 Christmas Eve is full of stars...
The old man from the tofu shop went out to borrow some soy sauce from the store opposite, but he tripped over a hole in the ground and became so angry that he started talking nonsense.
The old man thought he would have to lie down all night in the cold night of New Year's Eve, and he never expected that someone would come out after curfew. He hurriedly bowed to Duan Zhiwei and the others to thank them, said some auspicious words, did not even ask for the soy sauce, and turned around and went back home.
Duan Zhiwei saw him enter the house with his own eyes, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He turned around and pulled Yuan Shenji home: "Let's go, let's go home."
But his face turned pale, and he must be thinking about the words "Chang'an is finished".
Duan Zhiwei could probably guess Yuan Shenji's wish. He was a military commander guarding the border, and his greatest wish was nothing more than a peaceful Chang'an with a peaceful sea and a feast on the river.
Although the old man said unintentionally, "Chang'an is about to be destroyed", it was like a thorn that pierced deeply into Yuan Shenji's heart.
The two returned home in silence. It was a custom to stay up all night on New Year's Eve, but the elderly people were unable to keep up the night, and with guests coming from outside, it was inconvenient to stay up all night. The two children even leaned against the fire and fell asleep.
Everyone said some auspicious words to each other and then returned to their rooms.
Yuan Shenji took a bath and sat down on the bed. The light from the candle on the table reflected on his worried brows.
He had been guarding the border for many years. Even after coming to Chang'an, he would still dream of the border from time to time. He dreamed of the sound of snow particles scraping against black armor, the howling of Turkic wolf riders hundreds of miles away, and the pain of bones and spears piercing his body.
He touched the scar on his chest and felt like he was back in the snow and wind outside Liangzhou City.
“Boom boom boom.”
There was a tapping sound on the window.
Yuan Shenji looked around in confusion, then opened the window.
A wisp of golden stamen blossomed before his eyes.
Duan Zhiwei stood outside the window holding two fireworks sticks:
"What are you standing there for? Come and play."
She waved towards Yuan Shenji, and waved the firework stick in her hand randomly, drawing a round circle of light in the air, and sparks fell down.
Those tiny golden rays danced slightly in her smiling eyes, as if the sky full of stars was contained in her eyes.
His Adam's apple moved slightly, and he felt that he was bewitched by these extremely beautiful eyes. He could only surrender. He walked out of the room without even putting on his cloak and approached her.
Duan Zhiwei picked up a firework stick and put it into his slightly cold hand, then held his wrist: "I will teach you how to draw stars."
"You know, I only learned from my eldest aunt during the Chinese New Year last year that a monster called Nian would come down to earth during the Chinese New Year and wreak havoc on the world."
The firework stick was waved in the air, and the sparks drew a five-pointed star.
"But people discovered that the Nian monster was afraid of red silk and the sound of firecrackers. It seems that if people find its weakness, the monster is not that scary."
"Chang'an is now thriving, which shows that the saint is kind and wise, and the long swords of the Jinwu Guards are sharp..."
"But if..."
"And you still have me now." She said seriously, "As long as we are all together, there is nothing to be afraid of."
The light from the firework sticks cast a warm orange hue on her pretty face.
Yuan Shenji looked at her in a daze and reached out to touch her face.
The firework stick burned to the end without any romance, and the endless night suddenly swallowed up the two of them.
Yuan Shenji carefully held her in his arms.
It doesn’t matter. Now his heart has returned from the dark and snowy border to the small backyard of this warm restaurant, and will never get lost again.
He carried Duan Zhiwei in as if she were a treasure, his movements were careful but also urgent. Duan Zhiwei hugged his neck and said, "Wait, my shoes."
Her shoes, which were originally casually worn, fell to the ground due to the hug. The man didn't care and just kicked his legs and locked the door.
Duan Zhiwei hugged the pillar by the door again: "Let's say goodbye today on New Year's Eve. Besides, I cooked the New Year's Eve dinner during the day and I'm so tired."
He gritted his teeth, made a loud "tsk" sound, and tried to pry her arms apart from the pillar. Then he just picked her up and said, "If you are tired, just lie down."
As the kisses fell intensively, Duan Zhiwei looked at his handsome eyebrows and eyes from a very close distance, and a pink blush flew up to her cheeks.
Then she suddenly realized why his eyebrows and eyes were so clear tonight. It was because the New Year's Eve candle was as thick as a child's arm, and the wick was also big, illuminating the room brightly.
She raised her hand to push his solid chest, and wanted to kick him, but was stopped by a pair of strong arms.
Duan Zhiwei couldn't speak clearly at this moment, and could only "wuwu" twice. When he finally let go of her soft lips and probed down, she hurriedly said, "Go, turn off the lights."
His broad back was covered with beads of sweat. This was a critical moment, so there was no way he could run to the table to turn off the light.
Soon a pair of big hands covered her eyes: "You can't see now."
Duan Zhiwei was too lazy to even move a finger, so he had to let him do whatever he wanted.
The temperature in the room was getting higher and higher, and both of them were sweating profusely, when outside a cold north wind suddenly blew up, and the wind became louder and louder, like a hearty symphony, with a gentle and lingering top note and the strings playing slowly and gently. As time goes by, the notes become higher and sharper, and with the climax approaching, all kinds of instruments surge up passionately, and finally stop abruptly, leaving a little vibrato of the strings.
At four o'clock in the morning, the north wind stopped blowing and there was no loud noise in the house. Duan Zhiwei took a breath and prepared to get up again.
Was immediately pressed back.
The young general had eaten and drunk enough tonight, and was in a good mood. His rough voice became a little gentler: "What are you going to do?"
"Drink some water." Duan Zhiwei's voice was a little hoarse, and he was too lazy to pay attention to him. He just replied with two words and then rolled his eyes openly.
The latter stood up good-temperedly and took the kettle, but hesitated.
There are no water glasses on the table.
"Jinhua broke several cups and didn't have time to replace them." She said, "Just give me the kettle. I'm so thirsty."
He checked the temperature of the kettle. It was boiling hot before he went to bed, but now it has become warm, just the right temperature.
Yuan Shenji came over, she took it and drank a large bottle of water, then returned the bottle to him, then lay down and fell asleep immediately.
Yuan Shenji put the kettle back in its place, lay down in the bed, hugged her and closed his eyes.
On the first day of the first lunar month, when the first ray of morning light shone across the sky, the sound of firecrackers could be heard outside.
Yuan Shenji was the first to be woken up. He looked down at Duan Zhiwei who was still sleeping soundly and said, "I wish you peace and health in the new year, my wife." He bent down and kissed her forehead.
Duan Zhiwei pretended for a while, but couldn't pretend anymore because she felt ticklish from the kiss. She laughed at the side of his neck: "You too."
The couple played around for a while, then got up and washed.
It was a rare Spring Festival, so Duan Zhiwei put on some makeup. She still didn't like the traditional style of makeup, so she just used honey paste as a base, then lightly brushed her eyebrows, and finally applied some rouge and lip balm to enhance her complexion.
Yuan Shenji liked it very much and came over to kiss her a few more times, his mouth full of honey.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated late this year, in late February. The weather is warm and the air is clear. The apricot blossoms in Xuanyangfang were tricked by the weather and bloomed for a few days a few days ago. I heard that the cherry blossoms in Qinglong Temple have also bloomed. Everyone at Duan's Restaurant is planning to go there to burn incense and enjoy the cherry blossoms.
Unexpectedly, the "cherry blossoms are in bloom" turned out to be a rumor. The cherry blossoms in Qinglong Temple are completely bare, with nothing growing on them. Many tourists were deceived by the rumor, and they all looked up at the tree trunks for a while, then simply burned some incense and left.
The Qinglong Temple is not big. After burning incense, the people in the restaurant walked around for a while and then left. There were many acrobats and vendors selling all kinds of food and toys in front of the Qinglong Temple, as well as large, lifelike kites for sale.
Duan Zhiwei bought one for the little wolf who was looking at the kite eagerly. He spoke more fluently now, but he didn't like to talk much. He just whispered, "Thank you, my lady."
He seemed to like the kite very much, and he ran away holding the kite's pole.
It happened that the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple also came to the Qinglong Temple with his family to burn incense, and ran into Yuan Shenji face to face. Both of them were officials in the court, so they greeted each other. Yuan Shenji wanted to leave, but was stopped by him.
The Junior Official of the Honglu Temple was named Lu. He had a square face but was a chatterbox. He pulled Yuan Shenji aside and started to complain:
"The Saint's birthday is approaching, and all nations will come to pay tribute. This is a long-standing tradition. Suddenly, a small nation called Yimin, which is said to be close to Suiye City, and I don't know where it came from, also wants to come to Chang'an to pay tribute. It has reported a list of 100 people, but the gift list only includes some ordinary animal furs. Isn't this just asking for money?"
Seeing that they still had some time to talk, Duan Zhiwei went with the others to watch the acrobatics.
Lu Shaoqing continued to complain: "Except for Yimin, the number of people from Daqin, Dongying, Silla, and Turks has increased, and my Honglu Temple is running out of translators."
Yuan Shenji's mind was moved: "Did the Turks also increase their numbers?"
Lu Shaoqing nodded: "They gave away a lot of worthless cattle and sheep, and then asked for another fifty people."
Mrs. Lu was getting impatient and stamped her feet twice, and Lu Shaoqing quickly ran away.
Yuan Shenji was still thinking, and Duan Zhiwei pushed him forward by the shoulder. She came close to him, and the sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance in her hair approached his nose: "Don't think about it, go home quickly, I'm hungry."
The shop is closed today and no one is too lazy to cook, so Duan Zhiwei plans to make some spring rolls to make do.
A large plate of mixed vegetables was made with some fried eggs, and finally some sauce was applied and onions were wrapped in dough to eat. People in Chang'an were not used to sweet noodle sauce, and there were no shallots for sale in the market, so Duan Zhiwei simply fried an egg with salty sauce, pinched the heads and tails of the juicy mung bean sprouts, mixed them with sesame oil, and put some shredded ham in the pancake.
A pack of spring pancakes is as solid as a bundle. You can't eat it politely. You can only bite it with big mouthfuls.
Therefore, when the shopkeeper of the restaurant next door came in reluctantly, everyone in the restaurant was eating happily, not caring about being polite anymore, and just grabbed the food and took big bites, eating to their heart's content.
It was okay among us, but it was still a bit embarrassing to be seen by outsiders, so everyone quickly let go.
The store owner was even more embarrassed than them.
The two families had been neighbors for more than a year but were still not very familiar with each other. In addition to the fact that Zhen Hui was once driven out by the shopkeeper, it was also because the shopkeeper was dull and didn't like to talk.
The shopkeeper of the Di store came in and first saluted everyone with his hands crossed, and then said a long list of auspicious words for the New Year.
But Aunt Duan didn't have the patience to listen: "Just tell me what you want to say."
The shopkeeper said awkwardly, "I wonder if your store could lend me some raw mutton for emergency. I will pay you back with more when the shop opens on the fifth day of the New Year."
"Okay." Aunt Duan bought a lot of mutton before the New Year, and he paid her back double the amount, so it was a good deal, so she agreed readily.
The shopkeeper followed A Pan to the backyard to get the mutton, and thanked Aunt Duan as if he had been pardoned.
Duan Zhiwei asked curiously, "I remember your family bought a lot of mutton before the New Year. Is this not enough?"
The shopkeeper looked particularly distressed: "Oh, how much meat can an ordinary scholar eat? A few nights ago, a group of black-haired, green-eyed guests suddenly came. I don't know where they came from, but they insisted on staying at my store."
He wiped the sweat off his face and said, "You know, the spring exam is coming up in March, and I don't have any vacant rooms. As a result, he threatened me with a knife, so I could only find a few rooms to rent. These people are really good at eating mutton, and they ate up not much left in my room. Well, I won't say any more. I'll go borrow some from somewhere else."
"Green eyes..." Aunt Duan thought for a moment, then smiled and touched the wolf cub's head: "Why is it the same as our wolf cub?"
The little wolf filled his mouth with spring pancakes and looked up at her with puffy cheeks. He was no longer the skinny and sharp-looking man he was when he first came to the restaurant. He had become plump and the neighbors all liked him when they saw him.
His eyes are bright like beautiful emeralds.
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