"Ah, did you send a gift from the teacher?" Zhao Xing asked anxiously as he got up and dressed.

Cheng Azhu didn't answer, and Chen Yiyi chuckled: "Wait for Brother Xing to decide everything, and the daylily is also cold." ”

What? The daylily is cold, this word comes from Su Shi's "don't be busy returning when you meet, and the yellow butterfly will be sad tomorrow", why do you only blink your eyes, and the Vietnamese also know the allusion of "daylily"?

Cheng Azhu immediately continued as the main mother: "Seeing that it is almost the end of the year, the officials will also prepare for the New Year's ceremony today...... Also, tomorrow we will have a banquet for the students. Officials should also be prepared to answer questions...... We still have to pickle in winter today, so we won't accompany the officials. Hurry up, the officials hurry up, Fuzun is still waiting for the first master of Shi Cai! ”

Zhao Xing hurriedly put on his clothes and got up.

According to the rules, today's new socks and new shoes, he can only wear Cheng Azhu's own hands. Originally, he wanted to say a few words, such as "With my current net worth, you don't need to make shoes and socks by yourself, wife, we have money, go to the street to buy it, can't you?" ”……

However, in the Winter Solstice Festival, wearing shoes and socks made by his wife is a kind of traditional national etiquette after all, he gratefully pinched Cheng Azhu's hand, turned it over to see if the little hands were cocooned by needlework, and then patted the latter's shoulder with confidence.

This custom is no longer observed by even the Japanese. On this day, Japanese women often give their husbands chocolates, which means to thank their husbands for giving them a year of sweet life. It has lost that "Chinese flavor". At this moment, Zhao Xing could feel the shoes and socks made by his wife, and the indescribable warmth in his heart.

Chen Yiyi and Liao Xiaoxiao were not idle, and followed Ah Zhu to present new shoes and socks to her husband. Yi Yi handed it over and said respectfully, "We also gave a gift from the teacher." At that time, the official was not at home. We'll call the shots for you. Ask the officials for forgiveness. This year's New Year's gift has been prepared, Xianggong came back to take a look, if there is nothing improper, it should be sent to the capital as soon as possible, so as not to miss the time. ”

"Okay. Can't miss the hour", Zhao Xing agreed while putting on a full set of official uniforms, trimming his official hat, and putting a short coat on the outside of his clothes, he carried Cheng Azhu and handed over the food box, and honestly walked towards the door of the mansion.

On the winter solstice, the "Shi Cai Ancestor" is a Confucian saint who teaches the text to the common people during the festival. Because of the wide number of disciples of the Confucian sage, knowledge was spread from the aristocracy to the common people. On this day. All the people in the world are to be under the leadership of the magistrate. Worship the Holy Teacher.

The master is not a poor man who loves the rich, and there is no need for expensive samurai to pay tribute to him, just two small dishes. One dish is celery and the other is tofu. Tofu means "blessing", and it is the hope that the Holy Prophet will enjoy eternal happiness in the kingdom of heaven.

The meaning of celery is a little deeper. It is said that in ancient times, celery was first introduced to China, and people believed that celery was poisonous. One person bravely tried celery and thought it was delicious. So he offered a bouquet of celery to the person he respected the most, and thus gave birth to the word "celery offering". Meaning: A little thing that I think is very good, but I don't know if the other person can be satisfied.

The ritual of "Shicai Ancestor" is celery and tofu, and a word was born from this. is Wei Xiaobao's mantra: Amitabha. Celery tofu.

It means that I respect the Buddha very much, and I offer the most precious things in my heart. I hope the other person likes it.

In order to show reverence, as a reader, you must walk to the Confucian Temple with the vegetable box in your own hand. After the Song Dynasty, this rule was chaotic, and it was generally allowed for literati to go in a sedan chair, and the dishes were carried by servants.

When Zhao Xing walked to the Confucian Temple, he was startled by the scene in front of him, only to see the crowd of people in front of him, all of them were dressed up as readers, these students were shaking a folding fan in the cold weather, at this sacred moment, they could not forget to talk about friendship with people, tens of thousands of people were looking for acquaintances to communicate with each other, and for a while, the entire Confucian Temple Square was full of huge buzz.

According to the rules, Zhang Yong and them belong to military attaches and are not eligible to participate in the "Shi Cai Pioneer". So Zhao Xing searched for a long time, but couldn't find half an acquaintance. He thought about it, and squeezed his huge body into it, and the literati who was squeezed away by him looked at his back angrily, and saw Zhang Xing's official uniform exposed under his short fur, and then compared his small body...... After all, those people swallowed the abuse back into their stomachs Zhao Xing finally crossed the crowd and came to the gate of the Confucian Temple, Deng Yufu was guarding the door and looking around, and when he saw Zhao Xing, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and hurriedly greeted: "Sign the judgment, go inside, the master has urged me a few times." ”

Zhao Xing looked back at the heads of people in the square and asked in a low voice: "How many people are here, oh my God, it's dark." How many students are there in Michigan? ”

Deng Yufu replied in a low voice: "According to this year's school palace classics, there are about 80,000 people...... Outside the gate of this Confucian temple are still some village talents who have not entered the school, and the tributes can enter the temple, and they stay in the first courtyard, there are about 6,000 people; Jinshi is in the second entry, and there are about 1,000 people. There are officials in the main hall, but there are more than 500 people. ”

Oh my God, 80,000 people. There are 80,000 college students in Michigan alone. No wonder it was not allowed to sacrifice holes later, this is a "group ** piece" of 80,000 people...... However, it is strange that in the Song Dynasty, so many people gathered, and there was not a single official on the scene.

Zhao Xing followed Deng Yufu all the way to the temple...... Well, originally Deng Yufu was not qualified to enter the main hall, but thanks to Zhao Xing's blessing, he is now also an "official", so he "entered the hall". Recently, this guy has also been haired, and he is dressed in a precious white tiger skin, and the boots he wears under his feet have been upgraded, replaced with pure deerskin, and dyed with a black dye to shine. There is a saying all over my body: I am very rich.

At this time, there was goose feather snow in the sky. This is the first heavy snowfall of the year, and in the heavy snow, people's vision has only changed to a dozen meters. The hall was a little dark because of this. Mizhou Xue Yu was sitting in the chief with a straight face, watching Zhao Xing come in gloomily. Wang Zishao and Suo Wendao sat under him with a smiling face, and when they saw Zhao Xing coming in, they hurriedly greeted him warmly.

The grade of the scholar is lower than Zhao Xing, but today, he is the boss of the field, and even Zhizhou has to be at his mercy. Zhao Xing was late. The two greeted each other warmly, but they didn't want the scholar to reprimand Zhao Xing in the Confucian Sage Hall.

Who is Zhao Xing? The scholar said with a straight face, "Zhao Liren, you ...... today", Zhao Xing had already rushed to the other party, holding the other party's hands enthusiastically and shaking them again and again, and shouting in his mouth: "Master Xueyu." On behalf of the students of Michigan, on behalf of the people of Mizhou, and on behalf of the Mizhou group practice, I would like to thank the scholars for their hard work for a year and educating people......"

In fact, what he said was all nonsense, and what he had in his hands was reality. When Zhao Xing shook the hand of the oracle. Xue Yu felt a cold in his hand, and his left hand and right hand were stuffed with something.

The thing in his left hand was cold, and he took out his index finger, and when he touched it, he knew that it was a smooth and smooth dense stone inkstone; On the right hand, the ground is octagonal and hard.

This is more useful than ten delegates-Xue Yu's face immediately froze, and he nodded in satisfaction.

Since the discovery of the Mizhou stone, the Mizhou Tuanlian has firmly controlled the production of the stone, and most of the finished products have been handed over to the palace as tribute. Only from the few inkstones that circulated from Wang Zishao. The idea is whimsical, and the carving is simply magical. Each party is a work of art, which has a strong cultural flavor, and now, as a Mizhou person, there is no Mizhou inkstone in the family. I'm embarrassed to say hello when we see each other.

This scholar had long wanted to get close to Zhao Xing. I also got a few inkstones to go home to appreciate them to show my qualification as "the first in Mizhou culture". But Zhao Xing was almost at home all day, so he didn't know what to do...... Finally, today I was able to fulfill my wish, and I remembered that he was in tears.

As for the octagonal prism where his right hand was stuffed into the ground, it was not simple. Legend has it that it was specially made by Zhao Xing for Su Dongpo. Su Shi likes to walk in the countryside, when he was in Huangzhou, he often placed his affection on the landscape, in order to facilitate the teacher to write poems and paintings in the field, Zhao Xing summoned skilled craftsmen to make this field sketch pen, named "gossip pen".

The gossip pen is very gossip, this octagonal prism, split the octagonal box, each cylinder is a small box, and the box is hung with eight long and short pens. When the eight petals are combined, they become an octagonal wooden column with no gaps in the whole body.

This gossip pen is made of high-grade Vietnamese mahogany, or African ebony, and the rarer one is made of green sandalwood. It is said that this wood is stronger than steel, and can be used as a weapon to resist sword strikes in times of crisis. Because of its exquisite production, it has now become a necessity for high-level literati in the Northern Song Dynasty. At present, it has become a symbol of literati status. If you don't have it, your poetry is not good and no one appreciates it. Xueyu has only heard of a few great literati with outstanding poetry who have this thing, so he was not overjoyed when Xueyu got the Mishi inkstone, but he was overjoyed when he found a set of gossip pens in his sleeve. Thinking that he could also show off this set of pens to others in the future, his face was like a spring breeze, and he said tightly: "Since everyone is here, let's start." Come by my side, and we will worship together. ”

Reasoning, it should be Wang Zishao who is standing next to Xueyu, but Wang Zishao already knew Zhao Xingdi's methods, so he pursed his lips disapprovingly-this guy must have picked up the sugar-coated cannonball again and knocked down Xueyu...... That's it, forgive this guy, well, I just don't know what this guy will use to induce the teacher. I have to ask back, I can't be cheap this kid.

Suo Wendao also had a similar idea, he stared at Xue Yu vigilantly, only to see that Lord Xue Yu borrowed Zhao Xingdi's figure to cover up, turned around, flicked his sleeves at his waist, and exposed his two hands outside his sleeves, and took the food box handed by others.

The officials in the hall were chaotic for a while, spontaneously standing in shifts according to the size of the grade, the current prince of Zhizhou Shao still stood side by side with the scholar after all, behind them, the second row stood retired officials, they were arranged in order from right to left according to their titles and grades. It was the turn of the incumbent officers in the third row. Behind the current official, there is the status of a jinshi, and he has received the position of an idle official.

The recitation of the ritual is preceded by the recitation...... Zhao Xing couldn't understand this kind of sentence of "Lu Si Liliu, Jinxin Embroidered Mouth, Gong Shen Yuzhen, Sheng Spring Tentacles", he stood in the third row, followed everyone's lips squirming, listened carefully, but did not make a sound in his throat.

When the prayer was finished, the presiding officer offered a pig's head, a bunch of new wheat, and a sheep's head...... The students at the bottom took out the celery and tofu they brought from the food box and passed them to the priest - the sacrificial wine. The sake festival put the students' dishes on the table one by one. At this time, the Jinshi outside the second entrance also took out their own dishes one after another, but their dishes were not qualified to be passed into the main hall, so they could only be placed on the ground.

In addition to these, the Lord Zhizhou must also present several plates of four-hour fruits on behalf of the state officials. Nine urns of wine. A few pigs' heads, a few pigs' trotters...... When he was serving wine in Zhizhou, Zhao Xing obediently sandwiched the student team and served incense according to the order.

The memorial service is carried out until noon, at noon. The festival ends. The sacrificial wine himself held a knife and cut three pieces of meat on the sacrificial pig's head, these three pieces of meat are "forbidden meats", and only the three people of Zhizhou, Xueyu and the priest are qualified to taste it. During the ceremony, these three pieces of meat cannot be touched by others, and they must be delivered to the three doors by the temple people after the next day. Three families can taste it to their heart's content - legend has it that this meat can make people grow wise. It can also help people to lift, so the three families are mostly used to reward proud disciples.

Zhao Xing's group retreated to the outside of the hall, and the people who poured into the temple went straight to the pig's head on the sacrificial table, many people had rolled up their sleeves and went into battle shirtless, and some people were holding snowy knives in their hands - they were now performing "grabbing cold pork".

Legend has it that the pig's head sacrificed on the altar was tainted with the wisdom of the saint and could eat a piece of such meat. The next year, Zhunneng Jinbang High School ...... Because the memorial service is actually carried out on the winter solstice, the pork that has been placed on the altar for a long time is often frozen to be cold, hard and fatty, so it is called "cold pork".

The Jinshi did not participate in the snatching of cold pork, they were already Jinshi, so they could only stand outside the main hall. Looking at those who entered the village and the tributes. Fight for that craving.

The tributes finished snatching and exited. It was the turn of the 80,000 people who poured into the temple, and they would share the celery and tofu of the sacrificial ground.

These people were all Sven people, and they stood cold and hungry outside the Confucian Temple until noon, although it was celery and tofu that were frozen like stones, and pig's trotters, which meant "good hands of flowers...... They also had a great time. Because there was a scholar on the scene, 80,000 cultural people stepped forward in an orderly manner, each eating a small sip and drinking a glass of wine offered by the Fuzun - if they dared to steal it at this time, they would be removed from the school.

It is not easy to have a cold window for ten years, so although 80,000 people are surging, when they enter the Confucian Temple, they even breathe a lot lighter, and there is only a sound of chewing in the entire temple, and the sound of mutual greetings from the Jinshi outside the hall is increased.

The jinshi greeted each other at this time, which was called winter worship.

The entire hall was full of people, and everyone was nodding to each other. Because all the people present are readers, they are all each other's senior brothers, juniors, seniors, and seniors, and they greet each other and become familiar with each other, so that in the future, the officialdom will support each other, and they will bow each other if they know each other or not, and as a result, you nod your head over, and I nodded my head, and the temple was full of shaking heads.

After lunch, about the afternoon work time, the students spontaneously gathered around the teacher and began to "burn the paper".

The ancient literati cherished the paper and were not allowed to wipe things with the paper with words. This is very important to the people, especially among the scholars and literati, who believe that cherishing the written paper is a sign of respect for the culture taught by the sages, and that if the paper with words is used indiscriminately to wipe the dirty things, it is blasphemy and disrespect to the ancestors. Therefore, they do not lose the words that have been written, and every year they wait until this time to talk about bringing them into the Confucian Temple, and burn them together when they worship the holes, and they also have to kneel down and worship the teachers and students when they burn the word paper, which is called "teaching knowledge and knowledge".

After burning the paper, the students made an appointment with each other to visit the teacher's house the next day, which is the "Teacher Ceremony......

Zhao Xing forgot: On the winter solstice, the court officials had another holiday, and it was one of the four major and small holidays in the Song Dynasty, which took three days before and after. Originally, Zhao Xing wanted to sleep lazily because of today's holiday, but as a result, this day was more tiring than going to work.

Wang Zishao was also surrounded by a few people who claimed to be students, and they humbly thanked the teacher—Deng Yufu should also be in that ranks, but he stood beside Zhao Xing. Wang Zishao didn't seem to have the intention of inviting students to his home, seeing that Zhao Xing was still nodding at people there, he rolled his eyes, beckoned Zhao Xing, and said cordially: "Leave people, I don't see that your students have come, so I simply go to your house tomorrow, and invite my students too." ”

What is the truth about this?

Before Zhao Xing could refute, Wang Zishao's students were already applauding...... Ah, can he refuse?

Zhao Xing, who doesn't know from Mizhou, is a big rich man, and he is a big rich man who will bring wealth to others, so many people just came forward to pull relations with him, just to get together in the smuggling activities of the group training. It's a pity that Zhao Xing never gives strangers a chance, and Wang Zishao's students are all people who tend to be inflammatory, and now they can paste Zhao Xing, the big money owner, and see the legendary extremely luxurious Bixia Pavilion residence. Can Zhao Xing refuse?

Wang Zishao did so. From the "Longshi Ceremony" of the disciple's apprenticeship, to the "Fuyang Ceremony" of holding the furnace and drinking the land, although both of these are banquet rituals on the Winter Solstice Festival, but the nature has changed......

After the teachers and students made an appointment for the banquet, Wang Zishao began to walk outside the gate temple with the current officials. At this point, the Confucius Festival in which the current officials participated ended, and all that remained was the group of Xiucai who continued to divide celery, tofu, fruits, and wine.

When Zhao Xing walked to the gate of the mansion, he found Zhang Yong sitting on the stone beast in front of his house, looking at the sky sullenly. Seeing the situation, he had been sitting for a long time, and a thick layer of snowflakes had fallen on the black fur on his body, and he saw Zhao Xing approaching. He nodded stunned. Asked casually: "Is the sacrificial hole finished?" It's getting dark early today, and it's almost dark. "In the Song Dynasty, there were strict regulations on what stone beasts were erected at the door, such as stone tigers and stone sheep were erected in front of the emperor's tomb. And the tiger is a sign of dignity and nobility. The sheep has a supple personality and a beautiful shape. When our ancestors made words, there was a saying that sheep noodles were beautiful. Therefore, since the Han and Jin dynasties, the emperor's tomb often placed stone tigers and stone sheep as things to ward off evil spirits.

In addition, the stone carvings of horses and horse control officials in front of the gate of the Song Dynasty indicate the family of Jiangmen; In front of the military general's door, there is also a stone carving at the end of the corner - the lion shape has wings, and the head has two horns, which is generally called "Tianlu"; A single horn is called a unicorn; The hornless one is to ward off evil spirits and stand in front of the door of a first-class civil and military official.

Officials in the hall can add a pair of birds in front of the door. The stone elephant and the mahout mean "elephants are born in all shapes." What are the vicissitudes? Standing in front of the children of the clan...... Well, if you see a wingless stone lion in front of someone's house in the Song Dynasty, you can be sure: he is a person who travels through, and he crossed over after the Yongle Year of the Ming Dynasty. Because Shishi is a product after the Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Xing bullied the ancients. He carved the "upper horse stone" at the door into species that did not exist in the rules of etiquette, such as the ostrich on the left side of the first row. The first on the right is a docile tanuki; In the second row, there is a toad on the left and a peacock on the right...... Grade regulations are virtually circumvented.

These stone beasts are high and low, and Zhang Yong is straddle the tanuki with a coquettish face on his head.

Zhao Xing held back a smile and asked, "Why don't you go in, why are you sitting?" ”

Zhang Yong shook his head: "My Hun family is inside, your master is not here, my Hun family does not let me come to your house at will, especially I am not allowed to come to your house to bathe." ”

Zhao Xingle was happy, it turned out that this was another "Chen Jichang" who was afraid of his wife in the Song Dynasty.

Well, in the Song Dynasty, it seems inappropriate to call a man who is afraid of his wife "Chen Jichang", because there were too many people in the Song Dynasty who were afraid of his wife, such as Li Qingzhao and his father.

"Let's go", Zhao Xing beckoned Zhang Yong: "Aren't you cold?" ”

Zhang Yong shook the fur on his body: "Bear skin, it's very warm." ”

Tiger bear such a skin, it seems that military generals like it. But this type of fur is heavier and heavier to wear. Zhao Xing likes soft fox fur and mink fur. He ignored Zhang Yong's show-off, and mocked as he walked towards the house: "It turns out that you are sitting on my stone beast, showing off your bearskin...... The women are busy, let's go there now to get comfortable, how about a hot bath on this cold day? ”

Zhang Yong hurriedly waved his hand: "I heard that there are widows in your bathhouse who rub their backs closely, but they are gentle and comfortable-I don't dare." My Hun family heard about this and resolutely refused to allow me to come to your door. ”

"Then go upstairs in the bathroom - Qixia Pavilion to listen to music and drink...... What do I remember to eat on the winter solstice? ”

"Dumplings, ravioli!"

Dumplings are said to be the invention of Zhang Zhongjing in the Three Kingdoms era, he made a bowl of "go to the cold Jiao'er soup" on the winter solstice, the pasta stuffing inside, similar to the ear, it is called "Jiao'er", it has changed over time, and there are local names such as "dumplings", "flat food", "water dumplings", "water dim sum" and so on.

The winter solstice is the day when yang energy is born, and eating "dumplings" means "one yang is born"; Eating "ravioli" is to celebrate the "beginning of chaos".

When he arrived in the backyard, Zhao Xing found that the courtyard had turned into a large women's assembly, and in the thick snow, each of those women was kneeling on a bamboo mat, and they were in full swing - pickles. Only then did Zhao Xing remember what Cheng Azhu said when he left: Winter wax pickled.

"When has this been, and pickled vegetables?" Zhao Xing asked in astonishment. Only then did he see clearly that Zhang Yong's Hunjia Xu family was also among them.

"It's late, but Xianggong wasn't there when it snowed, so I waited until I prepared the pickles and dragged them out until the winter solstice," Liao Xiaoxiao said with a chuckle.

"It's cold, come in quickly, don't freeze your body", Zhao Xing was halfway through his words, and when he saw a few widows among them, he suddenly felt that this scene was a little familiar, and he seemed to have seen it in his memory.

Yes, I saw it on TV. Every year when there is a light snow, Koreans wear such Tang costumes, and tens of thousands of people gather in the main square to set up a pickle table to make pickles for the winter. It turns out that this is called: "Winter wax pickled in the wind, stored to protect against winter".

It turns out that this is not a Korean tradition, it turns out that it is a Chinese etiquette, a tradition of the Song people.

In addition to pickled vegetables, pickled radish, pickled salted meat, pickled salted fish, the people on the scene are still in the "wind", there are many wooden shelves standing on the side, which are full of wind-made vegetables, as well as wind chicken, wind meat, etc., this is "wind wax". Now the various productions are in the final stages.

Zhao Xing saw several widows, and thought that the widows were never afraid of freezing, they only wore one stocking on a cold day, dared to go to the street to clear the snow, and never had rheumatism, so he remembered. Perhaps the Song people's physique, like the Koreans and Japanese, has their own constitution to resist rheumatism...... When he saw that the women had reached the end of their work, he simply stopped persuading.

The women were working, there was no one to serve on the Bixia Pavilion, Zhao Xing had to do it himself, he took off his coat, and sat cross-legged with Zhang on the hot floor, next to an alcohol stove burning hot tea and fine wine, eating fresh fish and preserved fruits, chatting about the future of the year. After a while, the laughter of women could be heard downstairs, and they began to bathe.

The style of bathing in the Song Dynasty was similar to that of modern Japan, and it is said that the custom of bathing for men and women is still practiced in the Netherlands. So the women who bathed downstairs did not shy away from it, laughing loudly and urging the servants to make the fire more vigorous. After a while, Kasli dressed in a light suit and walked upstairs, she was born in the tropics and was not as hardy as the Song people, so Cheng Azhu did not force her to participate in pickling. Kasli is not hardy, and she likes to curl up in the quilt in winter, and when she appeared here at this time, Cheng Azhu must have remembered that Zhao Xing was unattended, so she notified her.

As soon as she came upstairs, Kasli walked to Zhao Xing's side with a dance-like step, her footbells jingled, sat down with Zhao Xing, poured a few glasses of wine, and asked Zhao Xing in Hu language: "Master, the sisters have gone to the south, why don't you let me go?" Master, if I am not good, please punish me, but don't do it. ”

Zhao Xing smiled, knocked her unruly hands, and said with a smile: "If you want to go, I will send you away tomorrow." ”

Kasri twisted her body and immediately replied: "Master, the slave doesn't care if she can go or not, but I want to know, is it a punishment or a reward for letting the sisters go to the south?" If it's a reward, I'm going to do it too, otherwise, I'd rather stay here. ”