Wanderer of the whirling world

Chapter 43 Meeting Su Dongpo Again

When Xin Ziqiu heard someone calling him, he felt very strange, because he had no acquaintances in Bianliang.

After carefully following the sound, he was immediately happy:
"Who am I to tell you? It turned out that Su Zizhan saw it, and it was really a fate."

It turned out that the people who called his name were Su Shi and Su Zhe, who had just met on the road yesterday.

The two brothers still wore square scarves and were dressed as scholars, but they had changed into new clothes, and they did not show the slightest fatigue from the journey.

Su Shi closed the folding fan in his hand, stepped forward, cupped his hands and said with a smile:

"Yesterday we passed by in a hurry, and I was very reluctant to part with you. Today, my brothers and I came to Kaifeng Mansion to look for you in response to the appointment of Mr. Xin Xiaolang."

It turned out that what Su Shi was thinking of was to let Xin Ziqiu take him to eat delicious food.

It's not that he is cheeky and insists on eating, it's just that he thinks that Xin Ziqiu is familiar with Bianliang City and can know some authentic snacks that outsiders don't know, so as soon as he arrives in Bianliang, he and his younger brother come to Nanya Kaifeng as agreed The government is looking for someone.

Jia Xian was anxious to go home to study the calculation problem, and also missed his granddaughter. Seeing these young people chatting, he said:

"You young people have a good chat, and the old people will not get involved. I will leave first. Xiaoqiu, do you know the way home?"

Xin Ziqiu nodded, said goodbye to Jia Xian, waved his hand, and said to the Su brothers:
"Let's go, let's go to eat and welcome Brother Zizhan and Brother Ziyou!"

He never took money seriously, and he didn't care whether the two brothers of the Su family came here for dinner. Instead, he was very happy to see friends here.

But as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt a little ill-considered, and he didn't care about the treats, anyway, he just spent money if he had money in his pocket.

However, he himself is an outsider, and he is new here, how would he know what delicious food is available in Bianliang City?

But in front of the two brothers of the Su family, it is difficult to admit that he is a stick.

After thinking about it, he remembered that there were many big restaurants near the Bianhe River that he passed by when he just came here.

After touching the official jiaozi and gold ingots in his pocket, Xin Ziqiu immediately regained his confidence, put on the appearance of a local snake, and led the Su family brothers towards Bianhe in strides.

Along the way, the three chatted happily.

Su Shi is well-read and strong-minded. Although he is from Xichuan Bashu, he is quite familiar with the customs and customs of the Central Plains, and he knows Bianjing well. During the conversation, he gave Xin Ziqiu a good knowledge of the history and culture of Bianliang City .

Although Xin Ziqiu is semi-literate compared to Su Shi, after all, he comes from the modern society of the 21st century and knows a lot of anecdotes and strange things, and he has told the Su brothers a lot.

For example, he mentioned that to the south of this place, thousands of miles away, there is a glacier continent with black and white birds called penguins, who are good at swimming.

It is also said that far in the west, there is a continent called Africa, with a vast and endless grassland, on which there are endless lions and zebras, as well as huge and mysterious pyramids and sphinxes.

Xin Ziqiu spoke so vividly and saliva, the Su brothers were stunned, nodded repeatedly, and kept praising Xin Ziqiu for his knowledge and knowledge.

While chatting, the three of them walked to the edge of the Bian River and got on the bridge.

Su Shi stepped on the wooden arch bridge, constantly sighing, and said to Xin Ziqiu:
"Brother Ziqiu, do you know the origin of this Hongqiao?"

Xin Ziqiu shook his head, he didn't even know that the arch bridge was called "Hongqiao", so how could he talk about its origin?

Su Shi shook his folding fan lightly, shook his head and explained:
"This bridge is exquisite in structure and beautiful in shape. It is the famous Bianliang Hongqiao. The bridge-building technology of the Song Dynasty is the best in the past and the present. It is ingenious. This Hongqiao is a master. Can you find out what is special about this Hongqiao?"

Xin Ziqiu walked across the Hongqiao once this morning, but at that time he was too busy looking at the floating corpses in the river, but he didn't bother to look at the structure of the bridge.

At this time, he listened to Su Shi's question, leaned on the guardrail, and looked at the whole arch bridge carefully.

Although he doesn't understand architecture, he has excellent observation skills, and he can see the difference at once:
"This bridge is made entirely of timber and has no piers?"

Indeed, as he said, the entire arch bridge is like a rainbow on both sides of the bridge, without any support underneath.

Because of this, the wide and tall underside of Hongqiao can accommodate large ships to pass through smoothly and unimpeded.

Su Shi nodded and said:
"Exactly, this bridge was designed and manufactured by many skilled craftsmen. It is made of numerous large timbers juxtaposed and riveted and tenoned together. Because the arch shape shares the load, even if there is no bridge pier, it is easy to accommodate thousands of people."

Xin Ziqiu looked around. On the Hongqiao, more than a dozen people could walk side by side. At this time, there were bustling pedestrians, and there were small vendors selling knives, scissors, hardware, groceries, and food on both sides. Not only did he feel the long history of Chinese civilization, The depth of wisdom.

This was the Northern Song Dynasty 1000 years ago. Without heavy machinery, countless huge timbers could be built into an arch bridge bit by bit over the Bianhe River. It is conceivable that the project is huge and the construction is difficult.

Everything here shows that the Song Dynasty's economy was strong and its industry was developed thousands of years ago, far surpassing any empire in the world at that time.

Xin Ziqiu stood on the bridge, leaning on the railing and looking into the distance, feeling a strong sense of national pride spontaneously.

This immersive feeling is more effective than any patriotic education.

It's a pity that not everyone has the opportunity to cross.

……

Just as he was feeling emotional, an old man selling dim sum walked up to him, with a big food box hanging around his neck, and his cries were clear and loud.

When Su Shi saw that there was something to eat, he became excited, put away his folding fan, went forward and asked:

"Old man, what kind of snack is this? How do you sell it?"

The old man said:
"This is the three fresh lotus cake with my own secret recipe, and it costs two cents a piece."

Su Shi looked at his food box, and saw that there were dozens of grids on it, filled with pink puff pastry, shaped like a lotus flower in bud, smelling delicate and elegant, very greedy, but small in size It's so pitiful, it's not much bigger than a copper coin, and it's not enough to eat a bite.

The big foodie immediately counter-offered:
"Old man, your lotus cake is too small, and it's too expensive to sell for two pennies. How about I buy three for one penny?"

The old man glanced at him, shaking his head like a rattle:

"No, you are so rude as a scholar, how can you bargain like this?"

Su Shi thought for a while:
"How about four pennies and three coins?"

Xin Ziqiu watched from the sidelines, his jaw almost didn't drop, this great writer is too down-to-earth, not to mention haggling with street vendors, he haggles half the price when he comes up, he is not shy at all, and it seems that he is not the first This is the first time I have done this.

The old man almost wrote the word "roll" on his face, ignored Su Shi, turned his head and was about to leave.

Xin Ziqiu took out a few copper coins from his pocket, stepped forward and handed them to the old man, saying:

"Old man, my friend is very joking, don't mind you old man, here is six Wen, I'll buy three to try."

The old man muttered, "Don't buy it if you don't have money", "Students still take advantage of it", but he still accepted Xin Ziqiu's copper coins and reached into the food box to get pastries.

Xin Ziqiu turned his head and smiled at Su Shi, seeing that he didn't blush at all, but instead looked at Xin Ziqiu, gently shaking his folding fan, with an expression of "you've been taken advantage of".

Xin Ziqiu rolled his eyes at him, turned his head and was about to take the lotus cake, when something unexpected happened.

While he was squinting, the old man suddenly pulled out a sharp knife from the bottom of the food box and stabbed at him.

In broad daylight, the bright knife light flickered, dazzing, and cold...

……

　[-] words ~ Sahua

　　
　
(End of this chapter)