Happy Little Scholar

Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Kyoto is getting more prosperous every year. It is just past noon now, but the streets in the city have become crowded.

Li Family.

Xiaohuan poked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Son-in-law, I want to eat sesame stuffing, and the second lady also wants to eat sesame stuffing."

The small kitchen was not big to begin with. Li Yi was making Yuanxiao, Ruoqing was helping on the side, Tsundere Loli was making trouble on the other side, and Yongning was running around inside. The place seemed a bit crowded, and other people couldn't come in even if they wanted to help.

Li Yi waved his hand to show that he understood.

Yongning approached Li Yi and said sweetly, "Brother, Xinyi wants to eat the ones with sugar filling."

Li Yi's hands were full of glutinous rice flour. He tapped her nose and said, "You can only eat two of them. If you get cavities, it will be very painful."

Yongning thought for a while, looked up at him, stretched out three fingers, and said, "How about three?"

Looking at her pitiful appearance, Li Yi could only nod, "Three is three, no more..."

"Yeah!" Yongning nodded vigorously, worried that Li Yi would regret it, and hurried to Shouning's side, staring with wide eyes.

The arrogant loli was holding a small sieve and shaking it constantly. The sieve contained Yuanxiao and glutinous rice flour. The Yuanxiao shaken out in this way was round and round. She enjoyed this job very much.

After shaking for a while, she slowly came over, looked at Li Yi and said, "Sir, can you make some bean paste stuffing? I will bring it to my father when I return to the palace in the afternoon. My father likes bean paste stuffing the most."

Li Yi smiled at her and said, "Sister Xiaoqing is already preparing the stuffing. Let's make it together later."

The arrogant loli suddenly became happy. Yongning walked to her side, looked at the small sieve in her hand, and whispered, "Imperial sister, can I play with this..."

…

Yuanxiao is prepared to be eaten in the evening. It is still early now. Kyoto on the 15th day of the first lunar month is the most lively and prosperous day of the year. Yongning and Shouning spend most of their time in the deep palace. They will go back in the evening, so they naturally cannot miss this opportunity.

After lunch, Li Yi took them to the street.

Compared to the crowds at night, it is better during the day because the main programs such as lantern festivals and fireworks will not start until the evening.

On the streets, there were people selling all kinds of snacks, performing street circuses, and showing off all kinds of gadgets... The two girls were overwhelmed by what they saw.

Li Yi looked at the bustling crowds, the rows of shops, and the endless stream of street vendors, and he deeply felt how much Kyoto had changed in the past two years.

I bought a sugar figurine for Yongning and Shouning, representing their zodiac signs, and asked the old man selling sugar figurines, "Old man, how is your business today?"

The old man grinned and said, "Business is good. It used to take a day to sell the goods, but today it was sold out in half an hour!"

Li Yi looked at the sugar figurines in their hands and smiled, "Old man has good skills. The sugar figurines are lifelike. It's not surprising that the business is good. I think your family should be doing well, right?"

The old man shook his head and said, "I have been blowing sugar figurines all my life, and my life has only improved in the past two years. If it weren't for the sympathy of His Majesty for us and the three tax cuts, I'm afraid I would have frozen to death and starved to death at home in the winter of the year before last. ..."

The guy at the tea stall next to him curled his lips and said, "Old man Zhang, you are still here to complain. You are a candy man. This year, you built new houses for your two sons and married new wives. Next year, your candy man shop will be opened soon. What do you have to cry about?"

The old man frowned and said dissatisfiedly, "The old man has this year because of the benevolent rule of His Majesty. It's not that he has never had a hard time. It's you, Wang Erlu, who caught up with the good policy at the beginning..."

The arrogant loli finished eating the candy man, licked her rosy little mouth, shook Li Yi's arm, and said, "Sir, I want more..."

Li Yi looked at Yongning on the other side and found that she was also looking at him eagerly.

He nodded, looked at the old man selling candy, and said, "Old man, give me two more."

The old man took two more candy, and when Li Yi paid, he waved his hand, looked at Yongning and Shouning, and said with a smile, "The little kids are so pretty. Today is a good day. These two candy, the old man will give them..."

Li Yi handed the candy to them and said, "Why don't you thank the old man quickly."

"Thank you, old man..."

"Thank you, old man..."

The two little girls said it obediently, and the wrinkles on the old man's face stretched out like a blooming chrysanthemum.

Li Yi held the hands of the two little girls and stood on the street. These shouts, hawking, talking, and quarreling were heard, and together with the pictures in his eyes, they woven a prototype of a prosperous age.

It's a pity that the people who wove it with their own hands could not see the birth of this prosperous age.

"It's a pity that His Majesty's health..."

"Alas, everyone is saying that His Majesty is afraid..."

"Oh my God, why can't you open your eyes and see..."

The old man and the waiter were still chatting, and the arrogant loli was biting the candy man in her mouth, lowered her head, and whispered: "Sir, let's go home."

Li Yi nodded, took their hands, and walked in the direction they came from.

On the stall, the old man finished chatting with the waiter next to him, glanced at the extra silver ingot on the table, and his expression was stunned.

...

When they walked into the yard, the arrogant Loli suddenly looked up at him and said, "Sir, when I return to the palace later, you can give me a jar of good wine. Father said your wine is the best... …”

"good."

Li Yi smiled and nodded, and suddenly the tip of his nose felt cold.

He raised his head and looked at the sky, and Yongning's clear voice came to his ears, "Brother, it's snowing!"

Boom!

From a certain direction, a dull bell rang.

One sound, two sounds...

This sound came from the east, one after another, resounding throughout Kyoto.

Kyoto, somewhere in the doorway.

"Where is the bell ringing in broad daylight?" A big man murmured doubtfully. Seeing the middle-aged man next to him suddenly stopped, turned around and walked outside, he asked doubtfully: "Fifth Master, what's wrong? No Watching a show?"

The middle-aged man shook his head and sighed: "I'm afraid I won't be able to watch the show today, so go back..."

On the streets of Kyoto, the noisy long streets gradually became quiet as the bells rang.

Someone asked: "How many times did the bell ring?"

"Forty-five."

Forty-five, the number of ninety-five, the bell rings forty-five, the sound of great mourning.

One person faced the east and slowly knelt down.

Beside him, a second man faces east and follows, kneeling.

Three people, ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people, ten thousand people...

Officials and dignitaries from various government offices in Kyoto, regardless of rank or status, walked out of the duty room, walked into the courtyard, and knelt down facing the east.

At the palace gate, the guards guarding the city put down their weapons and slowly knelt down.

In the entire Kyoto, at this moment, there was only one echoing bell.

In the Li family, the palace guard who was kneeling on the ground stood up, walked to Shouning and Yongning, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Highness, it's time to return to the palace."

In the fifth year of Jinghe, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it was the Lantern Festival.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of Jinghe, when the first snowflake of this winter fell on the tip of Li Yi's nose, heavy snow fell in thirteen states of Jingguo.

In the fifth year of Jinghe, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor died.

[ps: Believe it or not, I cried when I wrote it. 】