The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

There is a place called Sock Alley in the southwest of Desheng Bridge on the left second side. It’s not that this place specializes in selling socks, but it’s shaped like a sock laid flat on the ground.

Although the name of the alley is somewhat indecent, the people who live here are not simple; Socks Alley is adjacent to the south bank of Bianshui River. Standing on the wooden building in the alley, you can see the scene of hundreds of boats shuttling in the Bianshui River. The beautiful scenery can be seen at a glance, so it is not easy for people to live in this alley.

The alley is very quiet on weekdays, except for the high-headed horses and official sedans and carts, there are also servants passing by in a hurry. The common people who pull the carts are farmers who deliver vegetables and meat to the back kitchens of more than a dozen wealthy families living in the alley.

Today is not Saturday, so the alley is still quiet and quiet, the early winter sun is shining warmly, the tall trees stand quietly with a little green color, in this silence, inside a vermilion lacquered gate There was a shrill cry, followed by a scolding sound.

"Do you fucking want to kill me? You old man, are you a doctor or a murderer? Why are you so ignorant of the severity of the attack? Your skin is almost peeled off by you. You want to die Yes or no?"

"Young Master Liu, your clothes are attached to your flesh, and this old man has to take off your clothes to use them as medicine. Please be patient."

In a wing room at the second entrance of the courtyard, there was a person lying on a soft couch. His back clothes had been cut open, and his back was bloody. An old man was at a loss with his hands crossed.

"Easy, can't you be lighter? Ouch, Ouch..." Liu Binhua's scalded back was full of blisters, which were connected to his clothes. When he uncovered his clothes, bloody and yellow juices appeared. Disgusting and scary.

The old man promised again and again, and slowly opened the clothes lightly, but even so, Liu Binhua screamed in pain, and couldn't stop cursing Su Jin and the unlucky doctor in front of him.

While shouting loudly, the servant on one side shouted: "Young master, the master is here."

Liu Binhua shook his body and stopped shouting in surprise, "Isn't uncle in the Yongxing Army? Why did you return to Beijing?"

Before he finished speaking, Xia Song, who was full of anger, stepped in with his hands behind his back, and said angrily, "You bastard, I hope that uncle will never come back. I arrived in the capital last night, and you were nowhere to be seen. I ran off somewhere to fool around, and I didn’t even return home, and the rotten wood can’t be carved.”

Liu Binhua hurriedly said: "Uncle, my nephew went to my classmate Mr. Chu to discuss his homework yesterday, but it was too late and he stayed elsewhere. He is not fooling around. If you don't believe me, ask Sanluer, Sanluer, what do you think?"

A young servant in Tsing Yi nodded repeatedly and said: "Master, that's true, the young master is discussing the lessons with Mr. Chu..."

Xia Song snorted and said: "A discussion is a discussion, but I'm afraid it's not a discussion about schoolwork, but about which family's young lady is beautiful, and which family's flower wine is delicious; evil, your uncle is not old enough to think about it. It’s not that easy to fool me.”

Liu Binhua fell silent, laying on the couch and sucking in the air-conditioning. Xia Song pointed to his bloody back and asked, "What's the matter? How did the study work come to be like this?"

Liu Binhua burst into tears, and said sobbingly: "Uncle, you have to make the decision for me. I have no father or mother, and I am bullied everywhere. I want to hear the latest New words, but unexpectedly, a group of villains provoked trouble and beat my nephew like this. A pot of boiling water was poured on the back, and I was afraid that it would be scalded to the internal organs. My nephew will die soon. Uncle, after a hundred years My nephew can't do my filial piety for you." After saying that, he burst into tears.

Xia Song was startled, walked closer to the side and frowned carefully, couldn't help taking a breath, the injury was really serious, turned to ask the doctor, "Doctor Ma, how is the injury?"

The doctor cupped his hands and said: "Reporting to Master Xia, the injury is indeed not serious, but fortunately there are several layers of clothes, and the tea is not boiled tea, just apply some scald medicine and let it last for a few days."

Xia Song breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "Mr. Lao, I will help him apply the medicine. I would like to ask you to come a few more times in the past few days to see the injury and change the medicine. You will be rewarded when you recover."

The doctor hurriedly bowed and said: "Thank you sir, I will do my best."

After finishing speaking, he called the little medicine boy beside him to take out a small porcelain bottle, dipped the yellow-orange-orange lotion inside with a goose feather, and gently smeared it on the burnt area.

The scald medicine was very effective, it felt cool when it was applied, and the pain was relieved immediately, Liu Binhua also stopped his mourning, and fell silent.

Xia Song sat down on a chair at the side, took a sip of the tea offered by the servant and asked, "Who did it so viciously? Did you cause any trouble outside?"

Liu Binhua hurriedly said: "The conscience of heaven and earth, my nephew is listening to a poem in the lotus shed in Zhongwashe. A group of people are noisy and non-stop. My nephew said a few words to them when he was out of anger, but unexpectedly, this group of people will look angry. They rushed up to fight, they were many, and their methods were vicious. My nephew was not an opponent, and when he was knocked down by them, I poured a pot of tea, woo... Uncle, in the land of the capital, at the foot of the emperor, do these people still have a king in their eyes? Law."

Xia Song frowned and said, "What are you arguing about? I'm afraid that what you said may not be true. Who are those people? Do you know each other?"

"I don't know each other before. The person in charge doesn't have a Bianliang accent, but a southern barbarian's accent. He is not very old."

"Don't they know you are my nephew?"

Liu Binhua rolled his eyes, and said, "My nephew said it, and my nephew mentioned your name, but I didn't expect that the leader, Mr. Rabbit, would say something even more disrespectful..."

"What is the rabbit master, where did these nonsense come from, what did he say?"

"Nephew dare not say..."

"Say, why don't you dare, when did you become so timid."

"The nephew said it clearly, but uncle, don't be angry, and don't listen to other people's gossip."

"How can there be so much nonsense? Is your uncle such an immeasurable person? Say it." Xia Song shouted.

"Then said humanely, 'Lord Xia can't protect himself. He lost the battle and was demoted by the emperor. He will no longer be the commander of the Northwest Army. It's okay if you mention others. Isn't Master Tixia scaring the cat with a mouse?' "

"Presumptuous! Too much deception!" Xia Song was furious, and waved the teacup to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

"Huluo Pingyang was bullied by dogs. This old man has just suffered a little misfortune, and these snakes and rats bullied him. Don't forget that although the old man has been demoted from office, his old foundation is still there. Who dares to despise him?" Old man, how dare this kid in the market place dare to insult me ​​like this."

Liu Binhua hurriedly said: "Uncle, don't be angry. My nephew will go and get this thing back when his injury improves. My nephew knows his name. He calls himself Su Jin. My nephew thinks that there is no official named Su in the court. He is also the son of an official, and he is just a low-ranking official, my nephew will definitely not embarrass you."

"Su Jin?" Xia Song asked, "This name is so familiar, I seem to have heard it somewhere."

"It's just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old child with a yellow mouth. How did uncle hear about it? I'm afraid I remembered it wrong."

Xia Song raised her head and thought about it for a while but couldn't think of it. She said in a deep voice, "Well, you ask someone to check the details of this Su Jin. Maybe he is the son of an official in Beijing. See whose house he goes in and out of, and then make a fuss about it."

Liu Binhua hurriedly said: "Follow uncle's order, in fact, my nephew has already sent someone to keep an eye on them, and there will be news when I come back at night."

Xia Song nodded and said, "That's it. Lu met me for a drink in the evening. You can recover from your injuries at home. You can only go out when your injuries are healed. Do you hear me?"

Liu Binhua nodded repeatedly and said: "Nephew listens to you the most, don't worry Uncle, hey, Uncle's face is really big, Lu Xiang even invited Uncle to a banquet in person, which shows that your power is still there, no one dares to despise Uncle."

Xia Song chuckled and said, "Why is the prestige still there, your uncle's prestige has never been lost."

Xia Song stepped out, and Liu Binhua yelled and cursed behind him: "You old man, take it easy, sir, this is a wound, not your washboard, rubbing the medicine so hard, do you want to eat a whip..."

Xia Song sighed, shook his head, went out and boarded the car.

……

In the back garden of the Xia Mansion, a woman was sitting on a swing under the sun, hanging her head in thought, letting the swing sway on her own, but she didn't know where her thoughts were while she was on the swing.

With the sound of footsteps, the maidservant of the double maid hurriedly walked along the gravel path, reached the swing frame and said, "Miss, I'm back."

The woman withdrew her thoughts, turned her head and asked softly, "Xiao Kou'er, what are you doing so loudly in front?"

"Miss, it's Master Biao who is yelling."

The woman frowned and said, "What is this fool doing?"

"Master Biao was beaten, and his back was scalded. The doctor was applying medicine to him. It hurt too much just now, so he yelled."

The woman sneered: "He will be beaten too? Didn't he claim to be the devil of the left side? How is the injury? Is it serious?"

"It seems to be quite heavy, but the doctor said that it will be good to keep it for a few days, and the master is scolding him in front."

"Alright, teach him what it's like to be beaten. He goes out every day to make trouble, and his father indulges him like that." The woman said bitterly.

"Master Biao said that the person who beat him was called... called..." Little Button suddenly stopped talking.

"I don't want to know what it's called. It's nothing more than a ruffian on the street. Maybe it's the son of a government office. When he meets a more ruthless character, he can only be embarrassed."

"No, miss, this person's name is the same as an acquaintance we know."

"Oh? An acquaintance? Are you still fighting with your cousin? What's his name?"

"I heard from Master Biao that the man is sixteen or seventeen years old, and he claims to be...Su Jin." Xiao Kou'er said softly.

"What?" The woman's hand slipped and she almost fell off the swing frame. Her body swayed a little, her face turned pale, and she murmured: "Could it be really him?"

Xiao Kou'er hurried forward to support the woman's body and said: "I haven't seen anyone, maybe it's the same name and surname, I don't know."

The woman looked into the distance and said thoughtfully: "There is no such a coincidence in the world. He is here... It's just that he didn't come to look for me, but the one who went is probably the Yan Mansion."