It started to snow when I left the palace.

It was not goose feather-like snow flakes, or catkins-like fine snow, but grains of ice slag, which were picked up by the strong wind across the royal street, and then smashed the face.

The wind and snow are blowing in his face, Han Gang's skin is rough and thick, and he has long been accustomed to wind and frost. took off his gloves, rubbed his face vigorously, and drove the horse forward against the wind and snow as if nothing happened.

The lights in the thousand-step corridor on both sides of the royal street flickered on and off in the wind and snow, making the empty corridor even darker. The royal street, which is more than 100 paces wide and resembles a square, is also shrouded in darkness. The starry lights on the tower of Xuande Gate cannot penetrate the curtain pulled up by the wind and snow. Only the officials who had left the palace and their retinue carried lanterns, illuminating the small area around them. Han Gang looked around, such a situation seemed familiar.

"Tomorrow looks like it's going to be colder."

Xue Xiang spoke in a thick nasal voice, and wrapped his cloak tightly again. The cold wind drilled straight into his clothes, and he wanted to wrap his head to toe, but he just wanted to talk to Han Gang, and he was embarrassed to put on the mask.

Han Gang looked up at the sky: "It would be nice if the snow was a little bigger, this winter, this is the first snow in the capital." ”

Because of the delay in entering the palace, I had to spend a lot of effort to complete today's work after returning to the editing and repair bureau, and it was already past dusk when I came out of the Taichang Temple. rushed out before the gate of the imperial city was locked, but bumped into Xue Xiang, who had just returned to the court from the inspection place.

"That's really a little more snow, it snowed here in Beijing in October last year."

"Last year, there were also heavy snowfalls in Hedong, and some houses in Taiyuan Mansion were crushed by snow, but this year is a bumper year." Han Gang said, "This snow is a little heavier, and next year will be a good year." ”

"If next year is another good year, it will be four years of harvest in a row. Yuanfeng's name can be regarded as worthy of its name. Xue Xiang smiled, the wrinkles on his face deepened a little, "When I think of Xining's seven or eight years, it's really like a world away." ”

“…… Well, it does. Han Gang remembered the days when he helped Wang Anshi fight with the old party that year. It is also in the year of the suburbs, but it has long been a matter of things and people. Come to think of it, it's only been six years.

In the past six years, the two emperors of the Liao State died, the Western Xia perished, the status of the new law was stabilized, and the old party survived outside, but in the upper echelons, the real new party has become very few, and the last victor is the current emperor. Han Gang, on the other hand, went from a middle-level bureaucrat such as the magistrate of the capital and the official affairs of the counties and towns to become a real important minister.

In the past few years, the weather seems to be to compensate for the disasters of the previous years, and the harvest has been bumper year after year, and the official warehouse has not been able to harvest it, and the price of rice has almost been suppressed to the lowest point.

"With the blessing of the Son of Heaven, it is really a blessing in the world." As Xue Xiangzheng spoke, suddenly a cold wind blew up, blowing his hands and feet cold, and he couldn't help shivering, "It's really cold enough." ”

Xue Xiang shivered with cold on the horse, a cloak couldn't cover his whole body, and the cool umbrella behind him couldn't protect him from the wind and rain, but almost scraped over the Yuan Sui holding the giant umbrella.

Han Gang turned his face to look at Xue Xiang's appearance of shrinking in the cold wind, and said, "Is the cardinal deputy wearing less clothes, it's not easy to deal with the cold in this weather." ”

"You can't compare your body with Yukun, but if you drink two more glasses of hot wine, you'll be fine." Xue Xiang pulled the corners of his frozen mouth and smiled reluctantly, "I heard that the official family's favorite drink in winter is bayberry wine, which is mellow but not strong, but it has to be transported from Liangzhejiang." ”

Han Gang also knew that Zhao Xuan liked bayberry wine, and the concubines in the palace liked all kinds of soju soaked in fresh fruits, as Xue Xiang said, mellow but not strong, and some also made the taste better because of the sugar. But spirits are spirits, and drinking too much will be intoxicating, and because of the good taste, you can't feel the stimulation of soju, and it will make people overdrink unconsciously. Truth be told, the problem of alcoholism in the north is much worse today than it was before the advent of soju, especially in winter, when it is common to see corpses frozen on the side of the road after drinking too much in major cities.

However, it doesn't hurt to have a few drinks, Han Gang invited Xue Xiangdao: "If the cardinal deputy doesn't dislike it, why don't you let Han Gang make the east and drink two cups in the night market in front?" The freshly roasted pork skin meat of the Wang family under the Suzaku Gate, as well as the freshly baked chicken skin and chicken minced chicken of the Mei family, accompanied by hot water and wine, are just right for this weather. ”

Xue Xiang looked sideways at Han Gang, but he could only see a silhouette in the dim light. The straight nose bridge penetrates through the mountain roots, and the lines are hard, and in terms of physiognomy, he should be a character who is resolute and not shaken by anything. If in a brightly lit place, the gentle smile on Han Gang's face anytime and anywhere can dilute a little of the hard and stubborn impression brought by physiognomy, but in the here and now, when the external disguise is hidden by the darkness, Han Gang's nature is more clearly revealed.

In Xue Xiang's eyes, this is the type that makes people feel the most headache. is like Wang Anshi back then, and like several imperial historians who have been staring at him. Fortunately, it is not a stinky and hard mind like a stone in a pit that cooperates with this character.

"Yukun is interested, how can Xue Xiang not be accompanied?" Xue Xiang nodded immediately, and didn't care about the mixing of the three sects and nine streams in the night market, Ha Luha smiled: "After listening to your words Yukun, the gluttonous insects have come out." ”

Out of the Xuande Gate, along the royal street all the way to the south, after about two miles of distance, there is a dense light like a sea of stars. After crossing the Bianhe River through the state bridge, the royal street passes through the south gate of the inner city and the Suzaku Gate to the front of the Longjin Bridge, and the section of the road about one mile long is the famous Zhouqiao Night Market.

The only place in the street is the morning market, and at night, it's the turn of the state bridge to the south. Every time after dusk, the Zhouqiao Night Market is lively, with hundreds of stalls of all colors, and all kinds of miscellaneous chewing [snacks] are dazzling. However, the initial wind and snow made the guests tonight nearly half less than in the past. Many of the stall owners have not even opened yet, staring at the white night snow in a daze.

Han Gang and Xue Xiang crossed the state bridge along the royal street, no one looked at them more, and there were more officials who went out of the inner city from the state bridge, who would bother to pay attention to them.

It's just that when they stopped at the Suzaku Gate, the two nobles in purple robes, who were obviously the leaders, immediately dismounted, and all the stall owners and guests were stunned, the number of people was not as large as before, but the still lively market suddenly quieted down, and countless eyes cut through the snowy space and fell on the faces of the two.

There are almost no high-ranking officials in Zhu Zi who are willing to eat and drink in the crowded night market, but the petty officials and officials in green clothes have more time to eat here. Although the two teams put away the lanterns and flags at some point, they didn't want people to see their identities. But the mighty Yuan Sui team, people with a little insight know that these two are also more than two officials, or even higher.

Han Gang and Xue Xiang didn't care about the eyes of the people around them, and after dismounting, they took two steps and sat down directly on the stall where the Wang family was eating, and the stalls and tables around them were immediately occupied by the entourage of the two. The original guests, as soon as they saw their momentum, immediately checked out and avoided it, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble.

"Shopkeeper." Han Gang didn't wait for Yuan Sui to come out, and beckoned the shopkeeper first, "Give me four portions of the roasted pork rind meat, two portions of fried tongs and pork offal, and two pots of soju." It's cold enough, so hurry up...... Ah, don't mix it with water! ”

The shopkeeper replied in a loud voice with a trill, asking the shopkeeper to scoop up the wine and scald the wine, while he was busy picking up a large piece of pork with skin that had been soaked and roasted on the charcoal shelf.

Although the people in the store looked a little panicked, their movements were quite quick. Han Gang nodded, and then summoned a Yuan Sui and asked him to go to Mei's shop to buy omnivorous foods such as minced chicken, chicken skin, waist and kidneys to drink.

“…… Batch cut sheep's head, ginger and spicy radish, plum ginger, lettuce and bamboo shoots, don't forget to have them. Han Gang commanded freely, completely

Looking around again, he and Xue Xiang's Yuan entourage were standing or sitting, and they circled outside, but none of them ordered food, which delayed the business of several shops around. Then he said: "Others order by themselves, don't occupy empty seats." With that, he gestured to Han Xin and asked him to be responsible.

The shopkeeper of the Wang family, whose clothes and face were shining with a layer of oil under the lamplight, faced the blue charcoal fire, remembering the two dignitaries behind him, and panicked in his heart.

When the young official ordered food, at first glance, he seemed to be a regular customer who often came and went, and even Wang Shisan really felt that he was familiar, and he had come to the store to sit in the store once upon a time. But that costume is an outlier who has never appeared in this shop anyway.

One of the two is in his twilight years, and the other is in his prime, and the age difference is very far apart, but they are both golden and purple covered bodies. The purple official clothes on their bodies and the gold silk rhino belt around their waists are all reminders of the nobility of their status. But the two of them sat in this shop that looked even a little pickled, but they didn't have any awkward looks, as if they were sitting on the third floor of the Fan Building, drinking Meishou wine, listening to Oiran singing and dancing. He had never seen such a bearing.

Boiled dishes and chopsticks are boiled in boiling water. The dishes and chopsticks shared by many people are easy to be infected if they are not disinfected with boiling water, and after some publicity by the Department of Health and Welfare, they have been well known in the capital. Even if the cost of charcoal fire has increased dramatically because of this, no restaurant dares to slack off. Maybe after a few years, the nerves of diners will relax a little, but in the cowpox method. Now that it is spreading throughout the world, the speech of the Department of Health and Welfare on health and epidemic prevention is followed by the world as a holy message.

Xiao Er of the Wang family specially picked out two pieces from the porcelain bowl and wine cup in the boiling water that had not been knocked out, picked up two pairs of chopsticks, loaded them on plates, and sent them to Han Gang and Xue Xiang's tables together with the hot wine that had been scalded.

Glancing at the blackened shelves on the ceiling, and then at the crowd secretly looking into the shop in the distance, Xue Xiang smiled and said: "Today, Yukun, you and I will sit in this shop, and I'm afraid Wutai will have something to do tomorrow." ”

Han Gang smiled slightly, raised his hand and poured wine for Xue Xiang: "Don't worry about debts, they say theirs, we drink ours." ”

Xue Xiang raised his head and smiled: "Yukun said well, don't worry about debts, let them say it." ”