It is not easy to live in Chang'an.

Not at all.

At this time, the population of Chang'an was nearly one million, and the supply of materials was the first problem, and the grain produced in the surrounding land was simply not enough to supply the residents of Chang'an, and most of them relied on foreign transportation. The same is true for other products.

The frequent siltation and flooding of the Yellow River, coupled with the steep rapids of Sanmenxia, greatly increased the cost of transportation, making the prices in Chang'an almost twice as high as in Luoyang.

Although Emperor Wu moved the capital to Luoyang, the foundation of the powerful family is in Chang'an, and even the ancestral graveyard is near Chang'an.

Emperor Wu's health is declining, and she also intends to return to Chang'an, and she also revealed her willingness to be buried with Gaozong with Shen Mengxi in the future.

In addition, the stability and prosperity of Chang'an attract the powerful, businessmen, and many foreigners gather here, there are two streets near the Honglu Temple in the imperial city, called the big study lane and the small study lane, gather the post houses of more than 60 countries that have established diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty, there are thousands of diplomats and foreign students, learn Chinese and Confucian culture here.

It's not easy, but it's also a happy place to live. This is the general idea of Chang'an people, the spiritual outlook of Chang'an people is very different from Luoyang, Chang'an people have a sense of superiority in their bones, a sense of superiority that has seen the world.

Like Luoyang's Shangshanfang, Chang'an's Princess's Mansion is also quite close to the imperial city, Xingdaofang is only one street away from the imperial city, and to the east is separated by Wubenfang and Pingkangfang, which is the East Market, a proper prime location.

The mansion is not as big as Luoyang, but it is exquisite and luxurious, Shen Mengxi sent back more than half of the slaves and maids, and divided the guards into two groups, stationed in the mansions of Xingdaofang and Liquanfang respectively. The house of Liquanfang is just north of the West Market, and it is even more prosperous.

Wannian County is full of powerful people, and the goods in the East Market are mainly high-end luxury goods.

The West Market is civilian, with a complete range of goods and everything. Merchants from the Western Regions, Central Asia, and East Asia also gathered here, and the beginning of the Silk Road and the Grand Canal was full of prosperity and busyness.

Shen Mengxi took the deer to hang out, and by the way, he investigated the possibility of running a newspaper.

Unexpectedly, I met an unexpected person.

She was looking at the hounds peddled by the merchants of the Rakshasa Kingdom, when she heard a surprised voice "Ahh

It was actually Li Suniang, the woman who had a large fibroid and was innocent by caesarean section.

Shen Mengxi asked the guards to let go of her and followed her to a slightly more secluded roadside. Li Suniang was a little at a loss for a while, and finally made a blessing, her eyes were full of tears, and she couldn't say what she wanted to say.

"Are you alright? Did you grow that fibroid? Shen Mengxi asked with a smile.

Li Suniang nodded, and shook her head again, "Thanks to Her Royal Highness the Princess, the concubine is in good health and has not had sarcoma again." ”

"That's good. Zhou Xiaolang is twelve or thirteen years old, can he study? ”

Li Suniang heard Shen Mengxi ask about her son, and the expression on her face immediately came to life, "Her Royal Highness Princess Lao is worried, the child is studying in Chang'an County, and thanks to the Xincheng County Order Master Zheng back then, the princess doesn't know, and now Master Zheng is in Chang'an County as a magistrate!" ”

"Oh? That's a coincidence. Shen Mengxi looked at Li Suniang, she was dressed extremely plainly, she was thirty years old, and she looked like she was in her forties. The articulate woman has become a little wooden, and I don't know what I've experienced. She shouted to herself at the moment, presumably she had something to ask for, Shen Mengxi didn't urge, and waited patiently for her to speak.

Sure enough, after hesitating for a long time, Li Suniang suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, "The concubine is willing to sell herself as a slave, and I just ask the princess to let my son continue to study." ”

Shen Mengxi asked Qingfeng to help Li Suniang up, "You should have suffered a lot over the years, how many years have you been in Chang'an?" Prices here are extremely high, and it is not easy to survive. ”

Li Suniang's two rough hands rubbed unnaturally.

Shen Mengxi asked the guards to go to the teahouse to set a tea room, and said to Li Suniang: "Li Niangzi, you are a woman with a very high spirit, and you are not suitable to be a slave. Seeing Li Suniang's pale face, she said, "Go to the tea room and sit down, I just happened to have a sore leg, you can drink tea with me." ”

In the tea room, only Qingfeng and Lu'er were left, and the deer lay on the window of the teahouse to watch the people coming and going downstairs, and Qingfeng poured tea soup for them, set up snacks, and retreated to the door to guard.

Li Suniang stabilized her mood and spoke eloquently.

It turned out that the Zhou clan did not frame Li Suniang for adultery and sink her in the pond in order to seize those few acres of land, but because of a secret, a secret about wealth. Zhou Chunming had obtained a real tomb map that is said to be Cao Xuande's tomb during his study tour, which identified a certain feng shui treasure in Anyang, if he got the treasure, he had no intention of studying, in the name of study tour, he struggled to find the cemetery, just to get the treasure in the tomb, and became rich overnight. This secret was discovered by a brother in the clan, who was interested in murder and sought an opportunity to kill him, but only found a shoddy fake picture on him.

Zhou Chunming is a cautious and cautious person, when he got the drawings, he repeatedly calculated and verified, and then made hexagrams, believing that this is the real Gaoling, not a suspicious tomb.

He memorized the drawing in his mind, handed over the drawings to Li Suniang for safekeeping, and instructed that if anyone came to look for them, they must not hand them over, and if he died, he would wait for his son Zhou Wenyan to be eighteen years old before handing over the drawings to him.

As soon as Zhou Chunming died, the Zhou family's study and treasury were stolen one after another, and then the Zhou clan blatantly came to raid the house. She rolled the thin parchment drawings into a roll, put them in the jar and sealed them, and buried them in the ground outside the city, and took a big tree on the edge of the ground as a memory, and dug thirty steps to the north and twenty steps to the west, and buried the jar more than three feet deep.

The Zhou clan couldn't find the drawings, and they heard that she had gone out of the city, so they suspected that she had transferred the drawings, so there was a scene of taking her land and accusing her of being pregnant.

Because of Shen Mengxi's participation, Li Suniang was able to survive, and she once hesitated whether to simply tell the princess this secret and get the princess's blessing to keep her safe. But she didn't want to be a slave, and she didn't dare to trust the princess, and when the princess returned, she heard about her assassination, and felt that the princess herself was difficult to protect and could not be trusted.

The guards and maidservants of the princess's mansion have been withdrawn, and her life is even more difficult, but fortunately she is sheltered by Zheng County's order and has a hard time. Two years later, Zheng County's performance assessment was excellent, and he was transferred to Chang'an County as the county commander.

Mrs. County Ling was very dissatisfied with her follow, Li Suniang usually flattered her in every possible way, just begging her son to continue studying, she rented a cheap house in the south of the city, embroidered, copied scriptures, washed clothes, and did all kinds of work on weekdays, but that little money was not enough to support their mother and son, not to mention that reading was a huge cost.

The Zhou family still came to find her and forced her to hand over the drawings. In desperation, she told the secret to Zheng County, hoping that he would come forward to send the Zhou family, and she was willing to share the drawings with the county order, and the property would be divided equally in the future.

But the Zhou family has been entangled in this matter for many years, how can it be so easy to dismiss, and in the end, the three parties negotiated and searched for the tomb together, Li Suniang and the Zhou clan each scored three points, and Zheng County Ling won four points.

After more than a year of hard searching, three years ago, they finally found the tomb marked on the map, but as a result, they were still in doubt and found nothing.

The three furniture were annoyed, but Li Suniang was safe from then on, except for laughing at her a few words in the Zhou clan, no one paid attention to their mother and son, Li Suniang also returned to Xincheng, sold all the land and houses, and continued to live a difficult life in Chang'an, fortunately, Zhou Wenyan, the child is smart and sensible, hard work, and often praised by the teacher.

After His Majesty established the crown prince, she wanted to go to Luoyang to beg Princess Taiping, but because she was not entangled, she could not leave her son alone in Chang'an, so she had to give up.

As soon as autumn began, Zhou Wenyan, who was usually a little malnourished, caught a little cold, and became seriously ill, and used up the silver stored in the house.

She came to the West Market with the last piece of jewelry today, and when she saw the princess shopping happily with a little lady, she immediately rushed over without thinking about anything.