During the Song Dynasty, Chinese people had a real nightlife for the first time.
With the great improvement of productivity and the revolution of lighting fixtures, the lighting fuel level has finally been broken through.
At the same time, due to the need for huge military expenditures, the rulers of the Song Dynasty were also willing to lift strict curfews, promote consumption, and expand domestic demand to obtain more tax revenue to fight against their powerful enemies in the north.
Although night markets have appeared in metropolitan areas since the late Tang Dynasty, they are not legitimate.
In the Song Dynasty, the night market made its official and grand appearance.
The bright lights and rich variety of products highlight the progress of productivity and also fill the nightlife of some wealthy Song people with a romantic atmosphere.
Su Yonglin is obviously one of these people.
The night market he experienced in Lin'an made him feel as if he had traveled through time and returned to modern times. For a moment, he felt as if he was in a bustling modern city.
[Hangcheng Street, business is going on day and night, there are three or four drums at night, the tourists are beginning to thin out, the five drums and bells are ringing, and the morning market sellers have opened their shops again. 】
This is a true portrayal of Lin'an nightlife.
At two or three o'clock, the number of pedestrians on the street begins to decrease, and the night market gradually ends. At four or five o'clock in the morning, hardworking people begin to prepare for the morning market again, and business life continues all night long.
As long as you have money, even a night owl can find a sense of belonging here.
Yes, as long as you have money.
Of course, there are also negative effects. For example, Chinese people have finally begun to stay up late, and the resulting problems of dark circles and hair loss have gradually spread among the people.
Su Yonglin was okay. Under the supervision of his grandfather and his own wishes, he practiced martial arts all year round and was in good health. Although staying up late was not an occasional thing, he lived a prosperous life and had proper nutrition, so he would not go bald at an early age.
The prosperity of Lin'an Night Market is far better than that of his "hometown" Dinghai County, Qingyuan Prefecture. In his opinion, even in modern times, there are many places that are far behind it.
There are shops such as teahouses and wine shops everywhere on the streets of the night market, as well as hawkers pushing carts to sell goods, called street vendors, with an extremely rich variety of products.
Jewels, jade, fresh flowers and fruits, seafood, game, exotic utensils, and all kinds of delicacies, steamed, grilled, and stir-fried are all available.
Qinghefang, Shixifang, Guanxiangkou and Zhonganqiao are the four concentration points of Lin'an Night Market, with restaurants, singing houses and Goulan tiles scattered very densely.
Whenever night falls and the watchman beats the drum for the first time, all the shops from Qinghefang to Zhonganqiao Street and both side lanes come alive again, as if reborn. The ten-mile-long street is brightly lit and people flow like this. The tide is coming.
If there were satellite images back then, this metropolis with a population of one million would have been the brightest point of light on the entire earth, dazzling.
Su Yonglin and Su Yong were walking on a commercial street near Zhongan Bridge.
There are street lights on both sides of the street, arranged as accurately as clock scales. From a distance, they seem to extend to the end of the world at the same distance, with no end.
So the streets were brightly lit, dispelling the coldness of the March night, and instead felt warm and pleasant.
At this moment, Su Yonglin and Su Yong were both empty in their stomachs and drooling.
The previous meal at Xichun Tower was Sun Yuanqi's farewell meal. Su Yonglin was too embarrassed to compete with him, so he only ate a little bit, so now his stomach was empty and he was very hungry.
Su Yong is just a loser.
He started practicing martial arts when he was seven years old, and he already ate a lot, but now all kinds of aromas were coming straight into his nose, which made him unbearable, so he looked at Su Yonglin with longing eyes.
Su Yonglin smiled.
"Go ahead and eat, it's all mine."
"Thank you Alang!"
Su Yong was overjoyed, and his eyes were shining like a wild animal as he looked around, as if he wanted to suck in all the delicacies and snacks on the commercial street, and he was full of fighting spirit.
Of course, Lin'an Night Market is not just about food stalls, but food stalls are definitely the main players.
Looking around, there are sellers of Chengsha cakes and ten-color flower candy on both sides of the street. There are also sellers of cellulose cakes and almond paste. There are also sellers of burnt sour stuffing, thousand layers, and fried white sausage. Walk a little further. , you can see the famous fried food - Suhuangduhe dumplings.
In addition, there are also fragrant steamed cakes and glutinous rice cakes on the street, melt-in-your-mouth sweet cakes and eight-treasure rice, as well as various fish and mutton soups and noodles, which are steaming hot and fragrant.
The vendors were shouting and selling at the top of their lungs.
Stores with a little bit of capital often hire good-looking girls to attract customers on the street, which attracts many diners to spend money to try something new.
It would be the best thing to have such a good daughter at home, as it would also save the expense of attracting guests.
In addition, Su Yonglin also saw many shopkeepers carrying food boxes in a hurry. Although they were running, the food boxes in their hands were surprisingly stable. At first glance, they looked like trained professionals. , I don’t know whose house I’m going to deliver food to.
It was already late at night, and there were still many diners sitting on the tables, chairs and benches randomly arranged by street shops or vendors.
They gathered together in twos and threes and enjoyed the steaming supper, chatting and laughing while eating. The atmosphere was lively. The more they talked, the more they ate, as if they had never had dinner.
No wonder, on this occasion, even if you have just eaten, you will inevitably move your index finger, and you must use some excuse to buy something to eat, otherwise you will be really greedy.
Su Yonglin first paid for his favorite Suhuangdu.
This is a kind of fried food. Slice cooked taro, grind hazelnut, pine, apricot, torreya and other kernels into powder, mix with noodles and sauce, and fry. It is fragrant and beautiful, with a golden color. It tastes crispy and delicious. One bite I want to take another bite. The more I eat, the more delicious it becomes and I can’t stop.
Su Yong bought a lot of rice dumplings and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them at the same time. It looked very indecent when he ate them.
As they walked, Su Yonglin finished the small portion of Suhuangdu in his hand, but he was still hungry.
After touching his belly, Su Yonglin bought two more fried white sausages and asked the store to slice them and wrap them in oil paper. One for himself and one for Su Yong. The two of them ate while walking.
The fried white sausage has a chewy texture in your mouth and is full of oily aroma. Even a farmer who doesn't see a few oil flowers all year round will inevitably feel tired after eating a few bites.
But Su Yong didn't know how to do it. He held the rice dumplings in one hand and the fried white sausage in the other, biting one from the left and one from the right, as happy as a child.
Su Yonglin felt tired after eating a few pieces of fried white sausage, and stuffed the rest directly into Su Yong's mouth. The guy chewed it hard, and his mouth was full of oil.
After eating the fried white sausage, Su Yonglin still felt that it was not enough. Looking at Su Yong, he obviously wasn't full either.
So Su Yonglin bought two more mutton-fat chive cakes and two braised chicken drumsticks, half for each person, wrapped them in oil paper and took big bites, swallowing them in big mouthfuls, leaving a mouthful of fragrance.
While eating, Su Yonglin felt thirsty again and wanted to drink something. He glanced around and saw a soup vendor on the left.
He spent money to buy two portions of snail soup from a street vendor. The two of them sat down on a small table on the street with the snail soup in clear juice, and slowly drank the soup one mouthful at a time.
In addition to the soup, there is also chewy snail meat in the bowl, which tastes very good.
Drinking the soup, chewing the snail meat, biting the mutton fat leek cake, and nibbling the chicken leg meat, I felt that my stomach was full and full, and my body was also warmed up.
At this time, Su Yonglin heard in addition to the cries of vendors and people talking and laughing.
The three people sitting at the table next to Su Yonglin and Su Yong were chatting and laughing.
After listening carefully, Su Yonglin learned that they were laughing and talking about the fifth child of the Chen family on a certain street in Qinghefang who took his family savings and went to Huayuelou to eat wine, but his mother-in-law found out.
Good guy, the quarrel lasted from morning to night. The mother-in-law in the house was extremely fierce. She hit the fifth child of the Chen family with a cooking spoon and ran around all over the floor. Then the neighbors in the whole street watched the joke all day long, and a group of children jumped and clapped their hands. Applause, the scene was very lively.
All the girls in the official family are as shy as flowers and jade. They only care about caring for their husbands and raising their children. They are gentle and virtuous. It is natural that they will be harmonious as husband and wife when they marry home.
But the housewife in charge of the people is illiterate, doesn't understand women's vows, and is not that good-tempered. She has to do with the family's food rations. If she encounters an inconvenient head, she will beat her at will without giving any face.
Listening and listening, this overflowing atmosphere of human fireworks made Su Yonglin couldn't help but smile.
Immediately, the smile faded away and turned into a serious face.
He raised his head and looked around.
Under the lights, the entire commercial street is covered with a hazy orange veil. It looks like heaven and earth, which is intoxicating. It seems that this is a peaceful and prosperous age, and here is everything that people with lofty ideals have pursued for thousands of years.
So beautiful.
But everyone on this street seems to have forgotten.
Thirty years ago, in the second year of Jingkang, there was a northern city that was far more prosperous and prosperous than the Lin'an city they were standing under today.
The people there are more comfortable than they are and live a relatively more prosperous life.
As a result, overnight, heaven and earth were reduced to purgatory, and the prosperity was burned to ashes. Only a "Tokyo Dream Record" was left, which made the old and young left with tears in their eyes when they dreamed about it at midnight.
Without tyrannical force, prosperity cannot be maintained.
All that is left to you is Tokyo Dreams.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yonglin put the last piece of chive pancake in his hand into his mouth, picked up the bowl and drank the soup in one gulp, chewing vigorously and swallowing in large gulps.
Then he put down the soup bowl, wiped his mouth, stood up and walked behind the store.
"How many pennies?"
"Two bowls of snail soup with clear juice, eight cents."
The shopkeeper bowed his body with a smile, and Su Yonglin took out his money bag, took out eight cents and put it in the shopkeeper's hand.
"It's quite affordable. Last autumn, I ate a bowl of fish soup on the street in Qinghefang. It wasn't as big as your bowl, and the store charged me seven cents."
"The prices here in Lin'an are naturally more expensive than elsewhere, but a bowl of fish soup costs seven cents, which is indeed a bit expensive. I'm afraid I'm not focusing on doing business."
The store owner smiled broadly and said, "Sir, we use all the ingredients here, without adulteration, the kitchen is bright and the price is affordable. If you have time later, just come back a few times."
Su Yonglin looked at the store owner's disgusting smile and nodded slowly.
"Okay, if I come one day, I will definitely come to your place and have another bowl of snail soup with clear juice. You are not allowed to increase the price at will."
"okay!"
After saying that, the store owner laughed, and Su Yonglin also smiled and led Su Yong, who was full and drunk, away from here.
The shopkeeper bent down and picked up the bowl and spoon left by Su Yonglin, washed it, scalded it with hot water and put it back in its place. Then he went back to what he was doing and was busy, when he suddenly felt something was wrong.
What does it mean to have a future?
The young man's words were interesting, and he spoke as if he had no future. How dare you say such unlucky words so casually?
The store owner didn't know why.
Su Yonglin and Su Yong left this commercial street after eating and drinking. By the time they reached the street entrance, the number of people was gradually sparse.
The watchman beat the drum four times, and the night had reached its deepest point.
While walking, Su Yonglin suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked at the dimly lit place in the distance.
"Alang, what's wrong?"
Su Yong looked back curiously, but saw nothing.
He couldn't see it, but Su Yonglin could.
This scene, which is like heaven and earth, is just a dream after all.
The dream in Kaifeng was awakened, but the rulers were unwilling to wake up. They stood up and ran to Hangzhou to lie down and dream.
They felt that one Tokyo Menghua Lu was not enough, so they wanted to add another one, "Mengliang Lu", and another one, "Old Martial Arts"!
So this dream went all the way to Yashan Mountain, and finally had nowhere to lie down.
Su Yonglin smiled at Su Yong.
"It's nothing. Just take a last look. I may not be able to see it in the future..."
Su Yong's expression froze and he lowered his head, not knowing what to say.
The path they have chosen, even if they narrowly escape death, they must continue on.
Once Sun Yuanqi's incident happened, they would have no way out. If they didn't want to be raided and executed by the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty, they had no choice but to go north.
This is already a last-ditch battle.
PS: It’s better to add another chapter~
