Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

A gentle female voice interrupted Jiang Shangxian's inner complaints. She raised her head and put on a standard professional smile: "Braised mutton, you can eat it directly. If you don't mind the trouble, take it home and heat it up for a better taste."

Jiang Shangxian had a pretty good memory. The old woman in front of him, who looked to be about sixty, with half her hair already white and ordinary clothes but with a scholarly air, was not her regular customer. "Come, try it. If it's delicious, buy more."

She picked up a knife, cut a small piece, placed it on the blade and handed it to her. The old woman hesitantly picked up the tempting-looking braised lamb, which was covered with rich sauce and had scattered white sesame seeds on it, and stuffed it into her mouth.

As soon as she put the mutton in her mouth, her eyes lit up: the mutton was soft and tender, with a special aroma, and the sauce was rich and tasty.

The old woman swallowed the mutton reluctantly, took out a handkerchief, wiped two fingers clean carefully, squeezed the purse, and said through gritted teeth: "It's really delicious, cut me a pound."

Jiang Shangxian weighed the remaining piece of meat and said, "Madam, a piece of meat is one catty, one ounce, and three cents. If you want all of it, how about I charge you one catty and one ounce?"

"Well, then, give me the remaining juice. I have a bowl here." The old woman felt better after receiving three taels of mutton for free, even though she was reluctant to spend the money. She took out a clean big bowl from the basket on her arm and handed it to Jiang Shangxian.

"Okay, give them all to Madam. Are you buying them to take back for your children at home? That's really good." When doing business, you have to be enthusiastic and chat with people. If the conversation goes well, they will think of you first when they come to Xishi next time.

The old woman smiled and lifted the basket: "My second mother is going to get married soon. It will be difficult to see her in the future. So, I thought of giving her a good meal before I leave home."

Jiang Shangxian walked around the cart and came to the old woman, helping her put the overflowing bowl away. His smile became much more genuine: "Congratulations! As a parent, you always think of your children first. You are a good mother."

"You are such a sweet-talker, little lady."

*

The gongs rang out, and Jiang Shangxian and his sister walked off to the sounds of the gongs, punctually leaving get off work in the fading glow of the setting sun. (In the Tang Dynasty's West Market, the market opened with 300 drum beats at noon and closed with 300 gong beats at sunset.)

Jiang Wangri was pushing the cart with a smile on his face. A long rope was tied to his right wrist. At the end of the rope, a small cart was rumbling behind him.

This is the new toy that Jiang Shangxian bought for him today. All the children in Chang'an City like this little toy. It is considered a trendy item among children.

He had been envious for a long time, and whenever he saw others pulling one, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Sister, I ran around today, but didn't see any good spots. There is one spot that's not so good, and the price is too expensive..." Jiang Wangri got his favorite toy but didn't forget about the serious things.

"If it really doesn't work, when the weather is hot, just set up a stall in front of the gate of Yong'anfang. You don't have to walk far, and you can bring a bamboo mat from home for shade." Jiang Shangxian didn't care. If there was a suitable shop, it would be nice to buy it and open a small stir-fry restaurant. If not, he could still survive by making do like this.

If they set up a stall in Yong'anfang, Jiang's mother would definitely ask them to start early in the morning and continue until all the neighbors in the square were asleep at night.

This is also one of the reasons why she works tirelessly to set up a stall in Xishi every day. Xishi is only open half a day, so the working hours are greatly shortened.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the house she lives in is her own, which can be considered as the good deeds of her ancestors.

If a foreigner is less fortunate, he may not be able to buy a small house worth four or five hundred strings of cash in the most remote market even if he lives his whole life in Chang'an.

Jiang Wangri was obviously not very interested in setting up a stall near the gate of Yong'anfang, and there was a hint of disappointment on his little face. Who would want to set up a stall at the doorstep and be watched over by his old mother every day to work hard?

"Let's go quickly. Go home and put your things away. I'll take you to Lanlingfang to buy some spiral-cut fish sashimi." Jiang Shangxuan felt that the sun in May was still a bit scorching, especially after being exposed to the sun for a whole afternoon. Her stomach was churning with heat.

"Wow, you want to eat fish sashimi? That's great, sister!" Jiang Wangri cheered and ran forward with his short legs. Jiang Shangxian had to chase him from behind: "Slow down, slow down, don't drop the pot!"

If a person falls, it's okay. Children are tough and can just get up. But if a pottery jar falls, it's a disaster. You have to spend money to buy it.

Jiang's mother took the cart and was about to leave. She had to take the large clay pot to Yong'an Canal to wash it before returning. When she heard that the two of them were going to buy sashimi, her face fell, but then, remembering that the mutton was sold out today, she pursed her lips and said nothing.

Jiang Wangri looked at his elder sister with admiration, and he knew that his elder sister was the most capable in his family.

Jiang Shangxian felt that such admiration was unnecessary. Fish sashimi itself was not a precious thing. The saying "Eight rivers surround Chang'an" was not an empty saying. If you had nothing to do, you could catch a basket of fresh fish by yourself.

Despite all the talk of it, it's actually just sashimi, specifically river fish. Any common fresh-out-of-water fish would be served raw on the Tang Dynasty table, sliced ​​and served with finely chopped green onions, minced garlic, shredded orange juice, yellow mustard, and other flavor-removing ingredients.

(Time-traveling kids, take note: if you really want to eat carp, you must catch it secretly, buy it secretly, and eat it secretly. If you are caught, you will be spanked 60 times.)

The reason why we eat out is that this dish requires good knife skills and also the right knife.

The Jiang family only has one kitchen knife, which is weathered and not suitable for filleting fish.

Lanlingfang and Yong'anfang are separated by Xuanyifang and Yongdafang. They can be reached by crossing Zhuque Avenue. The road is quite short, so the brother and sister are not in a hurry to leave. Anyway, the curfew in Chang'an City has not yet arrived, and even the first drum has not sounded.

"Sister, shall we buy three more bowls of soft noodle soup?" Jiang Wangri asked, his mouth watering. "I want something hot and sour. The fish sashimi is too cold. It would be perfect with the hot soup."

This is just kid's nonsense. People in the Tang Dynasty would definitely eat sashimi with rice. This kid has been used to eating noodles since he was a child and doesn't like rice.

Jiang Shangxian secretly rolled his eyes. "Young man, you're combining hot and cold dishes, and adding sashimi to it, it's a set meal." "Okay, sister agrees."

Let’s not talk about whether it runs away or not, she wants to eat it anyway.

When the brother and sister walked out of Yongdafang, Jiang Wangri was still chattering about the deliciousness of the spiral-cut fish sashimi. The sound of horse hooves came from the direction of Mingde Gate, getting closer and closer along Zhuque Avenue. Jiang Shangxian grabbed his brother, whose tail was so happy that it was raised in the air, and stopped to avoid him.

It took a while for the sound of horse hooves to fade away. Jiang Wangri was extremely brave, staring at the group of people with his mouth wide open the whole time. Only when the backs of these people wearing fish-scale armor, wearing ox-head swords on their waists, and riding horses were far away did he reluctantly look away: "Sister, the officers of the Qianniu Guard are really impressive."

Jiang Shangxian kept her head down throughout the whole process, only looking up at the end, still looking frustrated. She wiped her face and said, "If you want to join the Qianniu Guard, our family has no way."

After these words were spoken, Jiang Wangri continued to walk forward with a pout, looking unhappy. Jiang Shangxian did not say anything to comfort her. This was the Tang Dynasty. She was a poor student in the history department, but she still had some basic common sense.

Jiang Wangri had attended school when he was young. According to Jiang's mother, this kid was not good at studying. He would fall asleep as soon as he picked up a book, and his handwriting was crooked when he picked up a brush.

That would have been fine. The Tang Dynasty had always had two ways to become an official, the imperial examination and the written examination. He couldn't read, so the road to the imperial examination was blocked. At best, he could take the Mingsuan exam. If he was lucky enough, he would pass and become a minor official below the ninth rank.

And distributing the manuscripts was even more impossible. Every citizen of the Tang Dynasty could write poetry. If Jiang Wangri had countless great poems handed down from generation to generation, perhaps he could also find ways to submit his articles and poems door to door.

But his poetry level is probably on par with Jiang Shangxian's: Geese, geese, goose, there is a pile of feathers in front of the window, there is a goose in the pot, the goose in the pot looks like the goose in front of the window, what a great iron pot to stew a big goose.

Author: Tang/Jiang Shangxian