Chapter Nineteen: The Uninvited Guest on a Snowy Day

  One person building a snowman is meaningless, but Wang Juan is waiting for Wang Xiao to finish school and build one together. This second son has become more diligent in his studies, and as he grows older, he seems to vaguely understand that there is some secret about his brother that is tightly hidden, and he is afraid of being exposed. Now Wang Xiao also knows the humble status of a merchant, and it seems that his brother is afraid that if the secret is discovered, someone will take it away by force, so he wants to work hard to stand out, at least in the future there will be a place to establish himself, with an official position, unless it's someone with high power and status, ordinary people wouldn't dare to be too excessive. In this way, his brother should be able to rest easy. He doesn't have any ideas about selling out to the imperial family; in his eyes, his brother is like a god.

  In the afternoon, Wang Kuang went out for a stroll again. There were few people on the street on snowy days, and Yao Yue's sheep stall had already closed early. Not seeing Yao Yue's sheep stall, Wang Kuang casually strolled around in a circle and returned to the inn. Seeing the snow pile at the entrance of the inn, he suddenly thought of building a snowman there first. So, he called out several young servants who were idly sitting in front of the hall due to the lack of guests. Sun Er, now promoted to be in charge, was most enthusiastic about Wang Kuang's summons. As soon as he heard Wang Kuang calling for people, he immediately jumped up and shouted at Gao San and the others: "Quickly go! Quickly go!" He himself took a step forward first.

  Under Wang Kuang's command, the snowman was quickly built. Even Kong Da, who was in the kitchen, heard the noise and ran out to see the snowman, and he was delighted. He got a little impatient and helped with the carving. Then, they found some wooden charcoal to use as eyes and inserted two stalks of rice into the snowman's hands. On the snowman's body, they used carbon powder to spell out "瑞雪兆丰年" (auspicious snow brings a rich harvest). As it turned out, Kong Da's carving skills were not bad at all. With everyone's efforts, a smiling and chubby snowman stood vividly in front of the inn, somewhat resembling the snow sculptures of later generations. Occasionally, passersby would stop and admire it carefully. Wang Kuang didn't know if people built snowmen during the Tang Dynasty, but he just wanted to build one that would bring joy and good luck for everyone.

  "Huh? This snowman looks really good." A crisp voice came over, and Wang Kuang, who was admiring his own work, turned his head to see a little girl running quickly towards him. The little girl looked like she was from a wealthy family, as ordinary girls at her age usually dressed similarly to boys, wearing short jackets and pants. But this little girl, who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old, was wearing a pink silk underskirt with a green satin ribbon tied high around her chest, and the ribbon had a delicate butterfly knot in front. She wore a moon-white jacket on top, and over it, she wore a fur-trimmed windbreaker; around her neck hung a string of silver bells that jingled as she ran, making a pleasant sound. The little girl was running very quickly, causing the several attendants who followed behind her to hurry up and catch up, surrounding her in the middle while vigilantly watching Wang Kuang and his companions.

  "Is this what you've piled up?" The little girl came to the front of the snowman, looked at it curiously for a while, and asked Wang Kuang and the others.

  Wang Kuang was taken aback, for the young girl's words were not in the Minbei dialect, but rather had a distinct Northwestern accent. Could it be that she came from the Central Plains? (Currently, there are many debates about what the official language of the Tang Dynasty was. Some say it was the Chang'an dialect, citing the fact that Chang'an was the capital city. Others claim that the Minnan dialect and Fuzhou dialect were the official languages of the Tang Dynasty, arguing that Wang Xunzi brought the official language from Chang'an to form the Minnan and Fuzhou dialects of later generations - a reason Grey Sparrow believes further proves that Fuzhou dialect is closer to Minnan dialect. There are also those who say that Hakka dialect was the official language, citing the fact that the Hakkas migrated from the Central Plains. And so on. However, up until now, none of these claims have been proven with absolute evidence. For the time being, this text will assume that the Tang Dynasty's official language was the Chang'an dialect.) Fortunately, in later generations, when Wang Kuang attended university, his classmates came from all over the country, and aside from a few difficult ones, most regional dialects and Mandarin had many similarities, so Wang Kuang could also understand what the young girl was saying.

  "It's naturally our turn at the entrance of our inn." Now everyone is looking at Wang Kuang for cues, and since no one has learned official language, they couldn't understand what Xiaoyu was saying. So they looked at Wang Kuang. Seeing that everyone was silently staring at him, Wang Kuang had to come forward to answer. As someone with a mental age of over 30, answering a question from a teenager made Wang Kuang feel somewhat uncomfortable. However, he forgot that apart from being seen as somewhat unusual by the inn's patrons, he also appeared as just another young whippersnapper to ordinary people.

  Wang Kuang spoke in the vernacular of later generations, and surprisingly, Xiao Yatou understood him (this article assumes that ancient Chang'an dialect and modern Chang'an dialect are not much different). "It's really beautiful, I'll build one when I get back." Xiao Yatou smiled with her eyes shining. Her eyes narrowed like a crescent moon, "Hurry up and hurry up, don't let Big Brother shovel the snow in the courtyard." However, this was said to the crowd of guards surrounding her. After finishing speaking, she didn't care about Wang Kuang anymore and ran off under the protection of the crowd. It was a middle-aged man among the guards who looked at Wang Kuang with a suspicious expression, making Wang Kuang feel frightened. He thought to himself, "This is not good, I've already been targeted?"

  But Sun Er and the others were staring at Wang Kuang in shock, Sun Er admired Wang Kuang extremely: "Big brother is really awesome, even Mandarin can be spoken." He couldn't tell the difference between Mandarin and dialects, he didn't understand either, but had only heard that merchants from Chang'an used to say it was roughly this accent.

  Wang Kuang didn't explain, now the people in the inn have already taken Wang Kuang as a divine child descending to earth. Haven't they seen the earth-shaking changes that have occurred in the inn over the past year? Can't a divine child do it? What can't a divine child do? If it weren't for the master reminding them every day, telling them about the importance of protecting Wang Kuang, they would have already spread the news all over Jian'an.

  It was already noon, and Wang Xiao had finished school. Under the influence of Wang Kuang, everyone in the inn had changed from two meals a day to three meals. When Wang Xiao arrived at the hall, he didn't see Wang Kuang eating, but saw a crowd outside the inn door. He ran out to take a look and found that Wang Kuang was there, surrounded by a group of people staring at a snowman, while Wang Kuang stood aside in a daze. After all, he was still a child, and his playful heart remained. When Wang Xiao saw the snowman, he had already forgotten about eating and ran around it excitedly: "Brother, it's so cool! I want to build one too!"

  "The snow in the yard is left for you, let's eat first, and after eating, we'll pile it up together." Wang Kuang came back to his senses, patted the snow on Wang Xiao's body that had fallen from the snowman. Never mind, come what may, he just said a casual remark, besides, the guard didn't seem to have a high status, otherwise he wouldn't be assigned as a guard for a young lady like her.

  The little girl from just now was just an episode, and Wang Kuang thought about it for a moment and didn't worry too much. This little girl is probably from outside the region, and Jian'an City is only this big, with not many wealthy families, and no one has heard of any wealthy family having such a daughter. Moreover, in Jian'an City, there are not many people who can speak Mandarin, and most people speak Minbei dialect. Even government officials in the state and county governments mostly speak Minbei dialect when handling affairs. During the Tang Dynasty, it was not like later generations where knowing a common language could take you anywhere nationwide. Local officials had to learn the local dialect as soon as they arrived at their posts, and if they couldn't, they would have to hire a local aide who spoke Mandarin; otherwise, they would really be unable to move forward even an inch.

  It's rare to have such a big snowfall, and it only happens once or twice a year. Considering Wang Xian's diligence in studying, he almost never gets to play. To help Wang Xian relax, Wang Kuang took the opportunity during dinner to ask Old Master for half a day off on behalf of Wang Xian, so that Wang Xian could have a good time playing in the afternoon. Old Master also pitied Wang Xian, his most diligent student, and agreed. Since he gave Wang Xian a break, he simply declared that the entire afternoon would be a holiday for everyone, as Sun Mingqian's two sons weren't exactly book material anyway. This made Sun Jiahan and Sun Jiaying, who were eating at the same table as Wang Xian, extremely happy, and they excitedly discussed their plans for the afternoon while eating. Seeing them so thrilled, Wang Kuang directly gave them an idea, telling them to gather their usual playmates, find a spot where the snow hadn't been cleared, and have a snowball fight. He meticulously told them about all sorts of fun things he used to do in the snow when he was younger. The two boys listened with wide eyes, and without even finishing their meal properly, they hastily grabbed a few bites and then dragged Wang Xian out the door, skipping and jumping as they went.

  Wang Kuang actually wanted to go out with them, but the suspicious gaze that flashed before his eyes made him unable to hold back his playful heart. It's still better to be prepared, he called over clever Sun Er, and with the old master by their side, they didn't dare speak loudly, so he whispered to him to go investigate the origins of that little girl.

  Sun Er walked a few steps, turned around and didn't say anything, just used his eyes to signal Wang Kuang. Wang Kuang followed Sun Er's gaze and saw that the windscreen made of grass hanging on the inn door was being lifted by a man, and a scholar-like person in his thirties was holding the hand of the little girl who had just walked in. Behind him were a young man and a middle-aged man who looked like a teacher, several guards-like men split up to the left and right, all walking inside.

  After nodding to Wang, Sun Er stepped forward and greeted: "Are the few guests going to have a meal? Our Fuli Inn doesn't dare say anything else, but our taro and loach dishes are famous far and near. Would you like some? On this snowy day, having some warm wine and soup is also good for warming up the body."

  Seeing the little girl come and go, and bringing someone with her, Wang Kuang's heart was put at ease. If they had any ill intentions towards him or the inn, they wouldn't have brought a child along. It seemed he had been unnecessarily alarmed.

  While Sun Er was greeting, Wang Kuang carefully sized up the newcomer. The man walking in front, holding a young girl's hand, had a round face and wore a knee-length, narrow-sleeved, lake-blue hemp robe with a round collar, but the hemp fabric was much more exquisite than that of ordinary people. The hat on his head was made of silk, and under the robe, he wore high leather boots that reached his knees. The scholar had three short whiskers under his chin, and at first glance, his face seemed to be smiling, but his eyes would occasionally flash with a sharp light as he scanned the surroundings. When he saw Wang Kuang, who was also sizing him up, he paused for a moment, didn't mind, and continued to discreetly scan the crowd in the hall.

  Division

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