Chapter 7: Canxia Building

The curfew nowadays is extremely strict. It closes at dusk and opens at five o'clock in the morning. The sound of drums makes no pedestrians in the six streets. There are Wuhou police patrolling the streets everywhere. Anyone who dares to break the curfew, regardless of whether he is an official or a civilian, will be flogged twenty times.

After all, Li Jiancheng was the eldest son of the Li family. Even if he violated the curfew, he would not be beaten, but he would definitely be persuaded to return home. If he refused to listen, he would be escorted away. If a conflict arose, both of them would be beaten with thirty lashes.

Before the night drum sounded, Li Jiancheng led his servants to the East Market (Metropolitan Market). At that time, hawking on the streets was not allowed, so all business was concentrated in the East and West Markets.

Occasionally, there are some small vendors who sneak around in remote areas to sell cheap gadgets, but they have to be careful about being caught and punished, so this is not a large-scale business.

The East Market is closer to the Daming Palace, and the surrounding neighborhoods are mostly inhabited by royal family members and nobles. Therefore, rare treasures from all over the world are collected here, and most of the goods sold are high-end luxury goods.

Just like the Canxia Tower we are going to now, it is the property of Yang Xiong, Prince of Guangping, one of the four nobles in the court. It is famous for its beautiful scenery and high price. How expensive is it? After a good meal, the money is almost enough to buy new winter clothes for half of the servants in the Duke's Mansion.

The East Market is also like a block, surrounded by high loess walls, and occupies an area of ​​about two blocks. Measured at one meter per step, it is about a thousand steps from north to south and more than nine hundred steps from east to west. There are two gates in each of the east, west, south and north, and there is a constant flow of merchants coming and going.

When you enter, you will see shops lined up together, merchants gathered there, the sounds of hawking are endless, and pedestrians are rubbing shoulders and rubbing sleeves, looking sweaty.

Shops selling similar goods were concentrated in the same area, which was called a "hang". Warehouses for storing goods were called "di". There were 220 "hang" (trades) in the city and di on all four sides.

Along the way, I passed an iron shop, a pen shop, a butcher shop, and saw a fortune teller, a man selling huqin, a donkey renter, a famous pipa player, and a man selling brocade and colorful silk, and finally I arrived at a wine shop.

The first one was Canxialou. Li Jiancheng seldom went out, but Si Bo, who was greeting customers in front of the store, recognized him at a glance. After greeting him loudly, the shopkeeper led people out to greet him.

"I am here to greet Mr. Li. The best banquet is ready and is on the top floor. Please come upstairs."

Li Jiancheng looked at the sun and said, "Let's all rest here tonight. Warm up the bedrooms in advance."

"Yes, my lord, rest assured. I will make proper arrangements and will never neglect you, my lord."

We are lucky today. No other princes and nobles have come here for the banquet. Otherwise, we would have been unable to snatch the banquet from them and have it on the top floor.

Canxia Tower consists of four buildings, east, west, south and north. Each building has three floors high and four floors facing each other. There is an open courtyard in the middle, with flying bridges and railings, and light and dark areas connected.

Li Jiancheng leaned on the railing and looked out. The sunset glow in the sky was like a dream. Looking down, the peach blossoms were in full bloom, as bright as clouds. It was difficult to tell the difference between heaven and earth.

After a while, Dou Dan and Yuan Shibin arrived, and Li Jiancheng went forward to greet them. One of them was the son of Dou Kang, Duke of Chen, and the other was the son of Yuan Chengshou, Duke of Pingyuan.

Dou Kang is the nephew of the current emperor and the cousin of Li Jiancheng's mother. Yuan Chengshou was born into a more noble family and is the sixth-generation grandson of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Tao.

Li Jiancheng was the youngest, so he bowed and called him brother first. If they started to talk about seniority, it would be chaotic. In private, as long as the age difference was not too big, they would treat each other as peers.

Dou Dan held Li Jiancheng and said, "That's good. I was thinking that you are old enough to do things, and I was afraid that Duke Tang would neglect things while he was away from home for too long."

"Even if Duke Tang neglected it, the old lady would not." Yuan Shibin said with a smile: "Jiancheng, you will follow me to the yamen tomorrow. The job of the Qianniu Guard is simple, but a little boring. Fortunately, the rank is not low. After a few years, we will be sent out of the palace and enter the palace." After thanking them, Li Jiancheng invited them to go in and take a seat first. The two of them were not polite. Dou Dan fell behind and whispered: "Jishan is a little arrogant. Duke Yue has recently received good news. Treat him well."

"Thank you for the reminder, brother. I understand now."

After a while, Yang Jishan and Dugu Kaiyuan arrived. Yang Jishan was Yang Su's youngest son, and had always been spoiled. He was the same age as Li Jiancheng, and when he saw Li Jiancheng coming towards him, he just raised his chin slightly.

Dugu Kaiyuan was the eldest son of Duke of Zhao Dugu Luo, and the nephew of the Queen and Li Jiancheng's grandmother.

As for why he was not much older than Li Jiancheng, it was mainly because his father had a miserable early life. He was imprisoned by Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty for more than 20 years when he was still an infant. He was released only after the death of Dugu Xin. But after he was released, he lived in Zhongshan, alone and poor, and could not afford to marry a wife.

It was not until the establishment of the Sui Dynasty that Dugu Luo was brought back and was able to inherit Dugu Xin's title of Duke of Zhao and enjoy a life of wealth and prosperity.

Dugu Kaiyuan was a muscular man but very considerate. When he saw Li Jiancheng, he said, "We are just brothers getting together. Why do we need to come to such a luxurious place? We can just find a quiet tavern and have a good drink."

Yang Jishan said, "Let's go to Kaiyuan. As the saying goes, one never tires of fine food and delicate meat. I know you care about Jiancheng, but can he afford the money for this meal?"

Li Jiancheng laughed out loud and said, "Of course it's not bad. I have been living with my mother in a villa outside the city for the past six months. I just returned to the capital today. I haven't been able to meet my brothers for a long time. I will not be stingy in hosting a banquet today."

He reached out his hand and held Dugu Kaiyuan's hand: "Brother, you like to drink. Canxia Tower has Yingzhou Fushui, Wucheng Ruoxia, Xingyang Tukuchun, Fuping Shidongchun, Jiannan Shaochun. Other wine shops may not have such a complete range."

The three of them walked in arm in arm, and the other two also stood up to greet them. They joked cheerfully for a few times, and then sat down together at a rectangular table with a picture of immortals celebrating a birthday painted on it.

Li Jiancheng sat in the main seat at the top, and the other four sat opposite each other. Their servants were guarding the door, and soon wine and food came up like flowing water.

There is no need to mention the ordinary chickens, ducks, fish and shrimps. A Hu man with a high nose and deep eyes led a half-grown lamb to the few dozen steps in front of the hall, saluted to the young nobles, then flipped his hand and swung out a narrow and sharp knife, killing the sheep, bleeding it, skinning it and chopping the meat with extremely smooth and graceful techniques.

After the meat was disassembled, the man left the knife on the mutton and stepped aside. Li Jiancheng invited his brothers who had taken a few bites of the appetizers, "Let's each take what we like."

Several people walked down the hall with great interest, and took turns, starting with the oldest, to personally cut the pieces of meat they thought were delicious from the sheep, with the fat-lean ratio also predetermined. A maid holding a silver plate came forward, wrapped the mutton chosen by the nobleman with colorful brocades of different colors, and sent it to the kitchen for cooking.

After washing their hands in a basin, they returned to their seats. A perfectly grilled venison dish was served, accompanied by a small dish of apricot sauce.

Nowadays, the communal dining system is popular. Except for foods like cakes, soup, porridge, etc. which are eaten together, other meals are distributed by the cooks or servants according to the number of people, that is, people do not eat at the same table together.

No one was in a hurry to talk about business. Everyone was enjoying the delicious food and sipping the fine wine. Curfew was about to arrive, and it was impossible to go home through the streets. They had to stay in the East Market so that they would have a whole night to chat.

…………

(End of this chapter)