Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 463: The Gift Is Small, But the Feeling Is Great
Just as he was about to close this legendary story that he didn't know where it came from, Zhang Shou suddenly caught a glimpse of two names that appeared on a certain page. At first glance, he felt that the two names seemed familiar. Zhang Tao? Zhu Qing? Why are these names so strange? Isn't this an allusion to him and Zhu Ying?
Without caring about the little one waiting for him a gift, Zhang Shou immediately flipped through a few pages. He saw that the Mansion of Duke Zhao had become the Mansion of Duke Yan, and that the so-called Zhang Tao had transformed into a hermit and wise man, the last disciple of a reclusive scholar. He then fell in love with Zhu Qing at first sight, and began a touching love story. He felt his scalp tingling.
He subconsciously turned to the last page and saw that the bookshop that printed the book was San San Bookshop and the price was one hundred wen. He wanted to grab that fat guy Lu Sanlang and give him a good beating immediately.
If there was no handwriting by Fatty Lu behind this, he would have written it upside down! He was asking for a hundred coins for this crappy book? I don't know how many people he cheated! His reputation was almost ruined!
Although he was angry, Zhang Shou casually handed the book to Ah Liu next to him, and then continued to accept gifts with a stiff face. Fortunately, after that unruly boy just now, the gifts became much more normal.
The two girls gave him cloth shoes with fine stitches. He knew they were for him just by looking at the style and size of the shoes. The other two girls gave him socks made of yew cloth, which were also for him. Before giving them, the four girls said that the sizes of the shoes and socks were given by Wu, and only the cloth was bought with their own savings. Of course, Zhang Shou would not misunderstand this.
As for boys, the gifts were even more varied. There were old books bought from who knows where, but after flipping through a page, you could tell they were fakes, and they claimed to have spent two hundred coins on them; there were jade pendants with beautiful patterns but of very poor quality; there were beautifully made fans, but I didn't know if they were made by the boy himself; there were also people holding small vases; people giving hats; people giving knee pads...
Zhang Shou didn't think he would use some of these things, but these guys gave them to him solemnly. He could only accept them all, say a few words of encouragement, and warn them not to spend money recklessly.
Of course, even if many of them actually wasted money this time, he didn't think it was not worth it. That kind of simple thought was more precious than any gift.
When it was the turn of the two widows, they came forward together and handed over a bundle. Seeing Zhang Shou stretched out his hand to take it in surprise, one of them, who was usually taciturn, was speechless, while the other one said quickly: "Young Master, you have taken care of us, and we don't know how to repay you, so we asked you for the size and made this dress for you."
"The material was bought by Ah Li and I after a lot of bargaining at the cloth shop. It's not silk or satin, but just the best cotton. We cut it and took turns to make it stitch by stitch. Although it's definitely not as good as those needleworkers of the rich families, it's still a little bit of our love."
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned, then he opened the bundle directly. He seemed not to notice the slightly embarrassed expressions of the two widows. Inside was a wide-sleeved azure robe of his. He took it out and shook it open, then said to Ah Liu beside him: "Ah Liu, help me put it on and try to see if it fits me!"
Although the Chinese tradition of receiving gifts is to accept them with a smile and then open them after the guests leave, and this is considered etiquette, but Zhang Shou's action of trying on the clothes immediately made the two widows, who were a little sad just now, feel overjoyed. Seeing Zhang Shou trying the clothes on outside and then saying that he would wear them tomorrow, the two women felt their eyes red and were overjoyed.
Anyone who gives gifts, of course, hopes that their gifts will please others!
After the two widows took out a piece of clothing from their bundles as a gift, it was the turn of two lonely old men to carry a sack together. One of them was Old Man Zhou, whose wife had died and whose only daughter had married out of the village, so he had to stay alone in his empty house and live a hard life on two acres of thin land. The other was Old Man Yan, a lifelong widower who, like Old Man Yang, came from an old military family.
At this moment, Old Man Zhou untied the sack, while Old Man Yan, who was stronger, took out a huge winter melon with great effort. Seeing this, Zhang Shou was surprised at first, and then quickly asked Ah Liu to take the winter melon. When he was about to say a few words of thanks, he heard Ah Liu suddenly say, "Master, there are words on the winter melon!"
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned. When Ah Liu moved his hands twice and turned the side with the words to him, he could see clearly that there were eight words engraved on it in beautiful official script - a gentleman with both virtue and talent is unparalleled.
He was slightly stunned, and then he stared at Old Man Yan and Old Man Zhou in surprise: "Did you carve this?"
Old Zhou pointed at his companion and sold him out without hesitation: "I was only responsible for growing the vegetables, and he carved the words! This guy was just showing off his knife skills, and he even wasted time carving radish flowers. He even wanted to give the young master a bunch of radish flowers as a gift, but I scolded him back. There are all kinds of flowers in the garden, so he can give me radish flowers!"
Zhang Shou immediately laughed, "Why can't I give it to him? That's his craft, and it must be the thing he was most proud of in his life. If he carved a bunch of radish flowers and gave them to me, I would definitely accept them with pleasure. However, I have been in Rongshui Village for so many years, and I didn't know that he could write such good official script. If I had known earlier, I would have practiced calligraphy with him, and I wouldn't be laughed at for my handwriting now."
Old Man Yan immediately burst into laughter, revealing an undisguised smugness on his face. He glanced at Old Man Zhou, who always liked to bicker with him, and then said with a smile: "Master, I have practiced this official script for many years. I have a pile of calligraphy books hidden at home. I can't even recognize many of the characters on them, but after copying them for so many years, I can write very beautifully."
"I just took a dead branch and wrote on the ground, copying and studying. Anyway, I didn't have a wife or children, so I used this to pass the time. I wrote for decades, so of course my writing became good."
As expected, there are many experts among the people. It also proves that as long as you work hard, you can grind an iron rod into a needle. Thinking of this, Zhang Shou gave Old Man Yan a thumbs up and said with a smile: "Radish can not only be carved into flowers, but also beauties, pavilions, towers, and many other strange things. You can try it in the future."
Old Zhou was simply stunned. "Master, why did you ask him to carve something else? I don't know how much he has wasted throughout the year! Back then, his piece of land in the village was bigger than mine, but he often had no food to eat. It was all because of him!"
"What do you mean by wasting? You're just jealous of me! You only know how to farm all day long and don't know how to appreciate good things! Forget it, I didn't expect you to have such a good eye as the young master!"
Seeing the two old men glaring at him, as if they were about to have a huge argument, Zhang Shou quickly signaled Ah Liu to step in. Sure enough, Ah Liu, with an expressionless face, took two steps forward, and the two old men's shouting suddenly turned into grumbling. In the end, when Ah Liu personally chased them away, they all snorted and retreated to continue arguing.
After they left, the other adults finally found an opportunity to celebrate the birthday. The gift that everyone from the Duke of Zhao's mansion gave together was a set of wooden carvings of golden scales leaping over the dragon gate. The carvings were delicate and the wood was mellow. After Zhang Shou accepted it, he also thanked them.
As for the other people who used to hang around in the market and were later subdued by Ah Liu, the gifts they gave were much more varied. There was a glass cup of questionable origin - although its owner swore that it was absolutely clean and passed down from his ancestors; there was a string of blood jade beads, although it looked like some kind of bird blood was soaked in it in the later generations; there was a jade bowl with a missing corner, but it was as bright as new, and it was called an antique...
After Zhang Shou accepted so many gifts from so many people, Ah Liu rolled up his sleeves with a fierce look on his face, and apparently went to chat with some people and to question the origins of the gifts!
Only Mrs. Xu's gift was in line with her professional characteristics. It was a basket of crystal buns. It was said that the old woman bought fresh vegetables and seasonal mushrooms at the market herself, and then got up before dawn, ground the flour, rolled the dough, and mixed the stuffing by herself. It took her most of the day to make them. Zhang Shou tasted two on the spot and found them fresh and delicious, so he immediately sent them to Mrs. Wu with a smile.
Wu didn't have a big appetite, so she praised the dish highly after tasting it, and asked Aunt Liu to try one as well. Aunt Liu had been competing with Aunt Xu in cooking skills for a long time, and she awkwardly put the dish into her mouth with chopsticks, and her expression changed immediately.
She really didn't want to admit that Mrs. Xu's dim sum was better than hers, but facing the smiling Zhang Shou, she finally said dejectedly: "That damn old woman, she's usually quiet and mean, but her cooking skills are really amazing!"
Mrs. Wu had always been close to Aunt Liu, with whom she had lived for more than ten years. At this moment, she smiled and comforted her, "Doesn't Ah Shou always like to say that everyone has their own specialty? You just need to be good at cooking, and let Aunt Xu do her best with the snacks. By the way, there are still so many crystal buns left, don't waste them, share them with everyone while they're still hot."
The Wu family, who came from a humble background, had always had such a simple sense of sharing, and Zhang Shou had long been accustomed to it, so of course he would not object. So, Old Liu rushed over, grabbed one with a drooling face and swallowed it directly, and then smiled and took the steamer to the next table, and soon a group of little guys surrounded them.
However, how many were there in the basket? The four quick-eyed and quick-handed little guys grabbed one immediately, and the others had no share. Especially Yang Hao and Zheng Dang, who had sent the drunken Mr. Song back to his room and came back a step late, did not have time to deliver the gift, and did not have time to eat the good things, they were even more angry.
In this chaotic time, Mrs. Xu, who usually looked like a kind old lady, smiled and brought a few more steamers. Her vegetable dumplings were now famous in Zhang Garden. At this time, the group of little kids saw that she had prepared enough, so they had no doubts. They cheered and rushed over to fight for them. As long as they got one, they would put it in their mouths without distinguishing.
As a result, in an instant, there were cries of pain from all directions. Some people were complaining that it was too spicy, some were complaining that it was too sour, and there were all kinds of noises. Standing among the children crying and howling, Granny Xu finally showed a very kind smile.
"This is a new flavor I tried. I don't dare to give it to the young master rashly, so I can only let you taste it first. There are sour and spicy, fragrant and spicy, bitter melon filling... In short, we have everything."
Zhang Shou keenly noticed that among the extremely distressed faces, there were also a few faces that were beaming with joy and excitement. Obviously, Mrs. Xu did not cheat everyone. While a bunch of people were cheated, others also tasted the delicious food. But even so, he still felt that this kind-hearted old cook looked like Grandma Wolf when she spoke just now.
Retracting his gaze from that place, he saw Old Liu and Aunt Liu whispering to each other, so he said with a smile: "Others have already given gifts, Old Liu, what are you and Aunt Liu going to give me?"
"Ahem, I wanted to give you a surprise." Old Liu pretended to be depressed, but then he smiled and said, "I discussed this gift with my wife for a long time before I came up with it. You and Miss will definitely like it!"
He seemed to be unaware that the gift he gave to Zhang Shou had to be accompanied by the fact that Zhu Ying also liked it. He said mysteriously, "I found an ancient book with a lot of recipes. After asking Grand Tutor Ge to personally authenticate it, the old Grand Tutor actually said that it was written by Emperor Taizu himself. Doesn't the young master like to cook for the young lady himself? Isn't this just right?"
Zhang Shou was almost amused by Old Liu's pride. I'm not that fool named Song! I only cook because no one else can do it well. If someone else could do it well, how could I have the time to cook and breathe in the fumes? There's not even a range hood these days!
However, the so-called recipe handed down by the great ancestor was still certified by Ge Yong, so he had to force a smile and accept this "valuable gift". And then, he received the gift that Wu had carefully prepared for him.
It was exactly the same as in the past, a longevity lock, the only difference was that it was made of silver before, but now it was made of gold, with exquisite craftsmanship, it should have been made by a famous gold and silver shop. He could understand Wu's good wishes for his longevity, so he smiled and thanked her, then put it in his arms.
When the banquet was over, he followed Wu to the small Buddhist temple in the backyard and once again paid respect to his deceased parents. Seeing the scroll of imperial edict placed on the table, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, he had repaid his karma. Without the obscure Mr. Zhang and the brave but tenacious widow Zhang, he wouldn't have been reborn.
After settling Wu, Zhang Shou felt much more relaxed when he came out of the small courtyard that was often filled with sandalwood. So when he saw Ah Liu standing at the gate of the courtyard, he even teased him leisurely, "What's wrong? Did you just check the homework of some people in the family?"
Since Ah Liu started to check the homework when he returned to the capital last time, and beat up all the big and small gangs until they were convinced, these four words have become synonymous with teaching someone a lesson in Zhang Garden. At this time, when Zhang Shou said this, Ah Liu not only did not deny it, but shrugged and said: "Master, you are right, if jade is not polished, it will not become a useful tool."
"It's not me who said that, it's the Book of Rites!" Zhang Shou wanted to knock on Liu's head, but Liu's next move surprised him. He took out a cloth bag from his arms and handed it to him with both hands: "Here, a gift."
