Time is like a calm stream, flowing quietly and slowly.

After the booming Lantern Festival, people gradually come out of the leisurely laziness in the New Year and refocus their attention on various matters in front of them. The officials sat in the yamen, conscientiously handling the backlog of official documents from the previous year to the present; The merchants carried their bags and bags, bid farewell to their relatives, and embarked on the road again; On the one hand, the farmers packed up the farm tools that had been idle for the winter, repaired what should be repaired, and pleaded with the gods to bless this year without disasters and harms, and at the same time looked forward to a good harvest this year; The women also took off the fine jewelry and brocade clothes they wore during the New Year, washed and wiped them, carefully hid them, and then wrapped their heads in green handkerchiefs and put a cloth jacket on the outside, and began to tidy up the housework in a hurry, calculate the oil and salt, and for the extra penny paid when buying vegetables and measuring rice, they made a big deal with the rice shop guys or the burden sellers. The private schools scattered all over the city have also opened classes, and walking in the alleys, you can often hear Langlang's children's voice:

"Heaven and earth are yellow, and the universe is desolate. The sun and the moon are shining, and the sun and moon are shining. The cold comes and the summer comes, and the autumn harvest and the winter hide ......"

On several land and water wharves outside the city of Jingshi, there are large and small packs or fleets arriving or leaving at any time, and industrious people transport the fur and green salt medicinal materials from the west to the east, and the grain, silk and porcelain from the south to the north, and all kinds of materials and commodities gather here from all directions, and disperse from here to all directions. Whenever a convoy of packs arrived, the well-informed Tooth Shop would temporarily hire laborers outside the market, and the steward of the Tooth Shop would stand majestically outside the city like a general who instructed thousands of troops, and with a shout from his mouth, the laborers in tattered cotton jackets and flat shoulders would gather in groups, and then the steward would be very picky about choosing those who he looked pleasing to the eye and who had the strength and strength to do the work.

Unconsciously, some green shoots have quietly spit out from the originally bare treetops in the streets and alleys. Now, the lush greenery that represents the approach of spring is still weak, and the green buds are not much bigger than the little fingernails, but they seem to be thriving every moment. On the sunny side of the hillside around the city, there is already a sparse green. The sky was high and deep, and the clouds were as white as new cotton. The Xiaoluo River, which runs through the city, also shows signs of thawing on the ice on the river's surface; The melted ice water is like a crystal clear earthworm, crawling on the undulating ice surface.

When noon was about to pass on this day, Shang Cheng took Duan Si and Li Feng to the official pavilion by the Xinghe River outside Beicheng.

He came here today to greet Yue'er and Aunt Seventeen. Yesterday evening, they asked people to bring a letter saying that they had arrived at Gyeonggi Beiying with the reading procession of Yanshan, and they would be able to enter the city about this evening. Uncle Seventeen originally said that he would come with him to greet his relatives, but unfortunately, early this morning, the Ministry of War sent someone to inform him that a Lang Zhong in the Treasury Department was about to be transferred to the Jiazhou camp, and the Ministry decided to temporarily replace him and teach him to go to the Yamen Office immediately to hand over; Wait for a few days for Yanshan's appointing palindrome to arrive, and then go through the personnel procedures to officially take over. Business is important, Huo Shiqi can only let go of his thoughts about his son and report to the military department.

Different from the official pavilions in other states and counties, the official pavilions in the capital are very large, and there are also strips between the columns around the pavilion, which is actually a bench prepared for people. Moreover, the pick-up and drop-off pavilion is not only on the left and right sides of the official road, but also the front and back three, and the middle is connected by a corridor. These pavilions and corridors are also connected to the "railing stools" like the pavilions, which look both beautiful and practical. There is also a stele outside the first pavilion, on which are engraved these columns of text:

"Ritual order. All the lines of roads and alleys, cheap to avoid expensive, less to avoid long, light to avoid heavy, to avoid. Twenty-one years of Tang Zhenguan. ”

Counting from the time this monument was erected, it has been at least three or four hundred years now. However, the inscription, which has been weathered for a long time, is still legible, and it is clear that it has only been re-engraved in recent years. The people who come and go on this road also consciously abide by the "traffic rules" that have a strong mark of this era. Not long after sitting on the pavilion, Shang Cheng saw at least four or five passers-by or business travelers humbly giving way to each other. Just now, dozens of oxen dragged a few carts loaded with goods like a hill to pass by here from north to south, and several carriages heading north not only avoided the road, but also got out of the carriage and an official in a blue robe helped to beckon other pedestrians to get out of the way.

Because it was at the beginning of the first year of the year, there were not many officials entering Beijing at this time of year, and there were only Shang Cheng and Duan Si on the first pavilion of the official pavilion. There are two pavilions in the back, and there are some people in a hurry resting in the corridor. There are discerning and shrewd people who set up sheds nearby to sell tea and rice. From time to time, there are also people walking around with their burdens to sell some local snacks or cheap steamed eggs and steamed buns.

Now, Shang Cheng was sitting on the stone drum bench in the official pavilion on the left side of the official road, drinking the large-leaf tea bought from the roadside tea stall, and talking to Duan Si without saying a word. And Li Feng, who dressed himself as if he was a gentleman, was muttering with the little girl at the tea stall. I don't know what this kid is capable of, and from time to time he makes the little girl laugh non-stop. The woman who sells tea should be the little girl's mother; But she didn't care much about Li Feng's words to lure her daughter, and only whispered a scolding when her daughter patronized and talked to Li Feng, pouring tea and washing dishes.

The send-off pavilion across the official road is very lively, people wearing official uniforms of various colors go in and out of it, and from time to time people stand next to the carriage and bow to their family and friends before getting on the carriage or riding on the horse. These are all officials who have rushed to various places to perform their duties. At this time of year, the official roads near Gyeonggi are crowded with cars and boats of officials who are going to serve as officials, and all the post stations along the way are crowded with them, and sometimes even the post men who live in the station have to go out to spend the night. In fact, almost all of these people had already been appointed to go to other places to take up their posts a few years ago, but they could always find a reason to stay in the capital and wait until the Lantern Festival was over before they left on the road. However, they cannot be blamed for this, and these officials are understandably reluctant to give up their families. Alas, at this time, the roads were rugged, the means of transportation were backward, and the medical and health conditions were poor, so not everyone who had traveled far away could come back safely. Regardless of whether these people are becoming officials for noble ideals or for simple purposes, after all, they have to say goodbye to their relatives, close friends and close friends, and leave their homeland. Reunited and parting, at this time, the hearts of all those who are about to embark on a long journey are full of sentimentality. They stood on the wheels of the chariots, sat on horseback, looked back over and over again, and again and again arched their hands, choking up and shouting the names of their relatives and friends. The send-off man stood on the side of the road, and in addition to reciting the parting poem, he could occasionally hear a few sobs. It is not until the carriage and horses go far along the road and disappear at the end of sight that the farewell people will gradually disperse with a deep sense of loss......

It wasn't until after dawn that the number of people on the official pavilion gradually decreased.

Li Bong is a guy who has an eye and will come to things. Seeing that it should be about the time to eat, he took out two pieces of money to the woman who sold tea and asked her to help buy some clean food. In this way, when Shang Cheng and Duan Si were munching on pancakes wrapped in sauced meat, he would be able to sit on a stool with the little girl and talk while eating. A white flour cake with a big meat made the little girl smile, and the dozens of dollars left over from buying food also made her mother turn a blind eye to Li Feng's hairy hands and feet. Of course, Li Feng is at most a little cheap in his mouth, and by the way, he touches his little hand and touches his arm or something. However, now he began to talk to the little girl's mother, asking about the situation in other people's homes, and at the same time introducing himself one by one, of course, he chose the best to say. He seemed to have a little bit of meaning. The little girl's mother seemed to be quite satisfied with him, the handsome captain of the nine grades, and no longer solicited any business, but talked to him attentively.

From the south came another convoy of horses, about twenty or thirty horses, although not galloping, but there were many horses and horses, and there was quite a bit of momentum.

Li Feng immediately stopped halfway through his sentence and walked to his mount, his waist knife hanging on the side of the saddle. Duan Si also turned his head and glanced at it.

Closer, you can see that this horse team is obviously all athletes in the army. The first to sit on the horse was a red-robed general, and the two or three next to him were scarlet-robed generals. The rest of the men were of different colors, either captains or non-commissioned officers, apparently the personal guards of the four generals.

Duan Si stood up and walked to Shang Cheng's side, and said in a low voice: "Look at other people's pomp, and then look at you one by one, you are also in the Pillar Kingdom, why can't you take a few more people when you go out?" ”

Shang Cheng had already finished eating the pancakes, wiped his hands with the brown paper that wrapped the cakes, and was pinching the paper balls and turning around on the drum stool to find a place to throw them, and said, "I want to bring more." But after thinking about it, most of the people were willing to pay money to watch the general's majesty, so they had to forget it. And said, "Actually, you see, I don't look good, you don't look like, you are not likable, there are two of us ugly, what do you need superfluous people to do?" It's up to the two of us. Go back and find someone to engrave and print the door god painting according to the appearance of the two of us, and paste it on the door, and keep it is easy to ward off all evils! He still couldn't find a place to throw the paper balls, so he had to throw them on the stone table.

Duan Si laughed and asked him again, "Who is that Zhuguo?" ”

Shang Cheng glanced up at the generals, shook his head and said, "I haven't seen any of them, I don't know them." Probably from the Liyuan camp. ”

The people who came while talking had already dismounted in front of the pavilion, and the three generals walked to the pavilion with the pillar country in their arms. No one paid attention to Duan Si, and all four pairs of eyes were staring at Shang Cheng. Seeing him sitting on the stone table with a big blue robe, he only glanced at the four people and lowered his head to drink water like no one else, without showing the slightest intention of giving up his seat to Shangguan, and muttered in his belly and took a step down. Only one guy may not have enough eyes, and he stepped forward and was about to shout loudly, when he was kicked in the calf, and then went to Zhuguo and said, "Let's go to a pavilion next to it." He was dizzy and endured the pain, followed two or three steps before he suddenly woke up, quickly turned around and stood still, made a military salute respectfully, and saw Shang Cheng nodding slightly, before turning around.

Duan Si came over and sat down again, and said with a smile: "This guy is quite smart. Otherwise, if you bump into the official, you will have to be flogged eighty if you don't say anything! ”

"Eighty whips for fart." Shang Cheng said with a smile, "I didn't wear an official robe, others don't know me and have a misunderstanding, just admit my mistake and apologize, where can I say that I can be whipped?" ”

"Then you still asked Chen Zhuguo to stand in a military posture that day?"

As soon as Duan Si said this, Shang Chengcheng was a little uncomfortable. He was stunned for a moment with the black pottery bowl containing water, and suddenly became angry, glared at Duan Si and shouted, "Plague!" One by one, you want to find a penalty station yourself, right? ”

Duan Si salivated and smiled. He didn't dare to say anything more, so he picked up the bowl and bowed his head to drink......