North and South groceries

Within a few days, the story of Luo's coffin board holding a small pink umbrella on his face was spread.

Many people just laughed it off when they heard about things like this, and of course there were some who were too idle to spread the word, and even those who spoke contemptuously, as if Luo Yong had done such a shameful thing.

Luo Yong also knows that he has made a lot of enemies in Chang'an City, and it is inevitable that he will be stepped down. For example, this time, the rumors have changed a bit. Many people secretly say that Luo Yong is gay. Gay, showing off in front of saints.

Luo Yong: ...It is true that he is gay, but he really has no idea about his wife and children.

Luo Yong sighed and complained to his colleagues: "Do you think I'm afraid of getting tanned? I'm afraid of getting dark spots. I'm young and haven't married yet..."

"Black Spot?" His colleagues were a little surprised when they heard this.

"Naturally." Luo Yong said convincingly: "How many people have a smooth face after being exposed to the sun for a long time? If you look carefully, most of them have dark spots on their faces."

When those people heard this, they took a closer look at their grooms who were driving the carriages, and then at the servants who ran errands with others all the year round. Sure enough, some of them had dark spots on their faces.

Now it's okay, men in this era are so flirtatious, don't think that if they don't hold an umbrella on a hot day, they are not flirtatious, on the contrary, this is actually a kind of flirtatious.

On such a hot day and in such a big sun, it is obviously more comfortable to use an umbrella than not to use an umbrella. Why don't they do it, and they don't let their servants help?Isn't it just to make yourself look unrestrained, casual and handsome?Of course, there are also rough old men who simply find it troublesome, let's not mention that group of people for the time being.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, to be honest, appearance was still very important. At this time, the imperial examination system had not played such a huge role as in later generations. If young people want to become an official, the conditions are very simple. One is a good background, and the other One is ability.

It goes without saying that one has a good background, but there is no absolute criterion for judging ability. How to judge whether a person is capable or not.

One is the evaluation of the superiors, and the other depends on the person's reputation. Fame has many factors that affect it, such as a prominent background, a wide range of friends, good looks, and good poetry. , and various other talents, etc.

In this kind of environment, the trend of pretending to be handsome is really unstoppable, and people with good appearance are naturally more popular in this kind of environment.

If you want to mix well, appearance is very important!Whether it is young students or middle-aged and elderly Confucian scholars, there are not many who do not pay attention to appearance.

Luo used this long spot to say that he really bluffed many people. Although the coffin board is a bit out of the ordinary, his words have always been relatively reliable.

So many people took the attitude of preferring to believe what they have or not to believe what they don't, and let their family members go out to buy umbrellas.

If you want to say that in Chang'an City now, apart from the merchants who specialize in the wholesale of oil-paper umbrellas and oil-cloth umbrellas in the West Market, where there are the most varieties of oil-paper umbrellas and the most complete styles, it is naturally North-South groceries.

The West Market is such a big place, and the stalls of the merchants are also very large. They have to buy hundreds of oil-paper umbrellas and pile them there. Depending on the style, they often have to go to several shops. Where there are North and South groceries, it is convenient and convenient.

On the second floor of Nanbei General Store, there is a whole row of shelves dedicated to selling umbrellas, oiled paper, oilcloth, long handles, folded single-layer umbrellas, double-layer umbrellas, plain colors... everything.

Recently, the number of customers who came to their grocery store to buy oil-paper umbrellas was several tenths higher than usual, and the main products sold were plain long-handled umbrellas for men.

In response to this phenomenon, Luo Yong specially ordered a batch of high-end men's parasols.

Umbrellas have a short production cycle, as long as enough umbrella craftsmen can be recruited, and the work can be rushed a little, the shipment will be very fast.

Like this kind of special high-end umbrella, an umbrella usually costs more than [-] to [-] yuan, and it is not uncommon to be more expensive for hundreds of yuan. Correspondingly, the profit is naturally higher.

Those people who Naluo made a fuss about with the little pink umbrella before heard about this, and their noses were crooked with anger.

There are also people who write lyrics to satirize those who hold umbrellas on sunny days, saying that they are not masculine, but they write about them, everyone should hold an umbrella, after all, your face is your own, in case it really gets exposed Out of black spots, those bastards who wrote the lyrics can't be responsible for them, right?

In June of this year, all kinds of oil-paper umbrellas emerged in Chang'an City, even on the streets. When the court went down every day, the officials basically had a parasol in hand.

After all, there is a long distance from the main hall where they go to court to the palace gate where they leave the palace. The summer in Chang'an City is so hot, and the sun in June of the lunar calendar is so strong that it can burn people alive. Take a parasol to block it. The first block is obviously much better, and besides, almost everyone is holding an umbrella nowadays, and seeing it a lot, naturally it feels very normal.

In the palace, the princes also asked the palace people to go to the city to buy various parasols and come back. The emperor received a few umbrellas from his son, and he was very happy.

During this period of time, the old emperor sat in the palace, and he knew everything about the little pink umbrella.

This Chang'an City is like this, when the wind and rain never stop, this time the wind and rain did not cover his head, so he just watched the excitement.

In a blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed, and now no one cares about the small pink umbrella of Luo Coffin Baner. What kind of new umbrellas and umbrellas have been launched by Groceries.

At the end of June, I heard that one of Luo Yong's disciples brought a new technology from Lishi, which can make automatic umbrellas.

When they came back this time, they brought an iron umbrella from Lishi. It is said that as long as the mechanism on the handle is pressed, the iron umbrella can open by itself with a swipe.

At the beginning, this umbrella was put on display in North and South Grocery, and it was not for sale. Many people went to see the excitement, and they all said that when the umbrella was opened, it was like a gust of wind and lightning.

It's a pity that there are still relatively few people who have actually witnessed this scene, because in less than half a day, this iron umbrella was bought by someone from E State Duke's mansion, that is, Youwuhou General Wei Chi Jingde.

After General Yuchi got this iron umbrella, he couldn't put it down, and his love was no less than that of children's first toy pistol in their lives.

It is heard that he carries this iron umbrella in and out all day long, to shade the sun on sunny days and to keep out the rain on rainy days, and he also takes it with him on cloudy days: "Look, it's dark and oppressive, and it's going to rain again in a while, hey, I'd better take the umbrella with you." .”

Within two days, the emperor asked Xuan Yuchi Jingde to enter the palace to face the saint, and General Yuchi went there carrying his iron umbrella. In such a big sun, how can we do it without an umbrella? Didn’t that boy Luo Yong also say that? , Sunburn all day, but to grow dark spots on the face.

It's just that before entering the palace, he was stopped by the guards. His big umbrella was made of iron, about three feet long, and half a foot thick when combined. It weighed about ten catties in his hand Well, this thing can be used as a weapon, how could he just carry it in front of a saint like this.

"Hey, this is an umbrella." General Yuchi was helpless, but the palace has its own rules, so don't take it if you don't allow it, at worst, just put it here for a while, and take it away when he comes out.

"Squeak."

At this time, the door of the temple opened, and an eunuch came out from inside, and said to him with a smile: "The sage asked the general to go in quickly, and the iron umbrella should also be taken in."

"..." Upon hearing this, Yuchi Jingde felt something was wrong, and immediately said: "No problem, no problem, the guards say no, I'll just put it here."

"Take it in." But the eunuch said: "The sage heard that the general got a rare umbrella, and he was about to take a closer look."

Well, I can't escape it.

Yuchi Jingde had no choice but to go in with the iron umbrella.

After a while, when he came out from there again, his hands were empty, and there was no umbrella there.

The emperor said that he would ask craftsmen to dismantle his beloved iron umbrella, study the mechanism inside, and return it to him after the research was completed. General Yuchi protested, worried that those people would break his umbrella, and repair it at that time. not coming back.

The emperor said that he was stingy, last time he just got a pair of boots, and the other courtiers didn't let them see him, so Yuchi Jingde left wearing them, didn't he say a word at that time, why did he want to buy them from him this time? Is it okay to borrow an umbrella from inside?

"Ah..." On the way out of the palace, General Yuchi couldn't help sighing.

Thinking back to when I got those boots, I was so happy that I was like an idiot. How much did I take advantage of? The emperor's advantage is so easy to take advantage of?Hey, his iron umbrella...