[Red Mansion] Queen's Road

Autumn goes to spring, and soon it is summer.

When it gets hot, there are many watermelon vendors on the street, most of whom are pushing carts with loads.

A large piece of watermelon was planted in the field near the Xiyuan bedroom. Standing on the steps and looking down, one could clearly see the big patterned melons among the green vines.

As long as the emperor's grandson comes over, as long as he acts like a baby to the emperor, he can always eat sweet watermelon.

The few princes did not have this kind of treatment, but the brothers still tried their best to flatter these melons to look good, taste sweet and have sufficient water content.

The only one who can eat watermelon casually is Chongming who lives in Xiyuan.

As long as I go to Linlin for a walk in the morning and afternoon, and tell Linlin that I am too thirsty for melons at the moment, Linlin will ask the eunuch to pick one, and everything will be in two, mother and child, one and half.

After eating too much, Cui Shang was a little dissatisfied.

"It was agreed to use these watermelons to make melon sauce. Now that you have eaten it clean, how do you make the sauce and how do you cook in winter?"

At this time, Chongming couldn't help but want to growl, "It's not that our family is really short of food, our family is the richest in the world, it's as if we can't afford food."

The more I think about it, the more I feel that the old man and the old lady are too pretentious.

Chongming went to Xiezhi, "Brother, think about it, the old man is as picky as the old rich man because of those melons every day, my brother thinks that if this continues, it will be easy for the old man because of these few melons." Great joy and great sorrow, it’s not good for your health.”

Xie Zhi put down the brush, "What do you want to do?"

"The two of us stole that ripe watermelon while the old man was asleep at night..."

"Don't hurt me, I pulled out the old man's cabbage seedlings last year, and my elder brother ran over and beat me up, and you guys are still digging the ground, you forgot about it."

"This matter is different from that matter. Should I pick a ripe watermelon? If I don't pick it, it will rot. What should I do if it rots? Birds are coming. You don't even know those birds are here. They have started to build nests under the eaves of their bedroom, and the steps at the door are full of bird droppings, stepping on it. It’s fine if you step on the bird droppings. My brother, I saw with my own eyes that when a court lady walked on the steps, a bird in the sky pulled A bubble of bird droppings fell on someone's head.

So no matter how you look at it, those melons must be removed by the old man. "

After hearing this, Xiezhi felt that what he said was true. "Don't mention the bird droppings, the melons should be picked when they are ripe."

Chongming's mouth parted with joy.

Xiezhi crossed his arms and thought for a while, "But don't ask me about this, the old man is still in good health, what if he doesn't want us to pick watermelons for him? So you have to discuss this matter with your elder brother. Brother sent someone to ask the old man, we will go if the old man agrees, and we will not go if the old man does not agree."

Chongming felt that his brother was too bad, he just changed the concept secretly, what he said just now was not to ask the old man if he wanted to pick melons, but to take advantage of the old man's sleep at night, everyone picked the melons, so that the old man had no melons.

Xiezhi decided that he must not fool around with Chongming. He is young and he is older than him. The elder brother and the second brother will only beat themselves when they are annoyed.

Chongming didn't achieve his goal, so he ran to his parents' bedroom in the cool afternoon, glumly, and wanted to grab another half of the watermelon, but found someone with wood to build a shed next to the melon patch.

"What is this for?"

The palace people quickly replied, "His Royal Highness came just now, and said that the old farmers in the farm household would go to the field to watch the melons while they are ripe. The Supreme Emperor also said that he would come here to sleep and watch the melons at night."

Chongming felt that he couldn't say a word at this moment.

Sure enough, within a few days, a bird landed on the watermelon and pecked it open with its beak a few times.

This time more birds came down, and Cui Shang angrily picked up the bamboo pole to chase the birds away.

Linlin covered her mouth with her fan and laughed loudly when she saw it.

Chongming thought that now he could finally pick watermelons openly, so he squatted next to Cui Shang when he came back to rest.

"Father, let's pick the melons. Although we won't be able to eat them all for a while, my son feels that these melons will be gone if they are divided among families. It's better than letting the birds do harm."

"This is what your father worked so hard to grow, and asked your mother to wait for a while to make the sauce."

"The other elder brothers have palaces, and only the son eats and drinks with the two of you. How much can the three of us eat, plus the nephews and nieces who come here occasionally? We can't finish the sauce made from these watermelons in one winter."

The Supreme Emperor nodded, "You are right."

Chongming asked tentatively, "My son will send a letter to my brothers, and let's all work together."

Cui Shang turned his head to look at Linlin who was sitting on the side and nodded. "Call your brothers over... When you come back, first ask them if they are busy, call them over when they are not busy, and let them take a few melons with them when they leave."

My father calls, no matter I'm busy or not, I have to come.

This place is not big or small, but I still picked a lot of watermelons.

Cui Shang asked the knowledgeable eunuch to check one by one. If someone picked the half-baked ones, there would be no watermelon for him to take away after a while.

Fortunately, there are relatively few undercooked ones, so I cut a few on the spot, and had a good time while the weather was not too hot.

After eating, the brothers sat there looking at the pile of watermelons.

Qilin thought in his heart that I was the eldest son and had always been favored by his parents, at least half of this melon should be mine.

Bai Ze thought in his heart, the old man always thinks about it, and when he divides the watermelon later, he must be more cheerful, otherwise the old man will not be happy.

The third prince thought in his heart who the old man liked, and he would definitely give more, and he didn't dare to compete with the emperor. Except for the 5 brothers who were descended from the direct line, I should be the most of the rest.

The fourth prince wanted to wait a while and share the watermelon with more to honor his mother and concubine.

Zou Wu has long taken a fancy to some big and round watermelons. He heard people say that watermelons can be used to carve flowers.It's just that my craftsmanship may be a bit trendy, so don't worry about it, let's get it out first, anyway, the old man and the old lady won't dislike it.

The sixth prince looked at the five older brothers standing in front of him, and turned his head to look at the younger brothers standing behind him. Forget it, he has never made a fuss, so he can only go home with two melons in his arms.

The Seventh Prince had just become a father, and he thought in his heart that he knew how to bring his son here, otherwise he could still please the old man by taking advantage of this effort.

Xiezhi was so tired that he wanted to collapse on the ground, he didn't want to talk or think about anything at the moment, he just wanted to lie there.

Chongming breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the pile of melons, and thought that this unsightly thing was finally picked off. Although he was happy for a while, when he thought of eating sauce in winter...or he would discuss it with his mother in a few days. They negotiated to let me move out, but I don't know if they agree or not?

After everyone finished eating, they washed their faces and wiped their hands. Seeing that the sun was about to set, the eunuchs in the palace began to tie the watermelons with straw ropes.

After tying them up, each of them put a pair of watermelons in front of them, and Cui Shang said, "That's all right, all right, it's going to be dark soon, and if you enter the city late, the gates will be closed."

It means get out of here.

Qilin looked at the two large round watermelons placed by his feet, and then looked at the other brothers who looked similar to the ones placed before him. After all, it was quite easy to pick more than 10 of the same appearance from so many melons.

Discuss with Cui Shang in that joking tone, "Look, there are so many in this field, and you don't have to use this pile to make melon sauce, or we brothers will divide this pile up." Take it home and feed it to the children."

Cui Shang said to the eunuchs beside him, "Every family will give two more, no more. Pick a few good ones and send them to the Empress Dowager. I will use the rest to load them into cars."

Having said that, this melon will not come out.

The brothers put on their smiles quickly, and each carried four watermelons out of the West Garden.

After everyone left, Chongming asked, "Father, why don't you give some of these melons to the brothers... Do you want to give some to the sisters?"

Cui Shang only thought of his daughters at this time, not only a little embarrassed, "Mmmmmm, come here, pick up some more, and give two to each princess mansion."

Cui Shang didn't have many daughters, each family gave away two, and there are many more.

After looking at the large pile of watermelons left, Chongming asked again, "There are still so many left, so why not make them into melon sauce? What about the next batch of watermelons?"

"The next batch of watermelons will be used as melon sauce. These, my father and I will sell them on the street tomorrow."

"The two of us? Just the two of us?" Chongming thought, is there still time to chase the brothers back at this time?

The Supreme Emperor misheard, thinking that his son would also like to go out to play, and wanted to bring his old mother along by the way.

He patted Chongming on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we will bring your queen with us when we go."

After Chongming heard about it, his eyeballs rolled, thinking in his heart that my mother's queen has always been a person who does not touch the sun, and if you want to take her out to show her face, if she is unwilling, I will go and beg my mother. don't go either.

Thinking of this, Chongming quickly ran to the dormitory to find Linlin. Linlin heard the gossip about her son, and smiled indifferently, "If your father likes it, just go out with him to make trouble, you Don’t worry, I’ll let someone make you some plain clothes later, by the way, the weather is too hot now, I’ll make you a new bamboo hat for you to wear, otherwise your little face will be tanned .”

Chongming felt that he had been struck by lightning once, and dragged a pair of heavy legs back to his bedroom, tossing and turning all night without falling asleep.

Finally, when it was almost dawn, he felt a little drowsy, and was woken up again by the little eunuch who was close to him.

"Your Highness, get up quickly, the outside is calling you to get up."

"Master won't go to school today, let me sleep for a while."

"Your Highness, I can't sleep anymore. The Supreme Emperor and the Empress Dowager are waiting for you to go out and sell melons."

Chongming opened his eyes when he heard this, wondering why he was selling melons so early.

There was nothing he could do, he was dragged up, changed into ugly clothes, put a newly made bamboo hat on his head, smelled the fragrance of bamboo, and asked the maid to put a wet towel on her After wiping his face a few times, he yawned and went out the door.

Linlin couldn't help asking her youngest son when she saw his appearance, "What did you do last night? You haven't woken up yet."

Cui Shang was on the sidelines smoothing things over, "Don't talk about him, he is at the age when he loves to sleep. I also wanted to sleep when I was a child, but I had to read before dawn. At that time, I thought the best thing was to sleep full. Until dawn."

He patted his car transporting melons again, and asked him to lie down on the watermelon pile and sleep for a while.

Then Chongming stared dumbfounded at his father taking a whip and sitting on the side of the donkey cart, while his mother sat on the other side, and the two were back to back, only to see his father whipping the donkey with his whip, The cart pulled by the donkey started to walk forward.

Before he could react, someone carried him from behind and put him on a pile of watermelons pulled by a cart.

When Chongming looked back, he could no longer see the people around him. He could only see the bushes and trees on both sides of the road swaying a few times, a few birds chirping, and the surroundings returned to silence.

It wasn't quiet either, because the next moment Father began to sing some mountain wild songs, but he didn't know what he sang, maybe it was because he couldn't pronounce the words clearly, maybe it was because the mountain slang couldn't be put on the stage, in a word, he was exposed to the sun , The melon cart swayed like a rocking bed, Chongming closed his eyes, and quickly fell asleep lying on a pile of watermelons.