In October, the riding and shooting range was completed.
While Huo Shu was waiting for the construction team to build, he had already prepared the necessary horse gear, targets for riding and shooting, and other necessary things on the site in advance.
Uncle Fan and others are people who often deal with horses. They can arrange it appropriately on the riding range without asking others.
The bow shop has also stocked up enough long bows and arrow feathers of various colors, and they are just waiting for the cavalry shooting range to open, and both sides will be announced together.
That day Taoyu found some golden osmanthus plants from the countryside, brought them to the city and placed them in the yard of Gongjianfang.
In October, the sweet-scented osmanthus is already in full bloom, with small flowers dotted all over the branches, scattering to the ground at the slightest touch.
Taoyu dug a deep hole with a small hoe and planted a flower tree as big as two fingers together.
Digging holes, filling soil, and watering were all complicated. After planting two sweet-scented osmanthus trees, Taoyu was so tired that she couldn't straighten up. Her face was flushed, and there was a little sweat in her vest.
Unfortunately, it is still morning and the autumn breeze is gentle.
He held the flower tree and sighed. If he was asked to hoe the ground and plant vegetables in the summer months, he would probably faint from heat stroke.
"Little uncle."
Taoyu was thinking about whether to rest for a while before continuing, when suddenly a voice came.
He tilted his head and saw that Zhao Pan was coming.
In just one year, this boy has grown a lot taller and is almost as tall as Tao Yu.
Taoyu still felt a little uncomfortable calling him uncle.
But according to seniority, it should be like this, but that is why Zhao Pan would call like that when no one is around. He usually calls him uncle.
Taoyu was also very happy to see Zhao Pan. The child spent most of his time in the academy and rarely came over.
"Have a rest today?"
Zhao Pan responded to him.
Immediately, he gave the thing in his hand to Taoyu: "Just steamed crabs. I heard that my mother said that this place will open soon. I guessed that my uncle and uncle should be there, so I brought some over."
Taoyu felt the crab was still hot and took it politely: "I was planning to go to the market today, but I'm so busy that I don't have time to go."
"What are you doing, little uncle? I'll do it. You eat the crabs while they're hot."
"It doesn't matter, plant some sweet-scented osmanthus in the yard, come and eat together."
Taoyu turned to the small table on one side and took apart the cooked orange-red crabs. At this time, the crabs were already fat.
"I've already eaten it at home. This is specially brought to my uncle."
Zhao Pan didn't mention his uncle. Last autumn, he also prepared crabs for dinner at home. However, Huo Shu thought there was too little meat and too much trouble, so he didn't like them very much. On the contrary, Tao Yu liked them very much.
Taoyu eats very little and her stomach is easily full. She is very interested in something that takes a lot of energy to eat and tastes good.
"Mother knew that I, Xiu Mu, made a lot of special preparations, so she steamed them in the pot early in the morning and went to the cloth store. The weather is cool in autumn, and there are most people going out to have fun, so the cloth store's business is busier than before. "
The weather is comfortable after autumn, people in the city go out together, and people in the countryside have finished their harvest. After selling the grain in their hands and making money, many people will make clothes by ripping cloth.
The city is busy now. Taoyu came to the city early this morning and met many farmers who were bringing food on their plates to the city to sell it.
The grain stores outside are also very busy with their business, and there are even trucks specially sent out to parade around the streets to shout about the prices of grain collected by their own grain stores.
Taoyu said with a smile: "The price of crab is not cheap, but your mother loves you, so I will also benefit from it."
Zhao Pan said: "My mother is always frugal and always wants to save the money for me to study. She is not willing to buy these things."
"This is from Uncle Wang from the cloth shop."
"Then I'll take advantage of it."
Taoyu cut off the crab's legs and said, "I'm a little hungry just now."
Crabs are a bit prickly, but for Taoyu, who has been eating crabs since she was a child, the difficulty is not enough to overcome the attraction of delicious crab meat.
Zhao Pan nodded with a smile, took over Taoyu's hoe, and helped dig holes to plant flowers and trees.
"How is your calligraphy learning going, Pan?"
Taoyu bit the crab and looked up to see the young man under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree. He looked a bit bookish but not weak.
"How about we make a guide sign later and you inscribe it?"
Zhao Pan's eyes lit up: "Okay."
The salt store at the corner of the street was open, and there was indeed a lot of traffic on the Xinjie side.
At first, the merchants on Xinjie Street joked that this ghost in the blue sky could kill people. As merchants continued to set up shop space to renovate their businesses, it gradually started to look like a street market.
After Taoyu and Zhao Pan planted the flowers and trees, they found a wooden board. After smoothing it, Zhao Pan wrote the words "Go to Gongfang Shooting Range" on it.
The two used tools to carve out grooves along the ink marks, and then filled them with cinnabar.
After doing this, the two of them took the sign and went to the street to put up a sign.
Taoyu placed a sign next to the salt store so that people who come in and out to buy salt might take a look.
"Zhao Pan, why are you here!"
The two of them were hunched over and hammering the signs into the ground when they heard a cry.
Taoyu looked up and saw two neatly dressed young men with jade belts around their waists and handsome faces. They must be about the same age as Zhao Pan.
"Sheng Cang and I went to your house to look for you, but unfortunately no one answered the door. I was surprised that Xiu Mu didn't study at home. I didn't expect to meet you here."
"I came out early in the morning."
Zhao Pan said: "What do you two want from me?"
"The weather is nice today. I wanted to invite you to go horse racing in the outskirts of the city. Isn't the academy going to have a riding and archery test in a few days?"
Zhao Pan responded: "It's just that I don't have time today. I have to help my little uncle clean up the shop here."
After that, he introduced the two of them to Taoyu: "Uncle, these are my two classmates and friends, Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang."
Then he turned to the two of them and introduced Taoyu.
The two scholars looked at the peach-faced Taoyu and blushed slightly, and politely bowed to Taoyu.
Then Tao Yu said: "The college exams are important, so it's good to practice riding and shooting. You usually work hard in reading and writing, so when you take a break, you can ride and shoot arrows. You can not only lean on your riding and shooting, but also relax your body. This is a good thing."
"But if I leave the city to the suburbs at this time, I'm afraid the time will be tight."
Tao Yu said to Zhao Pan: "The shooting range has not been completely tidied up, but it is only a little messy and will not affect the riding and shooting. Just take your two classmates to ride horses and take a look around."
Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang's eyes lit up when they heard this: "Is there a place here where you can ride and shoot?"
Zhao Pan said: "My uncle's house just built it."
"I never heard you mention it!"
"I only told you this after I opened my business."
Taoyu saw several young men chirping in surprise, and said, "Okay, how about we go make a pot of tea at the shooting range?"
Bai Wanjue thanked Taoyu and said, "It's just that we haven't brought the horse out yet. Let's go back and lead the horse first."
"There are horses in the shooting range. The doors haven't opened yet, and there are no people around. You just have a lot to choose from."
Zhao Pan followed and said, "My horse is also here."
When Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang heard this, they saluted Taoyu in unison: "Then we will be disrespectful."
Huo Shu brought a good horse back to Zhao Pan from the Northern Territory. He liked it so much that he kept it carefully at home.
He became good friends with Bai Wanjue, and Sheng Cang was Bai Wanjue's best friend since childhood, so the three of them became acquainted.
One time Bai Wajue came over to discuss an article with him and saw his horse.
There is no young man who doesn't love horses, especially a young man from a well-off family.
After learning that Zhao Pan had a horse, Bai Wajue not only chatted with him, but also invited him to race horses together.
The three of them interacted more frequently.
Although Zhao Pan's schoolwork is not heavy, he works hard, and there are not many opportunities to go out to ride horses. The family is only so big, and the horse always feels like it is being humiliated in the yard.
After the stable was built here a few days ago, he brought his horse over and came whenever he had time to rest. However, Bai Wanjue and his two friends failed to invite him several times.
Taoyu led several teenagers into the riding and shooting range. The venue built on more than 20 acres of land was not something to be boasted about.
Entering through the reception hall, you can see the large horse racing arena.
There is a high platform built around the stadium for watching the game.
There is a long stable on the left for choosing horses, and a house on the right for changing clothes and resting.
"We were so blinded in the academy that we didn't know that such a large racecourse was built here! From now on, we no longer need to go to the countryside to race horses, we can go directly to the racecourse!"
Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang were very happy.
After Taoyu brought the people to the shooting range, she stopped following them obnoxiously and let Zhao Pan take them to have fun, which would make them more comfortable.
"Where did the child come from?"
Taoyu looked at the young man running to watch the horse with a smile from a distance, and a voice sounded behind him.
"They are Ah Pan's classmates. They seem to be very polite, so I took them over and let them show around here."
Taoyu turned around and saw Huo Shu covered in dust, and couldn't help but reach out and pat him.
"Do you like scholars so much?"
Taoyu stopped moving her hands and looked up at Huo Shu.
"It sounds sour to hear this. Are you jealous?"
"I heard two teenagers say today that they didn't even know that a riding and shooting range was built here. We are about to open a business. How can we do this?"
"Let them come over to Lele. I hope we can bring some people over next time."
Huo Shu's brows relaxed slightly, but he didn't comment.
"It smells like osmanthus."
"Well, the osmanthus trees have been planted."
Huo Shu suddenly asked: "Then do you want me to teach them how to ride and shoot?"
Taoyu raised her eyebrows: "Master Huo is so easy to talk to, but he is actually willing to stay with a few children."
Huo Shu took Tao Yu's hand and walked to the field: "Isn't it the person you brought? I should be showing my hand to support you."
Taoyu hesitated to speak, but within a moment, the exclamations of several teenagers came from the field.
Even Uncle Fan, Huo Shou and others who were busy stopped what they were doing to watch Huo Shu riding and shooting.
There were three long arrows stretched on the bowstring. Huo Shu was sitting on his horse. During the horse racing, the three arrows were fired in unison and hit the bull's-eye one after another.
Hitting the target is difficult, horse racing and archery are even more difficult, and shooting three arrows at once is even more difficult. It is already very rare for ordinary people to be able to do two of them, but Huo Shu can accomplish all three at the same time.
Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang looked dumbfounded, as if they were shocked by Huo Shu's riding and shooting abilities, and it took them a while to recover.
Even Uncle Fan laughed: "Ah Shu, your archery skills are much better than before!"
Huo Shu didn't look proud either, he still had his usual expression and said, "It's just ordinary."
I have been on the battlefield in the Northern Territory for ten years and often have to fight on the front line. How can I survive today without any special skills?
After showing his skills, he dismounted and said to Zhao Pan, "Practice your archery well. Your father could hit the target with three arrows in the past."
When Bai Wanjue and Sheng Cang heard this, they looked at Zhao Pan in surprise.
I had known that Zhao Pan and his mother were dependent on each other, but I had never heard about his father. After hearing about it today, I couldn't help but feel that Zhao Pan's father was not an ordinary person.
The three teenagers rode and played in the shooting range all afternoon, and reluctantly left after getting late.
On October 12, the riding and shooting range and the bow workshop were opened together.
Early that morning, Ji Yangzong, who was busy with taxation affairs, also spared half a day to come to the city to watch the ceremony. Huang Manjing, Yuan Huiru and others all came.
Not only that, Ji's relatives and friends also came to watch the fun.
Relatives and friends, dozens of people came to support me one after another.
When the shop opened, all my relatives and friends brought gifts to support the occasion, especially firecrackers.
Those in Ji's eldest room set off firecrackers after those in the second room's house, and those in the aunt and uncle's house all prepared firecrackers. The crackling sound of firecrackers lasted for half an hour.
The loud sound attracted people from the whole street.
The lively scene is one thing, but the important thing is to let the people in the city know that a new store has opened here.
Huo Shu still used the old method, just like when he was selling goods in the Northern Territory, he went out on horseback to preach and shout street by street.
The grain store that learned to store grain drove a cart and hired two eloquent people to parade around.
The opening of the shooting range and Gongfang at the end of Xinjie is promoted. If you go to watch, you can get rice, noodles, food, soy sauce, etc. as gifts.
Admission to the riding and shooting range is free for the first three days of opening, and longbows and arrows are affordable.
Once it was spread, people who heard the news were like crucian carp crossing the river.
There were temporarily hired workers at the entrance of Gongfang and the riding range, handing out cakes and candies and greeting the spectators.
"Aren't the people who come here with such shouting and propaganda just looking for petty gains? Look at some of them who are really buying things. Aren't they all going in to wander around and then get gifts?"
Ji Wangju looked at some plain-clothed people who were running towards them, fearing that they would be late and not delivering gifts. She could not help but crane her neck as she watched the people happily come out with their things.
"After giving it to so many people, I might as well give it to my own family."
"Third sister, you just haven't done business and don't know the ropes. This is Xinjie, and there aren't many people here. If you don't make publicity, how will people know whether there is a rice shop or a Gongfang here."
"Don't underestimate these people who don't buy anything. They are here to hang out. When we go back, we talk about the excitement. Some shops have sent gifts. They spread the word and spread the word. If more people know about it, then there will be business."
Ji Wangju pursed her lips: "Wen Liang has been following Tao Yu and his door-to-door for a long time, and he has become more capable. He and Xiao Qi also know how to do business."
"On the big day, the brothers and sisters even started bickering, and they didn't make anyone laugh."
Ji Yang achieved unprecedented justice.
"Third sister, if you don't move, just say a few words."
Ji Wangju closed her mouth angrily, and Ji Yangzong came over: "Eldest brother, second brother, third sister... come in and take a look, it's still wide inside."
A group of people followed: "Anshun riding range?"
Ji Yangkai stopped at the gate and looked at the big gilded signboard: "Look at Gongfang in the front, which is also named Anshun."
"Well, I only have a little bit of ink in my stomach. I'll just use it if I can find a sign of peace and harmony."
Ji Yangzong said: "I don't care about their affairs, but they insist on me deciding the name."
"Xiao Liu is so lucky. My brother and son-in-law respect you with their filial piety."
Although Ji Yangzong did not let himself look too proud, the joy on his face was still evident in the praise from his relatives and friends.
He waved: "Let's go, let's go in and take a look."
Although Ji Yangzong doesn't come here often, he has come several times. This is the first time for Ji's relatives and friends to come here.
When I walked in and saw the riding and shooting range covering dozens of acres of land, I couldn't help but gasp.
The bow shop is already very spacious, with a series of bows and arrows beautifully displayed.
This time we saw the riding and shooting range again, no doubt it was a small thing compared to a big one.
Ji Yangkai looked at the scale and furnishings of the riding and shooting range, and he couldn't help but wonder if this was done by borrowing money from the ticket office, or was Tao Yu tricking him into doing it.
Fortunately, he felt guilty at first and was too embarrassed to see Ji Yangzong for several days.
Ji Yangzong held one hand behind his back and made gestures with the other hand to introduce.
The smile on his face hasn't dropped for half the day.
Huang Yinsheng also came over in the meantime, but he didn't stay long. The hospital was also busy, so he said hello and went back.
There were a lot of people watching the excitement in the riding and shooting range, and there were also a lot of people who were riding and shooting.
The dozen or so horses we own are not enough to use, which is because they are in short supply.
Ge Liang also brought his three horses over first.
Everyone was very busy, and the relatives and friends who came to watch the excitement did not leave until almost noon.
Huang Manjing and Yuan Huiru did not leave, but stayed to cook lunch for everyone and help with some simple things.
In the afternoon, the number of people at the shooting range dwindled down, and everyone had time to have a late lunch.
After Shen Shizhong, the students in the academy were out of class, and another wave of young people came.
"Uncle, can I experience riding and shooting for free when it opens today?"
Taoyu had been busy for most of the day. Her throat was dry and her calves were sore.
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While resting in the Gongfang courtyard, Zhao Pan's voice came in.
"Ah, today and the first two days are the same."
Taoyu looked at Zhao Pan, who was still wearing hospital uniform: "Are you coming right after school?"
Zhao Pan nodded: "I originally said I would go back and change clothes before coming back. My classmates were eager to come, but I didn't even have time to go over."
"Everyone is looking at bows and arrows in the front hall. They want to choose a handy one and go over to shoot arrows."
Taoyu said: "If you like it, buy it. If you don't have a riding range, there are bows and arrows there, so don't spend money randomly."
Zhao Pan responded, he knew what Tao Yu meant.
Not all scholars are from well-off families, so they should not be burdened by too much business.
"Okay, I know."
"Little Taozi, who is it?"
Huang Manjing and Yuan Huiru, who were washing dishes in the kitchen room, heard the voices and couldn't help but leaned out and took a look.
Taoyu was slightly startled when she saw the two people coming out.
"This is Ah Pan, the child of Ah Shu's friend."
Taoyu paused for a moment, then introduced Huang Manjing and Yuan Huiru to Zhao Pan, and then said, "Go and greet your classmates. I'm a little tired after working all morning, so I'll leave it to you."
Zhao Pan responded, bowed to the two of them and ran out.
"This kid is so handsome."
Huang Manjing said: "I never heard you mention it to Ah Shu."
Taoyu pursed her lips and said, "While running business, I have made friends with a lot of people, so I haven't mentioned them all to my mother-in-law."
Huang Manjing didn't think about anything. She originally wanted to tell Yuan Huiru that they would finish the work and go back as soon as possible. She didn't want to turn her head to see Yuan Huiru looking at the door in a daze.
"what is wrong?"
Yuan Huiru came back to her senses after hearing this.
She looked a little unhappy and said softly: "It's nothing. When I look at the child... his features look a bit older."
Huang Manjing paused and didn't know what to say. Yuan Huiru laughed first and said, "Maybe I am getting old and my eyes are dim."
"Go and wash the dishes. You should pack up early and go back to your hometown. If it's too late, there will be no carts at the city gate."