Having just made his nephew angry, Zhu Xiang held back and did not laugh this time.
It is very normal for children to dub while playing with toys. If the human cub that was barking "woof woof" was not the Qin Shi Huang's cub, Zhu Xiang would only think it was cute.
Of course, now he thinks he is even cuter, twice as cuter, and he can't wait to pick up his cute nephew and give him a kiss.
Zhu Xiang actually did so. He grabbed Ying Xiaozheng, who was happily playing with the wooden dog, and brought him into his arms, then bit him on his bald head.
Ying Xiaozheng was so scared that the puppy fell from his hands.
What is uncle doing? !
"Here." When Ying Xiaozheng was stunned by the kiss, Zhu Xiang immediately stuffed the jade ring into Ying Xiaozheng's hand to divert Ying Xiaozheng's attention.
Xue glanced at it and said, "You treasured the jade ring that Xia Tong left for you. Didn't you even let Lin Junzi touch it? Why did you give it to Zheng'er? Be careful that Zheng'er doesn't accidentally drop it."
Xia Tong was a poor scholar who worked as a helper at home. He was weak, kind, and good at accounting. Zhu Xiang and Xue were very close to Xia Tong.
When Xia Tong had saved enough money and said he wanted to travel to other countries to find a way out, the couple specially used their family money to exchange for one or two gold cakes as a gift to Xia Tong.
In this era, the term "gold" mostly refers to brass. However, because the Chu State had gold mines and was rich, it loved to give gold as gifts, so gold was also circulated in the market. The gold cake that Zhu Xiang gave to Xia Tong was real gold.
In terms of value, one ounce of gold was worth about one thousand coins of the State of Zhao. However, because it was mainly circulated among the nobility, it was not in demand among the common people, and only the wealthy merchants would hide gold in their homes.
If Xia Tongruo's luggage was accidentally lost, the gold cakes would be his means of survival no matter which country he was in.
Although Zhu Xiang has worked hard to save his fortune over the years, he can't just take out one or two gold cakes. This shows Zhu Xiang and Xue's affection for Xia Tong.
Xia Tong returned the favor by giving Zhu Xiang a jade ring, saying that the jade ring was a token of trust and that if he gained power, he would come to Zhu Xiang to share wealth and glory.
"Xia Tong rose up in adversity, and Zheng'er is now in adversity and waiting to rise. This jade can bring good luck to Xia Tong, and it will definitely bring good luck to Zheng'er." Zhu Xiang said, "Besides, I don't know what kind of amulets nobles prepare for their children. Xia Tong used to have a good family background, and the things his family prepared for the child's Zhuazhou ceremony should not be wrong in terms of etiquette."
Xue said: "You think too much. I will weave a red string for Zheng'er and let him hang it around his neck."
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "Wait a minute. Let's go have breakfast first. I'm starving. Zheng'er, is your stomach starving too?"
After Zhu Xiang finished speaking, he patted Ying Xiaozheng's soft belly.
Ying Xiaozheng was holding the jade ring and looking at it, feeling that it looked familiar. When he heard Zhu Xiang talking about breakfast, his stomach immediately growled and his face flushed.
"I, I didn't." Ying Xiaozheng covered his stomach.
"Come on, Zheng'er, eat!" Zhu Xiang picked up Ying Xiaozheng and urged, "Xue, come quickly, or Zheng'er and I will eat up all the food and leave nothing for you."
Xue put down her needlework, stood up and said helplessly: "My dear, how can you be more childish than a child?"
Ying Xiaozheng hid in Zhu Xiang's arms and secretly nodded in agreement.
He thought he was hiding well, but Zhu Xiang was high above and there was no way he could not see Ying Xiaozheng's little head acting like a chicken pecking at rice.
Zhu Xiang lowered his head and rubbed the top of Ying Xiaozheng's head, and said proudly: "With my beloved wife and young son by my side, this is not childish, but happiness."
Xue was stunned for a moment, then she lowered her head with a red face and said awkwardly: "Zheng'er, let me hug you."
"Ah? Okay." Although he didn't understand why Xue wanted to hold Zheng'er, Zhu Xiang still handed Ying Xiaozheng to Xue.
Xue, who had never raised a child, unskillfully held the skinny and young child in her arms. She imitated Zhu Xiang and gently rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's soft cheek with her unmade-up face.
She looked down at the well-behaved child in her arms, then looked up at her husband who was smiling, and smiled as well: "Zheng'er is too light, he should eat more. The child will look better if he is fatter."
"I think so too." Zhu Xiang agreed. A chubby Zulong cub is cute, and it will grow taller after it grows taller. "Give it to me, I want to hold it for a while longer!"
"No." Xue quickened her pace, left Zhu Xiang behind, and lowered her head to rub Ying Xiaozheng's bald head.
Zhu Xiang: "Hey? Are you trying to snatch my child from me now?"
Ying Xiaozheng: “?”
Not only my uncle was acting weird, but my aunt was also acting weird.
Ying Xiaozheng tried very hard to think, then his stomach growled loudly and his mind went blank in an instant.
He twisted his body slightly, and curled up limply in his aunt's warm embrace, staring in a daze at the green jade ring that he clenched reflexively in his hand, not wanting to think about anything.
Breakfast was boiled eggs and yellow rice and red date cake.
The staple foods of this era were known as "five grains", "six grains" and "nine grains".
The five grains recorded in "The Book of Rites·Monthly Ordinances" are "wheat, beans, millet, hemp, and sorghum"; the six grains recorded in "Lüshi Chunqiu·Shenshi Chapter", which had not yet been compiled, added "rice"; the nine grains are the same as the six grains, except that beans and wheat are separated into large and small beans and large and small wheat.
At that time, the south had not yet been developed on a large scale, and rice was rarely grown in the northern Central Plains. Barley and wheat were foreign varieties, and the planting technology was not very mature. Beans and hemp were difficult to digest and were the main staple food for the common people. Therefore, millet was the top staple food, and its importance was second only to that of sorghum.
Millet is yellow rice.
However, although millet had a high status in books at that time, it was difficult to shell and had a relatively low grain yield, so beans became the main food for the common people.
Soybeans are used for cooking and bean leaves for soup. The "Strategies of the Warring States" says, "Most of the people's food is bean rice and broccoli soup." Common people like Zhu Xiang were also called "broccoli eaters."
When Ying Xiaozheng was treated harshly, the millet and yellow rice were taken away by the servants and replaced with bean rice for the servants. So he knew that millet and yellow rice were very precious.
As for rice, it was a precious delicacy that he could only see in the memory fragments he saw in his dreams. Unfortunately, the memory fragments had no five senses, so he could not taste what rice tasted like.
When Ying Xiaozheng ate the goat milk rice soup and shepherd's purse and lean meat porridge yesterday, he had some doubts, but the raw materials could not be seen in the rice porridge that was boiled into a mushy state. He was panicked at the time and had no energy to pay attention to this.
Ying Xiaozheng was very surprised to see that breakfast today included not only yellow rice cakes but also eggs.
He asked in a low voice: "Uncle, is our family rich?" So my biological mother's family is so wealthy
Zhu Xiang, who was helping Ying Xiaozheng peel boiled eggs, exclaimed, "Ah!" and looked at the breakfast on the table, which was very simple for later generations. His expression was filled with a hint of loneliness and sadness that the other two people at the table could not understand. "Your uncle is now a retainer of Lin Xiangru, the senior minister of Zhao State. The farming of the Lin family's fiefdom is under the jurisdiction of your uncle, so compared to others, we are relatively well-off. At least we have enough to eat for Zheng'er."
Ying Xiaozheng was very sensitive to people's emotions. When he noticed that his uncle was in a bad mood, he immediately took a yellow rice cake to cover his mouth and dared not ask any more questions.
As soon as the yellow rice cake entered his mouth, Ying Xiaozheng's already big eyes immediately widened into round shapes, and then instantly narrowed into two small crescents.
So, so sweet and delicious!
Ying Xiaozheng, who seldom ate sugar, was immediately intoxicated by the yellow rice cake with added sucrose.
Sugarcane was introduced to China around the time of King Xuan of Zhou, when it was called zhe. It was changed to zhe in the Han Dynasty, as the two characters are similar. Although the juice yield of sugarcane is not high today, and the method of making sugar has not yet been figured out, sugarcane juice has become a common seasoning for cooking in the homes of the rich and powerful.
Zhu Xiang was in charge of the Lin family's fields. Whatever the Lin family could eat was what Zhu Xiang could eat, so he harvested some sugarcane and made it into sugar to store so that the sugarcane could still taste sweet after the season was over.
Zhu Xiang also gave the sugar-making recipe to the Lin family in exchange for the big house they live in now.
Lin Xiangru presented it to King Zhao, but failed again in his attempt to obtain the status of a scholar for Zhu Xiang, and only got a few pieces of palace silk in return.
Although the King of Zhao did not allow Zhu Xiang to make money with the sugar recipe and assigned sugar making to the palace, he generously allowed the Lin family and Zhu Xiang to make sugar for themselves, but they were not allowed to give the recipe to others. So Zhu Xiang's family can still eat sugar cane.
No child can resist the sweet taste.
He ate the glutinous rice and red dates cake at double speed, which frightened Zhu Xiang so much that he put down the half-peeled egg and snatched the glutinous rice and red dates cake that Ying Xiaozheng had eaten most of.
Ying Xiaozheng opened his hands to protect the food but failed, and tears immediately filled his eyes.
"Eat slowly. What if you choke? Drink some water first." Zhu Xiang handed over the cup of water. "There are so many steamed yellow rice cakes. You can't finish them even if your stomach bursts. Why are you in such a hurry?"
Ying Xiaozheng blinked away the mist in his eyes: "Can I still eat?"
Zhu Xiang laughed, and the loneliness that unconsciously appeared on his face disappeared: "Of course, didn't I just say that my uncle doesn't lack Zheng'er for food."
Ying Xiaozheng took a sip from the water cup, then looked up and stared at the yellow rice and red date cake in Zhu Xiang's hand.
Zhu Xiang returned the yellow rice and red date cake that Ying Xiaozheng had gnawed to Ying Xiaozheng, and reminded him again: "Eat slowly. Especially when eating dates, remember to spit out the pits."
Under Zhu Xiang's repeated instructions, Ying Xiaozheng reluctantly slowed down a little, and his eyes turned into crescent moons again.
Zhu Xiang continued to peel eggs and taunted his nephew to Xue: "Raising a child is really troublesome, isn't it?"
Xue carefully noted down the point that “children should not eat too fast” and said, “Yes.”
Ying Xiaozheng, with crescent eyes, froze. Was he, was he disliked
Zhu Xiang put the peeled eggs into the small bowl in front of Ying Xiaozheng: "Eat the eggs slowly. If you are not used to the taste of boiled eggs, eat them with sauce. Children will become smarter if they eat more eggs. Don't be picky about food."
Eggs are good food that will also be snatched away by servants. My uncle took the initiative to peel eggs for me to eat. He did not despise me. Ying Xiaozheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He stuffed the yellow rice cake into his mouth in two or three gulps, his cheeks puffed up, and he spat out a date pit. Then he reached out and grabbed the egg and took a light bite.
Ying Xiaozheng's crescent eyes first widened and then turned back into crescents. The eggs are so delicious~.
"Try the sauce made by my uncle." Zhu Xiang pushed the small plate of mushroom sauce towards Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng dipped the egg in a little bit of the black mushroom sauce and took another careful bite, as if he was afraid that the egg would fly away if he bit it too hard.
After taking a bite, Ying Xiaozheng, who tasted mushrooms for the first time in his life, felt his taste buds hit hard by the delicious flavor, and his mouth immediately filled with saliva.
He tried hard to swallow his saliva, his little brows were furrowed and his expression was very conflicted.
Because it was so delicious, he couldn't bear to take a second bite.
Zhu Xiang looked at this scene and almost covered his face with his hands. He almost vomited blood because of cuteness.
Do you know why the warm and sweet raising-a-baby show on Bilibili is called a tough guy show? Tough guys should watch this!
"My dear, don't just look at Zheng'er, try eating one too." Xue couldn't help laughing.
Gently pinching the egg he had just nibbled on, Ying Xiaozheng, who was struggling with an inexplicable sense of crisis, looked up in confusion: "Cute?"
Zhu Xiang explained: "Cute means lovable."
Ying Xiaozheng blushed, overcame the inexplicable "sense of crisis", and continued to chew the eggs.
Why was I praised again? Did I do something
Ying Xiaozheng felt a little dizzy.
"Indeed." Xue looked at Ying Xiaozheng who was nibbling the eggs, and the last bit of resentment in her heart dissipated.
The lover that Chunhua abandoned was the best person in the world, and Zheng'er that Chunhua abandoned was also the best child in the world. It was Chunhua who was wrong, not Liangren and Zheng'er.
Xue also peeled an egg for Ying Xiaozheng and said gently, "Your uncle said that you can only eat two eggs a day. If you eat too much, you won't be able to digest it. Eat another one."
Ying Xiaozheng licked his fingers and said nervously, "Thank you, thank you, aunt."
Xue frowned and said to Zhu Xiang, "Zheng'er is afraid of me."
Zhu Xiang swallowed the yellow rice cake in his mouth and said, "It's normal to be afraid of you. I'm afraid of you too. You have the highest status in our family. Zheng'er and I both make a living under you. Who wouldn't be afraid of the head of the family, right, Zheng'er?"
Ying Xiaozheng: "Pfft... cough cough cough."
Xue quickly patted Ying Xiaozheng on the back: "My dear! Don't joke while eating! Zheng'er, are you okay?"
Ying Xiaozheng took a gulp of water and suppressed his cough: "No, it's okay."
Zhu Xiang raised his hands: "My fault, but I'm not joking."
Snow: "My dear!"
Ying Xiaozheng looked at Zhu Xiang who winked at him, and for some reason, he couldn't help laughing.
Zhu Xiang put down his raised hands and smiled, "Look, he's not afraid of you, he's just a little nervous. Seriously, children can instinctively sense who has the most say in the family. Zheng'er must have noticed that you are the most powerful in our family and wanted to leave a good impression on you, so he was nervous. Isn't that right, Zheng'er?"
Ying Xiaozheng followed Zhu Xiang's words and said, "Well, I'm not afraid, aunt. I'm just a little nervous."
"Is that so? That's right, you just got here, and my lover and I are still strangers to you." Xue helped Ying Xiaozheng wipe his face, no longer dwelling on the fact that Ying Xiaozheng was afraid of her, "Sorry, auntie was too hasty."
It was the first time that Ying Xiaozheng heard an older person apologize to him, and he felt a little uncomfortable.
Zhu Xiang said nonsense: "Zheng'er, if you don't know how to respond, just smile at this time. Come, learn from your uncle, just like that, smile."
The corners of Zhu Xiang's mouth curved up, revealing a smile that only appeared in ID photos.
Ying Xiaozheng believed it to be true. He tried to curl up the corners of his mouth, raised his head, and looked at Xue's reaction nervously.
Xue took a small breath and tears suddenly overflowed.
Ying Xiaozheng was frightened: "Aunt?!"
Xue bent down, hugged Ying Xiaozheng into her arms, patted Ying Xiaozheng's back gently, and choked up: "Aunt is fine, nothing is wrong, it's just... I and my lover have a child who looks very much like my lover, and I am really happy."
Ying Xiaozheng, who was held in Xue's arms, was stunned.
Zhu Xiang put away his smile, stood up and walked to Xue's side, holding Xue and Ying Xiaozheng in his arms: "Sorry, Xue, it's all my fault."
In order to get medicine for him, Xue walked a long way, kowtowed many times, and knelt for a long time. After that, in order to take care of herself while she was recovering from illness, Xue worked hard all day long. So Xue's health has not been very good.
But they will never have children, not because Xue is in poor health, but because Zhu Xiang has already died once.
Although Zhu Xiang was born with innate wisdom, even if the effect of Meng Po soup was not very good, he was still the Zhu Xiang of this era. Only occasionally some knowledge from previous lives popped up in his head. He was smarter and more mature than his peers of this era, and had more ambition to live a better life.
During the period when he was seriously ill, Zhu Xiang felt like his soul had left his body. His body was unable to move, but his consciousness clearly "saw" everything Xue did for him.
Chunhua took away all the family's property, although she left some food that could not be taken away, but it must have been very difficult for two eleven or twelve-year-old children to survive together.
If I die again and Xue is left alone, then Xue will definitely die.
When Zhu Xiang first learned that he was abandoned by his elder sister, he had already given up living and wanted to go find his family.
Later, he desperately clung to the body, trying desperately to survive, not wanting to leave Xue, his only relative.
Later, the barrier between his past life and this life was broken, and a powerful force pushed him back to his body.
Two souls became one.
Not only did he gradually recover his health, but the vague memories of his past life seemed to have become a library in his mind for him to browse. As long as he had memorized the knowledge in his past life, he could read it at any time.
He had the capital to survive, but he also lost the possibility of integrating into this era - his clear memory allowed him to continue the solid values he had developed in modern times, and from then on, he would always be out of tune with this era.
After escaping death, Zhu Xiang obtained a system that now still shows "activating".
The system does not have "intelligent customer service" and all instructions are text.
The text told him that he should have died, but the system helped him fuse the soul fragments of his previous life and extended his life.
The purpose of the system is to observe how good travelers can bring positive changes to the parallel world. Travelers can get rewards from the system if they establish a relationship with "historical celebrities" who can influence the progress of this world. However, there will be no punishment if the host does nothing, and the system will not interfere with the host's life.
The system also sent a "Privacy Protection Clause", stating that it only records "historical ripples" and does not record the host's private life to protect the host's privacy.
Zhu Xiang believed it.
After all, the system is obviously a product of high-dimensional civilization, and it is easy to control oneself. If a powerful person who can easily crush the opponent shows kindness, it must be true, because there is no need to deceive. What's more, the system has no requirements for him.
So when the system told Zhu Xiang that he had died once and would not have any bloodline left in this world, he believed it.
Zhu Xiang can change history by influencing other people, but he cannot allow the bloodline of those who are already dead to continue.
Xue is just an ordinary person of this era, an ordinary ancient woman who regards the continuation of the bloodline for her beloved and close relatives as her lifelong wish. Zhu Xiang believes that he cannot delay Xue.
So when he learned about this, he told Xue and expressed his willingness to become Xue's brother and sister, save up a dowry for Xue, and send Xue off to get married.
Then, Zhu Xiang was slapped hard by Xue, and his face was swollen for two days.
This is such a painful story to think about.
Later, when Zhu Xiang was eighteen years old, he married Xue, who had been waiting for him for many years, and they continue to support each other until now.
They once lost their home, almost lost their lives, and lost everything.
Then they survived and formed a new family.
Now, they have a child.
All regrets will be made up and everything will be perfect in the end.
"Thank you, Zheng'er." Zhu Xiang kissed Ying Xiaozheng's small bun, "Thank you for coming to this home. Uh, should I really thank Chunhua?"
Although Ying Xiaozheng didn't know what was going on, he was trying to raise his short hands to wipe away his aunt's tears.
Xue's tears stopped instantly and she shouted angrily, "Don't thank her!"
Zhu Xiang's neck shrank: "Oh oh oh, don't thank her, don't thank her!"
Ying Xiaozheng: “…”
He believed it, it turned out that his aunt was really the head of the family!
Xue felt very embarrassed after crying, and she used the excuse of making clothes, hats and shoes for Ying Xiaozheng to drive Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng out of the house, and told them to go to Mr. Cai to learn calligraphy. Xue also took away Ying Xiaozheng's jade ring, saying that she would make a red string for Ying Xiaozheng and return it to him.
Mr. Cai was a down-and-out scholar who traveled around lobbying for an official position. He had a similar status to Xia Tong, but was much uglier than Xia Tong.
A normal person's shoulders are slanted downward, but his shoulders are parallel to the ground; a normal person's nostrils are downward, but his nostrils are facing straight ahead; a normal person's nose bridge is raised, but his nose bridge looks like it was punched... He also has small and focused eyes, perfectly curved legs, and unique short hair. All of these appearances are too challenging to the aesthetic standards of people of that era, which makes his path to seeking an official position repeatedly frustrated.
When Mr. Cai came to Handan to seek an official position, the Zhao nobles, who were almost blinded by his ugliness, threw him and his luggage out of Handan City.
"My uncle showed his extraordinary power and beat away the gangster who wanted to steal Mr. Cai's luggage, and rescued Mr. Cai back home. Mr. Cai was very grateful to my uncle..."
Zhu Xiang certainly wouldn't comment on other people's appearance. He was just bragging about his own bravery to Ying Xiaozheng.
Then he was hit on the head by a ball of grass.
Mr. Cai, who was feeding the horses at the door, said angrily, "Yes, yes, you rushed over when you saw the criminals, and then you were knocked down by the criminals with one punch. If I hadn't drawn my sword in time, the criminals would have knelt down and begged the furious Mr. Lin not to kill their entire family."
Zhu Xiang advised earnestly: "Mr. Cai, although you are talented, you are not very worldly-wise. When you hear your friend bragging to his child, you should not expose him. It is a great sin to destroy the perfect image of the elders in the child's mind."
Mr. Cai: “Ugh!”
Ying Xiaozheng looked at Mr. Cai, who had an extremely outstanding appearance, and always felt that he had definitely seen such a shocking appearance before.
Cai... Cai...
Isn't this my future Lord Gangcheng, Cai Ze!
(End of this chapter)