April 18 is the small full solar term of the summer calendar.

"Ji Tsuka Zhoushu" said "Xiaoman's Day Bitter Vegetable Show", and the bitter vegetable show is the first candidate of Xiaoman's solar term. In the Zhou and Qin dynasties earlier than the Han and Tang dynasties, bitter herbs, a perennial herbaceous plant, it passed through winter into spring, shrunk in winter and grew in spring, and the poor could always find and dig and eat it, in order to satisfy hunger, because it made great contributions to people when they survived the famine, so it was praised by people, and left footprints in these ancient books such as "Book of Songs" and "Erya". For example, in the "Picking Ling" chapter of "The Book of Poetry and Tang Feng", there is "picking bitterness and picking bitterness under the first sun", in which "bitterness" refers to bitter and bitter vegetables; Another example is "The Wind of the Valley of the Kingdom of Shao" in "The Book of Poetry and the National Style", there is "who says that it is bitter, and it is as sweet as a camelina"; In the "Mian" chapter of "The Book of Poetry", there is "violet"; The "July of the Country" chapter of "The Book of Poetry and National Style" has "Picking Salary...... And "Erya" is clearly explained, one by one, "the thirteenth release of grass", "Tu, bitter herbs"; This also shows what kind of important role bitter herbs have played in history. People not only sing about it, but also commemorate it in other forms. Nowadays, there is a custom in many places in the Central Plains, on the day of Xiaoman, every household will have a bitter dish on the table. Not only in the homes of the common people, but even in the emperor's family of Zhong Dingyu, a dish made of bitter and bitter vegetables will be put on this day. Following the local customs, the breakfast of the merchants on this day, in addition to white flour buns and rice porridge, of course, is cold and bitter vegetables.

Swallowing a few pieces of steamed buns with bitter herbs, and then drinking a large bowl of porridge, Shang Cheng, who had only been lifted from the grounding yesterday, put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth, changed into clean clothes, and rode the Arab horse out to pay respects.

The guest he was going to visit was Nanyang.

To be honest, he didn't want to make this trip. This is not because he has any opinion of Nanyang, but because Nanyang is too enthusiastic about him, and he feels really embarrassed by a teacher's mouthful. He just loves calligraphy, and he can't be called a big man at all, and a few ugly words can be seen at most, how dare he be her teacher? He wasn't so thick-skinned, and he didn't dare to recognize her, a student who was a great calligrapher herself. He explained to Nanyang, saying that he was just learning other people's words; But Nanyang just didn't believe it. He couldn't help it. He can't beat her up until she believes it, can he? The only thing he could do was to avoid confronting her, lest he be embarrassed to hear her call him Mr. Teacher. He now walks around Zhuangzi in Nanyang, for fear of encountering this student, and he doesn't want to hear her "ask for advice" from him.

However, he had to go on this trip today. In the past twenty days, he was punished and confined to his home, and although he did not cut off guests during this period, Gu Shi and Zhenqian came over mainly to talk to him about business, and personal friendship was just incidental, not to mention Yuan Lan, they didn't even know about his punishment. Only Nanyang came to visit him. Nanyang heard from her father that he had been punished, and when she left Ouchi, she hurried to visit him, and moved out of her father's original words to reassure him. Shang Cheng didn't pay much attention to the original words of the Eastern Yuan Emperor such as "jade can't be cut without carving", but Nanyang's concern couldn't help but move him. So today is the first day of the dismissal, and Shang Cheng went to visit her.

The hour was still early, and the two Zhuangzi were only a little more than ten miles apart, and Shang Cheng was not in a hurry, so he sat on horseback and walked slowly along the dirt road to the downstream of the Oujia River.

Two days ago, it had just rained, and the water in the Oujia River had risen a little, and the muddy water was beating the mud and grass banks on both sides, making a brushing sound. In the fields on both sides of the river, the dense green wheat seems to be beyond the horizon. The wheat has already set ears, but it is not planted legally, and the second is not in season, so the wheat seeds are not very full, and occasionally there is a little hot wind, and the wheat stalks that are planted and squeezed are not shaken much, only the wheat leaves on the ground will shake according to the situation, and then they fall listlessly. The cicada, hidden in the street tree, began to sigh as if it had received some order......

When he was about to walk out of the Zhuangzi territory, Shang Cheng saw the Hu people who were working in the village again.

I haven't seen him for almost a month, and the image of several Hu people has also changed greatly. First of all, they no longer wore their hair as a straw nest on their shoulders as they had done in the past, but tied it in a bun on their head, and although their craftsmanship was not up to par, the bun was like a big pimple growing on the top of their head, but they did have a bit of a human appearance. Again, both men who had grown with a big beard earlier had trimmed their beards, which were not short, but at least not as long as they had been in the past, reaching the knees. Third, their faces were already a little bloody, and their eyes were a little angry, no longer the skeletons with skin and bones like they had been a month ago. Finally, and most importantly, they finally no longer wore those rotten burlap pockets regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, but changed into short coats, undershirts, big trousers, and straw shoes, completely dressed as croppers. Of course, this is only in terms of dress, as soon as they speak, they will definitely be exposed. Even the guy who spoke the best official among them was a mouthful of nonsense.

Now, the Hu man stood bravely on the side of the road, crossed his arms over his chest, bent down deeply, and said with great humility: "The killing well of the Wota of Dengjing, and the pig field let the rice be captured" (the great general, the tenant of the lord salutes you). ”

Shang Cheng still has a curiosity about these Christian monks. However, the monks could hardly speak the official dialect of the Central Plains, and he had almost forgotten the bit of English he had memorized by rote when he was in college, so the language barrier became a major problem. Of course, he didn't know yet, even if he didn't drop his English and still maintained a pitiful level of level four, he didn't want to communicate with these monks. Even if his major in college is not Chinese and philosophy, but English, it is useless! There is no such language as English in this day and age!

He restrained his horse, frowned and thought for a long time, but he couldn't guess what the monk wanted to say to him, so he had to ask the steward of the village standing on the side of the road: "What did he say?" ”

The steward grinned and shook his head.

Shang Cheng stared at the monk who hadn't straightened up a few times, and then asked the steward, "Then you don't usually talk to them?" ”

"Mm-hmm." The steward nodded.

“…… How do you tell them when they want to live? ”

"I do it once, and then they learn to do it." The steward replied with a smile, "Don't look like these guys......" He slammed his mouth, and he couldn't wait to pick up all these words and swallow them back! When it comes to looks, who else can be more unpopular than Ying Bo? He peeked at Shang Cheng's face apprehensively, and saw that he didn't seem to care, so he cautiously skipped this section and said, "This, what...... They're pretty brainy. No matter what kind of life path it is, they can learn seven or eight points after two or three strokes. As he spoke, he pointed to the monk who had spoken to Shang Cheng. This guy is the most awake, he has learned a lot of official words these days, if they are thirsty, hungry or tired, he will talk to them. Although I still don't understand it, I can probably know some of it. ”

Shang Cheng thought for a while and said to the steward: "When you are free, you will also teach them to learn to speak official language." One by one, you are not asked to teach them single-mindedly, or you can talk to them more and correct their mistakes by the way. After a pause, he added, "You go back and talk to the housekeeper, and you will say that I said it, and you will be paid two extra times a month, which is considered a subsidy for you to teach them to speak." ”

The steward thanked him gratefully, and said, "A little thing is a small job, and there is no need to spend any additional money on it." I take them to work in the village every day, and I have to talk to them if I have nothing to do. Otherwise, wouldn't I be lonely with a group of Hu people doing things alone? ”

Shang Cheng smiled and said: "It's one thing to lead them to work, it's another thing to teach them official language, one salary to do two errands, there is no such reason, you say, right?" ”

As soon as he said this, the steward stopped prevaricating, and arched his hand again, saying, "Then I will thank the Lord's family." ”

Shang Cheng didn't speak, nodded to the steward, glanced at the monk again, and then rode out of the realm......