The next day, Lin Xuan found that Yuhe kept looking at him secretly. As soon as he looked over, Yuhe lowered his head in shame.
Lin Xuan estimated that it was Chun Yue who told her what happened yesterday.
He was a man after all, so after washing up and pretending to be nonchalant, he went to the yard to practice martial arts.
"Lin Xuan, Lin Xuan, we are here!"
Lin Xuan was eating and was stunned when he heard this voice.
Shouldn't Cheng Chumo be in the military camp? Why did he come back?
It's not that they can't leave the military camp. Generally speaking, officers above the rank of captain are entitled to one day off every ten days when they have no duties during non-war times.
Cheng Chumo and the others wanted to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, so they never came back.
Lin Xuan stood up and walked to the door, where he saw Cheng Chumo and five others.
Even Li Dejiang and Cheng Chuliang came.
"Why are you back?" Lin Xuan asked.
Qin Huaidao said with a smile: "We came back last night to prepare in advance for Princess Jinyang's full moon banquet."
Don’t think that full-moon wine is only available in later generations. There were many more birth ceremonies for babies in ancient times than in later generations.
Ancient birth rituals include "Three Dynasties", "Full Moon", "Hundred Days", "One Year Old", etc. "Three Dynasties" means that the baby receives gifts from all aspects on the third day after birth. "Full Moon" means shaving the baby's hair when he is one month old.
.At the time of "hundred days", the ceremony of recognizing uncle and naming ceremony is performed. At the time of "one year old", the ceremony of grasping Zhou is performed to predict the child's life destiny and good or bad career.
It’s just that the preference for sons over daughters was very serious in ancient times, and generally no one held it for their daughters.
"Come in and talk." Lin Xuan said.
Lin Xuan welcomed Jin in, and Cheng Chumo saw the fried dough sticks on the table and immediately grabbed them and ate them.
"Just in time, I'm not full yet." Cheng Chumo said with a grin.
They were not polite about the Li De Award and started eating it too.
Lin Xuan said angrily: "Didn't I already teach your cook? You can't eat it at home?"
Cheng Chumo smiled and said, "For some reason, I always feel that my food is not as delicious as yours."
Lin Xuan was speechless, that's because my family doesn't have to spend money.
Lin Xuan told Chun Yue and Yu He to get more fried dough sticks and porridge.
Li Dejiang asked: "Can I let the cook at home come and learn cooking skills?"
"No problem, you guys can send cooks to my house to learn." Lin Xuan said with a smile.
Nowadays, cooking is no longer a secret, it is all in the exploratory stage.
The taste is a little more spicy than the one at Ke Yunlou, let alone the chefs in his family who often receive his guidance.
"It's still early for Princess Jinyang's full moon banquet, why are you back so early?" Lin Xuan asked.
Except for Li Dejiang and Cheng Chuliang, everyone else is the eldest son in the family and will definitely go when the time comes.
And Li Dejiang is now an earl, and Cheng Chuliang is the future consort, which means that they will all go when the time comes.
It's just that there's still more than half a month before the full moon banquet, so what's the use of coming back so early.
Qin Huaidao said: "We have changed a lot during this period, so we came back early to have people measure us and make clothes in advance."
"By the way, Lin Xuan, are your gifts ready?" Cheng Chumo asked.
Lin Xuan shook his head and said: "You all know the situation of my family. Apart from a lot of money, there is nothing else I can do with it. By the way, Uncle Cheng has prepared some gifts."
Cheng Chumo said proudly: "My father prepared red coral."
"Red coral? Uncle Cheng has spent a lot of money this time." Lin Xuan was very surprised.
Red coral is an organic gemstone with pleasant color and shiny texture. It grows in the deep sea 100 to 2000 meters away from human beings. It is listed as one of the three major organic gemstones along with pearls and amber. It is also listed as one of the Seven Treasures in the Eastern Buddhist scriptures. It has been used since ancient times.
That is, it is regarded as a thing of wealth and auspiciousness.
In later generations, red corals were sold by the gram. In ancient times, due to backward technology, red corals were more difficult to obtain and therefore more precious.
Cheng Chumo smiled and said, "Actually, it didn't cost much."
Lin Xuan curled his lips, "It didn't cost much? It's weird if I believe you."
Lin Xuan asked other stores, and what Yuchigong prepared was a luminous pearl.
Due to various reasons, the congratulatory gifts prepared by Li Jing and Qin Qiong were not as good as those of Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong, but they were still rare treasures.
Lin Xuan has a headache. Why are you giving such good things to me when you have nothing to do?
If the mirror could be made, he wouldn't have to worry.
Although the price of a mirror is much lower than that of red coral and luminous pearls, it was a rare item in ancient times, and it was more in line with the preferences of Empress Changsun.
Lin Xuan chatted with them until almost noon. Seeing that they had no intention of leaving, he ordered Chunyue and the others to prepare lunch.
"Wait a minute, Lin Xuan won't be having dinner at your house today at noon. This guy Li De was awarded a knighthood, but he hasn't invited you over yet. Let him do it today," Cheng Chumo said.
Li Dejiang said nonchalantly: "Isn't it just a treat? You can choose whatever you want in Chang'an."
His family has members from Zuixianlou, so they are not short of money at all.
Because he was the second son and could not inherit the family title, Li Jing was very tolerant of him financially.
"Looking at you like this, why don't we take over the entire Pingkangfang and let you spend a lot of money." Cheng Chumo said.
Li Dejiang said quickly: "No, I'm wrong, isn't it okay? Besides, Lin Xuan and Chu Liang are both future princes-in-law, so it's not a good idea to go to Pingkangfang."
Pingkangfang houses the brothels of the Chang'an Security Department. If they were to be rented out, it wouldn't be enough to fit in the entire Duke Dai's mansion.
"Haha~"
Everyone laughed when they saw Li Dejia's appearance.
Qin Huaidao said sternly: "With the virtue award, you should indeed treat guests. The best restaurant in Chang'an is Keyun Tower. Otherwise, let's go to Keyun Tower."
Li Dejiang nodded quickly and said: "It's okay to go to Keyun Tower, but today I'm treating you, Lin Xuan, you have to pay."
Lin Xuan smiled and said: "If you are willing to send money, why don't I accept it?"
…
"Come, let's all have a drink." Li Dejiang took the lead as a guest.
"good!"
Everyone raised their glasses and drank the wine in one gulp.
Cheng Chumo put down his glass and said, "Lin Xuan, we have already arranged for people to be recruited for the Cuju team you mentioned. How is your stadium prepared?"
"The location of the stadium has been selected and will be ready for construction in a while. There is no rush. The Cuju team will need to go through a period of training. By the time you have finished training, the stadium will be almost ready," Lin Xuan said.
Li Dejiang asked: "Do you want to play Cuju?"
Cheng Chumo said: "Yes, but it's not the old Cuju. It's a new way of Cuju."
Cheng Chumo also told Li Dejiang what Lin Xuan said about setting up competitions and making money.
After listening to this, Li Dejiang said, "Lin Xuan, can you take me with you?"
Lin Xuan smiled and said: "Of course it's okay if you want to see me, but I'm not sure whether I can make money, so you have to be prepared."
"It's okay. Even if you lose money, you won't lose much." Li Dejiang said nonchalantly.
Will Lin Xuan lose money? Li Dejiang doesn't believe it at all.
Lin Xuan nodded and said: "Okay, you form a Cuju team first, and I will give you a copy of the training methods later."
Li Dejiang said gratefully: "Thank you very much."
Lin Xuan waved his hand and said: "You're welcome, but how much money it will cost to build the stadium will be shared equally by everyone."
Li Dejiang said: "That's for sure."
"Lin Xuan, how much money do I need to pay? Let me prepare first." Qin Huaidao asked.
Unlike other families, the Qin family has the income from Zuixian Tower and is not short of money.
His family doesn't have much money and needs to sell some things in advance.
"The money matter is not urgent. There is nothing we can do about it now. I'll hold it in reserve for now, and you can just give it to me after the construction is completed." Lin Xuan said.
The few of them chatted while eating, and finally decided on the matter of Cuju.
When Cheng Chuliang saw them finish chatting, he said, "Brother Lin, do you still remember what you said last time?"
Lin Xuan was startled and asked: "Are you talking about an outing?"
Cheng Chudian nodded and said, "That's it."
Lin Xuan thought for a while and said: "Now is a good time for an outing. I can ask the princess out, but you have to agree to my request."
Now that Empress Changsun is in confinement, she has no time to take care of Li Lizhi. This is a good opportunity.
Cheng Chuliang quickly asked: "What's the request?"
Lin Xuan squeezed his eyes and said, "I heard that your cows often have accidents. I wonder if any of your cows died of exhaustion during the recent spring plowing?"
Cheng Chuliang understood what Lin Xuan meant. It turned out that he wanted to eat beef.
"Indeed, spring plowing is so hard that one of my cows died of exhaustion." Cheng Chuliang gritted his teeth and said.
He definitely doesn't have the guts to kill the cow. He can only go back and beg his father for this matter.
For Princess Qinghe, Cheng Chumo also risked his life.