Chapter 119 Chapter 119 Update.
After entering Hangu Pass, they looked around and saw that the fertile land had turned into cities and villages.
This is Weinan County under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Yin. The closer to Chang'an, the more rare and precious goods there are, and the more birds and unicorns gather.
Because Chang'an City was mostly occupied by vast royal palace complexes such as the Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Minguang Palace, the neighborhoods left for nobles and common people to live in accounted for less than one-third of the entire city.
Moreover, at that time, it was popular for prominent nobles to live in large mansions that were tall and spacious. The city of Chang'an was narrow and crowded, and it could not accommodate these large mansions.
Therefore, on the Wulingyuan Plain north of Chang'an, around the tombs of various Han emperors, counties and towns where high-ranking officials and nobles gathered gradually formed, also called tomb towns.
Along the northern bank of the Wei River, from east to west are Yangling, Changling, Anling, Pingling, and Maoling. These five tombs can be regarded as the "second ring" of Chang'an.
When Ji Xu arrived here, he remembered the text he had memorized, "The young men of Wuling compete to tie their hair, and they don't know how many red silks they have for a song." Seeing such a wealthy place, he said that it was no wonder that "young men of Wuling" was a nickname for children from rich families.
Among these five tombs, the one with the longest history is Changling Town of Emperor Gaozu.
The earliest traces back to the founding of the state. To strengthen the country and consolidate Guanzhong, Emperor Gaozu issued an edict to bring immigrants from Guandong to Guanzhong to serve as the Changling Mausoleum. This led to the establishment of Changling Town. These immigrants were no ordinary people; they were high-ranking officials with a rank of 2,000 stone, and prominent nobles from the six states of Guandong.
It is conceivable that the people living in Changling Town today are all descendants of founding heroes and descendants of Qi and Chu nobles.
Most people travel in horse-drawn carriages. The red flags painted on both sides of the carriages, which were only available to officials with a salary of two thousand stones, are now common here. There are even carriages with two, three, or four horses, which look extremely impressive.
Ji Xu's dilapidated ox cart seemed out of place here.
"Oh my god, this yard is so endless, how many people can live here?"
"When can we live in such a big yard? We will be like gods." Ji Feng said.
"You have to save money for several lifetimes to be able to live in such a big house?" Tian said.
Changling Town is mainly inhabited by wealthy families, most of whom frequently travel to and from Chang'an City. Only officials who want to participate in court meetings rent houses here to live with their families. It is difficult to rent a single small house.
They did not stay here for long, and passed by and went to the neighboring Anling Town.
The houses here are lined up one after another, and the streets and alleys are very crowded. It is unlike the Changling Town we just saw, which has a sense of unreality.
Here, you can see the flowing water of Wei Bridge, curling smoke from cooking fires, ox carts, and shirtless men enjoying the cool air. The atmosphere is thick with the city life.
"Our Anling County is mostly inhabited by entertainers and young men from the marketplace. Although it's not as large as Changling County, it still has tens of thousands of households and a population of fifty to sixty thousand. If you need to rent an empty house, I'm the right person to come to. There's no street or alley in Anling County that I don't know well."
This scoundrel had a soap towel wrapped around his head and wore a brown short shirt. He looked not much older than Ji Xu and had a smart look. He took them to see the house.
In the first room, I heard the sound of drums and cymbals from outside. When I went in, I found that the family living inside was rehearsing a comedy show, practicing with wind and percussion instruments. Feng, Zhu, and Xiaoyao were standing by and watching with great interest.
Tian put her hands behind her back, glanced here, patted the wall there, and whispered to Ji Xu:
"This place is not good. It's next to the toilet. There are more than just our family living in this yard. When they go to the toilet, we can smell their stench. And then there's the banging and hammering. It was a novelty at first, but it happens all day long and it hurts my ears. This place is not good. Let's look for another one."
The scoundrel was good-tempered and took them to the next house.
"Three taels of silver a month for rent? Are people here so good at making money? No way, no way, it's too expensive."
After hearing what Tian said, the scoundrel led them to Mulberry Tree Lane.
The name of Mulberry Lane comes from the mulberry trees.
There were rows of mulberry trees at the entrance of the alley, and they were all bearing fruit in mid-May. The children nearby were climbing up the trees to pick mulberries and eat them, chattering loudly.
Pushing open a yard at the end of the alley, we found that it was originally a south-facing warehouse. Later, a simple kitchen was built next to it, and the yard was enclosed. There was also a mulberry tree planted in the yard, occupying most of the space.
The four or five of them, along with an ox cart, found the space even more cramped. Tian was quite satisfied and said,
"This one is good. It's only one and a half ounces of silver, which is half the price. I'm interested in this mulberry tree. It provides shade, and now I can pick mulberries, and in the future I can even eat the leaves."
Finally, they paid a month's rent and a 10% commission to the trafficker, and then they settled down in Mulberry Lane.
"Thank you for accompanying us for half a day. Take this bag of dried chestnuts. We brought them from Yan." Ji Xu said.
The scoundrel took the chestnut and said kindly:
"I see it's not easy for you to come here from all over the world. Buying some mats, knives, and brooms will cost a lot of money. If it's not too far, you can go to Huai City and buy those used by the students."
"Huai City?"
Tian, who was unloading the truck, heard that it could save money and asked,
"Where is this Huai City? We just came from the Jiaomen Market at the north end of Wei Bridge. The things there are much more expensive than those in Guandong. I couldn't bear to buy anything after seeing them all."
The scoundrel boy stepped on the threshold of the courtyard gate, bit into a dried chestnut and ate it, spitting out the shell and saying:
"It's in the south of the city, an hour's walk away. You have an oxcart, so it shouldn't be a problem. The Huai Market is only open on the first and fifteenth days of each month, and it's full of students from nearby universities trading there."
"Oh, we're in time! Today is the fifteenth day of the lunar month. Come on, unload the things and go buy something."
Tian was busy making arrangements.
The room was empty and bare. When I pushed the door open, a layer of dust blew down, blinding my eyes. The white lime that had been applied to the walls, which had been there for who knows when, was now mottled and black.
The kitchen is still greasy, and the vegetable leaves in the rotten dustpan are dried up. When you step on them, there are dust marks everywhere. It needs to be cleaned thoroughly.
They cleared the ox cart, took only the silver and headed south of the city, asking all the way to Huai City.
There were locust trees growing in a forest here, with green shade covering the ground. The students were selling things under the shade of the locust trees, with many books in front of them.
There are also elegant instruments such as the sheng, yu, zheng, and xiao.
The students came from all over the country to study at the Imperial College, and most of them rented houses nearby. Naturally, the graduates had a lot of second-hand items to sell here.
Knives, whisks, ceramic basins, wooden barrels, brooms, mallets, copper lamps... everything used in daily life can be found here, and they are sold at a low price. Ji Xu thought, this is the flea market of later generations.
"This basin is nice, young man. How much is it?"
Tian held a thick earthenware basin in her hand, ready to use it to wash clothes.
The young man was thin-skinned and said honestly:
"Madam, give me ten cents."
Tian respected scholars, and since they came from other places to study, and their clothes were half-worn, she didn't try to bargain and just gave them the actual price.
He then picked out iron cauldrons, iron pots, knives and chopping boards, wooden barrels, water jars, brooms, whisks, mats, copper cups and lamps and other daily necessities, and even bought bamboo poles for drying clothes.
Normally, the students would graduate after one year, so these things were all quite new. The students were honest and didn't overpay for the items. They spent less than 500 yuan on all these things.
Ji Xu also bought some old books, such as the Chang'an Records for himself and the Cangjie Pian for his sisters to learn to read. The books here are much cheaper than in his hometown.
After returning from Huai City with a full load, I went to Jiaomen City at the north end of Wei Bridge and bought five brand new small basins for personal washing. The half-old ones were used for washing clothes, which I could use with confidence.
They followed Tian's division of labor: Ji Xu cleaned the walls, Ji Feng swept the floor, Xiao Zhu boiled water, Xiao Yao dusted, and Tian washed and cleaned everywhere.
By dark, all the dirt was brushed clean, and buckets of garbage and ashes were picked up and dumped into the garbage dump at the corner of the street.
After taking out the garbage, Tian came back and said, "This big city is different. You can't even throw a handful of ashes on the road."
She also heard from the scoundrel that no one cares how dirty your house is, but if you litter on the street, you will be punished according to the law on littering.
When Tian was in the countryside, she would dump the dust on the roadside when she swept it. Now she walks away and dumps it into the special big pit.
In the small courtyard, under the eaves of the mulberry tree, a bamboo pole was set up, on which their clothes, socks and towels were hung to dry.
The outer room on the west side is the kitchen, which is equipped with a ceramic stove and an iron cauldron. There are hooks on the wall with various iron shovels, stove brooms, wooden ladles and other items hanging on them. There are also grain bags and a whisk that has just been used tied at the back.
The inner room was separated by a green cloth curtain. When I opened the curtain and entered, I saw a clean reed mat spread on the kang, a wooden table on it, and a lit copper lamp. We would have dinner here later.
There was a white cloth lattice window on the kang, with silk threads that they had just packed out of their bags hanging on the side. Next to it was a large poplar wood box, which contained clothes, socks and a thick quilt.
I will make a living here from now on.
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