The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty Chapter 25: One-off business for the Qixi Festival
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a traditional festival that has been passed down since ancient times. It is called Qixi Festival, also known as Qiqiao Festival. In the era of Yunyan Hui, it was Chinese Valentine's Day, which was usually only celebrated by young men and women.
However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was a grand festival for the whole people to celebrate, and all men, women and children would participate, so Yun Yanhui had long stopped equating it with the modern Qixi Festival.
The day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, but three or five days earlier, the festive atmosphere on the street is very strong, and children are holding lotus pods, lotus leaves or unopened lotus flowers in their hands.
On the night of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, "begging for cleverness" was everywhere. Women had various activities, watching the moon and threading needles, etc., and it was a seven-hole needle. Women make all kinds of delicate objects, boys write poems, one begging for skill, the other for literary talent.
Zheng Ping took Shuangyi and Xiaobao to participate in the activities held by the neighbors of the old residence nearby. Yunyan returned. He rejected Zhao Yunchu a few days ago. Today, there are other things to do. Apple has sue.
Early in the daytime, Yun Yan went back to the monk's place.
Today, it is with these brothers that he has a business to do together.
Earlier, Yun Yanhui planned to make money, so he put his idea on the Qixi Festival, a national carnival festival.
On the night of the Qixi Festival, the whole Bianliang will be very lively. The rich and noble people will beg for the colorful buildings. .
On this day, the place that Bianliang people call the courtyard street will display all kinds of exquisite and luxurious festive items, showing off the wealth of Chi Guoguo, of course, it may also be an alternative to attract customers.
The big families are inside the high walls, and ordinary people can't see them, but everyone in the courtyards can see them, not only can they see beautiful objects, but also beautiful women.
In addition to the neighborhood of the courtyard street, the area around the Washe will be very lively.
Speaking of the main point, the most popular of these festive items is a kind of thing called "grinding drink music", which is a kind of clay doll, usually made to hold a lotus leaf, lotus pod or unopened Childlike appearance of lotus.
During the Qixi Festival, children holding lotus leaves and other objects are actually imitating grinding and drinking music, which can be regarded as ancient cosplay.
In previous years, there were many mojos that were sold on the market during the Bianliang Qixi Festival. Although it is a mud doll with a wooden base, people can decorate it with expensive items such as gold, silver, jewelry, ivory, jade, etc., which are very popular.
What Yun Yanhui cooperates with the lay monks is selling mills and drinking music.
When it comes to Qixi Festival, the streets are almost full of people selling mills and drinking music, but Yun Yanhui wants to do this kind of public business. There is no gold and silver decoration, and he still wants to sell it at a high price. There is a lore!
——The image of grinding and drinking music comes from Buddhist scriptures. Ya is the son of Sakyamuni, one of the eight divisions of Tianlong. Why are you holding a lotus or lotus pod in your hand? Because in Buddhism it represents auspiciousness, holiness and other beautiful meanings!
Yun Yanhui couldn't believe it. Why didn't the monks in the Daxiangguo Temple come to do the business of grinding and drinking music. Is there anything more suitable than a monk to sell this stuff?
Even if the street is full of people selling mills and drinking music, the ones on the street are not more "qualified" than what we sell.
Yun Yanhui said hello to the abbot in advance, pooled money with the monks to order a batch of grinding and drinking music, put it in the Buddhist temple, and received the edification of chanting scriptures and incense under the eyes of the Buddha. More importantly, come People who worship Buddha can also see it, which is equivalent to advertising in advance.
Of course, Yun Yanhui didn't take everyone too fast. When he ordered the grinding and drinking music, he did not ask the craftsman to make lotus and other objects, but bought a batch of bowls of lotus in the temple. Today, they just want to grind the lotus leaves of the bowl lotus into their hands.
Actually, it was when he saw the lotus bowl in the monastery that he decided to sell mills and drink music on the Qixi Festival.
At this time, the bowl lotus was only found in the area of Suzhou, and it was more common in rich and noble families. It was a rare thing in Bianliang. These in the Daxiangguo Temple are also cultivated by the monks who manage the flower gardens after they occasionally get them.
——The temple needs a lot of flowers because it enshrines Buddha statues and holds celebrations, so it has its own super-large flower garden, which will attract many flower-viewers.
When people see the bowl lotus, they may think it is very elegant and cute at most, but its size is very suitable for the mill. More than two, the effect of the combination of two swords.
In short, the lotus leaf of this bowl of lotus can be said to be the finishing touch, which is why Yunyan returned to Dafang to put the grinding and drinking music in the Buddhist temple to advertise, and was not afraid of plagiarism after other temples knew about it.
Because there are Buddhist temples everywhere, even if the Daxiangguo Temple is a royal temple, it will not change, but the bowl lotus is unique, and there is only enough here!
Not to mention, there is not much money to buy a bowl of lotus, it is definitely the lowest price. Yunyan Hui has already agreed with the monks in the flower garden that the leaves of this bowl of lotus will not be fresh for many days. If the rich buy it back, if they want to keep this kind of chic, they must go to Daxiangguo Temple to buy a bowl of lotus... This is again A business may even directly drive the popularity of bowl lotus farming in Bianliang.
Of course, it's almost certain that the deal they're doing is a one-time deal, and it can only be done once this year, but that doesn't matter.
When setting the price, Yun Yanhui also directly set the price of the lotus leaf at the same price, and the lotus flower will add 500 wen, because the number of lotus is smaller. This made other monks uneasy, and they were a little afraid that they would not be able to sell.
"What they earn is the money of the rich, and the consistent two is nothing to them. Besides, the incense of Daxiangguo Temple is still very valuable, right?" Yun Yanhui was very calm, and he still felt that This price is low, if it is not for their lack of capital, they can enter a more luxurious mill and drink, and then the price will be doubled.
The monks rubbed their hands together and were very excited. If this batch of rubbing music were all sold tonight, they would all benefit a lot. It's still Brother Yan who is clever, actually came up with such a good idea, and took everyone to send another one.
……
The sky is getting dark, and the carnival of the Qiqiao Festival is about to begin. This night, Tokyo must be lively and lively.
The monks are divided into couples, and they will go to the most prosperous places in Bianliang with the grinding and drinking music, and some will go directly to the prostitutes and sell them to them. We were divided into groups early today, some monks performed during the day, and some performed at night. Those who work on the night shift will help to insert bowls of lotus during the day, and those who work on the day shift will come to sell mills and have fun at night.
Yunyanhui and Huichong went out to the Eastern Song Dynasty Gate. There is also a washer here. These days, because the monks are opening up the market, many of the washer Yunyanhui have dealt with, including here.
Along the way, in addition to selling mills and drinking music, you can see various items on the street, such as mandarin ducks, fish, turtles and other small animals painted in yellow wax. This is called floating on water. There are also carved melons in various patterns, and the sweet season fruit food "Smiley". If you buy a pound, you will also get a pair of little people in armor, called General Fruit Food. Not to mention the most famous double-headed lotus in Beijing, which is artificially made and very delicate.
Yunyan sighed back, this is almost the same as the Chinese New Year in modern times, and the children are specially wearing new clothes.
Yun Yanhui and Hui Chong greeted Washer early, and since they set up the grinding and drinking, they immediately attracted many people to watch.
The round and chubby boy is standing on a painted hollow carved wooden seat, holding a lotus leaf or lotus flower the size of a child's palm in his hand, and it is not fake, it is a real lotus leaf/flower, just I don't know how many times it's been reduced, but it only matches the size of Mohule, it's so cute!
Ask the monk again, and it turns out that he was worshipped in front of the Buddha in Daxiangguo Temple and received incense.
Since it was enshrined in front of the Buddha, and it was so cute and ingenious, there were a few good ones to buy on the spot. Even if I can't afford it, I'm willing to take my child to watch it for a while.
There is a lot of traffic. Even if the price is set high, there are many people who buy it. Huichong happily acts as a monk to collect money. It is estimated that it will be sold out tonight and there will be time to play elsewhere.
They didn't put a lot of effort into this. The pre-orders and the like were still done by Yunyan back. They may have been busy for one day, but the profits were quite good. How could Huichong not be? Overjoyed.
Yunyan Hui sat at the booth, because the business was so good that he didn't even need to shout, and Huichong didn't ask him to work, he was like a mascot. He still had a lotus leaf in his hand, which Huichong had just bought for him. He said that the children on the street were holding it in their hands. .
Yun Yanhui put the lotus leaf on her head and looked up at the juggling in the distance. A very familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him, and upon closer inspection, it was Zhao Yunchu who was pulling the crowd over, and he was still dragging a person in his hand.
Zhao Yunchu squeezed from the crowd, and when Yunyan returned to their stall, the person he was pulling also staggered, stood firm and supported his hat, but one leg was dragged.
This person is only sixteen or seventeen years old, and his face is somewhat similar to Zhao Yunchu. Yunyan has seen it once or twice in the temple in retrospect. It should be Zhao Yunchu's brother, but Zhao Yunchu is the youngest son. There are several brothers , he didn't quite remember which one it was.
"Why are you here?" Yun Yan asked after putting down the lotus leaf.
"I met the senior brothers in the temple at Suzakumen. They told me that you were here, and my brother brought me to find you." Zhao Yunchu, still holding a box in his hand, said with some disappointment, "I wanted to I'll give you a grinder..."
As a result, I saw people selling mills and drinking music.
Yun Yan couldn't help laughing back.
Then he saw Zhao Yunchu's brother beside him with a groaning face and said, "Why did I bring you here, you forcibly dragged me here, okay? Your brother and my leg are broken, how could you still be like this? To me!"
What's wrong with the leg, it turned out to be broken, Yun Yan thought back.
Hui Chong couldn't help it. He also knew Zhao Yunchu's brother, "Why did you break your leg?"
Zhao Yunchu's brother said woefully: "Oh, don't mention it, my father caught me in the study as a book boy, and broke my leg, and it took dozens of days to just go to the ground."
Yunyan replied: "..."
Hui Chong slowly covered Yun Yanhui's ears, but Zhao Yunchu's ears were not covered. Fortunately, he was also confused, Hui Chong said rather speechlessly: "In the public, you can't pay attention. A little?"
Yun Yan Hui slowly pushed Hui Chong's hand away, looking indifferent, as if he didn't understand anything. In fact, he was also drunk, and from this, he suddenly remembered which brother Zhao Yunchu was.
Zhao Yundi, very famous inside the Daxiangguo Temple, not only has the habit of breaking his sleeves, but also can't control his mouth. Street...
In a sense, he's a tough warrior who doesn't change his style no matter how many times his legs are broken.