Chapter Twenty-Five: A Day of Prosperity
On the second day, Murong Su came early, and Murong Jin was still having breakfast when he came.
Murong Shu leaned up and said, "You can drink this bowl of lily porridge, and Uncle Wang will take you to eat something more delicious when you leave the palace." β
Murong Jin then put the red jujube rice cake he had just bitten back into the plate, and after hastily drinking most of the bowl of lily porridge, he said, "Okay." β
Murong Shu looked at Murong Jin's dress today, the bamboo blue robe with the jasper crown made the whole person look refreshing and noble, he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction, stepped forward and grabbed Murong Jin's shoulder and said with a smile: "It is worthy of being the handsome son of my Murong family." β
The two of them walked to Qingxuanmen, and then changed into a purple canopy carriage and went out of the palace gate. After walking through a quiet palace road, the surrounding sounds gradually became noisy.
Murong Jin curiously lifted the curtain and looked out.
It's still early, but many shops have already opened their doors and hung up their flags. There are incense shops, garment shops, tea houses, restaurants, rouge shops, jade shops...... There is also a morning tea shop, a shop selling oil-paper umbrellas, a silk Zhuangzi, and an inn on the fourth floor...... There is also Lang Yuxuan, Murong Jin remembers that a butterfly hairpin from the former mother and queen was made by the craftsmen of this family, and it is particularly good-looking......
There are also bustling crowds, mothers-in-law and aunts who go out to buy breakfast, and girls who carry baskets and sell hand-embroidered silk handkerchiefs......
Murong Shu ordered outward, "Go to the shop on the street of Xishi", and the driver answered, and the carriage sped up.
After a while, they stopped next to a stall, the stall was not big, a small place was made into a stove, and a part of the expenditure was set up with a bamboo canopy, and the flag hung was red and yellow, and a "face" was written on it.
Murong Shu went in and found a place to sit down, and beckoned to the stove: "Two bowls of wonton noodlesββ"
The boss was a middle-aged man, and his voice was loud and crisp: "Okay-"
Murong Jin carefully dodged the busy guy who was trotting and sat down opposite Murong Shu.
The bamboo tent was full of people, all of whom were white surnames in coarse linen clothes. The two of them sat here in brocade clothes and jade crowns, attracting some scrutiny and gaze from time to time. Murong Jin moved his body a little awkwardly, Murong Su seemed to come often, without half an uncomfortable appearance, shaking his fan and explaining to Murong Jin: "This is the best noodle shop in the West Market, only this wonton noodles are the most authentic, and the boss is from Yangzhou." β
The shop is small, but the tables are clean, and two bowls of wonton noodles are served in a short time, steaming hot, with some shredded green onions and green cabbage leaves floating on them.
Murong Shu: "Eat." β
Murong Jin pinched the spoon and took a wonton, and after blowing away the heat for a while, he took a bite, only to feel that the wonton skin had a smooth taste, the tip of his tongue melted immediately, and the filling and meat filling inside overflowed, and he picked a few thin noodles with chopsticks, the noodles were smooth and chewy, very elastic, and the soup was also delicious and sweet. Murong Jin was in the Deep Palace before, but he had never eaten such a fire-filled delicacy.
The wonton bowl was bigger than Murong Jin's face, and Murong Jin actually ate most of the bowl.
Murong Shu put down his chopsticks, looked at Murong Jin and said proudly: "How is it, it's not badββ"
Murong Jin nodded a little stunned, and the residual heat of the noodle soup was a little misty, and his cheeks were hazy.
After eating wonton noodles, there are more people in the market.
There were more people who came out to hang out or shop, and some itinerant small traders.
The two abandoned the carriage and wandered unhurriedly through the streets.
For Murong Jin, everything is new. Sugar figures, masks of all kinds, puppets made of bamboo, bamboo-woven insects, flowers made of unknown flat leaves, walking wooden horses, wooden birds with moving wings...... There are also many new things that have never been seen or heard before, as well as snacks that have never been seen in the palace.
Murong Jin seemed a little restrained, maybe he had been locked up in the palace for a long time, and even if he came out, he couldn't play with children of the same age. Murong Shu followed behind Murong Jin, knowing that he didn't like to speak, so he bought all the gadgets that Murong Jin had seen a few more times, and after a while, the two guards brought by Murong Shu packed small boxes and carried a bunch of miscellaneous things.
One of the two guards is called Yun Qing and the other is Yun Che, who is one or two years older than Murong Shu. The two looked at Murong Shu, who was still picking something, a little helplessly, and exchanged glances with each other.
The guard named Yunqing carefully controlled the balance of the goods in his two hands, and leaned over to Murong Shu and asked in a low voice, "Master, you buy so many things, do the four princes like them?"
Murong Shu took an ornament and looked left and right, "That's natural, how can there be children who don't like these gadgets." β
Yun Qing asked again: "But master, we have already bought a lot of things." β
Murong Shu glanced at the things that the two were carrying, and said lightly, "Is it too much?" Not much. This kid has been in the palace for a long time, and he feels strange about everything, so it's good to buy a fresh picture, no more, no more. β
"Wang ......" Murong Jin was about to turn around and ask Murong Shu a question, when he saw Murong Shu hanging a small Pixiu pendant he had just bought on Yun Qing's neck, Yun Qing was carrying things in his hands, and some were also hanging in the crook of his arm, but he had nowhere to take it, so he could only hang it around his neck.
"Why did Uncle Wang buy so many things?"
Yun Qing Yunche hurriedly looked at Murong Jin with begging eyes, but who knew that Murong Jin didn't notice it at all. Murong Shu smiled and said, "I see that you may like it, so I will buy a little more, and you will pick it yourself when you go back." β
Murong Jin asked, "Does Uncle Wang know which shop in this Thorn City has the best pastries and sweets?" β
"Well...... Murong Shu thought about it with a folding fan holding his chin, "There is a good one in the East Market, let's go over after shopping on this street." β
"Okay." He continued to walk forward, and after a few steps, he suddenly remembered something, so he turned back to Murong Shu and said, "Uncle Wang, in fact, you don't need to buy so many things, I don't have so many things I want, you see that Yun Qing and Yun Che are almost unable to take it." β
"It's all a family, what's the politeness to Uncle Wang," he said and stuffed a freshly wrapped candy man into Yun Che's palm, and smiled at Murong Jin, "Look, you can take it, you can take it-"
"......" Murong Jin winked innocently at the two, indicating that he couldn't help it.
The two of them looked at the sky helplessly and sighed, and continued to carry more things.
Changjia Xiaoji in Dongshi is the largest dim sum shop, with all kinds of dim sum. In the past eight years, it has grown from a small shop with a simple faΓ§ade to the first dim sum shop on the first floor and the second floor, and there are stores in the four cities of the east, west, north and south, but this one in the east market is the main store, and there are more diners coming and going.
Murong Jin looked at the names of the dim sum written on half of the wall, and couldn't help but feel a little dazzled, so he asked, "Shopkeeper, what are the signature dim sum in your store?" β
The shopkeeper saw that Murong Jin was dressed extraordinary, and thought that he was a noble son, so he pointed to the wall, and his eyebrows fluttered and said: "This guest officer, there are many signature dim sum in the shop, including this orchid cake, golden cinnamon inulin, hibiscus shortbread, beauty cake, Huayun cake, rouge drunken sugar, five-color soft cake, rain and dew small square, Dongren box, jade Ruyi, open your mouth and smile......"
Murong Shu closed the folding fan impatiently, and said boldly: "Okay, okay, let's wrap it up." β
The shopkeeper saw that Murong Shu was straightforward, and there was more smile on his face: "Okay-"
Murong Jin raised his head and smiled, "Thank you, Uncle Wang." β
Murong Shu: "Thank you, if you like it, Uncle Wang will give you less of the past every time you enter the palace in the future." β
The small boxes and brown paper bags were piled up into a small mountain under the skillful movements of the guys.
Yunqing: "......"
Yun Che: "......"
After leaving the Chang family's notes, Murong Shu looked at Yun Qing Yun Che meaningfully for a long time, and seemed to be a little unbearable: "This Yun Qing, you and Yun Che will move the things back to the palace first, go back and sort them out, and then pick them up when the king goes back in the afternoon." β
Yun Qingyun's eyes lit up, and he immediately responded: "Yes, master." β
Before he could start to be happy, he saw Murong Shu pulling Murong Jin into the carriage that he had been following, "There are too many things, it will definitely be crowded in the carriage, and it is not convenient to ride a horse, so you better walk back home." With that, the carriage kicked away in the dust.
It took a whole hour from the Chang family's small record to the Ruiwang Mansion......
Murong Shu and Murong Jin walked from time to time, and when they were tired of walking, they changed to a carriage, and they took a rough walk around the more prosperous places in Thorn City for most of the day.
The two ate some side dishes in the restaurant and listened to two songs before preparing to go back to the palace.
Murong Shu said with regret: "It's a pity that the imperial brother told you to go back earlier, otherwise you can visit the night market in the Great Thorn City." β
Murong Jin said with a smile: "Being able to go out of the palace with Uncle Wang today, the little nephew is already very happy." β
Murong Shu looked at Murong Jin a little distracted, maybe for him now, the so-called happiness is to be able to walk around Thorn City without worrying about everything? For ordinary children, this is such an ordinary and normal thing, and this little freedom and joy is really enough luxury for royal children.
"Uncle Wang, did you often go out to play when you were a child?"
Murong Shu recalled for a moment and said: "When I was a child, this king was basically in the second brother's mansion, and the second brother was very strict and didn't want me to go out. But when I was a little older, your father was already His Majesty, and he built me a mansion outside the palace, and my second brother could no longer control me, so I often wandered around this Great Thorn City. β
Murong Shu said lightly and didn't care, but he still faintly overflowed with a little sourness. Murong Jin knew that His Majesty was now the fifth, so Murong Su's second brother was ......
Murong Shu comforted: "Little Ah Si, after waiting for a few years, when you have performed the crown ceremony, your father will build a mansion for you outside the palace." β
Wait a few more years? I'm still waiting nine years. But can Bento really be free when it comes to adulthood? Murong Jin hugged a woodcarved doll that Murong Su had bought just now and didn't speak.
Murong Shu said: "This place is not far from the palace, there is a shortcut near here, so you don't have to take a car, how about it?" β
Murong Jin: "It's okay." β
So Murong Shu took Murong Jin's hand and walked into a small alley next to a cloud cake stall. The alley is narrow, with a maximum of three people walking side by side, and there are some discarded bamboo baskets, mats and wooden carts against the wall, but it doesn't look crowded when two people walk one big and one small. The alley is lined with high walls on both sides, which makes it feel a little oppressive.
Murong Jin felt a little crazy, and couldn't help but squeeze the wooden doll in his arms.
After walking for a short time, Murong Jin felt that someone was tugging at the corners of his robe, and with some force, he took a step or two forward but did not break free.
Murong Jin thought that Xu was hooked by some debris, so he stopped.
Murong Shu: "What's wrong?" β
Murong Jin: "The robe is hooked. Then he turned his head and was about to sort out the corners of his robe, but he saw a black and dirty hand pulling at his bamboo-blue robe.
Murong Jin looked at the hand that stretched out from a pile of broken mats, and felt a chill down his spine.