Chapter 690 Eating and Drinking

Chapter 690 Eating and Drinking

Chapter 690 Eating and Drinking
On the first day of the second year of the Shengui reign (318), heavy snow fell in Henan and Hebei.

But bad weather cannot stop the annual celebration.

The court ceremony was lengthy, and the monarch and his ministers all found it troublesome, but they all followed the established process.

After the court celebration, there was a banquet, dancing and music, which lasted until dark, and the whole thing was considered to be over.

Su Shuyan followed the crowd out of Guanfeng Gate, but saw that the muddy ground outside was bustling with people and cars.

In the crowd, a military officer wearing a Diaochan crown and a fur coat mounted his horse and rode away in a flash, splashing a lot of mud and snow.

When several low-ranking civil servants in white robes saw this, they started cursing.

Someone from another county did not recognize the arrogant warrior, so he asked, "Who is this?"

"General Jin Zheng of the Right Army."

"It turned out to be him."

"He's a vicious man. Don't bother with him."

"To act in this way is to bring about one's own death."

Su Shuyan was listening at the side and almost laughed out loud.

Some people who are too arrogant need to be disciplined by people like Jin Zheng.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" A loud shout came from the west. Su Shuyan turned his head and saw that it was the ox cart of General Yu Liang, the military officer.

Yu Liang should be in the car, surrounded by his entourage, and everyone ran away.

Two carriages drove out from the side and were about to leave, but when they saw Yu Liang's carriage, they stopped abruptly.

The horse neighed in pain and dropped its hooves heavily into the snow.

The Minister of Personnel Liang Fen lifted the curtain of the carriage and exchanged glances with the Chief Censor Cui Yu sitting next to him, and they both smiled bitterly.

Su Shuyan was too lazy to watch any more, so he got on his horse and left.

The fight for the right outside Guanfeng Gate reflects the various aspects of officialdom.

The Minister of Personnel and the Chief Censor wanted to show courtesy to Yu Liang, but Jin Zheng just left without paying any attention to anyone.

We can already learn a lot from this little thing.

After slowly returning to the Su residence in Shangshanfang, Su Shuyan handed the horse to his attendant and entered the courtyard.

All the wives, concubines and children came to pay their respects.

Su Shuyan took a look and sighed. Both of his adult sons were not there.

"We've finished our meal." Su Shuyan waved his hand, and an attendant came forward and brought two food boxes into the house.

As the Chief Protector of the Barbarians, Su Shuyan was qualified to dine in the main hall. The dishes were also of relatively good quality, and the leftovers could be taken home for his family to enjoy.

When Bianliang was just established, the food these wealthy families ate was just like that.

A while ago, someone installed a water mill on a small river, but was discovered by the censor and had it demolished. The official position he had worked so hard to obtain was also lost. That family didn't have a stone mill, so they couldn't eat noodles for a while.

Furthermore, the steamed cakes served at the New Year’s banquet are really white.

General Yu Liang once boasted that the flour he ate at home was sieved once after being ground, and then sieved a second time with fine gauze before eating, so the flour was very white and tasted good.

The same was true for the noodles served at the banquet in the Liang Palace. It was said that the noodles that were not so white were all fed to Lord Liang's mount.

Damn, animals eat better than humans.

But it is understandable. After all, Lord Liang still has to rely on these horses to escape on the battlefield, Su Shuyan secretly complained.

The wives, concubines and children opened the food boxes and found flower-shaped steamed cakes, deer tails, Yellow River carp and mutton. They were immediately delighted.

It’s worthy of being a state banquet!
"Grandpa is a good official." The youngest son was eating with oil dripping from his mouth. He said, "The food is much better than before."

The wife opened her mouth and bit the flower cross biscuit one bite at a time. When she ate the dates inside, she smiled and said, "In the past, I followed you and ate nothing but sand. If I hadn't come to the Central Plains, I wouldn't have known that you could live so respectably."

The daughter also nodded and said, "On the Double Ninth Festival, I went to watch the fish with Sister Cao. There were so many people and the clothes were so beautiful."

Su Shuyan was speechless and had no answer.

Wealth and honor can really corrupt one's mind.

This reminded me of a trip he made to various counties in Chenliu a few years ago, where he visited several tribal leaders who had traveled south with him.

After these people were registered, they learned how to farm and raise livestock. They all said that the land in Chenliu was good and they didn't want to bother with it anymore.

He could probably understand the thoughts of his wives, concubines and children.

******
On the second day of the first lunar month, the banquet continued, this time with a special performance for meritorious officials.

The custom at this time is not to kill chickens on the first day of the first lunar month, and not to kill dogs on the second day of the first lunar month, so there is no dog meat at the banquet today.

Halfway through the banquet, Mr. Liang left the table to change his clothes.

Feng Bachi, the Sima of the other department of Longxiang Prefecture in Pingqiu, drank quite a bit of wine and sat there grinning foolishly.

The leader of the imperial army, the one-eyed dragon Tong Qianjin, stood up and came over with a wine jar in his hand. He said in a sour tone, "Ji County's first warrior, can you drink?"

"Drink!" Feng Bachi accepted all the wine and drank it all in one gulp.

Tong Qianjin was stunned. This guy has drunk a lot, but he can still drink!
What a brave man!

He said no more nonsense, drank the wine in the glass, and left.

I used to be a little jealous of Feng Bachi, but now I don’t have any dissatisfaction. There is only one word: I surrender.

After returning to his seat, he quickly took two bites of the food to suppress the drunkenness, then opened his hazy eye and looked at the lively scene in the hall.

This is decent!
Warriors risk their lives to break through the enemy lines, so they deserve to enjoy fine wine, beautiful women and beautiful clothes.

What a pity. Who shot him with an arrow? If it weren't for that arrow, he might have climbed up first.

However, we cannot just give up on ourselves.

After injuring one of his eyes, he has been practicing archery recently. You know what, he is doing quite well, without any delay.

Liang Gong encouraged him and joked that if he could shoot a wild goose flying in the sky one day, he would give it to him. He offered his jade belt in exchange.

Liu Quan, the governor of the Longxiong Shogunate, was rather reserved at first and just drank silently.

He didn't know many people here, and he had a bit of low self-esteem, so he couldn't let go.

Unexpectedly, after a few rounds of drinking, someone came to find him, and it turned out to be the military commander Yang Qin.

"Du Hu Liu captured Liu Ya alive and was the bravest of the three armies. Why is he drinking alone?" Yang Qin squeezed next to him and asked with a smile.

Liu Quan was flattered and quickly replied, "I feel a little unfamiliar with the brothers."

He captured the Xiongnu Anxi general Liu Ya alive on the battlefield. If we count the merits, no one present could compare to him, so he was given the position of governor of the shogunate - there were only three governors in the Longxiong shogunate, and he was one of them. In addition, he was also a local tyrant and a hereditary town commander.

The governor does not command troops on weekdays, but he can be a general and lead the army when going to war. It is considered a relatively good position, and he still leads the government troops.

"Stand up." Yang Qin pulled him and said with a smile, "We are all warriors, and we are already despised. If we still make a rift, it will be unreasonable. Come on, I will take you to meet some people."

Liu Quan thanked him repeatedly and followed Yang Qin to toast the officers of the military farms, hereditary soldiers, palace soldiers, and imperial army present one by one.

Most of those present were rough men who didn't mind beating around the bush. When they heard that the person was the "fierce general" who captured Liu Ya alive, they were filled with awe and immediately stood up to return the greeting.

After a few drinks, Liu Quan gradually relaxed. It turned out that they did not discriminate against his appearance, but only looked at how strong and powerful he was, so he was in a good mood and accepted everyone who came, and soon they became familiar with each other.

There was a wealthy warrior who jokingly suggested buying a few Hu Ji to change his taste.

Liu Quan patted his chest and agreed.

When others heard this, they also started to ask about it.

Yang Qin smiled and returned to his seat quietly.

It was not a bad thing to be able to make friends with Liu Quan. As the military commander, he knew too well which lady Liang Gong liked to sleep with. Liu Ye was definitely very favored, and Liang Gong spent the night with her very frequently.

Moreover, after long-term observation, he discovered one thing: Lord Liang liked to sleep with Madam Liu for no other reason than that Liu was Shi Le's wife.

But he also had some doubts.

It is understandable that Lord Liang liked to sleep with Liu Cong's women, but Shi Le was just a small figure, was his wife so precious?
I can't figure it out.

"Alas, there is wine and meat, but no beauties!" A shout came from the hall.

Everyone laughed.

Yang Qin withdrew his thoughts and started laughing too.

"In the campaign against the Xiongnu, Feng Bachi was the one who gained the most. He got both an official position and a woman."

"The scholars look down on me, a soldier. One day I will tear open his tortoise shell and rob a few women to take home and make myself comfortable."

"Haha! I want to, too."

"You're too ugly. You don't stand a chance."

"Lord Liang sleeps with the queen and the princess, so I can sleep with the county magistrate's daughter, right?"

"Shut up!" Someone who was sober shouted.

Yang Qin also paused heavily, looking unhappy.

The person who was speaking was half sober, with his head lowered and his face flushed.

"Okay." Someone came out to smooth things over, saying, "Watch your mouth and drink."

"Let's drink." The atmosphere became lively again.

Yang Qin poured himself a drink.

The group of warriors seems to be becoming more and more like that.

******
Pigs are not slaughtered on the third day of the first lunar month, so there are no pig heads at today's banquet, only cow and sheep ears.

Women couldn't eat too much, so they ate and drank a little, then changed the venue and went to Lichun Terrace to walk in the snow and look for plum blossoms.

Yu Wenjun was surrounded by many wives, most of whom were from the General's Mansion, Longxiang Mansion, and Liang State.

After finding a few plum trees, the girls were delighted and talked non-stop.

Although women are not so deep-rooted in flattery, they are also very skilled.

Yu Wenjun was flattered so much that she felt dizzy and her face turned red.

She was really happy.

No matter which woman your husband favors, she is the only one who can come forward to entertain the families of generals and officers on an occasion like today.

However, after entertaining him for a while, she got a little annoyed. She wanted to throw herself into her husband's arms and listen to him say some sweet words of love.

As I looked around, I saw a woman standing alone behind, and she seemed to be Han.

So he walked over, took her hand, and asked, "Are you pregnant? Do you want to rest inside?"

Han was flattered to see Yu Wenjun asking questions.

She was indeed feeling a little uncomfortable, but she didn't dare to say it out loud, so she just said, "No need. I'm about to write a poem in reply, and I don't want to spoil Madam's mood."

The Han family was an Anping aristocratic family, neither big nor small, and the sixth rank.

She was originally the second wife of Kong Tuan. After being captured, she was awarded to Feng Bachi, the Sima of the other department of Longxiang Prefecture in Pingqiu.

Feng Bachi was a vulgar man who did not know how to be gentle with women. After getting the beauty, he almost did not get out of bed for several days, which made Han even more self-pitying and self-hearted. She cried countless times in secret - he was even more rude than Kong Tun!

After being beaten day and night, she is now pregnant and feels even more sad.

Moreover, she keenly discovered that after the ladies attending the meeting learned that she was Feng Bashi's wife, many of them became distant from her. Only a few people, such as Jin Zheng's wife Li, would speak to her from time to time.

This status made her feel even more sad.

It’s just that - she didn’t expect that the high and mighty Mrs. Yu would notice her.

"My husband always said that a brave man should not be humiliated. Feng Sima is extremely brave and my husband often praises him, calling him the Fan Kuai of the modern age. You are lucky to be Feng Sima's wife, and you will be rich and powerful in the future." Yu Wenjun said, "There is nothing to spoil the fun. Let's go. I will take you inside to rest."

After saying this, Yu Wenjun turned around, bowed, apologized, and then took Han to the side hall of Lichun Terrace to rest.

The women were a little surprised and looked at each other.

Jin Zheng's wife Li and Longxiang Shogunate Governor Chang Can's wife Liu also apologized and followed.

Han was a little confused, and followed Yu Wenjun subconsciously. At the same time, a storm surged in her heart, thinking that she might have thought wrongly. It turned out that Feng---husband was so famous that even Lord Liang praised him, and Madam Yu also valued him so much.

Li and Liu looked at each other and smiled in tacit understanding.

Li was born in a poor family in Xiangcheng, and Liu was the daughter of a Chang'an merchant. Because of their status, they had suffered a lot of humiliation over the years. Today, Mrs. Yu stood up for Han, and they felt relieved.

The group quickly returned to the side hall.

Compared to the outside, it was warm as spring here. Yu Wenjun took Han to the couch to rest, and then asked the palace maid to make some hot tea.

Han was a little frightened and hesitated to speak.

Yu Wenjun held her hand and said, "My husband respects warriors the most. Feng Sima fought for me and took the lead. This is what he should do."

Han felt a little relieved and lowered her head silently, not knowing what she was thinking.

Li and Liu came over, also holding her hands and speaking in low voices.

After a while, the palace servants brought tea.

Han took it with her hand, and when she saw the face of the palace maid, she was shocked. Isn't this Zhao Lu's wife Hu Yan? How did the proud daughter of the Xiongnu clan, who used to be high and mighty, end up as a palace maid doing rough work in the Liang Palace?
Huyan was a little embarrassed. After offering the tea, she turned and left, as if she didn't dare to stay.

Han slowly came back to his senses.

It seems like - not so sad, not so aggrieved.

"Just rest and have peace of mind. I'll come to see you later." Yu Wenjun said softly, then got up and left.

Before leaving, I thought to myself: It’s so troublesome to do these things. I must hug my husband and let him praise me.

After Yu Wenjun left, Li and Liu breathed a sigh of relief and started chatting and laughing with Han.

Although Feng Bachi held a low official position, Mrs. Yu valued them so much that they naturally could not be too proud of themselves.

We are all in the same circle, and we may interact with each other in the future.

(End of this chapter)