The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a traditional festival that has been handed down since ancient times. It is called Qixi Festival, also known as Qiqiao Festival. In the era of Yunyanhui, it was Chinese Valentine's Day, which was usually only celebrated by young men and women.

But in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was a grand festival for the whole people to enjoy, and everyone, men, women and children, could participate, so Yun Yanhui had long since stopped equating it with the modern Qixi Festival.

It is the seventh day of July, but three or five days earlier, the festive atmosphere on the street is very strong, and children are holding lotus pods, lotus leaves or unopened lotus flowers in their hands.

On the night of the seventh day of July, people are "begging for cleverness" everywhere. Women have various activities, such as looking at the moon and piercing needles, etc., and it is a seven-hole needle.Women make all kinds of exquisite objects, while boys write poems, one begging for dexterity and the other for literary talent.

Zheng Ping took Shuangyi and Xiaobao to participate in the activities held by the neighbors in the nearby old residence. Yunyan returned. He rejected Zhao Yunchu a few days ago. He has other things to do today, so he told Zheng Ping a long time ago. fake.

Early in the day, Yunyan went to the monk's place when he returned.

Today, he has a business with these brothers to do together.

Earlier, when Yunyan was planning to make money, she focused on the Qixi Festival, a national carnival.

On the night of Qixi Festival, the whole Bianliang will be very lively, and the rich and noble people decorate and decorate their houses, which is magnificent, but what is more eye-catching is the most beautiful scenery in Bianliang city, that is, the various brothels in the city.

On this day, people in Bianliang call it Yuanjie, where all kinds of exquisite and luxurious festive items will be displayed to show off their wealth. Of course, it may also be an alternative way to attract customers.

The big houses are inside the high walls, so ordinary people can't see them, but everyone in the courtyard street can see them, not only the exquisite objects, but also the beauties.

In addition to the vicinity of Yuan Street, the surroundings of Washe will also be extremely lively.

Speaking of the main point, among these festive items, the most popular thing is a thing called "mohele", which is a kind of clay doll, usually made into a boy holding a lotus leaf, a lotus pod or an unopened lotus flower appearance.

On the Qixi Festival, children hold lotus leaves and other objects, which is actually imitating Mohele, which can be regarded as ancient cosplay.

In previous years, during the Qixi Festival in Bianliang, many of the Mohele sold in the market were expensive and sold for thousands of dollars.Although it is a clay doll with a wooden base, people can decorate it with expensive items such as gold, silver, jewelry, ivory and jade, so it is still very popular.

What Yun Yanhui cooperated with lay monks was selling mills and drinking music.

Speaking of Qixi Festival, the street is almost full of street food sellers, but Yun Yanhui wants to do this kind of mass business, without any gold and silver decorations, he still wants to sell at a high price, of course it is because he has a lore technology!

——The image of Mohele comes from Buddhist scriptures.Ya is the son of Sakyamuni, one of the Eight Dragons.Why are you holding a lotus or lotus in your hand?Because this represents auspiciousness, holiness and other beautiful meanings in Buddhism!

Yun Yanhui couldn't believe it, why didn't the monks from the Daxiangguo Temple come to do the grinding, drinking and music business before? Is there anyone more suitable than monks to sell this stuff?

Even if the street is full of mills, drinks and music, the street is not as "qualified" as ours.

Yun Yan went back to greet the abbot in advance, pooled money with the monks to order a batch of grinding and drinking music, put them in the Buddhist hall, and received the influence of chanting and incense under the eyes of the Buddha, and more importantly, the people who came to worship the Buddha You can also see it, which is equivalent to advertising in advance.

Of course, Yun Yanhui didn’t take everyone too stupidly. When he ordered Mohele, he didn’t ask craftsmen to make lotus flowers and other things. Instead, he bought a batch of bowl lotuses in the temple. Today, they It is to insert the lotus leaves of Wanlian into Mohele's hands.

In fact, it was precisely when he saw Wanlian in the monastery that he made up his mind to sell mills and drink music on Qixi Festival.

At this time, Wanlian was only found in the Suzhou area, and it was more common in wealthy families, so it was a rarity in Bianliang.These in Daxiangguo Temple were also cultivated by the monks in charge of the flower garden occasionally.

——In the temple, a lot of flowers are needed for worshiping Buddha statues and holding celebrations, so they have their own super~large flower gardens, which will attract many flower-appreciating people.

Usually when people see the bowl lotus, they may think it is very elegant and cute at most, but its size matches the Mohele very well. If it is inserted in the hands of the Mohele, it will be added to the offerings in front of the Buddha to produce one plus one greater than two. The effect of the combination of two swords.

In short, the lotus leaves in this bowl of lotus are the finishing touch, which is why Yunyan returned to Dafang to advertise Mohele in the Buddhist temple, not afraid that other temples would copy it if they found out.

Because there are Buddhist temples everywhere, even if the Daxiangguo Temple is a royal temple, it does not change, but the bowl lotus is unique, and only here is enough!

Not to mention, the price of buying a bowl of lotus is not much, it is definitely the lowest price.Yun Yan went back to the capital and made an agreement with the monks in the flower garden. This bowl of lotus leaves will not be fresh for many days. A business may even directly drive the popularity of Wanlian breeding in Bianliang.

Of course, it can almost be concluded that the business they are doing is a one-time deal, and they can only do it once this year, but it doesn't matter.

When setting the price, Yun Yanhui also directly set the price of Mohele holding lotus leaves at the same price, and adding [-] Wen for Mohele holding lotus flowers, because the number of lotus flowers is relatively small.This made the other monks uneasy, a little afraid that they would not be sold.

"What you earn is rich people's money. Consistent and consistent is nothing to them. Besides, the incense of Daxiangguo Temple is still very valuable, okay?" Yun Yan replied very calmly, and he still felt that the price was low. Well, if it weren't for their lack of capital, they could buy more luxurious mills and drinks, and then the price would double.

All the monks rubbed their hands, they were all very excited, if all these Mohele were sold tonight, each of them would benefit a lot.It was Brother Yan who was so clever that he came up with such a good idea and led everyone to send another sum.

……

The sky is getting dark, and the carnival of the Qiqiao Festival is about to begin. This night, Tokyo must be full of excitement.

The monks were divided into several pairs, and they went to some of the most prosperous places in Bianliang with their own hands, and some of them would go directly to the brothels and sell them to them.Today, we have been divided into groups, some monks perform during the day and some perform at night.Those who work the night shift will help to plant bowls during the day, and come to sell mills and have fun at night during the day shift. The capital is paid together, and the final income is also shared equally.

Yun Yanhui and Hui Chong are in a group and go outside the Eastern Song Dynasty Gate. There is also a tile house here. These days, because lay monks are opening up the market, Yun Yan Hui has dealt with many tile houses, including here.

Along the way, you can see that in addition to selling mills and drinking music, there are also various items on the street, such as mandarin ducks, fish, turtles and other small animals painted in yellow wax, which is called floating on water.There are also flower melons carved into various patterns, and the sweet seasonal fruit food "Smile". If you buy a catty, you will get a pair of little men in armor, called Fruit Food Generals.Not to mention the most famous double-headed lotus in Beijing, which is artificially made, very real and delicate.

Yun Yan returned with emotion, this is almost the same as the modern Chinese New Year, and the children even specially wear new clothes.

Yun Yanhui and Hui Chong had greeted Washe early, and since they had set up the mills, drinks and music, they immediately attracted many people to watch.

The round and chubby Mohele Boy stood on the painted hollow carved wooden seat, holding a lotus leaf or flower as big as a child's palm in his hand, and it was not a fake, it was a real lotus leaf/flower, but somehow shrunk How many times, it only matches the size of Mohele, so cute!

Ask the monk again, it turns out that he was enshrined in front of the Buddha in Daxiangguo Temple and received incense.

Since it was enshrined in front of the Buddha, and it was so cute and exquisite, there were a few good ones to buy on the spot.Even if I can't afford it, I am willing to watch it with my children for a while.

There is a lot of traffic, even if the price is set high, there are many buyers. Hui Chong is happy to collect money like an eminent monk. It is estimated that it will be sold out tonight and there will be time to play elsewhere.

They didn't put too much effort into it, and Yunyan went back to handle the pre-orders and the like. They may have been busy for a day, but the profit was quite good. How can Hui Chong not be happy? .

Yunyan sat back at the booth, because the business was so good that he didn't even need to shout, and Hui Chong didn't ask him to work, he was like a mascot.He was holding a piece of lotus leaf in his hand, which Hui Chong had just bought for him. He said that children on the street all held it in their hands. .

Yunyan put the lotus leaf on her head and looked up at the jugglers in the distance.Suddenly a very familiar figure appeared in front of him, upon closer inspection, it was Zhao Yunchu who was pulling the crowd to squeeze over, and he was dragging another person in his hand.

Zhao Yunchu squeezed through the crowd, and when Yunyan came back to their stall, the person he was dragging also staggered, stood firm and held up his hat, but one leg was dragging.

This person is only sixteen or seventeen years old, and his face is somewhat similar to Zhao Yunchu's. Yunyan also met him once or twice in the temple in retrospect. He should be Zhao Yunchu's elder brother, but Zhao Yunchu is the youngest son. Can't remember exactly which one.

"Why are you here?" Yun Yan asked after putting down the lotus leaf.

"I met the senior brothers in the temple at Zhuquemen, and they told me you were here, so my brother brought me to you." Zhao Yunchu still held a box in his hand, and said with some disappointment, "I wanted to send you a mill. Drink for you..."

As a result, I saw people selling mills and drinking music.

Yun Yan couldn't help laughing.

Then he saw Zhao Yunchu's elder brother next to him and said, "Why did I bring you here? You dragged me here forcibly, okay? Your brother and I have broken legs, yet you still treat me like this!" "

Just say what's wrong with the leg, it turned out to be really broken, Yun Yan thought back.

Hui Chong couldn't help it anymore, he also knew Zhao Yunchu's brother, "Why did you break your leg?"

Zhao Yunchu's brother said lazily: "Oh, don't mention it, Dad caught me working as a book boy in the study and broke my leg. After dozens of days, I was just able to go to the ground."

Yun Yan replied: "..."

Hui Chong took a slow step and covered Yun Yanhui's ears, but Zhao Yunchu's ears were not covered, but fortunately he also looked confused, Hui Chong said rather speechlessly: "In public, can't you pay attention? "

Yunyan slowly pushed Hui Chong's hand away, with an indifferent expression on her face, as if she didn't understand anything, but she was actually drunk in her heart, and from this she suddenly remembered which brother Zhao Yunchu was.

Zhao Yundi is very famous in the Daxiangguo Temple. Not only does he have a habit of breaking his sleeves, but he can't control his hands and mouth. He was once caught by the abbot for molesting a young monk in the Daxiangguo Temple, which made the princess feel ashamed and chased him three streets...

In a sense, he is also a tough and indomitable warrior, no matter how many times his legs are broken, he will not change his style.