Chapter 166: Fighting for Cold Pork

"Ah, have you given the gift from the teacher?" Zhao Xing asked anxiously while getting up to put on his clothes.

Cheng Azhu did not answer, and Chen Yiyi laughed: "Everything is waiting for Brother Xing to make the decision, and the daylily is cold."

What? The daylily is cold. This word comes from Su Shi's "I don't have to go back in a hurry when we meet, and the yellow flowers and butterflies will be sad tomorrow." Why do Vietnamese people know the allusion of "daylily" in just a blink of an eye?

Cheng Azhu immediately continued as a mistress: "It's almost the first day, and the officials are preparing for the New Year's greetings today... Also, there will be a banquet for students tomorrow. The officials are also ready to answer questions... We still have to 'Winter Winter Wind' today, so we won't accompany the officials. Hurry up, the officials are still waiting for the 'Trial Master' where the Mansion Master is waiting!"

Zhao Xing quickly put on his clothes and stood up.

According to the rules, he can only wear new socks and new shoes for today. Originally, he wanted to say a few words, such as "With my current wealth, you don't need to make shoes and socks by yourself, my wife. If we have money, I will buy them on the street, can't it be possible?"...

However, during the Winter Solstice, wearing shoes and socks made by my wife by myself was a traditional national etiquette. He pinched Cheng Azhu's hand gratefully, turned over to see if the little hands were called out by needle and thread, and then patted the latter's shoulder with confidence.

This custom is not followed by Japanese people in modern times. Japanese women often give their husbands chocolates on this day, which means: thanking her husband for giving herself a sweet life for a year. It has lost that "Chinese flavor". At this moment, Zhao Xing could feel the indescribable warmth in his heart.

Chen Yiyi and Liao Xiaoxiao were not idle, so they followed Azhu to present new shoes and socks to her husband. While handing it over, Yiyi said respectfully: "We also gave a gift from the teacher. At that time, the official was not at home, so we will make the decision for you. Please forgive me. This year's New Year gift has been prepared. My husband will come back and take a look. If there is nothing wrong, he should send it to the capital immediately to avoid missing the time."

"Okay, you can't miss the time." Zhao Xing agreed while putting on a full set of official uniforms, putting on a complete official hat, and putting on a short fur outside the clothes. He carried the food box handed over by Cheng Azhu and walked honestly outside the mansion.

On the Winter Solstice, "Shicai Master" was a sacred saint Confucius who taught the words to the common people. Because of the widespread disciples of Confucius, knowledge was spread from the aristocratic class to the common people. On this day, all scholars in the world would worship this saint under the leadership of local officials.

The Master is not a person who dislikes the poor and loves the rich. There is no need for expensive warriors to pay homage to him. Two plates of side dishes are just celery and the other plate is tofu. Tofu means "blessing", which is to expect the most saints to enjoy happiness forever in the kingdom of heaven.

The meaning of celery is a little deeper. It is said that in ancient times, when celery was introduced to China, people thought celery was poisonous. A man bravely tried celery and thought it was delicious, so he presented a bouquet of celery to the person he respected the most, and a word was born called "celery". It means: I think it's good for a little thing, but I don't know if the other party can be satisfied.

The sacrifice of "Master Shicai" is celery and tofu, which gave birth to a word, which is Wei Xiaobao's catchphrase: Amitabha, celery tofu.

It means: I respect the Buddha very much, and I offer the most precious thing in my mind, hoping that the other party will like it.

When the scholars of the Song Dynasty were "Shi Cai", the servants could not carry the vegetable boxes. In order to show their piety, they had to walk to the Confucius Temple with the vegetable boxes in their own hands. After the Song Dynasty, this rule was chaotic. Ordinary literati took the vegetable boxes and carried the vegetables by their servants, which was also allowed.

When Zhao Xing was about to walk to the Confucius Temple, he was shocked by the scene in front of him. He saw that there were crowds of people in front of him, and they were dressed as scholars. These scholars were shaking a folding fan in the cold weather. At this sacred moment, they could not forget to have relationships with others and talk about each other. Tens of thousands of people went to meet with acquaintances. For a moment, the entire Confucius Temple Square was filled with a huge buzzing sound.

According to the rules, Zhang Yong and others were military officers and were not qualified to participate in the "Shicai Master". So Zhao Xing searched for a long time and couldn't find half an acquaintance. He thought about it, and his huge body squeezed into it. The literati who was squeezed away by him looked at his back angrily. Seeing Zhang Xing's official uniform exposed under his short fur, he compared his small body... those people finally swallowed the insult back.

Zhao Xing finally crossed the crowd and came to the gate of Confucius Temple. Deng Yufu was guarding the door and looking around. When he saw Zhao Xing, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly greeted him: "Sign up the verdict, go in quickly. Lord Xueyu has urged him several times."

Zhao Xing turned around and looked at the heads in the square and asked in a low voice: "How many people are there? Oh my God, it's so dark. How many students are there in Mizhou?"

Deng Yufu whispered: "According to the classics of this year, there are roughly 80,000 people... There are still village scholars outside the Confucius Temple who have not entered the school. Only tribute scholars can enter the temple. When they stay in the first courtyard, there are about 6,000 people; there are about 1,000 people in the second entrance, and there are about 1,000 people in the main hall. There are only 500 people in the main hall."

Oh my God, 80,000 people. There were 80,000 college students in one place in Mizhou. No wonder it was not allowed to worship Confucius later. This was a "group incident" of 80,000 people... However, strangely, in the Song Dynasty, there was no yamen runner at the scene.

Zhao Xing followed Deng Yufu all the way to the temple... Well, Deng Yufu was not qualified to enter the hall either, but he was now a "official" who asked Zhao Xing, so he "entered the hall and entered the room". Recently, this guy also posted a few words, wearing a precious white tiger skin, and the boots he wore were also upgraded, replaced with pure deer skin, dyed with a black dye, and shining with a sentence all over his body: I ​​am very rich.

At this moment, there was heavy snow in the sky. This was the first heavy snow this year. In the heavy snow, people's vision changed to only ten meters. The hall was a little dim. Mizhou Xueyu was sitting in the chief with a stern face, watching Zhao Xing come in gloomy. Wang Zishao and Suo Wendao sat under him with a smile. When they saw Zhao Xing come in, they hurriedly greeted him enthusiastically.

Xueyu's grade is lower than Zhao Xing, but today, he is the boss in the field, and even the magistrate has to obey his mercy. Zhao Xing came late, and the two of them greeted him enthusiastically, but they didn't want Xueyu to scold Zhao Xing in the Hall of Confucius.

Who is Zhao Xing? Xueyu said with a stern face, "Zhao Li, you are today..." Zhao Xing had already rushed to the other party, holding the other party's hands enthusiastically shaking, and shouting: "Mr. Xueyu, thank you, I am a hard work, on behalf of the students of Mizhou, on behalf of the common people of Mizhou, and on behalf of the Mizhou League Training. Thank you for your hard work for teaching and educating people for the year..."

In fact, what he said was nonsense, and what was in his hand was the reality. When Zhao Xing held Xueyu's hand, Xueyu felt a chill in his hand, and a thing was stuffed into his left and right hand.

The things on the left hand are cold, so Xueyu let out the index finger. When he touches the index finger, he knows that it is a smooth and smooth secret stone inkstone; the things on the right hand are octagonal-shaped and hard wood.

This is more useful than the ten representatives - Xueyu immediately turned frozen on his face, and he nodded with satisfaction.

Since the discovery of Mizhou stone, Mizhou Tuan has firmly controlled the production of stone, and most of the finished products were handed over to the palace as tributes. Judging from the few inkstones circulated by Wang Zishao, the idea is a wonderful idea, and the carving is simply a magical craft. Each one is a work of art, with a strong cultural flavor. Nowadays, as a Mizhou native, there is no Mizhou inkstone in his family, he is embarrassed to say hello to each other when he meets each other.

This Xueyu had long wanted to get close to Zhao Xing, and he also got several inkstones to go home to appreciate them to show his qualifications as "Mizhou's cultural first", but Zhao Xing was almost gone all day long, making him unable to start... Finally, he was able to fulfill his wish today, and when he remembered, he burst into tears.

As for the octagonal prismatic body that was stuffed into his right hand, it is not simple. Legend has it that it was specially made by Zhao Xing for Su Dongpo. Su Shi liked to wander in the countryside. When he was in Huangzhou, he often devoted himself to the mountains and rivers. In order to facilitate the teacher to write poetry and painting in the wild, Zhao Xing summoned a skilled craftsman to make this wild sketch pen, named "Gagua Brush".

The Bagua brush is very Bagua. This eight-edge prism body has an eight-edge box with a cracked eight-edge box on each cylinder. Each column is a small box, and eight long and short pens are hung inside the box. When the eight petals are combined, they become an eight-edge wooden column with no gaps in the whole body.

This gossip pen is made of high-end Vietnamese mahogany or African ebony, and the rarest one is made of green sandalwood. It is said that this wood is stronger than steel and can be used as a weapon to resist the attack of swords in critical moments. Because of its exquisite production, it has now become a necessity for high-level literati in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is currently a symbol of the identity of literati. Without this thing, it means that your poetry is not good and no one appreciates it.

Xueyu had only heard of a few great scholars with outstanding poetry possessing this thing, so when Xueyu got the secret stone inkstone, he was not overjoyed, but when he found out that he had obtained a set of gossip pens in his sleeves, he was overjoyed. Thinking that he could also show off to others with this set of pens, his face was as if spring breeze was bathed on his face, and he said tightly: "Since everyone has come, let's start. Brother Li Ren, stand by me and we will worship together."

In theory, Wang Zishao should be standing next to Xueyu, but Wang Zishao had known Zhao Xing's methods, so he curled his lips disapprovingly - this guy must have swung the sugar-coated shells again and knocked down Xueyu... Forget it, forgive this guy, well, I just don't know what this guy used to tempt Xueyu. I have to ask back, I can't take advantage of this guy.

Suo Wendao had similar thoughts. He stared at Xueyu vigilantly, but saw Lord Xueyu use Zhao Xing's figure to cover it up. He turned around, flicked his sleeves at his waist, and exposed his hands outside his sleeves, and took the food box handed over by someone else.

The officials in the hall were in chaos and spontaneously arranged to stand in order according to their grades. The current governor Wang Zishao finally stood side by side with Xueyu. Behind them, the second row were retired officials. They arranged from right to left according to their title and taste. The third row was the turn of the current official. Behind the current official, there was a Jinshi status and he took the position of a scholar who was a free official.

Xueyu was the leader in reciting the sacrificial text... Zhao Xing could not understand the sentence "Sing four lily and six, brocaded heart embroidered mouth, palace Shenyu shaking, and shengsu tentacles". He stood in the third row, following everyone's lips and listened carefully, but he made a sound in his throat.

After the chanting of the sacrificial text, the people who presided over the sacrificial rituals offered the sacrificial rituals, including a pig's head, a bunch of fresh wheat, and a sheep's head... The students below took out their celery and tofu from the food box and passed it to the main priest - the sacrificial wine. The sacrificial wine placed the students' dishes on the sacrificial table one by one. At this time, the Jinshi who were two people also took out their own dishes, but their dishes were not qualified to be transferred into the hall and could only be placed on the ground.

In addition to these, the magistrate must also present a few plates of four season fruits, nine urns of wine, a few pig heads, and a few pig trotters on behalf of the officials of the magistrate. When the magistrate offered wine, Zhao Xing obediently put the students in the team and burned incense according to the time.

The tribute lasted until noon, at noon, and the ceremony ended. The priest held a knife in his hand and cut three pieces of meat from the pig's head. These three pieces of meat were "forbidden carbides". Only the priest, Xueyu, and the priest, are qualified to taste. During the ritual, these three pieces of meat cannot be touched by others. They have to wait until the next day for the ritual to be completed and the temple people will be sent to the doors of the three families. The three families can taste it with their hearts. Legend has it that this meat can make people wise and help people pass the imperial examinations, so the three families are mostly used to reward their favorite disciples.

The rituals were here, and those who were staying in the Confucius Temple began to flock into the main hall. Zhao Xing and his group retreated outside the hall, and the people who rushed into the hall went straight to the pig's head on the sacrifice table. Many people had rolled up their sleeves and went barely, and some people were holding a sharp knife in their hands - they were performing "grabing cold pork".

Legend has it that the pig head sacrificed on the altar is contaminated with the wisdom of the saint. If you can eat a piece of meat like this, you will be able to go to the Golden List of High School the next year... Since the memorial service is actually held on the winter solstice, the pork that has been placed on the altar for a long time is often frozen, hard and fat, so it is called "cold pork".

The Jinshi did not participate in the robbery of cold pork. They were already Jinshi, so they could only stand outside the hall and watch the village scholars and tributes who entered one and two, competing for that desire.

After the tributes had finished robbing, they also left the venue. It was the turn of the 80,000 people to flock into the temple, and they would share the celery and tofu that they had sacrificed.

These people were all wise men. They stood cold and hungry outside the Confucius Temple until noon. Although they were frozen like stones, celery and tofu, and pig's trotters, which meant "a wonderful hand"... They also had a happy meal. Because Xueyu was on the scene, 80,000 cultural people stepped forward in an orderly manner, each of them ate a small mouthful and drank a glass of fine wine presented by the Mansion. If they dared to cross the class and snatch it, they would be removed from the list by Xueyu.

It was not easy to have a decade of hard work, so although 80,000 people were rushing, they even breathed much lighter when they entered the Confucius Temple. There was only a chewing sound left in the temple, plus the greetings of the Jinshi outside the hall.

The Jinshi greeted each other at this time, which was called "Worshiping Winter".

The entire hall was filled with people, and everyone was nodding and saluting each other. Because all the scholars were present, they were all juniors, juniors, seniors, and seniors, and they greeted each other and became familiar with each other so that they could support each other in the officialdom in the future. If they knew each other or not, they would bow to each other. As a result, you clicked your head and I clicked my head, and the temple was full of shaking my head.

After lunch, it was about the afternoon work hours, the students spontaneously gathered by the teacher and began to "bow the words and paper".

Ancient literati loved to cherish the paper of words and did not use the paper with words to wipe things randomly. Among the people, especially the scholars and literati class attached great importance to this point. They believed that cherishing the paper of words is respect for the culture given by saints. If using the paper with words to wipe the dirty things indiscriminately, it would be a blasphemy and disrespectfulness to the teacher. Therefore, they did not throw away the characters written by them. Every year, they would bring them to the Confucius Temple and burn them together when they worship Confucius. When burning the paper of words, teachers and students would kneel down together. This is called "teaching knowledge and knowledge."

After burning the paper, the classmates made an appointment with each other to visit the teacher's house the next day. This is the "Teacher Long"...

Zhao Xing forgot: On the Winter Solstice, the court officials had another holiday. It was one of the four large and small holidays in the Song Dynasty, and it was held for three days. Originally, Zhao Xing wanted to sleep in because he was on vacation today, but as a result, this day was even more tiring than going to work.

Wang Zishao also surrounded him who claimed to be students. They humbly thanked the teacher - Deng Yufu should be in the ranks, but he stood beside Zhao Xing. Wang Zishao seemed to have no intention of inviting students to go to the house. Seeing that Zhao Xing was still there, he nodded to the people. His eyes rolled, waved to Zhao Xing, and said kindly: "Leave people, I don't see your students coming, so I'll just go to your house tomorrow, and invite my students together."

What's the reason for this?

Before Zhao Xing could refute, Wang Zishao's students were already cheering... Ah, can he still refuse?

Zhao Xing, no one in Mizhou knows that he is a rich man who will bring wealth to others. So many people came forward to establish a relationship with him just to make up a fuss in the group training and smuggling activities. Unfortunately, Zhao Xing never gives strangers a chance, and Wang Zishao's students are all people who are competing for the flames and accomplices. Now, he can post Zhao Xing as the big man who is a big man who can see the legendary luxury Bixia Pavilion apartment. Can Zhao Xing refuse?

When Wang Zishao did this, he changed from the "Hongshilong ceremony" of his disciples to the "Hongshi support ceremony" of holding a furnace and drinking. Although both of these are the banquet etiquettes of the Winter Solstice Festival, the nature has changed...

After the teachers and students made an appointment for the banquet, Wang Zishao began to walk outside the temple with the current officials. At this point, the Confucius worship activity that the current officials participated in was over, and the rest was the group of scholars who continued to divide celery, tofu, fruits and wine.

When Zhao Xing walked to the door of the mansion, he found Zhang Yong sitting on the stone beast at his door, looking at the sky in a depressed manner. Seeing that he had been sitting for a long time, a thick layer of snowflakes fell on his black fur. When Zhao Xing approached, he nodded blankly and asked casually: "Is the sacrifice to Confucius finished? It was dark early today, and it was almost dark."

There are strict regulations on any stone beast erected at the gate of the Song Dynasty. For example, stone tigers and stone sheep are standing in front of the tomb of the emperor. Tigers are a symbol of dignity and nobility. Sheep are gentle in personality and beautiful in shape. When our ancestors created the characters, there was a saying that "sheep faces are beautiful". Therefore, stone tigers are often placed before the imperial tombs since the Han and Jin Dynasties, and stone sheep are used to eliminate evil.

In addition, stone carvings of horses and horse-controlling officials in front of the gate in the Song Dynasty meant that the generals had a family of generals; stone carvings with horns in front of the gate - lions with wings and double horns on the head were generally called "Tianlu"; single horns were called Qilin; no horns were used to ward off evil spirits and stood in front of first-rank civil and military officials.

Officials of the Political Affairs Hall can add a pair of auspicious birds in front of the door. The stone elephant and the elephant trainer mean "Elephant has various forms, where is the vicissitudes?" and often stand in front of the children of the royal family... Well, if you see a stone lion with wings in front of someone's door in the Song Dynasty, you can be sure: he is a time traveler, and he traveled from time to time after the Yongle year of the Ming Dynasty, because the stone lion is a product after the Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Xing bullied the ancients. He carved the "horse-mounted stone" at the door into a species that does not exist in the etiquette regulations. For example, the first on the left of the first row is an ostrich, and the first on the right is a gentle raccoon; the second row is a toad on the left and the peacock on the right... and the level regulations are invisibly avoided.

These stone beasts were high and low, and Zhang Yong was sitting on the raccoon cat with a charming look on his face.

Zhao Xing held back his laughter and asked, "Why don't you go in? Why are you sitting?"

Zhang Yong shook his head: "My family is inside. Your master is not here. My family doesn't let me visit your house at will, especially not for me to come to your house for a bath."

Zhao Xing was happy. It turned out that this was another "Chen Jichang" who was afraid of his wife in the Song Dynasty.

Well, in the Song Dynasty, it seems that it is not appropriate to call men who are afraid of their wives "Chen Jichang", because there are too many people who are afraid of their wives in the Song Dynasty, such as Li Qingzhao's father.

"Let's go", Zhao Xing greeted Zhang Yong: "Aren't you cold?"

Zhang Yong shook the fur on his body: "Bear skin, very warm."

It seems that all generals like tiger bears. But this type of fur is thicker and heavy when worn. Zhao Xing likes soft fox fur and sable fur. He ignored Zhang Yong's show-off and walked to the mansion while mocking: "It turns out that you are sitting on the stone beast in my house, showing off your bear skin... Women are all busy, so let's go there to feel comfortable. How about taking a hot bath in this cold day?"

Zhang Yong waved his hand quickly: "I heard that there are Japanese women in your bathhouse rubbing their backs close to each other, which is gentle and comfortable - I dare not. My wife just heard about this and will never allow me to come to your door."

"Then go to the bathroom upstairs - Qixia Pavilion to listen to music and drink... What do I remember to eat on the winter solstice?"

"Dumplings, wontons!"

Dumplings are said to be invented by Zhang Zhongjing of the Three Kingdoms period. He made a bowl of "Dicking Hanjiaoer Soup" on the winter solstice. The pasta inside is filled with stuffing, which looks like ears, so it is called "Jiaoer". It has been changed for a long time, and local names such as "dumplings", "flat food", "dumplings", and "water snacks".

The winter solstice is the day when the yang energy is born. Eating "dumplings" means "the birth of one yang"; eating "wontons" is to celebrate the "first opening of chaos".

When they arrived at the backyard, Zhao Xing found that the yard had become a women's gathering. In the thick snow, the women each knelt on a bamboo mat, and were busy with pickled pickles. Zhao Xing then remembered what Cheng Azhu said before leaving: Winter wind pickled.

"When is it now? Is it still pickled pickles?" Zhao Xing asked in shock. Only then did he see clearly that Zhang Yong's wife Xu's family was also among them.

"It's a little late, but my husband was not here when Xiaoxue was there, so I waited to prepare the pickles and drag them until the winter solstice to get them out," Liao Xiaoxiao said with a giggle.

"It's cold, come in quickly and don't freeze your body." Zhao Xing said halfway, and seeing a few Japanese girls among them, he suddenly felt that this scene was a little familiar, and he seemed to have seen it in his memory.

Yes, I saw it on TV. Every year when it snows, Koreans wear this kind of Tang suit. Tens of thousands of people gather in the square. The scene is spectacular and the pickled vegetables are set up to make pickled vegetables for wintering. It turns out that this is called: "Winter wind pickled, so as to preserve it to control the winter."

It turns out that this is not a tradition of Koreans, it turns out that it is a Chinese custom and a tradition of the Song people.

In addition to pickled vegetables, pickled radish, pickled bacon, and pickled salted fish, the people on the scene were also in the "wind". There were many wooden racks standing beside the field, covered with wind-made vegetables, as well as wind chicken, wind meat, etc., which is "wind wax". Now all kinds of productions have come to an end.

When Zhao Xing saw several Japanese girls, he thought that Japanese girls were never afraid of cold. They only wore stockings in the coldest days, dared to go out to sweep snow, and never had rheumatism. Then he remembered that perhaps the Song people's constitution was the same as Koreans and Japanese, and they had a constitution to resist rheumatism... When he saw that the women had already had their end, he simply stopped persuading them.

The women were all working, and no one was serving them in Bixia Pavilion, so Zhao Xing had to do it himself. He removed his coat and sat cross-legged on the hot floor with Zhang cross-legged. Next to it was an alcohol stove, burning hot tea and hot wine, eating fresh fish pieces and dried fruits, chatting about the future year. After a while, the laughter and joy of women came from downstairs, and they began to take a bath.

The bathing style of the Song Dynasty was similar to that of modern Japan. It is said that there is a custom of men and women bathing together in the Netherlands. So the women who were bathing downstairs did not shy at all. They laughed loudly and urged the servants to burn the fire more. After a while, Kasili wore a light dress and walked upstairs. She was born in the tropical region and was not as cold-resistant as the Song people, so Cheng Azhu did not force her to participate in pickling pickles. Kasili was not cold-resistant and liked to curl up in the quilt the most in winter. She appeared here at this time. It must be because Cheng Azhu remembered that Zhao Xing was not served, so she notified her.

As soon as she came upstairs, Kasli walked to Zhao Xing with dancing steps, and jingled his feet. She sat down tightly with Zhao Xing, poured a few glasses of wine. She asked Zhao Xing in a humorous manner: "Master, the sisters have all gone to the south, why don't you let me go? Master, if I am not good at anything, please punish me, but don't do this."

Zhao Xing smiled, knocked on her irregular hand, and said with a smile: "You want to go, I will send you away tomorrow."
Chapter completed!