My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

In mid-November, it started snowing in Chang'an. Although it was only a light snow, Chang'an kept reminding Gu Li at the door before leaving for the Imperial College:

"After I go to the Imperial College, remember to stay indoors and don't go out. I've already told the servants to bring you lunch indoors, so don't go out to eat."

"When burning charcoal, remember to open the side window, not too wide, just leave some space."

"When burning charcoal, remember to put a bowl of water next to the charcoal basin and add water when it dries up."

"It may be a bit dry when burning charcoal in the house, so remember to drink more hot water and don't cough."

"If you feel cold indoors, you should put on more clothes..."

After saying a lot of things, Gu Li was a little helpless. He half-pushed Chang An to the front of the carriage and said, "I remember everything Chang Lang said. I will be obedient. Chang Lang, go to school with peace of mind."

Chang An stood in front of the carriage, looking at the well-behaved Gu Li, and asked in disbelief: "Did you really remember it?"

"Yes, Madam Gu will remember it." Gu Li nodded.

"So good." After Chang An kissed Gu Li on the lips, he turned around and got on the carriage. "I have to go to the East Market after school today, so I may be back late."

"it is good!"

After watching Chang An go away, Gu Li pulled her cotton jacket, turned around and walked towards the courtyard of herself and Chang An, and went back to the house obediently. She followed Chang An's instructions and put a bowl of water in front of the charcoal basin, but was choked by the black smoke from the charcoal and coughed a few times.

After finishing what Chang An asked her to do, Gu Li sat down at the low table, picked up the needle and thread, and started embroidering again.

Chang An was not listening to the lectures in the Imperial College, but was thinking about what kind of warm food he should prepare for his mother Gu that day.

There were no chili peppers in the Tang Dynasty, only pepper and dogwood, but Gu Li had lung disease, so he couldn't eat such things. Milk was a rare commodity nowadays, and Chang An himself had plenty of money, but it wasn't always available on the market, not to mention that this kind of milk didn't contain much calcium. Gu Li had lung disease, so he couldn't eat too much of some tonic foods, so he couldn't eat ginseng pigeon soup.

The only food Chang An could think of that could warm Gu Li's body was hot pot.

He remembered that there were several ceramic hot pots at home, which were hot pot utensils from the Tang Dynasty. Although the heat conduction effect was not as good as that of metal pots, it could still be used. Then he just needed to wait and buy some beef and mutton from the West Market. However, he might not be able to buy much beef because the Tang Dynasty prohibited slaughtering cattle and could only sell beef from cattle that died of natural causes. Therefore, Chang An focused on buying mutton.

As planned, it was noon and the Imperial College was over. As soon as school was over, Chang An hurriedly took Huaiqin out of the Imperial College and got on the carriage directly.

"Go to Xishi!" Chang An said.

Seeing her master in such a hurry, Huaiqin asked curiously, "Master, what are we going to do in such a hurry?"

"Let's go to the East Market to buy meat and have hotpot tonight." Chang An explained.

"Hot pot?" Huaiqin was a little confused.

"It's a warm pot." Chang An then remembered that there was no such thing as hot pot in the Tang Dynasty, so he changed the term to one that she could understand. Only then did Huaiqin nod in understanding.

"But isn't there meat in the kitchen at home? Why does the young master want to buy more meat?" Huaiqin asked again.

"I've checked. There's only pork or chicken at home. We want to buy beef and mutton." Chang An replied, "Beef and mutton are better for warming the body."

Huaiqin suddenly realized and said, "So the young master wants to sell beef and mutton to warm our Sanniang's body."

"of course."

"Sanniang is so lucky to be loved so much by the young master." Huaiqin said with envy, holding her face with both hands.

Chang An looked at Huai Qin with a somewhat amused look and said, "Then I will find a husband for you then?"

"Huaiqin doesn't want to." Huaiqin shook her head as soon as she heard it.

"Why? You are not a slave. Once you get married, you can be spoiled by your own husband, right?" Chang An said.

"That's not necessary. Huaiqin has only served you, the young master, and has never served anyone else." Huaiqin said, "I won't serve anyone else either."

Chang'an looked at Huaiqin and said nothing more.

Arriving at the West Market, Chang An asked the coachman to drive the carriage directly to the East Market in order to hurry home. Chang An sat in the carriage, lifted the curtain, and looked at the shops outside. He saw a blacksmith shop in front, and after thinking for a while, he asked the coachman to stop the carriage and got off the carriage with Huaiqin.

When the blacksmith in the blacksmith shop saw a customer coming in, he asked, "Sir, do you want to order anything?"

"Do you know hot pot?" Chang An asked.

"Warming pot?" The blacksmith was stunned for a moment, then said, "We are a blacksmith here, not a pottery business."

"I know, otherwise I wouldn't be here." Chang An said, "If you know what a hot pot looks like, help me make a copper one. You decide the price and time."

The blacksmith thought for a while and said, "It can be made, but it may take a little longer because we need to make a mold. It will take about one to two days to make it."

"That's good," Chang An put a silver ingot on the table and said, "Here is five taels of silver, which is the deposit. After the matter is completed, I will come to pick it up in person and give you the remaining five taels of silver."

The total was ten taels of silver! The blacksmith patted his chest and said, "No problem, no problem. I will definitely make it for you, sir. If I can't, you can take my head away."

"Okay." Chang An nodded, turned around, and left the blacksmith shop with Huaiqin to find the butcher shop to buy meat.

Sitting in the carriage, Chang An looked at the butcher shops on the street and found a butcher shop that sold beef. When he saw the things on the chopping board, his eyes lit up and he quickly asked the driver to stop. He got off the carriage and came to the stall selling beef and asked, "How much is this beef?"

"We charge by weight, about one pound is one hundred and fifty coins," said the butcher.

"Okay!" Chang An looked at every piece of beef on the chopping board, "Then...then weigh ten kilograms for me!"

"Okay!" The butcher quickly weighed the meat and packed it for Chang An.

At this time, Chang An pointed to something on the table and said, "Boss, I bought ten kilograms of meat from you, can you give me some more?"

"I don't want anything else, I just want the cow's omasum." The cow's omasum is now called tripe.

The butcher was stunned for a moment. You know, beef stomach is garbage, the kind that no one wants if you throw it on the ground. He just forgot to deal with it today, but now someone wants to take it away. He looked at the young man in front of him, and remembered that he bought a lot of meat from him. After a little thought, he said, "Okay, I'll pack it for you."

"Thank you, boss. I will come to you to buy meat next time." Chang An took the meat and said politely.

"It's easy to talk about."

Chang An was in the butcher's shop again at this time. He also picked out ten kilograms of mutton. Then he and Huaiqin got on the carriage and went home.

"Sir," Huaiqin shouted, "what do you want to do with the cow's stomach? Is it for eating?"

"Of course, this thing is delicious. You'll know when you go back tonight." Chang An said.

"Oh......"

Gu Li was given some instructions by Chang An today, and he just sat obediently in the room and didn't go out. Also, because Chang An needed to go to the East Market and was not sure when he would be back, he didn't go out to greet him.

She sat at the low table and did embroidery for the whole morning. Chang An told her in the morning that if he didn't come back, she would eat first, but before the meal arrived, she heard a familiar voice coming from outside the door:

"Mother Gu, I'm back!"

She quickly put down the embroidery silk and needle and thread in her hands, stood up and looked towards the door. Chang An just pushed the door open and walked in. As soon as he came in, he closed the door directly, for fear that the wind would blow Gu Li.

"Chang Lang is back." Gu Li also stepped forward and used a handkerchief to wipe the snow off Chang An's body. "Chang Lang told me to eat first, but Chang Lang came in before the food came in."

"What?" Chang An smacked Gu Li's little face, "You don't welcome me? Or is Chang Lang not as important as lunch in Gu Niang's heart?"

After saying that, he covered his chest with his hands, pretending to be distressed, and said in a sad tone: "My heart hurts so much..."

"Okay, okay, stop making trouble." Gu Li wiped Chang An's face with a handkerchief, turned around and walked back to the low table, "Chang Lang, why don't you come and roast some charcoal to warm yourself up?"

Chang An also had a sad expression on his face and sat down at the low table. He habitually reached out to hold Gu Li's waist, wanting to hold her in his arms, but his movements suddenly stopped. Gu Li felt Chang An's hands on her waist, thinking that he was going to hold her in his arms again, but she found that he did not continue the next action, so she looked at him with some confusion.

"what happened?"

"I just came back from outside and I feel a little cold." Chang An withdrew his hands at this time.

But the next moment, Gu Li sat in Chang An's arms, put his arms around his neck, leaned his face on his shoulder, and said, "It's cold, I don't mind."

Chang An looked at her, smiled, then stretched out his arms and wrapped them around her waist.

"Mrs. Gu?"

"Hey."

"Do you want to know what we're going to eat tonight?" Chang An asked mysteriously.

Gu Li raised her head, her breath gently hitting Chang An's cheek. She thought for a moment and asked, "What do you want to eat? Don't say things like 'You'll know in the evening.'"

Chang An looked at Gu Li's curious face, scratched her nose lovingly, and said, "Let's have hot pot tonight."

"What is hot pot?" Gu Li's reaction was exactly the same as Huaiqin's in the carriage.

"It's a hot pot, with some beef and mutton, as well as some body-warming dishes." Chang An said, "It's just that we can only eat hot pot these few days, and we have to wait two days for hot pot."

"why?"

"I'm going to the East Market today and asking someone to make me a copper hot pot. This heats things faster than pottery. We just need to add fire underneath and add whatever we want to eat." Chang An explained.

Gu Li tried to imagine it in his mind, but he just couldn't imagine such a scene, so he said, "I can't imagine what it would be like."

"Then we can only know the answer to this question when the time comes. It's hard for me to explain it to Mother Gu." Chang An kissed her as a consolation, and then said, "Anyway, Mother Gu just needs to know that the food cooked this way is delicious. Put the pot on the stove, put some chopped vegetables and meat on the side, and put whatever you want to eat."

Gu Li nodded as if he understood, and then asked, "Then why do we want to eat this... this hot pot?"

"Ordinary food gets cold quickly, so I thought of this food. This way, Mother Gu won't be afraid of eating cold food." Chang An held Gu Li's waist with both hands and shook her twice.

At this moment, Gu Li's eyes rolled, and he pointed his finger at Chang An's nose and said, "So in the future, when Chang Lang comes back, we can throw him into the hot pot, so that Chang Lang won't get cold."

Chang An was stunned for a moment, then reached out and grabbed Gu Li's green fingers, pretending to be majestic and said: "How dare you, Madam Gu! How dare you tease me!"

After saying that, he stretched out his hand and started tickling her waist, which made Gu Li laugh.

"Chang Lang... Chang Lang..." Gu Li laughed until tears came out, "Chang Lang, don't do this... Gu Niang will never dare to do this again..."

Gu Li twisted her body to escape from Chang An's "claws" while begging for mercy. Chang An let her go, and Gu Li, who was a little exhausted from laughing, collapsed directly into Chang An's arms, with tears in her eyes and breathing slightly.

Maybe she laughed too much, and just after catching her breath, she coughed again. Chang An also poured a bowl of hot water and put it to her mouth to feed her.

Gu Li took advantage of the time when Chang An was too busy to stretch out his little hands and pinched Chang An's face, then pinched his nose. He swallowed the hot water in his mouth and hummed, as if to vent his dissatisfaction.