Chapter 157 Chapter 157 Update.
When they heard that they were asked to take it away, Maocai and Maoming were about to carry it outside, but Ji Xu told them to wait.
Seeing her put down the bowl of porridge, Li Quanye went to the outer room and brought something in.
It looks like a stool, but it is taller than a stool. It also has four legs and a smooth round wooden board on top, but it is much smaller than a dining table.
She placed the thing beside the table and sat on it.
"Master Li, look, this stool is just the right height. Even if I had healthy legs, I'd still prefer sitting on it rather than kneeling."
"Dengzi?"
"Yes, a stool. I call this high-legged sitting object a stool. Master Li, try it. It's really comfortable."
In fact, Ji Xu also wanted to make a set of dining tables and chairs like those in later generations, but he had no money in his hometown before, and later he got used to sitting on his knees.
Furthermore, my mother and sisters in my family are all native people of the Western Han Dynasty. They are used to kneeling. Even if they feel tired, they will use a heel support to assist in kneeling, which makes it much easier. If I change to something else, I am afraid they will not be able to get used to it.
Now sitting on a round stool with high legs, he regained the comfort of his previous life and spoke sincerely to Li Quanye.
"I think it's so comfortable to sit on. Maybe people will stop kneeling and get used to sitting on stools. Every household uses high-legged dining tables like this and sits on stools like this."
Li Quanye heard this and said, "How can that be possible? Wouldn't that make them barbarians? I heard that their customs are tough and rough, and they don't have the custom of kneeling. The Hu bed we have in the Central Plains was passed down from these nomadic tribes."
"Rules are made by people. Aside from the sun and the moon, how many things remain unchanged from ancient times to the present? For example, a few years ago, many families in our hometown still used wooden plows and hand hoes, but in recent years, oxen have become popular for plowing, and everyone thinks that oxen are much faster. Master Li should be adapting to the new rules in advance and stay ahead of them."
As he said this, he winked at Maocai and Maoming and lifted him onto the round stool.
"You're from outside the customs, and you're making something that's against the rules sound reasonable."
Li Quanye didn't appreciate her kindness.
"I was thinking about you. You can live a good life even with a disabled leg. But you keep saying things like 'people from outside the Great Wall'. Does the fact that there's a Hangu Pass between us mean that people are born different? Wu Tuan'er is still the cat you picked up outside the Great Wall. He's still a treasure. It shows that no one is born lowly, only the heart that sees others as lowly."
"You've gone back and it makes more sense."
Li Quanye lowered his head and thought for a long time before saying only one sentence. Ansheng ate a bowl of porridge.
"After all, it was the girl who was capable and was able to cure him."
When they got outside, Maocai said happily.
In fact, in the past, Ji Xu would not have dared to speak frankly. Now that Li Quanye is willing to invite her back to work, it shows that he does not look down on her in his heart, but is just mean in his words.
"Yes, with a girl persuading him, we can suffer less."
Maoming also said that they were all happy that she was back.
When Mrs. Yu heard that he was willing to use these things, she asked her maid to speak to him and asked her to persuade him and live a good life in the future.
That day, she came to the courtyard as usual and saw Li Fuye. He came out of his brother's room with his Liubo chess stuff in his hands, looking dejected, and called her "Sister Xiaozhu".
Ji Xu asked him:
"Why did you come out like this?"
"I wanted to play Liubo with my brother, but he told me to get lost. Then I said I had been chosen to sing 'The Great Wind Song' at the Spring Festival, and asked if he wanted to go. He told me to get lost too."
In his heart, Li Fuye admired his brother very much. He was good at everything, including horse racing, hunting, falcon training and dog running. Even his Liubo chess was taught to him by his brother.
Later, he fell off his horse and broke his leg while trying to avoid the people from outside the Great Wall who were playing Cuju, and his brother became cold towards him.
He also increasingly disliked those people from outside the Great Wall who were always jumping around, but Xiaozhu was different from those people, and his heart changed again.
Ji Xu brought lunch into the room. The curtains were still drawn, but two more of the seven green lotus lanterns were lit, making the room brighter than before.
Li Quanye had also gotten up by now, and was sitting under the lamp, playing with the black ball of wool in his hand. He was probably in a bad mood, so he asked her about it.
"Why did you come just now?"
"You got up early. You always come at this time. Today we're cooking venison with dodder seeds and spring bamboo shoots."
Deer meat can nourish the spleen and stomach, and benefit qi and blood; Cuscuta chinensis is also a medicine that is spicy to moisten dryness and sweet to replenish deficiency.
This combination of dodder seed and venison is also a dish for treating kidney yang deficiency.
The venison should be soaked in clean water to remove the fishy smell and blood first, then added with sake, green onion, ginger, peppercorns, and Huaixiang, stewed over low heat until cooked, and cut into medium-sized pieces.
Steam the dodder seeds and squeeze out the juice. Take the tips of the spring bamboo shoots and cut them into comb shapes. Then stir-fry them in hot oil until fragrant. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and minced garlic. It tastes great.
"Master Li needs some now? I'll push you over."
"I don't want to eat it, you take it away."
This is an attack, "What happened?"
Ji Xu thought about Yu's instructions and said a few more words.
"Just now I saw your brother walk out of this room in a daze, just like you are now.
As the saying goes, a foot of cloth can still be sewn, and a bushel of millet can still be pounded. How can two brothers not get along? You must have felt bad for ignoring him."
"You are a healthy person, how can you understand my heart?"
"I have sisters too, how can I not understand your feelings? If my legs and feet were not good, I would also think that maybe I am not their sister anymore, and I can't take them out to play and do many things with them.
But if they, as brothers and sisters, really care about us, no matter what we are like, they will want to be close to us.
I think your brother has you in his heart. If you can't take him riding, can you also not play Liubo chess on the table?"
He was silent. The candle flame flickered, and a shadow flashed across his face. He looked at the empty porcelain vase and said:
"You're quite capable. You've taught you everything they dared not to say. Now, let me ask you, why don't you pick those red plums for me to put in the vase?"
"Master Li is confused in his sleep?"
Ji Xu opened the curtains, and the light made him squint.
"Look, it's spring outside, so where are the red plum blossoms? There are plenty of spring flowers, especially the wildflowers crawling along the roadside. They're beautiful, but they wouldn't look good even if I picked them and put them in a vase."
"Oh, by the way, I was just about to tell you that my sister has also been chosen to sing "The Great Wind Song". I won't be there on the day of the Spring Festival. The whole family will go to watch her sing.
Your brother is here too, so why don’t you want to go? You can also see the flowers blooming outside. It’s such a beautiful spring day out there.”
She held the curtain in her hand while saying this. For the first time, Li Quanye did not say in a strange tone that she had let in light and squinted his eyes to look at it.
"Did you hear? The Demon King agreed to go out!"
The news that Li Quanye was going to watch the Spring Festival spread throughout the mansion. Maocai and Maoming were shocked, because he had not left the house since his leg was broken.
"How did the girl persuade him that he actually agreed? We didn't dare to bring up the matter of leaving home before. If we did, he would be beaten and scolded."
Yu was extremely happy and had already selected a group of maids and servants to accompany him on his trip that day. The carriages and horses were ready, and the luggage was packed. She was looking forward to the day of the Spring Festival.
Li Fuye was extremely excited. Hearing that it was Ji Xu who persuaded him, he waited outside the courtyard and bowed to Ji Xu:
"Sister Xiaozhu, I was wrong before. I wrote doggerel and scared people with spiders and earthworms. I apologize to you."
"You should say this to Xiaozhu."
The contempt of people inside the Great Wall for people outside the Great Wall has been around for a long time. For example, during the time of the previous emperor, General Yang Pu of the Tower Ship was ashamed to be a citizen outside the Great Wall. He wrote a letter to the previous emperor requesting that the Hangu Pass be moved 300 miles eastward so that his hometown could be included in the scope of Guanzhong. If even the General Yang Pu of the Tower Ship was like this, what about the situation of ordinary people?
If she doesn't adjust her mindset, she won't be able to survive here. She won't make things difficult for the child because of this. Life is earned bit by bit, and now she has obviously taken a step forward.
Li Fuye blushed and nodded, "I will do it for Xiaozhu."
On the day of the Spring Festival, the streets and alleys were crowded with people and cars. Vermilion flags, red painted wheels, and white hoods filled the city to the eastern suburbs.
The streets were filled with people watching the excitement and pointing and talking. You could also see vendors carrying baskets and selling cooked food among the crowd.
Beside a sacrificial field in the eastern suburbs, the carriages and horses of high-ranking officials were parked in order, and the flags of each family were fluttering in the air.
The emperor was to lead all the officials to hoe the land and set up an altar to hold the spring sacrificial ceremony on this sacrificial field. The area was guarded by armored soldiers and no outsiders were allowed to enter or leave.
However, outside the guardhouse, there were many people crowding there to watch the excitement. Tian's mother and daughter arrived early and had a good position in the inner circle. There was no one blocking their view, so they could still see the sacrificial field.
Tian took Jizhu aside to say a few final words.
Ji Zhu was seen wearing a small sacrificial garment, a black belt around her waist, and a tall hat with a beaded string tied tightly around it, which made the flesh on her cheeks more prominent. She tilted her head back and listened attentively to Tian's instructions amidst the noise.
"Sing well, don't be shy. Mother and your two sisters are listening. Do you hear me?"
Jizhu agreed and followed Master Fan away.
There were hundreds of boys and girls there, all wearing the same ritual robes, small and as small as radish heads, looking around.
Jizhu finally waved to them, then followed the leading ceremonial officer, lined up into the sacrificial field, and waited in line inside.
Civil and military officials in imperial robes entered, followed by the emperor's carriage.
The common people didn't all want to see what the emperor looked like, but the ceremony was so grand, and the tassels hanging from the Tongtian crown obscured the emperor's majesty, so they couldn't see clearly from a distance.
The Spring Festival began with the emperor performing a bow ceremony, and the ministers presented sacrifices on his behalf and read the sacrificial text, praying for a good harvest in the spring.
After the ceremony, the emperor took the plow and symbolically pushed it three times in the field. Then the ministers sowed the seeds and covered the soil. After receiving the worship from the ministers and farmers, the emperor led the civil and military officials to sit on the viewing platform and watched the thirty selected farmers complete the actual cultivation of the sacrificial field.
At this time, the ritual music sounded, and the boys and girls sang in unison:
"The wind rises and the clouds fly, my power spreads across the country and I return to my hometown. How can I find brave men to guard the four directions..."
"There it is, there it is!"
After watching for a while, Ji Feng pointed at Xiaozhu in the front row and said in surprise.
Beside her were the four young men from Wuling whom she had met at home before.
Ji Zhu opened and closed her mouth and sang the song very attentively. If she had a camera, Ji Xu really wanted to take a picture of this moment. Now she naturally remembered it in her heart.
"That's someone from Sangshu Lane in Anling."
“It’s my neighbor!”
Liu Laogu and her grandchildren also came. Da Yak looked at the people around him with a very bright face and pointed at Ji Zhu to introduce her to them.
Tian also had a festive look on her face, even the back of her head had a different look, which made Jin, who was squeezed behind her, grit her teeth.
Pulling Ji Zhi out of the crowd, he said uncomfortably:
"There's nothing to see here, it's better to go back and sell rice."
Ji Zhi wanted to take a few more glances but was dragged away by Jin.
After the sacrificial field was plowed, the sacrifice was completed, and the princes, nobles, civil and military officials were rewarded with wine and banquets, and the thirty farmers were given cloth as a gift.
Ji Xu recognized him. The old man who made a living by collecting firewood was also among them. He was very happy to get cloth after farming. His family often bought firewood from him. He recognized him and greeted him.
Jizhu also came back with the four treasures of the study that she had been rewarded with, and showed them to them with a smile on her face.
This is a top-grade purple-hair brush made from a small tuft of purple hair on a rabbit's back, which is very rare; and an ink stick produced in Yumi County, with pine cone patterns on it, which is something only officials in the capital can use, and a rare reward for ordinary people.
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