Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 428: Xiao Cui's Counterattack

"Go ahead. The road will be even harder to walk on if it gets any later. Fortunately, the moon is bright today." Xiao Jiang also remembered his double standards and quickly decided to ignore this matter.

Cui Bianxu nodded after hearing this, and then continued to talk a lot: "It's cold, just stay at home if you have nothing to do. You can't fall behind in martial arts training. You need to practice your boxing and dagger skills. Last time, your sleeve arrow shooting was not accurate enough. You can't say you hit the target every time, but at least you need to..."

Xiao Jiang was almost choking from talking so much that he turned around and made a move to mount his horse. He heard Jiang Shangxian gasp for air the moment he turned around, so he quickly rushed over to her and opened his mouth to shout, "Ha! Ha! Ha!"

A strong smell of leeks came towards him, and Xiao Jiang was instantly blinded and couldn't tell the directions.

After Cui Bianxu succeeded, he immediately jumped on his horse without wasting a second. When the sound of the horse's hooves faded away and the cold wind blew a few fine snowflakes that chilled her to the bone, Xiao Jiang finally reacted. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, "Cui Yi!"

Yingzi, who was huddled against the wall by the door, blinked her eyes, which were blocked by the wind. She stomped her feet and ran to Jiang Shangxian, pulling her back. "Auntie, hurry back and warm yourself by the fire. Why is it so cold out all of a sudden?"

"Hey~"

Jiang Shangxian responded, but was reluctant to retract his head. His steps were also slow. He felt empty in his heart and could not muster any energy. It was extremely boring.

So many snacks are missing...

Cui Bianxu's departure from Chang'an did not cause much stir. Because it was too hasty, even Wang Leisheng, who considered himself a confidant, did not get the news and just thought that his leader had taken leave.

It was only when he hadn't seen him for several days that he became anxious and ran to the Jiang family to ask Jiang Shangxian, but Jiang Shangxian just said that he had gone out to investigate a case.

This made Wang Leisheng very anxious. He thought he was a very good leader, so why did his leader leave him behind when investigating the case?

Liu Dewei was a slippery person and just said that caravans had disappeared in certain places. Cui Shaoqing took people to investigate and mentioned several places, but did not mention Guazhou.

The Cui Mansion was bustling with activity because of this incident, mainly because of Zhao Yue.

She was almost mad as she held Jiang Shangxian's hand: "This unfilial son, he just left without even coming to see me!"

Before leaving, Jiang, who met Xiao Cui, lowered his head guiltily: "Maybe it's because the mission is urgent..."

"No matter how urgent it is, can it be more important than getting married? He doesn't even say when he'll be back. If he's delayed, I'll break his legs!" Zhao Yue was already thinking about how to deal with her son.

A meal of fried meat with shoe soles is a must!

Jiang Shangxian, who had been craving Xiao Cui's body for a long time, immediately said, "Mother, Jiulang left me a letter saying that if he can't make it back before the first of February, we should leave first and he will go directly to Qinghe to meet us."

But you can't break her leg. It takes a hundred days for a broken bone to heal. If you break her leg, it will delay her wedding night!

"What!?"

Zhao Yue became even more angry after hearing this. She turned to Cui Shuhua, who was sitting next to her drinking tea, and said, "Look at what he did. Is this really possible?"

How can you take the bride out of the house without the groom being there?!

Although Cui Shuhua was also somewhat dissatisfied, she was not as angry as she was. She knew how much her nephew valued Jiang Shangxian. If there was nothing he had to do, he would never leave at this time.

Zhao Yue, with her short temper, was furious because her son hadn't said goodbye to her before he left. Furthermore, after finally arriving in Chang'an, she couldn't celebrate the New Year with him. She put down her teacup and said, "Everyone's gone. Talking about this now just ruins my mood. It's better to talk about how we should spend this year."

She was not in a hurry. Even if her nephew really couldn't make it back, with her and Zhao Yue there, and Liu Manqiang added to the mix, the lineup could be completed.

After all, no one would have the mother-in-law, aunt, and grandmother come all the way to welcome the bride, so as not to embarrass Nian Nu.

At worst, she has a lot of good things somewhere else, and she can pick a few of them to add to Nian Nu's dowry. This way, she will have both the inside and the outside, and even if the Jiang family is dissatisfied, they can make it go away.

Zhao Yue said listlessly: "How can we survive with just the three of us? The table is empty."

"Come on, what's the point of having so many people? Aren't you tired of that large group of people from the Cui family?" Cui Shuhua was quite happy. She liked quietness. There were very few people in Chang'an during the New Year, regardless of whether Cui Bianxu was there or not.

What she hated most in Qinghe in the past was the huge crowds of people during festivals and holidays. She had to deal with every one of them, and she would say more during one festival than she did in a month or two combined.

That made sense, and Zhao Yue felt a little better. She said to Jiang Shangxian, "You don't know, the Cui family is very large and troublesome. I'm afraid you won't be able to bear it if you go there."

Jiang Shangxian, however, didn't mind the crowds: "Yeah, it's okay."

There is a lot of gossip when there are many people, and when there is a lot of gossip, you can hear a lot of things that you don’t know about in daily life. She still likes to listen to people chatting in groups.

On this day, in order to comfort the sad Zhao Yue, Xiao Jiang began to talk about his new book, this time it was "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber"!

After talking for the whole afternoon, he finally managed to cheer up his old lady. He pulled her away and didn't want her to go home. He insisted on sleeping with her. However, Cui Shuhua scolded him rudely and Xiao Jiang was able to get away.

On the way back, you raced against time and just made it home on time. As soon as Old Fan saw her, he quickly came over and rubbed his hands: "Miss Jiang, the fifth wife of the Li family was here just now. She brought over an ox leg and two sheep!"

He was so greedy that he stared at the two sheep and thought of several ways to eat them. If his eyes could become reality, the two sheep would have been skinned and boned long ago.

"She has come back!"

Xiao Jiang was excited, but when he looked at the sky, he remembered that it was too late to go out. He had to suppress his anxiety and turned to look at the sheep.

The Jiang family yard is now very lively, with horses, dogs, and geese wintering in the house. Two sheep are tied under a tree, eating grass with their heads down.

The local sheep in Chang'an are actually Hanzhong sheep, which are short and thin-tailed sheep. They are the oldest sheep breed in the Hanzhong area. They have the same origin as Tibetan sheep and are a breed brought to Hanzhong by the Qiang people during the Western Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties.

Most sheep have black or brown hair on their eyes or ears, so they are also called black-eared sheep in Hanzhong area.

This kind of sheep is also the most eaten breed in Chang'an. After all, transportation is inconvenient, and the selling price of sheep from other places is much higher than that of local sheep.

From this point of view, it is quite different from modern people's preference for eating local food.