Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 121 Catching Locusts

The "good thing" Gao Ming said was nothing but the finger-sized locust.

It may be due to the warmer weather. At this time, there are already many locusts in the field. As the children ran across the field laughing and playing, the locusts were startled and jumped up one by one.

These locusts may have been corrupted not long ago, and their wings have only grown a little, so they can only jump around. Gao Ming easily caught one,
Seeing the struggling locust in his hand, Gao Ming suddenly smiled, grabbed a grass stalk from the field ridge, and put the locust on it.

"All right!"

Gao Ming grinned, and then handed the grass stalk covered with locusts to Li Mingda.

"Come on, Si, you help my brother hold it first."

"Ok!"

Li Mingda nodded, took the grass stalk, and looked curiously at the locust that was still struggling on it.

Just when she was fascinated, she heard Gao Ming's voice.

"Si, come here, I caught another one, haha!"

When Li Mingda heard this, he immediately ran over with his short legs, and then watched Gao Ming put the second locust on the grass stem.

Seeing Gao Ming's happy face, Li Mingda immediately asked curiously.

"Brother, why are you catching this locust?"

Hearing her words, Gao Ming smiled "hehe".

"secret!"

"Humph!"

Li Mingda pouted his lips, he decided to ignore Gao Ming.

However, her persistence was soon broken. When a locust jumped up from the field, she suddenly screamed brilliantly.

"Big brother, big brother, look, there's one over there!"

"Haha, here we come!"

Gao Ming laughed loudly, and then rushed over to catch the locusts in two or three steps, and they still hung on the grass stems. Li Mingda immediately "giggled" with joy.

In this way, Li Mingda was looking for locusts, while Gao Ming was in charge of catching them. After a while, the brothers and sisters caught [-] or [-] locusts, threaded them into four or five strings and held them in Li Mingda's hands.

Gao Ming and Li Mingda's actions quickly attracted the attention of others, and several farmers who were plowing in the fields immediately began to discuss.

"Which family are those two children who are catching locusts?"

"I don't know, but it seems that they are the children of the official family. I saw them talking to the elder grandson just now?"

"It turned out to be like this, but he is such an old man, and he even came to the fields to catch locusts. This official's son is really not doing his job properly."

"It's just..."

Several adults were chatting with each other and laughing from time to time. They didn't realize that the children who were sowing behind them had quietly put down their farm tools and ran away.

At this time, Gao Ming, who was concentrating on catching locusts, suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Uncle, are you the son of an official family that my father said is not doing business properly?"

"Uh……"

Looking at the eight or nine-year-old child in front of him, Gao Ming was speechless for a moment.

Compared with him, the guy who brought his younger sister to catch locusts is really a "child of an official who is not doing business properly"!
Thinking of this, Gao Ming just nodded with a wry smile.

"That's right, I'm the son of an official family that your father said is not doing business properly."

Hearing Gao Ming's words, the child immediately became happy.

"Uncle, I'll help you catch locusts, can you help me farm? I'm almost done catching locusts!"

But it's a pity that Gao Ming doesn't know how to farm, so he can only refuse helplessly.

"I'm sorry, kid, uncle doesn't know how to farm!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, the child immediately showed disappointment, and glanced at Li Mingda who was carrying the locust from time to time.

Playing is a child's nature, Gao Ming can see that he really wants to catch locusts.

Thinking of this, Gao Ming couldn't bear it. He rolled his eyes and suddenly came up with an idea.

"Little friend, although I don't know how to farm, I really want you to help me catch locusts. How about this, if you help me catch ten locusts, I will give you a penny, okay?"

The price of Gao Ming is not low, because now a bucket of rice is only four or five cents.

A bucket of Tang Dynasty is about twelve catties of later generations, that is to say, one penny can buy three catties of rice!
Undoubtedly, during the Zhenguan period, a penny was very valuable. Not only Gao Ming knew this, but even the children in the field knew it, so after hearing Gao Ming's words, his eyes widened immediately.

"Ten locusts for a penny?"

Seeing his surprised look, Gao Ming smiled and nodded.

"That's right, ten locusts for one penny, one hand for the locusts and the other for money!"

As soon as the child heard Gao Ming's words, he turned around and went to catch the locusts without saying a word. He fluttered and rolled, and soon caught ten locusts and put them into a string, and then sent them to Gao Ming.

"Uncle, here, locust!"

Seeing his expectant look, Gao Ming suddenly smiled, first took the locust in his hand, and then took out a penny from his purse and put it in his hand.

"Here, a penny!"

Seeing the penny in his hand, the child cheered and turned around and ran away. Seeing this scene, Gao Ming smiled and shook his head.

"The children of Datang are so easy to please!"

Soon, Gao Ming knew that he was wrong, because after a while, the child brought several adults over, pointed at Gao Ming and shouted.

"Father, it's the money that uncle who is not doing business properly gave me, ten locusts for a penny!"

"..."

Hearing his words, Gao Ming now realized that he was wrong just now. This kid is not satisfied with a penny, but he went back and asked others to make money together!
"Are you planning to take me for a fool?"

Just as Gao Ming thought, as soon as the child finished speaking, his father walked over with a smile.

"Uh... this nobleman, I also want to help you catch locusts, do you think it's okay?"

After all, he was an honest man, his face turned red as soon as he finished speaking, and he seemed embarrassed for his "foolish" behavior.

Several people were a little uneasy. On the one hand, they felt that it was not good to do so, but on the other hand, they really wanted to make some extra money.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Gao Ming laughed immediately.

"Okay, I promise!"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, everyone immediately cheered, and then ran to the field to catch locusts. For a while, the shouts of people and the sound of children playing together became one, and the whole field suddenly became lively.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming suddenly laughed.

"To make them so happy, it seems that I was not taken for nothing!"

For Gao Ming, this amount of money is really nothing. When he took Li Mingda to visit Chang'an Street, he spent more than 200 yuan a day. In comparison, it can make these people happy after working , a little money doesn't matter.

In the evening, when Gao Ming announced that he was going to leave, the people who caught the locusts gave up their hands, and then brought the locusts to settle the settlement.

These locusts were all strung together into a string of ten, so it was very convenient for Gao Ming to settle the accounts. He settled all accounts in less than a stick of incense.

The people who got the money were very happy. In order to make it easier for Gao Ming to take the locusts away, someone gave him a bamboo basket and asked him when he would come to collect the locusts again, which made Gao Ming a little dumbfounded.

It's not enough for me to be taken advantage of for a day, but you still plan to let me do it every day?

But in order not to disappoint everyone, Gao Ming could only be vague.

"Come back when I have time!"

After speaking, Gao Ming carried a basket of locusts on his back, took Li Mingda's hand and went back.

When Gao Ming returned to the palace, it was almost dark. He had just entered the palace gate when he saw Shi Shu and Shi Jian standing at the door. Seeing their nervous faces, Gao Ming suddenly laughed.

"You two are not staying in the East Palace, what are you doing here?"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, the two quickly saluted him, then got up and replied: "The Crown Princess is worried about His Highness, so let us come here to wait for His Highness."

After speaking, the two came to help Gao Ming take down the bamboo basket behind him, but when they saw the densely packed locusts inside, they all screamed in surprise.

"Ah...locusts!"

The two yelled in shock and backed away again and again. Seeing their terrified faces, Gao Ming shook his head helplessly.

"Isn't it just locusts? There's nothing to be afraid of. Well, I should carry this bamboo basket by myself!"

The small half of the locusts in the bamboo basket looked quite a lot, but in fact they were not that heavy. Gao Ming picked it up with one hand and carried it on his back, then took Li Mingda's hand and walked towards the East Palace.

Seeing that Gao Ming was gone, Shi Shu walked beside him with a lantern to illuminate him, while Shi Jian ran back to the East Palace to report.

When Gao Ming returned to the East Palace, Su Wan'er was already waiting at the gate of the East Palace. Seeing Gao Ming coming back with a bamboo basket on his back, she rushed to greet him.

"His Royal Highness, you are back. Dinner is ready. Would you like to take a bath and change clothes first, or eat first?"

Seeing her gentle look, Gao Ming couldn't help laughing, and raised his eyebrows at her.

"I want to eat you first!"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Su Wan'er's face turned red immediately, and she gave Gao Ming a very flamboyant look.

"Your Highness is not serious again, let's take a bath first, what is in your bamboo basket?"

Saying that, Su Wan'er came over to pick up the bamboo basket on Gao Ming's back, but just as she stretched out her hand, Gao Ming stopped her.

"Don't move, I'm afraid I'll scare you!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Su Wan'er immediately laughed.

"Lang-jun underestimates the concubine's body too much, and the concubine is not as timid as Lang-jun imagined."

After finishing speaking, Su Wan'er took down Gao Ming's bamboo basket gracefully, but when she saw the densely packed locusts in the bamboo basket, she immediately showed panic.

"This...this is..."

Gao Ming guessed this a long time ago, quickly took the bamboo basket from her hand and put it aside, then gently stroked Su Wan'er's back.

"I told you to be hard-spoken, are you frightened?"

After being comforted by Gao Ming, the panic on Su Wan'er's face faded a little, and then she asked Gao Ming curiously.

"Your Highness, what are you doing with so many locusts?"

Hearing her words, Gao Ming laughed immediately.

"What can I do? Of course I ate it!"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Su Wan'er gasped.

"hiss……"

(End of this chapter)