The wind is cold, the wind is wet and the clothes are chilly. The twelfth lunar month in Wu is actually colder than in the north.
It's okay if it's not windy. The wet cool breeze can easily penetrate the cotton-padded clothes and bring chills. Bai Yujun has been a little sleepy due to the cold wind in the past few days. He is too lazy to activate the Pure Yang Jue to dispel the chill. Anyway, he is confused and can easily go about his day. , when I get bored, I lie down on the bed and eat snacks, feeling that a happy little life is beckoning.
New Year's Eve is coming soon, and Bai Yujun wants to go to the city to buy some red paper to write couplets on. The thatched house is also a house.
It would be better if you can buy rice wine and snacks.
The fish belly was white on the horizon. He took a basket and went out early. He covered his head with a coarse cloth to hide the dragon's horns. He pushed open the fence gate of the small courtyard and went down the mountain. When he passed by the muddy field by the river, he took a special look but did not see the two sisters.
It's still early, so if you want to buy some fresh snacks early, you have to go into town early.
I was half asleep and half awake on my way.
When I rushed to the city gate, I saw many people waiting for the city gate to open. It was estimated that the time would come soon, so I took out a bamboo folding stool and found an open space on the roadside to sit down and stare at the city gate in a daze. I was a little hungry and wanted to go into the city and go to a restaurant to eat something. Local specialties. I specially wanted to eat more delicious food on an empty stomach.
Many merchants and gentry who came to the royal city from the north to escape the military disaster were dejected and covered in dust.
Sitting on the roadside with a bamboo basket in my arms, listening to the complaints of passers-by.
"Oh, I moved four times and lost all my belongings. At that time, there were eight houses on dozens of acres of land and only one car of belongings was left. When will this battle be over..."
A middle-aged man in tattered cotton-padded clothes and his family, old and young, guard the donkey cart.
The other person next to him also sighed.
"Yes, my grandfather's generation fought in the war, and when my son was born, he was still fighting. There will be no end to the war~"
"Have you heard? There is news that after the first month of the lunar month, the King of Wu and the King of Chu will send troops to the north to conquer the Yan Kingdom. Where can we recruit troops? My father was taken away twenty years ago and there is no news now. My mother is worried every day. My eyes will go blind if I get burned..."
There are always many stories heard on the roadside. For Bai Yujun, it is a story, but for those people, it is a lifetime.
It's getting brighter and brighter.
"Open the city gate~!"
With loud and long shouts, the city gate was pushed open by the gatekeepers.
Bai Yun put away the small bench and sluggishly blended into the crowd and slowly entered the city. From a distance, he saw a monster mirror hanging on the top of the city gate. It was a very cheap one. Bai Yujun was curious whether this kind of thing could reveal monsters, so he probably only targeted it. Low-level goblins, after all, become monsters of the climate and can easily climb over the wall and enter the city.
Following the crowd, he slowly approached the city gate, and the demon mirror trembled for a moment without any response...
This type of monster mirror is just a crude mass product. Most of the similar magical instruments in the world are called monster mirrors. The monsters will turn into human shapes and are difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. The monster mirror has become a fashionable magic weapon. Anyone who has a few spare dollars will buy one and hang it on the door of their home.
The city is high and the cave is deep. The city gate is dim and looks like a monster with its mouth open.
After moving for a long time, we finally arrived at the city gate. The gate was damp and dark, and the various smells of pedestrians and animals made us want to vomit. A damp cold wind mixed with stinky smells blew through the city gate, as if we were walking into a mausoleum. The smell of decay filled the nostrils.
Passing through the city gate, I saw the palace and pavilions shrouded in clouds from a distance.
It can be seen that the Southern Wu royal family has exhausted its power and has nothing to do with the common people. The only things that have changed are the royal family and a group of high-ranking nobles. After all, the poor will still be poor no matter how they change.
Pedestrians hurriedly disappeared from the New Year atmosphere, and their faces looked sad.
A woman came forward with a young child on her back. The child looked at Bai Yujun with big eyes and babbling.
"Big... Big Yaya... Baibai..."
The woman coaxed the child to stop him from talking nonsense. The little boy, about two years old, kept staring at Bai Yujun with curiosity on his face. What he saw in the baby's eyes was a huge dragon with big teeth and a white body.
When Bai Yujun passed by the woman, he turned around and made a weird face at the little baby, sticking out his little tongue and pretending to grin. Danfeng's eyes widened.
"Big...big teeth~"
The baby didn't understand what he was seeing. The dragon's head suddenly acted ferocious, but the baby didn't feel scared at all.
Carrying the vegetable basket, I wandered around, followed the smell in the air, went to the stall to have breakfast, and then wandered around looking for the goods I wanted to buy.
First I went to the grocery store to buy red paper, pen and ink. I saw many poor scholars with no hope of fame or money setting up stalls writing Spring Festival couplets on the roadside. Occasionally they would write letters for others to earn retouching fees, perhaps when they first earned copper coins. Geniuses will understand that the most important thing to gain fame is not just knowledge, money is the key.
I followed the Romans and went to find a scholar who looked like the poorest and wrote a Spring Festival couplet.
When the young scholar finished writing, he looked up and was immediately shocked. His face turned red and he wanted to say something but was embarrassed to say it. He stammered and refused to say that it was free. In the end, Bai Yujun left a tael of silver and paid with one hand and delivered the goods with the other. The two do not owe each other.
Smile, put away the Spring Festival couplets and turn around to leave.
Leaving behind a dejected young scholar sighing...
The strange thing is that the business of restaurants and brothels in the city is booming. Perhaps because of the psychological pressure of facing the threat of national subjugation, the nobles indulged in hangovers while they still had money. They were drunk and dreaming when they were still nobles. Even if they die tomorrow, it is worth it. Take it one day at a time.
I went to the wine shop to buy two barrels of rice wine, and put them away silently in my storage bag when I left.
I bought some snacks at the snack shop, and I also bought a few pieces of cloth to go back and make some new clothes. The storage bag was full of high-quality fabrics and there was very little coarse cloth, which was not conducive to hiding traces.
Passing by an alley, I calmly killed a few gangsters and robbed them of less than a tael of silver.
What you see when you come to the slums is a different scene.
There is a sour smell of sewage flowing across the dilapidated shacks, the homeless beggars are skinny and numb, and the gangs in the city are showing off their power to search for the last bit of oil and water. Many people gather around the brazier to keep warm. Bai Yujun walks expressionlessly in the lifeless slums, witnessing this era. Everything that is happening.
Behind the shack, the parents took the money from Ren Yazi's hand, sighed and put the ignorant child's little hand in Ren Yazi's hand, and the child cried loudly for his mother...
On the other side, several men cursed and beat people. Both the beaters and the beaten were living in the slums...
There are many numb and haggard women standing in front of the dirty shacks along the street. Occasionally, men of all kinds enter the shacks, and their money is either a handful of copper coins or rice grains...
Perhaps, countless years later, no one will know what kind of struggle their ancestors went through to survive.
Everything around him was dim and gray, and Bai Yujun was like a bright color walking through a dark world. The bright white slender figure passed by silently, and finally disappeared. For Bai Yujun, they were just scenes in his countless memories, and he couldn't control them.
When I was about to leave, I met someone carrying a coffin for the funeral.
The dark red coffin was so heavy that the bearers could not stand upright. The paper flags were swaying in the damp cold wind. The family members were walking with their heads bowed in mourning. Paper money was scattered all over the sky...
Bai Yujun stood on the roadside and silently watched the funeral procession pass by. He looked up and saw paper money fluttering in the wind towards the palace...
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