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

Chapter 40 A hint of fragrance

at dusk,

The street drums in Chang'an City haven't stopped yet,
Wang Dalang's dinner was ready, with hot steamed buns, fragrant millet stew, cool locust leaf tea, and a plate of sesame pancakes.
This is already quite rich.

"I haven't prepared anything. I don't have much food at home, so I can only prepare this simple meal. Uncle and Brother Wuyi, please don't mind."

"This is already very sumptuous. Brother Wang, thank you for the expense and my sister-in-law for the trouble." Li Yi felt that the Wang family's hospitality standards were quite high. The steamed buns were made of white flour, and the millet stew was a rhubarb rice and mutton soup. The locust leaf cold pot was a cold noodle made by mashing locust leaves, kneading the dough and cutting it into shreds. After being cooked, it was rinsed with cold water and refrigerated in the well. When eating, it was seasoned with minced garlic, vinegar and other seasonings, which was very delicious.

The golden sesame pancakes are also very fragrant.

Nowadays, the price of grain is so high that it is not easy to live in Chang'an. Being able to make these things temporarily is indeed a great blessing.

"These dishes were all prepared by Luzhu. How is her cooking?"

Li Yi praised her highly. The Silla maid had made tea very well and her speech had no Silla accent at all. If Wang Dalang had not taken out Lu Zhu's slave contract, which confirmed that Lu Zhu was indeed from Silla, people would have thought she was a fake Silla maid.

I didn't expect she was such a good cook.

"Since you, Wuyi, like this maid, I will give her to you. You just happen to be in need of a servant." Wang Dalang said with a smile.

"How can this be done?"

"Wu Yi, are you being so distant with me? Don't you consider me one of your own?" Wang Dalang pretended to be angry, while Village Chief Wang was beside him, persuading Li Yi to accept the gift.

It is also said that the nobles in Chang'an often entertained guests with their own maids or gave them away as gifts.

"In the past, the Prime Minister of the Chu State, Yang Su, was powerful in the government. Li Jing of the Danyang branch of the Longxi Li family was a talented man. He was appreciated by Yang Su and invited to his house as a guest. The singing girl Hong Fu in his house fell in love with Li Jing's youth and talent. They met secretly at night and fell in love. They ran away at night.
The next day, Yang Su learned that Hong Funu had been taken away by Li Jing. Far from being angry, he generously gave her a dowry, thus making this a beautiful story." Village Chief Wang said with a smile.

"Not only that." Wang Dalang added, saying that Yang Su was powerful at the time, and his house was filled with concubines and maids dressed in silk and satin. Not only did Hong Fu run away with Li Jing at night, but Li Baiyao, the son of Prime Minister Li Delin, the Eastern Palace scholar and the prince's attendant, also abducted one of Yang Su's concubines.
There's another, even more famous, story about a broken mirror being reunited. It tells of the story of Xu Deyan, a servant of the Southern Chen crown prince. She was originally the Princess Lechang, the sister of the Chen Houzhu. As the Sui army pressed on, Xu Deyan, seeing the dire situation, told his wife, "With your beauty and talent, you'll surely marry into a powerful family after your country's fall. If I survive, I hope we can be reunited someday." He then took out a bronze mirror, broke it in two, and the couple each held one half.

Later, when the Southern Chen Dynasty was destroyed, Princess Lechang was sent to Chang'an and given to Yang Su as a concubine.

Years later, Xu Deyan made his way to Chang'an. During the Lantern Festival, he was selling half a bronze mirror outside Yang Su's mansion, much to everyone's surprise. Upon hearing this, the princess sent an old servant to bring her own half of the mirror, and the two mirrors were reunited. Knowing it was her husband who had come looking for her, the princess refused to eat or drink for days and wept merrily. Upon discovering this, Yang Su, instead of being offended, expressed deep sympathy for the couple. He summoned Xu Deyan and returned Princess Lechang to him, thus establishing a beautiful story of reconciliation.

Li Yi didn't expect Yang Su to be so magnanimous.

But after careful consideration, whether it was Hong Fu Nu, Princess Lechang, or the concubine that Li Deyan kidnapped, their status in Yang Su's mansion was actually just singing girls and maids, and their status was very low. The nobles usually had the tradition of entertaining guests and giving gifts with singing girls and concubines.
Being kidnapped wasn't a big deal, not even a slap in the face, especially since the three men were of high status. Li Jing was from the Longxi Li clan, a prominent family during the Sui Dynasty, and the nephew of Han Qinhu, a renowned general. Li Baiyao was the son of Prime Minister Li Delin, also from the Boling Li clan, and a talented scholar who rose to fame at a young age.

As for Xu Deyan, he was also a famous scholar in Jiangnan.

Yang Su had thousands of prostitutes and concubines, so sending three of them was no big deal.

Today, Wang Dalang wants to give a Silla maid to Li Yi, which is also in line with the mainstream. After all, Wang Dalang sees that Li Yi has become the prince's wife and has a bright future, so he wants to build a relationship with him in advance.

A Silla maid was worth tens of thousands, but he only spent ten thousand coins on her.

If Li Yi insisted on refusing, it would make him seem unkind.

Although it was a living person, slaves were treated worse than animals, and in the eyes of the Tang people, it was really just a gift. It was not a daughter or a sister being married off, so there was no need to think too much about it.

The fact that they are willing to give you a maid means that they value your future value, Li Yi.

The atmosphere of this meal was very good.

After dinner,

Wang Dalang asked Li Yi to leave him a signature.

Li Yi looked at his half-grown children and said, "Let me write a Three Character Classic for you little ones."

"I've always heard that Wuyi's Three Character Classic is amazing, but I didn't expect to have the chance to get it written by you personally. This is great." Wang Dalang looked happy.

Luzhu took out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone,

White hands grind ink, red sleeves add fragrance.

Li Yi was writing the Three Character Classic on jute paper. He had already mastered the technique and his pen moved like a dragon. It didn't take him long to finish writing the Three Character Classic of more than a thousand words.

Wang Dalang praised him endlessly. He actually didn't understand much, but that didn't stop him from flattering him.

The fact that the Crown Prince even summoned him to be the Crown Prince's Secretary shows that he is indeed extraordinary.

Wang Dalang was the money collector in the Ministry of Revenue. His job was to lend money and collect interest for the Ministry's small treasury. On the surface, he only had 50 strings of cash in his hands, but in fact, he also helped the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, as well as their relatives and friends, to lend private money. He used the name of the Ministry of Revenue to lend money, and the interest rates on the loans he made were not only high, but few people dared to default on their debts.

Because the money lent out by the Ministry of Revenue was guaranteed to be principal and interest-free, with an interest rate of 8% per month and double the interest per year, the little money-catching clerk was actually very popular in the yamen.

Wang Dalang naturally took advantage of his position to make money. People who deal with money every day are inevitably shrewd and mercenary, and are willing to invest when they see an opportunity.

The night is dark,

Lu Zhu helped Li Yi take a shower, then changed into Wang Dalang's new clothes and moved into the guest room.

The night was a little hot and stuffy.

The light in the room was dim, but it added a bit of hazy atmosphere.

Since Li Yi came to the Tang Dynasty, he slept with Madam Zhu in his arms every day.

Today I have a young lady with me,

Warm and fragrant, soft and jade-like,

(Delete a paragraph)
When facing Luo Sanniang that night, he refused because he didn't want to marry her, didn't want to take that responsibility, and didn't want to enter into marriage casually again.

But tonight is different.
Lu Zhu was just a maidservant in Silla and was not even qualified to be a concubine. The Tang Dynasty law stated: Anyone who took his wife or maidservant as a concubine would be sentenced to two years in prison; anyone who took a concubine or a guest girl as a wife would be sentenced to one and a half years in prison. The sentence would then be returned to the original state and the wife would be allowed to marry.

The commentary said: "A wife is equal to another. Concubines are bought and sold, and maids are lowly. If a concubine is taken as a wife and a maid as a concubine, it violates the separate agreement, violates the proper way of husband and wife, undermines the traditional principles of human relations, reverses the rules of etiquette, and disrupts the classics of propriety."

If a maid wants to become a concubine, she must first be freed to marry a good man before she can become a concubine. Even if the maid is favored by her master and gives birth to a child, she still has to be freed to marry a good man before she can become a concubine. She cannot automatically become a concubine just because she gives birth to a child.

The Tang Dynasty was an era of status, with strict and insurmountable hierarchies.

No matter how favored a maid or concubine is, she can never be a wife.

There are crickets chirping outside the window,
"Ah Lang, the lights are still on."

"It's better if the light is dim."

······
The scene at that time is documented in a poem:
(Delete a paragraph)
"What is your real name?"

"My original surname is Jin, my given name is Yusu, and I'm from Gyeongju, Silla. When I was ten years old, I was kidnapped and sold to pirates..."

Lu Zhu hugged Li Yi and told him about her unfortunate experience. She was born in an official's family in the capital of Silla, but was abducted and sold to a general named Guo in Chang'an after changing hands several times.

There were several Silla maids in General Guo's mansion, and his favorite was one named Yulan. This girl was young, beautiful and extremely charming, and she knew how to please General Guo. General Guo doted on her and let her be in charge of the gold and silver utensils in the house. He even insisted that she cook some rice water for him every night.

At the beginning of the year, Yulan poisoned the rice water and almost killed General Guo. Afterwards, Yulan took away dozens of gold and silver items and escaped. The case caused a sensation. General Guo was also extremely angry and handed over all the Silla maids in the mansion to the yamen for interrogation.

Lu Zhu was also implicated in this and was imprisoned. Fortunately, the case was quickly uncovered by the Chang'an Bad Commander. It was the Silla maid Yulan who secretly colluded with a Silla man in Chang'an, bribed the groom of General Guo's mansion, and committed the crime together.

Unfortunately, the poison was not strong enough to kill General Guo. Although they successfully stole dozens of gold and silver items, they were eventually caught and the three men were executed.

Although it was found that Lu Zhu and other Silla maids had nothing to do with the matter, the Guo family was unwilling to keep them and asked a trafficker to sell them. Wang Dalang took the opportunity to buy Lu Zhu.

"That Yulan was quite courageous. She poisoned her master and stole his property. It's a pity that she was beheaded in the East Market."

Luzhu hugged Li Yi tighter and said, "I will never betray my master."

Li Yi smiled lightly and felt that he was fine again.

"It's not enough to just talk about loyalty. Now is your time to be tested."

Lu Zhu was indeed a Silla maid who was deeply loved by the nobles. She was gentle and well-behaved.

This time, Li Yi finally showed his prowess.

for a long time,

Li Yi sighed with satisfaction.

No wonder Wang Dalang remarked at dinner that Chang'an nobles, for their maids, must have girls from Goguryeo, and for their servants, must have unmarried men. Otherwise, they were considered unworthy officials. If you didn't have Silla maids or Kunlun slaves at home, you couldn't even call yourself a wealthy noble.

A large number of Silla maids or Goryeo maids were mostly abducted and sold to the Central Plains as slaves. Before being sold to the Central Plains nobles, most of them underwent professional skills training, learned Tang Dynasty Mandarin, Tang Dynasty etiquette, needlework and cooking, etc. Only after passing the training would they be sold at a high price.

The reason why Lu Zhu was able to be sold to the general's mansion was because of her excellent skills after training.

Wang Dalang bought her for ten thousand coins, which was a great bargain.

But now, all the benefits have gone to Li Yi.

(End of this chapter)