I trade in both worlds

Chapter 1 Reflection

On May 5, 6, in Xuzhuang, Xu Xu got up at dawn and went to the kitchen to boil water for his mother to wash up. After washing up, Xu Xu went to the back mountain with a basket, intending to dig some wild vegetables to make dumplings.

The Xu family's house is located at the foot of Lingshan Mountain. It is the only house in Xu Village that is built entirely of blue bricks. Xu's father, Xu Jizu, attended a private school and had some talent for studying. Unfortunately, there had been war in the past few years and the imperial examinations were suspended.

Xu Jizu, who was determined to pass the imperial examination and become an official, could not let go of his wish and remained frustrated until he was 18 years old, when he was introduced by his classmates and went to Youzhou to serve as an aide to the Emperor of Dayun Dynasty, who was then King Jing.

There were many talented and ambitious people around King Jing, and Xu Jizu seemed dull among them. There was nothing eye-catching about him. The only thing that was better than most people was his handwriting, so he was assigned the job of copying official documents.

Copying day after day made Xu Jizu very bored. He knew this was not what he wanted, but he was powerless to change the status quo.

Xu Jizu always felt that he had a lot of talent but no room to display it. He was immersed in self-pity all day long. Gradually, he became more and more silent and stopped communicating with others. After work, he always sat alone in a corner of the academy, sometimes reading a book, sometimes daydreaming.

Xu's mother, Zhang Yunxiang, was the personal maid of Princess Jing at the time. She was often ordered to go to the study to deliver things to King Jing. She noticed Xu Jizu after going there so often. At first, she thought he was a weirdo and aloof.

Until one day, the enemy army attacked Prince Jing's mansion. Zhang Yunxiang was ordered to come to the study to find Prince Jing's servant. When she was frightened and panicked, Xu Jizu appeared and pulled her to hide in the vegetable cellar in the kitchen, where they hid for a day and a night.

Because of the life-saving grace, Zhang Yunxiang would greet Xu Jizu and chat with him every time she met him. Gradually, as the number of times they met increased, the two became familiar with each other.

Zhang Yunxiang was not pretty, but her almond-shaped eyes made her look more attractive. She was also literate, and her temperament was like the agarwood in the ancient city, elegant and restrained. Xu Jizong, on the other hand, was full of bookish air, with a gentle attitude and gentle manners. As time went by, the two began to develop a liking for each other.

Two years later, Zhang Yunxiang was 20 years old and had reached the age to get married. Zhang Yunxiang chose Xu Jizu. After consulting Xu Jizu, Princess Jing presided over the wedding for the two and rewarded Zhang Yunxiang with 200 taels of silver, a pair of gold bracelets and two silver hairpins as a dowry.

This year, Xu Jizu was 23 years old. It was the first time that King Jing knew that there was an aide named Xu Jizu in the palace, but that was all he knew. In order to save face for the princess, King Jing also rewarded Xu Jizu with 200 taels of silver.

After they got married, Xu Jizu took his five years of savings and the reward from King Jing and brought Zhang Yunxiang back to Xu Zhuang to build this large blue brick and tile house. Two years later, Xu Xu was born. It was not until Xu Xu was 5 that Zhang Yunxiang became pregnant again and gave birth to twin sons.

Last year, Xu Jizu was bitten by a poisonous snake while collecting firewood in the mountains. When the villagers found him, his body was already stiff. Zhang Yunxiang was already in a serious state of health due to giving birth at an advanced age. Adding to this, Xu Jizu's death was a big blow to Zhang Yunxiang, and her health became worse and worse.

Last month during the Qingming Festival, Zhang Yunxiang went to visit Xu Jizu's grave. When she was coming back, it suddenly rained heavily. Zhang Yunxiang was soaked when she got home. After changing clothes and making ginger soup, she still fell ill. She lay down without eating lunch and did not wake up until dinner.

The twin sons Xu Jin and Xu Zhun were so scared that they ran to Xu Jizong's house for help. Xu Jizong helped to call a doctor. For a month, Aunt Xu had been taking care of Zhang Yunxiang at Xu's house, but her illness was getting worse day by day. So far, not only has it not improved, but it has gotten worse.

When Xu Xu came to deliver the Dragon Boat Festival gifts, he found that his mother's illness had worsened again, so he simply stayed at her mother's home to take care of her. Over the past four or five days, the doctors Xu Xu found asked him to prepare for her funeral.

She knew her mother might not recover, and she was heartbroken, but she still had to do what she had to do. Xu Xu thought that coffin and burial clothes might bring happiness to her mother, so the day before yesterday she went with Xu Jizong and Aunt Xu to buy coffin and burial clothes for Zhang Yunxiang.

Xu Xu followed the trail around Lingshan looking for shepherd's purse. The shepherd's purse season had actually passed, but he could still find some relatively tender ones. Because Zhang Yunxiang liked to eat them, Xu Xu tried his best to prepare some of Zhang Yunxiang's favorite dishes for meals in the past few days.

Before he knew it, he had filled a basket with shepherd's purse. Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Xu prepared to go home and make breakfast.

When I got home, I scooped some millet to make porridge, then picked out the yellow and old leaves of the shepherd's purse, rinsed it several times with clean water, blanched the shepherd's purse first, scooped it out, squeezed out the water, chopped it into small pieces with a knife, put it into a large bowl, added a little salt and mixed it well.

Xu Xu scooped half a bowl of black flour and slowly added it to the shepherd's purse, stirring as he added, as long as each leaf was evenly coated with flour. He kneaded them into vegetable balls, placed bamboo strips in the porridge pot and began to steam the vegetable balls.

There are two stoves in the Xu family's kitchen, one big and one small. The big stove has two pots connected to one of its openings. The front pot is used for cooking, and the back pot is heated by the temperature of the front pot. The back pot is basically used to boil water, but the water in this pot never boils.

The small stove has two stove chambers, a larger one that can hold smaller iron pots and griddles, and a smaller one that can hold several kinds of clay pots. This stove is basically used to boil water and make soup. If you just want to make porridge, you can also use this stove, which can save a lot of firewood.

After the vegetable balls were steamed, the millet porridge was almost cooked. Xu Xu took out the unburned firewood, leaving a few sparks in the stove to warm the millet porridge and vegetable balls in the pot.

Xu Xu took two spoonfuls of hot water from the pot in the back stove and prepared to wash Zhang Yun. At this time, Zhang Yunxiang had woken up and looked very energetic, which gave Xu Xu a bad premonition. His hands holding the wooden basin began to tremble, and his legs felt sore and weak that he couldn't move.

Zhang Yunxiang is very clear about her physical condition, but the only thing she can't let go of is her three children. Although Xu Xu is married, there is no one in her parents' home as a married woman, so she may be easily bullied by her in-laws. Her two sons are still young and ignorant, and without their parents' protection, it is unknown whether they can grow up safely.

Zhang Yunxiang was reluctant to leave and hoped to see her son grow up, but unfortunately her body was not doing well. Especially this morning when she woke up, she did not feel as weak as usual. Zhang Yunxiang knew that this might be her last breath. Since she was destined to leave, she might as well make arrangements for her children now.

Looking at Xu Xu's shaking hands, Zhang Yunxiang felt so uncomfortable that she wanted to cry. She didn't know if it was because her death was coming, but she couldn't even shed tears. She didn't want Xu Xu to be too sad in the future. She smiled and comforted her, "My daughter, everyone will have such a day. You should regard this as a normal part of life. Everyone will encounter it. Be happy and smile."