Dream Hua Embers Records

A car and a group of people are galloping on the post road leading to Yanjing.

Yan Yin sat in the car, frequently raised the curtain to look around, as if returning to her heart.

In the past ten years, except for the winter season when the mountains are covered by heavy snow in March, Yan Yin and Yan Qihao have kept reading and writing every month.But last year's winter was extremely cold, and this year's spring came very late, so there has been no news of Yan Qihao for four months.When the first emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne, there would always be chaos for a while. One emperor and one courtier. I don’t know if the father and king will be affected?Thinking about it, Yan Yin always felt uneasy in her heart. At this time, she was only two days away from Yanjing, but the closer she was to Yanjing, the stronger the uneasiness in Yan Yin's heart.

Seeing the surroundings gradually darken, it was time to find the head of the house again.The lights flicker in front of him, and a small town is in the distance.

As soon as you enter the city gate, there is a night market, bustling with people, it is very lively, and the smell of various foods floats over, making people move their index fingers.

"Yin'er! Let's get out of the car and try it!" Yan Ting took Yan Yin's sleeve, looking forward to it.

Yan Yin nodded, feeling sore in her heart, the third brother forgot the past and his father, so there was no sadness, only the visible and tangible surprises in front of him, although it looked like it was heartbreaking, but It might be a blessing...

This is a small stall selling thirsty water.

The stall owner is a husband and wife. The man squats on the ground to make a fire, and the woman separates the clothes before the case.

A row of rosewood water signs are hung under the booth, with the names and prices of various thirsty waters written on them.

The hot thirsty water is always served in a black pottery bowl with a small wooden spoon, and the cold thirsty water is in a blue-and-white porcelain flask, which is neatly stacked and looks clean and refreshing.

Yan Yin raised her eyes and saw the word "Tang Zhan Mei", her heart moved, and she hurriedly said, "I want a Tang Zhan Mei."

"Okay!" The woman raised her head in response, and asked again, "What would the other master want to drink?"

Yan Yin saw that the woman was more than 30 years old, wearing a headkerchief, and her eyes and eyebrows were vaguely familiar, but she didn't care, she just turned her head and asked Yan Ting, "Third brother, what do you want to drink?"

Yan Ting raised his head, looked at the water signs one by one, and whispered the words on them, seemingly unable to make a decision.

Yan Yin couldn't help feeling a little emotional, living in the remote mountains of the border for ten years, the former nobleman has almost become a countryman who has never seen the world, and has never seen all the new and popular gadgets recently.I remember that in the past, even in Yanjing City, there was no such exquisite thirsty water stall, let alone thirsty water with so many names.

Seeing that Yan Ting was hesitant and unable to make a choice, the woman said, "I heard that this man's voice is a bit hoarse, he must have caught fire on the way, why don't you drink some red bayberry thirsty water to moisten your throat."

Yan Ting nodded and said yes.

In fact, Yan Ting's voice has been broken since the torture. Although he has been recuperating for ten years, his voice is still slightly hoarse.Yan Yin felt sad, but she didn't say anything.

The woman quickly took a celadon bottle, inserted a straw into the bottle, and handed it to Yan Ting.He took Tangzhanmei with a wooden spoon, put it in a bowl, and poured it into boiling water.

Yan Yin stared blankly at the withered flower buds of Tangzhan plums, which slowly stretched under the moisture of hot water, bloomed quietly, and finally became white plums in full bloom... Thinking about the past, I felt mixed feelings in my heart.

"Yin'er..." Yan Ting tugged Yan Yin's sleeve again.

Yan Yin just came back to her senses, turned her head to look, but saw that Yan Ting was not used to using the straw to absorb water, and bit the head of the straw flat.

"It's okay, let's get another one." The woman handed over a thicker and stronger straw.

The woman seemed to sense that Yan Ting was different from ordinary people, but it was inconvenient for her to ask, so she just stared at Yan Ting.

It was only then that Yan Yin noticed that there was a small cinnabar mole between the woman's eyebrows, and her heart moved, and she looked down the table, only to find that the woman was actually very short, because she was standing on a wooden box and wearing The chest-length skirt is hard to spot without looking closely.

"Are you... Pearl?" Yan Yin asked tentatively.

"You?! Who are you?" The woman opened her eyes and clenched her fists like a frightened little animal.The man in front of the stove also stood up, but he was also a short dwarf.

"I'm Yan Yin, remember?" Yan Yin said, rolling up her sleeves.On the wrist, a silk rope is tied with two colored glazes, one is snow-green, and the other is amber sprinkled with gold, shimmering under the light of the lamp.

"It's you..." Zhu'er's expression changed, as if she didn't know how to address her or what to say.

"It turns out that your figure... is like this... No wonder, you were much bigger than me back then, right?" Yan Yin asked.

Zhu'er nodded, "I was sixteen. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to lie to you, but I made a mistake in the inventory at that time, so I had to make the mistake..."

Yan Yin nodded, "I don't blame you."

Zhu'er raised her head and opened her eyes wide, "Don't you blame me for everything? I... After all, I plotted against you and used you..."

"No wonder." Yan Yin shook her head, over the years, she has not harbored the slightest hatred for her, and even has a little bit of concern, "This is fate... If I were to change places with you, I'm afraid I would do the same. "

Zhu'er raised her head, her eyes sparkled, "I'm sorry..."

"How did you come here for so many years?" Yan Yin asked.

"At that time, about ten of us ran south. Only the crown prince and a court lady crossed the Yellow River. The rest were all arrested. Later, I was assigned to work as a prostitute in Gaitian Dawang's stronghold. On the way to escort, I I took the opportunity to run out again. But because there was an official character slave seal on the back of my neck, I was quickly discovered and handed over to the government. At that time, no one knew my identity, and I was only regarded as an ordinary prisoner of war."

"Later, I was sold by the government again, and a juggler bought me. He treated me as a child and asked me to practice juggling. But at that time, I was not young and my bones were too hard. I couldn't learn those skills at all. , was beaten and punished every day, but I had no choice but to tell him that I was a dwarf. At that time he..." Pearl pointed to the man.

"He was also in that troupe. He performed some funny raps, and the troupe leader asked me to act with him. But I look different from ordinary dwarves. I have a more well-proportioned figure, and my face looks like a child, and I am shy by nature. He would tell those nasty jokes that judges love to hear, and those judges would not recognize them, and only told the class leader to find children to make up for it. After a while, the class master saw that I was useless, so he wanted to sell me into the Goulan. He...he put All the savings were taken out, and I redeemed myself, and we became husband and wife."

"You...why don't you go back to the South?" Yan Yin asked.

Zhu'er shook her head, "So what if you go back to the south? Your relatives are gone, and you will be a lonely ghost when you go back. Besides, he is a straight woman, and he doesn't want to leave his hometown... This small town is called Huangying, but it was originally called Huangying. Kang’s □ Imperial Mausoleum’s Forbidden Army barracks. It’s very close to the Imperial Mausoleum, living here is like having relatives to rely on..."

Yan Ting, who was on the side, didn't care about the conversation between the two of them, he had already drank the bottle of thirsty water, and still felt that he was not satisfied, and pointed to a few red and big plums on the table and asked, "What kind of plums are these?" , why is it so big?"

"This is a plum. According to legend, Fan Li sent Xi Shi to the state of Wu. On the way, he quenched his thirst with a plum. Xi Shi scratched it with his slender finger. From then on, there was a nail mark on the plum. This is a rare thing brought from the south. This kind of plum, when ripe, the flesh turns into water, which can be sucked and eaten.” Zhuer took out something from her waist, pierced a small hole in the plum, and inserted the pointed end of the straw into the plum. He went in, handed it to Yan Ting, and then sighed, "It's just the attachment of descendants, it may not have anything to do with Xi Shi, I don't know how the descendants will attach to us after a thousand years..."

Seeing that the object in Zhu'er's hand was the bone chuiwan ball she had seen before, Yan Yin was a little puzzled and couldn't help asking, "Why is there a thorn on it?"

Zhu'er smiled, stretched out her hand to pass the bone ball over, and turned the spring for Yan Yin to see.

Yan Yin also felt the novelty, and said with a smile, "I didn't expect such a sharp blade to be hidden in such a small thing."

Zhu'er sighed, "When Daliang was besieged, a Taoist nun gave it to me. She said she could use it to kill six or thirty-six people within five years, and I would be able to grow up."

Yan Yin was startled, "Have you ever killed someone with it?"

Zhu'er nodded, "The first one was my maidservant, who was sent to a labor force outside the city, and was tortured and sent back with bruises all over her body. She couldn't die even if she wanted to die... Later, it was the night we first met, in front of the big tent. The three women were raped in the middle of the gang, and they couldn't live or die... Later, a few of us were arrested and raped in every possible way. A few sisters seemed to be dying, so it's better to let them suffer less Sin... And later, when I was temporarily staying in the laundry... There are too many, I can't remember..."

Pearl caressed the countless notches on the bone ball, some of which had turned brown, some were still white, and sighed softly, "But in the end, there are not enough...Maybe it's my luck, too. I have already escaped from the sea of ​​suffering."

Zhu'er's voice was very flat, she didn't seem to be describing such a human tragedy, Yan Yin felt pity in her heart, but she didn't know what to say.He knew that almost all the women who were sent to work as prostitutes were tortured to death within three to five years.The women in the laundromat were in a better situation. They were successively brought into the mansion by the noble relatives of the clan and became concubines. However, some of them committed suicide to protect their innocence...

The author has something to say: there are two more chapters, which will be finished tomorrow

Thirsty water is actually a title only in the Yuan Dynasty. It is a drink made of flowers and fruits. There are hot and cold. The ancients seem to have a much better taste in this respect than us. There are quite a lot of varieties of thirsty water.