Houmen Dixiu

Chapter 21
Xiao Huaisu listened with gusto for a while, and nodded repeatedly.

She knew that Zhang Zeduan, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, depicted the prosperity of Bianjing shops in the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan, a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Huai Su, look here again!"

Chunliu raised the curtains of the car slightly under Wang's signal, and she waved her hand to call Xiao Huaisu to her, "This is the imperial street, two hundred steps wide, with imperial corridors on both sides of the road, two rows of Anzhu lacquer branches in the center, and a street in the middle. On the imperial road, pedestrians are all outside the branch," he said while pointing to Xiao Huaisu, "you can see that there are two imperial ditches built with bricks and stones in the branch, and lotuses are planted in summer, and peaches, plums, pears and apricots are near the shore. , mixed with flowers, between spring and summer, it looks like an embroidery, but now in the middle of winter, it can't help but look a little bit depressed..."

Xiao Huaisu listened earnestly, and Wang's speech was more flavorful, and he praised the great Zhou's decree, which changed the old rules that residents in the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties were not allowed to open their doors to the streets, and were not allowed to engage in trading activities outside designated market squares. , allowing citizens to open shops in the Royal Gallery and do business along the street.

In order to activate the economic and cultural life, the curfew was relaxed, and the gates of the city were closed very late and opened very early.

A military patrol shop is set up every [-] to [-] steps on the Imperial Street. The corner guard patrols in the shop maintain traffic order during the day and divert the flow of people and vehicles;

Mrs. Du kept squinting her eyes and feigned sleep. When she heard Wang's words come to an end, she raised her eyes and said, "Tell Huai Su about the inner and outer cities and see how well she remembers them?"

Mrs. Wang smiled, took Xiao Huaisu's hand again and continued: "The city of Bianjing is divided into three parts, the outer city, the inner city and the palace city. The outer city has three gates to the south, four gates to the north, three gates to the west, and two gates to the east. , a total of twelve city gates, the south wall is Nanxun Gate in the middle, and the Suzaku Gate, the south gate of Licheng, and the Xuande Gate, the south gate of Miyagi, form the central axis of the whole city, which is the Yujie we just saw. Yujie It is very wide. There are many government offices in the section of Imperial Street from Xuandemen to the north of Zhouqiao in Zhuquemen. The most famous Daxiangguo Temple is on the east side of Imperial Street and northeast of Zhouqiao. This outer city is also The name is Guocheng, and the moat is called Hulong River. There are three gates in the north and south of the inner city, and two gates in the east. There are ten gates in total. In the middle of the south is Zhuquemen. Miyagi, also known as Imperial City and Da Nei, is located in the center of the northern part of Licheng, with Xuande Gate in the middle, Donghua Gate in the east, Xihua Gate in the west, Gongchen Gate in the north, and Daqing Hall in the main hall. The Xuande Gate also happens to be on the central axis of the whole city..."

Mrs. Wang finished speaking in one breath, seeing that Xiao Huaisu was a little confused, wondering how a child of this age could remember, and for a moment she didn't quite understand Mrs. Du's intentions.

Xiao Huaisu did seem to understand what he heard, and he didn't ask himself to memorize it. After listening to what Wang said, he only sighed in his heart for the exquisiteness and complexity of Bianjing, which is worthy of being the capital of a country.

The carriage walked for about half an hour before turning into an alley. At this time, the official mansions did not hang plaques and nameplates in a serious manner. Unless the plaques were bestowed by the emperor like Du Mansion, outsiders would want to find It really takes a lot of effort to go to which door.

"arrive!"

The corners of Wang's lips curled up, and a dazzling brilliance appeared on his face.

Mrs. Du also breathed a sigh of relief, Xiao Huaisu sat up straight, but she still felt a little uneasy in her heart, and she was a little nervous with her hands twisted in front of her body.

"What are you afraid of?"

Mrs. Du smiled and patted Xiao Huaisu's hand, "They are all your relatives anyway, so could they still eat you?"

Xiao Huaisu smiled shyly, "I'm timid, but with my grandmother giving me courage, no one dares to bully me!" As he spoke, he raised his head with a bit of pride, which amused Mrs. Du happy.

There were servants waiting at the door to unload the threshold, and the carriage drove in without stopping, and stopped in the spacious dam in front of the second door.

Before Xiao Huaisu got out of the carriage, he heard the sound of neat clothes being scraped outside the carriage, and then the servants said in unison: "Welcome old lady, eldest lady back home!"

Xia He, Xiao Ju, and the two second-class maids brought by Mrs. Du this time, who were sitting in the second carriage, got out of the carriage and waited aside.

Chunliu helped Mrs. Wang out of the carriage first, and Mrs. Wang respectfully helped Mrs. Du out of the carriage after turning around.

Xiao Huaisu took a deep breath in the carriage, and then slid down Chunliu's outstretched hand. The originally spacious yard was already full of kneeling people, all of them bowed their heads, and could only see the water. Crow blue head.

On the other side stood two handsome young men, one big and one small, two girls. Seeing Mrs. Du's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got out of the carriage, they greeted them one after another, and called out with a smile, "Grandmother, mother (big aunt)!"

"Okay, everything is fine!"

Mrs. Du looked at the grandchildren in front of her, she couldn't tell what it was like, she turned around and called Xiao Huaisu to her, "Have you met your two cousins!"

Xiao Huaisu had stabilized his mood at this moment, with a slight smile on his face, he said obediently: "I have seen the first cousin, the second cousin," and turned to the two girls, "Second cousin, third cousin!"

Lifting his eyes, he saw that the young man in the bamboo blue brocade robe was the tallest, with a thin face, showing a bit of frailty. This should be his cousin Du Yanzhao.

The young man in the dark blue robe had slightly plump cheeks and lively eyes. When Xiao Huaisu saw her, he smiled and winked at her. This was his second cousin Du Yanyi.

The second cousin, Du Yanyun, and the third cousin, Du Yanyu, are dressed in the same clothes. They both wear slanted jackets and horse-faced skirts, but they both choose plain colors, one jade color, the other lotus root color. It looked surprisingly similar.

After the cousins ​​met each other for a while, Mrs. Du nodded slightly, looked around majesticly, and then raised her hands and said: "Get up!"

Only then did the kneeling maids and servants get up.

Then a woman in a ginger-yellow jacket and skirt with a round bun came forward with a smile and saluted Mrs. Du. After entering the mansion, the servants will have the backbone at once!"

"You can talk!"

Mrs. Wang gave the woman a smile with a smile, her attitude was easy-going and friendly, she pointed to Xiao Huaisu and said: "This is Miss Xiao's Biao, and she will be placed in..." She then glanced at Mrs. Du inquiringly.

Mrs. Du pondered for a while, then looked at Xiao Huaisu lovingly, and sighed: "Looking at her body, I originally wanted to set up a separate garden for her to live in, but now..." After thinking about it, she said: "It's better to live with me." In the small courtyard at the back of the house, it’s nice to be close to it!”

As soon as Mrs. Du said this, everyone's expressions changed slightly.

Xiao Huaisu later found out that the small courtyard behind Mrs. Du's house used to be the residence of her mother, Du Boshu, when she was a child. It was not until Du Boshu turned eight years old that she opened the courtyard alone. The same as before, half a point has not changed.

(End of this chapter)