The snow on the streets of Kaifeng City has been swept clean, and the road surface is full of snow water that flows down after the snow melts, adding a fresh breath.

Xu Ping said goodbye to Shi Yannian and walked along the street towards his home. The horse rode briskly into the puddles on the road, splashing in patches.

The plum tree that Zhang Zhibai pointed out to Xu Ping happened to be not far from the door of the original Xujia Restaurant, which was planted by Xu Ping when he was playing when he was a child, and it was already full of plum blossoms at this time. The song "Yongmei" is based on Lu You's original work, and the essence is the bottom of Lu You's original work, but Xu Ping borrowed this poem and said that Ma Jiliang's family was forced to buy Xu's restaurant. People who know about this matter naturally understand this meaning, and if this word spreads in the future, no matter who walks there in the capital, they will say this matter again. Although Xu Ping does not have the ability to take the restaurant back now, it is also a bad breath to be able to disgust the Ma family.

Words are just entertainment in this era, and they are not much different from the pop songs of Xu Ping's previous life. Liu Sanbian was the best songwriter at this time, and his social status was actually comparable to that of the best songwriters of pop songs in his previous life. From a purely literary and artistic point of view, Liu Sanbian's role in the rise of Song Ci is almost incomparable, he not only created a large number of masterpieces that have been passed down to future generations, but also proficient in music and rhythm, and produced many new word cards.

Liu Ci can basically be sung, which is different from the literati who moved closer to poetry after the prosperity of Song Ci, which is the real lyrics. Although Xu Ping's "Fortune Operator" also conforms to the rhythm of Pingqi, it is difficult to say what it will look like when sung, and he doesn't know anything about music. In fact, most of the words that have been handed down to later generations are literati, such as Su Shi, Xin Qiji, and other most outstanding Song lyricists, all of whom have the characteristics of poetry and conform to the rhythm of words, but the effect of singing must be inferior to that of Liu Sanbian, who is a professional person. It is precisely because the singing method of the words has gradually been lost that the representative works of the words are basically poems with special rhythms such as literati words in later generations, but there are different views in this era. The so-called willow words can be sung wherever there is well water, not from the literary sense of willow words are proud, but in the sense of music, willow words are the easiest to sing, the most catchy, is the "most dazzling national style" in this era.

Thinking of the gazes of Zhang Zhibai and Shi Yannian looking at Ma Jiliang at the wine banquet just now, and Ma Jiliang's face that was almost turned into a horse face, Xu Ping couldn't help but want to laugh. These literati gadgets sometimes have unexpected effects when used to disgust people.

When they arrived at the door, Xiuxiu and Dou'er were repairing the two snow lions at the door, and both lions were a little deformed due to a day of sunshine. Bao Fu was caught there by two little girls and carried snow from all over the place.

Seeing Xu Ping, Baofu hurriedly came over and led the horse, waited for Xu Ping to come down, and led the horse to feed.

Xiuxiu's little hands were red from the snow grabbing, and while she was talking to her mouth, she asked Xu Ping: "Official, Sister Dou'er and I don't like these two lions?" ”

Xu Ping said: "Have you ever seen a lion? ”

Xiuxiu was stunned and shook her head.

Xu Ping said: "I haven't seen it either, how do you know if it's like it?" ”

Xiuxiu whispered: "Haven't you seen a real lion, haven't you seen a stone lion in front of someone's door?" ”

Xu Ping shook his head with a smile, ignored the two of them, and entered the house.

Not everyone can stand two stone lions in front of their doors, especially those who do business like Xu Ping's family, and they are even less qualified. At this time, there is still a polite system, the emperor's house is called the palace, the prince's house is called the house, the eunuch's house is called the house, and the common people like the Xu family can only be called home, and even the red lantern with the word "Xu Fu" in front of the door is not qualified to hang two, let alone a stone lion.

It is precisely because there is no qualification that ordinary people will yearn for it, so when it snows, there will be two snows in front of the door of the Kaifeng City, and they will have a dry time. The little girl didn't know the reason for this, but she was just learning to have fun. Xu Ping came from a previous life, scoffed at this hierarchical concept, and didn't bother to pay attention to them.

After entering the house, Li Yonghe and his family had not left yet, and were chatting with Xu Zheng and his wife around the brazier.

Seeing Xu Ping, Zhang Sanniang asked him: "Da Lang, why did you come back so late?" ”

Xu Ping said: "I happened to meet Zhang Zhibai, the newly promoted prime minister of the court, and we went to the outside of the city to enjoy the snow together, and ate some wine, so I delayed until now." ”

Listening to Xu Ping's words, the two families were stunned together. After a long while, Zhang Sanniang asked cautiously: "Can you still enjoy the snow and eat wine with the prime minister of the current dynasty?" Have you spoken? ”

Xu Ping said casually: "Not only did I drink and talk, but I also made a poem!" ”

Everyone listened and looked at Xu Ping with the eyes of a monster.

As the people of Kaifeng Mansion and the proud people at the feet of the Son of Heaven, Xu Zheng, Zhang Sanniang, Li Yonghe and others have seen countless officials, and the emperor and the queen mother have also seen it a few times. But it was all watched from afar, just a gaze among tens of millions of people, and it was not even qualified to cause people to raise their eyelids. I didn't expect Xu Ping to go out casually and sit down and drink with the prime minister of the current dynasty, which they didn't even dare to dream of.

Zhang Sanniang pulled Xu Ping to his side and asked him in detail about today's situation. In the future, she will boast to her neighbors, but her son is a person who has won the Prime Minister's Loss Award, and will he be able to win it in the future?

At this time, there were generally two prime ministers in the imperial court, the prime minister and a scholar of the Shobunkan University, known as the Shobun Minister, the second minister and the scholar of the Jixian Palace, called the Jixian Minister, and four deputy prime ministers. Zhang Zhibai, as a virtuous minister, can definitely be regarded as the top figure among officials.

When she heard that there were Ma Jiliang and Chai Zongqing sitting there, Zhang Sanniang wanted to scold. As for whether the poem composed by her son was good or bad, and what was in it, she was not a housewife who could understand. That is, he listened to his son and seemed to be raising his eyebrows, so he didn't scold.

The two of them were talking there, and Li Zhang also came over from time to time to interject. Unexpectedly, this brother, who is only two years older than him, can even see the prime minister now, and there is envy in his words.

Xu Ping knew in his heart that today's wine feast was just a coincidence. With Zhang Zhibai's character, as long as he is a serious reader, he will not reject people thousands of miles away. But this kind of thing is not easy to explain, just let Zhang Sanniang think about it.

Li Yonghe said to Xu Zheng: "Brother, because of today's incident, even Zhang Xianggong knows that the Ma family has taken away your restaurant, and I think that the Ma family will be more restrained in the future, and I dare not come to your family for trouble." ”

Xu Zheng sighed: "Who can say these things accurately?" I hope so. ”

The two families chatted some more gossip until the sky was about to wipe out, and Li Yonghe took Li Zhang to say goodbye.

A few days passed in the dull days, and on the thirteenth day of December, Xu Zheng came back from the sugar shop in the evening and said to Xu Ping: "Da Lang, while there are still more than ten days before the year, you have to go back to the village and make more sugar and send it to the shop." ”

Xu Pingqi said: "For the New Year's Festival, isn't there one or two thousand catties of goods in the shop?" ”

Xu Zhengdao: "Yes, I thought it was enough to prepare those goods, but now it looks a lot worse." Today, an attendant came to the shop, saying that it was to be used in the palace for the New Year, and let us prepare 20,000 catties of goods. ”

Hearing the waiter, Xu Ping was taken aback: "Why is it that the palace is asking for goods?" It can't be another force that is coming to trouble us, right? ”

"Don't worry, this time is different." Xu Zheng said with a smile, "Although this time it was the waiter who came to confess, but it was through miscellaneous shopping and buying, not a department." As long as we deliver the goods on time, we can make the same money. ”

Xu Ping was skeptical. Miscellaneous buying is mainly for the temporary purchase of goods in the palace, which is jointly run by the palace attendants and officials sent by the three divisions, except for special circumstances, they are mainly officials of the three divisions, and it is said that it is only a special big customer. And buy is different from the department, it is purchased according to the market price, the price is not negotiable, the merchant has the right to refuse, no matter how you look at it, this is an ordinary business.

But Xu Ping connected the events of the past few days, but he always felt that there was something greasy in the middle, as for where the loopholes were, he didn't have much contact with these departments, but he couldn't say it.

talked about his worries, Xu Zheng only said that it was okay, so Xu Ping didn't have to worry. He discussed this business with Zhang Tianrui, it should be a large amount of sugar in the New Year Palace, and nothing else. And Li Duanyi's identity is there, and he is not afraid that he will not receive the money after handing over the goods.

Seeing that his father was so determined, Xu Ping couldn't say anything more. And as the New Year approaches, he also has to go back to the village to explain the New Year. And before coming to Kaifeng City, Xu Ping began to try to make gunpowder in the village, preparing to make some fireworks and firecrackers to set off during the New Year.

At this time, there was a special gunpowder in the capital, which was responsible for manufacturing military firearms for the army. However, due to the lack of clarity about the specific formula and proportion of gunpowder, firearms are very rudimentary, mainly used to set fire to smoke, at most mixed with some dung croton and other poisons, used to ignite and smoke the enemy. As for gunpowder capable of exploding, this era did not yet exist. Correspondingly, the folk only appeared fireworks, "poof" to make a scene, and the real fireworks and firecrackers in later generations did not exist at this time.

Xu Ping just remembered **, but forgot the specific proportion. The so-called "one sulfur, two nitrate and three charcoal" refers to the equation coefficient of the chemical reaction, not the mass ratio, in order to get the gunpowder that can really explode, it is necessary to introduce the approximate mass ratio, and then conduct the test. In fact, due to the different raw materials used, there is a slight change in the quality ratio, which has to be tested to get the answer.

There is still a period of time before the New Year, and this time I just tried this ratio to make some fireworks and firecrackers to add to the lively atmosphere of the New Year. Using this to make money Xu Ping never thought that his family now has a lot of projects to make money, and there is no need to play such a dangerous thing.

In addition to fireworks, you should also prepare more wine for the upcoming New Year. With Cao Wei's publicity, the Xu family's wine gradually opened up the market, although it could not be sold directly to Kaifeng City, but some powerful people bought it in large quantities and took it home to drink.

And after the New Year, the new farm tools ordered by the nearby farm from Xu Ping will also be delivered. Thanks to a policy proposed by Lu Yijian when he was in charge of Binzhou a few years ago, the tax on agricultural tools has been exempted, and in fact this is a promising industry.

In short, the New Year is approaching, everything is busy, and for Xu Ping, the idle winter is coming to an end.