After traveling to Dayu, Rong Tang has never bought New Year's goods for himself during the Spring Festival.
One reason is that his health is very poor, the second is that his energy is limited, and the third is because of his status. Prince Ningxuan has never needed to do these tedious little things.
But after moving back to Yong'an Lane, Young Master Rong was in high spirits. He got up early every day, dressed obediently, wrapped himself tightly, and then sat in the house waiting for Su Huaijing to knock on his door and ask him which market he wanted to go to buy New Year's goods today.
This is a super interesting and rewarding thing. You can go to the market and bring back a whole pig, cow or sheep with a wave of your hand, and then watch the cook cut it into pieces for preservation, while she keeps talking about what dish is suitable for this piece of meat. When the meat is basked in the warm winter sun, Rong Tang is so happy that his feet are curled up.
Su Huaijing watched from the side, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise.
Tangtang shouldn't be such a short-sighted person. His family is rich and he never gets hungry or greedy. He does this purely because he thinks it's interesting, full of life, and a little... hopeful that life is good.
Just like he never cared about the portion when eating.
As Su Huaijing thought about it, his gaze unconsciously moved down to Rong Tang's flat and soft belly.
Tangtang eats so much every day, where did the meat go
Perhaps it was because the gaze was too strong, and the question in his eyes seemed to be real. Rong Tang received the gaze, raised his head and looked at him, blinking his eyes to express his doubt.
The light scattered above his head, sparrows were jumping around in the yard, and the few cats kept in the house were scattered around, catching sparrows or eating food. His life was comfortable and leisurely.
Su Huaijing smiled and shook his head, stuffing his question that would get Tangtang's glare if he asked it out loud into his stomach, and asked instead: "When I came back, I heard someone selling rice wine at the entrance of the alley. Tangtang, do you want to buy some to drink?"
Rong Tang's eyes lit up instantly: "Great!"
Su Huaijing's eyebrows also curved, and he looked extremely gentle.
This went on for six days, from the 23rd to the 29th of the twelfth lunar month.
From time to time, Ke Hongxue would bring Mu Jingxu, who had just finished his shift, to their yard to eat. Once it got dark, he was too lazy to leave and later simply stayed at their place.
In the days before the New Year, Rong Tang became happier and more relaxed day by day, and he almost forgot why he traveled to this time and space, and why he was reborn again and again.
It was not until the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month that Rong Tang got on the carriage reluctantly when someone from Ning Xuan Palace came to take them back to the palace. Before leaving, he went to the kitchen and told the cook to save a pork elbow for him to stew.
The cook was about to agree with a smile when Su Huaijing added, "Aunt, please make sure to skim the oil a few more times."
Young Master Rong's face fell, and he looked at his son: "How can pork elbow taste good without oil?"
Su Huaijing took his hand and led them to the door: "Tangtang has to use medicine to scrape the oily skin again. Do you want to take medicine?"
Rong Tang frowned, pondered for a moment, turned around and added: "Listen to him, skim more oil!"
The cook was at a loss for words. She didn't know when she would be able to live back in this yard after leaving. She even had her mind on how to eat her pork elbow.
The young man that the master found is too childish.
But it's good this way, as there are fewer secret calculations in the deep mansions, and people's suspicions are eliminated. The master has smiled a lot more in the past year.
only…
She looked at the calendar on the wall and sighed heavily.
I still have to go back.
On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, everyone in Ningxuan Palace got up before dawn.
Wash and offer sacrifices, open the door to set off firecrackers, listen to the elders' instructions, and ask for red envelopes.
Rong Tang collected the red envelope money from the elders and handed it to Su Huaijing. Even the eldest princess, who loved Su Huaijing the most, couldn't help but hold Rong Tang's hand and told him, "Keep it for yourself."
Rong Tang was stunned, and replied inexplicably: "But he is very smart. Money can make money in his hands."
Now that winter has arrived, Rong Tang would go out several times and see Shudao Pavilion packed with customers. People waiting for a table even stood on the long street despite the ice and snow. There were some silk shops and candied fruit shops around, and some people would go in to have a look when they were really cold, and when they came out they would always have three or five small items in their hands.
When Rong Tang saw Xing Feng entering those shops, the shopkeepers would respectfully welcome him into the backyard, so it was self-evident who the owner of the shop was.
What's more, there is a gambling house like Yu Zhongqiu.
Rong Tang almost suspected that, apart from brothels, there was no other profitable business in the city of Yujing that Su Huaijing had not dabbled in.
Maybe even a brothel has opened!
But this guy is so rich, but when he first entered the mansion, he still had to use tricks to win his poker money. It's really infuriating!
Thinking of this, Rong Tang turned his head and glared at Su Huaijing.
Su Huaijing was listening to Wang Xiuyu talking, and paid some attention to Rong Tang. Seeing this, he was stunned for a moment, raised his eyebrows, and asked him what was wrong with his eyes.
Rong Tang ignored him. Princess Duan Yi felt mixed emotions when she saw the young couple doing these little tricks under her nose. She couldn't say anything or do anything right. She could only sigh half-heartedly and stuffed the red envelope into Rong Tang's hand. She then watched him walk to Su Huaijing's side naturally, opened his pocket and threw the red envelope in.
The whole set of actions was so coherent that Lian Duanyi couldn't help but wonder, could it be that his grandson thought the gold and silver were too heavy and didn't want to carry them with him, so he treated Su Huaijing as his servant and carried this and that for him
The eldest princess was amused by her own thoughts for a moment. She shook her head and laughed, and asked the nanny to find a few hundred-year-old ginseng from her room and send them to Tanghua Courtyard.
The silver went into Su Huaijing's hands, so there would be nothing wrong in sending medicinal herbs.
When all matters at Ningxuan Prince's Palace were concluded and the sun had not yet reached overhead, someone from the palace came to announce an imperial decree, inviting the eldest princess and Ningxuan Prince to come to the palace for a banquet with their female family members and children.
Every year on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor would host a banquet for all officials to demonstrate the close ties between the monarch and his subjects.
No matter whether it was King Ningxuan or Duan Yi, they could not escape this meal.
The carriage set out from Ningxuan Prince's Palace and moved slowly all the way, encountering many carriages and horses from officials' families on the way.
The court officials considered this an honor and lifted the curtain to chat with her.
Rong Tang was drowsy in the carriage, but finally, unable to bear the long journey and the scrutiny along the way, he pulled Rong Zheng in, taught him how to play poker, and then the three of them started playing Landlord.
Rong Zheng didn't understand: "If there were no landlords in the village, where would those farmers who didn't have any land go to find a job?"
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment by his question, and then he realized that some of the common sense in his own concepts was actually completely inconsistent with this world.
It’s okay if we don’t have long-term contact, and it doesn’t matter if we were on edge every day in the past two lives.
But once this string loosens, people who are around him day and night will always find flaws in some details that he inadvertently reveals.
If these flaws were to be discussed, they were almost all exposed to Su Huaijing without any cover.
But the villain, who was so suspicious and cautious, never asked him a single question.
Rong Tang thought about how he was so afraid that Su Huaijing would become suspicious and kill him when they first met in this life. Then he examined himself in his heart about the current self who had no scruples at all. He wondered who changed who.
He changed Su Huaijing, but didn't Su Huaijing also change him
Rong Tang twirled his fingers, thinking about how to answer Rong Zheng's question, and then he saw Su Huaijing had already picked up a card and said casually, "The people need a monarch because the people are not educated, and the workers are not suitable for the millions of people. But if one day, the farmers who face the loess and back to the sky can also recite poems and discuss ancient and modern times, and the livelihood of the world turns to others, then they may not even need an emperor, so why do they need landlords to give them a job to make a living?"
He spoke clearly and naturally. The carriage was moving slower than ever before. Outside the window, officials wearing black gauze hats were still speaking official language to each other across the sedan chair. When Su Huaijing said this, both people in the carriage were stunned.
Rong Zheng's ideas were shocked. He had no idea what book Su Huaijing had learned these words from.
Rong Tang was shocked at his ability to think beyond his time. Moreover, Su Huaijing was a royal descendant, so how could he have such thoughts
Su Huaijing urged a few people to draw cards, then raised his eyes and glanced at Rong Tang lightly, as if he had not said anything shocking at all.
Rong Zheng mechanically touched the cards, and it took him a long while to come back to his senses. He hesitated and said, "This... is impossible?"
The monarch needs the people to consolidate his power, and don’t the people need the monarch to be the backbone of their faith
The word "education" is simple to say, but even though Dayu has been established for hundreds of years and has developed to its current state of prosperity and strength, only two or three out of ten students have been truly enlightened, and most of these two or three are children of farmers who return home to farm after finishing their elementary school.
Not to mention the tuition fees to be submitted to the teacher, even the pens, ink, paper and inkstone were things that ordinary people could not afford. To support a scholar, it often took three generations to work in the fields for decades.
The special examination, which is held every three years, seems to have a large number of participants, but in fact those candidates are just a drop in the ocean among the millions of ordinary people. Even in a wealthy place like the capital, half of the ordinary people are still illiterate.
Su Huaijing said it so easily that Rong Zheng was in a trance for a moment. He seriously thought about the possibility of what he said, but when he finished thinking, he realized that it was simply impossible to achieve. If he brought it up to others, they would probably laugh their heads off.
Su Huaijing smiled and said, "Ten or a hundred years may not be possible, but what about a thousand or ten thousand years?"
He has read too many history books and seen too many human lives. Even if he cannot estimate the entire future, he can still see a vague shadow.
What he said is not completely impossible to achieve. It is also difficult to say that Tangtang's leaf cards, which are completely different from the popular ones in Dayu, are completely absurd.
Rong Zheng wanted to ask more, but Rong Tang interrupted him: "Play a card."
Su Huaijing glanced at him, only to see Rong Tang with his eyebrows lowered, looking at the cards in his hand. He seemed to be thinking of nothing else, except that there was a faint circle of white on his fingertips, which was caused by excessive exertion.
Su Huaijing withdrew his gaze and played with them for a long time, until the carriage stopped in front of the palace gate. After the examination, they were about to walk into the palace. Then he took Rong Tang's hand and got out of the carriage. His fingers slowly circled on his fingertips to help him relieve the almost negligible pain.
The weather was very good, and the sun shone on the red brick and yellow tile palace walls, reflecting a bright light.
People were walking in rows on the palace road. Each one was steady and cautious, standing under the brick wall that was so high that the top was almost invisible, as small as a grain of dust.
Su Huaijing asked casually, "Tangtang's way of playing that deck of cards is very novel, why is it named like that?"
Rong Tang's heart sank. He didn't know how to answer, so he pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.
Fortunately, Su Huaijing never really forced him, and he smiled and gave him an excuse: "Did you see it in a dream too?"
Rong Tang was slightly startled, hesitated for a while, and nodded: "Yes."
Snow piled up on the palace walls. The most prosperous, solemn, ancient and ancient building in the country of Dayu opened its doors, welcoming every guest with generosity.
The golden dragon carved on the pavilion looks majestic and solemn, gazing at the towering national border.
The sunlight passed through the glazed tiles and reflected in front of the old friend who had not seen him for many years. Su Huaijing narrowed his eyes and smiled softly: "That's great. When can I also enter Tangtang's dream and take a look?"
(End of this chapter)