Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

This life is full of confusion.

In the spring of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Chang'an, the imperial palace.

'Boom boom boom boom boom...'

Three hundred continuous rumbling drum sounds penetrated the lush trees, and the refreshing locust fragrance permeated the 108 blocks.

West of Zhuque Avenue, in Yong'anfang.

"Nian Nu, are you ready? You can go out now. It's too late."

Jiang's mother, who was sitting in the yard pounding clothes with a bucket of water, looked up when she heard the sound, put her hands on her knees, and stuck her butt out to urge the kitchen.

There was no well in the courtyard, so all the water for the family had to be fetched from the Yong'an Canal in the neighborhood by Jiang's mother. Now she would sit at home and use some of the remaining water to wash the clothes, and then take them to the canal to rinse them.

It looks quite troublesome, but compared to those who live far away from the canal and have difficulty taking a bath, this is already a very convenient place. I wonder how many people envy it.

The opening time of the East and West Markets in Chang'an was signaled by three hundred drum beats. Street vendors would often wait outside the market before that, and when the drums sounded and the gates were opened, they would rush in.

The various small shops outside the Yong'anfang gate became bustling at the beginning of the Yin hour. These breakfast shops in Chang'an did business with the civil servants of the Tang Dynasty.

Like those who get up at two in the morning, you are awesome, just sit down and eat slowly.

It doesn't matter if you arrive at 3 o'clock, we provide take-out service.

If you happen to sleep in and wake up after four in the morning, you will have to hurry.

You can eat while walking, eat while riding a horse if you are unruly, or even eat while covering your face with your sleeves during court sessions, and that’s fine too.

What? You're talking about the Imperial Censor? Is that insulting to the image of Tang Dynasty civil servants?

Haha, at worst, you'll be impeached by a few memorials from those idle censors in the Censorate, and your salary will be deducted. At worst, you'll lose your stable job.

However, today, she was indeed late.

Jiang Shangxian gently covered the large pot with a piece of thin white cotton cloth, smoothed down his scattered hair, and on his slightly chubby face, his almond-shaped eyes opened up, a gleam of brilliance flashing across them. "I understand, mother."

"Sister, I'll move it! I'll move it!" Jiang Wangri, the young man of the Jiang family, seized the opportunity and rushed in hurriedly. He picked up the big clay pot on the stove and ran out. The ten-year-old boy was less than 1.4 meters tall. The big clay pot was shaking, which made people scared.

Jiang Shangxian took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, turned around, picked up another large clay pot and walked out, with a well-behaved and docile smile on his face that he had practiced countless times in front of the mirror.

Jiang Wangri was obviously very anxious and had already taken out the cart: "Sister, put it up quickly."

"Thank you for your hard work, Erlang." Jiang Shangxian didn't refuse. He put the wooden basin on the table with a gentle smile and saluted Jiang's mother: "Mother, I'm leaving now."

Mother Jiang stood up, wiped her wet hands on her body, and opened the door for them: "Hey, be careful on the road."

"Thank you, mother. Don't worry."

"You child, why are you always so polite? If you knew I was your mother, you would think we were strangers!"

Jiang's mother glanced at her in disapproval and pinched her thin shoulder. "Why are your eyes so dark and gloomy? Did you not sleep well last night? Or were there mosquitoes in the house? How come you've only gained so much weight? This doesn't look good."

Jiang Shangxian was a little embarrassed by her intimacy. His body stiffened slightly before relaxing. "Yeah, I don't know where these mosquitoes came from. They've been buzzing all night long. It's really annoying."

That’s right, Jiang Shangxian traveled through time... She didn’t know if it was right to say so, but her memory started from her previous life, let’s just say it was her previous life. In her memory, she lived in modern society until she graduated from university at the age of 24.

Regarding the end of that period of her life, she remembered that she had made an appointment to go out and play with friends. It was very hot that day, so she took a taxi. The journey was quite far, and there were a lot of traffic and it was very congested, so she fell asleep in the car.

When she woke up, she arrived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty in history. The one sitting on the throne was the "Governor of Asia, the strongest carbon-based organism in the seventh century" as mentioned on the Internet - Li Shimin.

The Jiang family's situation is very simple. Jiang's father died early, but fortunately, his ancestors had accumulated virtue and several generations of hard work, leaving behind this small property.

Jiang's mother raised two children alone. Living in Chang'an was not easy. According to what the neighbors said, Jiang's mother had a hard time.

"Sister, why did you cook so much mutton today?" Jiang Wangri, who was only ten years old this year, was pushing a cart diligently towards the West Market.

Jiang Shangxian was carrying a bamboo basket with a large bowl of chopped shallots and cilantro in it, along with a kitchen knife wrapped in cotton cloth. "Business has been good lately, so let's sell more. After saving up for a while, we can open a shop in the West Market."

"Really?! Are you almost saving enough money?" Jiang Wangri was so happy that he almost let go of the cart and jumped around a few times to express his joy. "That's great! Pushing the cart and all these belongings to the West Market every day is really too much trouble."

"Well, why would I lie to you? Once I take over the shop, I won't have to push these things back and forth every day. You can save some energy too."

The brother and sister make a living by running small stalls, which are common in Chang'an City, and what they sell is Jiang Shangxian's exclusive secret braised lamb.

People at that time all liked to eat mutton and not pork. Jiang Shangxian was very uncomfortable when she first came here. She didn't like to eat mutton in modern times and felt that it had a strong smell of sheep. After coming here, she got used to it over time.

"Sister, when are we going to look for a shop? We have to take a look first. It's hard to find a shop with a good location that is for sale." Jiang Wangri kept chattering, his yellow little face full of expectations for life.

Jiang Shangxian turned her head to look at his face, her brows slightly furrowed. Every time she saw these people's vivid and real expressions, she would wonder, is all this not real?

Occasionally she would waver and think about just going with the flow and accepting this kind of life, but every time she thought about it, she always felt something was strange in her heart.

But all this changed late last night.

As usual, Jiang Shangxian prepared the fresh mutton and put it in a pot to simmer over low heat. After washing up, he lay down on the bed and prepared to rest.

The task of adding firewood at night was done by Jiang's mother who stayed at home during the day.

Without any entertainment, Jiang Shangxian actually had to work hard for a long time every day and try every possible way to fall asleep. Just when she was drowsy, something suddenly appeared in the room.

It's a letter.

She was sure that she was not completely asleep, but the letter appeared out of nowhere and hit her in the face.

The letter was a piece of white paper folded twice. Strictly speaking, it was an ordinary A4 paper with a strong industrial smell. The close contact made it easy for her to smell this familiar yet unfamiliar smell.

Unfolding the letter, it was printed in the Dragon Yin style of Fang Zheng's calligraphy.

The content of the letter was so weird that Jiang Shangxian instantly got goosebumps.

"Hello, it seems you've adapted to life here. Was the Zhenguan era wonderful? Do you still want to go back to 2024?"

The content of the letter was short, but it was enough to make Jiang Shangxian's chest tremble uncontrollably. Not only was his heart beating violently, but he also felt numbness from the fingertips of his left ring finger and little finger to his shoulder blade and the entire right leg, which lasted for five minutes.

In modern times, this situation would occur whenever Jiang Shangxian's emotions fluctuated too much or he was too scared.

She practiced lying still, breathing quietly and slowly, and after five minutes, the paralysis disappeared.

The room was dark, with only the dim moonlight shining through the raw linen covered on the window sashes, barely bringing a ray of light into the room.

Fortunately, the room was not big. She got out of bed and carefully groped around the room in her slippers. After confirming that the windows were closed tightly, there was no one under the bed, under the table, or in the cabinet, Jiang Shangxian lay back down on the bed.

She stayed awake all night. She folded the A4 paper with the short words into pieces and put them under her pillow.

When the sky was slightly bright and the warm sun was shining on the ground, she fell into a drowsy sleep.