Wishing You Eternal Happiness - Chapter 111

In the evening, the snow gradually stopped, a corner door on the side of the drum room in the northeast corner of the palace opened, and a warm sedan came out from it.

Two eunuchs in civilian clothes, carrying the sedan chair, walked south along the footpath under the palace wall, passed through Baotaifang, and finally stopped at the entrance to the street leading to the lamp market and pressed the sedan chair.

A pair of grandfathers and grandchildren came down in the sedan chair. The grandfather was nearly 50 years old. He walked on crutches with one hand and the four-five-year-old boy with the other hand, one large and one small, two figures, along the street, and continued to walk forward slowly. .

After a few steps, several guards who also dressed in casual clothes followed in silence.

Grandparents entered the lamp market. However, there are many shops and wine shops on both sides of the street. The lanterns are already high in front of the house before it is dark, and the lights are brilliant in the door. The guests are like clouds, the laughter is endless, and there are more dragon horses and fragrant carts. , The whole street, from a distance, looks like a silver dragon winding and creeping forward.

Here is the most prosperous place outside the capital palace. Prosperous and prosperous, the imperial capital is probably nothing more than that.

The so-called lantern market was originally a lantern field set up on the east side of the imperial palace for fun with the people when Taizu was in Shangyuan. At that time, every year before and after Shangyuan, the imperial court set up Jinxiu Cailou to attract wealthy merchants from the north and the south. In the evening, the people of the city, from the princes and the princes, down to the Cangtou people, no matter how high or low, they all stop here, both for admiring the lights and for amusement. At that time, it was changed to the fifth, fifteenth, twenty-fifth, twenty-fifth, and three times in January. Later, this place was filled with jewellery and antiques, fragrant silk and porcelain brocade, rare goods from the north and south, overseas treasures, and more. Liquor shops, luxury mansions and Lidi, all the way to the east, stretch for dozens of miles. So far, although the name of the lantern market has not changed, it is no longer limited to the Shangyuan or three-monthly fairs. Throughout the year, if there are no special circumstances, people come and go, and the lights are often all night long.

Ci’er followed her grandfather and walked through the streets full of passers-by dressed in light fur clothes. Looking left and right, after walking the busiest street in the lamp market, she had several toys in her arms, and they were all passing by. When the street shop, the guard bought it for him. Although his legs and feet were a bit tired, he was very excited. He sat back with his grandfather in the soft sedan waiting at the end of the street and asked questions.

Xiao Lie answered one by one, and finally said, “Cier, how is this place?”

Ci’er nodded: “Okay.”

He thought for a moment, then raised his face and asked: “Grandpa Emperor, you said take me to see the world, is this the world?”

Xiao Lie said, “Grandpa Emperor will take you to another place. You’ll know later.”

The sedan chair went on for a long time, and finally stopped, and the sedan chair was pushed down again.

Ci’er followed her grandfather, got down from the sedan chair, raised her eyes and looked around, slightly startled.

The street in front of him is narrow and dark, the houses on both sides are low and dilapidated, and the snow in the middle of the road has been trampled into a dark color. The weather is cold, and the sky is getting dark. Almost all the houses on both sides of the street, every house, have their doors and windows closed, the inside is pitch black, and there are only a few households, and there are some dim lights from the gaps. At a glance, the front of it not far away was dark. There are sparse pedestrians on the road, and even those walking on the road shrink their heads and hands, with a sad expression on their faces.

Compared with the scene just seen in the lamp market, it is as if one is in the sky and the other is on the ground.

The appearance of this pair of grandparents seemed a bit abnormal. A few passers-by who ran into the head, glanced at them, they didn’t want to look more, they walked in a hurry, thinking they were eager to go home, eating hot rice, drinking hot soup, Nuan Nuan was frozen The stiff hands and feet eliminate the hard work of a day out.

A girl about the same age as Ci’er wore a blue floral jacket made from her mother’s clothes—the jacket was very old, and the white floral flowers on top were all stale old yellow, presumably It doesn’t keep warm either. Despite the coldness, the girl stood on the threshold of the half-open door, breathed into the palm of her hand, and stretched her head out and looked out, as if she was waiting for someone, she had been waiting for some time.

Ci’er didn’t usually see a child of her own age, so she stopped and looked at the girl with her eyes wide open. The girl spotted him and looked at Xiao Lie next to him and the guards who followed him closely. She seemed to be afraid, and immediately closed the door.

Ci’er raised her head, glanced at her grandfather with a smile, scratched her head, and had to move forward. At this moment, there was a creaking squeaky step in the snow behind her.

Ci’er turned her head and saw a merchandiser carrying a load of goods came up behind him. Probably because of the bad weather, his things didn’t seem to have sold much, and the burden was still very heavy.

The broken door that had just been closed, suddenly opened with a “squeak”. The girl who was still hiding behind the door and looking out, showed her head again, yelled happily, and stepped out of the threshold. Flew towards the shopkeeper to meet him.

The shopkeeper was originally sad, but when he saw the girl rushing out to greet him, he smiled immediately, pulled out a candied haw from his load and handed it to the girl. The girl happily took it, holding candied haws in one hand, and a rope in the other, jumping in and shouting: “Mother! Father is back!”

A woman came out after hearing the sound, glanced at the still full cargo load, then glanced at the candied haws in the girl’s hand, sighed, and complained: “There are only a few days’ ration left at home, your rouge gouache I can’t sell it, so what do I spend money to buy this for the girl!”

The shopkeeper said: “It’s just a copper piece. I will run a few more neighborhoods tomorrow and sell more.”

“Fine, you do it every time. Come in quickly, warm yourself up, and have a good meal—”

Amid the woman’s nagging, the dilapidated door was closed, and the back of the family disappeared behind the door.

The surrounding area became quiet, and in the air, from nowhere, it seemed that there was a scent of cooking and rice with the smell of fireworks.

Ci’er stared at the closed door blankly, her little figure motionless.

Xiao Lie stood silently on the crutches and did not disturb him at first. After waiting for a moment, Fang leaned down slightly, took a small hand in which he put his hand warmer, and whispered, “Go forward with Grandpa Emperor again. Walk around?”

Ci’er slowly retracted her gaze, nodded, followed her grandfather, and continued to walk forward.

The more you go forward, the harder the road is, and the houses on both sides are even more dilapidated. Those houses can hardly be called houses, but they are just four pillars surrounded by a circle of thatch rags and covered with another layer. The straw mat is pressed against the four corners with stones, so it becomes a dwelling place.

In the corner of a collapsed earth wall, a fire was lit, surrounded by a few beggars who spent the night in the open air. In the nearby huts, coughing children cried constantly, mixed in between. The woman sighed.

The guards behind became tense, followed closely behind them, not daring to relax at all.

Ci’er’s gaze became dignified, her small mouth was pressed tightly, and she kept looking back, but she was still held by her grandfather’s hand, and took it step by step through this piece of land at the foot of the world, even if there was Yangchun Deze The slum areas that cannot be reached.

Finally out of this dark narrow alley, lights on both sides of the street gradually disappeared.

“Go, go! Don’t block the door!”

An old man selling oranges stood beside the door of a small wine shop with dim lights. The old man was thinly dressed, standing in the cold wind, trembling, and sitting on the ground was a little girl with his grandfather’s ragged jacket, but even so, the little girl’s face was still black and blue.

The wine shop guy came out to drive people.

“Well, let me stand for a while, and when the oranges are sold out, I will leave. The little granddaughter is sick, and I am the only one at home. I can only take her out and wait for the man who sells oranges to see a doctor…”

The old man pleaded bitterly, suddenly saw a group of people walking by, and turned around hurriedly.

“Guest officer, buy some oranges.”

“There are only a dozen of them left, they are all good oranges. Originally they were sold for ten cents. If the guest officials want them, they can be counted for five cents.”

After speaking, the old man looked at the pedestrian with longing eyes.

Ci’er turned her head, looked for a moment, slowly raised her face, and looked at her grandfather.

Xiao Lie motioned to his entourage. A guard walked over, gave twenty yuan, and wrapped the bag of oranges.

The old man was overjoyed and bowed unceasingly to Xiao Lie and Ci’er, carefully put the copper coin into the purse, carefully wrapped it around his waist, and hurriedly picked up things, put the little granddaughter in a basket, and only crushed a stone. , Picking up the burden, stepping on the snowy ground, staggering forward.

Ci’er suddenly broke away from her grandfather’s hand, stepped on her legs, followed up, took off her warm hand, and stuffed it to the little girl. Then she turned and ran back, followed her grandfather, and got on the top to pick it up. Warm sedan chair.

A small copper stove was installed in the sedan with charcoal fire in it, which was very warm.

On the way, Ci’er sat on her grandfather’s lap and said nothing.

The warm sedan chair followed the original road and returned to the palace, where the grandfather and grandson returned to the imperial study room.

Xiao Lie smiled and said, “Ci’er, do you know, what is the world?”

Ci’er looked at her grandfather.

“There is a cloud in “Erya”, and spring is the heaven. The so-called heaven is the life of all things. And among all things, people are the primates. Therefore, the so-called world is really the people. The emperor is the emperor. Ci’er knows that the emperor What is to be done?”

Ci’er shook his head: “Ci’er doesn’t know.”

“What the emperor has to do is to rule the world.”

Ci’er’s eyes shimmered slightly: “Grandpa Emperor, I understand! The so-called rule of the world is to rule the people.”

Xiao Lie smiled, nodded, his eyes infinitely relieved.

“What Ci’er said is extremely true. Grandpa Emperor took you out today. In the capital, there are rich places and rich people. Hard-working people. Ci’er has also seen it, even under the eyes of Grandpa Emperor, there are so many people who can’t eat enough, don’t wear warm, and there is no shingle in the snow. The capital is still like this, the world How big, do you think, how many such things? What the emperor has to do is to heal the world so that more people have food, clothing, and housing. Do you understand?”

Ci’er nodded slowly.

“Cier, Grandpa Emperor is too old to be an emperor forever. When Grandpa Emperor can’t do it, Grandpa Emperor wants to let Ci’er continue to do it, so that the world will be peaceful and the people will return to their path. Would you like it?”

Ci’er nodded and shook his head: “Grandpa Emperor, I have to ask my parents first.”

Xiao Lie said, “Okay. Your parents should be back to Beijing soon. Grandpa Emperor will ask your parents first. If they agree, Ci’er will agree, okay?”

“it is good.”

Xiao Lie stared at him: “Tzu’er, being a good emperor will be very hard, and it will even cause you to lose your precious things. But when you are born, this is the case. If you have something, you will lose something. You remember If you live with Grandpa Emperor, you will understand when you grow up in the future.”

Ci’er nodded: “Ci’er remembered.”