The medical concubine is blessed with good fortune and her husband's life is prosperous. The mo

At the beginning of September, the autumn wind suddenly started, the autumn rain was slightly cool, and the temperature changed suddenly. In other places, one autumn rain comes and one cold comes, and ten autumn rains require wearing cotton.

In Youzhou, you must wear cotton during the three autumn rains, without any transition period. Autumn is very short. After the harvest, the morning frost is as heavy as thin snow. Walking on the country road in the morning, the white frost squeaks under your feet.

Various ponds and rivers are filled with various types of hemp, such as castor, hemp, jute, and green hemp. Youzhou is not suitable for growing mulberry and raising silkworms, but it is suitable for growing cotton and linen.

Cotton cultivation has not yet been promoted, and only military hoardings and a few families of military families have grown it. They have already picked the cotton and are stripping the cotton and spinning it at home.

And the hemp has to be soaked in the water for a long time, until the strange green and yellow skin on the outside rots away, leaving a lot of dark green impurities on the water surface. Only then can we pick it up from the pond in bundles and peel off the hemp clothes by hand. Leave the hemp stalks to dry and use as firewood.

Peeling hemp is a very hard job. Not only does it have to go in and out of the cold water in late autumn, but there are barbs on the hemp, which often hurt people's hands. The water is extremely cold, the palms are red from the cold, and the fingers are full of wounds.

In addition to various types of linen that can be woven into cloth, there are also raw materials used in printing and bookmaking for making paper, such as bark, young bamboo branches, mulberry bark, vines and other raw materials.

It takes a long period of soaking before proceeding to the next work. There were also women who hurriedly bleached and dyed clothes before the snow fell and the river froze.

This is to prepare in advance for making new clothes for the New Year. It is of course more convenient to buy fabrics, but ordinary people are used to saving, and they are more willing to dye their own fabrics if conditions permit.

In addition to ordinary indigo, earthy yellow, and bright red for children, occasionally young girls will spend a summer carefully hoarding dried grape skins and sun-dried blue butterfly flowers.

Or ask relatives and friends at the base to pick up some colorful shells at the beach; exchange them with foreign merchants for pine gum in the mountains, which are dyes for bright colors.

The finished product is of course far different from Sichuan brocade and Zhejiang brocade, but in a border town like Youzhou, where the cold and lonely winter is long, these colors are a touch of scenery.

The autumn wind is howling, and the people along both sides of the river are still working. They didn't even feel cold at all. They laughed and talked from time to time about this year's harvest, the income of young people in the workshop, and how much sauerkraut was pickled for the winter...

If one of them has a daughter who happens to be working in a medical college or a son who enters a crafts college, then they will instantly become the focus of everyone.

Countless people will come up and ask, do you know the date of the next enrollment? How is the food there? How much is the tuition fee? How much does an apprenticeship cost?

His family members were so proud that they told others the little bits and pieces of information they occasionally asked from their children.

As for people from military families, they will not come to this big river. They live in military courtyards or military villages.

Big wells were drilled, new canals were dug, and ponds were dug. The conditions were better, and we no longer came to the river to compete with them for positions.

On the road not far from the river, there are carts pulling briquettes. From the donkeys or ponies pulling the carts to the wheels of the carts and the driver's body, everything is as black as coal.

The ruts along the road were all dark, and there were girls carrying bleached fabrics, carefully walking away from the coal marks, while an elderly woman complained and envyed at the same time:

"I wonder which family is willing to store so many briquettes in one winter? His family just burns coal at will, making the roads dark."

From time to time, I see an old man carrying a dung basket on his back, holding a dung hoe, following the coal truck from a distance. He is not here to pick up the dung of cows and horses. Most truck drivers bring dung bags, and they are also reluctant to let others pick up the dung.

He was waiting for briquettes or loose coal particles that accidentally fell from the car. If you can pick some up and hoard them, you can also make a few briquettes for your own use.

Passing by a rice field that has been harvested, I waved the manure hoe in my hand and saw a group of frightened sparrows flying from the field.

Occasionally, a naughty boy would chase after me with a sparrow net.

Also tied around his waist was a slingshot for hunting field mice and a wooden stick for digging eel holes.

These boys are all skinny, with dark faces, and they don’t wear shoes. They roll up their trousers with bare feet and run around in the fields, followed by their old yellow dogs...

In the past, there were only a few pedestrians in the suburbs of Youzhou City in September. Occasionally there were people walking around in a hurry, and everyone they met looked nervous and panicked.

But now in the suburbs of Youzhou City, even if the city gates are strictly inspected and no one is allowed to enter at will, it will not affect the excitement outside the city.

From old to young, regardless of gender, everyone is busy preparing for the coming severe winter.

On the other hand, they are no longer afraid of cold winter, ice and snow, and are no longer desperately looking forward to the arrival of spring...

If it is lively outside the city, then it can be said to be bustling with people inside the city. Several main streets are crowded with people from morning to night.

The west gate leading to the base was specially rebuilt to facilitate the loading of goods and the entry and exit of carriages carrying more goods. In addition to the pedestrian passage, a truck passage was also added.

Jiang's Trading Company is preparing for the last batch of sea cargo this year. After this batch of cargo leaves the sea, the seaport will be closed, and no ship will come back until February next year.

But during this period, it was not that goods were not purchased, but goods were also delivered to Chang'an and Jiangnan by land and horse-drawn carriages.

Last year, Chang'an Jiang's birthday gift and New Year's gift to Shen Dongsu were delivered at the end of October. Unexpectedly, they were delivered at the beginning of September this year.

One reason was that the road was getting better, and another reason was that Ms. Jiang had too many things to tell Shen Dongsu, so she couldn't wait to send them letters and gifts.

Shen Dongsu looked at the gift with interest. Mrs. Jiang knew her very well and never sent expensive and fragile ornaments or luxuries such as calligraphy and paintings.

The gifts were all made of gold and gemstones, various expensive clothing materials, complete sets of porcelain tea sets, and boxes of gold and silver tassels in various shapes. They were said to be for her to enjoy during the Chinese New Year.

Honorable families in Chang'an all use gold and silver needles like this to give rewards during the New Year.

This year, I specially added an extra box of gifts, which are clothes and toys for infants and young children. Among them are two small clothes wrapped in big red baggage. I specially stated that they were worn by Baoer when he was a child.

In an honorable family, only those who are very close to them would give away their children's clothes to others. It is said that if a newborn wears the old clothes of a blessed child, he will be blessed and grow up safely.

Mrs. Jiang might be afraid that if she didn't give it away, Shen Dongsu would feel that she didn't treat her as a close relative. I gave it away, but I was afraid that Shen Dongsu would dislike Baoer and have a heart disease.

So I only gave it away for two years and wrapped it separately. Another strange gift was a small copper basin with a silver rim and even a jeweled handle.

She initially thought it was for baby showers and thought it was too luxurious. It should be in a museum instead of being used at home.

Only after listening to my grandma talk about it did I know that this thing is called an "analgesic basin". It is usually given by the mother's family of a woman giving birth to bless the woman with a safe delivery.

She couldn't help but think that there seemed to be this saying in rural areas of Guangzhou, but usually it was a wooden basin. People often customized this kind of wooden basin with Shen's father to give to pregnant relatives and friends.

This is the first time I have seen Mr. Jiang give a diamond-encrusted copper basin like this.

Except for a few cousins, Ms. Jiang is her real female friend. They carefully prepare various gifts every year and every season, but Shen Dongsu is very careless with Ms. Jiang, and most of the gifts she gives are bought from Jiang's Trading Company. .

Shen Dongsu sighed and said to Yue Jian: "I will be nicer to Mr. Jiang from now on."