A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 110 Du Shiniang's Date
frost,

There was a heavy frost that morning.

Qiuyue, the girl who got up early, exclaimed that it seemed like snow had fallen on the ground, and the whole yard was covered in silver.

The Silla maid curled up beside Li Yi, with one leg on him.

She is truly born with a charming temperament. No wonder some kings don't attend court early in the morning.

Who doesn't want to indulge in the land of tenderness? Yu Shu is not only beautiful, but most importantly, she provides emotional value. She is always happy in front of Li Yi, either coquettish or charming.

"Meow."

Little Lihua came and meowed in dissatisfaction when she saw that Silla Bi had taken her place. However, Silla Bi was still sleeping, so she raised her little paws and gave her three consecutive slaps on the head.

The Silla maid woke up with a startled cry,
Seeing that it was General Zhaocai, he had no choice but to burrow into Li Yi's arms, which made Zhaocai even more dissatisfied, and he slapped him with his claws again.

"Ah Lang, this raccoon is bullying me."

Li Yi reached out and stroked the tabby cat. The little tabby cat stretched out its tongue and licked Li Yi's hand.

"hungry?"

Li Yi, the tabby cat, has become spoiled by him. Although he is an expert at catching mice, he no longer eats mice. Instead, he catches mice and puts them at Li Yi's doorstep every day.

I don’t even eat normal meals.
You have to eat fish, fresh fish. I won’t eat dried salted fish or smelly shrimp.

Only Li Yi could afford to provide for him. Fresh fish and shrimps could be put into the space house without any changes. They could be taken out at any time and would still be the same as when they were just put in.

With the arrival of Little Lihua, Xinluo Bi could no longer stay in Li Yi's arms, and it was even more impossible for her to do morning exercises.

The plan to obtain the scriptures failed again, and the Silla maid had to get up.

Although I've studied the Kun character technique so many times, it's a pity that Ah Lang always uses the 'fish bladder' at the critical moment. I don't know what kind of fish's bladder it is, so thin, yet so strong.

She has been secretly competing with Ji, wanting to obtain the true scriptures as soon as possible. As long as her belly gets bigger, her position will be truly secure.

As a Silla slave who was abducted at the age of ten and sold from Silla to the Central Plains, no matter how brightly she smiles, she actually always feels insecure deep down in her heart.

What she feared most was not meeting a bad owner, but being sold and given away like an object.

Now Alang is very nice, sometimes even making her forget that she is a slave.

But they will soon come to their senses and feel it is even more cruel.

She wanted to stay with Alang forever, fearing that she would be sold or given away as a gift if she did something wrong one day.

If you have children, they should not be sold or given away anymore.

She didn't ask for being a concubine, she just wanted to have a stable life and stay here forever.

But Alang said he didn't want to have children now.

In fact, she had once boldly and secretly searched for Alang's fish maw, thinking of secretly doing something to it, like poking a hole in it with a needle or something.

But the discarded fish maw was never found, not even afterwards.

She wasn't even entirely sure it was a fish bladder.

Yu Shu also asked Ji about her situation openly and secretly, and asked whether Alang used fish maw when he was with her. Ji ignored her, but she observed his expression and guessed that Alang did not give it to her either.

Fortunately, although Alang used this annoying thing every time, he never made them drink contraceptive soup.

She had stayed at General Guo's mansion before and knew that in the backyards of aristocratic mansions, sometimes the masters did not want their lowly maids and prostitutes to get pregnant, so they would make them drink contraceptive soup afterwards. This soup was said to be very harmful to the body, and if used too often, it would make one permanently infertile.

Qiuhua came in to pick up the girl,
The house in Pingkangfang was good in every way, but there was one thing that made Li Yi not very satisfied. That was the toilet outside the house, which cost 800,000 yuan. If he didn't want to go out at night, he could only use the chamber pot.

In the past, chamber pots were called tiger pots and were made in the shape of a crouching tiger. Legend has it that General Li Guang of the Han Dynasty was hunting with his brothers in the north of Ming Mountain when they saw a crouching tiger and shot it to death with one arrow.

After killing the tiger, he still felt that it was too fierce, so he cut off its skull and used it as a pillow. He also ordered people to cast a copper urinal in the shape of a tiger to urinate in, to express his contempt for the tiger. He called this thing "tiger urinal".

The urinals in the Han Dynasty palace were mostly made of jade, and the urinals were called jade tigers.

But now we can’t call him Hu Zi anymore, it’s taboo.

Because Li Yuan's grandfather was named Li Hu, the title of Tang Dynasty came from him.

It could no longer be called a tiger token, so it was called a horse token. The generals' military tokens could no longer be called tiger tokens, so they were called fish tokens.

Although he didn't have to go out to use the toilet in the room at night, especially in winter, it would still make the house smell. He thought that maybe he should renovate a small bathroom in the house. It didn't necessarily need plumbing and drainage, just a partition. This way he wouldn't have to go out at night, but there wouldn't be any unpleasant smell in the house.

Put a toilet with a seat inside for added convenience and comfort. Then put a bucket of clean water in there so you can rinse your hands after using the toilet. Close the door to isolate the odor and empty it in the morning. Leave an exhaust vent in the cubicle to prevent residual odors and keep the air fresh.

There is no need to take a bath in the bedroom, after all, this mansion has a dedicated bathroom.

morning,

Today Li Yi plans to continue experimenting with soap making. The persimmons have already been put into the vat. It will take a month and a half for them to ferment, so you can ignore them for now.

I bought all the materials for making soap.

In fact, if you don't consider the fragrance and other things, and just use it for stain removal, it is very simple.

I also bought pig pancreas.
Poor people also buy this thing to eat. It is very cheap. You can buy five or six pounds of this with the price of one pound of pork.

"First, cut the pig pancreas into pieces, then use a wooden hammer to mash it into a paste, and it's ready to use."

Li Yi originally planned to ask several maids in his house to make it, but Ji said that bath beans were very valuable. The doctors and merchants in Chang'an who made bath beans would keep the recipe secret, and some would even pass it on only to men and not to women.

Most of the bath beans sold today are formulated by doctors and are expensive. Each has its own secret recipe that is never passed on.

Although Ah Fu's wife and others were also Li Yi's servants,
But Ji felt that he had to be cautious first, after all, the tofu skin workshop had experienced the Fat Aunt incident last time.

The job of hammering pig pancreas looked a bit disgusting, but Ji and Yu Shu still took it on.

Making soap also requires alkali. If there is no ready-made alkali, you can make it using wood ash. This is very simple. Just take a handful of straw and burn it into fire.

Pour the burnt wood ash into clean water and stir it to extract the alkali solution. Then filter out the impurities with gauze, and then add lime and filter again.

If you don't have lime readily available, you can simply burn shells and pound them into powder. After filtering twice, let it settle overnight.

The two beautiful maids pounded a large bowl of pig pancreas paste and were sweating profusely.

"what's next?"

"We have to wait until tomorrow to continue."

There was a heavy frost in the morning, and although the sun came out a little late, it was a sunny day.

The Tang people called early frost "chrysanthemum frost", meaning that the chrysanthemums hit by frost bloom better and it is the right time to appreciate them.

"The Double Ninth Festival is coming in a few days. There will definitely be a lot of people at Leyouyuan in the city. Why don't we go for a walk today?" Li Yi suggested.

Leyouyuan is a high ground in Chang'an City and the highest point in the city. Climbing up the plain and looking out into the distance, you can have a panoramic view of the entire Chang'an. The surrounding area is spacious and the scenery is beautiful. To the south is the rippling blue waves of Qujiang Lake and to the west is a towering Buddhist temple.

During every festival, especially the Double Ninth Festival, countless princes, nobles, officials and citizens in Chang'an City rushed to climb the plains for fun, and countless shoes were squeezed out.

Travel with beauty,

Both of them had been to Leyouyuan many times, especially Ji. Her family and her husband's family used to have other courtyards in Leyouyuan, and they used to go there often.

This was Li Yi's first time going back, so he asked the two of them to be his guides.

Just about to go out,

Someone came from Du Ruhui's house and gave Li Yi a sandalwood box.

Li Yi opened it,

There was a letter and a scroll inside.
Du Shiniang wrote him a letter saying that she was now at her cousin Du Ruhui's house in Anminfang, Chang'an City, and that it had been a long time since they last met at Wuji Thatched Cottage.

"It is late autumn, chrysanthemums are in full bloom, golden pears adorn the trees, frost stains the leaves red,

I invite Li Lang to climb Leyouyuan to enjoy the chrysanthemums and taste the pears, and then go up to the North Tower to overlook the beautiful scenery of Chang'an."

Li Yi opened the scroll,

It was a painting on silk, and the person in the painting was actually him.

Green shirt, white horse, looking back and smiling.

Judging from the inscription that it was painted by Du Shiniang, the person in the painting should be myself. The likeness is very lifelike, and I seem to be smiling at Du Shiniang.

This letter and this painting,

It couldn't be more obvious.

Put the letter and painting away and put them back into the sandalwood box.
Li Yi said to the two maids, "I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do. How about we go to Leyouyuan to climb the heights and admire the chrysanthemums tomorrow?"

Yu Shu said heartlessly that tomorrow would be the same.
Ji was keenly aware of something from the box. The person who came was Du Ruhui's servant. She didn't see the letter, but she saw the unfolded painting.

It is obvious that this is the letter and painting sent by Du Shiniang, and the painting is of her own Alang.

Li Yi returned to the courtyard.

"Alang is hesitating." Ji said.

Li Yi looked at her and asked, "What did you see?"

"Is it that Du Shiniang of the Jingzhao Du family is in love with Alang, but Alang is now hesitant and withdrawing because of her family background?"

"It's not as simple as you say."

Li Yi lay on the rocking chair and said, "Please massage my head."

Ji helped him massage his head, and her fingers applied moderate strength, which was very comfortable.

"What are Ah Lang's feelings for Du Shiniang?"

Li Yi shook his head and smiled bitterly, "My acquaintance with Du Shiniang was just a coincidence. Later, I just thought of it as a new customer for the tofu skin workshop. Later, because of Du Canjun, we exchanged letters, but we were just friends. I didn't have any other thoughts."

"Ah Lang, a sixteen-year-old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl can't be friends. From the very beginning, you and Du Shiniang crossed the line and blurred the boundaries.
Now, from Madam Guo of the Jingzhao Du family, to Du Sanlang, General Du, and even Du Shiniang, no one thinks you just want to be ordinary friends with her, right? "

Ji pointed out frankly that Li Yi's eccentricity and talent attracted Du Shiniang from the very beginning, and the fact that he crossed the line in their relationship was also seen as an active expression by Du Shiniang.

Now Du Shiniang was completely involved, but Li Yi said that he had no other thoughts and was just being friends. Ji Shi felt that what he said was wrong.

Li Yi also discovered that
From Luo Sanniang to Du Shiniang, he still had some of his previous ways of getting along, but he forgot that this was the Tang Dynasty. Li Yi might think that this was normal communication, but in this era it had crossed the line.

Luo Sanniang once misunderstood him and responded enthusiastically, but Li Yi gave her a shock.

Now Du Shiniang is also deeply involved in it.

"Alang, what are you hesitating about? Du Shiniang is a perfect match. I've met Du Shiniang a few times. She's excellent in every way. She comes from a prominent family, is beautiful, can write poetry and paint, and has a good personality. Most importantly, she likes Alang."

Li Yi sighed,

"I was wrong. Shi Niang is very good, but I never thought about getting married and having children in the past few years."

"Why?" Ji Shi didn't understand at all. This question had troubled her for a while. If Li Yi just didn't want to have children with a slave, and wanted to marry a wife and have her give birth to his eldest son and daughter, it would be understandable.
But why don’t you want to get married and have children now?

"Alang is sixteen, and although he's still young, it's quite common for him to get married and have children at this age. And with Alang's current status and wealth, he doesn't have to worry about the dowry or raising a wife, right?"

"You do not understand,"

For a man who has just experienced the seven-year itch and just escaped from the marriage fortress, why would he be so eager to enter the fortress again when he returns to being a sixteen-year-old boy?
He now accepted Ji and Yu Shu because they were just maids, which was completely different from marrying them.

Ji couldn't figure it out, but she felt that Li Yi was still worried about the mismatch between their social status, the Du family's opposition, and that he and Du Shiniang could not end up together.

What Li Yi actually thought in his heart was that he didn't want to get married at all. He didn't want to marry Luo Sanniang, Du Shiniang, or anyone else at this stage, let alone have children.

That's fine now.

(End of this chapter)