The bright sunshine before noon in July shines on the land of Ryukyu. In the blue sky, white clouds slowly drift by. Outside Kucheng Village in the south of Kume Village, golden but sparse rice rises and falls with the breeze; in the fields
, filled with the fragrance of rice flowers. The chirping of crickets hiding in the dense shade of trees is about to stop; the chirping of birds flying in the fields suddenly starts again. Most of the villagers without surnames in Hucheng Village are silent.
Arrive in the fields, ready to pick up the sickle and harvest the first crop of rice in the new year that cannot be tasted.
The red tiles of the largest house in Hucheng Village shone in the sunlight. The chief minister of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the person standing next to Hucheng and Zheng Zixiao, the pro-yunshang of Hucheng, did not think about the household bills.
Asking for the numbers on the new record, he walked up and down the tatami of Ichibanza with his hands behind his back.
"Then why don't you come back, you unfilial son?" Zheng Zixiao muttered to himself in anger.
"His father, please stop pretending," Mrs. Zheng, who was sitting next to her, shook her head and said, "Who secretly took the newly raised pig at home to the butcher and slaughtered it? Besides, let Jue'er go to the entrance of the village.
Wait, who doesn’t know that you love the boy and hope that he will come back soon?"
Zheng Zixiao crossed his arms and snorted: "I love that evil son? That rebellious and unfilial son who read the books of sages in vain? I just asked Zong Shan to see how the rice harvest is going..."
"Hey, Jue'er has an important position after all. Do you have to regard yourself as the Great Master Zhongshun?" Mrs. Zheng sighed, "And what if his father has read the books of sages? Look, he is studying in the Imperial College with you.
Mr. Cai, although you always ridiculed people for their lax management of economics and eight-legged stereotypes, you were a white person at the beginning, but now you are not only ranked among the relatives, but also the Prime Minister Tang Eiji, the first among all the surnames in Kume Village.
"Hmph, that guy is just using Su Zhang's strategy to show off his power of words. It is definitely not the way to manage the world and benefit the people. Could it be that Madam has forgotten that I was appointed to the position of Chief Secretary thirty years ago?
The envoy of Lijiana was sent to Tangshan. Although he did not have the honor to meet the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was rewarded with an imperial banquet. If my uncle hadn't been killed by Japanese thieves, I would have been implicated. Why would I be like this? Now the clouds in Zhongshan cover the sun.
, the owl is soaring."
"In the past few years, the officials appointed by Shurikanashi to Taiping Mountain and Yae Mountain did not fight for Juer."
"The post of governor is nothing more than official relocation. Besides, it is the same as exile, so what's the use? It's better to go to Fuzhou to pay tribute like me! Madam, how can you bear to let Zong Shan go to that barbarian land? And what's more?
, "You have been saying for many years that you call me an official, and don't call your son by his first name. You always learn how to call me an outsider."
"You..." Mrs. Zheng shook her head.
At this time, Zheng Zixiao's eldest son Zheng Zongshan ran from the door into the yard, sweating profusely.
"Father, father," Zheng Zongshan breathed heavily and coughed twice, "Second brother, he is back."
"Ahem," Zheng Zixiao coughed twice and pretended to be calm, "Let him in."
"But, father," Zheng Zongshan said quickly, "Feng Jiancheng Yikakata, the crown prince of Hachijijiji, immediately kissed Yun Shang...many adults came..."
"What!" Zheng Zixiao was shocked, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"There is an adult who can make Feng Jingcheng Oikakata follow his lead, I must let the child say..."
"What?" Zheng Zixiao was shocked again: Who is the person who made the three officials of the current court obey him?!
"Zheng Zhengyi, you're all right." Zhao Yanhao leaned out of his body after leaning against the wall with his hands behind his back.
"Your Majesty the Envoy!" Zheng Zixiao was so frightened that he didn't even bother to put on his shoes, so he ran out barefoot and bowed down. "Your Majesty the Envoy is here, and I'm sorry to welcome you from afar. I'm really afraid, and I hope you can forgive me.
crime."
Seeing Zheng Zixiao bowing down, other members of the Zheng family also quickly left the house and bowed down together with the servants.
"No need to be polite."
"Thank you, sir." Zheng Zixiao stood up quickly and asked again: "Your Majesty, you have your feet on humble ground. It is really a blessing for the firewood gate and the light of the wild pepper. But I don't know what virtues the ordinary people in the alleys have, so they dare to trouble the nobles and visit their humble homes?"
"
"It's not because I only brought one interpreter with me," Zhao Yanhao pointed at Zheng Jue with a smile, "I'm afraid it's not good to bother Mr. Cai and others all the time. We have to go to Zhaichang Yuyue, although it's not a smooth trip.
, but it’s not completely different, so let’s take a look. As for the other adults, they planned to accompany me, but they couldn’t leave me alone and took the first step, so they followed me.”
"I am sincerely afraid that the dog has caused trouble to all of you. I hope you will forgive me."
"Hey, you're welcome," Zhao Yanhao waved his hand and pointed at Zheng Jue, who was scratching his head and smiling bitterly. "This time the Song Dynasty canonized the King of Zhongshan, thanks to the help of your son. He forgets his own interests, which I admire privately, Zheng Zhengyi
Please don’t embarrass me."
"Since your Excellency has said this, how dare I make a mistake?" Seeing that the envoy gave him a step, Zheng Zixiao quickly said to Zheng Jue: "I still haven't thanked you, Your Excellency."
"Thank you very much, chief," Zheng Jue quickly clasped his fists and bowed to Elder Zhao.
"Oh, this old arrogant person," Zhao Yanhao whispered, "you still want me to take care of the housework for you."
Taking this opportunity, Zhao Yanhao took a good look at the structure of Zheng Jue's house. Like most Ryukyu residents' houses, Zheng's house faces south and faces south. The outermost part is a stone wall more than one meter high, with a stone dang standing outside the wall;
As soon as you enter the door, there is a stone screen wall, but it is very simple and without any decoration - in addition to the "evil evil" element of Feng Shui, it is more to block the strong typhoons in summer.
On the left hand side of the entrance are the high warehouses for storing grain and the wells used as domestic water sources. On the right hand side is a house with red painted eaves for guests to live in, which is connected to the "Mother House", the residence of the Zheng family.
Zheng Zixiao and his son led the way, and Zhao Yanhao and several other Ryukyu officials stepped into the atrium. The courtyard was not large, but there were several lush orange trees, sugarcane trees, and hibiscus, purple kudzu, peonies and other flowers planted under the trees.
Orchids and a few stones are arranged like a rockery, which is unique and charming.
"Master Zhao, please," Zheng Zixiao signaled, and Zhao Yanhao took off his shoes and entered the seat on the far right side of the mother house that was used as a guest room. Then at Zheng Zixiao's insistence, he sat on the floor in the middle seat.
The room was only six tatami-sized. Several big people crowded in at once, making the originally not spacious room seem even more crowded. However, because the entire building has no exterior walls, the lighting was very good, and the sunlight illuminated the entire room.
Clearly.
"My lords, you are not far away from Xialu, and you are here at the shabby house. It is a great honor for me to do this. Please forgive me for the poor meal."
"Zheng Zhengyi, you're welcome."
Seeing this, Zheng Zixiao's wife and daughter-in-law left first and went to the kitchen to cook with the servants.
"It's really gratifying to congratulate Mr. Zheng and his son Luan," Mao Taiyun said with a smile.
"How dare I? This is thanks to the blessings of the Song Senate, Shuri Kanashi, and all of you."
"I heard from Zheng Jue that Zheng Zhengyi likes reading and keeps many rare books?" Zhao Yanhao asked.
"How dare you? How dare you."
"Father, I hope you will accept this small gift." Zheng Jue quickly gestured towards the door, and the servant waiting outside brought in a box of books.
Zheng Zixiao picked up a book and saw that it turned out to be the Song Dynasty's Zhengyi version of "Mencius". He couldn't help but be shocked: Although Ryukyu is known as a country of etiquette, if you really want to buy Confucian books, it is probably rarer than whale excrement.
I took out a few more books and looked at them, and I found that they were all sophisticated in their meanings. As for "Drill" and "Chisel", which are both illustrated and written with the author Zhan Wuya, there are also "Old Master", which are full of black and white illustrations and the characters are lifelike.
Zheng Zixiao really couldn't understand it, and he just admired it from the bottom of his heart: "The knowledge of the country above is profound, but the talent of the country below is shallow, and I am really ashamed."
"You don't have to be polite," Zhao Yanhao said with a smile, "Zheng Jue may have exchanged all his saved wages for books and dedicated them to you."
"I'm afraid I don't dare to accept your lord's false praise." Zheng Zixiao said with a smile.
While they were talking, the servants began to serve the dishes. Each person had a small bowl of fresh hand-beaten seven-star fish balls, and each had a bowl of snacks similar to wontons. Zhao Yanhao took a spoonful and tasted it. When he ate it in his mouth, he just felt
Smooth, tender, crisp, and fragrant.
Zheng Zixiao smiled proudly: "This is 'Taiping Yan', also known as 'Little Changchun'. I accidentally learned it and passed it on to my wife when I stayed in my ancestral home of Rouyuanyi, Fuzhou Prefecture, etc. when I was on a mission to the Ming Dynasty."
.It uses wheat flour and sweet potato flour to make swallow skin, selects pork ribs as stuffing, and then simmers it with stock."
Zheng Zixiao pointed to the small hole-in-the-wall cake on the plate and said: "This is a light cake. Although it has been around since ancient times, the name is to commemorate the Ming Dynasty Qi Shaobao's Eastern Expedition to exterminate the Japanese pirates." Then he looked ill-intentioned.
He glanced at Ping Qixiang who was sitting here.
"Although Shang Jiugong once commanded pirates, after all, most of the Japanese pirates are from the Tang Dynasty..." Ping Qixiang muttered in his heart. Thinking that the envoy from Australia and Song Dynasty was also a "Tang Dynasty", he couldn't complain, so he had to
He grabbed a small cake and took a bite without changing his expression, and said: "But I am very curious as to why Mr. Zheng's cake is not steamed with glutinous rice flour..."
"Chinese cakes are like this too," Zhao Yanhao said helplessly, "Only the cakes in Japan are rice cakes..."
"Ah haha, that's it," Ping Qixiang smiled awkwardly and said, "I am ignorant and ignorant, so please forgive me."
"What crime did Qin Yun Shang commit at that time?" Wu Xiangxian said with a smile.
"Exactly." Several Ryukyu officials also randomly agreed.
Ping Qixiang poured himself a glass of glutinous rice red wine and said filial piety to Zhao Yanhao and Zheng Zi: "I would like to drink this glass of wine first to the ministers of the Song Dynasty and to all the elders; and then to the relatives of Hucheng Yun Shang for the reunion of father and son. It is a joy to congratulate, a joy to congratulate.
."
Mao Taiyun also said: "Young Master has entered the country at a high age, which can be regarded as a meteoric rise. Congratulations to Hucheng Qinyun for his advancement." This chapter has been completed!