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

Chapter 141 The Wife of the House
Last night the wedding candles burned all night long.

Li Yi set an example by himself and led the ignorant Du Shiniang on the road.

In the early morning, Li Yi was sound asleep.
Shi Niang had already woken up, and looking at Li Yi sleeping next to her, she couldn't help feeling sweet in her heart.

Genius dawns,
Shi Niang stood up, but as soon as she moved, she felt a wave of discomfort, her face flushed with shame, and she turned her head to glare at the culprit who was still sleeping soundly.
Dressing in front of the mirror,

According to custom, the day after the wedding, one should pay respects to the husband's parents-in-law. However, since Ah Lang's parents had not yet been found, this ceremony was skipped.

Shi Niang still had to get up early. Since she was married, she planned to be a dutiful wife in the future.

She was going to make breakfast for Li Yi, as it was customary for the bride to cook on the second day after her wedding, and she was going to make millet stew. Shi Niang planned to show off her skills in the kitchen, as she was not only good at poetry and playing the zither and chess, but also skilled in needlework and cooking.

Women in Guanzhong usually learn to cook millet stew very early.

After combing her hair and tying it into a side-twisted bun, Shi Niang felt a little uncomfortable without her maid Shuying by her side.

Suddenly I missed this maid who grew up with me. I wonder how she is doing now.

She combed her hair, put on some light makeup, and changed into a pomegranate red dress.

This dress was prepared for her by Li Yi. The material is very good and the cutting and sewing are also very beautiful. It can be seen that Alang is very attentive to her.

On the contrary, when she got married, she not only failed to bring any maids with her, but she didn't even bring anything to wear or use.

She entered her husband's house in a blue wedding dress.
It hurts to think about it.
In the jewelry box on the dressing table, there are many pieces of jewelry, ivory combs, gold hairpins, and silver brushes.

Simple dressing is good,

Li Yi was still sleeping soundly.

Shi Niang walked out of the Qinglu,

There was a small tent next to it. Last night, Ji, Yu Shu, Hong Xiao and Afu's family took turns guarding it.

As soon as Shi Niang came out, Ji Lingyi came to greet her.

"My lady, you are up so early, do you have any instructions?"

Shi Niang smiled at her and said, "I want to make a millet stew for A Lang."

Ji smiled and said, "I'll take my wife to the kitchen."

When they arrived at the kitchen, Ji asked the cook Agui to bring some soft yellow rice and mutton. She helped Shi Niang, and the two women chatted while they were busy.

During the Qin Dynasty, the first day of October was the beginning of the year. Millet stew was eaten on this day and was also used to entertain relatives and friends.

It is a very solemn dish, a soup made of soft yellow rice and meat.
October is the time when millet is ripe, and it is also a time to try something new.

Even today, people in Guanzhong still attach great importance to millet stew. The day after a girl gets married, her family will make millet stew. The first meal a bride has at her husband's house is millet stew.
Whether the millet porridge is cooked well or not represents whether one is virtuous or not.

Shi Niang was also very skilled at making millet stew, and with Ji's help, the process became much easier.

During the chat, Shi Niang also learned more about the family situation through Ji Lingyi.

The sun is rising,

Li Yi woke up and saw that there was no one beside his pillow. He called out twice and Yu Shu came in.

"My wife went to the kitchen early in the morning to make millet stew, and Su Jun followed her."

"Oh."

Last night I slept in the courtyard tent. Fortunately, there was a stove, so I didn't feel cold. With Yu Shu's help, Li Yi washed and changed his clothes.
The Qinglu behind him will be demolished soon.

Most of the guests last night were staying at home. Chang'an City is now under a curfew at night. Not only are the city gates and lane doors closed and locked, but if you are caught walking on the street, you will be beaten or even taken to a prison to do hard labor.

Fortunately, this house is big enough, so the guests can squeeze in and get by.

He came to the East Courtyard,
Everyone came up to greet us with a smile.
Although there were some unexpected incidents during the wedding yesterday, no one paid much attention to it. For the villagers of Luojiabao, they only had eyes for the village chief Li Yi.

Many people were entering Chang'an City for the first time. Even though it was only forty miles away, some people had never been there, especially many women and children.

This time, Li Yi directly hired a horse carriage to pick up all the villagers, young and old, which can be said to be a rare event.

The food at the wedding banquet was delicious, with eight large bowls of food and plenty of meat dishes. Everyone was so happy that they didn't want to leave.

However, there are also people who are eager to return to the countryside to busy themselves with plowing the land and preparing for autumn sowing.

"It's a rare opportunity for everyone to come to Chang'an, so don't rush back. After breakfast, I'll take you to climb Leyouyuan. From there, you can have a panoramic view of the entire Chang'an City. Then we'll go to Chengqujiang to see the Hibiscus Garden there. It's very beautiful."

Luo Erdao said, "There are a lot of things to do at home. The workshop has temporarily covered the roof with straw, and it's busy again now. If we stop for a day, the loss will be huge. There are several companies making yuba now, and the competition is fierce. If we can't supply the goods, others will take away our business."

Luo San also said that the Shaofujian had already sent craftsmen to build the new Wujiyuan and school, and someone was needed to follow.

"It was built very quickly. We sent a lot of craftsmen, the materials were all available, and we recruited a lot of strong men from the local area. We just rammed the earth and built it quickly."

"It won't take many days to finish."

Luo San asked Li Yi to go back and take a look when he was free, after all, he was repairing the house for him.

Wujiyuan was upgraded to Wuji Fort. The most significant change was the addition of walls on all four sides, which were more than three zhang high, about twenty-seven zhang long from north to south, and about eighteen zhang wide from east to west, enclosing ten acres of land.

There is a moat around the ten-meter-high fortress wall, which is two meters wide and two meters deep.

The original layout of the east and west courtyards remained basically unchanged, except that the burned yellow thatched roof was replaced with small green tiles, the damaged beams, columns, doors and windows were also replaced, and even the furniture was replaced with new ones.

In addition, a new garden was added.
In this way, the East Court became the Central Court.

The outer city wall encloses the inner courtyard. The original two courtyards, the east and west, will be expanded with new buildings, turning the two courtyards into three. Wuji Courtyard will become Wuji Fort, with a single main gate, an iron-clad wooden door, offering high defensive capabilities.

There are a total of seven piers on the ten-meter-high fortress wall, with pavilions and towers built on them. Together with the main gate tower, there are eight towers in total, which can be used for storage, viewing the scenery, and defense.

Even if we encounter the three thousand Qiang soldiers who burned, killed and looted like last time,

Li Yi evacuated the villagers of Luojiabao into the fort, closed the iron-clad wooden door, and sent strong men to guard the high walls. The Qiang soldiers were helpless.

The wall is ten meters high and has a trench in front. It can be used to keep livestock in normal times, and can also be used to prevent thieves, bandits, and rebels in emergencies.

There are guard walls on the outside and parapets on the inside of the high wall. The strong men can attack the people below the city through the shooting holes on it, which is very safe.

The fortress, which covers an area of only 5,000 square meters, is just a landlord's compound.
But these four high walls are no less powerful than Fengjiashan.

I have to say that Emperor Li is a really nice person. He not only helped repair the damaged roof, but also built high walls.

Less than a hundred meters away, at the bridgehead at the foot of the slope, the Wuji School, covering an area of six acres, was built and also had high walls on all four sides.

The buildings of the new school were all newly built, and they even had a well.

Although for the court,

Building a small fort of ten and six acres is not worth mentioning, but for Li Yi, he really likes it very much.

You can upgrade it completely without spending any money.

"Well, I'll be back in two days."

breakfast,

Invite all guests to eat millet glutinous rice,

The sticky, thick and fragrant millet stew was highly praised by all the guests who ate it.

"This is what my new wife, Shi Niang, made early in the morning. Are you all satisfied? Is her cooking skill any good?" Li Yi asked with a smile.

"Well, I didn't expect that the daughter of the Du family could make such delicious mutton paste."

People in the countryside simply call millet paste "mutton paste", which does look like a paste.

Some people even asked, "How come it tastes so good? Is there any secret?"

"Yeah, why do I feel hot all over after eating? It even feels a little spicy."

"Then you have to ask my wife," Li Yi pulled Shi Niang over, "Everyone wants to ask you, how come this millet stew is so delicious?"

Shi Niang was wearing an apron.
She said shyly, "First, use the sheep bones with bone marrow to make a good soup, then chop the fresh mutton into small pieces, add the best soft yellow rice, simmer it in the soup over a low heat until it becomes a paste-like porridge, and finally add pepper.

This kind of mutton and millet stew is tender and flavorful, and tastes fragrant and spicy, warming the stomach and body. "

When everyone heard this, they realized that this porridge was really expensive. Not only was mutton added, but mutton bone soup was also made, and even precious pepper was added. No wonder it was said to be so delicious.

"If you like it, fellow villagers, please have a few more bowls. Don't be polite." Shi Niang invited.

As she spoke, Shi Niang personally served a bowl to Li Yi.
After tasting it, Li Yi found it to be fragrant and spicy. "My wife is a good cook."

After finishing the mutton porridge meal that satisfied all the guests, everyone said they wanted to go home. Li Yi couldn't keep them, so he gave everyone a gift, and then asked Liu Heizi to hire a carriage to send the guests from the countryside back.

The guests left.

Li Yi called everyone in the family and asked them to come and pay their respects to the mistress of the house one by one.

"This is Lingyi, surnamed Ji, courtesy name Sujun. She was originally a concubine of the Ye Ting Palace, given to me by Your Majesty. I took her in as my concubine, and she was released from prostitution along with Sujun. Now she's in charge of the accounts. This is Yushu, surnamed Jin, from Silla. She was given to me by Wang Lingshi. I also took her in as my concubine, and she was released from prostitution along with Sujun. Now she's in charge of the treasury."

Li Yi first introduced these two people around him,
Shi Niang smiled and said, "I want to thank them for taking care of A Lang and taking care of the house before I came."

"Pick a good day, Alang, invite some friends and guests to witness, and then take her as a concubine. You can't treat them unfairly, they must have a legitimate status."

"From now on, I'll have to trouble them to continue to take care of the family's accounting office and warehouse."

Shi Niang's generous attitude made the two of them feel relieved, especially Yu Shu. She was very happy to hear that the newly married wife took the initiative to ask A Lang to take her as a concubine.

Li Yi then introduced Liu Heizi, Li Cunli, Xiao Shisan and others. Heizi was no longer a slave of the Li family, but was now a husband. He also had his own fields and land, but he also worked as an external manager for Li Yi and received a salary.

Xiao Shisan and Yu Youniang were Li Yi's retainers.

Li Cunli is Li Yi's servant. He used to be the son of a businessman. Now Li Yi puts him in charge of opening a shop and being the shopkeeper.

Hong Xiao was originally a singing girl who followed a blind man to sing for money. "Let Hong Xiao follow the lady and serve her."

There are ten people in the three families of Afu, Agui and Awei. They guard the door, drive the cart and guard the yard. Their women do the laundry, cook and sweep the floor. Their four children serve them tea and water.

There were also twenty young and strong male and female slaves who temporarily stayed at Luojiabao to help with the work.

Du Shiniang was very polite to everyone in the mansion, and gave a red envelope to everyone who came to pay their respects.

After meeting,
Li Yi said to Shi Niang, "From now on, you will take care of the interior, and I will take care of the exterior. You will take care of the household. Su Jun, Yu Shu, and You Niang will assist you, and Hei Zi, Shisan Lang, and Cun Li will follow me outside."

"Madam, do you want to buy some more maids and servants? I will accompany you to the Kouma Market to pick out the ones you like."

"Ah Lang, now that we have so many people at home, I'm more than happy to serve you. I just miss Shuying a little bit. Although we are master and servant, we grew up together and are as close as sisters."

"I'm trying to think of a way to take her in, or even buy her."

(End of this chapter)