Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 114 Bianjing, Bianjing! (5K chapter, more to come in the evening)
The boat sails down the river, going a thousand miles a day.

From Jiangzhou, passing through Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Wuhu, and Jinling, we went north to Yangzhou along the Grand Canal.

This was Su Yun's first time to travel the entire Grand Canal. China's Yellow River, Huai River and Yangtze River are basically parallel and do not intersect.

For the purpose of shipping, the ancients dug out one canal after another on this land, connecting the three major rivers and making the north and the south connected. Materials from the south could be transported to the north via the Grand Canal.

When reading about these things in books, I didn't feel much, but when I really walked through it myself, the vastness of the entire project was enough to shock me, and I had a sincere admiration for the Chinese ancestors:

Only Chinese people can do such crazy things!
We went north along the Grand Canal and entered the Yellow River half a month later.

But it is worth it. It is much easier to travel north by boat than by land, especially if you have a family.

After entering the Yellow River, it was August, the flood season of the Yellow River, so the water was not too shallow for the boat to pass. After a few days, they finally arrived in Bian Jing.

When getting off the boat at the dock, Zhang Dun and his family felt relieved but also reluctant to leave.

Su Yun was extremely bored on the boat and could only write Romance of the Three Kingdoms every day. In more than twenty days, he wrote seventy or eighty chapters of the novel.

Every reader understands the joy of locking the author in a small dark room and writing all the time.

After getting off the boat, will Su Yun be able to write as quickly as he did on the boat about the glamorous world of Bianjing?

Probably not.

However, when Zhang Ze and his companions saw the majestic city of Bianjing, their attention was diverted.

Because this is the richest place in the world, the center of the world, the golden city - Bianjing!
When Ah Hui saw the city of Bianjing, he was stunned, his mouth opened wide, and a look of disbelief appeared on his face.

After a long time, he turned around and said to Su Yun: "Ah Yun, if possible, I will stay in Bianjing for the rest of my life!"

Su Yun smiled and said, "You don't want your mother anymore?"

Ah Hui said: "Of course I have to pick up my mother and come to Bianjing together to enjoy this wonderful life!"

Su Yun smiled and said, "Your courage is commendable, but it is not easy to live in the capital. Bianjing has the best food, the most convenient services, and the most abundant supplies in the world.

But you also have to bear the highest housing prices and the highest commodity prices. It is not easy to settle down here."

Ah Hui smiled and said, "I was just joking. Of course, wherever you go, Ah Yun, I will go too."

Su Yun smiled.

No wonder Ah Hui, anyone of this era, who came to Bianliang for the first time, would be overwhelmed by its prosperity.

Zhang Dun's family had already cleaned up their house in Bian Jing, but after Su Yun took a look, he decided to rent a house outside.

Because Zhang Dun’s house is not big.

Houses in Bianliang were too expensive. Even for someone like Zhang Dun, who came from a large family and was a high-ranking official in the imperial court, it was somewhat stressful to buy a big house in Bianliang.

In particular, Zhang Dun bought this house in the second year of Xining. At that time, Zhang Dun was just a Zuo Lang, and had just been transferred to the Regulations Office of the Three Departments by Wang Anshi and appointed as the editor of the regulations of the Three Departments.

The official salary system in the Song Dynasty was rather distorted. Senior officials had extremely high salaries, but the salaries of middle and lower-level officials were actually not high, especially those in the capital.

Compared with the high consumption in Bianliang, the salaries of officials in the capital were actually not high, and they had to live frugally most of the time.

The reason why Zhang Dun was able to buy a courtyard at that time was because of his family's support.

If they were like the brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe, whose families had no money to support them and who could only live on their salaries, they both later became vice-chancellors, but when they got old, they could not even afford to buy a house, and their son even had to borrow a house from others to get married.

Of course, Su Che's situation was more complicated. He was demoted repeatedly in his early years and had to support Su Shi's family from time to time. Later, he had to sell his house and land to marry off his daughter. With so many places to spend money, it was normal for him to be poor.

Compared with the Su brothers, Zhang Dun was actually very lucky to have a small courtyard to live in in Bian Jing.

There are two entrances to the courtyard, but the Zhang family is large. There are five children alone, and with the couple, there are seven people in total. In addition, there are many followers and doormen who look after the house, there are more than twenty people in total.

More than twenty people lived in a two-story courtyard. It was livable, but actually quite crowded.

Su Yun was most afraid of crowds. When he was in Huangzhou, he was thinking about moving out every day. Now that he was in Bian Jing, although he might not stay for too long, he was unwilling to compromise himself.

Of course, the biggest reason is that Su Yun doesn’t want to be with Zhang Dun all the time. This guy puts too much pressure on people.

So Su Yun suggested renting a house outside.

Before Zhang Dun could say anything, his wife had already refused.

Zhang Dun's wife, Zhang, had long regarded Su Yun as her son-in-law, so how could she be willing to let Su Yun live outside?

Zhang said, "How can this be justified? Your uncle brought you to Beijing, but asked you to rent a house outside. If Uncle Su knew about this, he would definitely write a letter to scold your uncle. This is absolutely not allowed. You should live at home!"

If it were an ordinary young man, he would have nothing to say after hearing this and could only accept the arrangement obediently.

But Su Yun is not an ordinary person. He smiled when he heard it and said, "Aunt, I came to Beijing this time because the government summoned me, but I am willing to come because I have other things to do. It is really inconvenient for me to live with you."

Zhang was a little curious and asked, "What else are you going to do?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "I have been to Bianjing once before, but my uncle Su was in trouble at that time, so I didn't go around..."

Zhang said: "That's right, but it doesn't conflict with living at home."

Su Yun smiled and replied, "...I am also going to make friends. I will invite some friends to my house and so on. In addition, I may also do some business and interact with some businessmen. After all, my uncle is an official appointed by the court. It is not appropriate to have businessmen coming in and out of the house."

After saying this, Zhang immediately looked at Zhang Dun, who said, "You are not short of money, so why do you want to do business?"

Su Yun smiled bitterly and said, "Since I am not an official, I naturally have no salary. My income in Huangzhou must be used to support Uncle Su's family. Linjiang Tower has been under expansion in the past two years, so don't even think about dividends.

I have some money now, but if I spend it all, it won't last long.

Huangzhou is a remote place, and Linjianglou does business on the river, so it has so much income.

If you do other business in Huangzhou, you won’t make much money.

Since I have come to Bianjing once, I will not waste this opportunity. I will make more money and get through the difficulties of the past two years."

These words are polite, reasonable and logical. Making a living is the most important thing, and even the government would have to support it if they heard about it.

Zhang Dun nodded and said, "I'll ask someone to help you find a house."

Su Yun was about to say that he would find one himself, but Zhang Dun immediately blocked his way and said, "If you don't want to, then just stay at home."

Ok.

Zhang Dun told the housekeeper about this matter, but it would not be something that could be done in a short period of time, so Su Yun and A Hui still had to live here for the time being.

But Su Yun was not a man who would stay content with his lot. When Zhang Dun went to report to the Court of Justice, he found the housekeeper and said he wanted to go with him to look for a house.

The housekeeper smiled bitterly and said, "We have just arrived at home, and there are so many things to do. Can you wait for me to arrange the sleeping chambermaid at home first, and then go and look for her? It won't take long, just two days, and I can go the day after tomorrow, okay?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "How about this, I'll go out and look for it first. When I find it, I'll ask you to check it out. This way you can explain it to your uncle. Do you think it's okay?"

The housekeeper hesitated and said, "You go alone? You two kids... Bianjing is not very peaceful. There are many rogues and kidnappers. This is not good! What if something goes wrong?"

Su Yun and Ah Hui looked at each other and both laughed. Suddenly, each of them stretched out a hand and held the butler's armpit. Suddenly, they shouted together. The butler felt a tightness under his armpit, and then he flew up like a cloud. He was so scared that he screamed.

Su Yun put the frightened butler down, and said with a smile: "Do you think the hooligans dare to bully us now?" The butler still waved his hand and said: "Not right, not right!"

Su Yun looked at Ah Hui again, and the housekeeper turned and ran away in fear.

Ah Hui tried to catch up but was caught by Su Yun.

Su Yun smiled and said, "Okay, it's enough for him to know, we can just do our own thing."

Ah Hui whispered, "We are here because the government has summoned us. Shouldn't we stay at home and wait?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "The emperor only mentioned it briefly. I guess he forgot about it afterwards. Sometimes waiting for ten days or half a month is considered fast, and waiting for half a year is not considered slow. It is even possible that he has forgotten about me.

So, I don't have the time to wait for him at home. That would be a waste of time. Let's just forget about it and do our own thing."

Ah Hui was surprised and asked, "Are you really doing business?"

Su Yun asked, "Why, do you think I'm fooling Uncle Zhang?"

Ah Hui shook his head and said, "That's not the case. I just think that this Bianjing city is so prosperous and there are so many people doing business. How can we compete with them?"

Su Yun laughed and said, "You don't understand. The more people there are doing business, the easier it is to do business. Otherwise, you think everyone is just having fun because they have nothing better to do.

Let’s not talk about this for now. I’ll take you to visit Daxiangguo Temple. You’ve come to Bianjing, how can you not visit Daxiangguo Temple? "

Ah Hui was overjoyed and said, "I have heard of the Daxiangguo Temple for a long time!"

The two of them packed up a little and went out.

As soon as Ah Hui went out of the door, he felt dizzy. There was nothing he could do. Coming from a small place, he needed some time to adapt.

It is no wonder that Ah Hui is like this. Bianjing is extremely large. After more than a hundred years of development, it has grown into a behemoth.

With the imperial city as the center, an inner city developed, outside the inner city, there was an outer city, and outside the outer city, there were even larger suburbs.

The Imperial City is naturally where the royal family resides and is the center of the empire. The Inner City is mainly inhabited by those who are closest to the imperial power. Those who can live in the Inner City are basically the powerful and wealthy.

The number and density of officials' residences are the largest in the inner city, and most of them are concentrated in the eastern part of the inner city, forming two main areas around the two imperial streets of Anyuan Gate and Lijing Gate.

Zhang Dun bought the house early, but his official position was not high, so he did not live in the inner city, but outside the Suzaku Gate.

Of course, it cannot be considered very remote. The area outside Zhuque Gate, outside Yiqiu and to Changhe was also the main residential area for officials.

This place is also located at a major transportation hub, and most of the officials' residences are basically located here. When going to the imperial palace, just walk along the main road, walk to the Imperial Street and then go further in, and you will arrive soon.

Moreover, the Imperial College, Imperial University, and Imperial Examination Hall are all nearby, so the land and housing prices here are quite high.

Su Yun had been to Bian Jing, so he was naturally not a headless fly. His goal was very clear, which was to go straight to Daxiangguo Temple.

If Su Yun wanted to make some money, he naturally had to go to Daxiangguo Temple, the most prosperous place in Bianjing.

There are many prosperous places in Bianjing City, but in terms of size, Daxiangguo Temple is the largest commercial trading center in Bianjing City!

The Prime Minister was in the inner city. The two of them walked along the avenue and passed the night market in the middle of the street. This was the intersection of the extended Imperial Street and Zhuquemen Street.

Going further, there is a temple-like building complex on the left, which is a palace or something like that. Walk a little further and cross the Longjin Bridge, you will arrive at the famous Zhouqiao Mingyue. The Zhouqiao Night Market is here.

Although it was not a festival, there were crowds of people along the way and Su Yun even encountered a traffic jam. Fortunately, they were just walking and could move forward through the gaps between the cars.

When you arrive at Zhouqiao Mingyue, you can turn right and walk down along the Bian River to the vicinity of Daxiangguo Temple. There is a bridge named after Daxiangguo Temple. After crossing the bridge, you can see Daxiangguo Temple.

Ah Hui crossed the bridge and looked up, and immediately blurted out: "What a huge temple!"

It is indeed a big temple. The main building of the Daxiangguo Temple is a palace-style building built along the central axis, but it covers an area of ​​as much as 500 acres, which is truly magnificent!
After entering the mountain gate, there was a lot of noise and noise inside. It didn't feel like a temple, but more like a large-scale distribution market.

In fact, this is true. This is the largest commodity distribution center in Bianjing City.

In many people's minds, a temple should be quiet and peaceful, but this seems not to be the case with the Daxiangguo Temple in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Daxiangguo Temple is very busy.

This is a place that envoys from all over the world must visit. Many envoys are hosted by Daxiangguo Temple.
Moreover, every year the royal family would pray and worship at the Daxiangguo Temple;

The temple is open to the public five times a month, on the first and fifteenth day of each month, as well as the eighty-eighth day, eighteenth day, and twenty-eighth day, allowing ordinary people to enter the temple to conduct transactions.

Su Yun and Ah Hui entered through the main door, and were immediately greeted by the smell of cat and dog feces. Ah Hui covered his nose with a howl and said in disgust, "It stinks, it stinks!"

When the two looked, they saw tents of different sizes and colors set up in the open space inside and outside the gate. There were many cats and dogs in each tent, and even many small animals whose names they didn't know. The owners of the tents were constantly shouting their wares.

Well, this is a pet market.

Su Yun and Ah Hui visited the Heavenly King Hall, the Buddha Hall, and the Zisheng Hall. There were three very large courtyards at the entrance of each of the three halls.

There are also various tents of different colors temporarily set up in the courtyard. This is the trading area for daily necessities, selling candies, straw mats, bows and arrows, etc.

The corridors on both sides were full of stalls. The two of them went over to take a look and found that most of them were selling embroidery, and the sellers were also strange, they were nuns.

Ah Hui was very curious and asked. It turned out that it was from the Xiu Lane next door. He said that there were a lot of nuns living there. They led their apprentices and worked day and night, and then sold the products at the market in Xiangguo Temple.

The old nun who was running the stall proudly introduced that their embroidery was not only loved by the royal court and ordinary people, but also by merchants and envoys from various countries who often came to buy it.

Su Yun took a look at the embroidery and found that it was indeed very well done, but Su Yun felt that it looked a little weird.

The monks and nuns in the Song Dynasty didn't do any serious work.

The monks of Daxiangguo Temple not only opened the temple to the people to do business, they also collected stall fees and then used the money to lend money at high interest rates.

The nuns did not eat vegetarian food or chant Buddhist scriptures. Instead, they devoted themselves to making money by embroidering and even went to the monks' territories to do business.

Su Yun was quite moved. The Song Dynasty was filled with a down-to-earth atmosphere. Whether it was the royal family or the various monks, everyone had this feeling.

Compared with other dynasties, the royal family of the Song Dynasty was really down-to-earth. If the expansion of the imperial palace required the demolition of civilian houses, and people opposed it, then the construction would not be done. They even opened the gardens of the imperial palace for the people to enjoy. Could you dare to imagine this in other dynasties?
The two of them strolled to the back of Daxiangguo Temple. There were fewer people here, and the people who were strolling here were obviously of higher class. It could be seen that many of them were literati and scholars, because what was sold here were antiques, collectibles, old books, old paintings and the like, as well as local specialties, spices and other items brought by officials from various places.

Then in a corner, there were many stalls, selling all kinds of things, such as fortune-telling, yin and yang, feng shui, etc., and everyone was wearing Taoist costumes.

Su Yun sighed again, saying that the monks in Daxiangguo Temple were so tolerant. It was okay to allow nuns in, as they all worshipped Buddha, but they even let in Taoists.

Ah Hui asked, "Ah Yun, are we going to do business here?"

Su Yun shook his head and said, "We won't compete with them for these livelihoods. Today I'm just bringing you here to have a look around and get familiar with the environment. You'll live here in the future, and if you want to buy anything in the future, you can come here by yourself."

Ah Hui asked curiously, "Should we rent a house here? Will it be too noisy here?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "It's just that the area near the Daxiangguo Temple is a little noisy here. If you walk a little further inside, it will probably be quite quiet."

Ah Hui nodded, followed Su Yun, and after leaving Daxiangguo Temple, he went into the alley.

Sure enough, after turning two corners, the noisy sound disappeared and it became very quiet.

Ah Hui said happily: "This place is really nice. It's very quiet inside and very lively outside. If you want quietness, stay at home. If you want excitement, go to Daxiangguo Temple. It's really good, really good!"

PS: Everyone thinks that 4 words per chapter is too short and not satisfying enough to read, so from now on, we will focus on large chapters of 5-8K, two chapters a day, 10k-k ha, oh, the publishing time is probably in the afternoon or evening, and there is no charge for a line of less than words.

(End of this chapter)