The Mid-Autumn Festival has become a very grand official festival in the Ming Dynasty.
There is a legend that when Zhu Yuanzhang rebelled, he agreed on the time of the uprising by giving each other mooncakes. Therefore, starting from the Ming Dynasty, the custom of giving mooncakes to each other during the Mid-Autumn Festival began.
In addition to giving each other mooncakes, worshiping the moon god is also an important Mid-Autumn Festival ritual.
In the back house of the magistrate, Magistrate Fang led his wife and son and daughter to worship the moon god, and then the family gathered around the pavilion to drink and admire the moon.
Fang Ruolan's younger brother was less than ten years old, and he was already sleepy after just staying up for a while. Mrs. Li put a cloak on her son, and the family continued to sit in the pavilion and admire the moon.
There is also the custom of staying up late during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The longer you stay up late on this day, the longer you will live.
This is also the reason why the old lady held a Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the Grand View Garden in Dream of Red Mansions.
Children get tired easily, and in the end they couldn't stand it any longer, so the boy sent his son back to his room.
The remaining three members of the family began to talk about their daily life.
Mrs. Li said in a good mood: "Lan'er, you didn't come last time. Our folk art club has already started rehearsing "The Peony Pavilion". Mrs. Li Tongpan's family is really good at singing, and she can sing it with style!"
Fang Ruolan's mouth twitched. Her good poetry club was snatched away by her mother and turned into an opera club. Mrs. Li had to drag her to participate every time.
Mrs. Li is in a happy mood. Recently, she feels that rehearsing is more interesting than playing horse-drawn games.
The prefect Fang is also very supportive of his wife's cultural undertakings. When the ladies gather together, they can always find out all kinds of news and can unite the friendship between the officials and their families.
Magistrate Fang stroked his beard and said: "This Su Ze is indeed talented. I sent his plays to the same year, and he also praised Su Ze's literary talents in his reply."
Mrs. Li sighed and said, "It's a pity that Su Ze is not a Jinshi. If he were, Lan'er could be betrothed to him."
Fang Ruolan's ears immediately turned red.
The prefect did not notice anything strange about his daughter, but Mrs. Li's words made her blood pressure rise again.
"Jinshi? Do you think that Jinshi is nothing? If Su Ze wins the imperial examination at this age, you can marry Lan'er to him!"
Mrs. Li, however, said unwillingly: "Juren? Is my Lan'er worthy of a juren?"
Magistrate Fang said: "Jinshi? How many twenty-year-old Jinshis have you seen? Don't you want to keep Lan'er until she is thirty before getting married? Even a thirty-year-old Jinshi wants to marry a teenage girl.
!”
Mrs. Li immediately became energetic and said: "Have you spoken your mind? You also want to take a teenage concubine, right? Do you men all love teenagers?"
Fang Zhifu rolled his sleeves and said, "It's unreasonable!"
The two quarreled for a while, and finally the magistrate walked away.
Although Mrs. Li defeated her opponent, she was still a little tired. She yawned and said:
"This Su Ze is really good. If he can win the imperial examination next year, he will barely pass. Mom went back to her room to sleep."
Fang Ruolan stood up, said a thousand blessings, sent her mother away, and took the maid to clean up the pavilion.
Fang Ruolan's ears were still red. She recalled the times she met Su Ze at Huimin Pharmacy, and her heart was slightly disturbed.
In his letter back, his uncle also greatly praised Su Ze's article.
Fang Ruolan has been close to her uncle since she was a child. Although his uncle was only a civil servant in the imperial examination, his knowledge was far superior to that of the prefect Fang.
After looking at the full moon in the sky, Fang Ruolan returned to the room. She thought about it, put on men's clothes, and walked out of the mansion with her maid.
"Miss, do you really want to steal food?"
Fang Ruolan's face turned red with embarrassment. She also learned about such a folk custom from her uncle's letter.
Unmarried women among the people will go out to steal green onions on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which means that they can marry a good husband.
Fang Ruolan had never done such a thing before. Going out to steal green onions from other people's yards at night gave Fang Ruolan a sense of excitement about doing bad things.
Quietly walking out of the side door of the magistrate's back office, Fang Ruolan recalled which family planted onions.
The people living near the magistrate's office were all noble people in the city, so naturally no one planted onions at home.
Fang Ruolan suddenly thought of the acres of land opened by Hai Rui at the county school. Didn't that weird county school teacher grow vegetables? Steal it from him!
The government office was not far from the county school, and Fang Ruolan was inconspicuous walking on the road with her maid who was also dressed as a man.
The Mid-Autumn Festival also has the tradition of women's night parade. Some ordinary women simply wear women's clothes and parade at night. They will look at young men generously when they see them along the way.
Fang Ruolan disguised herself as a man and couldn't see clearly in the dark, so she received a lot of flirtatious looks.
However, the streets today are not too dark. Rich people have set up tile towers in front of their homes. On the small towers made of tiles, flammable objects are placed. The flames are lit so high. This is Fujian area.
According to the unique folk custom, the flames of the tile towers symbolize rising heights. The larger the family, the larger the tile towers.
Fang Ruolan finally reached the edge of the county school. She walked around and touched her chest nervously.
The county school was dark and dark. Hai Rui removed the lights in the county school to save money. Fang Ruolan's personal maid was timid, so Fang Ruolan left her at the gate of the county school to show off.
The structure of the county school was similar to that of the government office, and Fang Ruolan finally found the farmland in the backyard.
at the same time.
Su Ze walked around the street, and the lively scene of the Mid-Autumn Festival made him feel homesick.
Is this hometown Changningwei or the hometown before traveling through time?
The two places overlapped, and Su Ze felt a little weak.
In addition, as he walked on the road, he was always watched by those women who wandered at night, so Su Ze quickly returned to the county school dormitory.
Su Ze, who was just about to take a rest, suddenly heard some movement in the county school.
Now that the county school is empty, Yanping Fuxue is not willing to crowd into the county school. The professors of the Fuxue have moved into a temple in the north of the city.
Yanping Academy also moved out of the county school, and now they only come to the county school when giving lectures.
There were only a few county students living in the school building. Su Ze saw someone sneaking behind the county school, where Hai Rui lived. Could it be that someone had sneaked into the county school to steal something?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it was. Su Ze went back to the house, picked up a wooden stick, found a torch, and followed Fang Ruolan into the backyard.
"Who!"
Su Ze raised the torch high, so frightened that Fang Ruolan stepped on the air and let out a cry of surprise.
When Su Ze saw the movement, he rushed over immediately. The torch illuminated instantly, and he saw a pale and pretty face exhaling in pain.
Isn't this Mr. Fang?
Su Ze looked at the food in Fang Ruolan's hand and immediately understood that she had stolen it.
Su Ze also knew about the custom of stealing vegetables during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but he didn't expect that the daughter of the magistrate would hate getting married so much?
Su Ze had actually guessed Fang Ruolan's identity a long time ago. Who else could influence the young woman in the government office besides Fang Zhifu's daughter?
When Fang Zhifu and his family first entered the city, Su Ze saw Fang Ruolan near the Chenghuang Temple.
"Master Fang?"
Fang Ruolan wished she could crawl into the ground in shame. She wanted to ask herself why she had to go to the county school to steal vegetables by some strange coincidence.
This time I was caught stealing food and my leg was twisted. It was really embarrassing.
Su Ze still had some emotional intelligence and said, "Master Fang wants to see Hai Jiaoyu? Jiaoyu has gone out to admire the moon."
Fang Ruolan also borrowed the donkey from the slope, held her feet and said, "Isn't Hai Jiaoyu here? Then I'll go back."
"Wait, you have a sprain."
Su Ze instinctively reached out and grabbed Fang Ruolan's ankle, and then used a muscle-aligning technique to grab it. His "Medicine" also reached Level 2. He knew that Fang Ruolan's bones were not injured at the first touch, so he used a slight force to pull her ankle.
Stretched a bit.
Fang Ruolan's face turned completely red. Su Ze acted instinctively, but in this era, women's feet were not something that other men could grab casually.
Fang Ruolan was so caught by Su Ze that her whole body went limp and weak, and she felt like she could no longer stand.
"Ask Huang Tiju to prescribe a plaster tomorrow. The swelling will subside in a few days."
Fang Ruolan snorted like a mosquito, and Su Ze realized something was wrong.
He quickly let go of his hand and said, "Where are your followers? I'll take you out."
Fang Ruolan pointed to the main entrance of the county school. Su Ze helped her up. Thinking that men and women were not close to each other, he handed Fang Ruolan the wooden stick in his hand and held a torch and sent Fang Ruolan to the main entrance of the county school.
Fang Ruolan's maid was hiding by the door. When she saw Fang Ruolan limping out, she quickly went to greet her.
But when she saw Su Ze next to Fang Ruolan, the maid looked strange.
Su Ze said calmly: "Mr. Fang sprained her foot. Let me take her back. Where do you live?"
Fang Ruolan's personal maid was quite clever and reported a location near the prefect's Yamen.
After saying this, Su Ze held up the torch, and the maid supported Fang Ruolan, and walked along the road to the government office.
Along the way, the more Ruolan thought about it, the more embarrassed she became, and the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.
She suddenly remembered the plot of "The Peony Pavilion". Isn't the Peony Pavilion the love story between the official daughter Du Liniang and the scholar Liu Mengmei?
Du Liniang is the daughter of the prefect, isn't the prefect the prefect?
The more Fang Ruolan thought about it, the more her heart beat wildly. She often secretly glanced at Su Ze holding a torch in front of her on the way.
It's a pity that Su Ze just held the torch and hurried on without looking back.
The maid also discovered something strange about her young lady. Could it be that her young lady has an affair with this Su Ze?
No, the personal maid grew up with Fang Ruolan and knows that her young lady keeps herself clean.
The three of them had their own thoughts, and finally arrived near the government office. Su Ze said goodbye to Fang Ruolan, and the maid helped Fang Ruolan back to the back house of the government office.
When she got to the boudoir, Fang Ruolan calmed down. She quickly called the maid and asked her to guard what happened tonight.
Only then did Fang Ruolan find the green onion in her hand.
Su Ze held a torch and returned to the county school. It was already late at night, and there were gradually fewer people wandering the streets at night.
Looking at the bright moon in the sky, I have an appointment to visit Xiong Yue tomorrow, so I'd better go back and have a good sleep.
When he returned to school in the county, Su Ze couldn't sleep.
Light the oil lamp and open the book at random, "The Book of Songs" and "Guan Ju".
After reciting it once and closing the book, Su Ze's mind flashed with Fang Ruolan's figure, and then he thought of Lin Mojun in Changning Guards.
Forget it, let's go to sleep.
What happened today diluted Su Ze's homesickness, but instead brought up other thoughts.
However, Su Ze suppressed these thoughts. He was pressed for time and had no time to think about these things.
This grand Mid-Autumn Festival event has become the most lively event in recent years.
Maybe the people had a premonition that the situation in Fujian was getting worse and worse, and there would never be such peaceful days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so they rushed out to celebrate.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the situation in Fujian deteriorated again.
The Japanese pirates who invaded Jianyang set fire to the city of Jianyang. All the paper, ink and engraving plates in the printing workshop outside the city were ignited, and the flames shot straight into the sky. It took three days and three nights for the flames to be extinguished.
Jianning Mansion was besieged for half a month. The Jianning Prefecture sent people to break out of the siege several times to ask for help, but no guard in Fujian dared to send troops to rescue.
Jianning Prefecture, like Yanping Prefecture, has a capital commander, Jianning Guards, with a staff of 5,000.
However, the Jianning Guards, with a strength of 5,000, were also blocked in Jianning City and did not dare to fight.
The Dusi Yamen of Fuzhou Prefecture is in charge of Fujian's military affairs. The three Fuzhou guards, left, middle and right, under the Dusi Yamen's jurisdiction, have a strength of 15,000. However, no one in the Dusi Yamen knows how many capable soldiers there are among them.
In fact, Fujian is also a strategically important place. In Fujian, there are not only the Land Guards Station under the jurisdiction of Dusi Yamen, but also the Senhu Qianhu Station under the jurisdiction of nine Haidao Yamen (renamed Beiwaba General Si Yamen in the Jiajing Year).
But even so, in the face of the arrogant Japanese pirates under Jianning Mansion, no one in Fujian still dared to fight.
Good fortune never comes alone, but misfortune never comes alone. The war on land here is not going well, and the war at sea is also not going well.
While patrolling the sea, the ships of Zhendongwei and Daijin Qianhusuo encountered Lu Dawang's fleet and were pursued by the Japanese pirate fleet, losing five lucky ships worth 200 pieces.
After this battle, the coastal guards did not dare to go out to sea to defend the sea, and Fuzhou and Quanzhou, the two big seaside cities, were also completely plunged into panic.
But in this panic, because there was no coastal guard to detect smuggling, Yuegang became the most prosperous port in this storm. A large number of ships entered and exited Yuegang. Even the Japanese pirates under King Lu bypassed this most prosperous port.
A bustling smuggling base.
However, the prosperity of Yuegang will not last long. With the arrival of Japanese pirates, various bandits are everywhere, land transportation is almost cut off, and businessmen are increasingly afraid to go out. What is the use of just being safe in Yuegang?
Was robbed.
The people currently entering and exiting Moon Harbor are large-scale merchants who are trying to make a final profit, as well as some foreign merchant ships that specially come to purchase goods at this time.
No one knows how long King Lu’s attack on Fujian will last. If a full-scale war breaks out, trade will definitely be cut off. At that time, you won’t be able to buy anything you want to buy.
After visiting Xiong Yue and delivering medicine, it turned out that Xiong Yue's mother's illness was caused by years of overwork, and the doctor at Shaw's Medical Center also said she needed to rest.
But Xiong Yue's mother was worried about the tea garden at home, so Xiong Yue could only take care of her mother at home and manage the tea garden with his father.
Xiong Yue euphemistically said that he might not go to the county school to study in the future. Everyone recalled that day and night when they talked about their ambitions when they first started studying, and they all sighed with emotion.
The situation was so tense that Hai Rui also stopped classes at the end of August and urged Su Ze to rush back to Changning Guard as soon as possible.
When Su Ze returned to Changning Guard, another bad news came.
The Japanese pirates could not attack Jianning City for a long time, so they scattered and plundered other towns. A group of Japanese pirates also came towards Yanping Prefecture.