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墨書 Inktalez
In the early morning, Li Yishu took a bag from the Porcelain Jar, filled with white, round Tangyuan. He had eaten Tangyuan before, but it had been a long time; the sweet taste lingered in his memory.
"Sister, is this Tangyuan?" Li Yishu asked Li Zhoule uncertainly, as the Tangyuan looked exceptionally white and beautiful.
Li Zhoule confirmed with a nod and pointed to the words on the packaging, saying, "Doesn't it say so? Lai Tangyuan."
It was a common misconception that ancient people only recognized traditional characters and not simplified ones. The history of simplified Chinese characters dates back quite a while. During the Northern Song period, literary figures and calligraphers often wrote in simplified forms, such as replacing the four dots of "bird" with a single horizontal line. Looking even further back, simplified characters appeared in historical texts like the "Quickly Composed Verses" from the Han Dynasty, which included characters like "time," "east," "Chen," "Sun," and many others. The great calligrapher Wang Xizhi from the Eastern Jin dynasty also used numerous simplified characters. In the Tang Dynasty, Yu Shinan's work on the Kongzi Temple Stele featured simplified forms like "state," "to be," "to come," and others. Chu Suiliang's preface to the Yan Tower Sacred Teaching also included simplifications. The history of simplified characters is long-standing, and coming from a scholarly family, the Li siblings were familiar with both traditional and simplified forms. They could even guess some of the more obscure simplified characters together.
Soon enough, they understood everything written on the packaging.
"It really is Tangyuan! Sister, let's have Tangyuan for breakfast!" Li Yishu exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
Li Zhoule did not disagree; however—this beautiful packaging was difficult to tear open! The two siblings struggled for quite some time before Li Zhoule finally took scissors to cut an opening in the bag and poured out the Tangyuan inside.
The plump white Tangyuan lay on the spoon; taking a bite revealed sweet red bean paste flowing out—so delicious… Li Yishu happily squinted his eyes. Women and children naturally love sweets, and modern Tangyuan had a more delicate texture and sweeter taste compared to those from ancient times, bringing immense joy to those who hadn't had sweets in a long while.
"Sister, the gods are so good to us!" Li Yishu felt a surge of gratitude.
Li Zhoule felt the same; she carefully saved the packaging that held the Tangyuan. The two siblings enjoyed a delightful meal of Tangyuan. For the remaining ones, Li Zhoule flattened them into small cakes, brushed them with oil in a pan, and slowly baked them until golden brown. The baked Tangyuan cakes emitted a fragrant aroma and had an even better texture than boiled ones. Although Li Yishu was already full, he couldn't resist having another baked Tangyuan cake.
Li Zhoule set aside three cakes for later and wrapped up the rest in cloth to fill their stomachs at noon. After tidying up their belongings for going out, they heard voices coming from outside the courtyard. Before long, the Wen Family Three Brothers walked in.
"It smells so good!" The child Wen Zixue couldn't help but ask, "Sister Zhou Le, what is that delicious smell?"
Li Zhoule smiled as she shared three of the leftover Tangyuan cakes with the three brothers. After tasting them, their eyes lit up with delight.
"These are really good." Wen Zixue finished his cake in just a few bites and then spent a long time savoring the sweet flavor lingering on his palate.
Wen Zixia had eaten half of the food and gave the remaining half to his two younger brothers. Li Zhoule did not stop him; there were still quite a few Tangyuan cakes in the bag, so Wen Zixia could have more during lunch.
Wen Zixia thought that the Tangyuan cakes were also brought back from the restaurant by Li Yishu, and he did not ask further. He simply said, "Are you ready? If so, let's go!"
"Ready," replied Li Yishu as he and Wen Ziyu rushed to the courtyard to fetch the unicycle that was placed in the corner. The unicycle was made from scrap wood by Elder Brother Li, with a large wheel towering high like a proud rooster's comb. The two sturdy wooden frames on either side were used for carrying goods, while the two wooden handles at the back were lifted by the person pushing it, resembling a flamboyant tail. Thus, Elder Brother Li named this unicycle the Chicken Cart, which both the Li Family and Wen Family found quite fitting. They even traced its origin: the ancient Ba-Shu paths were essential routes for Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period when he marched against Wei. To solve transportation difficulties on these "ladder stone paths," Zhuge Liang invented the "Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse" to replace human and animal labor for transporting supplies. The Chen Houshan Collection states: "In Shu Region, there are carts that can be pushed by one person and carry eight stones, resembling an ox's head in front. There are also larger carts pushed by four people that can carry ten stones, which are based on the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse." After hearing this explanation, the villagers were impressed by the Chicken Cart's "grandeur" and earnestly sought Elder Brother Li's guidance on how to make one. Now, every household owned such a hand-pushed Chicken Cart, greatly facilitating villagers' transportation when going to town for markets, allowing them to carry more goods to sell and bring back more daily necessities.
Wen Ziyu helped Wen Zixue onto the Chicken Cart and took hold of one of the wooden handles along with Li Yishu as they left the Li Family courtyard. Wen Zixia and Li Zhoule followed behind without letting Wen Zixue get off the cart. Given Wen Zixue's age, it would be impossible for him to walk all the way to the county town, and since he was light in weight, riding on the unicycle wouldn't tire Li Yishu and his companion.
The villagers saw the situation of both families and greeted them warmly. Many people were heading to town or county looking for work during this time, so villagers assumed they were going to seek employment as well. However, looking at their frail figures, villagers sighed inwardly; how could such weak bodies find work? In town, people sought strong laborers for short-term jobs. Alas, these children were pitiful. When would this world stabilize?
There were two roads leading out of the village: one east toward town, just five miles away; another south toward county town, requiring a twenty-mile journey. Since they needed to sell plastic bottles, Wen Zixia and Li Zhoule chose the route to county town where prices would be better.
After walking for over an hour, they finally arrived at county town. It was much livelier than town; named Jingyang County, it governed six towns with advantageous geography surrounded by vast farmlands and convenient transportation routes bustling with merchants. The group first decided not to rush into selling plastic bottles but instead found an Embroidery Shop to sell the handkerchiefs embroidered by Li Zhoule. Each handkerchief cost five Copper Coins to make but sold for only eight Copper Coins; labor truly seemed undervalued.
"Excuse me, brother, which pawn shop in county town is fair?" Wen Zixia asked cheerfully after completing their business.
The clerk listened politely to Wen Zixia's inquiry. Although he wore patched clothing, his demeanor was refined like a scholar; thus, his attitude became more respectful.
"What do you want to pawn?"
Wen Zixia's expression darkened as he sighed, "These past two years have been filled with disasters; we barely have enough food for our family despite having some surplus grains. We had no choice but to pawn our ancestral heirlooms for our family's sustenance. I only hope that peace returns soon and that there are no more disasters."
The clerk sighed upon hearing this and empathized with him: "Who isn't facing hardships?"
Feeling sympathetic himself, he detailed several pawn shops in county town: "There are eight pawn shops in total here; among them... overall, Jiang Family's Wei An Pawnshop is considered the fairest."
Wen Zixia thanked the clerk and took ten Copper Coins from Li Zhoule to place into the clerk's hand: "Thank you very much; this little amount is not enough as gratitude—please use it for tea."
The Clerk hurriedly postponed, "How can I take your money?"
Wen Zixia smiled, "Big Brother has shared so much useful information with me, allowing me to avoid losing too much in pawn fees. This money is a token of gratitude, and it's already quite little. If you don't accept it, I won't feel at ease."
After hearing this, the Clerk no longer refused and happily accepted the Copper Coins. Ten Copper Coins could buy a pound of meat, which would improve the meals for his family.
After leaving the Embroidery Shop, the group headed towards the Wei An Pawnshop as directed by the Clerk. Wei An Pawnshop was located in the most prosperous area of the county town, situated in a prime Feng Shui spot known as Four Waters Return Home. A large traditional character for "Pawn" hung at the entrance; though it served as a sign, it exuded an imposing presence akin to that of an official office. The main door was intricately carved with auspicious patterns, and couplets hung on either side read: "Before stepping onto the dragon and tiger's ground, first enter through the gate of wealth."
Upon entering, the first thing one noticed was a screen featuring a treasure gourd, used to attract good fortune. In the middle of a counter over two meters high were two windows, surrounded by iron bars firmly nailed in place. The tall counter was made of sturdy elm wood and reinforced with resilient bamboo strips, creating a psychological pressure on those coming to pawn their items.
"What do you want to pawn?" asked the Attendant behind the counter with a wooden expression. In these times, too many people came to pawn items, and most of them were worthless; even the Attendant had grown impatient.
Li Zhoule took out a plastic bottle from his bag and handed it to Wen Zixia, who then passed it up.
The Attendant took the plastic bottle and his eyes immediately widened. "This... this is glass? No, wait, glass isn't this light!"
He held the bottle carefully in his hands and scrutinized it closely but still couldn't draw any conclusions. He turned to a young worker at the pawnshop and said, "Go call the Keeper."
The young worker responded quickly and dashed through the door behind the counter into the inner courtyard. After a short while, the door opened again, and a middle-aged man walked in. Instead of approaching the Attendant, he leaned against the door and respectfully awaited someone from behind it. Sure enough, a young gentleman dressed in fine clothing entered. Upon seeing the plastic bottle in the Attendant's hand, he strode over.
"Young Master!" The Attendant respectfully bowed to the young man.
The young man's gaze was fixed on the plastic bottle. "Hand me that bottle!"
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