Chapter 51 Stay at a Stay

On April 25, 2018, the 48th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the northern suburbs of the capital, Changchun Garden, and Qingxi Bookstore.

Cao Yong was wearing a blue guard uniform and holding a knife hilt, standing at the door of the hall, following Shu Ming and the other two guards on duty. This is the first time he has been on duty since he recovered from illness, but not in the Forbidden City, but in Changchun Garden.

By mid-April, the weather was getting hotter and Kangxi's priest went to Changchun Garden to listen to the affairs.

The rotation time of Cao Yong and his team of guards is from Shen to You (3:00 to 7:00 pm), and it will take half an hour to return to the city from Changchun Garden. The city gate is closed at You, so Cao Yong will stay in the garden today.

*

When the turn was over, Cao Yong followed Shu Ming and others to the place where the guards rested, and was in the two rows of rooms behind Taipu Xuan. There were a few low-level eunuchs here as a choreographer. When they saw these guards coming back on the turn, they brought the water to get the food.

Cao Yong and his eight others, in addition to Shu Ming, there were two second-class guards, and the others were third-class, just like Cao Yong. The place where everyone settled in the garden was a room on the left side. Except for the door opening, there were kangs on the other three sides.

When everyone went outside, washed their hands and noodles, the eunuch had already arranged the kang table and delivered everyone's dishes.

The food was placed on the kang on the north side. Although they were both guards, the food provided in the yard was different due to different grades. Explain the portion, there were chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep, and all four dishes were considered big dishes. In front of the three second-class guards, there were braised lamb legs and a stewed cabbage. For the four third-class guards, there were only chickens and ducks, and the other two were braised cabbage and fried bean sprouts.

This is even the ancient big pot rice. Before Cao Yong came out of the mansion in the afternoon, he ate something, but he was still a little hungry.

Seeing that everyone else moved their chopsticks, Cao Yong picked up a piece of duck meat and put it in his mouth. As a result, he bit it several times, but didn't bite it much, and spit it out indecently, so he had to swallow it directly. Looking at the few dishes that looked good in front of him, he unwilling to give up and put it in his mouth. The pungent bean flavor, no wonder it looks so hard, it is not fried at all.

"Haha!" The other guards couldn't help laughing when they saw Cao Yong's expression. Shu Ming pushed the lamb leg that had just been in front of him into Cao Yong, and said, "This is not bad, it's stewed pretty bad." As he said that, he poured the half bowl of duck soup in front of him on the rice and started eating it in big mouthfuls.

There was a third-class guard, named Heshan, who was named Baiqi, and said, "From Xiao Cao's appearance, I knew that he had never stayed in the palace or the garden. The food in these two places was just a full meal. I was extremely uncomfortable when I first came. I got used to it after a long time!"

Everyone is a martial artist, and there is no rule that he can't eat or sleep. After hearing Heshan's words, everyone else responded.

"Yes, I thought the food in the palace was so good, and I once brag about it with the kids outside, but I know the taste!" Another guard sighed.

"The ducks and chickens are thin, and the vegetables are raw and hard. It's also a good standard to maintain this every time!" said another guard.

Shu Ming heard everyone complaining and laughed and scolded: "All of them are bastards. Ordinary people eat chicken and duck. Even if it's the New Year, you guys are picky about big fish and big meat!"

Cao Yong picked up chopsticks and lamb legs, which was indeed a little bit worse than chickens and ducks, but the others did not move. He imitated everyone, soaked rice with duck soup, and pushed the lamb legs into the middle of the table. Without him being polite, everyone stretched out the chopsticks, and finally the lamb legs that had faded were taken away by Heshan and chewed the tendons.

After eating the legs of lamb, Heshan wiped his mouth and said, "Long live the emperor tomorrow, we will leave Beijing. We will all follow the followers. If we follow the itinerary in previous years, it will take three or four months to return to Beijing. If it is compared with the rice on the road, the current one is still good!"

After everyone finished their meal, the eunuch came up and removed the table.

Regarding the matter of being with the escort tomorrow, Shu Ming nagged a few more words, it was nothing more than preparing the horse, how many clothes to bring to change, etc.

As he was talking, he heard footsteps coming, someone lifted the curtain and came in: "Lao Shu, brothers, come and play with you!"

The visitors were Dethei, Nalanfusen and others. They were the rotation at midnight, so they stayed in the garden. Now that the sky is long, they know that Shuming and they are also here, so they come over to stroll.

It was too late to practice martial arts in the middle of the night, so Dethei suggested that the arm wrestling guys compete.

Shu Ming refused to rely on it and looked at Det's underworld contempt: "No, it's just your piece of cake that can contain me, what else can I compare to!"

Dethei scratched his head: "If you and I don't compete, you won't compete, so that you can't nag, let the kids play and win two games in three games. After leaving Beijing, we have two tent items in one place, and the loser will be responsible for giving everyone a wild game along the way!"

This suggestion was approved by everyone in the room. Cao Yong was next to him, secretly funny. It seemed that everyone was scared by the food they were supplied.

After Dethei finished speaking, he happened to see Cao Yong, pointed at him, and said, "I am not as good as Lao Shu, so Xiao Cao is fine, he is still a child!"

Shu Ming nodded, but a few young third-class guards on Dethei refused: "Detou, why are you turning your elbows out! Xiao Cao is not ours at the moment, so this is not right!"

After hearing this, the guards who were instructed to laugh, "Do you have the courage to take advantage of it, are you afraid of losing?"

Everyone in the room was talking nonsense, and Cao Yong smiled and said, "If the seniors are not afraid that I will pull everyone back, then I will compete!" It was not that he liked to show off, but that Shu Ming gave him several winks next to him.

Since Cao Yong was willing to compete, no one could say it. Dethenash seemed to want to win this game safely, and he did not care about any statement of bullying the small by bullying the small. The second-class guard Aji was sent directly to the field.

Aji's big and thick appearance was contrasted with Cao Yong, who was slightly thin. Among the people, someone had already shouted: "Brothers, I admire him, shameless!"

Dethei smiled "hehe" but did not stop him.

Everyone lifted a table next to the window to the middle of the room. Cao Yong and Aji stood together, rolled up their sleeves, bent down, and placed their arms on the table.

Cao Yong has practiced martial arts for several years and his hands are still a little strong, but there is still a gap with Aji. Therefore, it is a bit difficult to increase the wrist strength.

Everyone thought there was no suspense, and Cao Yong would definitely be defeated immediately. The second group of guards on both sides had already started rolling up their sleeves. The result was surprising, and Cao Yong had been persisting.

He went to the palace to serve as a guard, and was accompanied by these men, and was completely different from Cao Yong's life in Jiangning in the past. However, speaking, he did not reject this atmosphere, because they were all adults and spoke more happily. Everyone was a martial artist. If they didn't want to be underestimated by everyone, they had to show some real skills. It was precisely because of this that Shu Ming urged Cao Yong to come on stage.

Cao Yong was persevering. Although his strength was not as strong as Aji, he was always persevering. With the attention of everyone, Aji gained an advantage little by little, and Cao Yong made it back little by little. In everyone's eyes, Cao Yong was more of a weak boy than a martial artist, and he treated him more or less as a child. Now, seeing him as such a resilience, everyone cheered.

Two quarters of an hour later, Cao Yong and Aji were still competing, and their faces were full of sweat. In the end, Aji gave in first. Cao Yong rubbed his wrists and glanced at Shu Ming. Shu Ming nodded at him, with a little more praise in his eyes.

Others didn't notice it, but Shu Ming noticed it. Cao Yong's seemingly fair palms were covered with calluses, which was the result of years of swords and guns. Therefore, he made Cao Yong show his skills so that he would not be underestimated by Tongshi's guards. Unexpectedly, Detehe and the others sent out the most powerful Aji. Shu Mingben sighed that he had made a mistake now, but he didn't expect that Cao Yong would persist until the end at the disadvantage.

In the next two competitions, both sides won one. In this way, Cao Yong and the others won. Dethe and the others left, and everyone was very happy. Cao Yong was a little surprised, but he just played wild game every day, which was not a big chore, why did everyone do this?

Seeing Cao Yong being confused, Shu Ming smiled and said, "You have never left the capital, so I don't know that you march immediately all day long and don't want to get on the horse when you arrive at the camp. That feels bad!"

More than an hour later, Shu Ming saw that it was late at night, so he asked everyone to place him.

Shu Ming occupied the north kang alone, with three second-class guards on the east kang, and Cao Yong and a few were on the west kang. The luggage was all prepared in the garden, and it looked clean, but it smelled muddy.

Cao Yong was lying on the bed and couldn't sleep for a while. His mother had only been in Beijing for a few days and was about to leave again. Fortunately, because his sister was pregnant, Li planned to stay in Beijing and wait for his daughter to return to Jiangning after giving birth in August. If Cao Yong could come back before that, he could still get back with his mother.

After thinking about his mother, Cao Yong thought of Xiaoman again. After opening the city gate tomorrow, Xiaoman will go to the garden with the servants of Shuming's family. They will change their luggage and wash clothes, etc., and will be taken care of by Xiaoman.

Although there are servants under the name of the Guards' camp, they just set up a tent and prepared meals. Because they had to leave the capital for a few months, each person had to prepare two to three horses, and also change their luggage and wash clothes, so many guards brought servants or accompanying them. Most of the guards in the Guards' camp came from the Lords' House of Shangsanqi, and were served by others. Few of them had done such work as combing their braids and washing clothes.

The two brothers Wei Hei and Wei Bai heard that Cao Yong could take someone as a entourage, and they all rushed to follow him. However, when Cao Yong looked at the two brothers, he didn't seem to be able to comb his hair and wash clothes, he ordered Xiaoman.

Xiaoman was very excited, but Mei Jing was worried about him and patiently taught him to braid his hair.

Xiaoman is young, and although his hands are a little clumsy, he is concerned about learning things. He is looking for someone to braid his hair. As everyone grinned, Xiaoman's work in his hands became smoother and more and more stylish.
Chapter completed!